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 33
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ROBERT GREENE HEWITT. the brother of the Hon. G. W. Hewitt, con- gressinan for three terms, was born in Jefferson county, near the present site of Birmingham, and till sixteen years old worked on his father's farm and went to school alternately. The war coming on, he enlisted in company B. Tenth Alabama infantry, March 10th, 1-62, and till the
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close of the war. shared all that famed regiment's sorrows and glories in the second Manassas, Sharpsburg. Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Peters- burg engagements-in one of which. the Wilderness, he was wounded. After the war he began to farm, but being in demand as a teacher, and desiring higher attainments and greater self-culture, after four years' teaching, he paid his way at the state university, whence he went to Texas to teach; but returning to Alabama, with the firm intention to farm, he was again called upon to teach-pressed, so to speak, into service -- which he again did for ten years, making a state reputation specially as a teacher of mathematics. During these last years, he received from his alma mater, what he so richly deserved, the honorary degree of M. A. Leaving the school room again, he engaged for two years in the brick business, and since that time he has been tax , col- lector for Jefferson couuty. He is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias. and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. Mr. Hewitt was married, in 1878, to Fannie J. Hickman, daughter of W. P. Hickman, for eleven years county treasurer. and four years a county commissioner. Of this union there are three living children: Fannie Roberta, Jennie Livingstone and Anna Belle.
T. T. HILLMAN was born in Montgomery county, Tenn., February 2, 1844, and educated in the schools there, and at the Vandusia academy, at Edgefield, Tenn. Leaving the latter when about seventeen years of age, he took charge of his father's business (Empire iron works), in Triggs `county, Ky., until 1866, when he was given an interest in the business, and the firm became Lee, Hillman & Son, and the son took charge of the Centre Furnace company. until 1879, and in 1880 he went into mercantile business in Nashville. Tenn., and continued until July. 1880, when he sold out and moved to Birmingham. Ala., and formed a partnership with H. F. DeBardeleben. and built the Alice furnace No. 1. In 1881 the Alice Furnace company was organized by combining the properties of the Hillman Iron & Coal company. Birmingham Iron & Coal company, and the property of Hillman & DeBardeleben. and Mr. Hillman was made president and general manager. and acted as such until the consolidation, of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad company, Pratt Coal & Iron com- pany, and the Alice Furnace company, in 1857: Mr. Hillman was made vice-president of the new company, which was called the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad company, this company having bought out the other companies named above. At first, Mr. Hillman was vice-president and general manager of the Eusting and Alice division of the company. filling that position until April. 1-59, when he retired from the service of the company until January, 1>91, when he was elected a director in the com-' pany, and in April, 1891. was elected second vice-president. which posi- tion he now holds. In his early business life, while in Kentucky. T. T. Hillman was partner in the firm of Hillman. Brother & Sons. located in Lyon county, Ky., manufacturing merchants' bar iron, and plate sheet
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iron. They made the celebrated Hillman boiler plate, and what was known as the Tennessee bar iron, supplying four-fifths of the iron sold south of the Ohio. prior to the war. Mr. Hillman is president and director of the Birmingham Railroad and Electric company: last year he resigned as director in the First National bank, on account of ill-health. He belongs to the Knights Templar, and is stewird in the First Metho- dist Episcopal church. He was married in 1856 to Emily S. Gentry. daughter of Meredith P. Gentry, of Davidson county, Tenn. T. T. Hill- man's father was Daniel Hillman. a native of New Jersey. He was in the iron business all his life, being the pioneer iron man of Tennessee. and making a large fortune before the war. He married Miss Anna J. Mara- ble, daughter of Dr. John Marable, of Montgomery county, Tenn., and to them were born four children. as follows: John H. Hillman. Pittsburg. Penn. ; T. T. Hillman; Ann F., wife of Dr. E. N. Franklin. of Gallatin, ' Tenn., and Grace C., wife of David C. Scales, of Nashville, Tenn. T. T. Hillman's mother died in 1963, and his father married Mary Gentry. daughter of M. P. Gentry, and to this second marriage there were born four children, of whom two survive, as follows: Meredith P. G., superin- tendent of Alice furnace. Birmingham, Ala., and James H. Hillman. Trigg county, Ky. Daniel Hillman died in 1883.
