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 2 > Part 11
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questionably very largely the offspring of his brain. Never before, it is believed, have doctors associated and organized for the avowed and real purpose of promoting and protecting public interests, and incidentally, and incidentally only, of aggrandizing the profession itself. It is a sig- nal and 'unique illustration of the growth. power and usefulness of a body of doctors organized on these lines and with these objects kept unwaver ingly in view. From its inception the association has been the object of unceasing care by Dr. Cochran; and to those familiar with his work panegyric cannot add to the luster of his reputation as an organizer, nor .exaggerate the value of his services to the association. From 1873 up to the present time he has been chairman of the board of censors of the state association; since 1875 chairman of the committee of public health: and since 1877 chairman of the state board of medical examiners. Dr. Cochran's religious history has been quite as remarkable as anything else in his career. Growing up amongst members of the Methodist com. munion, he naturally accepted without question the general principles, tenets and prejudices of evangelical protestantism. From these convic- tions he was awakened about the eighteenth year of his age by the preaching of a Universalist minister, who showed that it was quite possi- ble to say something in favor of a very different set of doctrines. Once aroused to independent thinking, and once put in the way of independent investigation, he determined to explore the whole question of religious faith and obligation to its very foundations. To this end he read every- thing he could lay his hands on, in any way connected with Christian polemics-read the standard works of most of the great Protestant writ- ers; read the writings of the English deists; read the writings of the French atheists; read German rationalism; and finally drifted into mod- ern scientific materialism. The result of all this was that he plunged deeper and deeper into the abyss of scepticism until at last, like Rafael Eben Ezra in Hypatia. he ceased either to believe or disbelieve anything. This skepticism was not exclusively religious, but was philosophical also --- ontological as well as theological. This decensus Aterni, unlike that described by Virgil, was slow and difficult, consuming some ten years of his life. The re-ascent. however, conformed to the Virgilian model-hic labor, hoc opus est. Finding some glimpses of metaphysical certitude in St. Thomas of Aquin, he slowly made his way back into the regions of christian faith, until at last, in May, 1865, he was baptized into the Catholic church. It is remarkable that he has been able to reconcile in his own mind his religious tenets with the most advanced views of the philosophy of evolution, which he unqualifiedly accepts. And now a word as to Dr. Cochran's characteristics. A large head, a thoughtful and somewhat saddened brow, a firm mouth, a quiet, dark- grey eye, and a complexion rendered sallow by ill health and sedentary habits, give, ordinarily, an air of stoical apathy to his well-formed, intel- ligent and rather attractive face. This mask to strong passions, while
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it serves to conceal strong emotions, has the disadvantage of concealing also the silent revelations, if not the very existence, of the fine feelings of sympathy, friendship and genial sociability, which, on fit occasions, break forth as through a rift in a cloud, to the delight of his friends, and to the surprise of those accustomed to regard him as little more than an intellectual machine. Intellectually he is one of the most imposing pro- portions; and he is, unquestionably, one of the most learned men of the south. Nature has largely endowed him with the capacities of a great scholar. A library with its books systematically arranged, numbered and catalogued, in shelves, alcoves and chambers, does not not present a more. perfect picture of order than does the vast amount of information on many subjects which his untiring industry has accumulated, and which his almost · matchless memory has enabled him to retain. A fine command of lan- guage, a chaste and luminous style, aptness for philosophical speculation, large powers of analysis, comparison and reflection, a self-control which is never disturbed, and a self-reliance based on a consciousness of strength, give him absolute command of his resources, and render him at once an able writer, an instructive and interesting talker, and a consum- mate master of debate. All the lines of his character are strongly marked. His pursuit of an object is untiring, and his zeal in whatever he undertakes approaches enthusiasm as nearly as his stoical tempera- ments permits. He does with his might whatsoever his hand findeth to do. In debate his concentration on the matter in hand, and his oblivious- ness of collateral results, unfortunately betray him at times into seeming disregard of the feelings of those who oppose his plans. In speculation and in discussing important practical questions he discovers great con- sideration for power and wealth. In his personal relations he never exhibits the slightest approach to subserviency to either. He is firm almost to obstinacy, and unselfish almost to the verge of improvidence. He has been known to persevere in his convictions in