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 119
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FITZ J. MILLIGAN, mayor of the city of Geneva, Ala., is by profes -- sion an attorney-at-law, and stands among the foremost members of the. bar of Geneva county. He was born on October 10, 1861, in Dale county,.
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Ala., received his early education in the schools of Ozark, and at the age of nineteen, entered the university of Greensboro, Ala., in which he passed two years of diligent study. Returning to Dale county, he taught school for three years, and in the spring of 1885, entered upon the study of the law, making a progress so rapid that he was admitted to the bar in the fall of the same year, and opened a law office in Geneva. In 1886, he was licensed to practice in the supreme court of the state, and is to-day regarded as one of the most successful practitioners of his years in his section, his clientage extending into Georgia, and as far south as the coast. He is an enthusiastic democrat in politics, and early became famous as an orator in campaigns; he was also most active in stumping the state for Gov. Jones, in 1892, and the same year was elected to the office of mayor of Geneva without opposition, so very popular had he become with his party. He is one of the projectors and incorporators of the Geneva, Florida & Pensacola railroad company, and is its attorney. He has also been identified with every movement intended for the upbuilding of Geneva, and is public spirited in every sense of the phrase. He is the owner of several good plantations, and also of a number of tenement houses in Geneva. In religion, Mr. Milligan is a Methodist, having belonged to that denomination since early manhood. The parents of Mr. Milligan were Augustus L. and Louisa Victoria (McEntyre) Milligan, the former of whom was born in Georgia, in 1828. At the age of sixteen, he came to Alabama with his parents, who settled in Pike county, and there he earned the means to educate himself. In 1849, he moved to Coffee county, where, when but twenty-one years of age, lie was elected judge of probate. While filling this office, he established, at Elba, the first newspaper ever published in southeastern Alabama, and christened it the States' Rights Democrat. He began the study of law in his twentieth year, and was admitted to the bar in 1854, in his twenty-first year. After filling the office of probate judge for a term of six years, he was elected to represent the third Alabama district in the state legislature, and while a member of that body, was elected to the convention that put in nomination James Buchanan for the presidency of the United States. In 1859. he removed to, and settled in, Ozark, Dale county, of which he became an influential and prominent citizen. For nearly ten years before his death, he served as chairman of every democratic convention held in Dale county. In 1882, he was elected mayor of Ozark, and served three consecutive terms. He was eminent as a Mason, and at the time of his death, July 25, 1889, was junior grand warden, having been made a Mason in 1854. He was a man of sterling worth, was an active politician, a fluent and easy speaker and a thorough lawyer. Mrs. Louisa Victoria Milligan was a native of Georgia, born in 1836. She was highly educated and accomplished, came to Alabama with her parents in 1855, and was here married in her twenty-fifth year. She became the mother of two
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children-Fitz J. and Marcellus-and died in 1864, a devout member of the Methodist church. Josephine McIntyre, sister of Louisa Victoria, subsequently became the wife of Mr. Milligan, and still survives.
FRANK L. REYNOLDS, merchant of Geneva, Geneva county, Ala., was born in Montgomery county, Ala., January 18, 1855. He is a son of William and Nancy (Johnnson) Reynolds, the former of whom was a native of Darlington district, S. C., born about 1815. In 1830 his parents moved to Alabama, settling in Montgomery twenty-five miles south of the present city of Montgomery, on what is now known as the "old pike road." Here William Reynolds accumulated a large estate and many negroes, freeing 300 of them at the close of the war. He was at one time one of Montgomery county's most extensive planters, the Reynolds family, of whom there were some ten children, brothers and sisters of Willam, owning eight miles square of land. He remained a farmer all his life, his death occurring in 1889. Politically he was a true southern democrat, of the Alexander H. Stephens class, opposing secession as long as it was of any use to do so. His wife, Miss Nancy Johnson, was a native of Mississippi, and was born in 1820, but grew to womanhood in Alabama, her parents having moved to the latter state when she was a child. She was married in her nineteenth year, and now is the mother of eleven children, nine of whom survive. She has nearly all her life been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. Frank L. Reynolds grew to manhood on his father's farm, and though he had good school advantages, became dissatisfied with his surroundings, and ran away from home at the age of seventeen years. In 1874 he found his way to Geneva, and out of his earnings saved enough money to allow himself a few months' schooling at Mary Esther, Fla. Then by hard study at odd times and at home nights, he managed to secure sufficient learning to enable him to teach school. After following the profession of a teacher for some time he secured a position as a clerk in a store owned by R. W. Donald, of Geneva, retained the position two years, saved his money, and in 1878 opened a small business for himself at Geneva. his stock of