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 23
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yours, very sei feretfully I. H, Watts Sn
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mother. Young Watts was educated at. the old-field schools of Butler, and at the Airy Mount academy in Dallas county. He abandoned all- claim to an interest in his patrimony, in order to provide means to com- plete his education at the university of Virginia. From this great insti- tution he was graduated in 1840, at the age of twenty-one years. His strong political bias manifested itself at once, and he went with ardor into the presidential campaign of 1840, so memorable for its enthusiasm. Resuming his studies, he qualified for the bar, and was admitted in 1841. In 1842, 1844 and 1845, he represented Butler county in the legislature, receiving, thus, repeated endorsements at the hands of his fellow-citizens, and showing he had already established for himself a secure place in , their esteem. In 1847 he removed to Montgomery, continuing there the practice of the law. He took high rank at once at the Montgomery bar, though it then had one of the ablest bars in its history. In 1849,'he was elected to the lower house of the general assembly. and in 1853 served as senator for the senatorial district, consisting of Montgomery and Autauga counties. In the years that intervened before the war between the states, he, as a whig, found himself in a minority in Alabama, but no one ever doubted his bold and incorruptible patriotism. ~ He stood out against the doctrine of secession, but when his state actually withdrew, he did not hesitate a moment in choosing the course he should pursue. He went with Alabama. He was one of the delegates to the constitutional conven- tion that assembled in Montgomery, in January, 1861, and was chairman of the judiciary committee in that body. In the summer of 1861 he organized an infantry regiment, the Seventeenth Alabama, and was elected its colonel. He had no opportunity to see' much active service in the field. In March, 1862, while with his regiment at Corinth, Miss., he was summoned by President Davis to Richmond, to take the post of attorney- general in his cabinet. He remained throughout life deeply attached to Mr. Davis, and those who saw the meeting between them in Montgomery, in 1886, after years of separation, were deeply touched to see the two veterans in statecraft, and veterans in the service of their country, stand silently holding each other's hands, while tears streamed down their cheeks. In 1861 Mr. Watts received a flattering vote for governor, though he had not avowed his candidacy. In 1863 he was overwhelmingly elected, carrying every county in the state, except one. In this great office he met the arduous duties of the time in a manner reflecting emi. nent credit upon him.
Gov. Watts was driven from his post in 1865, when the Federal army overran Alabama and assumed control of its affairs. Gov. Watts then addressed himself with heroic will to build up his shattered fortune, the waste and destruction of the war having reduced a great estate to nothing and leaving him with a heavy load of debt. He lived to see the day when he was once more a free man, and the writer of this well remembers hearing him describe the delight he felt in anticipation of a
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vacation to be spent in the mountains of Virginia, and that should include a visit to his alma mater, the university of Virginia. With the exception . of one term of service in the legislature, Gov. Watts never held any public office after the war. He was strictly a lawyer, though no public move- ment of any kind ever failed to enlist his heartiest efforts of voice, of pen and of deed. He died in September, 1892. at his home in Montgomery, on Union street, his death coming as a surprise to his friends, who had seen him defy time so long and with such heartiness, that they were not will- ing to consider he was entirely mortal, as other men. Gov. Watts was twice married, first, January 10, 1842, to Eliza B. Allen, who died in 1873, leaving six children, and in September, 1875, to the widow of a former law partner, J. F. Jackson. He survived her, she dying in February, .1887. It was the opinion of an Alabama jurist who once sat on the supreme bench of the state, that during his, the judge's, incumbency of that office, Gov. Watts was the ablest lawyer who practiced in that court. There would be few found to dissent from this judgment. He was admir- ably equipped for the practice of his profession. He had an iron consti- tution and an energy that never flagged. Work was to him what the leaf is to the silk worm. He loved it and it was his life. He knew all branches of law and his practice was of the most multifarious kinds. In later years, however, he preferably confined his practice to the supreme court, and his memory is imperishably associated with that body. It was there he delivered some of his most powerful arguments, and since the fame of a lawyer who does not go upon the bench must, in the end, rest mainly upon his forensic skill, Gov. Watts's memory will live longest as one of the greatest, if not the very greatest orator in the court room, that Alabama has yet seen. He was a man of most beautifully unaffected simplicity of manner, and his kindly beneficent nature endeared him to hundreds and hundreds during his life.
