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 II pt 1 > Part 29
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Turning from the untutored and unteachable mind of this Indian, we must seek the real beginning of the work of the Protestant denominations in Alabama in another section of the state than Mobile. The work of the ministers in the Tennessee valley, on the Tombigbee and on the Alabama, was very much akin, no matter what church doctrines were being preached. The population was at very few points, in those days, culti- vated, though there were doubtless some educated persons among them. It was a frontier people and it required something of the daring and energy of a frontiersman to maintain the spirit of a pioneer preacher. Alexander Travis, of Covington county. was a good example of the type. He would walk thirty-five miles to hold service; would swim streams, his saddle bags. that he always bore, carried high over his head. Then, too, the preacher had to stand ready to defend the good order of his congre- gation against the rowdy element that was often anxious to humiliate him and bring religion into disrepute.
It was a noticeable feature. too, of the ministry of that time. that so many christian workers followed other professions, like teaching. the practice of the law or medicine, at the same time they were preaching the gospel. In the same order of facts, was the custom of preaching in private houses, in the open air. in court houses, or in the church, of an- other denomination. Just as funerals might not be preached for many months, or perhaps a year, after the deceased had been buried. there was no preacher to be had at the time. but as soon as one came into the neighborhood, his services were engaged, the neighbors were assembled, and the virtues and faults of the dead were commented upon. It is even
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whispered, by way of tradition, that many were the marriages made in those days under a like stress of weather. the bride and groom setting up for themselves and awaiting the coming of a preacher to solemnize the rites of matrimony.
CAMP MEETINGS.
The camp-meeting was inaugurated as a practice in the early thirties to meet the trouble communities had in enjoying christian preaching, and it is doubtless due in no small measure to the awakening effect of these congregations in all parts of the state that the churches who organized them grew so rapidly at that time. One of the religious historians of this period describes the groans and cries of repenting sinners, the songs and prayers, the shouts and praises of Christians, as forming an awful yet delightful harmony. And another says: "It was not unusual to have a large portion of the congregation prostrated on the ground; and in some instances they appeared to have lost the use of their limbs. No distinct articulation could be heard: screams, cries, groans, shouts, notes of grief and notes of joy, all heard at the same time, made much con- fusion, a sort of indescribable concert."
With the inauguration of the camp-meetings, whether by way of cause or not, there began to be a larger number of stable Methodist and Baptist churches, and ministers were less itinerant in habit than, by the force of circumstances. they once had been compelled to be. Then. too, the other Protestant denominations began to get a secure foothold throughout the state.
STATISTICAL.
In 1821, there were seventy Baptist churches in the state, in 1836 there were 333. In 1892 these figures had mounted, as we are informed officially, to 1,567 white churches and 1.066 colored churches: the former with a membership of 101,033 and the latter 98,656.
The Protestant Episcopal church was first represented in Alabama by an organization at Tuscaloosa. January 7. 1-2. Its first annual conven- tion was held May 12. 1830. Alabama was formed into a separate diocese and in 1844, the Rev. Nicholas Hamner Cobbs, of Ohio, a singularly pure and holy man, was elected bishop. He died in 1861 and was succeeded in 1862, by the present bishop. Rev. Richard Wilmer. D. D.
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In 1892, there were in the state fifty-eight Episcopal churches, thirty- five clergy and 6,196 communicants.
The Presbytery of Alabama was erected by order of synod of South Carolina and Georgia. November 20. 1-20. the first Presbyterian organi- zation in Alabama. It is now one of the most powerful and respectable church organizations in the state and the reputation of its clergy for piety and scholarship gives the denomination an influence in excess of its actual members.
The Methodist Episcopal church, south, had according to the census of 1890, a membership in Alabama of 87,912, with 1,050 churches.
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The writer regrets that the scarcity of materials makes it impossible to do justice to the great work being done not only in religion. but in the educational and social world by the Protestant denominations just mentioned, and as well by the Christians or Campbellites. the Jews and others. The figures, if they were obtainable, would have but one story to tell, that of a steady increase of power and influence among the relig- ious bodies, shaping and directing, often when least observed. the destiny of the individual and the state.
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Personal Memoirs.
JEFFERSON COUNTY.