goods consisting of general merchandise. Ever since that time he has been in business in Geneva. He now carries on business in his own building, and carries a stock of from $2,000 to $3,000, his annual sales amounting to about $20,000. He was married June 24, 1879, to Miss Cassandra Campbell, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Campbell, who was born in Rockbridge county, Va., April 10, 1807. He pursued his college course in Washington and Lee university, in his native county. His theological course he pursued at Princton college. His mother was a sister of the celebrated Archibald Alexander, of Virginia. In the early part of his ministry he preached several years at Brandon, Miss., and during eleven years he had charge of a church at Natural Bridge, Va. During the latter part of his ministry he was appointed a missionary to the Indians, in the vicinity, of and including, Geneva, Ala. He spent his life in the service of
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the old school Presbyterian church. He was married to Miss Jane E. Orbison, like himself a native of Rockbridge county, Va. She was edu- cated at the Ann Smith academy, at Lexington, Va., and became a teacher in the school, teaching mathematics, French and Latin. She was married at the age of twenty-one, and became the mother of eleven children, only three of whom now survive. She survives her husband, who died April 12, 1863, and after his death she owned and operated the ferry across the Choctawhatchee river at Geneva, doing the manual labor with her own hands for many years. During her lifetime she was a teacher in five different states, and took great interest in young people and the Sunday school. Many a poor child received gratis its early training at her hands. She was a woman of great force of character, and took great interest in the progress of humanity. Her death occurred in 1883. The wife of Frank L. Reynolds was born in Rockbridge county, Va., and came to Alabama with her parents, who at first settled in Coffee county, where she grew to womanhood and received her education. After attending the common schools of Coffee county she attended the Talladega college one year, and then took a three months' course at Mrs. Caldwell's school, at Rome, Ga. She also attended for several months George Newton's college at Knox Hill, Fla. She is a lady of literary tastes, and has taught school some ten years. She is also a contributor to the daily press, and is an active and zealous worker for the church. She was mar- ried in her twenty-second year, and is the mother of three children, viz .: Augusta L .; Samuel C., deceased, and Lucy H. She is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Reynolds has been a merchant for a number of years. He has taken special interest in the growth and development of the county, and has by judicious managemant accumulated a large amount amount of property, both real and personal. He owns a fine residence in the city of Geneva, and is widely known as one of the most public- spirited and useful citizens of the county.
HARDY P. TREADWELL, M. D., physician and surgeon, of Geneva, was born in Daleville, Dale county, December 28, 1859. After receiving his edu- cation in the common schools of his native county he went, when twenty years of age, to Pike county, and in company with his brother, who is now a prominent physician of Troy, bought a farm and engaged in farming for two years. In the meantime, when twenty-one years old, he commenced reading medicine, and in his twenty-third year he entered the medical college at Mobile, taking two courses of lectures. He then opened an office at Echo, Dale county, and began the practice of his profession, remaining there for two years. Then, on the 25th of December, 1884, he removed to Geneva, and has been engaged there in the practice of his profession ever since. He is the son of William A. and Lucy A. (Surrill) Treadwell, the former of whom was born in Jasper county, Ga. He came to Alabama while a young man, settled in Chambers county, and was married there. Later he took up the study of medicine, graduated from a medi-
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cal college, and began the practice of medicine before he was thirty years old. He began his practice in Chambers county, and afterward was a resident of Dale county for a number of years. Eventually he settled in Coffee county, at Victoria, and there died in May, 1889. He was a demo- crat and a member of the Primitive Baptist church. His wife was a native of Alabama, grew up in Chambers county, and was married in her eighteenth year. She has had ten children, six of whom survive. She is a member of the Primitive Baptist church, and resides at Victoria, Coffee county. Hardy P. Treadwell was married, in 1879, to Miss Fannie E. Warren, daughter of William G. Warren. She was born in Eufaula, in 1860, and received a good education. She was married in her seventeenth year. She is now the mother of two children, Mertie E., attending school at Eufaula, and Willie D., attending the Geneva high school. Mrs. Treadwell has a millinery establishment adjoining her hus- band's drug store. Dr. Treadwell has worked his way up from a poor boy to his present position as one of the leading physicians of Geneva county. His practice is very extensive and covers the adjoining counties in Alabama, and extends into Holmes county, Fla. He has accumulated property of considerable value. Beside his drug store and residence property he owns a fine plantation of 200 acres of land. He has been identified with every movement and enterprise calculated to advance the interests of the city and county of Geneva, and is recognized as one of the county's most public-spirited citizens.
