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 86
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131
742
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
S. C. He had received an academic education in Ireland and not finding work at his trade in South Carolina he began teaching school. This pro- fession he followed for about twenty years, educating a number of men who have become prominent in the professional world. He was a man of fine mind, and began the study of the ancient languages and mastered them after he was forty-five years of age. He came to Alabama in 1857, from Kershaw district, S. C., and settled at La Fayette, Chambers county. He lived there until his death in 1886. While in La Fayette he was judge of the probate court for a short period, also circuit clerk and at another time tax collector. This was just before, during and just after the war. He was a great reader, a fine judge of law. He was a Presby- terian in religious belief. He was a man of great acumen concerning doctrinal points, and was very disputatious, and being well read in the Bible he was difficult to defeat in an argument. He married about 1832 in Kershaw county, S. C., Elizabeth Miller, who was a member of a family of Scotch ancestry. Her mother was a Miss Knox, and is believed to have been a descendant of the great reformer, John Knox. The family consisted of thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. All were reared to maturity and twelve are now living. Their mother died in 1888. Rev. John K. Spence was born October 27, 1843, in Kershaw district, S. C. He came to Alabama when a lad and has lived in this state ever since, with the exception of a short residence in Georgia. He had received a fair education when the war came ou, and in 1862 he en- listed as a private soldier in company I, Thirty-seventh Alabama infantry, commanded by Col. James F. Dowdell, father of the present circuit judge. He was at the siege of Vicksburg and was surrendered by Gen. Pember- ton. He was soon afterward paroled and exchanged, and joining his com- pany was ordered to support Gen. Johnston. When on the top of Look- out Mountain he received a wound in the shoulder, breaking the collar bone. He was in most of the battles in the Atlanta campaign. He was afterward ordered to Mobile and thence to North Carolina, where he participated in the last important battle of the war, that of Bentonville, and surrendered at Greensboro, N. C. He was at that time one of the color guards of his regiment. Returning from the war he engaged in journalism for a time, in company with Andrew J. Richards, reviving the Chambers Tribune. At the end of a year he sold his interest in the Tribune to his partner, and going to Greensboro, Ga., in company with Rev. W. C. Bledsoe, he commenced the publication of the Herald, still one of the most prominent weekly papers in the state. He remained there until 1868, when he sold out, and went to Pickens county, Ala., where he engaged in farming, teaching school and clerking until 1886. While there he held the position of tax assessor from 1880 to 1882. The regular term was four years, but his term was cut short by the legislature. In. 1883 he realized his long cherished hope, and placed himself under the care of the Presbyterian church, beginning the study for the ministry. His study
743
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-COOSA COUNTY.
was private and he was ordained in 1886. In 1885 he was called to a group of churches near Marion, Ala., and after a year he was called to a point near Anniston. After a five years' service here he removed to Good Water, where he has charge of a group of churches. Wherever he has preached he has been successful and popular, and when he has left it has been against the wishes of the people. He was married July 13, 1871, near Bridgeville, Pickens county, Ala., to Kittie Duncan. To this marriage there were no children. He married the second time, January 1, 1874, at Warsaw, Ala. to Sarah E. Stanton, by whom he has three children, viz .: Lillie Laura, Willie G. and Mary S. Politically Rev. Mr. Spence is a democrat, and has never scratched a ticket, and while not an active politician he takes an active interest in the success of his party. He also still takes considerable interest in journalism, and writes frequent articles for the secular, as well as the religious press.
