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 30
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WILLIAM J. CAMERON. president of the First National bank of Birm - ingham, and one of the most conspicuous of the young financiers of the south, was born in Montgomery, Ala., in 1851. His ancestors, on his father's side, were originally from Scotland, and were of the distin- guished clan, Cameron, of that country. His father emigrated from the north of Ireland to the United States about 1-38. In 1540 he became a resident of Montgomery, and was there engaged in mercantile business until the close of the war. He is still engaged in business in Montgom- ery. In 1550 he married Miss Eliza Crozier of Philadelphia, by whom he had four children, who are now living, William J. being the eldest of the
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family, and the only son. He was educated in the schools of Montgom- ery, and received a one year's course at the Norristown academy, at Nor- ristown, Penn. He began his business career in the banking house of Josiah Morris of Montgomery, and rose rapidly from the position of runner through the various positions in the bank, and in 1850, through the influence of Mr. Morris, he was appointed cashier of the City bank of Birmingham. In 1884, upon the organization of the First Nat- ional bank of Birmingham, he was appointed cashier. and in 1886 he was elected its president. Mr. Cameron has been a resident of Birmingham since 1880, and beside his position as president of the First National bank, which is one of the strongest financial institutions in the south, he is president of the Southern Bridge company. While living in Mont- gomery, Mr. Cameron was second lieutenant of the famous Montgomery Greys, and upon the re-organization of the state troops he was made major of the Second infantry, which was in service during the famous Posey riot in 1883. Mr. Cameron has been married twice, first to Miss Mary E. Smith of Montgomery in 1872. She died in 1851, leaving four children. viz. : William Smith. Pauline, Andrew C. and William J., Jr. In 1883 Mr. Cameron married Miss Mary B. Ward, daughter of George R. Ward of Birmingham.
SHELBY CHADWICK CARSON, M. D., was born in Greensboro, Ala., January 26, 1846. He was educated at the Southern university and the university of Alabama. He left the latter school in March. 1863. and went into the war with a company of cadets, who afterward rendered efficient escort duty to both Gens. Pillow and Adams, and also participated in the battles and skirmishes of Fayette Court House, Ebenezer Church, Selma and Montgomery. While acting as escort to Gens. Forrest and Adams at Ebenezer Church. they were attacked by a squad of Gen. Wil- son's (Federal) raiders, seventeen in number. all of whom were killed, Forrest slaying three of them in a terrible hand-to hand encounter, Dr. Carson receiving a saber cut on the shoulder. Later, the doctor did some dangerous and important duty as a carrier of secret dispatches between Confederate generals, viz. : from Gen. Adams, then at Tuskegon, Ala., to Gen. Dick Taylor at Meridian, Miss., and from Gen. Taylor to the war department then in Georgia. At the close of the war he clerked for his father in Greensboro till 1871. He studied medicine from 1571 to 1873 and went to the Louisville medical college one year later, and then to the Tulane university at New Orleans, graduating there. The first five years of his practice was in St. Clair county. and the succeeding ten years in Greene county. In 19's he went to Bessemer, his present home. He is a member of the Jefferson county (Ala. ) Medical society and the Alabama state Medical association, and has been vice-president and 'president of . the Jefferson and Greene county societies, respectively. June 22. 1869. Dr. Carson was united in marriage to Annie Burt Ridgway, tho estimable daughter of B. H. Ridgway, of Eutaw, Ala. They have no children. Dr.
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Carson is an elder in the Presbyterian church. His father was Thomas K. Carson, of North Carolina, and was a successful merchant in Greens- boro, Ala., for nearly fifty years. He died in 1890, aged seventy-eight years. The mother's maiden name was Adelaide L. Chadwick, of Ken- tucky. She died in 1855, aged sixty five years. There are four living children of this uniou, as follows: Mary, wife of R. B. Douglas, of Greensboro, Ala .: Dr. S. C .; Maggie, wife of G. W. Shackelford. of Birmingham, and Fannie, wife of H. M. Lovelace. Crescent City, Fla. Dr. Carson's brother, John R. Carson, was captain of company K, Forty- fifth Alabama regiment, and was killed in the battle of Franklin in 1864.
