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 63
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live stock is of the best grade and receives close attention. Both Mr. and Mrs Turnipseed are members of the Methodist church and are sparing no pains in the education of their children. Their names are David C., Jr., Walter F., Wm O. and Fletcher T .- the two eldest now members of the church.
DR. WILLIAM A. WALKER .- Among the oldest and most successful physicians and prosperous druggists cf Bullock county, Ala., is Dr. William A. Walker, of Perote. He was born in Harris county, Ga., in 1832, a son of William G. and Fannie G. (Hill) Walker, both natives of Putnam county, in the same state, where they were married, shortly after which event they removed to Harris county, where Mrs. Walker was drowned, in 1843, by the falling of a bridge which she was crossing. Mr. Walker's second wife bore the maiden name of Missouri B. Chandler, who bore her husband four children. The father died in 1848, at Ray- mond, Miss., while returning home from his plantation in Louisiana, in which state he had large planting interests, as well as in Georgia. He was a graduate from the State university of Georgia, was possessed of fine talents and literary taste, and was the owner of a valuable library of several thousand volumes. William Walker, the father of William G., was also a native of Putnam county, Ga., was a wealthy planter, and was known as "Rich Billy Walker." He reared a large family, and died in Harris county, Ga. Still another William Walker, father of him who is last mentioned, was also a native of Putnam county, Ga., was a moder- ately successful farmer, and reared a family of six sons and two daugh- ters. His father was a native of Ireland, who came to America in his early manhood, and fought all through the Revolutionary war. When the war was over he settled in Georgia, and married a Scotch lady. He was a farmer, and ended his days in the state of his adoption. The Walker family is of Scotch origin, and traces its history many genera- tions in that country, before some of its members took up their abode in Ireland. John Hill, the maternal grandfather of Dr. William A. Walker, was also a native of Putnam county, Ga., whence he removed to Walton county, in the same state, where he was a successful farmer. He reared two daughters, and died in Walton, before Dr. William A. Walker was born. His father, also named John, came to this country from Ireland prior to the Revolution. He was quite young, but entered the patriot army, and bore a gallant part throughout the heroic struggle. He did not marry until after independence had been gained, and his matrimonial ex- perience was unusual, and, indeed, peculiar. For him the matrimonal knot was six times tied, his last marriage taking place when he was one hundred and seventeen years of age to a girl of seventeen years. He died at the wonderfully advanced age of one hundred and twenty-six years. He was a great sportsman and hunter, was possessed of much ability and influence, and at one time was a member of the Georgia state legislature, and held, beside, various other offices at different periods of
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his protracted existence. Dr. William A. Walker is the second born in a family of four sons and one daughter. His boyhood days were spent on the home plantation, but he was surrounded with good educational ad- vantages, and after due preparation entered the State university of Georgia, from which he graduated in 1850. After reading medicine with Dr. J. W. Pitts, in Harris county, Ga., until properly qualified, he at- tended the Jefferson Medical college, at Philadelphia, where he took his degree in 1854. The next three years he practiced in his native county, and located in Perote, Ala., where for the first few years he had a limited neighborhood clientele, but at present there is no more popular physician in the county, nor one whose, services are in more constant demand. When the call to arms was sounded, he was one of the first to offer his service to the Confederate cause. February 13, 1861, he joined company B, First Alabama infantry, and served one year as second and first lieutenant of the "Perote Guards," at Pensacola, and in the bom- bardment of Fort Pickins had charge of the heaviest gun then in the possession of the Confederate army. At the expiration of his term of enlistment for one year, he enlisted in company B, Fifty-third Alabama cavalry, and was made adjutant general of Hannon's brigade, which carried on its operations in northern Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. He was first wounded in an engagement at Athens, Ala., and was sent- home for sixty days; it was during his confinement, while thus nursing his wound, that the battle of Chickamauga took place, but he recovered in time to take part in the fight at Lookout Mountain, and he participated in every march and engagement of his regiment from Dalton to Atlanta. and south Georgia, being again wounded at New Hope church and at Calhoun, Ga. His command was left for a time to hold Atlanta, but early in 1865 joined Hood's command on its way to join General John- ston's army in North Carolina. After serving with Johnston awhile in North Carolina, the corps was sent to South Carolina, where it fought the Federals under General Potter, eight days after Lee had surrendered. The boys then started homeward, and were mustered out at Hamburg, S. C. The marriage of Dr. Walker took place in May, 1862, at the close- of his first year's service in the army, the bride being Miss Mary V., daughter of Dr. J. W. and Mary F. Pitts, natives respectively of Jaspar . and Monroe counties, Ga. Dr. Pitts was the former preceptor of Dr. Walker, as will be seen above. After marriage Dr. Pitts and wife moved to Harris county, Ga., and later came to Alabama and located at Perote, whence they moved to Salem and thence to Columbus, Ga., where they died. Dr. Pitts was surgeon of the Thirty-sixth Alabama regiment, Confederate States army, from 1862 to 1864, and was very successful after the conclusion of hostilities. Mrs. Mary V. Walker was born in Harris county, Ga., and educated at Tuskegee, Ala., and became the mother of five children, of whom two are now deceased. After the war Dr. Walker, with renewed vigor and increased success, resumed his practice of medicine, and also.
