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 122
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county, and is now serving out that term. He is a democrat, and is a master Mason. Since living at Laneville he has carried on merchandis- ing as well as planting.
JACOB HUGGINS, M. D., physician of Newbern, Ala., was born near Newbern, July 13. 1836. He is a son of Jacob and Ann I. (Bryan) Huggins, both of whom were born and reared in Jones county, N. C., the former born in 1806, the latter in 1802. He was a son of Jacob Hug- gins, also a North Carolinian. The Huggins family is believed to have been originally from Normandy, and to have gone into England with William the Conqueror. The members of it that came to America, came from England, and settled in North Carolina, in which state the family is well known and well connected. Mrs. Ann I. Huggins is a daughter of Joseph Bryan. a North Carolinian of Irish ancestry, and both the pa- ternal and maternal grandfather, of Dr. Huggins, were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. Dr. Huggin's parents were married in North Caro- lina and had born to them six sons and two daughters. They came to Alabama in 1835, and settled near Newbern, but in Perry county, and in 1846 removed to Newbern, where they both died. Mrs. Huggins died in 1852 and then Mr. Huggins married a Mrs. Mary Paul, who bore him two daughters, and is now deceased. He died in 1867. He was a farmer by occupation. Dr. Jacob Huggins was reared at Newbern, and re- ceived a classical education at Newbern and at a high school in Sumter county. After teaching school about two years he entered Jefferson Medical college at Philadelphia, where he took one course of lectures and then spent eight months at New York city, taking there a private course in medicine under T. Gaillard Thomas, M. D., and also attended a summer course of lectures in the university of New York. Returning to Philadelphia he entered the university of Pennsylvania and graduated from that institution in 1860. While attending the university of Penn- sylvania he took a private course in anatomy under D. Hayes Agnew, M. D., and after his graduation from the university he returned to New- bern and practiced medicine one year. In 1862 he entered the Confed- erate army as a private soldier, but soon, upon examination, he was pro- moted to the medical department, and as surgeon served through the entire war, being sometimes in the hospital and sometimes in the field. At the close of the war he resumed the practice of medicine at Newberne, and has ever since been thus engaged at this place, and now enjoys a large and profitable practice both as a physician and surgeon. He has long been a member of the Alabama Medical association, and of the Hale county Medical society, and holds official connection with each. He is now senior counselor and senior vice-president of the Medical association of the state of Alabama, and he is also health officer of Hale county. He has contributed a number of articles to medical journals and has read a number of papers relating to the profession before meetings of the state association. He is a master Mason and is a member of the order of
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Knights of Pythias. He has been active in politics as a democrat, and has served as chairman of the county convention four different times. While he has been thus active and deeply interested in politics he has never sought office for himself. In 1866 he married Miss Ann J. Chris- tian of Greensboro, who died February 2, 1892, leaving no children. The doctor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, and is steward of his church. In addition to his practice, he is interested in farm- ing, and owns a fine plantation near Newbern. He is also a member of the board of control of the Canebrake Experiment Agricultural station, near Uniontown, Ala., a reporter for the Agricultural and Weather bureau, at Washington, and a trustee of Marion Female seminary, a female col- lege of high standing at Marion, Ala. The Bryan family, from whom Dr. Huggins descended on his mother's side, is one of the largest families in the United States, and have had many distinguished members of that name during the past 100 years of our national history. Several dis- tinguished jurists, prominently, John H. and James W. Bryan of North Carolina, Drs. Joseph Bryan, father and son of Philadelphia, Dr. Joseph ยท Bryan of Lexington, Ky., Mrs. Mary E. Bryan, authoress, etc., of Geor- gia, Gen. Joseph Bryan of Georgia, and Gen. Nathan Bryan of North Carolina, of Revolutionary fame. Daniel Boone, the great pioneer, mar- ried Rebecca Bryan of North Carolina, a great-great-aunt of Dr. Huggins. Several towns and counties in the United States are named after the family. O'Brian is said to be the original name of the family, and Ed- ward O'Brian, who figured prominently in Irish history about 800 years ago, is said to be the progenitor of the family. Ann Jordan Christian, the deceased wife of Dr. Huggins, is also a descendant of a large and dis tinguished family. One of the family, Letitia Christian, married Presi- dent John Tyler. Another member of the family, Rev. William Chris- tian, of Richmond, Va., married Julia Jackson, only child of the famous Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson.
