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 70
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SAMUEL NOBLE (deceased) .- The founder of Anniston, Samuel Noble, who died August 13th, 1888, was a son of James and Jenifer (Ward) Noble, of England, whose memoirs appear elsewhere in this work. Of the six sons of James and Jenifer Noble, Samuel became the most prominent, and really the man of the family. The family moved from Pennsylvania to Rome, Ga., in 1855, before Samuel attained his majority, and established a foundry and machine works; the business prospered and their plant was from time to time enlarged. During the war they built an iron furnace in Cherokee county, Ala., which they named Cornwall furnace, and which was destroyed by Blair's army corps in 1863. About the same time part of Sherman's army destroyed all the works in Rome, leaving the family owning only the ground the various industries had stood upon, and their homes. It was a time that required genius, energy and cour- age. Samuel Noble possessed all three; he also had friends who placed the greatest confidence in his ability and honesty. At the close of the war, he organized, with his brothers, a stock company, and built rolling mills, nail works, machine and car works and foundry, and did a success- ful business. Being greatly in need of a good quality of iron, with which to supply their works, Samuel Noble prospected among the hills of Cal- houn county, Ala., where he found a literal mountain of brown hematite iron ore, where Anniston now stands, and in 1872, purchased 2,000 acres for $20,000. Needing a partner to assist in building furnaces, he met in Charleston, S. C., Gen. Daniel Tyler, to whom he described the property. Gen. Tyler came to Alabama, was delighted with what he saw, and the result was a partnership, composed of three Nobles and three Tylers, each family taking half. Mr. Alfred Tyler (son of Gen. Tyler) and Mr. Samuel Noble, being placed in charge as president and vice-president ..
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A furnace was immediately erected for charcoal iron. Every dollar the furnace made was put into improvements, other furnaces were erected, stores built, mills, depot, churches, schools, residences, and streets laid off and macadamized, shade trees planted, electric lights and water works built. The foundries and other works of Noble Bros. were moved from Rome to Anniston, thus concentrating their interests, and adding to the wealth of the town. The company refused to sell an acre of ground un- til the city was completed on a firm basis. They named it Anniston, and the place at once sprang to the front as a noted and prosperous city. Mr. Noble's time, money and energy were given to Anniston; his own business was of secondary importance; and whenever anything for the good of the city was to be done, all eyes were naturally turned to him, to take the initiative. Mr. Noble had an indomitable will, an energy that almost beggars description, an ambition, boundless yet praiseworthy in its channels, and a mind bold and decisive, comprehensive in its scope, yet with a wonderful aptitude for details-these constituted his elements of greatness. His many unostentatious deeds of charity, and his munificent donations to religious and educational institutions, proclaim a good man. Mr. Noble was an Episcopalian, but the builders of almost every church in Anniston have had tangible evidence of his liberality. Without Noble there would have been no Anniston. The city of Anniston is a monu- ment as lasting as the towering hills that overlook her lovely valleys, in which he opened mines, built furnaces, planned and laid out a city. He built and equipped railroads, erected and endowed institutions of learn- ing, built and aided in the building of churches; and all these things he accomplished by an irresistable will, indomitable energy, and aggressive spirit. He was an ardent advocate of the protective tariff and wrote many able articles upon this subject for leading newspapers and magazines which attracted wide attention. The greatest statesmen of the day had not more thoroughly mastered the science of political economy, and of government, than he had. Judge W. D. Kelly, ( "Pig Iron" Kelly) said of him: "Sam'l Noble's knowledge of statistics transcends anything I have ever heard." Mr. Noble was only fifty-four years of age and was cut down in the very zenith of his greatest successes, and leaves unconsummated some of the greatest plans of his life.
Southern industry looses one of her greatest chieftains, and the labor of the south one of its truest friends. John Temple Graves, the greatest orator of the south, wrote of Samuel Noble: "He was the pioneer of southern development; while others were dreaming and waiting, he was at work. For thirty-four years he had lived and moved among the people of north Georgia and Alabama an inspiration to energy, hope and determination; his brave spirit knew no discouragement. his iron energy sought no rest. He was always a posi- tive force, and always progressive. He led without question, and by right of superior qualities the great advance of southern interests. The south to-day owes no deeper debt of gratitude then to the heroic pioneer of in-
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dustrial developement who sleeps to-day with folded hands on the hillside overlooking the notable city which they built. No human hands that we wot of have accomplished more."
