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 41
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WASHINGTON L. ELLIS, contractor, etc., for the Pratt Gin company, was born near Prattville, Autauga county, Ala., October 22, 1834, the son
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of Elisha and Mary (Blackwell) Ellis, born, respectively, in North Caro- lina in 1803 and in South Carolina in 1812. Elisha Ellis came to Alabama in 1827, a single man, the Blackwell family having preceded him by many years. Mrs. Mary Ellis was a Methodist in her religious belief, and died in 1895. Elisha Ellis still survives, is a Baptist, and was a farmer until after the close of the late war. Barney Ellis, a brother of Elisha, died in Autauga county about 1845, and another brother, James Edward, joined a company of soldiers that went to Texas in the early struggle for the independence of that state, and was massacred. Grand- father Blackwell was a pioneer of Autauga county, was a farmer, reared a large family and died many years ago. Washington L. Ellis was the third born in a family of four sons and five daughters, viz. : Jacob, of Texas, who served in the late war as a member of an Alabama company; James, who died young; Abraham, a soldier of the First Alabama regiment in the Civil war; Elizabeth, deceased; Washington L. ; Anna, deceased : Mary J., widow of J. R. Carroll, and two that died in infancy. Washington L. Ellis lived on the home farm until fifteen years of age, and when eighteen entered the Plattville cotton factory as an operative for a few years; later he worked at carpentering for some time, and then learned gin making, and has since been connected with the Pratt Gin company in different capacities. Early in 1862 he joined company K, First Alabama infantry, and was sent to Island No. 10, but escaped capture at its sur- render, returned home, and was for a short time in the recruiting serv- ice; he then rejoined his command at Fort Pillow, ran the blockade with others, who re-organized and went to Port Hudson, was captured and paroled, and after a few months at home was exchanged. He then re-, joined the command at New Hope Church and fought on to Atlanta and Jonesborough and back with Hood to Franklin, Tenn., where he was again captured and confined at Camp Douglas, Chicago, until July, 1865, when he was discharged and reached home July 22. In 1867 and 1868, he had charge of the weaving department of the cotton factory at Pratt- ville, after which he returned to the gin factory, and was for many years contractor for the construction of the wood work for the gins and is now receiver of lumber, etc. He is well acquainted with all the details of gin making and has passed thirty-five years in this factory. He is also a director in the Prattville Cotton Mill & Banking company. Mr. Ellis was married in March, 1859, to Miss Rebecca J. Hughes, who died in 1873, the mother of four children. In 1874, he married Miss Pallie E., daughter of J. B. Odon, a farmer and trader, who served as a cavalryman in the Confederate army, and who died in Talladega county. Mrs. Ellis was born near Selma, Autauga county, and educated in Summerfield and is now the mother of four children. W. L. Ellis is a member of Prattville lodge, No. 89, F. & A. M., and filled all the offices to W. M .; he is also a member of Daniel Pratt chapter 96. Mrs. Ellis is a devout Presbyterian.
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OS. Marbury
BRANT & FULLER, PUB$
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-AUTAUGA COUNTY.
JOSIAH H. MARBURY, the head of the Marbury Lumber company at Bozeman, Autauga county, Ala., was born in Shelbyville, Tenn., in 1841. His parents, L. W. and Mary (Kidd) Marbury, were also natives of Ten- nessee, where they passed their entire existence, the former expiring in 1863 and the latter about 1875. L. W. Marbury was a Primitive Baptist minister and merchant, was a soldier in the Mexican war, and at one time was a member of the Tennessee legislature. He was a self-made man, possessed of great industry and renowned for his uprightness in all the walks of life. His father was a native of North Carolina, but bade fare- well to earth in Tennessee. Josiah H. Marbury was born the eleventh in a family of three sons and nine daughters. One of the sons, M. P. Mar- bury, served as a lieutenant in the First Tennessee infantry all through the Civil war, endured all the hardships of the Tennessee army in the Atlanta campaign, and died after the war was over while doing business as a merchant at Tullahoma, Tenn. Josiah H. Marbury was reared prin- cipally at Tullahoma, with limited opportunities for an education, but he possessed what may be well styled something better than an education, and that is, good sound sense, combined with an intellectual brain. In July, 1861, he joined the First Tennessee artillery, and entered into his first fight at Wildcat, east of Tennessee, and then took part at Fisher's creek, Shiloh two days, Saltville, W. Va., and at Morristown, Tenn. He