W. A. CHENOWETH, the hardware dealer and well known and respected citizen of Birmingham, came from Covington. Ky., where he was born July 1, 1855. He was educated at Cincinnati in what is now known as the Chickering school. He left school when a boy of eighteen. and entered the hardware store of R. W. Booth & Co., of Cincinnati, and remained in their employ as a clerk for eight years. At the age of twenty-six years he went to Philadelphia, where he traveled for the Supplee Hardware company throughout the south, until 1856, when he determined to locate in Birmingham, and accordingly went into the hardware business in com- pany with two partners. This business flourished and became very exten- sive and in 1889, Mr. Chenoweth bought out one partner, and the business was merged into a stock company, of which J. B. Francis is president and Mr. Chenoweth treasurer and manager. Mr. Chenoweth is a thirty- second degree Mason. a member of the Mystic Shrine, and a Presbyterian. He was married in Columbus, Ga., in 1881, to Viola Beach, a daughter of William Beach, and to them were born two children-William A., Jr., and Beach Mead. Mr. Chenoweth's father was J. M. Chenoweth, a native of Kentucky, and for many years a successful wholesale merchant of Cincin- nati. At the opening of the war he was captured by the Federals and compelled to run a gun boat for them, but he was always a southern sympathizer. His wife was Harriet A. Arthur, sister of W. E. Arthur ex-member of congress. She died in 1877.
ROBERT CHISOLM, an ex-Confederate soldier of distinction, and a mem- ber of the Birmingham bar. was born in Beaufort, S. C., October 1, 1844. He attended Beaufort college until the age of fifteen, when he went to the Citadel Military academy at Charleston. S. C. He resigned from the academy in 1861. and went as a volunteer aid on the staff of Gen. Micah Jenkins, and afterward went to Port Royal, serving during that engage- ment as an aid to Col. Dunnovant, commanding the post, and was in the battle of Port Royal. Immediately after, he was brevetted a lieutenant. and was assigned to duty at the camp of instruction, near Columbia. S. C. In 1862, he was made adjutant of the Twentieth South Carolina regiment. commanded by Col. Laurence M. Keith, and resigned in July. 1862, to become captain in the provisional army of the Confederate States. He
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raised a company of sharpshooters, which was afterward attached to, and formed part of, the Twenty-seventh South Carolina regiment, with which regiment he remained until the war closed. He was in all the severe battles around Richmond-Cold Harbor. Petersburg, Battery Harrison, near Wilmington, N. C., Town Creek, and Bentonville: was offered promo- tion to the rank of major by Gen. Thomas Jordan, chief of Gen. Beaure- gard's staff. but declined it on account of his age. After the war he entered the office of Gen. James Connor and studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1867, and practiced in Charleston, S. C., till 1887, in which year he removed to Birmingham, Ala. He served five years as judicial justice for Charleston, S. C., being appointed by Gen. Wade Hampton, then governor. He is at present a member of the board of education of Birmingham, and he and his partner are attorneys for the Central Rail- road and Banking company, of Georgia, and the Macon & Birmingham railroad. Mr. Chisolm was married in June, 1865, to Margaret Horry Laurens, a daughter of John Laurens, and grand-daughter of Henry Laurens, first president of the American congress, of South Carolina. They have had eight children. as follows: Eliza L., John L .. Alexander R., Louisa S., Henry L., Caroline B., Heyward, and Margaret H. Mr. Chis- olm is a K. P. and an Episcopalian. His father was Robert Chisohn, a native of South Carolina, and his mother was Miss Louisa Sereven Guerard.
DR. A. A. CLISBY, the well-to-do capitalist and physician of Birming- ham. was born September 29. 1:4-, in Coosa county, Ala .. and was edu- cated in the schools of that and Montgomery county. He studied phar- macy after leaving school. in South Carolina, whither he had gone at the age of eighteen years, locating in Edgefield. He went into the drug business there, and remained with good success in that business about eleven years. He was married in Edgefield in 1875. to Fannie T. Glover, and to them were born five children. as follows: Warner C., Fannie L .. Alfred A., Kathleen, and John H. The mother of these children died in 1838. In 1832 Dr. Clisby removed to Birmingham. and engaged in the drug business one year, which he abandoned for real estate, his pres- ent occupation. He married the second time, November 19. 1891, Daisy. daughter of Gen. T. K. Irwin. of Mobile. He was one of the promoters and organizers of the East Lake Land company, and one of its vice- presidents, and during his residence in Edgefield. S. C., was mayor of that city several years. His father was John Clisby, born in Boston, Mass., in 1813. He came to Alabama in 1-26, and located in Montgomery, where he was an extensive merchant until 1857. He commanded a company of Montgomery troops in the Seminole war. He was married in 1-39 to Emily Hughes, a daughter of John Hughes. Eleven children were born to the union, the following ten of whom grew to maturity: John H., now a leading citizen of Montgomery, Ala. ; George C., who served through the last war, was wounded tive times, and last at Gettysburg: Emma, wife of C. L. B. Marsh, of Birmingham; Elizabeth, wife of J. M. Cobb,
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of Edgefield, S. C .: Dr. A. A. Clisby, of Birmingham; Steven H. Clisby, killed at the battle of Peach Tree Creek. at the age of seventeen years; Rosa, wife of Col. S. W. John, of Birmingham: Lorenzo, of Birmingham ; Hattie, wife of John Morris, of Birmingham, and Annie.
