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 53
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mention the reception of a few of these. In 1883 he delivered the address before the graduating class at Howard college, being the first member of his class to be thus honored. The subject of his address was "literature," and so ably and eloquently did he present it, that he received the special congratulations of the president, and an earnest request from the citizens to repeat it in the public hall. Of a like address on the "Indispensability of a Well-selected Library" before the Southern Female college, La Grange, Ga., the Atlanta Constitution said: "He proved himself a true knight, not yet mature, but matchless; and overwhelmed us with cataracts of eloquence. It was decidedly the best literarary treat LaGrange has experienced in many days." His addresses before the Atlanta Library association, Andrew Female college, at Mercer university, Macon, and various other places, were highly complimented, while a Memorial day address delivered at Americus, Ga., will long remain with those who heard it. In writing of it a news correspondent said: "It was a splen- did effort, and one well worthy the occasion. Its sentiments could be adopted with good effect by northern Decoration day orators, who too often mar the occasion by splenetic diatribes against their late opponents. His eloquent tribute to the Confederate princple was one that did honor to his heart and the land of his birth, while his equally eloquent tribute to the stars and stripes and our common country, did honor to a patriotic heart and a loyal American."
In the event of the restoration of his sight, Mr. Shorter expects to enter his chosen profession of the law, where his solid attainments will soon win for him a foremost place. Socially, Mr. Shorter is an honored member of the K. of P., while the Baptist church embodies his ideas of religious life. He was married in Macon, Ga .. December 6th, 1883. to Wileyna, the accomplished daughter of Col. Henry J. Lamar, and to the marriage three children have been born, Alberta, Fannie Rankin, and Eli Sims, Jr.
CHARLES F. STEWART .- Few families of southeastern Alabama are as well known as the Stewarts, who for over half a century have exerted a most noted and wholesome influence in certain localities in Barbour county. The progenitors of the American branch of the family were two brothers, John L. and Charles Stewart, natives of Scotland, who came to the United States many years ago and settled in Newberry district, S. C. The former was an accomplished civil engineer and his services were extensively utilized during the early years of Alabama in subdividing the state into counties, townships and other divisions. He settled in Barbour county, late in the twenties, served with distinction in the Indian war of 1836, and died in the year 1852. His son, Norman Stewart, born in North Carolina about 1806, married Jane, daughter of the above mentioned Charles Stewart, and moved to Alabama in 1849, settling in the neighbor- hood where his descendants now reside. Norman Stewart was reared to manhood near Fayetteville, N. C., and the marriage referred to was con-
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summated in Newberry district, S. C., about the year 1827. Mr. Stewart died May 26, 1854; his widow still survives and makes her home at this. time with her son Charles, whose name appears at the head of the cap- tion. Norman and Jane Stewart reared a family of twelve children, whose names are as follows: Mary, widow of James Bowden; J. N., who died in Texas; Celia, wife of M. S. Smith; Charles F .; Carrie, unmarried and living with Charles F .; John L .; Fannie, wife of W. N. Cain; J. H., died in Texas; A. J., was thrown from a mule and killed; D. D .; Archie, and Margaret, wife of W. H. Snipes.
Charles F. Stewart, second child and eldast son of the above parents, was born in Newberry district, S. C., March 15, 1836. He was a lad of thirteen when the family migrated to Alabama and he can distinctly recall the incidents of the long and tiresome journey, which was made through a rough and in many places wild and unbroken country in wagons., When sixteen years of age he suffered an irreparable loss in the death of his father, and from that time forward until after the war he remained with his mother and other members of the family, all of whom remained together on the home place, and contributed his share toward their maintenance and comfort. Four brothers entered the army and did valiant service in the Confederate cause. Charles F. enlisted, in 1861, in Kolb's light artillery with which he served until the command surren- dered at Augusta, Ga., at the close of the war during which period he participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, the bloody Atlanta campaign and Franklin, Tenn. The close of the struggle found Stewart in reduced financial circumstances; in fact, his earthly posses- sions had all been swept away and his first earnings after coming home was a small amount of money and a quantity of tobacco paid him by a refugee for moving the latter's family. As soon as the necessary imple- ments could be procured, Mr. Stewart began farming, and his efforts in that useful calling has been most marked and successful until he now owns a large plantation of some 3,000 acres, the greater part of which is tilled by tenants. He also is interested in a cotton factory at Eufaula, and at this time is serving as commissioner of Barbour county. Charles F. Stewart has reached his present position of usefulness and afflu- ence without any assistance worthy of mention; impelled only by an innate force which no obstacle could resist. Through great industry, good judg- ment, and fine business tact, he has accumulated a comfortable compe- tence and no one in the country bears a better reputation for sterling worth and other qualities essential to true manhood. He is an elder in the Presbyterian church, belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and has always been a supporter of the principles laid down by the democratic party. His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine A. McLeod, and whom he married on the 7th day of July, 1868, has borne him two chil- dren: John F., born September 18, 1869, and Willie J., whose birth occurred July 21st, 1871, both living with their parents.