was captured in October, 1864, and imprisoned at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill., until the spring of 1865, when he was taken to Point Lookout, Md., and held until the close of hostilities. At Shiloh his company was torn all to pieces, a small remnant only being left, which, however, was re- organized for the purpose of continuing the ineffectual effort to save what to them was a sacred cause. Mr. Marbury came out of the war with no money, no clothes, but he managed to make an overcoat out of his blanket. His father had died while Josiah H. was in the army, and to the latter was left the care of a mother and two sisters for some years,. and here is where his superior pluck, energy, industry and intelligence came into play. He went to work as a carpenter and cabinet maker at Blue Springs, Tenn., economized his earnings, and in 1872 had acquired sufficient means to start in co-partnership with a Mr. Taft, in a saw-mill at Jamison, Ala., which they conducted until 1876, when they removed to Bozeman, where they were joined by Mr. W. T. Smith, and the firm became Smith, Taft & Marbury, under which style the present plant was started and operated until December 1, 1887, when the style was changed to Marbury & Jones, under which title the mill was operated until Janu- ary 1, 1892, when it assumed its present name of the Marbury Lumber company. It is now one of the most complete lumber plants in the south, and is valued at about $225,000, including about 35,000 acres of fine timber land-all in Autauga county-into which they have laid ten miles of steel railroad track and four miles of iron track, equipped with two Mogul engines and fourteen flat cars. Connected with the plant are eight large:
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drying-kilns. The company are also owners of the W. T. Smtih lumber- stacker patent, five planers, etc., and they also conduct a general store. The capacity of the mill reaches about 80,000 feet per day, the employees number from 100 to 150 men, and the pay-roll averages $5,600 per month. The product is shipped nearly all over the Mississippi valley and the eastern states, but no local trade is carried on. Mr. Marbury began his business life at the lowermost rung of the ladder that leads to success, but his untiring energy has led him to the uppermost, and he now rests in complacency at the top. The marriage of Mr. Marbury was solem- nized March 1, 1865, in Tennessee, with Miss Mary Allen, a native of Louisiana and a member of the Missionary Baptist church. She has passed to a better land, however, leaving behind eight children, viz. : Lizzie, who was educated at Judson institute, and at Boston, Mass., and is now the wife of C. W. Wilkinson, of Birmingham, Ala .; David H., edu- cated at Howard college, at Marion Military institute, and at Pough- keepsie, N. Y., and now in business with his father; Mary A., Neva W. and Nellie T., graduates of Judson Female institute; Earnest L., Clara V. and Josiah H., Jr. Mr. Marbury's next marriage was to Mrs. Nancy E. Taft, widow of his former partner. She was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of William Robinson and wife, who were natives of England, but who came to the United States when young and here married. Mrs. Robinson died in Tennessee and Mr. Robinson in Alabama. Mr. Marbury has never taken any part in politics further than exercising his franchise in favor of men who were most suitable to fill the various offices con- tended for. He was made a Mason at Tullahoma, Tenn., and assisted in organizing the lodge at Jamison, Ala., but has affiliated with no lodge since his residence at Bozeman. He is a member of the Missionary Bap- tist church, while his wife is a Methodist, and his walk through life has demonstrated his sincerity in the faith he professes.
WILLIAM T. NORTHINGTON, president of the Prattville Cotton Mill & Banking company, Autauga county, and also president of the Northing- ton-Mungen-Pratt company, of Birmingham, Ala., is a native of Pratt- ville, Ala., and was born in 1851. His parents, William H. and Rachel M. (Gholson) Northington, were born in Mecklenburg county, Va., and in Autauga county, Ala, about the years 1818 and 1828 respectively. William H. Northington was a ripe scholar, came to Ala- bama about the year 1840, and settled in Prattville, where he married, and practiced his profession, that of the law, until his death, September 10, 1880. He took an active interest in politics, but was not an aspirant for office. During the late war he was captain of a company in the Con- federate army, and for a considerable period of time was stationed at Fort Morgan, near Mobile. He was a Mason and, with his wife, a mem- ber of the Methodist church, and was universally esteemed. His father, John L., was of English descent and passed his life in Virginia. Mrs. Rachel M. Northington died in October, 1891. She was a daughter of
M. E. Saatt 7
BRANT E FILLED PLS
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-AUTAUGA COUNTY.