BASIL M. ALLEN was born in Caroline county, Va., December 20 1858, and was educated at the agricultural college in that state, having graduated there in 1876. He afterward studied law at Bowling Green,, Va., and came to Hale county, Ala., in 1878, where he resumed his studies and was admitted to the bar at Greensboro, in 1550. He practiced in Hale county about one year, and, in December, 1881, went to Birmingham and commenced the lucrative practice he enjoys there at present. He was a member of the commissioners' court of Hale county for two years. . He was the first exalted ruler of the Elks in Birmingham, in 1888, was re-elected in 1889, and again in 1890, and resigned the same year to accept the position of district deputy exalted ruler for Alabama, which office he held one term. and was then appointed grand inner guard of the grand lodge of the United States. He is past chancellor of Phoenix lodge, No. 25, K. of P. While district deputy of the Elks be established lodges at Selma, Anniston and Montgomery. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and I. O. R. M. Mr. Allen is the son of Rev. L. W. Allen, a native of Virginia, and a Baptist clergyman of note. He was pastor of the Walnut street Baptist church. at Louisville, when the war commenced. He resigned his pastorate, went home to Caroline county, Va., and raised a company of cavalry of which he was made captain. He served gallantly through the whole war, with the exception of ten months. when he was held a prisoner at Johnson's Island. After the war he remained in Vir- ginia until his death, which occu red in 1872 He was at one time sergeant- at-arms of the lower house of Virginia legislature prior to the war. He married Anna M. Martin, of Williamsburg. Va .. and to them were born four children, all of whom are living, as follows: Hattie E., wife of C. W. Collins, of Hale county, Ala. ; Nannie B., wife of R. W. Collins. of Hale county. Ala. : B. M. Allen and L. C. Allen, of Shrevesport. La. The mother of Mr. Allen died in 1865.
JOHN J. ALTMAN was born among the refined and cultivated people of Sumter county, Ala., August 17, 1851. He is the son of John W. Alt- man, who came from South Carolina, and settled in Sumter county, in 1836. He married Sarah Hitt of South Carolina. Young Altman com- menced life as a farmer's boy, who is ofttimes the architect of his own amusement. He obtained his primary education at the schools of his
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own neighborhood, and at the age of sixteen began to teach in his native town, to enable him to prosecute his own further studies. When he had accumulated some funds, he attended Cooper's institute, in east Missis- sippi. Later he took a course of law lectures at the university of Vir- ginia. In 1>71 he opened a law office in Butler, Ala., the county seat of Choctaw county, and was associated in the practice with Chancellor Cobbs, now chancellor of the western chancery division of Alabama. After four years of practice at that place he went to Birmingham, and became the partner of Capt. Sprott, until 1883. He was a democratic elector from the sixth congressional district when Cleveland was elected president the first time, and, was mayor of Livingston, Sumter county seven years.
F. Y. ANDERSON, the efficient manager of the Alabama State Land company, was born in Prince George's county, Md, in 1847, and , graduated from Columbia college in Washington, D. C., in 1870. He then went to Mobile, Ala., where he engaged in the claim and real estate bus- iness until 1880, when he was appointed land commissioner for the Queen & Crescent railroad, and general manager of the Alabama State Land company, which owns over 600.000 acres of land in Alabama; and the railroads with which Mr. Anderson is connected control over one and a. quarter million acres of land. Mr. Anderson went to Birmingham in 1880, and ever since that time has been prominently identified with its permanent prosperity. He is vice-president of the Birmingham chamber of commerce, vice-president of the Alabama state fair, and the president of the Alabama club. By religious predilection. Mr. Anderson is an Episcopalian. He was married in 1882 to Miss Lucy Winston Paine, daughter of Dr. B. F. Paine, of Alabama, and grand-daughter of state senator W. O. W. Winston, of De Kalb county. Ala., originally from Vir- ginia. Four children blessed the union. Mary J., Frank Y., Pelham H. and Winston Paine Anderson.
