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 18
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of Virginia. Leaving the latter in 1860, he returned to Montgomery county, and in April, 1861, he entered the Confederate service, enlisting in the Montgomery mounted rifles, and served two years. He returned to Montgomery in the summer of 1862, and served with the state troops at various times until the end of the war, planting during the intervals. He went into the cotton business in 1865, which he now carries on with flattering success. Mr. Marks has served two terms as treasurer of Montgomery county, and has received other marks of public confidence. William M. Marks, father of Spencer C., was a native of Georgia, was of English descent, but proximately from Virginia.
PATRICK C. MASSIE, an eminent lawyer of Montgomery, Ala., was born in Nelson county, Va., August 27, 1862, and was educated by pri- vate tutors and at Bellevue high school, and at the university of Vir- ginia, leaving the latter in June, 1583, with the degrees of A. B. and B. L. He came to Montgomery, Ala., in November, 1883, and in Decem- ber, 1883, he was admitted to the bar, and has been practicing ever since, forming a partnership with George M. Marks, October 1, 1886. In June, 1891, he was elected city recorder of Montgomery, Ala., for two years. He is a member of the K. P. and of the Elks, and is as popular socially as he is professionally. He comes of a very ancient family that have been residents of the Old Dominion for over 150 years. His father's name was also Patrick Cabell Massie, who was born in Virginia. and his great- grandfather was Thomas Massie, who was a major in the Revolutionary war. The mother of Mr. Massie, our subject, was a Miss Withers, and his grandmother was a Miss Cabell. Mr. Massie's abilities as a lawyer are recognized by his brother practitioners as well as by the public in general, and he commands a large share of the legal patronage of the city.
JAMES TAYLOR MAY, grocer ard planter of Montgomery, was born in Pike county, Ala., January 2, 1848, and educated in the schools of Butler county, Ala., where he had been taken by his parents, when a child, for that purpose. He left school at the age of sixteen and remained on his father's farm, in Butler county. until he reached the age of twenty-five, and then located in Montgomery, where he is interested in the wholesale and retail grocery of W. E. McGee & Co. He also owns six plantations in Montgomery and Crenshaw counties, and thirty shares in the Capital City Insurance Co. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight of Honor and a member of the American Legion of Honor, and affiliates with the Baptist church. He was married in January, 1867, to Mollie A. Gamble, daughter of Charles Gamble, of Georgia, and to them have been born nine children, of whom three died in infancy. The surviving six are named as follows: Herbert Bryan, Bessie, Ethel Louise, Louie, son, James A. and Alda. Simeon R. May, father of James Taylor May, was born in Conecuh county, Ala., in 1820. He was a farmer all his life and 42*
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died in 1879. He went into the Confederate service in 1864, and served until the war closed. He married Lionie A. Dennis, daughter of Charles Dennis, probate judge of Pike county, Ala., and ex-member of the Ala- bama state senate. To this marriage were born eleven children, of whom one died in infancy. The survivors are named as follows: Sallie J., widow of Dr. S. E. Thompson, of Butler county, Ala. ; Susan J., wife of Dr. P. O. Lankford, of Montgomery county, Ala. ; Martha E., wife of I. D. Collier, Montgomery county, Ala. ; Cerina M., wife of J. D. Bailey, of Crenshaw county, Ala .; James Taylor May; Elizabeth, wife of John A. Ruff, of Texas: Linna, D. G., Dale county, Ala. ; Simeon R., of Crenshaw county, Ala. ; and Ella M., wife of John M. Parm, of Crenshaw county, Ala. James Taylor May enlisted in the Confederate service in January, 1865, and served until the close of the war. His grandfather was James May, who was a native of Tennessee and early in 1800 removed to Alabama.