GREENE COUNTY.
A. W. S. ANDERSON, one of the progressive farmers of Greene county, was born in Hale county. He is a son of James and Virginia (Spaight) Anderson, the former of whom was a native of Dallas county, and the latter of Hale county, Ala. James A. Anderson was an extensive planter, owning 150 slaves before the war, and dying in 1857: His father was one of the earliest settlers of Alabama, emigrated from North Carolina to the state in 1818. He was also a farmer by occupation. On the other side of the family, grandfather Spaight came from North Carolina in the early history of the country, locating near Selma, but afterward moving to Hale county, where he died at about the age of thirty-five. His widow died in Greene county, aged fifty-eight. James A. Anderson and wife were the parents of two children, viz .: A. W. S., and J. C. Anderson, a resident of Eutaw, and ex-mayor, having served several terms, and now one of the aldermen of the town. Mrs. Anderson was married a second time to Thomas C. Thomas, by whom two children were born, viz. : Georgia and John. She died in March, 1870. A. W. S. Anderson is a member of one of the oldest families of the state. His maternal grand- mother was the mother of twelve children, nine of whom were living at her death. The Andersons were a plain, honest and industrious people of
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Scotch and Irish extraction, while the Spaights were a progressive, intel - ligent and distinguished people, closely allied with the political isssues of their times. Mrs. Anderson was a lineal descendant of Richard Dauf Spaight, one of the original signers of the confederation between the colonies. A. W. S. Anderson is named after his uncle, A. W. Spaight, of Galveston, Tex., who was commissioner of statistics, insurance and his- tory under Gov. Ireland, and who was sent by the state of Texas to the Paris exposition of 1889. A. W. S. Anderson was married December 17, 1872, to Mrs. Sarah M. Clanton, widow of George L. Clanton. She is the mother of one child by her former marriage, viz. : George L. Clanton, Jr. Mr. Anderson owns and manages a fine plantation of 1,000 acres, four miles north of Clinton, which is in a high state of cultivation. Upon this farm he has a modern six-room cottage, surrounded by handsome grounds and embellished by flowers, shrubs and ornamental trees. He makes a speciality of fruits, and has every variety known to this climate. His plantation adjoins the old homestead, which in the division of the estate, fell to his brother. Mr. Anderson represented Greene county during the years 1882 to 1883, and 1886 to 1887. In 1890 he was sent as a delegate to the inter-state farmers' congress that met at Council Bluffs, Iowa. In 1886 he was a delegate to Atlanta, Ga., in the interests of the same insti- tution. Both Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are members of the Ebenezer church, at Clinton, and he is an elder. Mr. Anderson is one of the leading men in the county in talent, public spirit and enterprise.
JAMES H. ARCHIBALD, a planter, of Greene county, Ala., and living at Pleasant Ridge, was born in this county December 9, 1849. He is a son of Samuel S. and Jane N. (Somerville) Archibald, the former of whom was born in Greene county in 1826, the latter in South Carolina in 1825. They were married in 1849, and were the parents of six children, viz. : James H. ; William P., merchant and farmer in Tuscaloosa county; Rob- ert S., merchant, Pleasant Ridge; Bettie S., wife of J. J. Chiles; Andrew B., farmer, living at Pleasant Ridge, and Mattie J., unmarried and living with her mother at Pleasant Ridge. Samuel S. Archibald was a planter. He was well known and eminently respectable citizen, whose life was full of good, useful deeds. He was a soldier in the war with Mexico, and he served as lieutenant in the late Civil war, enlisting in 1863, and served to the close. He was a member of the Presbyterian church at Pleasant Ridge, and died September 12, 1872. Mrs. Archibald survives him; is a member of the Presbyterian church, and lives at the old homestead near Pleasant Ridge. The father of Samuel S. Archibald was a native of South Carolina, and an emigrant to Alabama at an early day, settling in Greene county. He was a planter, and lived near Pleas- ant Ridge, dying in 1864, his wife having died in 1844. James H. Archi- bald was reared on a farm, and was educated at Pleasant Ridge academy. He was married in 1883 to Miss Mary E. Murphy, who was born in Greene county in 1858. She is a daughter of Dr. Samuel S. Murphy,
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whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Archibald there was born one child, Wilbert, and Mrs. Archi- bald died July 18, 1887. Mr. Archibald's farm lies near Pleasant Ridge, Ala. He makes a specialty of raising Jersey cattle. He is a member and a deacon of the Presbyterian church at Pleasant Ridge, Ala. The Archibalds are among the leading and progressive citizens of Greene county, and are cultured, refined and respectable.