JOHN F. VARDAMAN, planter, of Good Water, Ala., is a son of E. L. and Lucinda K. (Mauk) Vardaman. The Vardaman family is of German descent, three brothers, Peter, James and William, coming to America in the early part of the eighteenth century, Peter settling in Virginia, Will- iam in Kentucky and James in South Carolina. The descendants of James settled in the fork of the Broad and Ennoree rivers-called Dutch Fork- in what was then Newberry district, in South Carolina, a colony of Ger- mans having settled there. The grandfather of John F. Vardaman, Thomas Vardaman, was a son of James Vardaman, and was born in Dutch Fork about 1777, and married Annie Vining in Jefferson county, Ga., in 1801, and moved into Jasper county, Ga., where C. L. was born in 1804. He then moved to Jefferson county, Ga., in 1805, to Putnam county, Ga. in 1807, and to Meriwether county, Ga., in 1827, back to Dutch Fork, and finally to Alabama in 1836, settling in Coosa county, where he died in 1857. E. L. Vardaman was born in Newberry district, South Carolina, and was married in Putnam county, Ga., to Lucinda K. Mauk, on the 6th day of January, 1824, settling three years thereafter in Meriwether county, Ga., where he lived until the winter of 1848-9. He then came to Alabama. Mr. Vardaman remembers that year, 1849, as the year of the great April frost, which destroyed a great deal of vegetation and growing crops. He, E. L. Vardaman, represented Meriwether county in the Georgia legisla- ture in 1847, and when he moved to Alabama located first in the north- western part of Tallapoosa county, and afterward moved to Coosa county, and still later to Clay county, where he died in July, 1878. He had thirteen children, seven of whom are now living, viz. : Cynthia M., of Clay county, widow of Kenney M. Hannan, of Tallapoosa county, Ala .; Frances C., wife of George V. House of Clay county, Ala .; Mary B., wife of Edward M. Adair of Clay county; John F., Zilpha T., wife of J. M. L. McPhail, of Clay county; Adeline E., single; Annie L., wife of B. F. Luker, of Clay county ; Meinda, Minerva and Nancy died while young; William F. was killed at the battle of Williamsburg, Va., May 5, 1862. . He was a
-
744
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
private soldier in company A, Fourteenth Alabama infantry; James M., was killed below Petersburg, March 30, 1865. He was a private soldier in company C, Sixtieth Alabama infantry; Mielda V., wife of I. T. Kil- patrick, died in January, 1884, leaving a large family of children, all married. except a boy and a girl. Mrs. Lucinda K. Vardaman died in March. 1862, and in 1864, E. L. Vardaman was again married, this time to Miss Martha A. Conway, who has no children, and is yet living in Chilton county, Ala. John F. Vardaman was born May 19, 1835, in Meriwether county, Ga. He had poor opportunities for securing an education in his minority, but at twenty, and afterward, he attended school a portion of each year, for four years. He began to teach school in 1859, and in 1861 he left the school room to enter the army, enlisting first as a twelve months' man, and afterward joined company C, in the cavalry battalion of Hilliard's Alabama legion. At first he saw service in Tennessee. He was at Chickamauga, Knoxville, Bean Station and Strawberry Plains. He was a courier at the time of Bragg's invasion into Kentucky. Before the Georgia campaign he was ordered to Virginia, where he served during the rest of the war, being at Appomattox at the time of Lee's surrender. Returning home from war he became engaged in farming and teaching, and has been thus engaged ever since. He was married December 21, 1865, to Miss Julia Flynn, of Coosa county, Ala., by whom he has four children, viz .: Marshall E., married and living near his parents; John W. A., at home; Maggie M., wife of T. J. Webb, of Kellyton, Ala .; and Ada B., single and at home. Mr. Vardaman was elected county superin- tendent of education for Coosa county in 1890. He had previously served nine years as magistrate of his beat. Politically he is a member of the people's party, and sympathizes in religious belief with the Primitive Baptist church, though he is not a member. Mr. Vardaman is a man of influence in Coosa county, being one of the most intelligent of the citizens of the county and one of the most substantial and reliable. He is a pros- perous farmer living two and a half miles east of Good Water. He is in thorough harmony with the reform movement in politics and is using his influence to cause it to spread and become permanent.
COVINGTON COUNTY.
DAVID S. BARROW, planter and lumberman of Beat No. 6, was born near Pensacola, Fla., in 1828. He is a son of John G. and Catsie Ann (Dunn) Barrow. the former a native of Georgia and the latter a native of South Carolina. When yet a boy, John G. Barrow left home without having received any education and went to Pensacola, Fla., and there found work in a livery stable and hotel. He afterward married the widow Gainer (Miss Dunn). In about 1831, when our subject was three years old, his parents brought him to Covington county and settled in
745
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-COVINGTON COUNTY.