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engaged in planting, which he now carries on quite extensively. The doctor is a member of the State Medical association and of the Bullock County Medical society, and was at one time president of the latter. Soon after his settling in Perote he united with Missouri lodge, No. 146., F. & A. M., and has been its secretary ever since. He holds member- ship, also, in the chapter of the grand lodge. He is one of the oldest, one of the most popular, and one of the most skillful physicians of Bullock county, is a church member, as is his wife, and the family stand in the very center of the social circle.
CAPT. R. E. WRIGHT .- In the county of Barbour, Ala., there is prob- ably no more prosperous a planter than R. E. Wright, and a no more worthy gentleman or one higher in standing among his neighbors. He was borh in Taliaferro county, Ga., in 1838. His father, John Wright, was born in Warren county, Ga., where he married Miss Sarah Dozier, a native of the same county. There he resided, engaged in plant- ing, until 1852, when he came to Alabama and settled in Barbour county, followed his vocation of planter and died in 1872, his widow following him to the grave in 1878. He was a Freemason, and, with his wife, a mem- ber of the Methodist church, and stood high in the estimation of both brotherhoods. Although opposed to secession, he furnished five sons to the Confederate army on the disintegration of the states. Rev. Richard Dozier, the father of his spouse, was a local preacher of considerable prominence and brought many of his hearers within the fold of the Methodist church. Of the eleven children born to the marriage of John Wright and Sarah Dozier, Captain Wright was the fourth in order of birth. There were four girls and seven boys in this family, and of the latter sex, five bore arms in the Confederate army, and all in the Fifteenth Alabama infantry, viz .: William, who died soon after the first battle of Bull Run; John L., who fought all through the war in the army of Vir- ginia and left a leg at the second fight at Manassas, died in peace at Brewton, Ala., in 1891; Henry C., who was all through the desperate struggle, but who was neither captured nor wounded, is now a resident of Texas; Thomas D., who entered the army at the age of sixteen, was killed at Chickamauga. R. E. Wright, after the toughening experience of a farm life in his earlier years, and having also the advantage of an academic education-and having graduated at a business college at Pitts- burg, Pa., in 1859, had beeu teaching school for a year or so, and was preparing for college when the war of secession interrupted his studies and teaching and brought him into the ranks of the Midway Guards July 1, 1862. At Fort Mitchell he was commissioned second-lieutenant of company B, Fifteenth regiment of Alabama infantry, under the com- mand of Colonel James Canty and afterward commanded by Col. W. C. Oates, member of congress from the third congressional district for many years past. - The regiment was ordered to Virginia, and Mr. Wright fought valiantly through the valley campaign under Jackson. He took
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part in the Seven days' fight around Richmond, was in the Rappahan- nock campaign, was promoted captain of his company in 1862, and at the second Manassas battle was shot through the left lung and also the right shoulder. Of course these wounds disabled him for duty, and after lin- gering in camp for nearly a year, oftentimes at the point of death, he was compelled to resign his well-deserved commission and return to his home, where for many years he was under the treatment of skillful physi- cians. Bnt he survived all this torture and is now one of the best citizens of Bullock county. After his recovery from his wounds he taught school until his health broke down, but, nothing daunted, resorted to farming as a health restorative. Later he embarked in the mercantile business at Harris, and carried on both merchandising and planting until 1891, when he relinquished storekeeping, but continued planting in Barbour county, where he owns twelve hundred acres of productive land. He now resides in Midway, Bullock county, in order to give his children the facilities for a good education. Capt. Wright is engaged in diversified farming, stock- raising, etc., to which he is very much devoted. As to farm produce he raises ample for his own wants, and as to live stock he markets fine Jersey cows, Poland-china hogs, horses and mules. Mr. Wright has always been popular among his fellow-citizens. For eighteen years he served as justice of the peace, resigning that office in 1891, when he became a citizen of Bullock county. He also served in the state legisla- ture as representative from Barbour county in 1886, but declined a second nomination for that office. The marriage of Mr. Wright took place, in 1865, to Miss Louisa P., daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Glass) Maddux, who removed from Newton county, Ga., to Barbour county, Ala., before the late war began. Mrs. Wright is a native of Newton county and is the mother of four children, two daughters and two sons. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wright are devout Methodists and are active church workers, Mr. Wright having been a steward of the church and a Sunday-school super- intendent for many years at Spring Hill, and has been honored with the same positions since removing to Midway.
BUTLER COUNTY.
JOHN L. BROUGHTON, M. D .- Dr. Broughton is one of the oldest and most popular physicians of Butler County. His paternal ancestors were Eng- lish people and members of the family came from the old country in the time of the colonies and settled in South Carolina, in which state the doc- tor's grandfather, John Broughton, was born and raised. John Brough- ton served in the continental army during the war of the Revolution and after the close of that struggle emigrated to Georgia, settling in Green county about two miles from the city of Greensboro. Edward Broughton, the doctor's father, was born in Green county, Ga., in the year 1802. He was a planter in early life, but later became interestd in the internal
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improvement of the south and was one of the promoters and contractors. of several of the earliest railroads of Georgia and Alabama, in the con- struction of which he amassed a large fortune. In partnership with sev- eral of his sons, including the doctor, he built that part of the L. & N. railroad extending from Fort Deposit to Flowers Mill, in 1855-6, and his connection with this and other lines brought him into prominence in Alabama and other states of the south. He was especially noted for his superior qualifications as a financier, and during his business life suc- ceeded in accumulating a fortune variously estimated from $500,000 to $800,000. He married, about the year 1828 or 1829, Sarah Lackey, daughter of Thomas Lackey, of Greensboro, Ga. Thomas Lackey was a native of South Carolina, born of Irish parentage, and became a resident of Georgia in 1831, settling in Harris county about twelve miles from the town of Columbus. In 1836 he made a business trip to northern Alabama, and on his return was killed by an Indian war party not far from where the town of Opelika now stands. Edward and Sarah Broughton were the parents of three sons and seven daughters, namely: John L., Edwin, a Confederate soldier, killed before Richmond in 1862; Mary, widow of H. P. T. Montgomery; Fannie, deceased wife of John B. Long; Mittie. wife of Coleman B. Ferrels; Georgia, wife of Thomas H. Hayes; L. P., first lieutenant in the Confederate service, killed in second battle of the Wilderness; Quinnie, wife of William Martin; Mattie, wife of Matthew Whitfield, and Sarah, who died in girlhood. The father and mother of these children died in 1878 and 1880 respectively. Dr. Broughton was born in LaGrange, Ga., April 25, 1830. His early educational training in the common schools was supplemented by a course in the university of Georgia, where he graduated in 1849, after which he began the study of medicine at LaGrange with Dr. R. A. Ridley, under whose able instruc- tions he continued two years and then became a student of the Medical college of South Carolina, at Charleston. His professional knowledge was further increased by attendance at the university of Pennsylvania, where he completed the prescribed course in 1853, and after receiving his. degree he returned home and entered upon the active practice the same year, but in 1854 located in Greenville. Ala. The doctor moved to the latter place in the two-fold capacity of physician and contractor, being connected at that time with his father and brothers in the construction of the M. & M. railroad, which he built from Montgomery, Ala., to Pen- sacola, Fla., completing that part of the line in April, 1861. Since that year he has been in the active practice of his profession at Greenville, and his success as a physician is second to that of no other medical man in Butler county, or in the southern part of the state. During the late war Dr. Broughton served as surgeon, with headquarters first at Colum- bus, Miss., and later was connected with the Chimborazo hospital, Rich- mond, Va., where he was engaged until after the surrender. In addition to the practice of his profession the doctor has given considerable atten-
