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 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
:
1
777
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-PERRY COUNTY.
PERRY COUNTY.
LOUIS J. ADLER, grand keeper of record and seal of the Knights of Pythias of Alabama. is a resident of Uniontown, Ala. He was born at Milwaukee, Wis., June 24. 1856. His father was Jacob Adler, a native of Austria, whence he came to the United States in 1844, settling at Mil- waukee. In 1855 he returned to his native land, where in the same year he married Betty Eckstein, of Austria, whom. together with his mother, he brought back with him to this country. again settling in Milwaukee. At Milwaukee he organized the Alder Clothing company. which company is still in existence under the same name. In 1857 he removed his family to New York city, where he died in 1872, after a successful career there as a business man for fifteen years. He was president of the Stonewall Oil company, the first cotton seed oil company of New York. and which was a success. His widow still survives and resides in Vienna, Austria. Of the four of her children that reached mature years, only three are now living, viz. : Arthur H. Alder, Ph. D .. of New York city; Mrs. C. B. Kuffler. of Europe, and Louis J., who was the eldest of these four .. He was educated at the Chartier institute of New York, and at the university of Vienna, Austria. He spent three and a half years on the continent of Europe at school and travel, visiting Egypt as well as the various portions of Europe. In 1873 he returned to the United States, and in the same year went to Uniontown, Ala., where he accepted a position as bookkeeper in the Ernst Bros.' bank at that place, which position he held until 1881, when for one year he clerked in the mercan- tile house of J. H. White & Co., at Uniontown. In 1883 he married Miss Belle Strauss, of Cincinnati. Ohio, who has borne him two sons. In this year he commenced business for himself as a merchant at Uniontown, which business he sold out in 1891. He then became a traveling sales- man for Marks, Rothenberg & Co., wholesale dry goods merchants and notion dealers of Meridian, Miss. He is a master, royal arch and coun- cil Mason, a member of the order of Knights of Pythias. of the Ameri- can Legion of Honor, of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of the I. O. B. B., of the Knights of Honor and of company E, Third regiment Alabama state troops. In 1890 he was elected grand keeper of records and seals of the Knights of Pythias of Alabama, which office he has since held, and has rendered three well approved reports of the Knights of Pythias of the state of Alabama. He has been town counselor and city assessor of taxes in Uniontown. In politics he is a democrat.
E. W. BOOKER, farmer of Uniontown, Ala., was born in Madison county, Ala., April 14. 1837. He is a son of Parham Nicholas and Mary Marion (Pool) Booker, the former of whom was born in Richmond county, Va., and the latter was also born in Virginia, and both are of English descent. It is said that three brothers of this name came from England to New 45*
.€
778
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
York and settled on land now occupied by that city. One of these broth- ers had a descendant who went south to Virginia, and it is from him that Mr. Booker is descended. Edmund Booker's parents came to Alabama with their respective parents, married and settled in Madison county, which county the father once represented in the legislature. They removed to Perry county later and lived there the rest of their lives. Mr. Booker was both a farmer and a public officer, holding the office of mayor and also that of postmaster at Uniontown, for several years, where he also kept a hotel for several years. Mr. and Mrs. Booker had eleven children, of whom three sons and two daughters are living. Edmund Web- ster Booker grew to manhood in Uniontown. His father was a man of great will power and was highly esteemed. He was always a democrat
in politics and took great interest in public affairs. Edmund W. Booker was educated at the university of Alabama, completing his course in 1858. When the Civil war came on he entered the army April 25, 1861. as a pri- vate soldier in company D, Fourth Alabama infantry, and served as a private soldier all through the war. He was in some of the most import- ant battles of the war, among them the second battle of Manassas, the battle of Seven Pines, Antietam, Sharpsburg, etc. During the progress of the war he returned to his home and married Miss Martha Knight, of Hale county, Ala., who has borne him twelve children, all of whom are living except two sons. After the war Mr. Booker lived for twelve years in Hale county, of which county he was tax collector for several years. In 1879 he located at Uniontown, has since resided there and followed farming for a livelihood, which occupation he has carried on extensively and successfully for many years. He has always been active in politics, sup- porting the policies of the democratic party. In 1889, he was appointed, by President Cleveland, internal revenue collector for the district of Ala- bama, and filled the position with credit to himself until the incoming of President Harrison's administration, when he resigned. Mr. Booker is a master Mason, and a member of the Knights of Pythias and Knights of Honor. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south.