JOB SOBIESKY WEATHERLY, M. D., was born in South Carolina on the 26th day of July, 1828. He read medicine with Dr. McLeod of that state, . and graduated from the medical department of the university of the city of New York in 1851. He first located at Adairsville, Ga. In 1857 he came to Montgomery to live, where he practiced to the time of his death. He was elected to the college of counselors of the State Medical associ- ation in 1874, and was made president of the association that same year. He was several times president of the Montgomery Medical society. Was vice-president of the American Medical association, first president of the Rocky Mountain Medical association, and for many years a member of the Alabama state board of health. He contributed quite frequently to the literature of the profession. Among his papers are the following: Glossitis, Puerperal Convulsions, Polypoid Tumors of the Uterus, Dia- betes, the Opium habit, Medical Education, Woman, Hemorrhagic Mala- rial Fever, diseases of the Cervix Alteri, Syphilis, Quarantine, against Yellow fever. Dr. Weatherly was a successful man, and on his return to
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Montgomery, after the war, did a large and lucerative practice. He was a man of great energy, and no doctor ever watched his practice more un- remittingly than he did, or gave to his patients more careful and unselfish attention. For this reason his patients were strongly attached to him. For ten years before his death disease laid its heavy hand upon him and his last days were spent in great suffering. He died in 1891.
DAVID WEIL, the enterprising dry goods merchant of Montgomery, was born in Bavaria. November 15, 1831, was educated there, came to America in June, 1850, settling in Montgomery, Ala., and five days later opened a general store in connection with a partner, and since 1876, the firm has been Goetter, Weil & Co., and has done an immense business. Mr. Weil is a member of the K. of H., K. of P., the B'nai B'rith and Masons. He was married, in 1858, to Rosena Meyer, of Rhenish Bavaria, daughter of H. Simon, and to them were born three children, two girls and one boy-Henry. Of the girls, the elder, Nannie, is the wife of Alex Rice, of Montgomery, and the younger is Lena, wife of C. F. Moritz. Moses Weil, father of David, was born in 1790, in Rhenish Bavaria, and died in 1870. His wife was Hannah Lemle, and David is the only son.
WILLIAM DAVID WESTCOTT was born in Montgomery county, Ala., May, 1843, and was educated in Montgomery and at Irvine college in Warren county, Tenn. He entered the Confederate service in April. 1861, as a member of the Montgomery True Blues, a company in the Third Alabama regiment. Just before the battle of Seven Pines a portion of the True Blues was assigned to an artillery company, and the remainder together with the Lowndesboro guards were formed into a company of sharpshooters. Young Westcott was one of the sharpshooters. He con- tinued in active service until the spring of 1864, when, on account of wounds, he was sent home. Recovering he rejoined his command and remained unti! the close of the war. He was in the following battles, beside many minor skirmishes: Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Cold Harbor and Bull Run, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. At Chancellorsville he was wounded in the hip and still carries the ball that inflicted the wound. After the war he began life as a farmer and continued to farm until about 1875. In 1877 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Montgomery county and in 1885 was appointed deputy United States marshal for the middl and southern districts of Alabama. He served as deputy marshal until August 14, 1888, when he became sheriff of Montgomery county, he having been nominated and elected without opposition to that office. Mr. Westcott was married in 1865 to Mary Ellen Young, daughter of Micajah Young, a native of Baltimore, but a resident of Montgomery. Mr. West- cott's father was Samuel T. Westcott, a native of South Carolina. His mother's maiden name was Mary W. Powell, and she was a native of Alabama.
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JOEL WHITE, bookseller of Montgomery, Ala., was born in Rutland, Vt., January 11, 1803, and was there educated, Leaving school at the . age of eighteen he went to New York city, where he remained about five years, clerking in a dry goods store, and then, after spending a year in Georgia, he came to Tuscaloosa. Ala .. in 1831. where he went into the book and stationery business, and remained there until 1847, and then came to Montgomery and at once went into the book and stationery bus- iness, being now the oldest bookseller in the city. He was a director in the old State bank at Tuscaloosa for eight or ten years, and is now a director in the bank of Montgomery. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Montgomery lodge of Elks and of the Episcopalian church. His marriage took place, in 1830, to Sarah Hopkins, daughter of Stephen Hopkins, and to this marriage there were born two children, one of whom died in infancy, the surviving one being Irene W., widow of Dr. Edward A. Semple. of Montgomery, Ala., who died there in 1875. They had no children. Hosea White, father of Joel White, was born in New Hampshire, in 1750 and moved to Vermont soon after his marriage to Sarah Thompson, by whom he had twelve children, of whom five lived to maturity, as follows: David, Hosea, Israel, Horace ( all now ยท deceased), and Joel White. The father died in 1840 and the mother about 1845. Grandfather White was a Revolutionary soldier.