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tion to agriculture, and is now the possessor of four fine plantations, one containing 580 acres, nine miles from Greenville, another of 600 acres. six miles north of the town, a third containing 200 acres, twelve miles north, and the fourth, of 210 acres, lying three miles in the same direc- tion. Dr. Broughton's professional reputation is of the highest order of excellence. Of strong character, healthful presence and sympathetic heart, he always calms the sick room, and his conscientious fidelity to duty has won for him the love and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact, either socially or in his capacity as medical adviser. He possesses many of the elements of popularity, and his deportment is characteristic of the cultured southern gentleman. The doctor was mar- ried, in 1864, at LaGrange, Ga., to Sarah, daughter of Thomas Ashford. Mrs. Broughton bore her husband four children, and departed this life in 1878. The following are the names of the children: Mary, deceased at the age of four years: Mary, wife of H. G. Wilkinson; Edward, a medical student at Tulane university, New Orleans, and Thomas A., who is now pursuing the study of medicine under the instruction of his father. Dr. Broughton is a member of the F. & A. M., and belongs to the Bap- tist church, of which his wife was also a communicant.
JUDGE ANDERSON CRENSHAW was born in South Carolina. on May 22, 1783, and died in Butler county, Ala., August 31, 1847. He was the first graduate of the university of South Carolina, at Columbia, and entered the legal profession and became distinguished as a lawyer in his native state. He removed to Alabama about 1819, and settled at Cahaba, the capital, and removed to Butler county about 1821. He was circuit judge from 1821 to 1838, and the circuit judges constituted the supreme court of the state until 1832; was chancellor of southern division of Alabama from 1838 till his death, in 1847, and while on the supreme bench became somewhat noted for rendering dissenting opinions, which afterward be- came the law. He was a fine classical scholar, and of considerable at- tainments and quaint learning. The following extract is from Garrett's Public Men of Alabama: "He was a whig in politics, but so moderate in his views and feelings, and so devoted to the duties of the high places he occupied, that the question of party politics was never brought to bear upon him, in consequence of which he was retained in office under elections of the legislature, when large democratic majorities existed. His virtues as a man, and his abilities and integrity as a judge, gained the public confidence from the beginning of his long administration of justice, which he retained to the last. Nothing more need be added to such a pregnant record of success." Crenshaw county, Ala., was named for him.
WALTER H. CRENSHAW was born in South Carolina, July 7, 1817, and died in Butler county, Ala., December 7, 1878. He was a member of the house of representatives from his county, 1838, 1840, 1841. 1847, 1861-2-3-4;
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was speaker in 1861-2-3-4; state senator 1851-3-1865, and 1866; presi- dent of the senate 1865-6, and a member of the state convention of 1865, which framed the state constitution of that year. As a presiding officer he gave entire satisfaction, and as a public man, few in the south gained a more enviable reputation. He was long in public life in Alabama, and always maintained a high character for abilities and integrity. His judg- ment could at all times be safely trusted, and his example is worthy of all the praise due to exalted virtue and patriotism. The following is from an obituary notice by a friend. "Judge Walter H. Crenshaw was solid rather than brilliant and possessed a mind of remarkable balance
and clearness. On the establishment of the criminal court for this county in 1971, he was elected judge and discharged the duties with char- acteristic energy and ability. He resigned that position to accept his election as one of the codifiers of the law of Alabama, and for nearly a whole year bent his energies of mind and body to the work-eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, and which his family believe was the produc- ing cause of the paralysis with which he was stricken down. He seemed to retain all he ever knew; he was, as near as can be, a walking library of legal and political information of Alabama and the union. Thus has passed away one of the old land marks of Butler county, and a large con- tributor to the character and grandeur of Alabama, as he was a man whose character for truth, honor, integrity, was without spot or blemish and a model in social and family relations."
