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 31
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CHRISTIAN FREDERICK ENSLEN is a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, where he was born March 30, 1830. He was educated in that city and came to America in 1845, at the early age of fifteen years, to try his fortunes in the great occidental world. Having learned the trade of a blacksmith in Montgomery. Ala., he found himself well equipped to pro- vide for himself in his new home. He moved to Wetumpka and continued at blacksmithing until 1871. when he moved to Birmingham. Here he worked for the South & North railroad for two years, but a short time later he embarked in the mercantile business in Birmingham, and con- tinued therein until 1885, when he organized the Jefferson county savings bank, with a capital stock of $50,000, owning all the stock, and was himself the president, as he is at present. In 1887, the capital stock of the bank was increased to $150,000, and his son. E. F. Enslen, became cashier. Mr. Enslen is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and organized. in 1872, the first I. O. O. F. lodge in Jefferson county. and became its first presiding officer. He is a member of the Baptist church, and served two years as an alderman of Birmingham. He was married in 1849, to Elizabeth Flynn, of Columbus, Ga., and they have been blessed with a number of children. of whom Charles. Emily, Eugene F., John and Minnie are living. Mr. Ensten went into the Confederate army before the seces- sion of Alabama, and was sent to Pensacola, under the command of Col. Tennant Lomax. and remained there until the reorganization of his command into the Third Alabama. Then, after discharging some important military duty at Norfolk, Va., he was placed in charge of the arsenal as foreman, at Montgomery, and continued therein until the close of the war.
DR. ALFRED EUBANK, the well known and successful dentist. of Birmingham. was born in Jefferson county, September 18. 1851. Ho began his early education in the common schools of Jefferson county, and at the age of seventeen years he began to study medicine, with the late Dr. M. H. Jordan. He afterward took up dentistry and graduated in that course from he Baltimore Dental college, in 1574. In that year he located at Birmingham, where he has since had his wonderful success. Dr.
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Eubank is regarded as one of the leading dentists of the city, he and his brother having the larger portion of the best practice. Mr. Eubank is a Mason in high standing, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married in 1873 to Sarah E. Brown, daughter of James Brown, of Jefferson, and they are the parents of six children, of whom four are living. The children are: Minnie B .. Kate, Lucy, and Emma. Dr. Eubank is a member of the Alabama State Dental association, which he helped to organize. and served as a president of that body. He was a member and organizer of the first dental examining board in the state, and is an honored member of the Southern Dental association. In politics the doctor is a stanch democrat, but has little to do with politics, beyond his duty as a citizen.
DR. GEORGE EUBANK belongs to one of the oldest pioneer families who can claim a life-long residence in Jefferson county. He was born in that county, August 17, 1861. He attended the common schools in his boyhood, read dentistry with his brother, and in 1879 he entered Har- vard college, at Cambridge, Mass., where he took both medical and den- tal courses, proper. He graduated from Harvard in 1882, and opened an office in Birmingham, where he has reaped a large measure of success. He is president of the Alabama State Dental association. now serving a second term of five years, and is a member of the board of state dental examiners. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and the Elks, and is a member of the Episcopal church. He was married in April, 1854, to Miss Cammie, daughter of Mr. Crawford Blackwood, of Mobile, and the union has been blessed with two children-George and William C. His father was William Carroll Eubank. born in what is now Jefferson county, in 1818, and was the first white child born in that territory. He was prominent in the early days of the county, having been sheriff, tax col- lector and assessor for some years.