THOMAS ALEXANDER MEANS, A. M., M. D., was born in Covington, Ga., October 11, 1831; received an academic education in Emory college, Ga., class of 1851, read medicine for four years under his father, attended his first course of lectures in the Medical college of Georgia at Augusta, in. 1855; second course in the Atlanta Medical college, class of 1856, and immediately set sail for Europe, under the chaperonage of Prof. Willis F. Westmoreland, of Atlanta, to further complete his studies. After three years abroad, attending the medical schools of London, Paris, Dublin and Edinburgh, he returned home, and settled in Memphis, Tenn., in 1859. He was commissioned surgeon in the Confederate States army, July, 1861, and, had his initial experience at the first battle of Manassas. He continued in the army of northern Virginia until the battle of Gettys- burg. After the retreat of Lee's army he was, by order of Gen. Long- street, left in charge of the wounded of his corps, and the divisions of Hood and Pickett. He remained in the field for one month, and was then transferred, with the wounded under his charge, to Camp Letterman, near Gettysburg, and placed on duty as surgeon of Confederate officers, prisoners of war, remaining there three months. When this hospital was broken up he was transferred to Fortress McHenry, near Baltimore, and was held for one month as prisoner of war. He was exchanged shortly afterward and ordered to hospital duty further south, locating at Columbus, Ga., in charge of the Marshall hospital, where he remained until the close of hostilities. In 1867 the doctor located in Montogmery, where he at once took high rank in his profession. Among the many positions of honor and trust to which he has been called, may be men- tioned the following: secretary of the Medical and Surgical society, secretary of the board of health, city physician and register of vital sta- tistics, surgeon in charge of the city school hospital. president of the Medical and Surgical society, one of the consulting physicians to the Montgomery city infirmary, superintendent of public schools, president of the Young Men's Christian association, etc., etc. To the literature of
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the profession of which he is so distinguished a member, he has contrib- uted the following important papers and lectures: The Anatomy of Expression, or the Human Countenance in Health and Disease (lecture) , Parisian Hospitals, Their more Striking Features and Advantages (let- ters from Scotland) ; Total Ablation of the Inferior Maxilla (translation) ; Spermatorrhoa, Care, Treatment and Cure; Diphtheritis 07 Diphtheritic Sore Throat; Gelsemium Semper Virens as a Remedy in Gonorrhoa, Venal and Vesicle Disorders; On the Influence of Weather in Relation to Disease; Constipation and Costiveness; Ozone, its Definition, Mode of Generation and its Effects upon the Health of Human Beings; the Dry Method in the Treatment of Uterine Diseases, and many others of equal importance.
FISHER HARRISON MERRITT, one of the most enterprising cotton men of Montgomery, Ala., was born in Todd county, Ky., in 1840, and was educated first at the school in Allensville, Ky., taught by the late Prof. William Ferrell, and afterward at Cumberland college, Lebanon, Tenn. Leaving the latter in the spring of 1861, he returned home to Kentucky, and at once entered the service of the state, enlisting in an independent company of infantry commanded by Capt. James Childress, which was organized in Todd county, Ky., for the purpose of protecting the state from invasion by either Confederate or Federal troops. Soon after, Mr. Merritt, together with his two brothers, Henry and Montgomery, cast their lots with the south. This was on the eve of the battle of Big Bethel in Virginia. Those who decided to go with the south, went at once to Lynchburg, Va., and reported to the war department, and after remaining a month were ordered to Richmond, Va., where they remained in a camp of instruction until the first battle of Manassas, when they were ordered to fhat field and were organized into the First Kentucky regiment, and denominated company K. At this time, Mr. Merritt was sergeant and served as such for twelve months, when his period of serv- ice expired, and he returned home to Kentucky, and at once another company was organized, constituted of cavalry, and Mr. Merritt and his two brothers joined this company, which was commanded by Capt. Dorch, and Mr. Merritt made lieutenant. This company joined Gen. John H. Morgan's command at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and remained with him until the latter made his famous raid into Ohio and Indiana. Mr. Merritt was wounded at Buffington's Island, while trying to. recross the Ohio river, and was left at the house of a farmer named Flanders, in Meigs county, Ohio, where he was taken care of until he was well enough to be moved, three weeks later, to Pomeroy, Ohio. there remaining a week and then taken to McLean's Barracks, Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was held six weeks; then was sent over to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he was held two months, and then sent to Johnson's Island. This was in the fall of 1863, and Mr. Merritt was held there until the war closed. Among others, Mr. Merritt took part in the following battles: First Manassas, Drainsville, York-
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town, Williamsburg and in many skirmishes. After his release, Mr. Merritt returned to Todd county, Ky., and farmed for two years, and then, in 1967, came to Alabama, locating in Lowndes county, and engaged in planting there and in Montgomery county, Ala., up to 1882; he then located in Montgomery, and went into the cotton business, which he has since carried on. Mr. Merritt has been married twice; first, in 1867, to Miss Lucy Grattan, daughter of Dr. John Grattan, of Columbus, Miss. She died in 1876, and he married her sister, Fannie, in 1878. Mr. Mer- ritt is a member of the Knights of Honor and of the Methodist Episcopal church, and stands high in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. His father was Daniel R. Merritt, who was born in Tennessee, but moved to Ken- tucky when a young man and farmed there until his death in 1887, aged eighty-four. The maiden name of Mr. Merritt's mother was Penelope Hannum. She was a native of Kentucky, and died in 1889. Mr. Mer- ritt's paternal ancestors are English, and his maternal ancestors, Scotch- Irish.
