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 62
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y made their escape, and, with the exception of one private, who was re- captured, reached Johnston's command at Meridian, Miss. They there received furloughs and went to their respective homes, where they re- mained until their regiment was exchanged about three months later, when they were again called into service. Lieutenant McRae was now . promoted to be captain and was sent with his command to Mobile, where for a short time the captain was in charge of the heavy artillery; next, the regiment was transferred to the Tennessee army, joining it at New Hope church, from which point they fought nearly every day on to At- lanta and back with Hood to Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, re- treating to Tupelo, Miss., whence they were sent to join Johnston in North Carolina. But Capt. McRae was permitted to go by the way of his own home, and eventually joined his command in South Carolina, and, moving forward, soon engaged in a fight with the Federal cavalry at Salisbury, N. C., where the entire command was captured and sent to Camp Chase. Ohio, and there, in a very short time afterward, they were re- leased, the war having closed. The first step of the captain after the war, was toward securing the means of temporary subsistence, which he accomplished by entering a store in Eufaula, as clerk. The position he held until 1866. This same year the captain married Miss Hobdy, who was born in Pike county, Ala., and educated at Eufaula Female academy. This lady is a sister of R. L. Hobdy, a sketch of whom will be found in another part of this volume. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. McRae have been born nine children, of whom five are still living. After his mar- . riage Mr. McRae engaged in agriculture in Pike county, and later re- moved to Bullock county, where he now owns and cultivates two farms, producing cotton, corn, oats, etc. From 1884 to 1888, Mr. McRae was sheriff of Bullock county, and executed the duties of that office in a most. satisfactory manner. He is a member of Lodge No. 62, F. & A. M., at Union Spirngs, a member of the alliance, and, with his wife, of the Pres- byterian church. His political creed is that of the democratic party and he is an earnest and active worker in its ranks.
CAPT. JOEL H. RAINER, president of the Merchants & Farmers' bank of Union Springs, Bullock county, Ala., is a native of Sampson county, . N. C., and was born January 17, 1829, a son of Jarvis and Hannah (Ward) Rainer, also natives of Sampson county. Jarvis Rainer was a planter all his life, and died in 1832 in his native county, when Joel H., was but three years old. The year following the death of Jarvis his widow removed with her family to Lowndes county, Ala., and after the removal of the Indians to the west side of the Mississippi she settled in Pike county, where she died in 1845. She was the daughter of James Wood, a North Carolina planter of Scotch ancestry, who reared a large family. Capt. Rainer was the youngest in a family of nine children, all of whom are now deceased except himself and the eldest-born, Ken- non, who is now residing in Texas, at the age of eighty-four years. An-
J. H. RAINER.
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-BULLOCK COUNTY.
other brother, James J., was killed at the siege of Atlanta in 1864, after having served from the opening of the war in the Thirty-third Alabama infantry, of the army of the west. Capt. Rainer, after the loss of his mother, lived until he was fourteen years of age with an elder brother, and then hired out as a farm hand at $65 a year. As this was in the backwoods of Pike county, where there were no inducements to spend money, he had saved, at the end of two years, $100 of his earings. Never having had any opportunity to attend school, and being at this time scarcely able to read, he was prompted by a laudable ambition to educate himself to the extent of his means, and passed the following two years in school at Troy, and then taught school a year. The next three years he passed in merchandising at Bruceville, a little country village in Pike county. and there, in 1852, married Miss Susan A. Christian, & native of Chambers county, Ala. This lady died August 17, 1854, leav- ing one son, William Walton Rainer, now a prospeorus merchant of Union Springs, and a graduate from a commercial college of Baltimore, Md. In 1858, Capt. Rainer took, for his second wife, Roxana Ellis, a native of Pike county, who died in January, 1863, while the captain was in the army, leaving two children, of whom one, Sterling Price Rainer, is a graduate from Eastman's business college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and now one of the firm of Rainer Sons, of Union Springs, Ala. The other, a daughter, Lula Rainer, graduated from Judson college and married Prof. T. W. Palmer of the State university and resides at Tuscaloosa. The third marriage of the captain was on January 2, 1866, with Miss Josephine Wood, a native of Barbour county, Ala., and now the mother of two children-Joel H., Jr., and Stella. The former was educated prin- cipally at Howard college and is now cashier of the Merchants & Far- mers' bank at Union Springs; the latter graduated at Judson college. Capt. Rainer continued in the mercantile business at Bruceville until 1853, and then engaged in planting until the breaking out of the war, when he entered the Confederate army. In August, 1861, however, he was elected to the legislature from his district, being granted leave of absence from the army during the sittings of the legislature, after his entrance into the army, which did not take place until September 15, 1861, when he joined company I, Seventeenth Alabama infantry His