the woods near old Montezuma, the old county seat, where his father engaged in stock raising for some years, and later removed to Monte- zuma, and there engaged in the hotel business. After some years he returned to farming, milling and stock raising. The subject still owns the old mill site and operates a mill there. Mr. Barrow then devoted his time to the improvement of his farm, and spent the rest of his life upon it, driving his stock to different places to market. He died in February, 1858, about fifty-seven years old. He was one of the very first white settlers in this part of the country, living here several years before the Indians were removed, and being engaged in several expeditions against them. Mr. Barrow was a thoroughgoing, energetic and prosperous busi- ness man, and though of limited education, he was yet of sound judg- ment and was selected for office by his fellow-citizens several times, serving in the office of county commissioner for some years. He was a Missionary Baptist several years. Mrs. Barrow died in 1863. Of her peo- ple nothing is known. David S. Barrow was the third in a family of four sons and four daughters, viz. : Catsie Ann, deceased wife of Joshua Dean; Jacob G .; of Conecuh county, served nearly all through the late war, was captured in Florida, and after a long imprisonment on Ship Island, served in the army of Virginia till the close of the war; the sub- ject; Mary, wife of David Foshee, of Conecuh; Caroline, wife of Wiley Padget, both deceased, he dying during the war; Sarah Jane, wife of William J. Riley, both deceased; James M., deceased, and John J., who served all through the war and was neither wounded nor captured. The subject was reared in the wilds of Covington county, with no educational advantages. There was nothing in the neighborhood to read. Accord- ing to his method of making a comparison between then and now, a child of to-day has better advantages along the public highway or along a mill path, where he can occasionally pick up a piece of newspaper or a cigarette box, than he had when a boy. He began life for himself upon attaining his majority, but remained under his father's charge and com- mand until his father's death. He engaged in farming and merchandis- ing and for some years ran a ferry. He married, in 1849, Sarah K., daughter of Ransom L. and Sarah Dean, both natives of Georgia. They came to Conecuh county at a very early day, and Mr. Dean was the first sheriff of that county, where his wife died Janvary 27, 1863, and Mr. Dean died April 28, 1848. John G. Barrow was a farmer and school teacher, and educated his children at home. He was in comfortable circumstances when the war came on, but like thousands of others, lost heavily during the conflict. At his death he left nothing for his children. Mrs. Barrow was born in Conecuh county, and has had nine children, viz .: Zenobia, deceased wife of E. Mckeever; Sarah, wife of S. A. Jones; Jephtha D., John Julian, Ella G., Eldora D. Three died in infancy. Mr. Barrow has lived in his present neighborhood for over sixty years and is one of the county's best known citizens. He is an extensive land owner, and
746
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
has followed farming and milling all his life. He owns over 3,000 acres of fine timbered land, all of which he acquired by his own efforts. He still owns the old mill site where his father built two mills, the subject also having built two on the same site. He has recently opened up a fine place where he has excellent improvements. Early in the war he put a substitute in the field, paying him $2,500, but who afterward left, and then our subject was commissioned a captain by the state. He then recruited a company of seventy men, took them to Mobile as their captain, and continued in the recruiting service until the close of the war, a very dangerous line of service. He has been county commissioner six years since the war, and has frequently been solicited to run for office, but has as often declined. He was the first man made a Mason in this county and was a charter member of Fairmount lodge, No. 238, of which he was secretary for some years. He stands high as a member of the lodge. Mrs. Barrow has been a member of the Missionary Baptist. church for many years. Mr. Barrow is doubtless the oldest resident of the county and well remmembers the incidents of pioneer days. He is also very fond of reciting the history of early life in the county, and has a good memory and an extensive fund of anecdote and reminiscence. He is a very entertaining conversationalist and is very pleasing to the young.
HON. WILLIAM GREEN BECK, farmer and millman of Beat No. 2, was born in Wilkinson county, Ga., in 1815. He was a son of John and Mary (Strong) Beck, the former of whom was born in Barnwell district, S. C., in 1792, and the latter in Virginia about 1797. They were married in South Carolina and moved to Georgia in 1818. They removed thence to Montgomery county when there were but one or two stores there. In 1835 they removed to what is now Bullock county, but what was then Pike county, and in 1840 they removed to Covington, where Mr. Beck died about 1878, and Mrs. Beck about 1860. Mr. Beck was a member of the Primitive Baptist church. and Mrs. Beck of the Missionary Baptist church. He was a farmer all his life and quite a successful one, and though uneducated was generally well informed. With reference to pub- lic matters he was very conservative and reticent. He was hard working, industrious, honest and liberal. He was one of the first settlers of Alabama. and one of the first in Covington county. His father, Elijah Beck. was a native of South Carolina and came to Montgomery, Ala., where he died in 1821, He was probably a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was certainly a soldier in the war of 1812. Grandfather Strong was an Englishman, and died in Virginia when Mrs. Beck was small. The subject of this sketch was the second of ten children, of whom three sons and two daughters are living. Three of the sons were in the late - war: Washington, served in the latter part of the war, and died at Mont- gomery; Charles, of Baldwin county, and Wilson, of Brewton. William G. Beck, was reared on a farm, principally in Montgomery county, with but a common school education. He began life for himself at twenty
747
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-COVINGTON COUNTY.