J. DE B. HOOPER, state mine inspector of Alabama, was born in Rus- sell county, Ala., in March. 1553, and was educated at Bingham's school in North Carolina. At the age of eighteen years he left school and studied law and mining and civil engineering, which latter profession he has made his life work. From 1876 to 1877 he was the democratic postmaster at Opelika, Ala .. but was removed for political reasons, and went into the employ of the Georgia Pacific railroad, as a civil engineer, and for the past nine or ten years he has been employed in coal mining, as an operator and superintendent. In 1591, he was appointed state mine inspector by Gov. Jones, and holds that office now: is treasurer and half owner of the Little Warrior coal company, of Jefferson county, and has a wide and valuable experience in mining at other places. The father of Mr. Hooper was George de B. Hooper, who was born near Wilmington. N. C. He was an able old-school lawyer. He removed to Alabama in 1-33, and located in Chambers county, where he practiced his profession until 1852, and died in 1992. He was a prominent democratic politician of the stanch old kind. Before the war he was a leading whig and a Bell and Everett elector, and was in the Confederate service at the battle of Columbus. Ga. He married Caroline Mallett. of North Carolina, by whom he had five children, as follows: George W., who was a colonel in the Sixth Alabama regiment, and was permanently disabled by a wound in the battle of Seven Pines; Charles M .. colonel of an Alabama regiment, and served all through the war, first under Gen. Archer and then under Gen. Clanton, and was captured at Columbus, Ga .: J. de B. and Caroline, who live with their uncle, Peter Mallett, vice-president of the Southern society, of New York.
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John de B. Hooper comes of good ancestry, that of his father being Scotch, and that of his mother, French Huguenot. His maternal grandfather, was Charles P. Mallett, and his great-grandfather, Capt. Peter Mallett, an officer in the continental army. One of his uncles, Johnson J. Hooper, was editor of the Montgomery (Alabama. ) Mail prior to the war. and was. at one time, secretary of the Confederate congress. Another of his uncles was Prof. J. de Berniere Hooper, a man of learn- ing and classic attainments. He was for many years professor in the university of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. Mr. Hooper's maternal grandmother was named De Berniere, and she descended from the illus- trious Huguenot family of that name. From a pamphlet, issued from a London publishing house, entitled "Key to the Roll of the Huguenots" is taken the following reference to the family :
"The De Bernieres were considered. in the reign of Louis XI .. one of the most ancient and noble families in France: and owing to many daring exploits by different members of the family were granted, as augmenta- tion to their arms, the fleur-de-lys in chief, and later one "deux poissons, en argent, adosses." In the reign of Louis XIV, the De Bernieres, and one other family only, had the right by royal license to bear the fluer-de- lys of France on their arms. Jean Antoine de Berniere served under the Earl of Galway in Spain. and his descendents are still living in England."
The Huguenot ancestor of the Mallett family in America fled from France to England in 1687, purchased ships and brought many countrymen to Santee, S. C. Later returned to England. and afterward was one of the princi- pal founders of New Rochelle, Westchester county, N. Y., where he bought 3,000 acres. Part of the family subsequently settled in Connecticut. and later, for the second time, in the Carolinas. A descendent, Col. Peter Mallett, is now a member of the Southern society of New York, and was born at Fayetteville, N. C., May 25. 1825. His great-grandfather was a high officer in the Revolutionary war, and his grandson. Gen. Ed. Jones, was United States minister to Italy. His great-grandfather set- . tled at Wilmington, N. C., in 1769, and was one of the founders of Fayette- ville. Col. Mallett's father. Charles Peter, had at one time seven sons in the Confederate army. of whom two died in the field. The mother of the colonel was Sophia Beatty, daughter of William H., who at one time owned one-half of Bladen county. N. C.
W. R. HOUGHTON. eminent as a lawyer of Birmingham, was born in Heard county, Ga .. May 22. 1842. When he was seven years of age his parents moved with him to what is now Lee county. Ala. At the age of eighteen he commenced to teach school. and taught until the breaking out of the war, and then. in April. 1-61. he entered the Confederate sery- ice, enlisting in the Columbus (Ga.) Guards, which was assigned to the Second Georgia regiment of infantry, and known as company E. He went in as a private, and, in 1-64, was made one of Gen. Longstreet's scouts, and served as such until the war closed. taking part in the follow- ing battles: Seven Pines, Malvern Hill. Second Manassas, Fredericks
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burg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Spottsylvania Court House. Cold Harbor, and in all the battles around Petersburg and Richmond, and was paroled at Appomattox. He was wounded seven times. seriously at Malvern Hill and second Manassas, and slightly at Chickamauga and elsewhere. After the war he commenced to study law. and was admitted to practice in 1866, and located, first, at Haynesville, Ala., where he remained fifteen years, and then, in 1888, he moved to Birmingham, where he has since practiced. He belongs to the Masons, but is not connected with any church. He was married in December, 1875, to Anna M. Streety, daughter of John P. Streety, of Haynesville, Ala .; his wife died in 1883, leaving one son, Harry Houghton. W. R. Houghton's father's name was William H. Houghton, who was born in Greene county, Ga. He was a law- yer and moved to Alabama in 1849, and served as secretary of the state senate. He also served in the Indian wars of 1836, and died in 1878. He' married Eliza A. Bennett, and to them were born five children, who lived to maturity, of whom three now survive: W. R., M. E., and Mrs. B. L. Brooks, of Austin. Tex.