HAMILTON BONNER METCALF, the popular druggist of Montgomery, Ala., was born in Greensobro, Ga., December 24, 1836, and educated at the Troy conference academy, at West Poultney, Vt., and Nourse's high school at Washington, D. C. After leaving the latter. he went into the drug business in Washington, and in 1857 came to Montgomery, Ala., and went into the same business as a clerk, and in 1862, went into the busi- ness with Dr. George F. Pollard. In 1872, Mr. Metcalf bought out Dr. Pollard's interest, and has carried on the business alone ever since, hav- ing been thirty years in one stand. Mr. Metcalf has served two years as alderman of Montgomery, and has ever been active in caring for the wel- fare of the city. He was married, in 1867, to Miss Anna P. Howard, daughter of Maj. W. J. Howard of Cross Keys, Ala., and to them were born five children, as follows: Mary Louise, Howard, Claudia, Anna and Eugenia Woodruff. Eliphelet H. Metcalf, father of Hamilton B., was born in Northumberland. N. Y., in 1809, and came to Alabama in 1852, settling in Montgomery. He was a mail contractor, carrying the mails by stage all over the southern country. He lived in Washington, D. C., from 1841 to 1852, and ,was in the postoffice department, acting as chief clerk in the contracting department. He married Mary Jones Bonner, daughter of Hamilton Bonner, of Hancock county, Ga., and to them were born seven children, of. whom five survive, as follows: William Van Tuyl, who was in the war in the Confederate service from 1861 to 1865, serving in the Third Alabama regiment; H. B., of Montgomery: John, who went into the confederate service in 1862, and served to the close of the war in the Seventh Alabama cavalry; Lucy Green, wife of Henry Crommelin. of Montgomery ; and Margaret Van Tuyl, wife of George W. Taylor of Demopolis. Ala. Eliphelet Henry Metcalf died in 1886. His father, Will- iam Metcalf, was born in December, 1776. in Connecticut. The father of William was named Eliphelet, and was born in Connecticut in 1748, and
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died in 1834. The emigrant ancestor was Michael Metcalf, who was born in Tatterford, Norfok county, Eng., in 1336. He came to America, and was one of the first settlers in Dedham, Mass., and one of those who built the first church there.
DR. RICHARD FRASER MICHEL. one of the most prominent physicians .and surgeons of Montgomery, Ala., was born at Charleston, S. C., Feb- ruary 15, 1827, and is a son of Dr. William Michel and Eugenia (Fraser) Michel, natives of Charleston, and of French and Scotch descent. R. F. Michel was educated in Charleston; graduated from the medical college of that city in March, 1847, and there immediately began the practice of medicine. In 1848 he was elected professor of materia medica of the Charleston Medical institute, which position he held until 1860, and dem- onstrated anatomy in the institute for ten years. He entered the Confed- erate army as a surgeon with Gen. Evars' brigade, Christmas eve, 1860,' in Fort Moultrie, Charleston harbor, and the army of Virginia, and only left at the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lec. Dr. Michel acted as sur- geon of the First South Carolina artillery, and after service on Morris Island was appointed surgeon of Gen. Evans' brigade. After the war he located at Montogmery. where he has since devoted himself to the prac- itce. In 1872 he was elected vice-president of the American Medical association, which position he held one year. In 1869 he was elected president of the Medical association of the state of Alabama, and in November of the same year was elected president of the Medical and Surgical society of Montgomery. He was appointed surgeon general of the state of Alabama in 1883 on Gov. O'Neal's staff, and was the orator of the Medical association of the state of Alabama at Mobile