CAPT. JAMES M. JACK, tax assessor of Hale county, was born in Hale, then Greene, county. His father, Capt. James Jack, was born in Elbert county, Ga., in 1800, and died in north Hale county, in 1875. His father was Patrick Jack, a native of North Carolina, and a son of James Jack, also a native of North Carolina, but of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He carried the famous Mecklenburgh declaration of independence from North Carolina to Philadelphia. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and in that war won the title of captain. Capt. James Jack was a farmer by occupation, and came to Alabama in 1824. After living in Jefferson county two years he removed, in 1826, to Hale county. where he lived and died. He was industrious and thrifty, and accumulated a large amount of property. He was highly respected and beloved by many on account of his purity of character and charity to all. He was married twice and had born to him several children. His first wife was Miss Ann Gray of Georgia. She was the mother of Capt. James M. Jack. His
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second wife was Miss Mary Julia Witherspoon of Tennessee. He was a very ardent and devoted Methodist. Capt. James M. Jack was reared in Hale county, and received his education in the Greene Springs school, under Prof. Henry Tutwiler. At the age of twenty-one he quit school and began life for himself as a farmer, and continued to follow that pur- suit untill 1884. He was elected to the legislature in 1876 and served one term. In 1884 he was elected tax assessor of Hale county and served one term. He was married in 1867 to Miss Mary Spencer of Tuscaloosa county, by whom he has had five children. The two sons are named Edwin S. and Houston C., and are both graduates of the Southern university, the former being a lawyer at Greensboro, and also editor of the Greensboro Beacon. Capt. Jack went into the army in 1861, and at Malvern Hill lost his right leg. He was discharged and returned home, serving for a while as captain of the home guards, hence his title. He and his family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He has small farming interests, but has not followed farming since 1889, when he moved into Greensboro.
F. A. JAMES, a young and successful merchant, of Newbern, Ala., was born in Perry county, Ala., March 11, 1867. His father is one of the oldest citizens and best farmers of Perry county, in which he has lived since the war. His name is Claiborne M. James. He was born in Bibb county, Ala., in 1824. His father was a native of Kentucky, who came to Alabama in a very early day. C. M. James was reared in Bibb county, and received a liberal education. He married, early in life, Miss Nancy Horton, who was born in Perry county, in 1834. To this union have been born three sons and seven daughters. Mr. James is a successful planter in Perry county, of which county he is now one of the county commis- sioners. He is a well known and highly respected citizen. F. A. James was reared in Perry, and received a fair common school education. At the age of fourteen years, he became a clerk in a store at Newbern, and remained in that position till 1887, in which year he and his partners commenced business for themselves, three miles south of Newbern. In January, 1891, a business was established at Newbern, under the style of F. A. James & Co., and this firm is now transacting a business of about $15,000 per year. Mr. James was married January 14, 1891, to Miss Ida Clay, daughter of W. W. Clay, of Newbern, and by this marriage they have one child, a daughter. He is a member of the Baptist church and of the Knights of Pythias, and, though not a politician, is a democrat.
A. LAWSON, banker of Greensboro, Ala., was born at Mobile, Ala., November 27, 1853. He is a son of Lewis and Jane ( Garner ) Lawson, who were natives, the father of Sweden, and the mother of England. They were married in Mobile and lived there until 1854, when they removed to Greensboro, where Mr. Lawson established himself in the mercantile business, which he followed till 1881, when he died at the age of sixty-six. Mrs. Lawson died in 1889. They were the parents of four
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sons. and three daughters, of whom two sons and one daughter survive. In 1874 Mr. A. Lawson took the degrees of A. M. and M. D., from the Southern university, and in 1876, he graduated with the Centennial class from the university of New York, medical department, with the degree of M. D. Returning to Greensboro he practiced medicine five years, and in January, 1880, he married Miss Ida Jones, daughter of James Jones, of Stewart Station, Ala., a man of wealth and influence. They have six children born to them. Mr. Lawson succeeded Mr. McCreary as private banker, and has since been in charge of the only bank in Greensboro, for a period of eleven years. His is a very strong private banking institution. In 1888. he was elected county commissioner, and was re-elected in 1892. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south.