JOSEPH M. WHITE was born April 20, 1846, in Barbour county, Ala., and was educated in the common schools of that county. In September, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate army by joining a cavalry company that had been raised in Barbour county, and that was subsequently assigned to the "Jeff Davis Legion." He served throughout the war, going in as a private and coming out as a private. He was in all the battles in which Stuart's cavalry took part and was with Johnson's army in cover- ering the retreat from Savannah. At the battle of Bentonville he was wounded. Returning home after the war he started his peaceful life by doing work in various county offices. . He was thus engaged for three years, studying law in the meantime, and was admitted to the bar in Clay- ton in 1869. He practiced his profession at Clayton for three years, and then retired to the country on account of ill health. After three years he returned to Clayton and again took up the practice of his profession, and in a few years established himself as one of the foremost lawyers in southeastern Alabama. In 1880 he served one term in the legislature, representing his native county. In 1886 he moved to Montgomery and formed a partnership with John D. Roquemore, and they now have one of the finest practices in that city. Mr. White is a lawyer of uncommon ability. His friends are accustomed to say of him that he was born a lawyer. He argues his propositions on principles rather than by cases. He is able to do this because he has a sound comprehension of the reason of the law. Mr. White was married in 1869 to Alice Cowart, daughter of
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William Cowart, of Barbour county. She died in 1887, leaving two child- ren, a boy and a girl.
COL. ARIOSTO A. WILEY, attorney-at-law. Montgomery, son of J. Mc- Caleb and Cornelia A. (Appling) Wiley, was born at Clayton, Barbour county, Ala., November 6, 1848, and graduated from Emory and Henry college, Va., in 1871. In 1872, he located in the city of Montgomery, and shortly after was admitted to practice before the state supreme court, and formed a partnership with the Hon. Samuel F. Rice. In 1877. he was admitted to practice before the supreme court of the United States, and now stands in the front rank of his profession, at a bar noted for its men of ability. Col. Wiley was elected to the legislature for the session 1884-5, serving with distinction in the house of representatives. He was for ten years an active member of the city council of Montgomery, and his untiring efforts contributed very greatly to the improvement of the ' city. He was a delegate to the national democratic convention in 1880 and again in 1884. . He takes a deep interest in politics, and has been a member of the state democratic executive committee. In 1888, he was a member of Gov. Seay's staff, with the rank of colonel; was a presidential elector for his district, and was again a member of the legislature of 1888-9. In November, 1877, Col. Wiley married Miss Mittie A. Noble. the accomplished daughter of B. F. and Mary T. (Cook) Noble, of Mont- gomery, Ala., and has been born to him one child, Noble J. He is at present a leading member of the Alabama senate, and has served in that capacity for four years. He is regarded as one of the most eloquent men in the state.
