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 20
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W. W. SCREWS.
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
to that end he was thoroughly prepared; but financial reverses prevented his father carrying out his intentions. He commenced the battle of life in his sixteenth year, and has been pretty constantly engaged ever since. Saving enough from the proceeds of two or three years' hard labor in a store to meet his expenses while engaged in studying law, he went, Jan- uary 1, 1858, to Montgomery, to become a student in the law office of Watts, Judge & Jackson, then one of the foremost law firms in the south. In the summer of 1859 he was admitted to the bar, taking advantage of a special statute, not being at the time of the required age. He entered upon the practice of his profession with fair prospects of success, and was doing moderately well, when the war broke out, and during the next four years he was a soldier in the Confederate army. Raised by a whig father, he imbibed his political inclinations, and cast his first vote for Bell & Everett. He was one of the few young lawyers of the state who were opposed to the policy of secession; but like all southern men he entered the Confederate service, and remained in it until the close. He went with the first troops to Pensacola, and participated with them in the capture of the navy yard and forts, except Fort Pickens. Afterward he was connected with Hilliard's legion, which consisted of four infantry battalions, one of cavalry, and one of artillery. After hard service in Ken- tucky and Tennessee -- including the battle of Chickamauga-the infantry battalions were thrown into the Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth regiments. In the former he was first lieutenant of company E. His command was sent to the relief of-Gen. Longstreet at Knoxville, and from that point to Virginia, where it remained, participating in all the trials and dangers of the eventful period from April, 1864, to. the surrender at the Appo- mattox. Returning to Montgomery with the expectation of re-entering the practice of law, he was given a position on the editorial staff of The Advertiser. In April, 1865, the Federal authorities issued an order for- bidding the publication of this journal, which embargo was not raised until about July 15, and the first paper that was issued after this appeared July 20. Maj. Screws has been constantly associated with the paper ever since, being part of the time sole owner, and now editor and president of the stock company, which took its ownership some time ago. Throughout bis whole course as editor he has advocated such measures as he con- ceived were for the best interests of the state. He had fearlessly opposed all propositions looking to the repudiation of any portion of the state debt, and has contended that the value of the property of the people depended upon the maintenance of the state's credit and honor. He has often taken positions regarded as unpopular, and, which it was contended, could not but result in great financial loss to his paper; but in the end his judgment has invariably been vindicated and his policy triumphant. In 1878 and 1880 he was elected secretary of state, the only public position he has ever held. He declined to serve longer on the
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completion of his second term, although he could have easily secured the nomination without opposition. When the farmers' alliance first appeared in the south Maj. Screws gave warning through The Advertiser that it was covertly a political machine, and would degenerate into a third party, with the inevitable result of dividing the democracy itself. For this the paper was mercilessly assailed. It was boycotted by order of the alliance officials, and merchants and others were warned against giving it their patronage. Time has proven the position taken by The Advertiser with relation to the alliance movement to have been unassail- ably correct, and consequently that journal is enjoying a greater degree of popularity than ever before. Maj. Screws, for he obtained that title by appointment on the staff of Maj .- Gen. Holtzclaw of the state troops, has friends in every portion of the state, friends whose friendship is rendered more intense because of the desperate efforts made to break down his influence by the secret political organizations that have sought to obtain control of the state's affairs. He is in vigorous body and mental health, and still labors daily and incessantly on his editorial work, with which one-half of his life has been identified. When Mr. Cleveland was defeated in 1888, Maj. Screws did not lower his standard, but, a day or two after the result of the election was known, declared again in Mr. Cleveland's favor, and asserted that he would be the candidate, and tariff reform the issue, in 1892. How true these prognostications were time has proved. He is sincere in his convictions, strong in his attachments, and stands by his friends under any and all circumstances. Maj. Screws was married in April, 1867, to Miss Emily F. Holt, of Augusta, Ga., whose father, Judge William H. Holt, was for more than a quarter of a century judge of the superior court of the state. To their marriage were born four children-three sons and one daughter. At his home in Mont- gomery, as well as throughout the state, Maj. Screws is greatly esteemed, and if he had sought higher positions could easily have had them.