first battle was at Shiloh, after which he was commissioned first lieuten- ant. In this battle he was wounded in the left arm, which disabled him for some time. Transferred then to the heavy artillery, he was stationed at Mobile until 1864, when his command was detailed to another line of duty, which embraced the Georgia and Atlanta campaign, in which it fought at Resaca, Allatoona Pass, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree creek, the Poorhouse fight, the siege of Atlanta, through the coun- try with Hood to Franklin and Nashville, Tenn., then to Corinth, Miss., and on to Tupelo, whence the command was sent to join Gen. Johnston's army in North Carolina, where Mr. Rainer was placed on the staff of
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Gen. George D. Johnston, with the rank of captain, retaining the posi- tion until the close of the war and fighting at Kingston and Bentonsville, N. C., and surrendering at Greensboro, N. C. Capt. Rainer reached his home June 10, 1865, and at once resumed farming, which he continued until 1869, whence he removed from Pike county to Union Springs. where he again tried his fortune in the mercantile business under the firmn-name of Miles & Rainer, later under that of Rainer, Jelks & Eley, and then under that of J. H. Rainer & Sons. In 1890 the captain sold his interest in this business to his sons, and on January 17th opened the Merchants & Farmers' bank, of which he is the president. The captain also has large planting interests and other business connections to occupy his attentions, being a director in the Union Springs cotton mills, a director and stockholder in The Bank of Montgomery, and a stock holder in the Commercial Insurance company of Montgomery, and presi- dent of the Home Enterprise company. Captain Rainer has never sought office, but his natural keenness of perception and executive ability have led his fellow-citizens to seek his services on more than one occasion in public matters. Beside representing his district in the legislature, he represented his congressional district in the national democratic conven- tion at St. Louis in 1888, and has performed other public duties when he has felt it to be incumbent upon himself to do so. He is a member of St. John's lodge, F. & A. M., at Union Springs, and is an upright, christian gentleman. He is a self-made man, having risen from com- parative poverty to affluence solely through his own industry, business foresight, strict integrity and faithfulness to his trusts, and a determina- tion to achieve success.
JAMES H. REYNOLDS, M. D .- This distinguished physician and sur- geon of Mount Hilliard, Bullock county, Ala., was born in Anson county, N. C., in 1833, as son of Newnom and Lucy (Scarborough) Reynolds, of whom the father was born in Richland county, N. C., and the mother in Montgomery county, in the same state. After their marriage Newnom and wife located in Anson county, where they resided until 1834, when they came to Alabama and resided in Russell county for some time, and then settled in Macon county, where the mother died in 1856, and the father in 1864-both devout members of the Methodist church for years. Newnom Reynolds was a successful farmer and a leading character of Russell county, Ala., for many years. He was one of a family of three sons and five daughters born to Henry Reynolds, a native of Maryland, who removed to North Carolina and thence to Mississippi, where he died in Marshall county, in 1851. The father of Newnom was one of three brothers, who came from Ireland to America prior to the Revolutionary war. Two of these brothers settled in Maryland, but of the third all trace was lost. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Reynolds was William Scarborough, a native of North Carolina. Dr. Reynolds is the youngest of a family of seven children. He had two brothers who were, like him-
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self, educated to the medical profession, viz .: John A., who graduated at Cincinnati, practiced for many years, and died in Barbour county, Ala., in 1891; William, is a graduate from Charleston Medical college and is an active practitioner in Macon county, Ala. Another brother, older than the others, and named Lemuel, was a member of the Thirty- seventh Alabama infantry, and fell at Tupelo, Miss., in 1862. Dr. James H. Reynolds studied medicine with his brother. Dr. John A., for two years, and in 1854, graduated from the Nashville (Tenn.) Medical college; he then at once settled within two miles of where he now lives, and in 1856, married Miss Sarah, daughter of John and Lucy Striven, who were both born in South Carolina, but came to Alabama-and settled in Pike (now Bullock) county in 1835, when, after rearing a large family, both bade farewell to earth. Mrs. Reynolds was born in South Carolina, but was brought by her parents to Alabama when she was but two years old. She has borne the doctor eight children, all of whom grew to maturity, and six still survive, viz .: William, a graduate from Mobile medical college and now practicing medicine at Mount Hilliard; Lucy, wife of Oza Sellers; Minnie; John, a planter; Pearl, and Clyde. In 1858 the doctor settled on his present plantation in the woods. His possess- ions comprise about 2,700 acres and are devoted to cotton, corn, and pas- turage for stock of various kinds. His medical practice has extended over a period of thirty-eight years, and in the early days embraced a circuit of fifteen to twenty miles. In 1862 the doctor served about four months in the Fifty-third Alabama infantry, but the people of the neigh- borhood were clamorous for his return, and he felt obliged to resign his position and furnish a substitute to the army, that he might be able to attend to the wants of his home community. In 1886, the doctor was elected to the lower house of the general assembly, was re-elected in 1888, and in 1890 was elected to the senate for four years. He has always been an active worker in the democratic party, is an alliance man, is public-spirited and is universally a favorite. Mrs. Reynolds is a Methodist.