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JOHN L. STEWART, son of Norman and Jane Stewart, was born in Newberry district, S. C., in the year 1840, and came to Barbour county with his parents in 1849. Like the majority of the country's substantial men he passed the years of his youth and early manhood on a farm and attended, at intervals, the common schools, in which he obtained a practical English education. In the spring of 1862. he entered the southern army, enlisting in company B., Thirty-ninth Alabama infantry, which formed a part of the western corps and participated in the battles of Chickamauga, and Mission Ridge. After the latter engagement, Mr. Stewart succeeded in being transferred to the artillery service, joining Kolb's battery, with which he served throughout the Atlanta campaign and Hood's Tennessee raid, taking part in the battle of Franklin, after which his command was ordered to Duck river, consequently he did not participate in the Nash- ville engagement. He surrendered at Augusta, Ga., in 1865, and returning home, engaged in farming, which he still carries on very successfully in Barbour county. Mr. Stewert was married February 18, 1868 to Cornelia, daughter of James P. Norton, who moved to Alabama from South Carolina and settled in Barbour county, where Mrs. Stewart was born and reared. She is the youngest of a large family of nineteen children, nearly all of whom reached the years of maturity, and became well known. Mr. Stewart is à deacon in the Presbyterian church and is a man of strong and well defined religious views. He belongs to that large and respectable element which, in a quiet and unobtrusive way, contributes in such an eminent degree toward the moral and material prosperity of the community. He is a thoroughly practical man, careful and judicious in his dealings, and his judgment, dictated by good common sense, has made him a valuable and most useful citizen. His plantation, cne of the best in Barbour county, consists of 1,000 acres of fine well improved land, upon which are many substantial and valuable improvements.
Daniel D. Stewart, sixth child born to Norman and Jane Stewart, is also a native of South Carolina, Newberry district, and dates his birth from the year 1846. Since his third year he has been a resident of Barbour county, Ala., where he was bred a farmer and since his twenty- sixth year he has been actively engaged in agricultural pursuits in the neighborhood where he now resides. In 1887 Mr. Stewart began merchandising at White Oak Station, where he still carries on a success- ful business, with a general stock representing a capital of about $2,000. As a citizen, Mr. Stewart has been cheerfully accorded a high and prominent place in the public esteem and his worth and sterling qualities of manhood have long been appreciated by the people of Barbour county. Politically, he is a democrat and religiously a Presbyterian.
DR. WILLIAM HORATIO THORNTON, "skillful physician, consecrated" Christian, cultivated gentleman, useful citizen, devoted husband and father, ever faithful friend," the deceased subject of this sketch, was born near Washington, Wilkes county, Ga., on the 8th day of May, 1816.