JAMES JOYNER BROWN, merchant of Uniontown, Ala., is a native of Charles City county, Va., and was born December 26. 1845. His father and mother, Joseph P. and Mary ( Harwood ) Brown, were also natives of Virginia, and were reared and married in Charles City county. They had the following children: James J., Bettie, Joseph, Rebecca, Adelaide, Lulu, John and Eva. They removed to Alabama in 1871, James J., having how- ever removed to Uniontown in 1867. They also settled in and now reside in Uniontown. Joseph P. Brown is the proprietor of a wheel wright shop. J. J. Brown was fairly well educated in Virginia, and at the age of sixteen left school and entered company D, of the Third Virginia cavalry, and served in the army until the close of the war. After coming to Alabama, as above narrated, he was engaged for a few years as a clerk in
4
1
-
779
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-PERRY COUNTY.
a mercantile house at Uniontown. In 1870, he married Miss Mattie White of Uniontown. During the next few years he was engaged in farming, but in the fall of 1874, he engaged in a general merchandise business, and in operating a grist mill and a cotton gin at Faunsdale, Ala. He continued this line of work until 1880, when he again returned to Uniontown, where in 1883 he established himself in the hardware business and has continued in this line of business with great and gratifying suc- cess. He and his wife and six children are members of the Methodist . Episcopal church, south. and Mr. Brown is president of the Young Men's Christian association at Uniontown. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is past master of the blue lodge at Uniontown. He is also a member of the order of Knights of Pythias, and he was postmaster of Uniontown during President Cleveland's administration.
J. P. CREATH, one of the enterprising and successful young business men of Uniontown, was born in Chesterfield county, Va., February 19, 1858, and is a son of Servetus A. and Caroline (Scott) Creath, both of whom were born and reared and educated in Virginia, and were descendants from old and distinguished Virginia families, the mother being a near relative of Gen. Winfield Scott. About 1861 they removed from Vir- ginia to Alabama. The Civil war coming on, the father, who was a Bap- tist minister, went into the Confederate army as a missionary, his pur- pose being to distribute tracts and to administer to the spiritual necessi- ties of the soldiers. Exposure in the field led to his death in 1864. He left a widow and two sons, J. P. and Edwin D., the latter now of Mont- gomery. The mother was a lady of high culture and education, being a graduate of Hollins female institute, in Virginia. After the close of the war she taught a private school in Greenville, Ala., in order to support herself and family and to educate her sons. After several years of . struggle she died in 1874. At the age of twelve J. P. Creath found it necesssary to leave school and go to work to assist his mother to support the family, and for two years he was in the employ of an uncle who was a cotton merchant at Greenville. During those two years he closely pur- sued his studies, and when barely fifteen years old he became an assistant teacher in his mother's school. When his mother died he turned his attention toward a business career, going into a drug store as clerk. and in this connection, by hard study and experience, he gained an unusually strong knowledge of pharmacy. At the end of eight years spent in this way he engaged in the dry goods and grocery business, but in 1888 he returned to the drug business, purchasing a drug store and business in Uniontown. where he has since remained and continued to conduct a drug store. He also now owns a drug store at Faunsdale. It is clear from the above brief narration that Mr. Creath has been a very active and busy man, and that he has made the most of his opportunities. He is a moral, upright and cultured gentleman, and is universally and highly respected.
780
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA,
He is a member of the Baptist church, and of the Knights of Pythias, of which order he is a past chancellor.