SAMUEL DIBBLE SEELYE, M. D .- Dr. Samuel Dibble Seelye is of Welsh descent, his ancesters having come to this country in 1665. In England the Seelye family have achieved much social and literary distinction. They belong to that highly cultured class which Oliver Wendell Holmes has called the Brahmin class of New England. He was born in Bethel, Conn., on the 14th of March. 1829. He received his literary educa- tion in the schools of Bethel and in the Danbury academy; and his medi- cal education at the medical department of the university of the city of New York, from which he graduated in 1855. During the ensuing four years he practiced in the city of New York, after which he established himself in Montgomery, Ala., where he has resided ever since, and where he has won honorable distinction both as a public-spirited citizen and as a practitioner of medicine. He has been a member of the Montgomery Medical society since its organization after the war; has been its, presi- dent twice; has been a member of its board of censors, which is also the
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BRANT & FULLER. PUBS
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committee of public health, and the board of medical examiners of the county, almost continuously since 1873, when it received its charter as a constituent member of the Medical association of the state: and has been a frequent contributor of medical papers to its proceedings. He became a member of the State Medical association, at the time of its organization after the war, in 1868; continued on the roll of permanent members until 1871; delivered the annual oration at the Selma session in 1874; was elected counselor of the association in 1876, which position he has ever since retained; has been a member of the state board of censors, the state board of medical examiners, and the state board of health since 1877; and was made president of the association in 1886 under circumstances that made the distinction a signal mark of honorable appreciation by the phy- sicians of the state. He was vice-president of the American Medical association in 1875. In 1885, he married Miss Amelia J. Bigelow, of New , York. They have no living children. Dr. Seelye has been recognized for many years as one of the leading physicians of Montgomery, and indeed of the state. For many years he has been a member and deacon - of the First Presbyterian church of Montgomery. He was always amongst the foremost in all public enterprises, and has contributed notably to the upbuilding and prosperity of the city of his adoption. He is gentle and courteous in demeanor, a firm and faithful friend, of sound and conserva- tive judgment, and with a large endowment of moral courage. His prin- cipal medical papers are as follows: Arterial Embolism and Heart Clot, eleven pages octavo, which appeared in the Transactions of the State Medical association and in pamphlet in 1869. Cell Life, the Basis of all Force both Physical and Mental, twenty-nine pages octavo, Transactions and pamphlet, 1874. Drainage and Underdrainage in their Sanitary and Economic Aspects, and the Sewage of Cities, forty-two pages octavo, Transactions and pam- phlet, 1880.
DR. A. H. SELLERS, a practicing physician and surge on of Ramer, Mont- gomery county, Ala., was born in Darlington district, S. C., in 1823. He is a son of Wm. and Eleanor (Edwards) Sellers, also probably natives of South Carolina, where they received a liberal education, and about 1825 or 1826, came to Alabama, locating at first in Pike county, and one year later removing to near Tallahassee, Fla., where they lived six years. They returned to Pike county, and settled on the Conecuh river a short distance above Troy, improved a farm where Mrs. Sellers spent the rest of her life, dying about 1837. Mr. Sellers afterward married again and removed to near Geneva, where he died before the war. He was a farmer and a Methodist. He was a son of Mather Sellers, who came to and died in Pike county, at a very early day. He was one of the first settlers of the county, was of Scotch-Irish origin, and may have been born in Scotland. Nathan Edwards, the father of the mother of Dr. Sellers, died in Florida, where he had lived many years as a farmer. Dr. A. H. Sellers was the eighth of seven sons and six daughters, all but one of whom, a son, who
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died young, arrived to years of maturity. The eldest son Allen, of Georgia, was in the Indian war of 1836-37, and the youngest son, Christ- opher, was in the late war from Texas, and died a few years ago. Nathan was in the cavalry service in the Tennessee army. and is now deceased. Dr. A. H. Sellers was reared on a farm with a fair literary education, and, upon reaching mature years, attended school on his own account. When about twenty-six years old, he began the study of medicine and taught school for a few years in Macon county, and in 1858 graduated from the Charleston, S. C., medical college. He had already practised medicine somewhat, but after graduating he located at Pine Level, Montgomery county, and has been a resident of Ramer. same county, since 1865. He is one of the oldest physicians of the vicinity and one of the best cit- izens of the county. In 1860 he married Sophronia Hooten, a native of Georgia, who died in 1868, having borne three children, viz .: Mary. wife of Benjamin L. Warner, of Lapine; William W., and Lillie, wife of Luke Brooks. Dr. Sellers was married in 1869 to Mrs. Louisa Wilson, daugh- ter of Isaiah Eiland, a native of one of the Carolinas, who came to Ala- bama with his parents when a young man. He was a farmer of Mont- gomery county many years. and died in that county. Mrs. Sellers was a native of Montgomery county and has had three children, viz .: Esther, Louise, who died young, and Anthony Rush. Dr. Sellers served for a short time during the late war in the' county reserves. He has been a constant practitioner of medicine for thirty-five years to the exclusion of other business, except during the last five years he has given some atten- tion to farming. He owns two farms. He is not a politician and has not aspired to office, but always supports his party. He is a member of Ramer lodge, No. 243, F. & A. M., and has been worshipful master since 1866, with the exception of two years. He became a Mason about 1850 at Tuskegee, and a few years afterward took the chapter degree from Judge William P. Chilton, of Tuskegee. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church and his wife is a member of the Missionary Baptist church.
