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 45
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131
390
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
pulsory attendance at state church and the unwilling reading of its cate- chism. Spencer Sharp, the gentleman with whom we at present have most to deal, was reared a farmer, but on reaching his majority sought other employment for a livelihood. He first engaged as a teamster for the Ohio canal company, but at the end of four months became tired of the life and turned his attention to the trade of a carpenter and joiner, which he acquired in due course of time; but, being of a somewhat frail constitution, he found the work too laborious and was compelled to re- linquish it. For several years he followed various lighter occupations until 1839. when he came south with a Capt. Tatem, and for a year worked as carpenter on his boat. Miscellaneous occupations then employed Mr. Sharp's time until 1846, when he located on Mon Louis island, in the southeast end of Mobile county, and engaged in orange culture, being the first to try the experiment in Alabama. As the fruit was propagated from the seed, it took eleven long years of patient waiting before Mr. Sharp realized a substantial reward. He resided on Mon Louis island thirty years-the last twenty of which were passed in comparative ease. In 1879, he set out a grove of 3,000 orange scions for Capt. Frank Stone, near Montrose, but repeated frosts neutralized the venture. Mr. Sharp still continues his residence with Capt. Stone and has entire charge of the latter gentleman's interests. Mr. Sharp has never married, nor affil- jated with any church or secret society; he is a democrat in politics and cast his first presidential vote for Martin Van Buren and the last for Grover Cleveland.
HOWELL W. SLAUGHTER, sheriff of Baldwin county, Ala., is one of its most progressive young planters and citizens. He is a native of Baldwin county and was born near his present plantation, June 11, 1857, a son of Dr. William H. and Harriet (Hays) Slaughter. He was reared on his father's place and early began to assist in its management. He developed good business traits, when quite young, and passed much of his spare time in study at home, his only schooling consisting of a nine months' course, in 1872. He became an expert bookkeeper, and for a number of years kept his father's accounts in most excellent condi- tion, and conducted the plantation on the strictest business principles. He also turned his attention to the accumulation of realty in connection with his father's business, and bought the beautiful property he now occupies and formerly known as the old Booth estate. He married Miss Eliza Belt, daughter of Dr. T. W. and Eliza (Booth) Belt, the former of whom was a native of North Carolina, but was a young man when he set- tled in Baldwin county, Ala., a graduate of Chapel Hill, N. C. He began the practice of medicine soon after his arrival, and met with success as a practitioner, and was married to Miss Eliza Booth, one of Baldwin county's fairest daughters. The doctor was a democrat, affiliating with the Missionary Baptist church, and was a highly esteemed citizen. His death took place in 1865, after which his family removed to Texas, where
391
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-BALDWIN COUNTY.
they still reside, and where Howell W. Slaughter was married. The mother of Mrs. Slaughter was born in Baldwin county, Ala., and was a member of one of its best families. Mrs. Slaughter was married in her twenty-second year, and is the mother of four children, born in the fol- lowing order: William, September 2, 1886; Wright B., December, 1888; Howell, April 21, 1890, and Morton, August 19, 1891. Mrs. Slaughter united with the Missionary Baptist church early in life and has ever since adhered strictly to its teachings; she is a lady of culture and is an admired member of the society of the neighborhood. Sheriff Slaughter is the owner of 2,000 acres of choice land, mostly composed of river bot- tom. In 1890, he erected the handsome residence he now occupies, and has put the grounds immediately surrounding it under cultivation in all kinds of fruit trees and vines, and his family is surrounded with all the comforts and luxuries of life. Mr. Slaughter was elected sheriff of Bald- win county, in August, 1892, with little or no opposition. He has always taken reasonably active interest in politics, but never to the detriment of his private business, and the democratic party has always placed implicit reliance on his active support. He has freely assisted in building up the schools and churches of the county, although he is not of any religious denomination. He is, however, a bright Mason.