ROBERT HARKNESS, a planter, living near Clinton, Greene county, Ala., was born in Abbeville district, S. C., December 5, 1813. He was a son of William and Ann R. (Baskin) Harkness, and a grandson of Robert Harkness, a native of county Tyrone, Ireland, a Scotch-Irishman, who emigrated to the United States, first settling in Pennsylvania. He removed thence to North Carolina and later to South Carolina, in which latter state he lived the rest of his life. He was a planter, and served in the Revolutionary war. William Harkness was also born in county Tyrone, Ireland, and came to the United States with his parents when a small boy. In 1827 they removed to Greene county, Ala., and settled on a plantation near Clinton. They both died on the farm upon which Robert Harkness now lives. Miss Ann R. Baskin, wife of William Hark- ness, was born in Abbeville district, S. C., in 1772, and died in 1844. They reared a family of seven children, of whom Robert was the young- est and is the only one now living. He has spent almost his entire life on the farm upon which he now lives. He received a fair education in the common schools, and in 1858 married Civille A. Gulley, born in North Carolina in 1827. She was a daughter of Calvin J. Gulley, who removed to Alabama in 1832, settling in Greensboro, Hale county, then Greene county, and serving as sheriff of his county one term. His family consisted of nine children, only one of whom is now living, viz. : Sarah M. Gulley, born in Duplin county, N. C., June 20, 1828. She has been engaged in teaching in various schools and colleges, is unmarried, and lives with Robert Harkness and his family. Calvin J. Gulley was born in 1796, and his wife in 1797. They were married in 1822. and died, he in 1852 and she in 1854. Robert Harkness and his wife were the parents of six chlidren, four of whom are living, viz .: Mary E .; Annie B .; Civille, and Robert B. Those who have died were named William C. and Eva. Mary E. is the wife of Prof. William G. Hix, principal of the Montezuma institute, in Macon county, Ga. They are the parents of one child, Robert H., born June 12, 1891. Mrs. Harkness died in 1876. In 1850 Mr. Harkness served as tax collector of Greene county, and was a justice of the peace for many years. During the late war he was colonel of the county home guards at Clinton. He owns a fine plantation of 600 acres, which is well improved and upon which he has growing many varieties of choice fruits. Sixty-five of his eighty years have been spent upon this farm, surrounded by a highly cultured family and in the enjoyment of all the necessities and comforts of life. He has been a
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member and a deacon of the Presbyterian church for many years. He is an unassuming and honorable man and enjoys the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens to the highest degree.
ALBERT C. HILL, circuit court clerk of Greene county, and a resident of Eutaw, was born near Clinton, that county, April 1, 1849. He is a son of Jesse and Eliza (Carpenter) Hill and a grandson of Benjamin Hill, who was a native of Nash county, N. C., and who emigrated to Alabama at an early day, settling near Spring Hill. His occupation was that of a farmer. Jesse Hill was the youngest son in a large family of children and was, as was his father, a native of Nash county, N. C. He was born in 1813, and came to Alabama with his parents when a child. He was reared on a farm, served as tax collector of Greene county and also as justce of the peace for several years. He and his wife were the parents of thirteen children, ten sons and three daughters, six of whom are liv- ing, viz. : Newton, a practicing physician of Pickensville, Pickens county, Ala. ; Albert C .; William W., a resident of Eutaw; Phillip E., a farmer of Pickens county; Lida, wife of Theodore Watrous, who is enagged as a sugar and fruit grower in British Honduras, and Mattie, unmarried, and living with Albert C. Three died in infancy and the names of those who died later in life were John T., Samuel M., James M. and Charles D. The father of the children was a farmer all his life. Their mother died in 1863 near Clinton, Greene county. He was then married to Mrs. Cynthia (Hill) Head, a native of Georgia, residing near Atlanta. Mr. Hill died near Clinton in 1873, his widow surviving until July, 1892. Albert C. Hill was reared on a farm and educated at the school of Clin - ton. He began life for himself as a clerk in a dry goods store owned by Cleveland Bros , at Eutaw, remaining in their employ several years. He then went to Burton's Hill in 1875, and opened a store of his own, which he conducted till 1877, when he was elected sheriff of Greene county. At the expiration of his term as sheriff he moved to his farm near Clinton. In 1892 he was elected circuit clerk of Greene county, which office he holds at the present time. He is a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church. Mr. Hill was married in 1876, to Miss Mamie E. Scears, a native of Greene county, by whom he had five children, three of whom are living: William W., Albert P., Mamie; Nena and John S., deceased. Mrs. Hill died in September, 1883, and in March, 1886, Mr. Hill married Miss Callie Bray, a native of Greene county, born 1858. She is a daughter of Coswell Bray, formerly a planter of Greene county, who served as county treasurer of his county for seven years. He died in 1886. His widow survives him and lives in Greene county.