NOAH B. FEAGIN. a member of the Birmingham bar. is a native of Barbour county, Ala. His father. James M. Feagin, is a native of Jones county, Ga., and moved to Alabama in 1832, and settled near Midway, Barbour county. He was in the Indian war of 1836, and fought in the battles of Warrior Stand, Cowike and Pea River. He was married to Almira Cole, the daughter of Noah B. Cole, whose parents were French Huguenots, and first settled in Charleston, S. C. Samuel T. Feagin, the grandfather of N. B. Feagin, was a native of North Carolina, and had nine great-uncles in the Revolutionary war, eight of whom fought in the Continental army and one in the British. N. B. Feagin was at school at the Nashville military institute. at Nashville, Tenn., when the war began. He left school and entered the Confederate service in July, 1561, in com- pany B, Fifteenth Alabama regiment of infantry, which arrived in Rich- mond, Va., just after the first battle of Manassas. He enlisted as a private, but had rapid promotions to the captaincy of his company. He rendered conspicuous services in the army of northern Virginia. He
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was in the valley campaign under Stonewall Jackson, and at the first bat tle of Winchester. Cross Keys and Port Republic in the valley, and in the battles of Cold Harbor and Malvern Hill in front of Richmond, where his regiment suffered heavily in killed and wounded. He was in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Hazel River, Harper's Ferry, Shepardstown, and was in the charge of his brigade, led by Col. Hoke. of North Carolina, when the lost line was retaken. 800 Pennsylvania bucktails were cap- tured and Col. Hoke was brevetted brigadier general on the field for gallantry. His regiment was after this transferred to Longstreet's corps. and he was in the siege of Suffolk, and in 1963 was transferred to the army of northern Georgia. He was with his command in the two days' desperate fighting at the battle of Chickamauga, where his regiment cap- tured a battery of artillery, and on the second day was in the charge that broke through the enemy's right wing, saved the day and turned the' enemy to rout back on Chattanooga. He was in two engagements in Will's Valley. near Chattanooga, at the fight at Bean's Station. Tenn .. and in Longstreet's siege of Knoxville. He was in the second battle of Cold Harbor and in the sieges of Richmond and Petersburg. He was in the battles of Deep Bottom. Fort Gibson, and on the Darby Town road, in front of Richmond. He was severely wounded in the thigh at Suffolk. in the hand at Hazel River, in the side at Cold Harbor, in the knee and ankle in the battle on the Darby Town road, where Gen. Gregg was killed. He commanded his company during the two days' fighting at the battle of Sharpsburg, with his arin in a sling, having a wound in his hand .. He was called "the boy captain" of his regiment. He never lost a day's service from sickness, nor missed a battle in which his command was engaged. except when wounded. After so brilliant a military record he was not averse to the quiet vocations of peace when the end came. After the war he farmed a year in Bullock county, and then went to Washington college, Va., for three years, which was then presided over by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and after graduating in several of the depart- ments, including law, in July, 1570, he returned home. He began the bat- tle of life at Union Springs, Ala., in September, 1570, editing a newspaper, the Union Springs Times. This he gave up in February, 1871, and began there the practice of law. He moved to Auniston. Ala .. in May, 15-4, and to Birmingham in October, 1586. He was mayor one term at both Union Springs and Anniston. He was married in February, 15-6, to Annie, the daughter of Cyrus Phillips, and they have three children, Jewett Whatley, Alma and Carrie.
CAPT. FRED S. FERGUSON, a distinguished member of the Birming- ham bar. as his name indicates, comes of Scotch and English ancestry. He was born in Huntsville, Ala., May 2. 1841. He was educated at the Wesleyan university at Florence, Ala., graduating in 1859. From this time until the beginning of the war. he studied law and taught school. but, in January, 1861, he enlisted in the Tuskegee Zouaves, commanded
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by Capt. E. M. Law, and was ordered to Pensacola, Fla .. returning February 22, of the same year, and was appointed to the First regiment of regular artillery. as second lieutenant, and was made first lieutenant in 1862. In July, 1864, he was made captain. During his military career, he served as a staff officer with Gens. Page, Higgins, Maury and Gardner. He served in the sieges of Fort Powell and Fort Morgan, and the battles around Mobile and Pensacola. Fla. He was captured at Fort Morgan, and was in prison at Fort Warren, Boston. The war over, he returned to Tuskegee, and was admitted to the bar. He formed a partner- ship with the late Judge David Clopton, which lasted until 1-69. In 1870 he removed to Montgomery, and formed a partnership with D. T. Blakey, Esq. In 1876 he was elected solicitor of the second judicial circuit, serving until 1886. and in 1887 he began his present prosperous career in Birmingham. He served a term in the legislature from Macon county, Ala., in 1866-7, and was nominated for the legislature from Jefferson county in 1892. He was married, in 1871, to Laura Burr, daughter of Rev. William Burr, of Franklin, Tenn. They had six children, of whom Burr, William Hill, Laura and Frederika Ferguson are now living. The father of Mr. Ferguson was Frederick G. Ferguson, of Spartanburg district, S. C., who removed to Alabama when a child. He was an active Metho- dist minister for thirty-five years. and died in 1863. He married Lucinda Hale, who bore him eleven children, of whom five died uumarried. The mother of Col. Ferguson lives in his family. Her ancestors are from England, and came first to Virginia and to Alabama, in 1808, and his father's ancestors were in South Carolina before the Revolutionary war, coming originally from Dumbarton. Scotland.