Jasper Gholson, a native of South Carolina, who settled in Autauga county, Ala., about 1820, and followed planting until his death in 1859 or 1860-his wife following him soon after the close of the late war. William T. Northington is the second born in a family of five children. His primary education was acquired at Prattville, subsequently he at- tended school at Auburn, Ala., then at the Emory and Henry college of Virginia, and in 1871 graduated from the law department of the uni- versity of Virginia. He practiced his profession in partnership with his father until 1877, serving for two years as county solicitor; he then be- came connected with the Daniel Pratt Gin company; in 1881 he became a partner in this concern and still continues to hold his interest therein. On the organization of the Prattville Cotton Mill & Banking company, in 1887, he was made its president, and still holds that responsible position; he was elected to the presidency of the Northington-Mungen-Pratt com- pany of Birmingham, Ala., when that company was organized in December, 1891. The former company is one of the most extensive fac- tories in the south, producing osnaburgs, shirting, sheeting, drills, etc., and consuming about 5,000 bales of cotton annually, worth about $300,000. It carries on its pay-rolls an average of 250 operatives, at a monthly cost of $4,000. His marriage took place in 1872, to Miss Ella A., daugh- ter of Dr. S. P. and Adelaide Smith. Dr. Smith was a native of North Carolina, but when two or three years of age was brought to Alabama by his parents. He died in March, 1891, aged seventy-six years, and was soon followed by his wife, who died the following July. For many years Dr. Smith was the leading practitioner of medicine in Autauga county, but wealth rewarded his skill and labor, and he retired a number of years before his decease. He was a royal arch Mason and a substantial pillar of the Methodist church. Mrs. Northington is a native of Prattville, where she received her early education, and later at Mobile and Summer- field, and is a highly accomplished lady. Mr. Northington is a member of Prattville lodge, No. 96, F. & A. M., and Daniel Pratt chapter; was senior P. C. C. of the K. of P., Merrill Pratt lodge; he is also a member of the Knights of Honor, and, with his wife of the Methodist Episcopal church.
HON. DANIEL PRATT (deceased), the founder of the Pratt Gin factory at Prattville, Ala., was born at Temple, N. H., July 20, 1799. His father, Edward Pratt, was a son of Daniel Pratt, a native of Reading, Mass., whose wife was Asenith, daughter of Ebenezer Flint, of Wilton, N. H. Hon. Daniel Pratt was educated at the common schools of his section, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade. At the end of his apprenticeship of three years, in 1819, he went to Savannah, Ga., thence to Milledgeville, and worked at his trade in that vicinity until 1831, when he went to Clinton, Ga., and there associated himself with Samuel Griswold in the manufacture of cotton gins until 1833, when he removed to Autauga county, Ala., and built a dam on
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Autauga creek, a few miles below the present site of Prattville, and there ran a factory for about two years, when he purchased a tract of land, built the present mill and began the erection of the present town of Prattville, so named in his honor. The gin manufactory is the . most extensive in the world, and the product the most popular in the market, having been improved by Mr. Pratt time and time again, where he saw room for improvement. These gins are used in every cotton-growing region on the earth-over one hundred of them having been sent even to Russia in 1891. In all there are about 33,000 in present use. The works employ about 125 men, with a pay-roll amounting to $7,000 per month. Mr. Pratt was a very energetic man, and, as a result. amassed one of the largest fortunes in the south. He owned thousands of acres of fine mineral land in north Alabama, and was one of the first to develop the coal and iron mines in the state or in the south. He built the furnace at Oxmoor, near Birmingham, and the Pratt mines were opened up by his son-in-law, H. F. DeBardeleben, and named for Mr. Pratt. Mr. Pratt continued his activity until his death in 1872. He was a man of great prominence and popularity, and served the people of his district in both branches of the Alabama legislature. He held rank in the Masonic order, the Daniel Pratt chapter being an evidence of his exalted standing in the fraternity. A man of noble impulses, generous and kind to the poor, he was a true and devoted Christian, and always foremost in rendering assistance to charitable work, as is witnessed by the fact that he erected a large two-story brick edifice, with store-rooms below and auditorium or meeting-room above, and donated it to the Methodist congregation, of which he was a consistent member. In 18-, he married Miss Esther Ticknor. They reared but one child-Ellen, wife of H. F. DeBardeleben, now a resident of Birmingham, Ala.