WILLIAM NOBLE, one of the leading iron men of Alabama, was born in England in 1836, and came with his parents, James and Jenifer Noble, to America in 1837. They first settled in Reading, Pa., where James Noble built a foundry and machine shop, which were destroyed by fire. He rebuilt the works and remained there until 1855. In consequence of shipping most of his products to North Carolina and Tennessee he decided to transfer his business to Rome, Ga., where he built a foundry and machine shop. In 1860 he built a rolling mill. Here he manufactured guns, cannon and shot for the Confederate army. In 1858 he built the first locomotive ever built in the south. Immediately after the war, he began the manufacture of car wheels, axles, etc. Mr. William Noble was president of the Georgia Car company, which was located in Cartersville, Ga. In 1885 he moved the plant from Georgia to Anniston, also their car and wheel works from Rome -- which is now the United States Car company. He is also one of the incorporators of the Woodstock Iron company, which was formed in 1877. He also built a charcoal furnace in Cornwall, Cherokee county, Ala., which was destroyed by the Union armny in 1864. Mr. Noble is a member of the order of Elks, and an uncompromising democrat. Mr. Noble owns one of the handsomest residences in Anniston, with beautiful grounds, with artificial lakes which contain gold fish and beautiful water lillies.
J. B. PALMER, commissioner of Calhoun county, was born in 1837, son of Seborn and Mary (Blake) Palmer, both natives of South Carolina who came to Calhoun county in 1831, and at that time there was not a white man between Piedmont and Jacksonville. Seborn Palmer was a great friend with Indians, and at one time he left his family with them and went back to Georgia. He helped to gather up the Indians and was a great help to the government in getting them to leave without any trouble. Mr. Palmer was the first to bring white (or Irish) potatoes to Calhoun county. He lived to be one of the wealthy men of Alabama, although he came to Alabama about $1,000 in debt. Mrs. Mary Palmer was a daughter of William and Charlotte Blake, natives of Virginia, and the former a sol. dier in the war of 1812. J. B. Palmer was reared in Calhoun county and here attended the common school. In October, 1860, he married Emma, Graham, daughter of John R. and Elizabeth (Callaway) Graham. This union resulted in the birth of nine children, of whom only three are liv- ing: Mary, James P., and Fannie. Mrs. Palmer was born in this county in 1846. In 1861, Mr. Palmer enlisted in company E, Thirtieth Alabama regiment, under Capt. McBee, and served until close of the war with the rank of orderly sergeant. He was wounded at Baker's Creek, in 1863, was then captured and paorled. After the war he beagn farming, fol- lowed it three years, and then began merchandising at Ladiga and con-
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ducted business at this point until 1886. In 1888 he was elected by the democratic party as commissioner of Calhoun county and at the last election was again elected by a good majority. He is a member of the Masonic order, is one of Calhoun's county's best citizens, and he and wife are members of the Baptist church.
B. F. PEA( OCK, general manager of the United States rolling mill of Anniston, which was built in 1863, but which was not very successful until Mr. Peacock was made manager in 1887, is an Englishman by birth, and in his native country acquired his knowledge of the iron working trade. He was manager there in some of the largest rolling mills in the country. Beginning at the age of eleven years he grew up in the business and learned it thoroughly both in theory and practice. After coming to the United States, he located in Pittsburgh, Penn., and then came to Anniston, Ala., and since this time has been connected with the United States rolling mill in that city. He married Anna E. Port, by whom he has had nine children, viz Francis, Edward, Benjamin H., Frederick A., Emily F., Anna L., Adelaide, Ethel S., and May. Francis, the eldest son is a draughtsman and civil engineer. He made all the drawings for all the extensions of the United States works in Anniston. He is now leading draughtsman and assistant engineer at the Maryland Steel company near Baltimore; Edward, the second son, now holds a position in a ship building company and is the engineer draughts- man of the company. The mother of these children was born in Eng- land. Both Mr. and Mrs. Peacock are members of the Episcopal church. Mr. Peacock is one of the most skillful workers in wrought iorn in the state of Alabama, his education in that line having been obtained in Eng- land, where skill in all trades is required. He prepared for the Annis- ton meeting of Alabama Industrial and Scientific society, which met in 1891, a valuable paper on "The Future of the Iron and Steel Industry in Alabama," which is full of information and close reasoning, and in which Mr. Peacock states his belief in the direct production of iron and steel from the ore without the interventon of the blast furnace and puddling furnace, in view of the fact that a direct process was practiced by certain of the ancients. His son, Francis L. Peacock, is one of the most skillful draughtsman in the United States, developing the faculty while very young, in England, where he produced a drawing which took the leading prize.