in 1876. He was elected counselor of the Medical association of the state of South Carolina in 1859 and 1860, and is now the grand senior counselor of the Medical association of the state of Alabama. The doctor has officiated as a member of the board of health of Montgomery since 1869, acting part of the time as president of that body. He was married in February, 1854, to Miss Annie, daughter of William and Susan Rivers, of Charles- ton, S. C., and has had born to him three children, viz .: Eugenia F., deceased; Susan F., wife of F. G. Hammond, of Montgomery; Middleton, who is a machinist at Columbus, Ga. The doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the American Legion of Honor, the Elks, and is president of the Social Medical club of Montgomery, of which he has been president twenty years, and with his family is a com- municant of St. John's Episcopal church, and is now junior warden of that church. Dr. R. F. Michel is the author of the following, among other papers: "Anatomical and Physiological Reflections on some parts of the Eye,"-Richmond and Louisville Medical Journal, September, 1871; "History of Break-bone Fever,"-Southern Journal of the Medical Sciences, February, 1867; "A Monograph on Hemorrhagic Malarial Fever,"-New Orleans Journal of Medicine, October, 1869; "Purpuræmia,"
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-Transactions Medical associations of the State of Alabama: "Analysis of the Life of W. O. Baldwin, M. D."-Richmond and Louisville Medical Journal, May, 1869; "Address to the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, 1570;" "Review of the Proceedings of the American Medical association for 1868,"-New Orleans Medical Journal, July, 1868; "Dr. Michel's Surgical Cases,"-Richmond Medical Journal, August, 1866; "Michel on Vesico-Vaginal Fistula,"-New Orleans Journal of Medicine, April, 1859; "Gun Shot Wounds of the Neck,"-Medical and Surgical His- tory of the Rebellion, part first, page 424; "A Lecture on the Life and Writings of Col. Paul H. Hayne, the Poet;" "Epidemic of Yellow Fever in Montgomery, 1873;" "Pathology of Yellow Fever,"-Transactions of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama, 1874. Dr. Michel delivered a lecture at the Arlington, Washington, D. C., May 15, 1874, subject: "The Physician and his Vocation in Society," which received a great deal' of admiring comment. On March 25, 1875, Dr. Michel was appointed chief surgeon of the Alabama militia, under Maj. Gen. J. T. Holtzclaw, and in 1893 was appointed by Gov. Jones surgeon-general of the state.
JOHN B. NICROSI, the very popular confectioner of Montgomery, Ala., was born on the isle of Corsica in January, 1842, and came to America in November, 1859, settling at once in Montgomery, where he clerked two years for Juan & Co., and then for his brother, P. M. Nicrosi, up to 1871. when the two went into business together, and the partnership con- tinued until the death of P. M. Nicrosi in December, 1891, since which John B. has conclucted the business on his sole account. Mr. Nicrosi is also a director in the Farley National bank, and stockholder in the Commer- cial Fire Insurance company, the bank of Montgomery and the Capital City Insurance company, and is altogether an enterprising citizen. He belongs to the Catholic church, and was married in 1885 to Jennie Kelly, daughter of William Kelly, of Ireland, and to them were born three sons, as follows: Michael, Peter, William. The father of John B. was Michel Nicrosi, who was born and died in Corsica; his mother was Barbara Vin- sentelli, and to them were born five children, as follows: Peter M., who died in Corsica, where he returned from Montgomery in 1871; John B., whose name heads this paragraph; Dominick, of Corsica; Jane, deceased wife of Tony Veteticho, and Tony, who died in Montgomery in 1877. The mother died in 1887 in Corsica.