DAVID J. Fox was born in Canada, August 25, 1857. He went with his parents to Tennessee. locating in Knoxville, where he attended school until the age of seventeen years. when he went into a rolling mill in Knoxville, and worked until 1879. In that year he went to Louisiana and spent one year at New Iberia, then going to Clifton Forest, West Va., and in 1880, removed to Birmingham and worked in a rolling mill until 1883, was engaged in the strike, and in the same year entered the L. &N. railroad shops for two years, then clerked for his father, John Fox, in the grocery business in Birmingham. until his father's death, in 1888, and since that time his brother and he have carried on their father's business. In 1890 he was elected an alderman in Birmingham, and was chairman of the railroad committee, besides being a member of the judiciary, gas and gas works committees, and was nominated for mayor of the city in 1592. and elected. Mr. Fox belongs to the Masonie fraternity. being a royal arch Mason. a K. T., K. P., and a member of the I. O. O. F .. and of the Presbyterian church. He married, May 17, 1883, Lulu Risinger, daughter of William Risinger, deceased, of Birmingham. Mr. Fox's parents. John Fox and Ann (Smith) Fox. were natives of England. They had five children: John G., of Birmingham,; Adelaide E., wife of James E.
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McReynolds: David J .: Anna, wife of James K. Smith: William T., of . Birmingham. The mother of Mr. Fox died when he was a child, and his father married again. The widow of the latter still survives.
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COL. JAMES J. GARRETT, a leading lawyer of Birmingham, Ala., was born in Edgecomb county, N. C., March 14, 1837. and was educated at the university of Alabama, his parents having moved to Alabama in 1838, living most of the time in Greene county. Immediately upon his gradua- tion, in 1856. Col. Garrett commenced the study of law in the office of J. D. Webb, at Greensboro, and, after a full course of study, was admitted to the bar in July. 1857. He practiced at Livingston for two and a half years. and in 1860 he went to Somerfield, where he was connected with the Centenary Male college, as a teacher, for a year and a half. In May. 1862, he enlisted in company G, Forty fourth regiment, as a private. Here he served fourteen months. and was assigned to duty in the ordnance department of Longstreet's corps, and just preceding the surrender of Lee, he was promoted to a lieutenancy of ordnance. He was in the following engagements: all the battles of the army of northern Virginia (except second Manassas. Sharpsburg, and Chancellorsville), Chicka- mauga, Chattanooga, Lookout Valley, Knoxville, and the winter campaign in east Tennessee. At the close of the war. he took up his practice in Greensboro, remaining there till 1880, and. in 18-2. went to Birmingham, where he is now practicing. He was, during his residence in Greensboro. twice mayor of the city. He was married in 1875 to Celia L. Walton, a daughter of John W. Walton, of Greensboro. Col. Garrett's father was Harry Walton Garrett. an extensive farmer of Edgecomb county, N. C., who came to Alabama in 1835. He died in 1876, aged seventy-two years. His wife was Sarah Sasnette, also of Edgecomb county. They were the parents of seven children, who grew to maturity. Five of them are living, as follows: Eliza A .. widow of William Johnston, of Carrollton, Miss. : Bettie, wife of S. S. Latimer, of Greensboro, Ala. : James J., Jesse L., of Springville. Ala .. and William C. Garrett, of Birmingham, Ala. The mother of Col. Garrett died in 1875. The colonel is a consist- ent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south.
DR. JOHN SHARP GILLESPY, one of the representative young physi- cians of Birmingham, was born in Jefferson county. Ala .. November 17, 1859. and was educated in the university of Alabama, taking the medical course at Miami Medical college, graduating in 1858. After graduation, he located in Jefferson county, Ala., where he practiced until the fall of 1886, except one year at Scottsboro. Ala. In autumn of 1886, he went to Birmingham, where he still practices. He belongs to the State Medical association, and the Jefferson county Medical society. He is also a Knight of Pythias, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He was married in October. 1843, to Mary Owen, daughter of Thomas H. Owen, of Jefferson county. Ala. They have four children: Thomas O., Mary E., Sadie and James M. His father was John S. Gil-
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lespy. who was an extensive farmer of Blount county, Tenn. He died in August, 1859, and his wife in 1864. Her maiden name was Martha S. McAdory, a native of Jefferson county. They had two hildren: James M. and Dr. John S. Gillespy.