DR. JAMES D. RUMPH .- This prominent physician and surgeon of Perote, Bullock county, Ala., was born in Orangeburg district, S. C., in 1810, a son of John, a native of the same place. John Rumph passed his entire life in his native district, and was a very successful planter. Although a man of somewhat limited education, owing to the sparsely settled condition of the country in his early days, he was a voracious reader and became a very influential man in his district and reared a large family. Gen. Jacob Rumph, the father of John, was born in Charleston district, S. C., and died in Orangeburg district. He was a captain in the Revolutionary war and led a company all through the pro- longed and heroic struggle in Colonel Thompson's regiment of Gen. Marion's corps, enduring many hardships and privations. At one time he had a fierce encounter with the notorious tory, Bill Cunningham, but
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bore himself courageously and came out of the conflict with but a slight wound in the forenead. His bravery won him his reward, and at the close of the war he was made a brigadier-general. The father of the general came to America from Germany in early colonial times, and ended his days in South Carolina. Louis Gholston, the maternal grand- father of Dr. J. S. Rumph, was also a German, who came to America in colonial times and also passed away in South Carolina. He was a farm- er and a man who held the confidence of his fellow-citizens, who placed him in many positions of public trust and emolument. His two sons, John and Louis, served throughout the Revolutionary war, one with the rank of colonel. Dr. J. D. Rumph having well prepared himself for a medical education was graduated March 9, 1836, from the South Carolina Medical college at Charleston. He practiced his profession with marked success in his native district until 1854, when he came to Alabama and settled near Mount Andrew, Barbour county, where his wife was stricken by death the year following. This lady, a cousin of her husband, was a native of Orangeburg district, S. C., born in 1820. She bore the maiden name of Caroline M. Rumph, and was a daughter of Christian Herresber- ger Rumph, a brother of John Rumph, heretofore alluded to, a native of Oarngeburg district and an itinerant Methodist preacher of great local renown. Dr. Rumph married a second wife and continued his practice in Barbour countty until 1882, when he removed to Perote, where he contented himself with a moderate neighborhood practice, having already gained a handsome competency and having had an uninterrupted call for his services for over fifty years, and having won for himself an enduring name among his fellow-practitioners. He was once counselor of the Charleston, (S. C.) Medical association, and for some years surgeon of the Fifteenth South Carolina militia; he was also a volunteer for the Florida war of 1836, but his services were declined. He was always a stanch democrat, an ardent Methodist, and was universally recognized .as a man of erudition and as a genial gentleman. Of the four sons and four daughters born to Dr. Rumph, the eldest is the Hon. Christian Wilber Rumph, who was born in Orangeburg district, S. C., August 13, 1843, and at the age of eleven years, was brought by his parents to Alabama. He received a first-class academic education, chiefly at Perote, and Feb- ruary 13, 1861, joined company B, First Alabama infantry, known as the Perote Guards. His first military service was at Pensacola, Fla., in the various attacks and bombardments of Fort Pickens. At the close of his term of one year's enlistment, he joined company B, Fifty-first Alabama cavalry, as sergeant, under Gen. John T. Morgan (now United States senator), and operated in Kentucky and Tennessee. fighting at Nashville, Murfreesboro (where he was slighly wounded) and the raid up the Cumberland river, where several gunboats were captured from the enemy. At Shelbyville, Tenn., Mr. Rumph was taken prisoner, June 27, 1863, and for a short time was confined in the penitentiary at Nashville,
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whence he was removed to Camp Chase and a few months later to Fort Delaware, where he was detained a long time, suffering much privation, and finally was taken to Point Lookout; there he was exchanged after a few months, and February 22, 1864, rejoined his company at Columbia, S. C. He was subsequently engaged in several skirmishes and also took part in the battle of Bentonville; following this, his regiment started for the trans-Mississippi department, but at Augusta, Ga., the news of Lee's surrender came to hand and the troops were disbanded. Mr. Rumph, after his discharge and after peace had resumed its sway, settled down to planting in Barbour county, and on December 17, 1873, married Miss Alberta, daughter of Charles D. and Eliza (Crossley) Laney. Mr. Crossley was a native of North Carolina and Mrs. Crossley of Alabama. The former came to Alabama when a young man, and was a prosperous merchant at Eufaula, where