AMOS HORTON, an extensive farmer and stock-breeder, living at Pleasant Ridge, was born in Greene county, Ala., September 16, 1847. He is a son of William and Marcia (Ford) Horton. The Horton family is a very ancient one, and its genealogy is as follows, with, however, a
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missing link between the family of Amos Horton and the ancient family of Horton, which it is believed possible to supply. Robert De Horton mamumitted a bondman to his manor of Horton, long before the time of Henry Lacy, earl of Lincoln, who died in 1310. It has also been ascer- tained that the Hortons had a manor house in Grant Horton, at a remote period. The word Horton, in Anglo-Saxon, means a vegetable garden. It is said to be derived from "ort" and "tun", "ort" meaning "plant" and "tun", "enclosed" or "an enclosure." It has been known in England ever since the conquest by Julius Cæsar. The Horton coat of arms in Eng- land is as follows: A stag's head, embossed in silver and gold. The motto, "Quod vult, vaile vult" (What he wi.ls, he wills cordially), expresses a sentiment which can be traced in the present generation of Hortons, as one of their chief characteristics. William Horton, of Frith House in Barksland, Halifax, descended from the above-named Robert De Horton. Barnabas Horton, the ancestor of the Hortons in America, came to America, in the ship Swallow, between the year 1633 and 1638, and landed at Hampton, Mass. William Horton, the father of Amos Horton, was born near Raleigh, Wake county, in 1812. He was a wealthy planter and large slave-holder owning 100 slaves. He emigrated to Alabama at an early age and settled in Blount county. Miss Marcia Ford, whom he married, was born in Alabama, and spent her life in Greene county. They were married about 1836, and became the parents of six children, three only of whom are living, viz. : Henry A. Horton, a farmer in Greene county, Amos Horton, and Mattie Snedicor, widow of J. W. Snedicor, of Birm- ingham, Ala. His first wife having died, Mr. William Horton married Mrs. Mary Tillman, by whom he has had eight children-seven sons and one daughter-as follows: Rufus K. Horton, a wealthy and progressive planter, living near Pleasant Ridge; Robert L. Horton, a resident of Meridian, Miss. ; Moses B. Horton, unmarried, and living near Pleasant Ridge, on a farm; William Manassas Horton, born on the day of the first. battle of Manassas, hence his name; he is a dentist at Tuscaloosa, Ala .; John R. Horton, a farmer of Greene county; Clarence S. Horton, physi- cian in the hospital in New Orleans; Fred Horton, who died in 1878; and Mary E. Horton, unmarried, and living near Pleasant Ridge, with her mother. Amos Horton is the grandson of Jesse Horton, a native of North Carolina, and a great-grandson of Amos Horton, a captain in the Revolutionary war, under Gen. Marion. Amos Horton was married to Miss Sallie Richardson, a native of Greene county, Ala., and a daughter of Grief Richardson and Drusilla (Taylor) Richardson; both were born in 1808, the former in Lunenberg, and the latter in Pendleton, S. C. She was a daughter of Samuel Taylor, who was among the first settlers of Greene county. He was a son of Samuel Taylor, who was a colonel in the Revolutionary army, and quite a distinguished soldier, having been the first to fight the British in South Carolina. He lost a leg during the war, and fought with a price offered for his head by the British
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