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The Thornton name was first introduced into this country by two brothers who came from England to Virginia. One of these married a Miss Acre, of Virginia, and a son of this marriage, John Thornton, moved to Georgia, where he married Rebecca Carter. A family of twelve children were raised, five of whom became physicians, Dr. W. H. being one of these five, After graduating in the medical department of the university of Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1838, the doctor spent a year in Florida for the benefit of his health, and in 1840 located in Eufaula for the practice of his profession, and soon became one of the leading physi- cians of the state. He was married in Eufaula, on the 10th of April, 1845, to Mary B., daughter of Gen. Reuben C. Shorter, and sister of Gov. John Gill Shorter, and congressman Eli S. Shorter. This union was blessed with eight children, four of whom are living, namely: Laura V., wife of G. L. Comer, Eufaula, Ala .; Anna G., wife of G. H. Estes, banker and merchant, of Talbotton, Ga .; Sallie C., wife of E. A. Graham, Mont- gomery, Ala. ; Retta F., wife of C. A. Locke, merchant of Eufaula, Ala. Dr. Thornton was never of very robust health. His life, in fact, was one long battle with the grim destroyer, and nothing but his indomitable will carried him through to a comparatively ripe age. His death occurred, after a lingering illness at his home in Eufaula, at 2 o'clock on the morn- ing of the 27th of January, 1881. The announcement of the sad event caused most sincere sorrow, not only in the community, but in the whole state, and the last rites were performed amid a vast concourse of friends and admirers, business being generally suspended, and the city board of aldermen and various civic and social organizations attending. Dr.
Thornton had been connected with the city government of Eufaula for many years. In 1857 he was first called upon to assume the duties of the office of mayor, and he was frequently requested to serve the city in the same position, "and fearlessly and wisely did he meet each demand made upon him." In recognition of his public service the board of alder- men instructed the clerk to inscribe a page in the minute book in his memory. As president of the board of trustees of Union Female college for many years, he did much to secure for that institution its enviable reputation, as the following resolution adopted by the faculty and pupils, setting forth his interest in the school, will show: "That we feel that our institution has lost a valued and constant friend, who for many years was ready at all times to advance its interest and labor for its success. We shall long cherish a kindly recollection of his zeal and public spirit." He was a chapter Mason, an emblem of that organization surmounting the beautiful and costly monument erected to his memory in the Masonic cemetery by his devoted widow, whose loving care keeps beautiful this hallowed spot. Dr. Thornton was a most conscientious and skillful phy- sician. From a tribute paid to his memory in this regard by Dr. P. D. L. Baker before the State Medical association, the following occurs: "As a physician, Dr. Thornton was distinguished for the profound respect he
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entertained for the high calling to which he had consecrated his talents and his life, and for his untiring readiness to assist in maintaining the dignity and advancing the interests of his profession. In his life-time warfare with disease and death, the hand he reached forth to succor never trembled, and the mind that devised the means of rescue never lost its equanimity."
As a citizen, Dr. Thornton was universally esteemed. Of him the Eufaula Times says: "He was noble in every impulse, true in every relation of life, genial as a sunbeam, and generous beyond measure. His benevolence and charity knew no bounds within the sphere of human want and suffering. In his church he was its most liberal member, and as a citizen was most generous in response to all appeals for the promo- tion of the welfare and progress of the city. As a counselor or adviser, he was always consulted on important public measures, and his wisdom and well-balanced mind were ever the admiration of those who knew him." But it was in his character as a conscientious Christian that the life of Dr. William H. Thornton left its most vivid impress. Becoming a. member of the Baptist church of Eufaula in 1842, and of which organiza tion he was a deacon from 1858 to the time of his death, his usefulness was most marked. From the report of a committee appointed to prepare a suitable memorial of his church life and christian character the follow- ing is culled: "It was a sad hour for this church when the great heart of Dr. Thornton ceased to beat, and no words of ours can adequately describe the chasm that was left in this church and community by his removal. As we study his life we learn more of the blessings of the Gospel. It was the lesson learned at the feet of Jesus that made him what he was; that gave to his character that perfect equipoise. And it was a divine wisdom that prolonged his life, made it lovely and beauti- ful, and filled it with labor, and honor and blessings."