DR. ROBERT S. WILLIAMS, retired physician and surgeon of Mount Meigs, Montgomery county, was born at Petersburg, Va., August 27, 1827. He is a son of Rev. John D. and Mary (Johnson) Williams, the former of whom was born near Oxford, N. C., and the latter in Dinwiddie county, Va. Rev. Mr. Williams was, for the most part, a self- made man, and early in life engaged in the ministry, having charge of the colored population of Petersburg, Va. Being a man of means, his church work was performed largely without compensation. In 1835, he came to Alabama, located at Wetumpka, still following the ministry. He was a Missionary Baptist, and in 1839 he established a Baptist paper, "The Family Visitor", which he edited and published for some years. During this time he republished. "Jones' Church History," a very popular work. He was a very progressive and enterprising man, and having con; siderable capital, he thought it well to invest some of it in railroad stock. and he and others began the construction of a railroad from Wetumpka to the mineral lands of northern Alabama, but lost what he invested. He continued to follow active church work until his death, which occurred in 1868. in his seventieth year. He was one of the most prominent men in the state, and was universally esteemed. His father, Lawdon Williams. died near Oxford, N. C., and his father, John Williams, was a
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commodore in the navy of the United States, during the Revolutionary war. He is said to have been a descendant of Roger Williams, the great Baptist divine of Rhode Island. Mrs. Mary Williams, the mother of Dr. Robert S. Williams, died in 1870, aged about seventy-five years. She was married twice. Her father, William Johnson, was a native of Virginia, and lived and died in his native state. He was a relative of the Ran- dolphs, Riveses and other prominent families in Virginia. Three of his sons came south at an early day, viz. : Theodoric, who became a prominent merchant of Wetumpka; William, a prominent planter and cotton factor, of Selma, and Littleton, who settled in west Tennessee. Dr. Robert S. Williams is the second of a family of four, two sons and two daughters, viz. : Hon. Thomas Benjamin, a prominent lawyer of Wetumpka, who was once a member of congress from the Wetumpka district; Robert S., Martha, widow of Milton Cooper, and Inda, deceased wife of Henry Ware, deceased, who was a large cotton dealer and merchant of Selma, then of New Orleans, and still later of New York. Dr. Will- iams was educated at Wetumpka until he was about twelve years old. He then learned the art of printing, in the office of his father, and soon afterward decided to go to Marion and work on the Alabama Baptist, but his father opposed his going. His mother, however, consented, and he ran away, took the boat to Selma, and walked the rest of the way. His mother gave him 85 when he left home. When he reached Marion he learned that the office had been closed under mortgage, and the press and other material were soon sold. He was urged by Gen. King to buy it, and although he had only $2.50 left, the outfit was purchased, and he published the paper about two years. He then returned to Wetumpka and read medicine, pursuing his studies until the Mexican war broke out. When Gen. Taylor called for troops for his relief at Fort Brown, he joined an independent company commanded by Rush Elmore, which was incorporated into the Sixth Alabama, and landed near the mouth of the Rio Grande. He remained about four months with Gen. Taylor, when he was transferred to Gen. Scott's army. and spent about two months under that general, the latter part of that time being detailed to the hospital at Vera Cruz. where he obtained valuable knowledge and experience in con- nection with the yellow fever. In 1849 he graduated from Jefferson med - ical college, at Philadelphia, and began the practice of his profession at Line Creek, in Montgomery county. One year later he removed to Macon county. In 1860 he returned to Wetumpka, where he practiced medicine until after the war. He then abandoned the profession, gave his valuable medical library to the State Medical association, of which he was one of the most prominent members, and engaged in farming. Since then he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits, owning a fine, large plantation near Mount Meigs. He was widely known as one of the best informed, and most skillful physicians in the county, and was frequently consulted by the ablest physicians in practice. He was married, in 1853, to Miss
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Margaret Judkins, daughter of William Thomas Judkins, who was a native of, and died in, Montgomery county. Mrs. Williams was born and educated in Montgomery county, and was a very highly cultured and very elegant lady. She died in 1883, having borne six children, viz. : Inda, deceased; Mollie, wife of Lawrence Judkins, of Macon county, Ala. ; William Thomas, deceased: John, deceased: Lule, deceased, and Clanton, now of Macon, Ga. In 1876. Dr. Williams married Miss Sadie K. Chad- wick, daughter of John C. and Mary (Fudger) Chadwick, the former a native of England, the latter of Ireland. Mr. Chadwick s father belonged to the English army for some years, married in Ireland, and after com- ing to the United States, was engaged for some years in the sale of silk goods. He now lives with his son-in-law, Dr. Williams. Mrs. Chadwick died a few years ago. Mrs. Williams was born near Tipperary, Ireland, but was brought to the United States in infancy. She is a member, of the Protestant Episcopal church. Dr. Williams was opposed to secession - and the war, and declined a commission as surgeon of a division of the Confederate army, but as a humanitarian, tendered and rendered great - service on the battlefield during the seven days' fight around Richmond, and remained with the sick and wounded as long after the battle as his serv- ices were required, feeling as much interest in Federal sick and wounded as he did for the Confederates. The pension that Dr. Williams receives as a Mexican soldier is given by him to the different churches, to be used by them in the promotion of virtue and morality. Dr. Williams was the first to declare that quinine, when given in heroic doses, was a toxic agent, causing blindness. deafness, etc. He is a royal arch Mason, and a member of the Missionary Baptis'; church.