DR. JOHN C. NICHOLSON. a practicing physician and surgeon and planter near Mount Meigs, Montgomery county, was born in Haywood county, Tenn., in August, 1830. He is a son of Wright and Harriet (Cogburn) Nicholson, both natives of Edgefield district, S. C., the former born in 1795, the latter in 1806. Both were liberally educated and married in their native state, and in 1829 removed to Haywood county, Tenn., rented land one year, and then bought and settled in the woods, where Mr. Nicholson spent the rest of his life, having accumulated a fair fortune and dying in 1869, and his widow still surviving, active and sprightly in
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her eighty-sixth year and living on the old farm. Both were members of the Missionary Baptist church. Mr. Nicholson was a man of fine education, was a great reader, and was well known in literary and religious circles, and his house was the scene and still is of many a social and religious gathering. He took an active part in all public matters, but was not an office seeker. He was a cousin of the Hon. A O. P. Nicholson, of Colum- bia, Tenn., who was a member of the supreme court of the state of Ten- nessee, and also a member of the United States senate. The grandfather as well as the father of Dr. Nicholson was named Wright Nicholson. The father of the latter was a captain on the side of the colonies in the Revo- lutionary war and was wounded in the knee. Aaron Cogburn, the father of Mrs. Harriet Nicholson, probably spent all his life in South Carolina, and there died. Dr. Nicholson is the eldest of a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters. He was reared on a farm, and after receiv- ing a good academic education near his home he attended Union university at Murfreesboro, Tenn .. until 1852, after which he attended Jefferson medical college at Philadelphia, graduating therefrom in 1855. with high honors. After practicing his profession a few months at home he came to Alabama and has ever since practiced in the vicinity of his present home. He is thus one of the oldest physicians in the county. He was formerly a member of the State Medical association, and also of the Montgomery county Medical society. His practice has been very extensive, and he has been a most successful physician. Beside doing a lucrative business as a physician he has also been extensively engaged in farming, owning a large plantation near Mount Meigs. He is both a practical and experi- mental farmer, and has been identified with various agricultural societies organized for the advancement of farming interests. In 1856 he married Martha C. Conyers, daughter of James D. Conyers, a native of Georgia, but an early settler in Montgomery county, selecting the farm upon which Dr. Nicholson now lives, and upon which he died before the war, his widow dying in 1866. Mrs. Nicholson was born on this farm and died in 1886. She was a member of the Baptist church, and was the mother of nine children, only three of whom survived her and are now living. In 1888 Dr. Nicholson married Miss Adele A. Trimble, daughter of Moses and Susan Trimble, natives of Troup county, Ga., whence they came to Alabama and settled in Macon county, where Mr. Trimble still lives, aged seventy-five years. Dr. Nicholson has no children by his last wife. When the war broke out Dr. Nicholson was commissioned, by President Jefferson Davis, first lieutenant in the recruiting service, in which he was unusually successful. But this kind of military life. not fil- ling, as he thought. the requirements due from every able-bodied southern man.at that time. he soon resigned that position and joined com- pany D, First Alabama cavalry, as a private, and on reaching the regi- ment, he was at once made assistant surgeon, in which capacity he 'served with his regiment, which was in Wheeler's brigade during Bragg's
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Kentucky campaign, at the termination of which he wis, at the urgent recommendation of Col. W. W. Allen and Gen. Joseph Wheeler, commis- sioned surgeon, in which capacity he (with his regiment) participated, during the whole war, in all the brilliant campaigns and hard fought battles of Wheeler's cavalry division, he frequently acting as brigade surgeon. After the siege of Knoxville by Longstreet, he was detailed to establish a cavalry hospital at Bull's Gap, or Rogersvilie Junction, Tenn., and succeeded so well as to elicit the highest encomiums from his superior officers. He was never furloughed (on sick leave for a short time), never captured or wounded, although he had three horses killed under him in battle. He surrendered with his command near Charlotte, N. C., at the conclusion of the war. He has always been an active poli- tician, and an indefatigable worker for the democratic party. When the' state was wrested from the republicans in 1874, Montgomery county was still left under their control, and the finances were in a very embarrassing condition, county warrants being at a discount of 80 per cent., county bonds about the same. In order that the democrats might get control of the finances, a board of revenue was made appointive by the governor. instead of elective, and Dr. Nicholson was appointed one of the five mem- bers of that board, on its establishment. whose term was for four years. He has served in that capacity ever since, a period of eighteen years, having been re-appointed at the expiration of each term. After their appointment. county warrants were soon at par, the county debt all paid, and great improvement in public highways were soon made. In 1878 he was elected to the legislature, and served as chairman of the committee on penitentiary. He was the author of several bills, which as laws, have been of incalculable benefit to the people of the state. One of these laws is known as the "Nicholson seed-cotton law." which made it a felony to sell or buy seed-cotton. This law was passed in order to pre- vent what had become almost the wholesale stealing of seed cotton, which was bringing great losses, almost ruin upon the cotton planters, and was highly popular among them. Another law was one relating to convict lease system, providing that the lessees might, at their own expense, take the convicts direct from the jail. instead of being compelled to take them from the penitentiary, where they had been sent at the expense of the state, thereby reducing the expense of the state several thousand dollars the first year. He will thus be seen to possess a practical turn of mind when it is applied to political subjects, instead of being wholly 'senti- mental, as most politicians are. In religion he has been, for many years a member of the Missionary Baptist church, and is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of the county. Dr. Nicholson is also a writer of no mean ability, as is evinced by an occasional agricultural, political, medi- cal and miscellaneous article for the public prints, which flows freely from his pen.
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