SAMUEL E. STOKES, the enterprising merchant of Daphns, Ala., was born in Clarke county, in the same state, November 15, 1824, the son of David F. and Sarah (Parker) Stokes. The father, David F., was a native of North Carolina, was reared to farming, and was married in his native state, in his twenty-second year. Soon after his marriage he came to Alabama and settled in Clarke county, where he lost his wife in 1845; in 1846 he married Mrs. Flournoy, sister of Abraham. Debous, of Clarke county. David F. Stokes was a thorough farmer, a representative man and a zealous democrat, and died in 1864. Mrs. Sarah (Parker) Stokes was also a native of North Carolina, was married in her eighteenth year, bore her husband six children, all of whom reached maturity. She united with the Primitive Baptist church early in life and adhered to its teach- ings until her death. Samuel E. Stokes was reared on the Clarke county homestead, and what time could be spared from his farm duties was devoted to gaining an education at a school-house six miles away. He went to Mobile in 1845 and effected an engagement with T. R. Crawford, as a clerk, with whom he remained for eleven years; he then entered the employ of the M. F. Stetson Co. as clerk, and was still so engaged when the civil war came on. By this time Mr. Stokes was well provided with. capital and was preparing to engage in business on his own account, but. the call to arms frustrated his design. He at first enlisted in 1861, in a company organized for home protection, but so great became the demand for strong young men for field duty that he joined company I, Fifteenth Alabama cavalry, as a private, and served with it in the valley of the Mississippi throughout the struggle, eluding capture and escaping serious
392
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
injury, although he took part in some of the most serious engagements, numberless skirmishes, and endured many hardships and privations. He received his final parole at Gainesville, Ala., April 24, 1865, and returned to Mobile to find his wealth swept away and obstacles insuperable to overcome. After several ineffectual attempts to gain a business foot-hold in Mobile, he crossed the bay to Daphne, where he owned some land, which was his only possession not annihilated by the destroying hand of war, and by pawning his watch and by other management succeeded in securing a small capital and began his present business. He has now a fine store-building, and one of the most picturesque homes, as well as several tenements in the vicinity, Mr. Stokes was united in marriage, in 1854, to Miss Sarah Stark, daughter of George A. F. Stark, and to this union were born four children, of whom there survives but one-Mary, the wife of F. M. Gustin, of New Orleans. Mrs. Stokes passed away during the progress of the war, a consistent member of the Missionary Baptist church. In 1866, Mr. Stokes took, for his second wife, Miss Jane T. Stroble, daughter of Rev. Jacob Stroble; this gentleman established the first Missionary Baptist church in Baldwin county and his life was devoted to the cause of Christ. Mrs. Jane T. Stokes was reared in Mobile, was twenty-four years of age when married, and became the mother of six children, as follows: Louisa, Caroline, Laura, Clara, Bessie and Sallie. In politics Mr. Stokes is a democrat of the Jacksonian school. Near his house stands an historic tree, whose gigantic trunk is seven feet in diameter and whose branches reach fully 100 feet in every direction, and whose limbs are clothed in long pendants of somber Spanish moss; under this great live oak, tradition tell us, Gen. Andrew Jackson camped for the night and held his council of war on his famous march from Mobile to Pensacola to subdue the Spaniards. Mrs. Stokes and family are members of the Missionary Baptist church.
FRANK S. STONE, SR., one of the most popular steamboat owners on the Bigbee river, with residence at Montrose, Baldwin county, Ala., was born at Bladen Springs, Choctaw county, this state, October 3, 1839, a son of Capt. Sardine Graham Stone, and brother of S. G. Stone, treasurer of Mobile county, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. In 1847 Frank S. Stone was taken by his parents to Mobile, where lie was edu- cated in its best schools until twelve years old, when he was sent, at his own request, to Jeffersonville, Ind., for the purpose of passing a year in the ship-yard of J. and D. Howard and learning the business, after which he finished his literary education in Mississippi, under Alexander Demitry. On his return to Mobile he entered the employ of William H. Redwood & Co. as a shipping clerk, and a year later, in 1855, began his career as a river man, by assuming the position of second clerk on the "Ben Lee," a boat running in the Tombigbee river trade. A few years later, while clerk of the ill-fated Eliza Battle which burned in 1858, he saved several persons from the holocaust and now has in his possession a gold watch
393
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-BALDWIN COUNTY.