ANDERSON M. SELLERS, planter of Mt. Carmel, Montgomery county, Ala., was born in Lowndes county. Ala., January 8, 1829. He is a son of William Calvin and Levina (Anderson) Sellers, natives of North Carolina, in which state they were reared and married, and whence they removed to Georgia. They lived several years near Griffin, in this state, and at length came to Alabama, settling in Lowndes county, near Morganville, and remained there the rest of their lives. Mrs. Sellers died at the age of forty-five, when her son was a mere boy, and Mr. Sellers died in 1848. Both were members of the Protestant Methodist church. and Mr. Sellers was a prosperous and successful farmer. He served in the Indian war of 1836-37, and was very conservative in his views on politics, and all public matters. He was a son of William Calvin Sellers, who died in North Carolina, at the age of about one hundred years. When about six- teen, he went into the Revolutionary war. and served six years. being
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once taken prisoner by the tories. Grandfather Anderson died when Anderson M. Sellers was quite small, but both grandmother Sellers and grandmother Anderson came to Alabama, and died in this state. William C. Sellers, the father of Anderson M., married three times, and the latter was the sixth of four sons and five daughters. viz .: James S .. who mar- ried Harriet Trotter, both deceased; Elizabeth, (Mrs. Walton ), deceased; Rebecca, (Mrs. Stockard), deceased February 24, 1893; William Calvin, married Rebecca Owens, and died 1890; she resides at Fort Deposit, Lowndes county, Ala .; Levina J. (Mrs. Anderson), died 1891; Ander- son M .; Frances A., widow of John Butler, lives in Selma Dallas county, Ala .; Major Holcomb, deceased, and Mary, deceased. Anderson M. Sel- . lers. was reared on the farm, upon which he was born. He received but little education on account of his father's death, and when he was eighteen years old, he began life for himself. In 1831, he married Martha J., daughter of Walter Boyd, a native of South Carolina, and a planter. She died in 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Sellers had four children, viz. : William W., born September 13, 1855, is now a prominent merchant at Sellers station, Ala., was formerly a merchant at Mt. Carmel. In 1880, he married Lomax, daughter of James S. Sellers, the brother of Ander- son M. She had three children, viz .: Mattie Lou, Mary Gertrude and Cleveland Anderson. She died in October, 1888, and in 1891, William W., married Ella F. Linthicum, of Montgomery, Ala. In 1890, he removed to Sellers station, laid out the town, and established the postoffice, which is named after him. James A., born 1865, died 1872; Alfred Thomas, born 1867, died 1867; and Lititia, born January 30, 1870, educated at Highland Home college, and, in 1888, married James A. Poole, a planter near Mt. Carmel, Ala. Mr. Anderson M. Sellers, married again October 26, 1871, to Georgia Anna, daughter of Zadok Bussy, a native of South Carolina. Mrs. Sellers was born in Georgia, July 26, 1851, and is now the mother of eleven children, viz .: Callie S., born August 29, 1872, edu- cated at Highland Home college, and July 6, 1890, married Jefferson D. Norman, a prominent druggist at Lapine, Ala .; Mary M., born 1874, died 1878; Thomas A., born 1877, and died January 27, 1887; Luther M., born 1879, and died September 18, 1885; Mabel Clare, born January 28, 1881; Carrie E,, born December 15, 1884, and died August 8, 1885; Justus, born July, 1886, and died 1836; Ethel M. and Elma M., twins, were born January 8, 1887, Elma died March, 1887; A. M., was born December 15, 1889, and Felix Jefferson, born October 28, 1892. Six are dead and five living. Since his first marriage, Mr. Sellers has lived in Montgomery county, and has been engaged in farming. He owns about 1,100 acres in Montgomery county, and about 600 acres in Crenshaw county, all of which has been obtained through his own efforts, except about $300 he received from his father's estate. He was a soldier in the late war, having, in the spring of 1862, joined company K. Fifty-third Alabama mounted infantry, as a private soldier, and fought in many of the important battles of the