he died; the latter is still living. Mrs. Rumph was born and educated at Eufaula, and is now the mother of eight children. Since his marriage, Mr. Rumph has resided at Perote, engaged most successfully in the mercantile business, and also in plant- ing, being the owner of 4,000 acres of fertile land, all the result of his well directed efforts. He is quite popular in the community, and has served his fellow-citizens as a justice of the peace, and from 1878 to 1882 in the state senate, where he served on the committees of temperance, finance and Federal relations. He is active in the democratic party and has several times been its delegate to state conventions, and for some years has been chairman of the Bullock county democratic executive com- mittee. He is a member of Missouri lodge No. 146, F. & A .. M .; at Perote, and of the I. O. G. T., while his wife is a devout member of the Methodist church. Langdon Leslie Rumph, another son of the doctor, died at Pensacola in 1861, a private in the First Alabama volunteers; a third son, Dr. James D. Jr., died about 1882; he served all through the late war in Davidson's cavalry, and after the close took one course in medicine at Philadelphia and eventually graduated from the university of Louisiana. A fourth son, John Melvin Rumph, died about the year 1882. Margaret Mary Rumph, the doctor's eldest daughter, is the wife of Newton Cochran, of Rome, Ga., and the doctor's youngest daughter is married to E. R. Haslin of Perote.
JAMES MONROE TARVER, a planter and retired merchant of Enon, Bullock county, Ala., was born in Jones county, Ga., in 1821, and is a son of Elijah and Dicy (Pinson) Tarver, who were born respectively in North Carolina, November 30, 1783, and in Georgia, May 2, 1785. Elijah Tarver learned the hatter's trade in his younger days, and having acquired a thorough knowledge of the business, went to Georgia, where he followed his trade a number of years, but during the latter part of his life devoted himself to planting exclusively. He was a great reader, and became a man of great information, and also fully qualified himself for the ministry, becoming a Methodist preacher of much local note in Georgia, where he
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died in 1830, his wife dying in Alabama, in 1858. His father, James Tarver, was also a native of North Carolina, and was of Scotch-Irish origin; he moved his family from his native state in an early day, and there passed the remainder of his life. Joab Pinson, the uncle of James Monroe Tar- ver, died in Summerville, Ala., a man of much wealth and influence. James Monroe Tarver was the youngest born in a family of eight children, comprising six sons and two daughters, of whom there are only two surviving. He was well educated by private tutors, and began his business life when he reached his majority. He settled at Enon, Bullock county, about the year 1843, and in 1845, married Miss Rachel Banks, daughter of James and Hannah Banks, of Georgia. The Banks family were among the pioneers of Bullock county, having settled there in 1840. James Banks was a man of much influence, and died in 1867, in his seventy- seventh year, having been preceded to the grave by his wife ten years. This lady was born in Monroe county, Ga., in 1826, and was highly educated. Mrs. Tarver inherits all the refinement of her mother, and has made completely happy the married life of her husband. She has borne him six children, the three surviving ones being James Banks Tarver, a merchant and alderman of Columbus, Ga., and a graduate of Auburn college; Rosalie, wife of Clarence Caldwell, and Milton, who is a merchant. at Enon. Of the deceased three, two died in infancy, and Sarah Hannah became the wife of the late Rev. D. C. Crook, a Methodist clergyman. Quitting his planting industry at the outbreak of the late civil war, Mr. Tarver served with the state troops, under Gen. Gerry, chiefly at Opelika and Pollard, until the end of the struggle, when he resumed farming, following the calling until 1867, when he connected merchandising with his agricultural pursuits for six or seven years, met with much success, then retired to the enjoyment of an ease, won through his early industry and intelligent exercise of his business talents, and started his sons on a successful business career. Mr. Tarver has done some public service as justice of the peace and major of the militia, and for forty-five years has been a Freemason. Mrs. Tarver has been a faithful member of the Methodist church since her young days, while her husband has been a steward in the same denomination for many years. He has ever been of a genial and social disposition, and is still in the enjoyment of the happi- ness that such a temperament brings. He started in life on a small farm, but at the outbreak of the war had accumulated a fortune of eighty thousand dollars, but most of this was swept away by that disaster; still, he never became discouraged, and soon partially retrieved his lost fortune, through his energy and indefatigable industry.
