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 39
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-JEFFERSON COUNTY.
CAPT. A. B. VANDEGRIFT, a merchant of Birmingham, was born in St. Clair county, Ala., October 1, 1838. His boyhood days were spent principally on the farm and his education was gathered principally from the country schools of his day. He left school in the spring of 1861 and went into the Confederate army in company C, Eighteenth Alabama infantry. He served eighteen months as a private and was made second lieutenant in Fifty-eighth Alabama regiment, but very shortly thereafter he was made first lieutenant, going on in six months more to the promo- tion of captainey, holding this rank in company G, of the Thirty-second Alabama. till the war closed. He took part in the following severe battles : Shiloh, Black Lane, Miss .; Chickamauga, Point Lookout, Missionary Ridge. Dalton, Resaca, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Tenn. ; Nashville, New Hope Church and Marietta, Ga. At the close of the war he began business as a clerk in Montevallo, Ala., serving thus four years. and tlren went to Ashville, and engaged in business there for ten years. and in 1880, he settled in Birmingham. He engaged in business in Birmingham with Sylvester Steele for six years, and September, 1886, Steele retired from business and Mr. Vandegrift continued the same business for him- self, and still continues alone in business. He was married in 1869, to Sophie, daughter of Sylvester Steele, of Elyton. Ala., and they have three surviving children-Sylvester, Vida, wife of C. D. Smith, and Sophie. His second wife was Willie E. Harris, daughter of Judge William K. Harris. of Tuskegee. Ala. Two children were born to this union : William. deceased. and Willie. He is a Mason and a member of the Methodist church. Capt. Vandegrift is the son of John Vandegrift, a native of Chester district. S. C., who came to Alabama in 1808. He was an extensive planter, and married Lydia A. Hardwick, of Alabama. They were the parents of ten children. as follows: James H., of Branch- ville, Ala .; Violetta. wife of George Chamblee, of Jefferson county; Rebecca. wife first of Madison Turner. of Branchville. Ala., and secondly, of G. W. Ashe. of St. Clair county. Ala .: C. C. Vandegrift. of Monte- vallo, Ala. : Mary. wife. first of James A. Ashe, of Branchville, Ala., and secondly, of William Moore. of Branchville. (She is now deceased.) Capt. A. B. Vandegrift, William Vandegrift, killed at Resaca; Ellen, deceased in infancy: George W .. of Chicago: Susan E .. deceased wife of E. J. Robison, of Ashville, Ala. Capt. Vandegrift's father died in 1888, and his mother in 18-7.
GEORGE HOOPER WADDELL, one of the successful speculators of Birm- ingham, is a native of Russell county, Ala., was born February 9. 1855, and was educated at Columbus. Ga .. where he moved in 1866, his father having been killed in the Confederate service. At the age of fifteen years he left school and went into the office of Flournoy, McGee & Co., a firm of cotton commission merchants of Columbus, where he remained seventeen years. In 1556 he went to Birmingham, and in 1887 entered the Alabama National bank as cashier, and served in that capacity
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till January, 1891, when he was offered, and accepted. the presidency of the American National bank. He is at present manager for the state of Alabama of the Union Mutual Life Insurance company. of Portland, Me .. and has also been treasurer of South Highlands. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight of Pythias. a member of the Mystic Shrine, and the Episcopal church. He was married November 5, 1879, to Laura Spear, daughter of T. S. Spear, of Columbus, Ga. They are the parents of three children : George H., Jr .. Elliott S. and Celeste Wynne. George H. Waddell. Sr., was born at Chapel Hill. N. C .. in 1532. and on coming to Alabama, located first in Eufaula. Barbour county, and then in Russell county, and there was elected judge of probate, just prior to the outbreak of the war, which office he held at the time of his death, being killed by Wilson's raiders in 1565. He married Celestia Roberta Wynne, and they had seven children. of whom the following are living: George H., Sallie Nash. Delia Wynne, wife of Thomas H. Evans, of Columbus. Ga .; Elizabeth Fleming. and Victoria Celestia, wife of A. A. Evans, of Clay- ton, Ala. The mother of these children died in November, 1865. Mr. Waddell's grandfather was Haynes Waddell, of North Carolina. an extensive planter and a soldier in the war of 1812, and his maternal great- grandfather was Gen. Nash, a Revolutionary soldier, who was killed at the battle of Germantown. George Hooper Waddell served an appren- ticeship as a compositor in the office of the Columbus Enquirer, of which a relative of his was editor and proprietor.