GEORGE CLAIBORNE BALL. the Birmingham broker, was born in Mont- gomery county, Ala., in 1841. He was educated at a private school at that place, taught by Prof. MeNutt. At the age of eighteen he left school, and entered the service of the Confederacy under Col. J. H. Clanton, of the Eighteenth Alabama cavalry. but after the battle of Shiloh he was assigned to Col. John H. Kelly's regiment of Arkansas infantry as a staff officer. He was afterward on Gen. W. W. Allen's staff until the close of the war, holding at that time the rank of major. He was engaged in the battles of Shiloh, Harrisburg, Ky., Murfreesboro, Tenn., Chickamauga, Resaca. the fights about Atlanta. Savannah, Greens- boro and Charlotte, N. C. Going back to Montgomery after the war. he accepted a position with the Alabama & Florida railroad. Here he remained until 1870. Going then to Escambia county, he built and con- ducted a saw mill for a couple of years, out of which he realized large pecuniary returns. In 1872 he sold out his saw mill, returned to Mont-
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gomery, and was again in the service of the same railroad, now known, however, as the Mobile & Montgomery, remaining until 1850, when he built the cotton-seed oil mills at Eufaula, Ala., and Albany, Ga., and ran them until 1886. the year he removed to Birmingham. In Birmingham, he engaged in the real estate busines until 1888. when he was appointed general manager of the Elyton Land company power works and machine shops. This position he held with credit to himself, and satisfaction to his employers for two years. He then engaged in the iron and steel commission business, now conducting the same. In 1872. Mr. Ball was united in marriage with Miss Hattie G. Mays, daughter of Thomas S. Mays, of Montgomery, Ala., and they have three surviving children -- Sumter Mays, Elese G .. and Sue Allen. Mr. Ball is a consistent member of the Episcopal church. He descends from the well-known Virginia family of that name, being a son of George C. Ball. of Virginia. and his mother was Miss Eliza J. Pollard, daughter of Charles T. Pollard. They had seven children, five of them living, as follows: Charles P .. of Carters- ville, Ga .; Maria M., widow of Frank Reynolds: Sue Pendleton, wife of Gen. W. W. Allen, of Montgomery; George C. and William Munford, of Salisbury, Md. (an Episcopal rector). Mr. Ball's father died in 1858, and his mother in 1569.
DR. ASA N. BALLARD was born in Paintersville, Ohio, October 17, 1842, and was educated at the National university, at Lebanon, in that state. He graduated there in 1872. taking the degree of B. S. in 1-71. and A. B. in 1872. He then engaged in school teaching in Harrisburg, Ill .. and Indianapolis. Ind., two years, and while in that city began the study of medicine, and attended the Pulte Medical college, at Cincinnati, graduat- - ing there in 1876. He located in Shelby, Ohio. where he practiced success- fully for eleven years. In 1>$6, he located in Birmingham. and is still living there. He belongs to the Alabama State Homeopathic society, the Southern Homeopathic, and is honorary member of the Ohio State Homeopathic society. and is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy. He is also a member of the pension board at Birmingham, Ala., and while in Shelby, Ohio, was a member of the council and school board for nine years. He enlisted in October, 1861, in company D. Forty- eighth Ohio infantry, as a private, but rapid promotion brought him to the captaincy before the close of the war. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth. Holly Springs. Memphis. Vicksburg, Arkansas Post. siege and capture of Vicksburg, Indianola, Red River, and was captured at Sabine Cross Roads and taken to Tyler, Tex. He was held for six months and then exchanged. and afterward was in the battles of Pensa- cola, Selina and Fort Blakely. He is a Mason, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married in 1-74 to Mary Harrison, daughter of George S. Harrison, of Pagetown, Ohio. They had four chil- dren: Asa Elwyn. Clarence B .. Florence, and Mary Pauline. His father
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was David F. Ballard, a native of Ohio, and his mother was Priscilla Lewis, of Ohio.
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CHOLLET BERNEY, the popular and successful banker of Bessemer, Ala., was born at Montgomery, November 14. 1847, and educated there. He entered the Confederate service in the fall of 1864, as a boy. After the war, he was employed by the Western railway, of Alabama, and was located at Montgomery until 1575, when he went to Meridian, Miss., in the employ of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad, remain- ing there until 1887, in which year he came to Bessemer and organized the Berney Bros. bank, and when that institution was changed to a state bank, he became its president. This was changed, in 1890, to the First National bank, of which Mr. Berney is still president. He is one of the directors and the manager of the Bessemer street railway company and the Berney real estate company, of Bessemer. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and affiliates with the Presbyterian church. He was married in December. 1881. to Anna Brook Barrett, daughter of Dr. Junius Barrett, of Gainesville, Ala .. and to the union was born one child, Anna Brook Berney. Mr. Berney's wife died in April, 1883.