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war. He was in the fight at Tuscumbia, Ala., in the battles around Chat- tanooga, in the Georgia campaign, and after the fall of Atlanta, he was so afflicted with chronic diarrhoea, that he was sent to the hospital at Cuthbert. Ga., and was thence furloughed home for sixty days. He started back to join his command when his furlough expired, but when he arrived at Augusta, the war was closed. and he returned to his home. He has never aspired to office, but exercises the right of suffrage, and always supports the democratic party. He is a member of Mt. Carmel lodge, No. 223, F. & A. M., and both he and his wife have been members of the Protestant Methodist church for many years. Mr. Sellers belongs to one of the best and oldest families of southern Alabama. and he is recognized as one of Montgomery county's most substantial farmers and foremost citizens. He is firm in his convictions, and is a man of great energy and industry.
HENRY CHURCHILL SEMPLE, distinguished. counselor at law, was born January 14, 1822, at Williamsburg, Va. His father, James Semple, a Virginian by birth, was a judge of the general court of Virginia, and also, at one time, a professor of law at William and Mary college. His mother, Joanna (Mckenzie) Semple, was a native of Chesterfield county, Va. Young Semple received the finest education to be had in his time. He was trained at the historic old college of his native town, William and Mary, and was afterward graduated in law from Harvard university. He located in Montgomery, Ala., and began the practice of his profession. Goldthwaite & Semple and Goldthwaite, Rice & Semple, were then among the leaders of the bar, as Brickell, Semple and Gunter are to-day. As a lawyer, Maj. Semple has throughout enjoyed a fine class of practice; he now represents some very large corporate interests in addition to his other clientage. He entered the army as an aid on Gen. Bragg's staff, and was with him until March, 1862. He then assumed command of Sem- ple's battery, as famous in the western army as Pelham's in the army of Virginia. As Capt. Semple, he took part in Bragg's Kentucky campaign, and saw war in as desperate and bloody a form as the new world has ever witnessed. While yet a captain, he commanded, at times, the battalion of artillery of Cleburne's famous division, then the artillery of D. H Hill's corps, of Gen. Breckinridge's corps; was in command of artillery of Cleburne's division the first day of bloody Chickamauga, and before night of the second, in command of the artillery of the corps. He remained in command till Hill was superseded by Breckinridge-was with him at Missionary Ridge and with Cleburne at the repulse of the pur- suing army at bloody Ringgold Gap. In 1864, he was raised to the rank of major, and transferred to Mobile to assist in gulf defenses. He surrendered with Gen. Taylor's army, May 12, 1865, at Meridian, Miss. Maj. Semple was married, in November, 1848, to Miss Emily V. James, of Clarke county, Ala. They have six children living. Maj. Semple has fine manners, is kind and hospitable, and a capital racconteur, alto-
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gether recalling; in his person and characteristics, the sturdy and worthy stock, of which all Virginians are naturally proud, "the Virginia gentleman."
JOHANNES G. SIEBS, a prominent cotton exporter, of Montgomery, was born in Hooksiel, Germany, in 1853, his home being Bremen, Ger- many. He was engaged in the cotton business in Bremen and Liverpool from 1869 to 1874, when he came to America, alternately locating in Savannah, Montgomery and New Orleans in his capacity as manager for an export firm until 1881, when he established his own firm in Mont- gomery. Mr. Siebs was married in 1881 to Anni Osthoff, daughter of Clemens Osthoff, of Oldenburg, Germany, and to them were born five children, of whom three daughters are now living. The name of J. G. Siebs' father is Theodor Siebs, living in Bremen, and, his mother's maiden name was Friederike Reuter, and to them were born four chil- dren, now living. Mrs. Friederike Siebs died in 1886.