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WILLIAM A. WALKER. JR., a prominent attorney of Birmingham, Ala., was born in the vicinity of Elyton in 1845. He is the son of William A. Walker, one of the earliest settlers of Jones valley, who was born in Mecklenburg county, N. C., February 23, 1811, and his father. Richard B. Walker, was born near the same place. His mother. Ann Flannigan, was a native of the same county. When he was eight years of age. his father emigrated with his entire family to Madison county. Mo. Both his par- ents died soon after the close of the war. When he was twelve years old. they returned to Alabama, settling in Jefferson county. within six miles of Elyton. In 1-34, when William A., Sr., was twenty-three years old, he left home and lived in thefive-mile valley. seven miles from the present city of Birmingham, with Col. George Green. He served as a soldier in the Creek war under Col. MeMillan. He and other members of his company. though not called into active service, received a land grant for eighty acres of land in Illinois, which in 1-40 he sold to purchasing agents of the Illinois Central railroad for $100. In the beginning of 1840, he began merchandising on his own account, which he continued to follow till 1862, when. losing confidence in Confederate money. he retired from business. Mr. Walker married, in 1840, Miss Corilla M. Porter, a sister of Judge M. T. Porter, by whom he has six children, all living: Mary A. : Margaret: William A., Jr. : America: Frances, and Lucy Eliza- beth. He has a large landed estate near Birmingham, on which he lives,
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noted for thrift and hospitality. William A. Walker. Jr. entered the university of Alabama when in his sixteenth year. He was a cadet in that institution, and when in his senior year he enlisted in a company formed from the university corps and commanded by Captain C. P. Storrs to join the Seventh Alabama cavalry. He remained in the service till the final surrender. He had been promoted to a sergeancy, and had been a prisoner a portion of the time. After the war ho returned to Elyton and began life as a school teacher, and after about eight months' service in this profession, he began to study Jaw. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar, and at once entered upon the practice of law, as a partner of Mr. Burwell B. Lewis, the firm being known as Cobb, Lewis & Walker. Mr. Cobb afterward served as governor of Alabama for two terms, and Mr. Lewis was elected to congress, but resigned to become president of the university of Alabama, in which position he died in the prime of life, highly honored and deeply regretted by the entire state. In 1870 Mr. Walker formed a partnership with Hon. G. W. Hewitt, for eight years a member of congress. Mr. Walker was county solicitor from 1868 to / 1875. He is a large stockholder and a director in the First National bank of Birmingham, and in 1885 he was elected president of the bank, but after a few months' service he resigned because of the irreconcileable nature of the office with his duties before the courts. The firm of which he is a member at the present time is Hewitt, Walker & Porter, and has a very large clientage. Though he has not sought political honors, he was elected to the legislature in 1878, and served one term. His law practice.has been very remunerative. and he has already become a rich man. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He was married August 23. 1870, to Miss Virginia T. Mudd, daughter of Judge W. S. Mudd. They have six children, four sons and two daughters. 1
JAMES MERIWETHER WEATHERLY. an honored member of the Bir- mingham bar, was born in Coweta county, Ga., July 5, 1856, by which it will be seen that Mr. Weatherly is quite a young man. His parents moved to Montgomery. Ala., when he was only a year old. He attended the primary schools at Montgomery, and later on the university of the south, at Sewanee. Tenn. After this. in 1871. he returned to Montgomery and taught in the private schools about four years, and then took up law at the university of Alabama, and was admitted to the bar in 1879, and located in Montgomery, for a while in the office of Clopton. Chambers & Herbert. Two years later he located in Birmingham, forming a partner- ship with H. A. Sharp, now judge of the first division of the city court in Birmingham. This partnership continued until 1885. until Mr. Sharp's accession to the bench. In December, 1855, Mr. Weatherly was appointed attorney for the Georgia Pacific railroad company, at Birmingham, and later for the Richmond & Danville. which absorbed the Georgia Pacific, which position he now holds. In 1899, Mr. Weatherly formed a law
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
partnership with Walker Percy, Esq .. which firm still continues. Mr. Weatherly was married in 1882, to Florence, daughter of state senator John T. Milner. Four children have blessed this union. He is a member of the Episcopal church. and is a democrat. He was a delegate to the congressional committee which nominated J. H. Bankhead. Mr. J. S. Weatherly. the father of J. M. Weatherly, was a native of South Caro- lina, and moved to Alabama in 1857. He was a reputable physician, and served with the rank of surgeon in the Confederate army. He practiced in Montgomery until he died. in 1891. His wife belongs to the distin- guished Taliaferro family. Mr. and Mrs. Weatherly were the parents of six children: Dr. Charles T., of Lowndes county, Ala. ; James M., F. G., of Montgomery, Ala. ; Thaddeus, of New Mexico; William E., of Hayne- ville, Ala., and George Grattin. of Montgomery, Ala.