regard to an important public professional interest, and struggle for their ascendency, notwithstanding it involved the alienation of friends and the sacrifice of private interests with which he could ill afford to part. Though not insensible to praise and fond of a display of his talents, he cannot be con- sidered vain. His passion for power displays itself rather in quiet methods and dispositions for the attainment of ends, than in demonstra- tions of triumph at success. The great objects of his life in Alabama have been the organization of the medical profession. and its investment with legal powers and functions honorable to itself and useful to the state. In this field his great abilities have given him an ascendency and influence in the public councils of the medical profession of the state, which no other man has ever attained: and in it his success has been such as should be, and doubtless is, gratifying to his ambition and pride. His literary record is extensive. Between 1871 and 1893. he made more than forty distinct contributions to the literature of the profession, and
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it is regretted that not even a list of them is permitted by the limits assigned to this sketch. His many reports on yellow fever give. it is believed, evidence of an exhaustive and discriminating investigation of the propagation and dissemination of that disease, at many different times and in many different places, such as no other man has ever made; and the "Leading indications for the treatment of yellow fever," in a paper on yellow fever, contributed by Dr. Cochran to Hare's System of Practical Therapeutics, furnishes a summary, comprehensive yet com- pact, of the clinical history of yellow fever such as cannot be found in any other work. "The white blood corpuscle in health and disease," M. A. S. A., 1874, as a history and compendium of current biological doctrines was exceedingly valuable to the profession and highly credit- able to the author. The cell doctrine was briefly but lucidly discussed. Scattered facts were arranged into a convenient system, so that they became endowed with an amount of physiclogical and pathological sig- nificance and importance which before had scarcely been suspected. In 1878 he published a paper on puerperal fever, in which, for the first time, the position is taken without qualification, that there is no specific puer- peral fever, but that puerperal fevers and inflammations are strictly analagous to surgical fevers and inflammations, modified only by the puerperal condition. The "Alcohol Question," 1883, "The Theory and practice of Quarantine," 1880. and "Quarantine Requisites," 1891, all of great practical value and impressed with the character of the author's own thought, deserve special attention. The facts, and much of the text of this sketch, have been taken from a biographical sketch of Dr. Coch- ran in the "Representative Men of the South," published by Charles Robson & Cc., of Philadelphia, in 1830.
JUDGE THOMAS WILKES COLEMAN .- Judge Thomas Wilkes Coleman was born in the county of Greene, state of Alabama, in the year 1834, being now in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He was graduated at Princeton college, New Jersey, in the class of 1853 -- an institution which has been. prolific in educating scholars, and jurists, and statesmen, throughout the land. After studying law at a bar noted for the conspicuous learning and eloquence of its members, he was admitted to practice in the supreme court in 1855. when just of age. In 1865, he was elected a member of the constitutional convention, which framed what is known as the "constitution of 1865"-the only occasion on which he has ever been a candi- date for office by popular election. In the same year he was elected, by the state legislature of Alabama, to the office of circuit solicitor; was appointed, by the governor, to the same office in 1878 to fill an unex- pired term, and was re elected by the legislature in 1880, and again in 1886 He was appointed to the office of chancellor of the southern chan- cery division of Alabama during the year 1886, and resigned the solicitor- ship to accept that position. He was appointed associate justice.of the supreme court of Alabama in August, 1890, after serving as chancellor
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for four years, this appointment having been made by Gov. Seay to fill the vacancy created on the appellate court bench, by the resigna- tion of Judge Somerville. For about fifteen years past, he has been an elder in the Presbyterian church, the religious tenets of which he has con- stantly maintained without bigotry or ostentation. The career of Judge Coleman has been one of continued honor and success, from the day of his entrance at the bar to that of his elevation to the bench: his convic- tions are strong, his love of truth dominant, and his judgment is sound. These qualities made him a successful lawyer, an earnest and fear- less prosecutor, as commonwealth attorney, a chancellor equal in ability and repute to any of his distinguished predecessors, who had, before him, adorned the woolsack in the state's history. He gives promise of rank- ing among the foremost of the judges who have illustrated their learn- ing as jurists on a bench which stands among the foremost of the American state courts. Judge Coleman is at present a member of the Medico-Legal society, and one for the vice-presidents of the state of Alabama.