presented by a grateful father of a rescued babe, and also a gold medal presented by the Masons of the state. Transportation by water has claimed his attention ever since, and his experience has been extensive and varied-having entered the trade in its "flush" times and holding on through all the changes wrought by the introduction of railroads. In 1864, Mr. Stone became captain of the steamer "Admiral," in the Bigbee trade, and since then has had command of many boats. He is now part owner and director in the Planters & Merchants' steam packet line, run- ning the Warrior and Tombigbee rivers, while the steamer "D. L. Tally" is under his immediate command. September 4, 1862, Capt. Stone mar- ried Miss Mary Hawkins, daughter of Dr. Augustus C. Hawkins, of Waverly, Miss. Dr. Hawkins was born in Georgia, and on graduating in medicine first practiced in Union Springs, Ala., and then in Waverly, Miss., in which latter place he died in 1856. Mrs. Mary Stone was born at Union Springs, Ala., in 1742, was reared partly in Alabama and partly in Mississippi, and graduated from Barton academy, Mobile. She has had three children, viz .: Frank S., born June 12, 1863; Mary, born in 1866, but now deceased; Robert O., born June 26, 1872. The surviving children have had most excellent school advantages. Frank S., Jr., received his literary training in Mobile at the Barton academy and Towles institute, then passed through a course at the university of Alabama in civil en- gineering, then a course in physics, and finally graduated from one of the best law schools in the south, the university of Georgia; Robert O. is now pursuing a course of mining and mechanical engineering at the Alabama polytechnic college. Captain Stone takes much interest in and gives freely to all charitable undertakings, and has never turned a' hun- gry human being away from his door. His means are never withheld from enterprises designed for the public good, and his energy in forward- ing the interests of such undertakings has been frequently manifested. The captain owns several sections of land in Baldwin county, aside from his home place, and he does not allow the property to lie idle. In 1879 he engaged extensively in orange culture and planted an orchard of 3,000 trees at a cost of $30,000, but repeated frosts, through successive years, have played havoc with crops, but he is not yet discouraged. Capt. Stone has owned a summer residence at Montrose, Baldwin county, for a 'number of years. He moved his family there and permanently located in 1888 and began at once to add to his already extensive improvements. He now has a beautiful home, situated on the east coast of Mobile bay overlooking and commanding a fine view of its waters over one hundred feet below; his home occupies spacious grounds, attached to which is a garden of well selected and rare flowers and shrubs, including 112 dif- ferent varieties of the rose. He has a pear orchard of one thousand bearing trees. These trees now yield from ten to thirty bushels of fruit per tree per annum. His favorite variety is the Le Conte, of which his orchard is principally composed, but among its many trees may be found
394
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
the large sand pear, the Early Harvest, the Idaho, the Keifer, the Lawson, the Japan, and the Duchess. He also has a fine vineyard, composed of many favorite varieties of grapes, including the Scupernong, the Alexan- der, Perkins, the Muscatelle, the Cawtaba, the Early Dawn, the Hover- man, the James, the Concord, the Moore's Diamond and Niagara; he raises his own meat and lard and has many cows and has his place well- provided with a modern stable, and in fact, his home is surrounded by all the comforts and conveniences of life and is complete in all its ap- pointments. He is a sound democrat, and member of Mobile Harbor No. 19.
BARBOUR COUNTY.
MOSES ALEXANDER, the gentleman whose name introduces this men- tion, is a leading planter of Barbour county, and the son of Ezekiel Alexander, who settled in the vicinity of Eufaula, before the county had been thoroughly reclaimed from its wilderness state. Ezekiel Alexander was born in Putnam county, Ga., in 1803. He remained in his native county until his eighteenth year and then went to Fort Gaines, but three years later returned to Putnam county, where , about the year 1824, he married Edna Dawson, after which he located in Henry county, Ala. From Henry county he moved to Dale county, lived there a few years, thence moved to Pike county, and two years later returned to Dale county. In 1834 he purchased of an Indian chief or agent the river plantation where his son Alexander now lives, and lived on the same until his death in 1879. When he first came to Alabama the Indians were quite trouble- some and numerous and he frequently worked hard all day in the field, and then rode to Irwinton in the evening and stood guard at night to prevent settlers from being surprised. Irwinton was named in honor of General Irwin, of Creek war fame, but the town is now called Eufaula- the word "eufala" being Indian for "high bluff." He was a true type of of the pioneer of fifty years ago, and made some of the earliest improve- ments in that part of the county where he settled, among which was a mill, still standing and in operation. His wife died on the 19th of April, 1850. Ezekiel and Edna Alexander were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, three of whom, Jonas D., Moses, and Mary F. (wife of F. W. Smith), are living at this time. Moses Alexander was born May 19th, 1836, at Fort Gaines, Ga., and grew to manhood on the old farm which is now in his possession. In April, 1862, he enlisted in Kolb's artillery company, with which he served throughout the greater part of the war until the surrender at Augusta, Ga., on the 1st of May, 1865. He took part in the Atlanta campaigns and Hood's Tennesse raid, and fought in a number of battles, including the engagements at Atlanta, Altoona, Franklin and Nashville, Tenn. On leaving the army. Mr. Alexander returned home and engaged in farming, which he has
395
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-BARBOUR COUNTY.