A. C. HOWZE. a member of the bar of Birmingham, was born in Athens, Ga., August 17, 1846. He was educated at the university of Georgia, where he graduated in 1869. In September. 1863, he entered the military service of the Confederacy, in Nelson's battery of artillery, commonly known as Selden's battery. remaining with that body till the close of the war, during which time he was engaged at Resaca. Kene- saw Mountain, Lost Mountain, New Hope Church, Peach Tree Creek, the fights around Atlanta, Jonesboro, Nashville and Franklin. When the war was over, he went to Marion; Ala., and assisted his father in the mercantile business till the latter part of 1866. After his course. in law in 1869. he was admitted to the bar, and located in Marion: practiced successfully there until he went to Birmnigham in 1887. In 1571 he was appointed probate judge of Perry county and served four years with great ability. and was a director in the Marion Savings bank. fif- teen years, and a member of the Marion city council: was president of the Enterprise manucfaturing company of Birmingham, president of the South Birmingham Land company and director in the Birmingham Gas company. He is an elder in the First Presbyterian church. and superin- tendent of the Sunday school, since 1>5. He was married, first. in Feb- ruary, 1870, to Miss Vallie Long. daughter of Dr. H. R. J. Long. of Athens, Ga. Six children were born to this union, and five are living: Henry R., Susie. John. Marion and Gerald. He lost his first wife by death. in 15-7, and in December. 18-9. he married Mrs. Nannie Arring- ton, née Dillard, of Montgomery. Ala. The father of Mr. Howze was John Howze. who came from Franklin county, N. C., to Marion, Ala., in 1833. He has been a merchant and farmer all his life, and is still in busi- ness at Marion, Ala. He was, for a short time, a captain in the Confed- erate service. He is a self-made man, successful and sound of judgment.
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His wife was Claudia C. Claytou, daughter of Judge Augustin C. Clayton, of Athens. Ga., for several terms a member of "congress from that state, and many years on the bench. There were eight children of the union, seven of them living, who are: A. C., Harry Y., John, Claudia C., wife of Seawall Jones of Selma: Thomas M., Leonora, wife of Rev. James A. Bryan, of Birmingham, and Mallie C., wife of B. M. Lide. of Birmigham.
ROBERT JEMISON. one of the leading business men of Birmingham, was born September 12th. 1-53. in Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa county, Ala. His father, W. H. Jemison, was a native of Georgia, and his mother came from Tennessee. She was formerly Elizabeth Patrick, of sturdy Penn- sylvania stock. Robert was the second oldest son among nine children. He was educated in law at the university of Alabama, but he never fol- lowed the profession. He engaged in the hardware business in 1874, in the firm of J. Snow & Co. He held a half interest in this concern for ten years. In September, 15-4, recognizing the golden opportunities offered in Birmingham. he settled there, where he has since made his home. He began life in Birmingham as a broker in different lines of the gro- cery trade, which he carried on till June, 1886. He then launched exten- sively into banking, real estate and insurance business. In 1885 he was made vice-president of the Berney National bank. and took a leading part in the organization of the Iron & Oak Insurance company, and was elected its president. He is vice-president and general manager of the Birmingham Railway and Electric company, president of the East Lake Land company and vice-president and general manager of the Consoli- dated Electric Light company. Mr. Jemison was married, in 1876, to Miss Eugenia R .. daughter of Dr. N. T. Sorsby, of Greene county. Ala. They have six children: Robert S., John S., Annie H., Elizabeth P., Sorsby and Elbert S. Mr. Jemison's father, W. H. Jemison. a Confed- erate captain. was elected to the Alabama legislature during his military service.