CHARLES WHEELOCK. a leading citizen and skillful architect of Bir- mingham, is a native of New Hampshire. where he was born in 1833. He was educated in the public and private schools of Oneida county, N. Y .. where his parents removed when he was a lad of ten years. Desiring to lay the basis of a permanent prosperity through life, he left school at the age of eighteen years, and served an apprenticeship of five years as a carpenter, after which he learned drafting. and for ten years was engaged in contracting. in the meantime studying architecture. In the spring of 1862 he was made captain of company I, One Hundred and Seventeenth New York infantry. which rank he held two years and resigned. After resigning. he went back to Oneida. N. Y., remained there until 1869, with the exception .of six months. spent in Iowa, and from there he went to Emporia. Kan, and remained till 1874. and located at Sherman, and then in Austin and San Antonio; in 1877 he went to Mexico for three or four years, and in 19-1. took up his present home in Birmingham. In this city he has held various positions of trust and honor, being a director of the Berney bank and president of the Jefferson county Building and Loan association. He is a thirty-two degree Mason, being deputy grand com- mander of the grand commandry of Alabama. Knights Templar and potentate of the Mystic Shrine. He is acommunicant of the Episcopal church. being a vestryman of the church of the Advent. Mr. Wheelock was married, first in 1-52. to Eliza A. Manchester, daughter of G. W. Manchester, of Boonville, Onedia county, N. Y. The union was blessed with five children-Charles R .. of San Francisco; George F., of Birming- ham; Jesse M .. of Alburquerque, N. M .. and M. M: Mary E., of San Francisco, and Harry B .. of Birmingham. His second wife was Anna L. Warren noe Cassidy. of Florence. Ala., whom he married in 1576.
CHARLES WHELAN. M. D., physician of Birmingham. Ala., was born in Greensboro, Ala .. May 26. 1541. He is the youngest son of Charles and Andeline T. Whelan, the former a native of county Wexford. Ireland, and the latter of Winsboro. S. C., both of whom lived in Greensboro up- to their death. Charles Whelan, at the age of twelve years, was sent to
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a select preparatory school, at Asheville, N. C., taught by Col. Stephen Lee, a graduate of West Point, a distinguished lawyer of Charleston. S. C .. and uncle of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, of Confederate fame. On his return to Greensboro, he entered Spring Hill college. near Mobile, Ala., which was under the direction of the Jesuit fathers. He remained there two years, and then went to Georgetown college. in the District of Columbia. the oldest Catholic college in the United States. After completing his collegiate course. he entered the office of Dr. John H. Parish, of Greens- boro, Ala., where he began the study of medicine, and was there, thus engaged. when the war began. During the first excitement. he enlisted as a private soldier. in Capt. James A. Wemwyss' company. which was afterward attached to the Thirty-sixth Alabama infantry, in which he remained until he was paroled at Meridian, at the close of the war. After being in service about twelve months, he was assigned to duty with Dabney H. Herndon, senior surgeon of the brigade, with whom he remained until his capture at Missionary Ridge. November 25, 1863. He was detained as a prisoner of war from that date until October. 1864, at Fort Delaware, below the city of Philadelphia. Both governments being desirous of making an exchange of prisoners, he was sent in charge of the Confederate sick and disabled to Richmond, Va. Here. by permission of the surgeon-general, he remained in attendance upon the lectures of the Medical college of Virginia. At the close of the session, he was ordered to his regiment at Spanish Fort. off Mobile. After the war was over, he matriculated at the university of Louisiana, at New Orleans. and graduated at that institution in 1866. He then located in the cane brake region of Alabama, and did a lucrative practice until 1881, when he removed to Birmingham, and formed a co-partnership with Dr. M. H. Jordan, with whom he practiced one year. He has since prosecuted his profession with industry, and enjoys a good practice, and the confidence of his community. He was married to the daughter of Dr. James D. and Juliette Chapron Browder. of the cane brake. Dr. and Mrs. Whelan have two children. Charles and Juliette. Dr. Whelan and his family are mem- bers of the Roman Catholic church.