since carried on. He owns and farms a plantation of 1,600 acres, and. for a number of years has been one of the most energetic and successful agriculturists in Barbour county. He is a representative man in every respect and occupies a prominent place in the estimation of the com- munity. Mr. Alexander has been twice married; first, in 1868, to Lou E. Tucker, who bore him one child, Sarah Edna. Mrs. Alexander and her daughter were both killed in 1879 by being thrown from a buggy while: out riding with an untried horse. The animal became frightened at a piece of paper lying in the road and jumped to one side, throwing the little girl from the vehicle, the wheel striking her head, killing her instantly. The mother was also thrown to the ground and received injur- ies of the spine which caused her death a few weeks after the distressing accident occurred. June 20, 1882, Mr. Alexander was united in marriage to Ella, daughter of Capt. A. D. Bates of Batesburg, S. C., to which union the following children have been born: Andrew Bates, the eldest, died at fourteen months from teething; James M., the second born, died at the age of eight months; the living children are named-William P., Mary E. and Jonathan Dawson. Mr. Alexander is a member of the Masonic order, in which he has taken the degree of Sir Knight; he is a democrat in politics.
JUDGE A. H. ALSTON is a native of Bibb county, Ga., and was born November 17, 1844. His parents, Willis and Elizabeth Alston, were natives of Georgia and South Carolina, respectively, and of English descent. Willis Alston was born in Hancock county, Ga., in 1806; married at Georgetown, S. C., in 1823, to Elizabeth Howard, and died in Texas, in the year 1846. Mrs. Alston was the daughter of Rev. John Howard of North Carolina, for many years a distinguished minister of the Meth- odist church, and her death occurred near Decatur, Ga., in January, 1866. Judge Alston's paternal grandfather was Robert Alston, who moved in an early day from Halifax, N. C., to Hancock county, Ga., thence later to' Florida, but subsequently returned to Georgia, and died at Thomas- ville, that state. Judge Alston was preparing to enter college when the Civil war broke out and thwarted his plans. Like other patriotic sons of the south, he tendered his services to the Confederacy, and in May, 1862, enlisted in company C, Ninth Tennessee cavalry, which formed a part of the division commanded by Gen. John Morgan, under which noted leader, with the exception of a short interval, Judge Alston served throughout the war. He took part in a number of that general's dash- ing raids, which form such an interesting chapter in the war period, and was captured at Mt. Sterling, Ky., and sent to Rock Island, where he re- mained a prisoner until exchanged in March, 1865. Rejoining his com- mand, the judge was actively engaged in the service until the surrender at Charlotte, N. C., the same spring, after which he returned to his home in Georgia, and in August, 1865, came to Alabama, locating at Eufaula,
25
396
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
where he began the study of law in the office of Cato & Baker-leading attorneys of the place. The following year, he pursued his legal studies assiduously, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar and at once began the practice of his profession in Eufaula, in the courts of which, and other places, his talents soon won for him a lucrative business. After prac- ticing in Eufaula until 1870, Judge Alston removed to the vicinity of Fort Browder, Barbour county, where for some years he was engaged in agri- culture; but in 1882, he was appointed, by Gov. Cobb, judge of probate, to fill an unexpired term. So efficiently did he discharge the duties of the position that, in 1886, he was elected to succeed himself by the largest majority ever received by any candidate for the office, and that, too, when there were three popular competitors in the field against him. The judge's official record is without a blemish, and the able manner in which he has conducted the office has won for him friends among all classes, irrespective of party affiliations. His success was long since as- sured, and as a careful and painstaking attorney and safe counselor he occupies a prominent place among his legal brethren of the Barbour county bar. In personal appearance, the judge is tall and straight, and has a decidedly military bearing. He is popular with the people and his reputation as a citizen is second to that of no other man of the city in which he resides. He is a Mason, and also belongs to the K. of. H., and A. O. U. W., and is a steward in the Methodist church. Judge Alston was married December 17, 1867, in Barbour county, to Anne M. Ott, daughter of Col. E. S. Ott, and is the father of nine children: Au- gusta, wife of Laurence H. Lee; Edward O., graduate of state university in the class of '90; at present a clerk in the general freight office of Rich- mond & Danville railroad, at Richmond, Va .; Robert C., also a graduate of the state university and at this time a law student; Louisa, Philip H., Lizzie Drake, William Ott, and Augustus H.