JAMES ALFRED GOING was born in Pickens county. Ala., January 8, 1842. He went to the common schools of that place up to the age of seventeen years and entered the university of Alabama, where he remained until March, 1816. In this year he went into the Confederate army in the Lanier Guards, commanded by T. C. Lanier, afterwards known as company D. Forty-second Alabama regiment. Mr. Going filled various positions while in the military service, during the siege of Vicks- burg, being connected with the signal corps. He was wounded at the battle of Corinth. He surrendered with Gen. Johnston at the close of the war, in Tennessee. He took part in the following battles: second bat- tle of Corinth, where he was wounded; siege of Vicksburg, Rocky Face Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Round Mountain and the battles around Atlanta. He was ordered up through South Carolina after Sherman. His last fight was at Benton, N. C., in 1865. He was
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married in October. 1865, to Miss Myrtis Billups, of Pickens county, Ala., and to them were born three children: William Rufus, Henry S., bookkeeper for his father, and Richard B. Going. In 1876 his first wife died, and his second wife was Ella Gaines Parker, daughter of Socrates Parker, of Livingston, Ala. By this lady he has one daughter, Eliza- beth Pryor Going. He farmed from 1866 to 1971. in which latter year he moved to Birmingham. Ala .. and engaged in the mercantile business, until 1879, when he took up the real estate and insurance business, which he now conducts. He has served three terms as alderman of the city, and is a member and past chancellor of Dirigo lodge, K. P .. as he is also of the Presbyterian church, of which he is now an elder and one of its oldest members. He is a director of the Berney National bank and People's Savings bank, of which he was vice-president; a director in the West End Land company, and president of the Birmingham Ice Factory company. His father was Eli T. Going, of South Carolina, but came to Alabama at an early age. and resided here up to the time of his death, in 1890. at the age of seventy-four years. His wife was Jane Somerville, of South Carolina. They had seven children. five of whom are living. They. are James A., William S .. Job. Eli L. and John S.
BAYLIS EARLE GRACE .- The following is extracted from an article prepared by D. B. Grace, Esq., of the Birmingham Evening Chronicle, for the history of Jefferson county. Ala., and published by Teeple & Smith in 1857: "The early days of this century brought forth men of hardy frames, indomitable energy, and undying patriotism. On the 12th of November. 1808. Baylis Earle Grace was born in Greenville district, S. C. His middle name was bestowed upon him by his parents in honor of Gen. J. B. Earle, many of whose descendants now live in Jefferson
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county. When an infant the parents of Mr. Grace moved to Jackson county, Tenn .. and when he was twelve years of age they removed to Jefferson county, Ala., and settled near Jonesboro. He has resided in this county ever since. Mr. Grace entered Alabama at the time it was admitted to the union, and has seen it arise from a wilderness to one of the proudest and richest of the galaxy of southern states. But few men are vouchsafed such a privilege by an indulgent Providence. In those early days educational advantages were limited, and Mr. Grace attended school but one year, near the spot where Woodward's furnace now stands. under the tuition of Thomas Carroll. The school house was a log cabin without any floor. Among his schoolmates were several pupils who afterward rose to distinction, such as John W. Henley, the father of Dr. A. T. Henley, and William King, both of whom became distinguished lawyers, Drayton Nabers, the father of Dr. F. D. Nabers. also two daughters of Isham Harrison. Eliza and Laura: the first named became the wife of Dr. B. W. Earle. and Laura married the late William H. Jack. an eminent lawyer of Texas. Mr. Grace was left an orphan at an early age, and being the only child of a widowed mother, her support fell upon his shoulders. But he descended from a line of Revolutionary ancestors, and the indomitable spirit burned in his breast that his forefathers dis- played in their struggles for independence. His grandfather, Joseph Grace, surrendered his life for his country in the battle of Eutaw Springs. His grandmother. Mrs. Catherine Elizabeth Grace, set fire to her own house rather than allow it to shelter the enemy. Her Spartan courage was mentioned highly by Mrs. Elliott in her work, 'Women of the Revolution.' It was this same hardy courage that fired Thomas Grace with the pioneer spirit of Daniel Boone, and impelled him to carve out a home in the virgin wilds of Kentucky, and inspired Elihu C. Grace to offer five sons to the southern Confederacy, and has won success in the battle of life for Rev. W. C. Grace, of Tennessee. Col. Preston Grace. of Arkansas, and other descendants. It was this high sense of justice and right that has prevented the name from ever being stained by crime. The efforts of Mr. Grace in making his way in the world were successful. and in 1827 he was taken into the circuit clerk's office at Elyton by Harrison W. Goyne. as his assistant, and transacted most of the business. At the end of the term he was elected to this office by a vote of the ' people over Hugh M. Caruthers, a very popular man, and was re-elected in 1835 and 1839, but before the expiration of his last term he resigned and moved to the country at the place known as Grace's gap, where the L. & N. road cuts through Red mountain. During his term of office Mr. Grace kept the neatest set of books ever known in the county, and they are now in the archives of the county in the court house in Birmingham. In 1844 Mr. Grace was elected sheriff of Jefferson county, but as the sheriff can only serve one term he was not a candidate for re-election. When the law was passed requiring the lands to be assessed by sectional