G. W. PHILLIPS, a prominent citizen of Calhoun county, is a native of Union district, S. C., and was born in 1842. a son of Joseph and Jane (Presley) Phillips, also natives of South Carolina. The father was a son of Peter Phillips, who was a native of Ireland. Peter Phillips was a son of Gabriel Phillips, also of Ireland. The grandfather and great grandfather were both soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and the father was in the war of 1812. Joseph Phillips first married Sallie Presley, and after her death, married Jane Presley-sisters. He has six children
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by the first marriage and eight by the second. He came to Alabama in 1854, and was one of the wealthiest men of Calhoun county. He settled on the farm where his son, G. W. Phillips, now lives, and erected a flour and grist-mill, the running gear of which is still in use. He was a Quaker in religious belief. His wife was a native of South Carolina and was of the old Huguenot stock. She was a daughter of Charles Presley and of French descent. Chalres Presley was a member of one of the royal families and on account of his religious belief had to leave his native land. G. W. Phillips was reared on the old farm where he now lives. He had the advantages of but little education, the late war depriving him of a good schooling. In March, 1861, he enlisted in company B, Seventh Ala- bama infantry, under Capt. R. W. Draper, and served twelve months; and in 1862, enlisted in company D, Second Alabama cavalry, under Capt. J. J. Pigues, and served until the close of the war, taking part in some very hard-fought battles in the Georgia campaign, acting as courier for Gen. Joe E. Johnston and going with that general in front of Sherman's army to Savannah. On the 9th of October, 1861, he received a gun shot wound in the back of the neck, when they attacked Col. Wil- son's Sixth New York Zouaves on St. Rosa island, Fla. He never went into the hospital, and after coming around all right he went on with the fight and captured one of the artillery men by name of Col. Vogoes. After leaving Georgia he went with the army through North Carolina and South Carolina and later on, in 1865, at Greensboro, N. C., his com- pany was detached as an escort and guard for Pres. Jefferson Davis, and went with him to Abbeville, S. C .; on the 9th of May, 1865, his brigade surrendered at Forsythe, Ga. He served through the entire war as a private, refusing to accept a promotion. After the war had ended he returned to the old farm and began to restore his lost fortunes by farm- ing and has continued at that occupation, running for twenty-three years in connection with the old mill that his father built. He received what knowledge he has of milling in this same old mill while yet a youth. His father owned a tract of land six miles square before the war and dur- ing the war it was all swept away, but since then Mr. Phillips, determined to own a portion of the old homestead, by close economy has acquired means sufficient to purchase 120 acres of the old homestead. In October, 1865, Mr. Phillips married Jane Hickman, daughter of William P. and Louisa C. (Roebuck) Hickman. Five of the eight children born to this union are living: Willie, Gertrude, Addie, Mattie, Maggie E., and Ida. Mrs. Phillips was born in Tuscaloosa county in 1848. Mr. Phillips and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while he is a mem- ber of the Masonic order, and has been a member since 1865. He is one of the true-blue democrats and a worthy citizen of the county.
J. H. PRICE, an old pioneer of Calhoun county, was born in Sevier county, Tenn., October 18, 1832, a son of James and Sarah (Shields) Price, natives of South Caorlina. The father was a son of William and
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Mary Price. The grandfather was a native of Ireland, and came to America in the latter part of the eighteenth century. James Price was in the war of 1812, and moved to Tennessee with his father in 1818. Mrs. Sarah Price was daughter of Medy and Mary Shields. The father of Medy Shields was a native of Scotland and came to America during the Revolutionary war and was at Braddock's defeat. J. H. Price came with his parents to Alabama in November, 1832. They first settled at Jacksonville, on an Indian reservation, which they improved, but which was afterward taken from them by a land company, and then they entered land on Ohatchee creek, where James Price remained until 1858, when he bought the land where Piedmont now stands, and lived to be one of the leading citizens of the county. J. H. Price was reared on the farm-a vocation he had always followed excepting four years that he worked at carpentering. He attended school but three months in his life, but through the avenues of books and papers he is well posted on subjects of general interest. In 1861 he was married to Mary M. Garrett, daughter of Edward and Millie Putman) Garrett, natives of South Carolina. In 1861 he enlisted in company E, Capt. Magby, Thirtieth Alabama regi- ment, under Gen. E. W. Pettus, and served until the end of the war. He was wounded at Kenesaw Mountain, but was with Gen. Joe E. Johnston in his wonderful retreat. After the war he returned to Calhoun county, and has followed farming since that time, but serving as coroner four years. He is a member of the Masonic order and he and wife are mem- bers of the Baptist church.