EDWARD CRENSHAW, prominent member of the Greenville bar, and son of the late Judge Walter H. Crenshaw, is a native of Butler county, Ala., born on the 29th day of August, 1842. He was liberally educated in the universities of Alabama and Virginia, completing the law course in the latter institution, and in 1861 entered the Confederate service as second lieutenant of company K, Seventeenth Alabama volunteer infantry, and in March, 1863, was promoted captain of company B, Fifty-eighth Alabama regiment. May, 1864, he received the appointment of second lieutenant in the Confederate marine corps, and subsequently became first lieutenant of marines on the Confederate privateer Tallahassee, which captured about forty Union vessels during the war. On leaving the service, Mr. Crenshaw began to practice his profession in Greenville, and in 1869 was elected clerk of the circuit court for Butler county, the duties of which position he discharged in a highly creditable manner until 1874. Since the expiration of his official term Mr. Crenshaw has given his entire attention to his profession, and now has a large and lucrative legal busi- ness in Butler and other counties of southern Alabama. He stands high among his professional brethren of the Greenville bar, and is a fitting representative of the family which, for many years, exerted such a pow- erful influence in the legal profession of southern Alabama. Mr. Cren- shaw and Sarah E. Britton were united in marriage in 1873, and to their union have been born two children, Arthur and Edith Crenshaw.
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JAMES W. DARBY, a well known and reliable business man of Garland, Butler county, is a native of Alabama, born in the county of Pike, Jan- uary 25, 1840, and is a son of Benjamin F. and Evaline Darby. He had the advantages of a common school education and in April, 1861, entered the Confederate army, as a private, enlisting in company E, Fourth Ala- bama infantry, with which he served during the war, principally in Vir- ginia, where he participated in the battles of Seven Pines, second Man- assas, Fredericksburg, Antietam, South Mountain, Suffolk, Gettysburg and many others, in one of which, the engagement at Gaines farm. he received a painful wound in the left leg just below the knee. He was made captain of his company in 1864, and was with his command in all the battles around Richmond, and at the final surrender at Appomattox laid down his arms, bidding adieu to military life and returning to Butler county, Ala., and engaging in the mercantile business at Garland, where he has ever since resided. Mr. Darby was united in marriage with Mary J., daughter of J. J. Simkins, on the 27th day of May, 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Darby have three children, namely: John J., engaged in merchandising at Dunham, Ala .; Anna E., wife of A. W. Powell, and William A. In his political belief Mr. Darby is identified with the democratic party, fra- ternally he belongs to the K. of H. and Masonic orders, and in religion is a communicant of the Baptist church, as is also his wife. He is a man of fine intelligence and of good business capacity, and has stamped the impress of his character upon the community of which for so many years he has been a prominent factor. His father, Benjamin F. Darby, was born in Montgomery county, Ala., on Line creek, about the year 1818, and was a man of much more than ordinary powers of mind, a great reader, especially of literature pertaining to the political history of the country. He was first married about 1838 in Pike county, Ala., to Evaline Rainer, who died in 1841, leaving one child, the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch. His second marriage was consum- mated in 1842 with Anne E. Moore, by whom he became the father of seven children, namely: Benjamin C., Melissa, wife of J. B. Bockman; Susan, wife of L. D. Bass; Martha, wife of Mr. Douglass, T. J., John W., and Ida. Benjamin F. Darby was about one year old when the Indians forced the family to move to Clarke county, where they remained a short time only, and then removed to Pike county, Ala., remained until 1858, and then changed his residence to Butler county, near Garland, where he lived until the breaking out of the war, at which time he entered the Confederate service as a member of the Seventh Alabama infantry. He was made a prisoner at La Grange, Ga., in 1864, and taken to Camp Chase, where he contracted a disease, from the effects of which he died the same year. James Darby, father of Benjamin F., was born of Scotch- Irish parentage in Edgefield district, S. C., and became a resident of Alabama about the year 1815, settling in Clarke county, thence moved to Pike county, where his death occurred in 1849.
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