DR. CHARLES H. JERNIGAN, the well-known physician of Birmingham. Ala., first saw light of day in Jones county. Ga., June 2. 1:29, and as a boy attended the schools of Barbour county. Ala., where he had removed with his father at the age of eight years. He went on his father's farm at the age of eighteen and spent five years. In the meantime, his father having died, he went in 1553. to Jefferson Medical college at Philadel- phia, leaving the college after graduation. in March, 1855, and then went to Enon, Bullock county, Ala., where he practiced until 15-6: later on he settled in Birminghamn. Ala .. his present home. He was at one time president of the Bullock county Medical society, as well as having a membership in the Jefferson county Medical society. He was a Confed- erate soldier for nearly a year in the Forty-fifth Alabama infantry, but was discharged on account of a most unfortunate affliction of paralysis. Dr. Jernigan was, at one time. commissioner of Bullock county. When he went into office, the county was almost hopelessly insolvent, taxes
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being $1.45 and scrip at ten cents, and in four years the county was out of debt with $1,000 in the treasury and taxes down to 81.15. The doctor was married in May, 1856, to Martha Cornelia Crawford, daughter of Col. Joel T. Crawford, of Enon. Ala., and to them were born five chil- dren: Henry C., of Opelika, Ala. ; Sallie, Cornelia. Carrie and Anna. Henry, the son, married Elizabeth Banks of Union Springs. Ala. Dr. Jernigan's father was Col. Henry W. Jernigan, who was born in Jones county, Ga., in 1805. He came to Barbour county in 1837, where he died in 1849. He served in the Creek Valley wars in 1536-7 -- was captain of a company. He married Caroline Gachet, a lady of French extraction. They had six children, of whom the doctor, Mrs. N. P. Banks, of Columbus, Ga .. and J. T. Jernigan, a magistrate of Birmingham, are still living. Dr. Jerni- gan's mother died in 1882.
COL. S. W. JOHN. - This distinguishel lawyer and law-maker was born in Uniontown, Perry county, Ala .. June 29, 1845, and was educated at the university of Alabama. Following the impulse of the youth of that day, in December, 1861, he went into the Confederate service, in the Third Alabama cavalry, Col. James Hagan, of Mobile, commanding. and also served in Gen. Wheeler's brigade. After serving as a private one year, he was discharged because of his being under age. He then attended the university at Tuscaloosa, and upon completion there. in 1865, he went to his home in Selma, and read law with his father, and was admitted to practice in June, 1866. the day he attained his majority. He went into partnership with his father, ex-Chancellor Joseph R John, and Chancel- lor William H. Fellows, in Selma, Ala., and remained until the death of Chancellor Fellows, in July, 1880, dissolved the firm. In 1889, Col. John went to Birmingham and formed a partnership with William C. Ward, which still continues. In 1871. he was appointed county solicitor of Dallas county, and served two years; in the sessions, from 1882 to 1887, inclu- sive, he represented Dallas county in the legislature. and in the last two sessions was chairman of the judiciary committee; in 1885, by authority of the governor, he organized the Third regiment of state troops. of which he was made colonel, holding the office three years and declining a re-election. By religious predilection he is a Methodist, and lias always taken a deep interest in that church. and in 15-6 was a member of the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, which met in Richmond, Va. He is a Knight Templar and a member of the A. O. U. W. He was married, first in 1570. to Susie E. Woolsey, who died without issue in 1873, and the second time to Estelle Thornton Car- son, by whom he had one child. Estelle C .. now living. His third mar- riage was contracted in 1587, with Miss Rosa Clisby. daughter of John Clisby, of Montgomery, Ala. The latter lady still survives, and one son. Joseph, has been born to the union. Col. John was chairman of the joint legislative committee which read, corrected and revised the manuscript of the code of Alabama and while he was in the legislature he was the
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Jamil lite John.
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author of a number of important bills, among them being the Dallas jury law. the married woman's law, defining the rights of husband and wife the employer's liability act, an act providing for the payment and dis tribution of the school fund through and by the state treasury. and the law establishing the cane-brake experiment station at Uniontown, of which he was for some years one of the board of control. and the author of the law creating the experiment station at the Agricultural and Mechan- ical college, Auburn. Together with Dr. Riggs he was the author and promoter of the sanitary system at Selma (the Waring plan) as well as the father of the Selma water works and the only stockholder in Ala- bama, the other stockholders living in New York. On the death of Dr. Peter Bryce, he was appointed a member of the commission to frame a law creating a new and complete convict system, and under direction of that commission prepared the bill. which. with some modifications, was enacted'in February, 1893, into a law, and under the provisions of that act, he was appointed one of the managers of convicts, a board of nine members who have the absolute control of the convicts of Alabama.