G. B. RANDOLPH, postmaster of Anniston, was born in Kentucky in 1844, a son of William and Sarah C. (Crane) Randolph. The father was born in Loudoun county, Va., in 1765, and was with St. Clair at the time of his defeat and was afterward with Anthony Wayne. His duty was to keep the soldiers supplied with powder. He removed to Louisville, Ky., in 1818, and cleared the ground on the corner of Fifteenth and Broadway, and the log house he there built stood until 1862, when it was torn away to make room for a fort built by the Union forces to repel the expected advance of Bragg's Confederate focres on his Kentucky invasion in 1862. He was a son of John Randolph, a native of Loudoun county, Va. Mrs. S. C. Randolph was a native of Maryland. G. B. Randolph was reared on the farm and received a common school education. In 1861 he enlisted in company M, Twelfth Kentucky cavalry, being then seventeen years of age, and served through the entire war. His brother, William Ran- dolph, came to Alabama in 1856, and at the breaking out of the late war entered company E, Forty-fourth Alabama infantry, as second lieutenant, while George B. was in the Union army. William was subsequently, transferred to company C, of the Forty-fourth Alabama, and was killed at Gettysburg, Pa., with the regimental colors in his hands. After peace was declared, George B. remained in Alabama and first located at Mont- gomery, where he remained until the fall of 1878 in the mercantile busi-
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ness, and also deputy United States marshal, under Gen. R. W. Healy, for seven years; in 1878 he went to Bibb county, where he was connected with the timber business until 1881, then he went to Birmingham and bought forty acres, on which a part of the city is built, but remained a short time only, when he was appointed agent for the Alabama Mineral Land company, and then removed to Talladega, where he kept up his connection with this company until 1883, when he located in Anniston, Ala., and was appointed postmaster in 1889, a position he now holds. He is also a member of the school board of the city of Anniston. September 11, 1872, he married Elizabeth R. Lewis of Cincinnati, O., daughter of John and Adelia Lewis. This happy union ahs been blessed with seven children, six of whom are living: Ethel, George H., Raymond, Arthur A., William and John. The mother was born and reared in Cincinnati. He and wife are members of the Episcopal church, while he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the G. A. R. He is one of the leading republi- cans of the state and wields a great influence in his party. Mr. Ran- dolph is one of the same family of Jonn Randolph of Roanoke.
WALKER REYNOLDS was born in Warren county, Ga., in 1799, and came to Alabama in 1832, settling among the Indians in Talladega county, buying his land from them, with whom he was on very friendly terms, though on one occasion he came unexpectedly on and Indian who had killed, and was butchering, an ox of his. The Indian jumped for his gun- Mr. R. fired first-the Indian, down, with one leg broken, leveled his rifle at Mr. R., who stood behind a small tree reloading. The Indian's bullet. cut the bark of the tree and hit Mr. R. a glancing shot in the abdomen, after which he captured the Indian and had him punished by law for his misdemeanor; neither wound proved serious and both recovered. Walker Reynolds was a son of Reuben and Margaret Reynolds, both of whom were natives of South Carolina; he was reared on a plantation and followed the vocation of a planter through life. In 1850 he was elected to represent. Talladega county in the state legislature, and while thus serving, secured the passage of the charter of the old Selma, Rome & Dalton railroad, now the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia. He at once took the lead in the construction of this road, made liberal and large subscriptions thereto, and to him is due most of the credit of its having been built. In 1826 he married Epsey Gibson of Georgia, who died in 1838, leaving of this marriage one child, Thomas H. In 1841 he married Hannah E. Welch a. native of Virginia, and left at his death in January, 1871, of this union, six living children, viz .: Epsey A .; Jane P .; Bessie. ; Mary W .; O. M .; and Maud. Epsey A. died in 1878, she was married twice, first to S. N. McCraw, and next to Dr. I. T. Tichenor, leaving one child by each marriage-Miss Newton McCraw and Walker R. Tichenor. Mrs. Hannah E. Reynolds died in October, 1890. Mr. Reynolds was a Union man before, but went with his adopted state after she seceded; on account of his old age he did not enter the service of the Confederate States, but he
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fed the wives and children of those who were fighting for the cause and also the widows of those who fell. Although he came to Alabama a poor man he succeeded, by untiring energy and excellent judgment, in accu- mulating a large property. Both Walker and Hannah E. Reynolds were lifelong members of the Baptist church, kept open house in their hospit- able and elegant mansion and were known far and wide for their charity and kindness to those in distress.