JAMES S. COLLINS, farmer of Pike Road, Montgomery county, was born in Dallas county, in October, 1882. He is a son of Smart M. and Mary (Waldron) Collins, both natives of Edgefield district, S. C. Mr. Collins was a well educated man, and in 1819 came to Alabama, married and settled down in Dallas county, where he spent the rest of his life, dying in 1856. He followed farming for a livelihood, and both he and his wife were members of the Missionary Baptist church. Mr. Collins was the only one of his family who ever came to Alabama. Mrs. Nancy Waldron Collins was married twice. She was a daughter of Harry Wal- dron, of Edgefield district, S. C., and died in 1838. James S. Collins was the youngest of a family of two sons and one daughter, viz. : Frances, wife of William Johnson, of Texas; Matthew W., of this county, who was in the late war in the western army during the last two years, and was captured near Selina, but was paroled, and James S. The latter was reared on a farm, began life for himself as a farmer, which occupation he has since followed. Since 1854 he has lived in Montgomery county, though in different locations. In 1856 he married Jane Foster, a native of Ala- : bama, who died the same year. His second marriage was in 1853, to Miss Susan Johnson, a native of Troup county, Ga., who died in 1883, leaving five children, viz. : Elizabeth, wife of P. H. Hammock: Lucy, wife of R. J. Belser, of Tuscumbia, in business as merchant there; Samuel, of the firm of R. I. Robinson & Co., cotton brokers of Montgomery; Finnie L., a farmer, and Minnie. Mr. Collins was married, in 1887, to Mrs. Ellen Hammond, daughter of John Robinson, a prominent citizen of Georgia, who died at the age of ninety-two years, and who was married twice, leaving eight children by his first wife and four by his second. He was a merchant and farmer and was possessed of considerable wealth. Mrs. Collins was born in Georgia. Mr. Collins was in the late war for a
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short time at Pollard, with Gen. Clanton, in the home guards. At the breaking out of the war he had considerable property but lost it all during the war. He has now so far recovered as to own several hundred acres of fine land and a fine home home at Pike Road, to which he has recently removed. Mr. Collins has always been industrious and energetic. Before "the war he was a whig, but since then he has earnestly supported the democratic party .- He is a member of the Missionary Baptist church, and a most genial gentleman.
JOHN G. CROMMELIN, mayor of Montgomery, was born in Montgomery in 1844. His father, Charles Crommelin, was born in New York city in 1805, and settled in Alabama when eighteen years of age: His mother, whose maiden name was Julia Parthenia Ross, was born in Camden, S. C., and came with her parents to the present county of Montgomery in 1815. Mayor Crommelin was educated in his native city and county, and at the Washington college, now Washington-Lee university, Lexington, Va. He served in the Confederate army as a private in the Sixth Alabama cavalry, and ,was paroled at the close of the war. For several years after the war he engaged in farming. He has always resided in Mont- gomery, where he has valuable property interests to manage. In May, 1889, he was elected a member of the city council of Montgomery for a term of four years. In May, 1891, he was elected mayor of the city, and was re-elected without opposition in 1893. He has never married.