years of age, farming in what is now Bullock county, where he was mar- ried in 1835 to Louisa, daughter of John Smith, who removed from Georgia to Alabama. Mr. Smith died in Tallapoosa county in 1839, and Mrs. Smith in Florida about 1874. Mrs. Beck was born in Georgia and died in Covington county in 1846, leaving six children, viz. : Oliver, who died in Mobile in January 1863, in the army from Choctaw county; Mary Ann, wife of Reuben Diamond: Sarah J., wife of Henry Williams, of Texas, Washington, deceased; Robert J., died in 1891; William, died young. Mr. Beck was married, the second time, to Mrs. Sarah Tane, née Johnson, who was born in Covington and had ten children, as follows: Elizabeth, wife of James M. Smith; Wilson; Eliza, wife of W. Brooks; Annanias, wife of William Cobb; Nancy, wife of George Cooper -; Charles; John W .; the rest dying in infancy. For the first five years after mar- riage Mr. Beck lived east of Andalusia engaged in farming, and then below on the river, and for the past twenty-three years upon his present farm of 126 acres, where he has a small grist mill, which he built in 1854. He has worked a good many years at blacksmithing, woodworking and mill building. In 1844 he was elected revenue commissioner of Coving- ton county, holding the office four years. In 1882 he was elected to the legislature and served on the committee on local legislation, and on pub- lic printing. He is a member of Dean lodge, No. 182, F. & A. M., at Conecuh. He and his wife have been members of the Missionary Baptist church for many years. Although Mr. Beck had but very limited advan- tages for obtaining an education when young, yet lie is one of the most cultured and best informed men in the county. He is universally esteemed and his superior abilities are recognized by all.
MAJOR S. E. BENTON, merchant and farmer, of River Falls, was born in Eufaula, Ala., in 1841. He is a son of Isaac and Settie (Segars) Ben- ton, the former born in South Carolina in 1818, the latter in Georgia in 1820. They came with their respective parents to Barbour county, Ala- bama, about 1822. They married there and still live there, Mr. Benton having followed farmning all his life. Mr. Benton served in the home guards a short time during the late war. He was very conservative in his views. Both Mr. and Mrs. Benton have been members of the Mission- ary Baptist church many years. His father, Samuel Benton, was a native of South Carolina but became an early settler in Barbour county, Ala., where he died before the major's recollection. He was of Irish extrac- tion and reared a large family. Ira Segars, the maternal grandfather of the major, was a Georgian by birth and an early settler in Barbour county, Ala., where both he and wife died. He was a prosperous farmer and raised a family of five sons and several daughters. All of the sons served in the late war. Major S. E. Benton was the eldest of seven sons and four daughters, the major and one brother serving in the late war. James M. was in the Fifty-seventh Alabama infantry, was wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, and is since deceased. Major Benton, in
748
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
July. 1861, joined company E, Seventh Alabama infantry, for one year, and was at Pensacola until the winter of 1861 and 1862. He then went to Kentucky, and then to Corinth, where the regiment disbanded at the ex- piration of its term of service. He returned home and re-enlisted, this time in company D, Fiftieth Alabama infantry, went to the army in Vir- ginia and fought in the battle of the Wilderness and on to Petersburg and Richmond, and finally surrendered with Lee. He was captured at Peters- burg, but on the second day made his escape and rejoined his command. He was acting sergeant-major from that time on, having previously served in the ranks. At the close of the war he returned home and engaged in farming and merchandising. In 1867 he was married to Martha, daughter of Trust and Mary Thomas, natives of Conecuh county, Alabama. Mrs. Benton was born in Barbour county, and is the mother of four children, viz. : Harmon; Minnie, wife of Dr. W. A. McNair; Hattie, died when a child; and Stella. They are all well educated. Mr. Benton lived in Barbour county farming and merchandising until 1891, when he removed to River Falls, where he has since resided. He owns 1,500 acres of land beside town property, all of which he has acquired by his own efforts. Upon his coming to River Falls he established a store, the first in River Falls. He was also instrumental in having a postoffice established. He was formerly active in politics, but he is now retired from active partici- pation in battles in this field, although he yet liberally supports his party. He is a very prominent and highly esteemed citizen.