JAMES B. COBBS is one of the leading fianciers of Birmingham. Mr. Cobbs was born in Choctaw county, Ala., on the 17th day of March, 1856, and received his education at Livingston, Sumter county. Ala .. where his parents moved when he was quite young. His education was com- pleted at Eastman's National Business college in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1874. He moved to Birmingham in March, 1883. and accepted a position as bookkeeper of the National bank of Birmingham. When the First National bank was organized he was made general bookkeeper. and after that, receiving teller, filling both positions with marked ability and giv- ing entire satisfaction to the head officials. His faithful and efficient services were soon recognized, and when in 1885, the Central bank was organized, he was invited to take a part in its management; he accepted and was appointed cashier. In 1886, this bank merged into a national association, taking for its name The Berney National bank. He holds the cashiership of this strong and influential institution to this day, and no one enjoys the confidence and respect of its directors, stockholders, or depositors, or the esteem of the business community generally, or is a more worthy citizen than the genial cashier. Mr. Cobbs has been honored with many positions of trust, and in every case has given a sat- isfactory account of his stewardship. He is a member of the executive committee of the Alabama state bankers' association, vice-president of the Birmingham clearing house association, a director and associate manager of several large and influential financial corporations doing bus- iness in this state. He is also prominent in social organizations. His opinions on finance and bank management are sought after and are held in high regard. In no bank is there a more thorough and complete system than that found at the Berney National. Mr. Cobb's father and mother were respectively from North Carolina and Virginia, and socially they occupy the front rank of Birmingham's highest circle. Chancellor Cobbs, his father. is the ablest jurist in the south. Many decisions handed down by this able judge have been copied very extensively, and in full, by the leading newspaper and law journals throughout the United States, and they are quoted as high authority. Mr. Cobbs is a member of the Episcopal church. He is devoted to his family, and his lovely wife and four beautiful children make his home life perfectly happy. The future has many good things in store for him.
THOMAS COBBS, one of the most justly celebrated lawyers and judges of Alabama, was born in Raleigh, N. C., the son of Thomas and Sarah (Boone) Cobbs. of that state. The father of Judge Cobbs, was a learned gentleman and extensive planter. He was a man of large political and social influence. He removed to Alabama about 1841, and died within a
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few months thereafter. Chancellor Cobbs enjoyed every educational advantage until the death of his father, who, however, had bequeathed him an excellent library. Of this, the studious and ambitious boy was not slow to take advantage. The antecedents of the boy were largely calcu- lated to induce him to espouse the law as a life work. Accordingly, under his carnest application and the tutelage of his brother. Hon. James Cobbs, of Mobile, he was prepared for the law and was admitted to the bar in 1856, and was from the very start overwhelmed with business. Thus his successful career went on until he was elected to the office of chancellor of the western division of Alabama. and so masterly was his administra- tion of that important office that he was re-elected, without opposition, in 1886. Upon the occasion of his second election to the bench the Mont- gomery Advertiser says, concerning him:
"This able, faithful and judicious officer was nominated for a second term by the convention of the western chancery division. He has estab- lished himself so thoroughly by his fair and impartial decisions, by his uniform courtesy to the bar and people, as to prevent any thought of opposition, and he receives, as he deserves, the unanimous endorsement of the convention. The chancellor is regarded by all who know him as a fair and impartial judge; laborious and painstaking in every case, and is regarded in the state as one of her most eminent judges."
He was renominated in June. 1892, without opposition, for chancellor for six years. He was married in 1850 to Miss Lucy L., daughter of George and Margaret Thom, of Virginia. The union was blessed with eight children; all that are living are-Thomas D., James B., and Nellie, wife of Prof. J. H. Phillips. Chancellor Cobbs is an Episcopalian.