JOHN M. THWEATT .- Among the successful self-made men of Barbour county, who have risen from penury to affluence through their own exertions, the name of John M. Thweatt, a leading merchant of Eufaula, is deserving of special mention. The parents of Mr. Thweatt, John and Elizabeth Thweatt, were natives respectively of South Carolina . and Georgia. John Thweatt was born in Edgefield district, S. C., in 1818 . and accompanied his parents to Georgia when fifteen years of age, and in 1836, came to Alabama and took part in the Indian war of that year. He was married in Chambers county, Ala., about the year 1842, to Eliza- beth Sharp, and after residing fifteen years in the county of Macon, changed his residence to Eufaula, where his death occurred in 1862. His. widow is still living, at the age of sixty-eight years, and makes her home with the subject of this sketch. Three sons and one daughter constituted the family of John and Elizabeth Thweatt: namely, Alonzo M., and Mosanna, wife of W. S. M. Willis, twins, both deceased; Levi M., deceased, and John M. Thweatt. John M. was born in Macon county, Ala., on the"
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11th day of September, 1850. He received a common school education and his first practical experience in life was as clerk for the mercantile firm of Bernstein & Stowe, at Eufaula. in whose employ he continued for a period of about eleven years, obtaining a thorough knowledge of the business in the meantime. In 1872, in partnership with a brother, who had previously engaged in merchandising, Mr. Thweatt embarked in the dry goods business at Ft. Browder, Barbour county, under the firm name of Thweatt & Bro., but for sometime thereafter continued to look after the interests of his employers, whose business he managed until 1876. 'In that year Thweatt & Bro., moved their store to Eufaula, since -which time the subject has had charge of the same, and since 1880, when his brother died, had been sole owner and proprietor. Mr. Thweatt is essentially a business man and cares little for the unsatisfactory excitement and empty honors of political or public life. He deserves great credit for raising himself from poverty to a prominent position in the commercial world, and his success is due to a well ordered mind and business qualifications of no mean order. Personally he is very popular with the people of his town and his sociability and honorable dealing have made his store a favorite trading place for a large section of the county. Mr. Thweatt was married December 30, 1875, in Waverly, Lee county, Ala., to Mildred, daughter of Allen Bailey who came to Alabama in an early day from Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Thweatt are the parents of six children whose names are as follows : Manning L., died at the age of four years; Maydie I. ; Mary Lizzie; Edward Stowe; John Allen; and Boyce M. Mr. Thweatt affiliates with the democratic party, is a Baptist in his religious belief and belongs to the Phythian order.
D. J. TOMBERLIN .- The list of Barbour county's successful planters and influential men would be incomplete without the name of D. J. Tom- berlin, who, since 1865, has been one of the leading agriculturists of south- eastern Alabama. Mr. Tomberlin's father, Carson Tomberlin, was a native of North Carolina, born in Anson county, in 1813. He married in that state, about the year 1834, Mary Bain, and four years later came to Alabama, settling in the county of Barbour, where he carried on the pursuit of agriculture until his death, in 1868. He is remembered as an unobtrusive man, of deep religious convictions, and for years was one of the prominent members of the Primitive Baptist church in this section of the state. Ten children were born to Carson and . Mary Tom- berlin, of whom five are now living, namely: S. W .; D. J .; R. A .; Par- melia, wife of Samuel Jenkins, and James. The mother of this family, a woman of many excellent traits of character and a devoted Christian, died in the year 1880.
D. J. Tomberlin was born January 29, 1841, in Barbour county, Ala. Inheriting the patriotic spirit, common to the gallant sons of the south, he responded to the call of his state in the troublesome times of the war,
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enlisting, in the spring of 1862, in company A., Forty-fifth Alabama infantry, Col. Gilchrist, and served in the ranks until the surrender in 1865. He fought at Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, the battles around Atlanta, was with Hood in his Tennessee raid and received two flesh wounds at Franklin. He was in the hospital when the battle of Nashville occurred, and on attempting to rejoin the army was captured in North Carolina by the Federal General Stoneman, and sent to Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, where he remained until the close of the war. After his release, Mr. Tomberlin returned home in most reduced financial circumstances, but possessing an energy which encountered obstacles only to overcome them, he has since accumulated a large portion of this world's goods, and is now classed with the substantial men of the county, owning and operating a fine plantation of 1,400 acres. As a financier, Mr. Tomberlin possesses remarkable sagacity, and his transactions, while shrewd, have always been highly honorable and creditable to him as a man of strict business sagacity and integrity. His home, where he dis- penses genuine southern hospitality, is a model of comfort and con- venience, and he believes in enjoying the blessings of this life while opportunities for so doing are offered. Mr. Tomberlin was married in 1860 to Ellen Childs, who died, without issue, in 1863. His second mar- riage was solemnized in 1865 with Laerann Price, who has borne him eight children: Gusta, wife of John Scroggins; Lula, wife of C. Baker; Julia S., wife of Henry Myers; Hepsey; Mack; Belle; Warren, and Eddie. Fraternally, Mr. Tomberlin is a master Mason and religiously a Baptist, of which church his wife is also a member.