W. G. MILLER, merchant, of Greensboro, Ala., was born in Steuben county, N. Y., December 29, 1833. His parents were William D. and Nancy (Cunningham) Miller, both natives of New York, but the former of English descent and the mother of Scotch. The father was by occu- pation a farmer, and served in the war of 1812. They reared five sons and four daughters to maturity, and lived and died in their native state. W. G. Miller was reared on his father's farm until he was about fifteen years old. He then went to Middletown, N. Y .. and entered the printing office of his uncle. Elder Gilbert Beebe, editor of the Signs of the Times. Three years afterward, he joined his cousin, William L. Beebe, at Lexing- ton, Ga., and afterward, he went to Covington, Ga., and was there associ- ated with his cousin in the publication of the Southern Baptist Messenger. In 1853, he married, in Georgia, Miss Mary E. Beebe, who was born in New York, and who is still living. She has borne him five children, two of whom. William O. and Lyda C., are still living. Mr. Miller left Cov- ington in 1856, and removed to Greensboro, where he arrived on March 31, that year. He took charge of the mechanical department of the Alabama Beacon, published by Col. John B. Harvey, now deceased. He remained in that office until 1866, when he took the office of assistant tax assessor, under the United States government, receiving the office without solicitation on his part. The work done embraced five counties. After remaining in this office six years, he resigned, and commenced business as a general merchant in 1872, in which Jine he has since continued. He has also been interested to some extent in farming, and owns a fine plan- tation of 1,000 acres in Hale county, and a half interest in another farm of about the same size. While Mr. Miller has never been active in poli- tics, he affilliates with and supports the democratic party.
JOHN MORRISETTE was born in Hawkins county, east Tenn., October 16, 1793. His father was a son of a Virginian, who settled in east Ten- nessee. The Morrisette family was originally of French Huguenot con- nection. John Morrisette received but a limited education in east Tennessee, but was a diligent student throughout his life. He came to
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Alabama in 1816, a single man, and for several years clerked at St. Stephens, where in 1822 he married Miss Fannie Gaines, who was born in Culpeper county, Va., in 1806. She died in Monroe county, Ala. in 1860. To this marriage there were born five sons and three daughters, one of the daughters dying in infancy. The father of the family died in 1851. After his marriage he settled in Monroe county on the right bank of the Alabama river, and began planting, in which he was very success- ful. He became a large land owner and wealthy. While he was manag- ing his plantation he studied law at home, was admitted to the bar and thus became a lawyer by profession, though his practice was quite limited. In politics he was a whig, and held several offices of honor and trust. He was several times elected to the lower house of the legislature and was a prominent member in his day. He was also elected several times a state senator. He was well acquainted with leading men in the state and was a man of great intellectual powers, of sterling qualities, and a thoroughly honest man. He was an extensive reader, a great student, was philosophical and wise, and was beloved by all who knew him. His eldest son, John, became a planter and died in 1870. James D. Morrisette died at the close of the war. Edmond P. Morrisette is a lawyer in Montgomery. George Gaines Morrisette died a young man, and Frank S. Morrisette is a farmer. He was born in Monroe county, Ala., September 28, 1841, and graduated from the South Carolina college at Columbia, in 1859. He had previously spent three years at the university of Ala- bama. He was married in 1868 to Miss Annie King, who died in 1880, leaving three children. In 1881 Mr. Morrisette married Miss Vista Welch, of Talladega, by whom he has four children. He has followed farming all his life. He is a democrat in politics, and in religion he is a Presby- terian.