JAMES DAVIDSON (deceased) was born in Melrose, Scotland, in 1811, and came to America when about twenty years of age, locating first at New York, then in Georgia, and in 1840 coming to Alabama, stopping first at Wetumpka and then settling at Montgomery, where he died in 1884, and his wife the same year. at the age of seventy-one. He filled the office of city treasurer of Montgomery for a number of years, resign- ing that office on account of failing health about `a month prior to his death. His wife was Lucretia Bailey, who was the daughter of George Bailey, a native of Haddam, Conn., and to them were born seven children, all of whom still survive. One son, H. C. Davidson, served all through the war on the Confederate side. He entered the service in the spring of 1863, in company D, Seventh Alabama cavalry, commanded by Col. Jos- eph Hodson, as a private, and soon after was made sergeant, and toward the latter part of the war commanded the company from the battle of Columbia, Tenn., until Hood's retreat from Nashville; but December 16, 1864, he was captured and sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he was held until the war closed. After he was exchanged. in July, 1865, he returned to Montgomery. Ala., and entered the service of James Lahey & Co., for a year, moved to New York city and remained two years, then returned to Montgomery, Ala., in 1868, and bought out Lahey & Co., and carried on the clothing business until the spring of 1884 and then went into the real estate and insurance business, which he still carries on. He is past grand commander of the Knights Templar of Alabama, and is
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a thirty two degree Mason. He was married in 1872 to Fannie O. Lee, a daughter of H. P. Lee, a native of Connecticut, but an old resident of Montgomery.,
DR. LE ROY W. DAVIS, a practicing physician and surgeon, and planter, of Fleta, Montgomery county, Ala., was born in Newton county, Ga., in 1827. He is a son of George C. and Jane (Montgomery) Davis, the former of whom was born in North Carolina in 1789. and the latter in Morgan county, Ga., in 1791. Both received a liberal education, and Mr. Davis removed to Georgia when yet a young man. After his marriage he removed to Morgan county, where he lived over seventy five years. He died December 29, 1874, and his widow died November 9, of the same year. They had lived together sixty years, a successful and happy mar- ried life, reared twelve children to maturity, six sons and six daughters, and were members of the Primitive Baptist church. Mr. Davis was a farmer by occupation, served in the Indian war of 1812, was a whig in politics, conservative in his views but firm in his convictions, was hon- est, industrious and energetic. His father was John Davis, an English- man, who came to America a young man. He was a shoemaker by occu- pation. and did not serve in the Revolutionary war because of lameness. He was the father of nineteen children and died at Richmond, Va. His wife died in Georgia. Elder James M. Montgomery, the maternal grand- father of Dr Davis, was a Primitive Baptist minister. He was born in Morgan county, Ga., and died in the same county at the age of ninety- five years. He was of Irish parentage and reared a large family of children. His wife died in Troup county, Ga. Dr. Le Roy W. Davis is the youngest of a family of six sons and six daughters, five of whom are now living. Four of the sons were in the late war, viz .: Elbert R. was an officer in a Georgia regiment in the army of the Tennessee, now deceased; John M., now of Rutledge, Ga., was also in the Tennessee army all through the war, and was wounded at Atlanta; Jasper, was in the service, died while at home on furlough, and David M., of Walker county, Ala., was in the service with Alabama state troops. Dr. Davis, reared mostly on the farm, attended Mercer university at Penfield, Ga., graduating in 1848. He then read medicine, and graduated in 1851 from the medical college at Augusta, Ga. He established himself in practice, at first one year at home, and then six years in Newton county, Ga., and in 1858 he came to Alabama, locating in Montgomery county. In 1859 he married Fleta, daughter of Charles J. and Christiana (Holman) Matthews, natives of Morgan county, Ga., whence they came to Alabama at an early day, locating in Autauga county, and removing to Montgomery county in 1836. Here they both died in 1871. Mr. Matthews was a prosperous farmer. and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episco- pal church. Mrs. Davis was born in Montgomery county, was educated in that county and in Madison, Ga., was a lady of many accomplishments and a devout Methodist, and died in October, 1852, leaving one daughter,
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now the wife of George A. Shackleford. The town of Fleta -was named after Mrs. Fleta Davis. Dr. Davis is one of the oldest physicians in the county. He has been in constant practice among the same people for a period of thirty-five years, and since 1861 he has lived in the same house. He was at one time county health officer, and is now a member of the State Medical association. He is not a politician and has never aspired to office. He is a member of Golden Place lodge, No. 6, F. & A. M., of Covington, Ga. He owns over 1,000 acres of land, including several hundred acres of mineral land in Walker county. He also owns two cotton gins and a grist mill and saw mill, all of which he has acquired by his own industry, energy and economy. He also carries on a large mercantile business at Fleta.