JOSEPH F. JOHNSTON .-- Among the deservedly popular financial cor- 'porations of Birmingham, Ala., is the Alabama National bank, largely interested in whose welfare, and chiefly instrumental in whose success, is the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch. J. F. Johnston is no stranger to the legitimate and successful financial enter- prises of Birmingham, in consideration of which important fact, lie may have been chosen from among a score of famous financiers to the envi- able. position he now occupies as the president of the Alabama National bank. Mr. Johnston is a native of Lincoln county, in the old North State, having been born in North Carolina in 1843. He was the son of a North Carolina planter of the old school. a man of education, great erudition and refined social instincts. In his seventeenth year he gave up his educational advantages to enlist in the Confederate army. He received five wounds. and a promotion to a captaincy, which, in a measure. sug- gests a tribute to his soldierly devotion. Upon his coming to Alabama, Capt. Johnston formed a law partnership with Capt. R. M. Nelson, an ex-Confederate soldier and comrade-at-arms. Capt. Johnston is recog- nized as a power in the politics of the state, was chairman of the state demo- cratie executive committee in a most trying crisis. and has reflected, not only credit upon himself. but honor upon his party, and enjoys to a marked degree the esteem of his fellow-citizens.
WILLIAM H. JOHNSTON, M. D., of Birmingham, was born in Lincoln county, N. C .. March 28, 1-39. and was educated at Davidson college and at the state university at Chapel Hill. He left the latter school in 1860, and in 1861 he entered the Confederate service, enlisting in the "Hornet's Nests" rifles, organized at Charlotte, but later on became attached to the Twenty-third North Carolina infantry as a sergeant, where. after six weeks' service, he was made first lieutenant of company K of that regi-
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ment, and served in that rank a year, after which time he was made cap- tain of the company and served as such until the battle of Gettysburg, where he was captured and confined at Fort Delaware and Johnson's Island until his parole in March, 1565. He then returned to his home in North Carolina, where he began the study of medicine and attended the university of the city of New York. where he graduated in medicine in 1867, and afterward served eighteen months in Bellevue hospital. He then took up the practice in New York city, and later at Selma. Ala., remaining in the latter place until 1886, when he came to Birmingham, where he still resides. He belongs to the State and Jefferson county Medical societies, and is a member of the Episcopal church. Dr. Johnston was married in 1872 to Kathleen Gage. daughter of Dr. James Gage. of Union. S. C., and to the happy union have been born four children, three sons and one daughter. During his service in the rebellion, Dr. Johnston served with distinguished bravery at Yorktown, Williamsburg and Seven Pines, where he was wounded, first battle of Fredericksburg. Chancel- lorsville and Gettysburg, and was twice wounded at Seven Pines.
DR. C. C. JONES was born in Carlowville, Ala .. December 18, 1846, and educated in the common schools of Dallas county. Ala. He entered the Confederate service in December. 1863, in company D. Sixty-second Alabama regiment. and was made sergeant five months before the close of the war. He was in the battle of Chehaw Station, siege of Spanish Fort and Blakely, during all of which he was not wounded once. He went to school a few months after the war, and in the autumn of 1855 went into the mercantile business at Portland, Ala., for about six months, and then took up the study of medicine with. Dr. G. W. Kyser. at Richmond, Ala. In 1867, he attended the Philadelphia school of medicine and surgery, graduating there in 1870. He then located at Snow Hill. Ala .. staying there eighteen years, taking a special course in 1855 at the New York polyclinic. In the fall of 18-8 he located at East Lake, where he still resides. He was elected physician to Howard college in 1889, and still retains that office. and was a member of the board of censors for several years. He was also a senior counselor in the State Medical association. and of the Jefferson county Medical society. being vice-president of the latter. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Baptist church. He was married the first time in 1971. his wife being Miss Mary Gully, and the second time to Delphina Moore, and to her were born seven children, as follows: Fannie M .. Edgar A .. Ethel E .. Mary and Julia (twins), Pauline and Francis W. His third wife was Ruby Gillette. of Camden. Ala. Dr. Jones' father was J. Capers Jones. of , South Carolina. He was a Baptist minister. He was in the State reserves at the battle of Selma, and died in 1874. He married Emeline Dennis, of Carlowville, Ala., and they had three children-D. D., C. C. and Patty B., deceased wife of A. M. Lee, of Snow Hill.
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