FRANCIS MARION PETERSON, M. D., has long held high rank in Ala -- bama as a physician and surgeon. He was born in Pickens county, August 29, 1821. He is descended from an old and prominent family of South Carolina, the native state of his father, James Peterson. His an- cestors participated in the Revolutionary war under Gen. Francis Marion of South Carolina, and it was in affectionate remembrance of that hero. that Dr. Peterson was named. James Peterson came to Alabama with his mother when he was about nineteen years old, she being then mar- ried to her second husband, a number of other families coming at the same time. Mrs. Peterson had married a Mr. Cox, and when James Peterson reached Alabama, he soon married a Miss Cox, a niece of his step-father, and whose father also came to Alabama in 1819. Miss Cox was born in South Carolina, and was of excellent family. She bore her husband four sons and three daughters. James Peterson lived near Pick- ensville, Ala., for many years, and as a planter accumulated considera- ble wealth, but having become surety for friends he lost heavily in 1850, and that year removed to northern Mississippi, where he died in 1854,.
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aged fifty-two years. His widow died two years later, also aged fifty- two. Francis Marion Peterson was reared on his father's plantation, and in early youth received a fair education, but just as he was about to enter college, his father's financial embarrassments came upon him, and attend- ance at college was an impossibility. Young Peterson was, however, of strong determination and ambitious to advance in the pursuit of knowl- edge, and found an avenue to the attainment of his aim through teach- ing school himself. For two years he taught in an academy south of Pickensville, and then for another year in an academy north of Pickens- ville. He had now saved sufficient money to defray the expense of pre- paring for the practice of medicine, to the study of which, during the last two years of his teaching, he had given more or less of his time. When about twenty-one years old he went to Columbus, Miss., and there continued the study of medicine under Dr. Lincecum, an able and learned physician and surgeon. At the same time he studied under a private tutor Latin, Greek and the higher mathematics, and he continued on with these studies, together with French, German, and the sciences, under a private tutor, until about 1883. As a result of this course of study Dr. Peterson is an accomplished scholar, both in the classics and in science. In 1845 he took a course of lectures in medicine at the university of Pennsylvania, at the same time attending the Blockley almshouse. In the spring of 1846, Dr. Peterson located at Greensboro, Ala., where he has since continued to reside, engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. After a successful career of twenty years in the practice of medicine, under the authority of a diploma, from a western col- lege, Dr. Peterson determined to acquire a more thorough knowl- edge of his profession than he then possessed, and with this end in view, entered the university of New York, from which institu- tion he graduated in 1869. He immediately returned to Greensboro and resumed the practice of his profession. His close application to the study of his profession and to the pursuit of general knowledge, together with the kindliness of his bearing toward his patients and his fellow-men, has won for him the esteem, confidence and affectionate re- gard of an extended patronage and a wide circle of friends. Among his professional brethren is he especially esteemed. For years he has been prominent as a member of the state and county medical associations. In 1886 he was president of the state medical association and that year. de- livered the annual message at Anniston. He is now senior counselor of that association, and is also president of the Greensboro board of health. During the period in which a medical department was a feature of the Southern university at Greensboro, Dr. Peterson was professor of materia medica and obstetrics. To medical literature Dr. Peterson has made several valuable contributions, among which may be mentioned a paper on the. "New Thecry of the Production of Puerperal Eclampsia," which elicited much interest and favorable comment throughout the
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state. Another of his contributions to medical literature was entitled, "Advances in Gynecology and Sim's Drainage Tube in the Treatment of Ovariotomy." In 1881 before the State Medical association meeting at Montogmery, Dr. Peterson presented a "Monograph on Diphtheria," of no less than 100 pages, and in 1885, before the same association in con- vention at Greensboro, he handled in an able manner the subject of "Dysentery in Alabama." A complete list of his various papers on med- ical topics, would be too long for insertion in these pages. Outside of medical science the doctor's pen has been perhaps no less busy. One of these productions is entitled, "Criticism on Dr. Draper's Theory of the Production of Butter from Clover," a subject in the field of evolution. As a lecturer Dr. Peterson is clear, learned, forcible and entertaining. Being. of a philosophical turn of mind and thorough in his researches in any field of thought to which he directs his attention, his deductions and conclusions are usually accepted as authentic by the profession of the state. No one could be more devoted to his profession than is Dr. Peter- son. He has no political ambition, and, in fact, he has often said that he would prefer to be known as an able physician and surgeon than as president of the United States. He has always been enthusiatsic in his desire to see educational methods improve and education progress. He has done much to aid the Southern university financially and otherwise, as well as the Greensboro Female college. Of both institutions he has long been a trustee, and takes much pride in them. Dr. Peterson has been twice married. At Greensboro in 1846 he married Miss Amanda Shivers, who died in 1858, having borne him three sons. The eldest of these sons, Dr. James J. Peterson, died at the age of thirty. He grad- uated with honor from the university of New York, and was a young man of great promise. The second son, Rev. John A. Peterson, is a graduate from the Southern university at Greensboro, and is a presid- ing elder of the Mobile district. The third son, Prof. Francis M. Peterson, holds the chair of ancient languages in the Southern university, and is a licensed minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, south. In 1861 Dr. Peterson married a daughter of Dr. Alexander Sledge, of Greensboro, Ala., to which marriage there have been born three daugh- ters, the eldest of whom is the wife of Dr. H. T. Inge of Mobile; the second is the wife of Phares Coleman of Montgomery, and the youngest is unmarried and living at home. The doctor and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south.