WILLIAM BERNEY. - The president of the Berney National bank deserves high place in the history of the young financiers of the south. He was born in Montgomery, May 27. 1846, and is the son of Dr. James and Jane E. (Saffold) Berney. His father was a leading physician of Montgomery for more than forty years, and there he resided until his death in July, 1880. William Berney was fourth of a family of eleven children, six of whom now survive. He received his preliminary education in Montgomery, and a course of study in Baltimore, which was subsequently continued in Montgomery. He went into the Confederate army in 1864, at Dalton. Ga .. in Hallonquist's Reserve regiment of artillery and served as an ordnance sergeant until the end of the war. His was one of the most active regi- ments in the wing of the Tennessee, and participated in the severe bat- tles of Dalton, Resaca, Atlanta, Jonesboro and many other of the engage- ments in the great retreat of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. At the close of the war he received the appointment of deputy collector of internal revenue of the second district of Alabama. Later on, he was appointed cashier to the large cotton commission house of Lehman, Durr & Co., which position he held till he was called to the agency of the South & North Alabama railroad, which he resigned one year later. He then engaged in farming for a short time. and was subsequently appointed bookkeeper of the National Bank of Birmingham, and in 1-75 he became the cashier of that institution. Upon the death of Charles Linn. the president of the bank, he was elected as his successor. This very import- ant position he held until 15-5, when he resigned and organized the Cen- tral bank of Birmingham, with which he was connected until is-6, when it reorganized and received the name of its founder. thus becoming the Berney National bank, with William Berney as the president, its capital
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stock being $300,000. He was married April 29, 1868, to Miss Lizzie J. Taylor, of Montgomery, a daughter of Dr. W. P. Taylor. His beloved wife entered into rest December 7, 1892, leaving three daughters: Rebecca Durr. Lizzie Witten, and Mary Chollet.
COL. W. D. BULGER, one of the best known attorneys in Alabama. and a prominent member of the Birmingham bar, is a native of Tallapoosa county, Ala., where he was born March 1, 1844, and where he secured his primary education. He then went to Dadeville, Ala., where he worked for five years in a printing office, and then went to Marysville, Tenn., where he attended school. until the spring of 1861, when he entered the Confederate service, enlisting in a company organized by Capt. Thrasher, which was assigned to the Thirty-eighth Tennessee infantry, and on the reorganization of that regiment, in the summer of the same year, private Bulger, was made commissary, and served in that capacity for about a year. He then resigned and enlisted as a private soldier in the Forty- seventh Alabama regiment, which was organized by his father. M. J. Bulger, who soon after became its colonel. He served in this regiment, until the battle of Chickamauga, where he was wounded, and after par- tially recovering, he was assigned to detailed duty at Mobile, Ala., and commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Third Alabama reserves, which rank he held at the close of the war. He was in the battles of Cedar Run, Second Manassas, Chantilly Farm, Fredericksburg. Sharpsburg or Antietan, Gettysburg and Chickamauga. He was wounded in the right hip at Sharpsburg, and in the knee at Chickamauga. At the close of the war, Col. Bulger returned to his native county, and located at Dadeville, where he at once commenced the study of law, and in March, 1866, was admitted to the bar. He at once opened an office in Dadeville, and soon built up a lucrative practice. remaining there until 1588. when he removed to Birmingham, Ala., where he now resides. and has a large practice. He was elected to represent Tallapoosa county in the lower house in 1870, and served one term. Col. Bulger was married in December. 1866. to Miss Amanda Crabb, daughter of James B. Crabb, of McDonongh, Ga., and to this union were born ten children. of whom six now survive. Col. Bulger's father is M. J. Bulger, who is a native of South Carolina, born in Richland district, that state. He came to Alabama about 1520. locating in Tallapoosa county. where he now resides. He has served repeatedly in both houses of the Alabama legislature, and early in 1862, organized the Forty-seventh Alabama regiment, of which he was afterward made colonel, and served all through the war, receiving three wounds. while in the service. He married Elizabeth M. Bozeman, a native of Alabama, and to them were born four children, two of whom now survive, viz. : Col. W. D. Bulger, of Birmingham, and Thomas L. Bulger, of Tallapoosa county, Ala.