WILLIAM JAMES DICKERSON, tax assessor of his native county, was born in Montgomery, Ala., April 25, 1848, and educated at the local schools. In 1862, he enlisted in the Second Alabama cavalry, commanded by Col. W. H. Hunter, and served under that officer about six months. In 1863, he re-enlisted in the Seventh Alabama cavalry, Col. Joseph Hodson, and served in that regiment until the close of the war. Mr. Dickerson took part in the battles of Nashvile and Franklin, and all the fights in the last Tennessee campaign, including Spring Hill, and many minor skir- mishes. After the war was over, Mr. Dickerson farmed in Montgomery county, Ala., from 1866 to 1830, then ran a saw mill a year, after which he returned to farming, which he still carries on. In 1885, he was elected tax assessor of Montgomery county for four years, and re-elected in 1889. Mr. Dickerson was married. in 1870, to Miss Sallie Harwell, daughter of Mason Harwell of Montgomery county. This lady died without issue in 1871, and in 1876 Mr. Dickerson married Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of Richard Taylor of Montgomery, and to them have been born two children: Alice Maud, and Will O'Dell Dickerson. Eleazer Dickerson, father of W. James Dickerson, was born in New Jersey in 1794, and came to Alabama when a young man, locating first in Mobile, where he remained a few years, and then came to Montgomery, where he embarked in the furni- ture business, which he carried on until his death in 1859. He married Sarah Reynolds, a native of Edgfield district, S. C., and had born to him six children, of whom five lived to maturity, as follows: Robert J., who was a physician, and was accidentally killed in Selma, Ala., in 1860; James Robert, who was in the Confederate service-first in Maj. H. C. Semple's battery, and then in the Seventh Alabama cavalry. He died in 1876; Mary Eliza, wife of A. J. Anderson, of Montgomery; Katie Bur- ton, wife of P. R. Hall, of Montgomery, Ala., and William James of Montgomery.
JOSEPH W. DIMMICK, formerly clerk of the United States circuit and district courts, Montgomery, was born in Schuyler county, Ill., November 6, 1838, and is the son of Ebenezer Dimmick, a native of New York state, and of English ancestry. J. W. Dimmick was educated at the common
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schools of Illinois, and at Rushville academy, and was teaching school at the outbreak of the war between the states. May 8, 1861, he enlisted as a private in company G, Sixteenth Illinois infantry, and served three years and three months. Immediately after the battle of Corinth he was promoted to a second lieutenancy, and held that position when he left the army. In 1869 President Grant appointed him postmaster at Montgomery, and he held that office four years. In 1875 Justice Woods, of the United States supreme court (then of the United States circuit court), appointed him clerk of the United States circuit court, a position he has since filled with credit to himself. and to the satisfaction of the people. Capt. Dim- mick was one of the organizers of the First National bank of Montgomery, many years a member of its board of directors, and is now its president. He is officially connected with the Sheffield Land company, the Sheffield & Birmingham Coal, Iron and Railroad company, president of the Mont. gomery Iron works, and a director of the Capital City water works. September 7, 1869, Capt. Dimmick was married to Miss Annie Savage, a daughter of the late Prof. Polk Savage, of this city, and has had born to him three daughters and one son.
JOHN W. DURR, son of Rev. Michael and Elizabeth (Pinckard) Durr, was born in Harris county, Ga., June 24, 1835. At the age of seventeen years he moved to Montgomery, Ala., and started in business, first as clerk in a grocery store, afterward bookkeeper for a floaring mill. In 1855 he was employed as bookkeeper in the Central bank of Alabama, remain- ing there five years, then formed a partnership with M. E. Vaughan and B. S. Johnson, and built what is now-known as the Alabama warehouse, and went into the warehouse and commission business under the firm name of M. E. Vaughan & Co., carrying it on until 1863, when his part- ners sold out to Lehman Brothers. In March, 1863, he formed a partner- ship with Lehman Brothers, under the firm name of Lehman, Durr & Co., which continued until 1891, when the firm was incorporated as the Lehman Durr Company, of which he is president. Mr. Durr is also president of the Tallassee Falls manufacturing company, and a director of the South & North Alabama Railroad company, he was also a director of the FirstNational bank of Montgomery, about eighteen years; was elected alderman of the city of Montgomery in 1863, and again in 1875. He is a Free Mason, having taken all the degrees which are conferred by the fra- ternity in the state. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, in which he has been a deacon since 1860; was married, in 1857, to Rebecca H. Holt, daughter of Thomas T. Holt, of Montgomery, Ala.
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