CAPT. JOHN WHITE. of the Birmingham bar, was born April 17. 1829, at Courtland. Lawrence county. Ala. He attended the common schools. of Talladega county, and at the age of sixteen. enlisted in company E, First Alabama regiment, of the Mexican war. but had to return home shortly after on account of his health. - He again entered school, remaining about one year, and. having read law in the interval, he was admitted to the bar in January, 1549. He located in Talladega and practiced there with success until 1:55. then removing to Dallas county, Ala., and practiced there till March, 1961, when he enlisted in the Fifth Alabama regiment, and served as a private until the battle of Seven Pines, where he was appointed quartermaster of the regiment. At the battle of Get- tysburg he was captured and confined at Johnson's Island, until exchanged
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in 1865. He then resumed the law in Dallas county till the summer of 18:9, in which year he took up his residence in Birmingham. He is a royal arch Mason. and a member of the Episcopal church. He was mar- ried in January, 1849, to Mary J. Finley, daughter of 1. Finley, of Jack- son county, Ala., and to them were born five children. three of whom are living-Alvina, wife of G. H. Crag. of Selma. Ala .; John F .. of Omaha, Neb. : and Kate, wife of Charles C. Haidt, of Birmingham. He was again married in December. 1877, to Sarah A. Nelson. neo Waller. of Greens- boro. They had only one child --- Charles F. The father of Capt. White was a Virginian, born in Winchester. in 1754. He came to Franklin, Tenn., when a young man, and practiced law until 1820. the year he removed to Alabama, and practiced his profession until his death in 1842. He was judge of the fourth judicial circuit for six years, and by virtue of his office was one of the justices of the supreme court. He was in poli-, tics an old-line whig, and in religion a Presbyterian. His wife was Abigail Dickinson, of Maryland. They had twelve children, five of whom lived to maturity-Alexander. Dallas. Tex: Dr. Robert W., deceased in 1891; Sidney, widow of Joseph E. Baldwin. of the supreme court of Cali- fornia; Kate T., widow of Samuel H. Dixon, and Capt. John White. Capt. White's mother died in 1832, and his father married Sarah Southmaid. by whom he had three children, two of whom survive: Juliette, wife of a late supreme court judge of Colorado. and Arabella, now a widow.
CHARLES W. WILKERSON, lumber dealer and druggist of Birmingham, was born in Marion, Ala .. April 12. 1566, and educated at Howard college. Leaving college in 1884, he went to Montgomery. Ala .. and remained a year, and then went to Anniston where he stayed a year, and then located in Marion in the drug business, and carried it on about three years, then settled in Birmingham, Ala .. and opened his present drug store, and in January. 1992. became one of the firm of Marbury, Angel & Wilkerson, in the lumber business. Mr. Wilkerson was married January 7. 1891, to Elizabeth Allen Marbury, a daughter of J. H. Marbury, of Bozeman, Ala., and to them has been born one son. Josiah M. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkerson are members of the Baptist church.
JAMES E. WEBB. a prominent attorney of Birmingham, Ala., was born in Greene county. Ala., in 1840. He is a son of Hon. William P. Webb, a prominent attorney of Greene county. and at the pres- ent time the oldest practicing member of the Greene county bar. William P. Webb married Miss Martha Bell, a daughter of Capt. John Bell, who removed from Jamestown. Va .. to Greene county, Ala., at an early day. This marriage took place in Greensboro. Ala .. in 1839, and to them were born seven children, who are now living, viz. : William H., an attorney now living in California, where he has served as judge: Rev. F. B. Webb, a Presby terian minister of Union Springs, Ala. : Wirt Webb, a manufacturer: Mrs. Fannie Craw- ford, of Tuscaloosa: Belle, Mattie. and James E. Hon. William P. Webb
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had a brother, Henry Y. Webb, who was one of the early jurists of Greene county. Ala. He was a native of North Carolina, and repre- sented Lincoln county in the legislature of his state in 1817. He was appointed territorial judge of Alabama, in 1818, and located in Perry county, but soon afterward removed to Greene. In 1819 he was elected judge of the circuit and supreme court, and was holding that position at the time of his death, in 1823. His wife was Eliza Forney, a daughter of Hon. Daniel M. Forney, of Lincoln county. N. C., of one of the promi- nent families of that state. One of his sons. James Daniel Webb, was a prominent and distinguished lawyer. He represented Greene county in the lower house of the legislature. in 1543. and also 1851. In 1860 he was one of the electors on the Bell and Everett ticket, and made an active canvass. When the war came on. he entered into the Confederate cause with characteristic zeal, and assisted in raising the Fifty first Alabama mounted infantry, of which he was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and after ward