JOHN M DIAMOND, a planter of Beat No. 6, was born where he now resides. in 1829. He is a son of Reuben and Elizabeth (Dixon) Diamond, natives of South and North Carolina respectively. In 1819 they came to Alabama, married, and moved to Monroe county in 1820. In 1823 they removed to what is now Covington county. They settled in the woods near to where Fairfield now stands. Mr. Diamond improved his farm, started a saw mill, and raised a great deal of live stock, including cattle, sheep, hogs and horses. He remained there the rest of his life, dying October 7, 1853, aged seventy-four years, He was one of the very first white settlers in the country, his nearest market being Pensacola, ninety miles away. He became familiar with the customs and habits of the Indians, and fought against them in 1836. He also enlisted in the war of 1812, but did not fight. He was a very industrious and prosperous man, and accumulated considerable property. He lived among his neighbors, wealthy and happy, liberal and charitable; dishonesty among the people was unknown at that early day; but he shared the hardships and pri- vations of pioneer life. His father, William Diamond, died in South Carolina, but the rest of the family came to Alabama. The eldest son, William, was killed in the McDade massacre by the Indians. The mother died in Conecuh county. The mother of John M. was a daughter of Jeremiah Dixon, an Englishman, who served in the Revolutionary army at the battle of Bunker Hill. He came to Alabama in 1819, died in
--------==
749
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-COVINGTON COUNTY.
1839, and was buried in Covington county. John M. Diamond was the fourth of three sons and five daughters, viz .: William, served in the cavalry during the war, and died in Florida; Elizabeth, deceased; Anna, wife of Henry Padget; John M. Diamond; Margaret, wife of Samuel Tynes; Clarissa, of Texas; Reuben, served in the Virginia army three years, and Lucy J., wife of William Mosely, of Texas. John M. Diamond was raised in the wilds of Covington county, with no education. He learned to read by catching the name of a letter now and then, and being in company of those who could read; being a close observer, he in this way learned to read and write. He remained at home until his father died, and then with his mother till she died, but had been working for wages at home. In 1856 he married Melissa J., daughter of Lewis and Sarah Smith, natives of Georgia, whence they came to Pike county, Ala., and later to Covington county, where they died; he in 1880, and she in 1887. He was a farmer by occupation, and served in the late war a short time. Mrs. Diamond was born in Pike county, and is the mother of twelve children, of whom three sons and seven daughters are still living. Mr. Diamond has spent all his life in the neighborhood of his birthplace, en- gaged in farming; stockraising and milling, and has lived on his present, farm since 1862. He owns about 400 acres of land in all. He volunteered his services to the Confederate cause, but they were not accepted on ac- count of his disability. However, he cared for the families of those who went to the field. During that time he worked hard and divided his earnings among his neighbors. While his boyhood days were spent. amongst the Indians, and he was thus compelled to grow up without educational advantages, yet his experience with the world was in itself a school that has 'supplied him with a certain amount of practical knowledge that has been of great value to him, and which he could not have ob- tained from books. He is one of the men that believe that honesty should be practical as well as theoretical, and has a thorough contempt for crooked ways in the business or social world.
JUDGE ANDREW J. FLETCHER, planter of Beat No. 1, was born in Marshall county, West Va., in 1829. He is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth . (French) Fletcher, both of them natives of Marshall county, West Va. Mr. Fletcher in 1834 came to Alabama intending to remove his family to Covington county, but died in 1385, and lies buried in Beat No. 6. He was a well-to-do farmer, and served in the war of 1812. His father was of English ancestry. Andrew J. Fletcher's mother was a daughter of Isaac French who was a farmer of Giles county, Va., and died there. She died in 1846. The subject of this sketch was the fifth of six children, two of the brothers serving in the Virginia army during the late war. In 1849 he came to Covington county, Ala., to look after his father's property, and in 1853 married Martha, daughter of James and Eveline Ward, natives of Georgia, but who died in Covington county, Ala. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher haven seven children, viz .: William; Mary E., wife of James A.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.