JOHN W. BUSH .- This brilliant soldier and lawyer is a Virginian, hav- ing been born near Williamsburg, in that state, November 15. 1-41. He
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was a student at William and Mary college when the war broke out, and abandoned his studies to join Lee's rangers. and during the latter part of 1864, served on Gen. Barton's staff. In 1861 he was for a while courier for Gen. Robert E. Lee, prior to his entering the Ninth cavalry. He participated in the following severe engagements: Huntsville, West Va., 1862; Falmouth, Va .: Fredericksburg. where he was one of the historic seven men who crossed the bridge while it was vet in flames; and the battle of Hanover C. H. : seven days' fight around Richmond, Seal Moun- tain, Harper's Ferry, the fights at Sharpsburg, and just prior to the battle at Catlett's Station, . he captured officer Harris. second in command on the Federal staff: Brandy Station. Gettysburg, Williamsport. Cul- peper C. H., Rapidan Station, Cold Harbor. After the battle of Cold Harbor, he was appointed a scout to inspect and report upon the effect of that battle on Grant's army, and in executing this perilous mission, he had to make a circuitous ride around Grant's entire ariny. He was also in the battles of White Oak swamp, where he was severely wounded. He served on Gen. Barton's staff, and engaged in the battle of Five Forks, the culmination of which, was the surrender at Appomattox C. H. After the war, Mr. Bush taught school and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1866, and in November, of the same year. came to Alabama. and located near Uniontown. He taught school there a year, and in December, 1867, located at Marion, Ala., practicing law there one year, and then returned to Uniontown, and practiced until 1-87, when he came to Birmingham. From 1878 to 1882. he represented the seventeenth district in the state senate. He is a royal arch Mason, a K. of P .. and a member of the Episcopal church. ' He was married in 1869, to Sallie Howell Evans, daughter of Matthew R. Evans, of Mobile. Ala. She is a sister of the authoress. Augusta Evans. and to them were born three chil- dren, Howard Evans, Augusta Evans and George Edward. The father of Mr. Bush was William Bush. a native of James City county, Va., was president of the county court for many years, and was also a member of the Virginia house of delegates. His wife was Malinda Finch, a native of Charles City county, Va. They had nine children, who were born and named in the following order: Dr. Robert H .. Huntsville, Tex. : Trittie. widow of Capt. Edmund Ware. of Virginia, who was killed in the Confederate service: Mollie, Mrs. Malinda Warren. deceased: George Edward, New- port News: John W., Virginia. Joseph R., Marengo county, Ala., and Willianı M., of Uniontown. Ala. The Bush family is of old Virginian stock. and of Revolutionary fame, one of whom was Maj. John W. Bush, after whom John W. is named.
HENRY MARTIN CALDWELL. - First among the great private corpora- tions of Birmingham, Ala .. undoubtedly stands the Elyton Land com- pany, whose wide possessions cover several thousand acres of pasture, wood and arable land of Jones' Valley, and first among the management of this great scheme stands Henry Martin Caldwell. The courage and.
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sagacity necessary to the inauguration of this enterprise may be more readily estimated when we reflect that its promoters had to deal with a variety of untoward circumstances, likely to arise out of the contingen- cies of threatened adverse state and national legislation. In considering the practicability of a municipal corporation at Elyton, it was essential to probe, as far as possible. these problems with reference alike to their influence upon its ultimate success. and the prejudice of local jealousies, most likely to be incited in a new country, which divides its golden promises between the business foresight of the legitimate settler and benefactor. and the speculations of the adventurous land shark." To contend with the vicissitudes of such a - situation, no man could have been found better fitted than ne, who came to the man - agement of the enterprise in 1875, perhaps the most momentous period in the history of the company: and the manner in which he has discharged the burdensome duties of his position amply attend the wisdom of his choice. When he took charge, it was without a salary, but he was voted a salary, which has been annually increased without demand. It is said that had he received, from the company, the usual commissions of real estate dealers, he would. on several occasions, have realized the neat sum of $50,000 a month. Dr. Caldwell is a native of Greenville, Butler county, Ala., where he was born in 1836. He spent his youth, and received his early education there, but afterward attended and graduated from the medical department of the university of Pennsylvania. He practiced his profession at home until the opening of the war, when he entered the medical department of the Confederate army, serving principally in the field with the Alabama forces. He has large private interests in and and near Birmingham, being president of the Caldwell Hotel company, a director of the First National bank of Birmingham, of the Williamson Iron company, and of the Birmingham Iron works. Mrs. Caldwell's maiden name was Milner, a sister of Maj. W. J. Milner of Birmingham, Ala. John Caldwell, the father of the doctor, was a native of North Carolina, and his mother. Elizabeth Black, a native of South Carolina. His father died in 1-70, and his mother in 1871. Dr. Caldwell is a Mason, and he and wife are members of the First Presbyterian church.
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