commanded his regiment. While in command of this regiment sent to guard the retreat of Gen. Bragg's army. at Shelbyville, Tenn., July 2, 1863, he was mortally wounded. taken prisoner. and died July 19, 1863. James E. Webb graduated with the first honors of his class, at the uni- versity of Alabama in 1859. He began the study of law in his father's office and afterward he became a student in the office of Thomas H. Hern don, of Eutaw, completing his legal studies in 1860. He was one of the first to enlist in the Confederate cause, and was in continuous service to the end of the war. He served as a private soldier in the Fifth Ala- bama infantry one year, and was then promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and detailed upon the staff of Gen. R. E. Rhodes. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of captain, and assigned to the staff of Gen. Stu- art. as assistant ordnance officer. After the death of Gen. Stuart, he was transferred to the command of Gen. James Dearing, and served on his staff as captain till the fall of Petersburg. He was shot through the neck at the battle of Bellfield, but continued in the field until the sur- render of Lee at Appomattox. He then immediately commenced the practice of his profession at Greensboro, and there became known as a brilliant and successful member of the bar. In 1855, he removed to Birmingham. since which time he has been in partnership with John P. Tillman. who is also one of the prominent members of the Birmingham bar. Mr. Webb has been married twice; first. in 1866, to Miss Zemula Cresswell, a native of Alabama, who died in May. 1874. leaving four children, viz. : Louisa C., Mattie B .. James E. and Zemula. His second wife was Miss Lucille Webb. from Greensboro. Mr. Webb has long been a member of the Presbyterian church, and is now one of the elders of the First Presbyterian church of Birmingham.
JUDGE WILLIAM W. WILKERSON was born August 16, 1859. He was educated at Howard college, finishing there in 1578, with the degree of M. A. He taught school at Union Springs, Ala., two years and went to
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the university of Virgiina, where he took the law course. leaving there in 1881 and, in 18-2, was admitted to the bar. He located at Union Springs, Ala., and in July, 1886, he removed to Birmingham, and after five years of successful practice, he was appointed to the bench by Gov. Jones, in March, 1891, as associate judge of the city court, and was sub- sequently elected to that office for six years. He is a member of the Baptist church, and was married April 10, 1590. to Miss Lena Somerville. daughter of Capt. Somerville. of Montgomery, Ala. They have one child, Anna S. The father of Judge Wilkerson was Dr. William W. Wilkerson, a native of Tuscaloosa county, being born in 1832, a graduate of Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, and is a leading physician of Marion, Ala., where he resides. He served through the war as a surgeon under Gen. Lee in an Alabama regiment. His wife was Sarah Warren Moore, of Perry county, Ala., and to the union were born four children-Dr. W. M., of Montgomery; Judge William W., P. M., of Marion. Ala., and C. W., of Birmingham, Ala.
C. P. WILLIAMSON was born in New Richmond, Hamilton county. Ohio, January 11. 1843. His father, Henry Williamson, came to Ohio from Pennsylvania. His mother's name was Julia Hough, who came from Loudoun county, Va. The father was of Welsh, and the mother of English descent. For his early education the son attended the public schools in New Albany, and when not going to school. he clerked in a book store. At the age of fifteen years. he went to work in the Louis- ville, New Albany & Chicago railroad company's shop, and worked there until 1861, when he went to the war as a second lieutenant in the Sixteenth Indiana infantry, and thirteen months in the army of northern Virginia, and then returned home. He spent a year in the railroad shops at Louis- ville, and then worked for Divies & Co., engine builders. as forem in of the pattern shop. In 1574 he went to Birmingham to do the iron work on the First National bank. While the work was in process of comple- tion, he received encouraging inducements to locate in Birmingham, and accordingly moved into the young and growing town in January. 1875. as part owner and superintendent of the Birmingham Foundry and Car Manufacturing company, now known as the Linn Iron works. He retired from this in 1579, and built the Jefferson foundry. of which he was sole proprietor-one of the largest and most important enterprises in Birm- ingham. In July. 18-5. Mr. Williamson was the chief organizer in the Williamson Iron company. which was beginning of the great boom in furnace building at Birmingham. He was mirriel, in 1334, to Miss Mary Bligh, of Louisville, and they have four children: Harry. Emma, Julia and Mary. The parents of Mr. Williamson died a few years since. in New Albany. His wife died November, 1891, and his youngest daughter in 1892. He is an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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