COL. ALEXANDER C. DAVIDSON was born in Mecklenburgh county, N. C., December 25, 1826. His father was John Howard Davidson and his mother Martha (Caldwell) Davidson, both natives of the same county. Mrs. Davidson was a daughter of a Presbyterian minister named Alexan- der Caldwell, who was a son of Dr. Caldwell, a Presbyterian divine who removed from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, in which state he preached at Alamance, the place of the first struggle of the Revolution- ary war in North Carolina. He was called the fighting parson of the Revolution. The mother of Mrs. Martha Davidson was a Miss Davidson, and her grandfather, John Davidson, was a signer of the Mecklenburg declaration of independence. This branch of the Davidson family was related to the well-known Graham family of North Carolina. The descendants of John Davidson, the signer of the Mecklenburgh declara- tion of independence became quite numerous, and are amongst the most distinguished men produced by North Carolina. John Howard Davidson was a son of John Davidson, a native of Belfast, Ireland, who, coming to the United States, settled in North Carolina, where he engaged in busi- ness as a merchant, and while on a business trip to Charleston, S C., died there with the yellow fever upon its first appearance in this country. John Howard Davidson came to Alabama in 1835 and located in Marengo county, where he lived and died. He was the father of four children, two of whom died in early life. The two living are Alexander C. David- son and Mrs. Pitts of Uniontown, Ala. A. C. Davidson was about ten years old when his parents brought him to Alabama. He was reared and prepared for college in Marengo county, and graduated from the univer- sity of Alabama in 1848. He studied law at Mobile, and in 1850 was made a master of arts by his alma mater. Notwithstanding he prepared to practice law, he never practiced; for about the time he was ready to take up his profession, his father's health failed, and he was obliged to take up his father's business, that of farming and railroad construction. From that time to the present Col. Davidson has been engaged in farming, and has so well succeeded that he is now in possession of a large landed estate, and is perhaps second to no other farmer in the state in the extent of his farming operations. In 1860 he married Miss Maria Overton Price, daughter of Col. James L. Price. They have had five · children, four sons and one daughter, only the daughter being dead. Mrs. Davidson is still living. She was born in Perry county, Ala. During the late war the sympathies of Col. Davidson were with the people of the south in their struggle, and when the war came on he offered his services to the cause, but they were rejected on account of physical dis- ability. Col. Davidson for this reason has no war history to record. He has often been heard to say that the one grand sorrow of his life has been that he could not participate in the war on behalf of the southern
781
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-PERRY COUNTY.
cause. As a stanch democrat he was elected. in 1881, to the lower house of the state legislature, and served one term in that house. In 1882-83 and 1883-84 he served in the state senate. In November. 1883. he was elected to the congress of the United States from the fourth district of Alabama, and was re-elected in 1885, thus serving through the forty- ninth and fiftieth congresses. In congress he was a member of the com- mittees on agriculture and labor. He and his family are members of the Protestant Episcopal church.
CHARLES HOUSTON DOZIER, one of the progressive and successful merchants of Marion. was born near Uniontown, Perry county, Ala., November 7, 1854, and is a son of William Charles and Sarah C. (Slater) Dozier. William Charles Dozier was born in North Carolina, in 1812, and was a son of a North Carolinian, whose father was a native of France and spelled his name "Dozee." William C. came in his early teens to Alabama with his parents, who settled in Perry county, where he grew to manhood, married, and began life as a planter; later he moved to Washington county, and thence to Choctaw county, where he passed the last four years of his life in merchandising. His wife was a native of Virginia, and was brought to Alabama when a child. She bore her hus- band nine children that lived to mature age, and is, herself, still living in Perry county, at the age of seventy years, and is, as was her husband, a member of the Baptist church. Charles H. Dozier, the youngest but three of his parents' family, was reared amid plantation scenes, learning the lessons of energy, economy and perseverance; in his boyhood days he assisted his mother in her work of trading, which consisted in the exchange of butter, eggs and chickens, for merchandise, and was of such importance as to give the boy a valuable business experience, and a taste for barter. Although his school advantages were not the best, he still attained to a fair education. He left the parental roof at the age of six- teen, to build up his fortune, and passed the first two years in driving ox teams for turpentine stills. His father dying about this time, he took charge of the farm, and cultivated it one year. He then began clerking, in which he was engaged for five years, at the end of which time he went into business at Grove Hill, Clarke county, Ala., on borrowed capi - tal. For three years he was in partnership with Capt. S. T. Taylor, whose interest he then bought in 1888. and in February, of that year, settled in Marion, where he has since conducted a general merchandise business with a partner, under the firm name of Dozier & Chapman. December 17, 1879, Mr. Dozier married Miss Emma S. Cobb, of Alabama. This lady died July 28. 1884, leaving three children, viz .: Charles Hous- ton, deceased; Lillie Vivian, and Emma S., deceased. August 5, 1885, Mr. Dozier married Miss Octavia N. Cobb, cousin of his first wife, and this happy union has been blessed with four children-Willie C., Nellie C., Clarence Henry and Eugenie E. Mr. Dozier and wife are members . of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a Knight of Pythias.