JOHN W. TULLIS .- Among the names conspicuous in the commercial circles of Barbour county none has added more luster to the city of Eufaula than that of John W. Tullis, for a number of years one of the leading cotton merchants of the southern Alabama. Mr. Tullis was born in Edgefield district, S. C., October 3, 1839, and is the son of P. T. and Mary A. (Beall) Tullis, both parents natives of the same state. P. T. Tullis, a planter by occupation, moved his family to Macon county, Ala., when John W. was but six months old, and after residing in that part of the state until 1859, moved to the county of Pike, where he died in 1882, and his wife four years later. John W. Tullis spent the first sixteen years of his life on a farm. The educational advantages afforded him in youth were not of the best nor were they meager, but through the avenues of subsequent years of wide business experience, and being naturally of strong intellect and keen discerning powers, he has become possessed of a well informed mind, recognized wisdom and sound judg- ment. He had the honor of holding a lieutenant's commission in the first company accepted by the Confederate government, Hardway's bat- tery, which he joined early in the spring of 1861, and immediately there- after departed for the seat of war in Virginia, where he received his first baptism of fire in the bloody battle of Bull Run. Subsequently he
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took part in all the principal battles of the Virginia campaigns, including the seven days' fight around Richmond, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness and Gettysburg, Penn., in the last of which his left foot was shot away at the ankle, leaving him helpless upon the field and a prisoner in the hands of the enemy, after the Confederate army had retired from the scene of conflict. He was sent first to the hospital at Gettysburg, thence to Fort McHenry, and later to Point Lookout, where he was exchanged after a confinement of nine months' duration. Return- ing to Columbus, Ga., Mr. Tullis was placed in command of an artillery company raised for home protection, and at the close of the war engaged in the warehouse business at that place until the fall of 1866, at which time he came to Eufaula and began dealing in cotton, which he still carries on. He is the largest buyer and exporter of that commodity in Barbour county, and one of the most extensive dealers in the south - eastern part of the state, and his flattering success since locating in Eufaula bears unmistakable testimony to the superior business qualifica- tions which he possesses. Mr. Tullis has always been identified with the public movements of his city and county. is public spirited and active in everything of a progressive character, and Eufaula owes much of its present prosperity to the lively interest which he has ever manifested in the promotion of its leading enterprises. He was the prime mover, and is now the principal stockholder, in the electric light and gas work, was the leader of the agitation which resulted in the establishing, at Eufaula, of- the cotton factory of which he is president, and no one has borne a more prominent or untiring part in the work of bringing about and plac- ing upon a solid foundation the present efficient system of free schools, the pride of the town and the equal of any educational system in the state. , He is chairman of the educational board of Eufaula, and also a director in five of the lines of the central railroad system. This in brief is the story of a long and very active business life, in which the record is untarnished by a single dishonorable transaction. Success has attended all of Mr. Tullis' efforts, and a comfortable future is the result of a long and honorable consecration to the business enterprises in which he has been engaged. He takes an active part in political affairs, and though not a place seeker himself, has been untiring in behalf of friends whom he considers worthy of official preferment. Mr. Tullis is the father of three living children, of whom he feels deservedly proud, and it is but justice to observe that no finer family lives within the boundaries of Eufaula. The names of these children are as follows: Charles D., mem- ber of the cotton firm of Chaffin & Tullis, Ozark, Ala .; John W., graduate of the university of Alabama, and Clayton L., in the hardware business at Eufaula, the last two being twin partners. A fourth son, Robert W., died in infancy. The mother of these children, Mary C. Woods, whom Mr. Tullis married in 1867, is the daughter of Clayton R. Woods, a member of one of the old and respectable families of Eufaula.
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