DAVID C. TURNIPSEED .- This thriving planter and fruit grower of Flora, Ala., was born in that part of Bullock county which was formerly known as Montgomery in 1846. His father, William Turnipseed, was a native of Edgefield district, S. C., born in 1815: he married Miss Edith Ryals, who was born in Averysboro, N. C., in 1814. They both came to
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D. C. TURNIPSEED.
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-BULLOCK COUNTY.
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Alabama with their parents, who settled in Montgomery county, about. the year 1825, and were here married, taking up there residence in the woods on land entered from the government. Mrs. Edith Turnipseed died in 1858, and William afterward married twice-the second wife being a Miss Beverly, and the third a Miss Walker. William had been a life- long member of the Methodist church, but was not an enthusiast; he opposed secession, but avoided politics as a rule, being an industrious planter who wished to prosecute his vocation in peace. He died in 1891, after having amassed a competency. William was one of the pioneers of the county, having settled there when there were but two or three stores in the city of Montgomery, and the woods teeming with Indians and wild beasts. His father served in the Indian war of 1836 and suffered many hardships and privations during the earlier years of his residence here. He descended from an old revolutionary soldier-one of two brothers who came to America from Germany. David C. Turnipseed is the second of three brothers, viz .: John William, who died at Clinton, Tenn., in 1863, a soldier in Hilliard's legion of Alabama troops, after a short term of service under Gen. Bragg in Kentucky. The youngest of the brothers, Henry Felix, is a planter of Bullock county. David C. Turnipseed, whose name lieads this sketch, was educated at home and at the state university but did not complete his collegiate course, owing to the breaking out of the late Civil war. After quitting school he farmed on his father's place until his marriage, in 1877, to Orleania E., daughter of Col. N. G. and Mary Owen, natives of Georgia, but who became residents of Ala- bama and here ended their days. Mr. Owen was a prominent planter and at one time was a member of the state legislature from Macon county; also served in the Mexican war, with the rank of colonel. Mrs. Turnip- seed was born in Lee county, Ala., and is highly educated. The young couple, after their marriage, resided near Mitchell station until 1884, when they removed to their present place at Flora, which is one of the best improved and most homelike plantations in the country. Mr. Turnip- seed started business with about $1,200 given him by his father, and Mrs. Turnipseed brought as her dowry about 300 acres; he now owns over 5,000 acres in different tracts, and is a progressive planter, who super- intends his affairs in person, and hence his success. Since his settlement on his present place he has given a great deal of attention to fruit grow- ing and experimenting with many varieties of fruits and vegetables. He has forty acres set in pears of a choice variety, ten acres of which are in full bearing; he also has apples, peaches, apricots, figs, plums, prunes, cherries, blackberries, gooseberries, etc., also pecans, English walnuts, etc., and ten acres in mnlberries, grown for his hogs, and altogether has probably a greater variety of fruits than any other man in the state. He is a thorough horticulturist, well qualified for making a success of his undertaking, having a complete set of water-works run by hydraulic ram. He is preparing to add a canning factory to his enterprise. His
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