JUDGE AUGUSTUS A. COLEMAN .- This distinguished litterateur, jurist and statesman, is a native of South Carolina, having been born in Camden, in that state, May 21. 1826. He came to Alabama with his parents, and was educated in the primitive mixed schools of early days of the state, and was subsequently graduated from Yale at the carly age of nineteen years. He entered the office of a distinguished firm of Alabama lawyers for the study of law. and a few years later, having been admitted to the bar, he settled in Livingston, Sumter county, Ala., and began a large and lucrative practice. At the remarkable early age of twenty-seven years, he was appointed judge of the seventh judicial circuit, where he made a splendid record for learning and legal ability, judicial fairness, and fearless discharge of duty. He was a member of the historic secession convention of 1861, and among the most illustrious men of the state he was particularly prominent as a member of the Yancey's ordinance committee to consider and pass upon the right of the state, to adopt an ordinance of secession in her own sovereign capacity, or whether there should be a co-operative movement among all the southern states, looking to that end. Amid the startling sessions of that memor- able body, Judge Coleman was a leading and central figure. At the begining of the war, Judge Coleman tendered his resignation, and
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organized a regiment for the army. This regiment was known as the Fortieth Alabama, and the judge commanded it about one year, but the people of his circuit being without recourse or remedy at law, and Gov. Shorter having declined his resignation as Judge. he resumed his seat on . the bench, and continued to hold court, until the close of the war. Judge Coleman then removed to Greensboro, in Hale county, Ala., where he practiced his profession. and represented Hale county in 1854-5. in the general assembly. He shortly afterward removed to Birmingham, where he has since been one of the most prominent lawyers of that place. Though he has been engaged nearly all his life in law and politics. he has found time for large literary acquirements, and his poetry, in the language of one of his reviewers, "seems to belong to the polished age of Pope and Dryden, rather than to this hurried, restless age of ours." He is an ardent friend of learning, and has been largely instrumental, in the success of several institutions of learning in the southern states, parti- cularly the Southern university. at Greensboro, Ala., one of the leading institutions. under the direction of the Methodist Episcopal church. Some of the poems from the pen of Judge Coleman are almost unpar alleled in thought and exquisite expression. We venture to give below. some sentimental verses addressed "To Ellen" from a periodical before us, and a most classic four-line gem, entitled "Poetry," from the same publication.
T) ELLEN.
Upon the valley's lap The dewy morning throws A thousand pearly drops, To wake a single rose.
And often in the course Of life's few fleeting years, A single pleasure costs The soul a thousand tears.
Thus often in thine ear. By love's pure passion taught. A thousand hopes I breathe To wake one tender thought.
And if within thine heart That tender thought arise, T at one faint throbbing costs My soul a thousand sighs.
POETRY.
Angelic statues waked to life by Thought. From out the virgin quarry of the heart: Soul pictures by the Hand of Genius wrought, And limbed in Beauty by the touch of Art. .
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JOHN S. Cox, the affable and competent freight agent of the L. & N. railroad, at Birmingham. was born in Saratoga. N. Y. in 1848, and was educated in Elgin, Ill., where his parents had removed, when he was a · child. In the spring of 1962, he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois infantry, and served all through the war as private, and was in the engagements of Vicksburg and Resaca, where he was wounded, and was confined to the hospital. until he was mustered out in 1863, at New Albany. Ind. In 1869 he went to Rome. Ga., in the employ of the Selina, Rome & Daiton railroad as a clerk. and in 1872, he removed to Birmingham, as freight agent of the L. & N., the position he holds at present. Mr. Cox was married in January, 1869, to Frances M. Smith, of Elgin, Ill.
M. H. CRITTENDEN, capitalist of Birmingham, was born in Lauder- dale county. Ala., August 31. 1851, and was educated in the common schools of Florence, Ala. After leaving school, at the age of eighteen years, he studied medicine for a short time, but removed in 1873 to Birmingham. Here his first business venture was the livery business, which he carried on one year, and associated himself with W. H. Morris, in the grocery and furniture line. This firm was dissolved in about one year, but the business was continued by Mr. Crittenden for two years longer, after which time he formed a partnership in the livery and brick business with J. T. Garrettson. In 1882, when Mr. Crittenden's real estate possessions required all his time and attention. he gave up all other .business, and devoted himself exclusively to looking after his large property interests. He has a farm of 1.120 acres, in Lauderdale county, as well as large landed estates in Chickasaw county, Miss., and in Blount county, Ala .. and at Leeds. Ala. He is a Knight of Pythias. and has occupied all the chairs in that order, having been chancellor commander of Jefferson Valley lodge on two occasions. and once of Dirigo lodge, of Birminghamn. Mr. Chrittenden was married November 14. 1878, to Sallie J. Goodrich. of Kentucky, and they have three daughters-Lulu O., Erline and Sallie I. Mr. Crittenden is a son of William H. Crittenden of Alabama, and his mother's name was Octavia Ingram. Four children were born to the union. of which. however. only M. H. is living. His father died in 1-54, and his mother in 1861.