JOHN M. ALSTON is descended paternally from an old Georgia family, and on the mother's side takes his ancestry from Wales. His great- grandfather was James Alston, who married a Yancey, a member of the same family to which the great statesman and orator of that name belonged. John Alston, son of James A. Alston, had a son by the name of James A. Alston, who was born in Elbert county, Ga., in the year 1815. James Alston was taken when a lad to Marengo county, Ala., and early in the thirties returned to Georgia, locating in the county of Mon- roe, where in April, 1838, he married Rebecca J. Norwood, daughter of Caleb Norwood, whose father, John Norwood, came from Wales in an early day and settled in North Carolina. James A. Alston and family lived in Georgia until his death in 1853, and his widow subsequently removed to Sumter county, Ga., thence, in 1874, the family came to Alabama, settling in Barbour county, near the village of Spring Hill. Mr. Alston served in the Indian war of 1836, and it was from the effects of disease contracted while in the army that his death was caused. Mrs.
-
397
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-BARBOUR COUNTY.
Alston was born in the town of Charlotte, N. C., December 8, 1822, and in 1825, was taken by her parents to Tennessee, in which state the family lived till 1829, when they removed to Talboton county, Ga., thence in 1836, to the county of Monroe, where, as already stated, she met and married Mr. Alston. James A. and Rebecca Alston became the parents of five children, namely: Mrs. Mary J. Jordan, deceased; Joseph A., deceased; James M., John M. and W. A. John M. Alston was born June 16, 1850, in Georgia, and after obtaining a fair English education began clerking at the age of twenty-one for an agricultural firm in the city of Atlanta. Subsequently he removed to Sumter county, Ga., and there farmed for five years, at the end of which time he changed his residence to Barbour county, Ala., locating near Spring Hill, where he now owns a fine plantation, consisting of 3,000 acres of very valuable land. Mr. Alston has paid much attention to agriculture, and as a result of close study and intelligent observance has become one of the most thorough and prosperous planters in Bar- bour county. He impresses all with whom he comes in contact as a man of strong character, and as a citizen few people in the community stand higher in the estimation of the public. For some years Mr. Alston has taken much interest in politics, which he thinks should be lifted from the present depth of degradation into which it has fallen in Alabama, and while a firm supporter of the principles of the democratic party believes that only good men and true should be preferred for official positions. He has attended every county convention since becoming a resident of Barbour county, and his wise counsel has frequently been of great value in shaping the course of local affairs, and bringing to the front the most competent and available candidates. He is also greatly interested in re- ligious work and has always been found on the side of measures looking to the moral and intellectual enlightenment of the community. He has filled several offices in the Methodist church, with which he has for many years been identified, holding at this time the position of steward and Sunday school superintendet. Mr. Alston was happily married, April 18, 1883, in Barbour county, to Willie B., daughter of Rev. A. J. Briggs, and is now the father of four children: James Briggs, deceased; William B., Daisy McFarland, and Jane Norwood.
W. D. ANDREWS, county treasurer, is a native of Barbour county and son of Dr. W. and Martha (Daniel) Andrews, and was born November 19, 1855. His early educational training embraced the studies usually taught in the common schools, and subsequently, in 1877, he took a full course in Eastman's Business college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., receiving his diploma the latter part of that year. In 1878 he began farming in Bar- bour county, but two years later relinquished agricultural pursuits and engaged in merchandising, which he continued about two years and then disposed of his stock and accepted a position as bookkeeper with B. B. Conner at Harris. He was thus employed till 1891, at which time he re-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.