MERRILL E. PRATT, deceased, a nephew of Daniel Pratt, also a native of Temple, N. H., was born February 23, 1828, a son of Edward and Dorcas (Pevey) Pratt, the former a brother of Daniel. The father died when Merrill E. was a little boy, but the mother survived until a few years ago, when she died in New Hampshire. Merrill E. received a sound, but somewhat limited education at the north, and when about fourteen years old came south and made his home with his uncle, with whom he later became associated in the cotton-gin works. On the demise of Daniel Pratt he fell heir to half the estate at Prattville, and assumed charge of the gin factory, later purchasing the interest of Mrs. DeBarde- leben therein and becoming sole proprietor, which he continued to suc- cessfully conduct until his death in 1889. He, like his uncle, was a man of extraordinary business ability. He once served in the state legislature and was a Knight Templar, advanced degree. He married Miss Julia Smith, a daughter of Dr. S. P. and Adelaide, natives of North Carolina and Connecticut respectively. Dr. Smith was brought to the county about 1817, when but two or three years of age. He became a very suc -.
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cessful physician, amassed a fine property and retired some years before his death in 1891. Mrs. Pratt is a refined and highly cultivated lady and the mother of five children, viz. : Daniel; Mary, wife of J. B. Bell; Dora, Gussie and Henry.
DANIEL PRATT, the younger, was born in Prattville in 1866, graduated from the state university, and succeeded his father as manager of the Pratt Gin company, and is also treasurer of the Prattville cotton-mill and banking company, and treasurer of the Northington -- Munger- Pratt com- pany of Birmingham. He was married, in 1889, to Miss Ellen, daughter of Leonard and Sallie Sims, natives, respectively of Georgia and Autauga county, Ala. Mrs. Sims is a daughter of Judge Graham and is still living; Mr. Sims died in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are consistent members of the Methodist church, while Mr. Pratt is C. C. of Knights of Pythias lodge, No. 71.
REV. JOHN W. ROY was born in Autauga county, Ala., in 1835, and is now the clerk of the county circuit court. His parents were Joseph and Mary Ann (Lee) Roy, who were natives of Orangeburg district, S. C., were there married and in 1818 came to Alabama and settled in Autauga county, which at that time was almost unbounded wilderness, infested with wild animals and savage red men, but possessed of a rich soil and a salubrious climate. Here they cleared a farm in the timber and passed their lives, Mr. Roy dying in September, 1866, at the age of seventy-four years, and Mrs. Roy following in 1868, aged seventy-two, both members of the Methodist church. William Roy and Michael Lee, parents of this couple, also settled in Autauga county in 1818. Rev. John W. Roy is the seventh child in a family of five boys and three girls, of whom two of the boys beside himself fought in the late war under the Confederate flag- William, who died at Macon, Ga., in 1864, having served from the begin- ning, and Hansford D., who died at Knoxville, Tenn., in 1863, having enlisted in 1862. Rev. John W. Roy was reared on the pioneer farm. His attendance at school was limited to ten days, as at the age of seventeen the care of his parents devolved upon him, he being the youngest son, and the elder brothers having families of their own to care for. In 1856 he married Miss Sarah E., daughter of Eli Wadsworth Muse and his wife Mary Muse, who came from Georgia to Autauga county, but later removed to Louisiana, where Mrs. Muse died, after which event Mr. Muse returned to Autauga county and passed the remainder of his days on a farm. Mrs. Sarah E. Roy was born in Georgia. Of the ten children she has borne to her husband, five only are living, viz .: Margaret M., who is married to John D. Hinton; Joseph Eli, James M., Della C., and Archie M. Early in 1862 John W. Roy joined company E, second battalion of Hilliard's legion, afterward Fifty-ninth Alabama, operating in east Tennessee; was in all the battles around Chattanooga, and then went with Longstreet to Vir- ginia and fought around Petersburg, Richmond, etc. He was promoted to be
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a corporal. At the time of the final surrender he happened to be at home on furlough. When peace was declared he engaged in mechanical work for some years, in conjunction with farming. For nineteen years Mr. Roy has been a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1886 he was elected circuit clerk and was re-elected in 1892 for six years. He has filled the positions of junior warden, senior warden and chaplain of Pratt- ville lodge, No. 89, F. & A. M., past dictator and chaplain of Prattville lodge, No. 2828, K. of H. Mrs. Roy is a consistent member of the Metho- dist church, of which denomination Mr. Roy has been a pillar for the past thirty-six years.