O. M. REYNOLDS, a prominent citizen of Calhoun county, was born in Talladega county in 1854. He is a son of Walker and Hannah E. Reynolds, was reared on the plantation, received a common school education and then atttended the Virginia Military institute at Lexington, Va., entering in 1869 and graduating in 1873, standing fifth in a class of fifty-three. His father having died while he was in college, he at once, upon graduating, returned to the old homestead and engaged in planting, and assisting his mother in setting up the affairs of the estate. He remained on the plan- tation until his mother's death in October, 1890. He then removed to Anniston in Calhoun county, Ala., widely known as the Model City. In 1879 he was married in Frankfort, Ky., to Miss Eliza Talbot Smith (daughter of Col. E. R. and Margaret E. Dudley Smith , who was one of the most popular and charming of the then reigning "Blue Grass Belles" of Kentucky. To this marriage there have been born four children, viz. : Randolph; Margaret D .; Walker and Hannah E. Both she and her husband are members of the Baptist church. In 1882 he was elected by the democratic party to the legislature from Talladega county and served one term of two years in the same, but having accepted only as a matter of public duty, he declined to stand for election to a second term.
PEYTON ROWAN, one of the pioneer business men of Calhoun county, was born in South Carolina in 1816. He is a son of James and Sarah (Ful- len) Rowan, the former of whom was a son of William and Nancy (Gorman) Rowan, both natives of South Carolina. Sarah Fullen, wife of James Row- an, was a daughter of William and Mary Fullen, the former of whom was a Revolutionary soldier and an officer of Gen. Nathanael Greene. James and Sarah Rowan moved to Alabama in 1820 and located near the present site of Birmingham, remaining there until the land sales occurred in 1823, when he purchased land in St. Clair county and remained there until his death at ninety-three years of age. In 1823, when he located in St. Clair county, he located in the woods and cleared the farm upon which he lived the rest of his life and upon which Peyton Rowan was reared. The latter attended school in the old fashioned log school houses, with the puncheon floor and seats and plank desks fastened to the wall .. In 1837-8-9 he attended the academy at Bingham, and one year at Ashville, which com- pleted his education. Previously to this time, however, he had accepted a position as clerk in a store, and after his education was completed he returned to that occupation. At the end of five years his employer,
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Almeth Byers, gave him a half interest in the business and from that time he conducted it for twenty years. When the war came on they sold out their entire stock of goods for Confederate money and a few bales of cotton, which latter they divided among the women to spin into articles for their own use, and in this way never realized any benefit from the goods they sold. At the end of the war, neither one of them having any property, they decided to dissolve partnership. Mr. Rowan removed to Jacksonville in 1866 and soon afterward opened a general store there. Since that time he has been in business in this place. In 1890 he was instrumental in establishing the Tredegar National bank at Jacksonville, and was elected president of the institution, a position he still retains. He is also a large stockholder in the Jacksonville Mining and Manufac- turing company and owns a large part of the stock of the Broken Arrow Coal company, of which he is president. He has but little to do with politics, but in 1842, he was elected treasurer of St. Clair county and held the office by successive re-elections for fourteen years. He has been a Mason since 1847. In 1856 he was married to Miss Annie B. Forney, sister of Gen. W. H. Forney, whose memoir appears elsewhere in this work. By this marriage he had four children. Of these, John F. is a graduate of the university of Virginia and of the medical department of the same university. He afterward graduated in medicine from the uni- versity of the city of New York and then took a quiz course for one year. He then passed a rigid examination preparatory to enter the city hospital, in which he became assistant physician for one year and afterward had charge of the hospital one and a half years. After this he established himself in the practice of his profession in New York city, remaining there until 1890, when the boom struck Jacksonville, Ala., and his father pursuaded him to return home. His father was so deeply interested in business that he gave up his medical practice and joined him in business. The next child was Sallie L., then Emma and George A. The latter is also a graduate of the university of Virginia When the bank was orga- nized he was elected its teller, but soon afterward his assistance being needed by his father in his large business, he retired from the position of teller in the bank to assist him and his elder brother. Both Peyton Rowan and his wife are members of the Episcopal church.
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