BERNHARD WOLFF, of Montgomery, was born in Bavaria, Germany, November 18, 1846, and came to America June 2, 1865, locating first at Louisville, Ky., where he clerked until November 22, 1869, when he came to Alabama and started in business in Benton, where he remained until January 1, 1883, and then settled in Montgomery, where he at once com- menced in the furniture business, which he now carries on. From 1883 to 1889 his brother, S. Wolff, was with him in the business. Mr. B. Wolff is also a director in the Sheffield Furnace company, and director of the Commercial and Industrial association of Montgomery. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, K. of P., Knights of Honor, and I. O. B. B. (B'nai B'rith). His marriage took place February, 1874, to Sophie Beckhardt, a native of Homburg, Germany. and to them were born eight children, of whom six survive, as follows: Lily S., Helen G., Nellie B., Daisy W., Frances Cleveland, and Blanche. Jacob Wolff, father of Bern- hard, was born in Neiderhochstadt, Germany, in 1798, and died there in 1879. He married Sarah Levi, and to this union there were born eleven children, of whom two died in infancy, nine grew up, and seven now sur- vive, as follows: M. J., of Birmingham, Ala., who served in the Confed- erate service, going from Mississippi; Sarah, wife of S Abraham, of
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Arzhim, Germany; Helen, widow of Josiah Simon, of Carlsrue, Baden; Abraham, of Sheffield, Ala .; Caroline, wife of B. Jacobs, of San Wendell, Prussia; B. Wolff, of Montgomery, Ala., and Alphons Wolff, of San Wendell, Prussia. The mother of this family died in December, 1889.
JOHN MCGEHEE WYLY, of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad, with headquarters at Montgomery, was born in Jacksonville, Ala., July 7, 1837. and was educated at the Kentucky Military institute. He had reached the senior class, when it was broken up by typhoid fever, when he returned to Alabama, and farmed until the July 4, 1861, and then he entered the Confederate service, enlisting in the Tenth Alabama infantry, under Col. John Forney; in 1862. he was appointed aid-de-camp on Col. J. H. Forney's staff, and when Forney was made general, served in his staff until the war closed, ending in the trans-Mississippi depart- ment under Gen. E. Kirby Smith. Private McGehee Wyly was promoted, successively until he reached the rank of major, under Gen. Smith, hav- ing served in the following battles: First Bull Run, Drainesville, York- town, Mobile, and the "Bull Pen" at the battle of Vicksburg, when he was captured and held about five months, and then exchanged and trans- ferred to the trans-Mississippi department, where he was in no more battles, but marched all over the country, and finally wound up at Galves- ton, Tex., where he was paroled. After the war he returned to Calhoun county. Ala., and farmed a year, and then spent two years as cotton broker in that district; he next took a position on the Selma, Rome & Dalton railroad, now a part of the E. T., V. & G. system, and has remained with the company ever since, and is now general agent for the system in eastern Alabama. Major Wyly organized the Jacksonville Mining & Manufacturing Co., in 1887, which company bought the site for the town of Jacksonville, Ala., and was a director in said company down to 1891. Mr. Wyly was married October 31, 1858, to Amelia C. Forney, daughter of Jacob Forney, of Jacksonville, Ala., and to them were born four child- ren, as follows: Annie M., wife of D. F. Lowe of Montgomery; B. F. Wyly, Jr., of Atlanta, Ga., who is general agent for the Atlanta & West Point railroad; Henry Forney Wyly, soliciting agent for Norfolk & West- .. ern railroad, at Montgomery, and Sadie A. Wyly. Benjamin C. Wyly, father of the major, was born in Georgia, and came to Alabama in 1832. settling in Calhoun county. He was a farmer, but once served as a sheriff of Calhoun county. He married Ann W. McGehee. daughter of John M. McGehee, of Milton. N. C., and to them was born one child. John McGehee. Gen. James R. Wyly, grandfather of Maj. John McGehee Wyly, was born - in Tennessee, and was a hero of the Seminole war, and his record in that war was a very creditable one. The major's ancestors on the father's side were Scotch-Irish, and came to America just after the Revolutionary war. Three brothers came in company, as follows: Robert. Thomas and James R. Robert and Thomas located in Tennessee, and James R. in Harrison county, Ga.
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