DR. FRANK E. DAVIDSON, a banker and business man of Birmingham, Ala., was born in Madison county, Ala., and received his education in Tennessee. In 1845 he moved to Green county, Ala. At the breaking out of the Mexican war, he volunteered his services. joining the company commanded by Capt. Andrew Pickens, and was the recipient of a medal, from congress, for gallant, and meritorious conduct. At the close of the war, he returned to Greensborough. Ala., adopting the practice of dentistry for his profession. For a number of years. he enjoyed a large practice in Livingston. Ala .. from which place he retired to his plantation in Sumter. In 1-65 he moved to Mobile, Ala., and, for a
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number of years. was interested in the wholesale grocery business. He was president of the Grangers' Insurance company, and a director of the Mobile Life Insurance company, and. for several years. was largely nterested in the brokerage business. In 1889 Dr. Davidson, moved to Birmingham. Ala .. where he invested in valuable real estate. He is president of the Co-operative Bank of North America, a prosperous and thriving institution. He is a Knight Templar, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of every one.
TARPLEY M. DAVIDSON. well-known merchant and banker of Warrior, Ala., was born in Walker county. Ga., in 1846. When he was only five years old his parents moved to De Kalb county. Ala., and in the common schools of that county he received his education. He taught school in 1867 in Marshall county. Ala .. and went into the drug business in Scotts- boro. Ala., which he continued for two years. From 1871 to 1878 he was in the general merchandise business at the same place, but in the latter year he was appointed agent for the Memphis & Charleston railroad at Hillsboro, Ala., which place he held seven years. In 1884 he had made valuable purchases of coal lands in and contiguous to Warrior, whither he removed in 1895. and opened an extensive mine. which he still oper- ates. At the same time he opened a general store. which is also running. Upon the organization of the bank of Warrior in 1889 he was made presi- dent. Aside from his mining and mercantile. interests. he has a large plantation in Jackson county. Ala., and considerable landed estate in Jefferson and Lawrence counties, Ala. Mr. Davidson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married in 1871 to Sallie, daugh- ter of Col. Thomas Snodgrass, deceased, of Jackson county, Ala. There was only one child of this union, Mabel. He was again married in 1891. in Memphis, Tenn .. to Miss Ida Austin. a daughter of M. S. Austin, of Mississippi. Mr. Davidson's father was Rev. A. B. Davidson, a native of Virginia, who came to Georgia about 1538. His wife was Lucinda Harben. of South Carolina. They had eight children. The following five are living: Dr. A. S. Davidson. of Blount county. Ala .. J. W. Davidson, of Blount county; T. M. Davidson: Henry M. Davidson, of Morgan county, Ala .. and S. C. Davidson. of Warrior. Ala. The father of Mr. Davidson died in 15-5, and the mother in 1-74.
R. EHRMAN is a native of Germany. He was born in Düdelsheim on July 4, 1851, and was educated at the high school at Budingen, and at Geisen. Leaving school at the age of eighteen he went into a store at Frankfort, where he clerked a year, and then came to America, settling first in New York and them in Montevallo, Ala. At this latter place he was in the mercantile business for four years. From here he went to Clanton. Ala., where he engaged in a similar business for eleven years. From this point, he went to Birmingham, engaging there in the lumber business. From that time to the present, he has conducted the lumber business with great success, and his many noble qualities of hand and
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heart have made a large circle of friends. Mr. Ehrman is largely inter- ested in the saw mill business with Duke, Ehrman & Merritt, near Clan- ton, Ala .. and with Mr. Maull, near Elmore. He also owns a large gen- era! store at Strasburg, Ala. He is a Mason, and a member of B'nai B'rith. He was married, in 1877, to Kate G. Alvis, a daughter of Thomas E. Alvis, of Bibb county, Ala., and by this union there are five children: Helen, Alvis, Gertrude, Leon, and Marguerite. Mr. Ehrman is the son of Leon Ehrman. a reputable merchant of Germany. who died there in 1868. His wife's maiden name was Sarah Smith. She still lives. The wife of Mr. Ehirman is an Episcopalian, and. although he is a Jew, he built a church for her at Clanton and hired a minister to preach there once a month.
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