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divisions he was appointed by Judge Forrest to make the first assess- ment, which duty he performed to the satisfaction of all concerned. In 1859 he was appointed general administrator and guardian for the county, and held the office until 1853. In his public trasts, as well as private duties, he was the same honest, carnest, faithful man. The people delighted to honor his sterling qualities of head and heart. He never had an enemy. His modesty has often held him back from places of preferment. He is a gentle man. In early manhood Mr. Grace wedded Miss Jane Mitchell, a relative of Gov. Lawrence Mitchell, of Florida. and Mrs. B. P." Worthington, of Birmingham. His second wife was Miss Ann Eliza Cantley, daughter of Hon. John Cantley, a member of the leg islature from Jefferson county. His first wife bore him three sons. The eldest, Rev. F. M. Grace. D. D., is now president of the Mansfield (La.) Female college: the second son was accidentally killed while at college in Athens, Ga., and the third, Baylis E. Grace, Jr., is a leading lawyer of Birmingham. A grandson is part proprietor and manager of the Birmingham Daily Chronicle. Mr. Grace has. by hard study, made considerable literary attainments, and his articles to the press have been widely read and admired. He was one of the first newspaper men of the county, and edited the Central Alabamian, the successor of the Jones Valley Times, the first paper published in the county, a file of which is preserved by the Tennessee Historical society. A vein of poetry runs through his nature, and he has often successfully invoked the muse. He is also a musician, and has delighted his friends with selections on the flute In years past he was often the winner of the beef at shooting matches, then so frequent. His rifle is a very fine one, the gift of an admiring stock drover from Tennessee, who stopped over night on his way south. It was the custom at these matches to divide the beef into five quarters, the fore and hind quarters, and the hide and tallow made the fifth. Mr. Grace was the first person to attach any importance to the Red mountain as a mineral deposit. He had the first iron made that was ever made from the ore of that mountain, by sending a two-horse wagon load to the puddling furnace of Newton Smith, of Bibb county, who had it smelted and hammered into bars, and it was pronounced by the black- smiths equal to Swede iron. He afterward made the first sale of iron ore for manufacturing purposes. The sale was made to Col John T. Mil- ner for the use of the Oxmoor company, and from this land they now draw their principal supply of ore. He first recognized the abilities of Maj. Thomas Peters, who came to Jefferson county prospecting after the. war, and he took the major to his home and encouraged him in develop- ing those grand ideas which, now in the full fruition of realization, have challenged the wonder and admiration of the civilized world. For some years Mr. Grace has been the agent of the Thomas Iron company, of. Pennsylvania. and all of their magnificent iron and coal lands. which they are now developing by building furnaces and founding a town near
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Birmingham, were purchased by him. It was through his, faith in the possibilities of this mineral district and his representations of its unequaled advantages that these Pennsylvania iron kings were induced to invest here. Their investment attracted the attention of othes capital- ists, and the impetus was given to iron making that has carried the Birm- ingham district to the first place in the new world. Mr. Grace now resides one mile from Birmingham, and surrounded by home comforts and the amenities of an extended social circle he enjoys life with a zest equaled by few. He is a living example of the healthfulness of Jones valley, and his pure and honest life has preserved him to a green old age. He is a firm believer in the great future of this country. He has seen the land for which he gave a few dollars an acre increase in value to $10,000 an acre. It is his daily custom to ride into the city on basi- ness, and he meets hundreds of his friends. who are glad to grasp his hand and look in the eyes of an lionest man- 'the noblest work of God.' Of all the men that crowd the busy marts of trade. there are none whose memories reach farther back into the annals of the history of Jefferson county. He is a link that binds the past to the present. . Birmingham Illustrated says: Mr. Grace is one of the most illustrious characters of the valley planter. Venerable in memories of the past, he is yet active in the new era. The victim of a, revolution. he is one of the fortunate beneficiaries of the restored prosperity of Alabama in the nev chan- nels.' "
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