JAMES B. SIMPSON, editor of the Montgomery Journal, was born in Greenville, Ala., Nov. 23, 1857, and was educated at the parochial schools of Montgomery, where he moved with his parents in 1862. Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he entered the law office of the late William P. Chilton, remaining there about a year, and then engaged as clerk in a newstand for two years, and then went into a hardware store for six or seven years. In 1885, he went on the Daily Dispatch, published in Mont- gomery, Ala., as reporter, and acted as such until the paper suspended in 1889. Then, together with Horace Hood, he established the Evening Journal. which they now publish. Mr. Simpson was married. in 1888, to Ellen J., daughter of Patrick H. Dawes, of Mobile, by whom he has one daughter, named Mary Ethel. Myles Simpson, father of James B., was a native of county Letrim, Ireland. He married Miss Mary Lynch, who survives her husband.
HENDERSON MIDDLETON SOMERVILLE was born in Madison county, Va., on March 23d, 1837. His father was a distinguished physician of a well known Virginia family. of Culpeper county, and moved from that state in the fall of 1837 to Alabama. at a time when the "Star of Empire" was making its way westward, and it required between five and six weeks for the traveler, by vehicle or horseback, to make the journey. His mother, Helen Glassell Wallace, was a noted woman of her day, belonging to the well know Glassell family of Virginia. one of whom, Joanna, went to Scotland, and married the Duke of Argyle, father to the late Duke of Argyle, and grandfather of the present Marquis of Lorne, son-in-law of Queen Victoria. Judge Henderson M. Somerville, when fifteen years of age, entered the university of Alabama, at Tuscalocsa, and was graduated in 1856, with distinction. After teaching school one year. he entered the Cumberland Law school at Lebanon, Tenn., where he took a diploma in 1859. Proceeding at once to Memphis, then the growing city of the southwest, he commenced the practice of law. In 1861 he assumed the
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political editorship and management of the Memphis Appeal. at a time when a strong and able corps of editors controlled the press of that city, among whom may be recalled ex-United States Senators Jere Clemens and Solon Borland, and the veteran editor, Matt. Gallaway, of the Avalanche. Under his editorial management, the Appeal more than quad- rupled in circulation in less than two years of time. In 1863, after the capture of Memphis by the Federal troops, he accepted the position of associate professor of mathematics and classics in the university of Alabama, which he tilled until that institution was burned by the invading army of the United States in April, 1865. He then entered the prac- tice of law at Tuscaloosa, in partnership with ex-Judge Ormand, for- merly of the Alabama supreme court bench, but this association terminated by the death of Judge Ormand in the following year. No lawyer in western Alabama had a larger or more lucrative practice, extending to every branch of jurisprudence, including equity, the common and criminal law. He often quoted and constantly followed the maxims of Lord Eldon, that to meet with success at the bar a lawyer must "live like a hermit. and work like a horse." In 1873, while still deeply engrossed in the pursuit of his profession, by invitation of the university regents he founded the law school of the State university. which steadily flourished under his management for seventeen years. It has been estimated that over one-fourth of the present bar of Alabama graduated in this school under his tuition. One of his law students, in 1887, as editor of the University Daily, says, "As a teacher of law, Judge Somerville is absolutely without a superior. His knowledge of legal principles is exhaustless; his acquaintance with the decisions and authorities is to us boundless. He is a man of profound thought, and undeviatingly exact reason. His power to impart knowledge is wonder- ful." Judge Somerville was appointed by the supreme court bench of Alabama, as associate justice, by Gov. Cobb, in September, 1880. He was elected to the same office by the people, in 1886, for a term of six years. Prior to his accession to the bench he took an active interest in politics, being for ten years a member of the democratic state executive committee, upon whose shoulders largely rested the herculean task of rescuing the state government from the perils of reconstruction. In 1887, when a vacancy occurred in the United States supreme bench, occasioned by the death of Justice Woods, Judge Somerville was endorsed by the . press and bar of Alabama for this high position with comparative unan- imity over many able and older competitors from the same state. Presi- dent Cleveland, however, appointed Mr. Lamar from his own cabinet to fill this place. In July, 1890, without either seeking or desiring the posi- tion, he was appointed by President Harrison to the office of United States general appraiser, as one of the four democratic appointees on that board of customs. The position is judicial in character, and the tenure is prac- tically for life, with a salary of $7,000 per annum, which is but little less
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