COL. THOMAS W. SADLER, the well-known attorney-at-law of Pratt- ville, Ala., is a native of the state, having been born in Franklin county in 1831. His father, Allious Sadler, was born in North Carolina in 1801, and when a child was brought to Alabama by his parents, who settled near Jonesborough, Jefferson county, where he married Miss Caroline Owen. He then moved to Franklin county, where he resided a few years, and in 1833 returned to Jefferson county. He was a farmer, but active in politics, being a stanch democrat, and died in 1845, a member of the Methodist church. He was the sixth child born to William R. Sadler, of North Carolina, who was a pioneer of cen- tral Alabama, and owned the land on which Jonesborough was after- ward built. Mrs. Caroline (Owen) Sadler was born near Birmingham, Ala., and after the death of Mr. Sadler was married to Rev. Reuben Phillips, a Methodist minister for over sixty years, who died in Coosa county, Ala., at a very advanced age. Mrs. Phillips died in 1881, a devoted member of her husband's church. Thomas W. Sadler is the only son in a family of five children born to his parents. He was reared on a farm and educated at old Jonesborough, at the state university and at Summer- field; he then studied law, but did not begin its active practice for some years, nor seek admission to the bar, preferring merchandising and farming. At the age of twenty-one he was elected a justice of the peace in Jefferson county, and held the office until his removal to Autauga county in 1855. In 1854, however, he had married at the Methodist church, at Prattville, Miss Catherine, daughter of Shadrach, and Elizabeth Mims, this being the first marriage ceremony performed in that edifice. Mr. and Mrs. Mims were natives of Georgia and Columbus, Mississippi, respectively, and were married in Columbus, but early removed to Vernon, Autauga county, where Mr. Mims was engaged in warehousing and planting, but later he moved to Prattville and became connected with the Pratt Gin company, with which he remained until his death in 1881. He was the father of four sons, who served with Gen. Jo. Wheeler through the late war, viz: Dr. Alexander, who was captured in Tennessee, and imprisoned at Rock Island, Ill., but who, in midwinter, made his escape with a companion and made his way through the enemy's lines to his command, badly frozen. The other three were named Shadrach, Wilber F.
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and James. Mrs. Catherine Sadler was born in "Autauga county, became the mother of ten children, and died in 1871. Of the children five are still living, viz: Allious T., Dr. Wilber F., Katie, Ethel and Caroline. The second marriage of the colonel took place in 1885, to Mary, daughter of Dr. James H. Bowen, of Macon, Ga., but now of Baton Rouge, La. Mrs. Mary Sadler is a native of Georgia. To this second marriage have been born two children-Anna, and Julia. After a residence at Prattville from 1855 until 1871, engaged in business, Col. Sadler was admitted to the bar. In 1874 he was appointed superintendent of education of Autauga county, and filled the office about ten years. In 1880 he was an elector on the Hancock ticket, and in 1884 was elected to represent the fifth Alabama district in the United States congress. and served on the com- mittees on private land claims and on territroies. He then declined further political honors. The colonel was made a Mason, in 1852, at the Eagleton lodge, near Birmingham, and is the oldest member of Prattville lodge. In religion he is a Methodist. His war period was varied, but not really active, until 1864, when he joined Jo. Wheeler's cavalry, as a member company H, Prattville dragoons, and went through the Georgia campaign, and surrendered at Aiken, S. C., after the war had closed. As a lawyer, Col. Sadler stands at the head of the profession, and socially he is esteemed by the whole community.
COL. ALFRED Y. SMITH, a prominent and representative planter, and a son of Malcolm and Mary B. (Graham) Smith, was born in Autauga county, Ala., in 1825. Malcolm was born in Moore county, N. C., in 1795, and Mary B. in Cumberland county, same state, in 1800. Malcolm was left an orphan at ten years of age, and consequently he received but a limited education, whereas Mrs. Mary B., who was reared by her parents, was particularly well educated. They were mar- ried in their native state in 1819, and came to Alabama, locating in the woods near the present site of Prattville. They later moved to that part of Elmore county which was then embraced within the bounds of Coosa county, where Mr. Smith erected various mills, but five years later returned to Autauga county, where Mr. Smith died in 1857, and Mrs. Smith in 1862. Mr. Smith was a self-made man, having started life with no means of his own; he was a great speculator in cattle, sheep and lands, and, being a great reader, became one of the best informed men of his day and was prepared for almost any business undertaking. He was appointed a commissioner on the part of the state to build the peniten- tiary, 1842-5, assisted in the erection of the Planters' cotton mill at Aut- augaville and helped to operate it until after the war. Mr. Smith was a bright Mason and an industrious worker in the Presbyterian church. His father, Neil Smith, was born in Scotland, but died in North Carolina when Malcolm was ten years of age, and his widow, Mary McNeil, who came to Alabama in 1819, and who was a very intelligent and refined lady, died in what is now Elmore county. The maternal grandfather of the
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