LOUIS W. TURPIN, congressman from the ninth Alabama district, was born in Albemarle county, Va., February 22, 1849, and was thus, as Lowell said of himself, annually brought into competition with the most august figure in our history, Washington. Young Turpin was left an oprhan at an early age, and when he was nine years old moved to Perry county, Ala., on account of the war between the states. He enjoyed few educational advantages, but grew up amid the surroundings and the
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activities of southern farm life. When he grew up he took an active interest in politics. He was for seven years tax assessor of Hale county, where he had gone to live. He also served as chairman of the demo- cratic committee of that county for six years and was ex-officio member of the democratic district executive committee. In 1882 he was a candi- date for the democratic nomination to congress and received thirty-one votes out of a possible fifty. He was defeated, however, by the two- thirds rule, and a dark horse got the prize. In 1888 he was nominated in the Selma district, and received the certificate of election, but was unseated by the republican majority in the Fifty-first congress. He was re-elected to the Fifty-second congress, and when the state was redis- tricted, in 1890, he received the nomination in his new district, the Bir- mingham district, and was elected by a larger majority than the whole state gave the democratic nominee for governor only three months before the national election, running several hundred ahead of the Cleveland ticket. Mr. Turpin has established himself as a member of character and influence in congress. He is a successful planter, and owns several valu- able plantations in the celebrated prairie region of Alabama. He mar- ried the youngest daughter of Maj. Archer Hunt Christian of Greensboro, Ala., and has four children living.
REV. EDWARD WADSWORTH, D. D., A. M., B. A., was born in New berne, N. C., August 28, 1811. He was the son of Thomas and Eleanor Bryan Wadsworth, both of whom were born and reared in North Caro- lina. Thomas Wadsworth was a merchant in Newberne, married, reared his family and died there as also did his wife. The family consisted of four sons and one daughter. The Wadsworth family is one of the oldest and most prominent in the United States. They came to this country from England, but are said to have had a French origin. At an early day three or four brothers came from England to America, one of whom, Ignatius Wadsworth, selected North Carolina for his home. He was the father of Thomas Wadsworth. The poet Woodworth. author of the "Old Oaken Bucket" and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, were descended from the same family. The mother of Rev. Edward Wadsworth was a lineal descendant of Gen. Nathan Bryan, a distinguished character of the Rev- olution, and a member of congress when that body met at Philadelphia, he dying while yet a member. Dr. Edward Wadsworth was converted September 24, 1829, and was received on trial into the Virginia confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal church in February, 1831. The fields of labor to which he was assigned were diligently and successfully culti- vated, and included Lynchburg, Norfolk, Petersburg, Va., and Raleigh, N. C., together with a chaplaincy at Randolph-Macon college at Athens, Va., and a presidency at La Grange college, these positions marking the high estimate placed upon his ability and fidelity. Having been a stu- dent at, as well as chaplain of, Randolph-Macon college, he received at her hands the degreee of bachelor of arts, June 9, 1841, and on June 12,
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