782
.
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
JAMES ANDREW FRAZIER, D. D. S .- This thoroughly practiced dentist of Marion, Perry county, Ala., was born in Jefferson county, of the same state, February 12. 1857, and is a son of James H. and Hulda ( Massey ) Frazier. James H. Frazier is a native of South Carolina, but at the age of three years was brought by his father to Alabama, a pioneer of Jeffer- son county. Lewis, the father of James H., was of English nativity, but came to the United States when quite young. He was a planter, reared his son to the same vocation, and passed the last twenty-five years of his life in the wilds of Jefferson county. Mrs. Hulda ( Massey ) Frazier is also a native of South Carolina, but when young was brought to Alabama by her parents, who settled in Jefferson county. To the marriage of James H. and Hulda Frazier were born six sons and four daughters, of whom three of each sex survive. Two of the sons are dentists, James, A., at Marion and a brother, John E., at Birmingham-while the other son is a planter. James A. Frazier, after leaving the home plantation, attended Trussville high school a few years, and then for sometime clerked at Springville, Ala., in a dry goods store. Then deciding on the profession of dentistry, after one year's study under his brother, John E., he entered Vanderbilt university at Nashville, Tenn., and in 1884 graduated from the dental department of that famous institution, receiving the degree of D. D. S. He, at once, settled in Marion, and for the first five years practiced in partnership with his brother, when the latter moved to Birmingham, leaving the Marion field to James A. The latter is a member of the Alabama Dental association and has rapidly advanced to a high rank in the profession, and his practice is quite lucrative. In 1889, the doctor married Miss Mary Virginia Wyatt, daughter of Ludy A. Wyatt · ( deceased ), once a prominent merchant of Marion, the result being one son. Dr. Frazier and wife are members of the Baptist church and are highly esteemed in Marion and the vicinity.
EDWIN ROBINSON GLASS, one of the most successful business men and merchants in Uniontown, was born in Perry county, March 27, 1858. His father, William M. Glass, was also a native of Perry county. He was a farmer by occupation, was born in 1829, and died in Mississippi, in 1867. He was of Scotch ancestry, and served as lieutenant in the Twentieth Alabama, during the late war. At the siege of Vicksburg he received a shell wound in the chest, which caused his death, in 1867. He married Ann Elizabeth Graham, also a native of Perry county, a daugh- ter of Hampton S. Graham, of Irish lineage. To this marriage there were born six children: Edwin Robinson, Mary C., Thomas F. and David M. Two died in infancy. Their mother died in 1878, in Mississippi. Edwin Robinson Glass was taken by his parents to Mississippi when ten years old, and lived there until he was twenty-two, when he returned to Alabama, and has since resided in his native county. Upon beginning life for himself, he had but little education and no capital, but he took hold of farming upon returning to Perry county, and engaged in that
-
783
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-PERRY COUNTY.
occupation and in dealing in and shipping cattle to New Orleans from Marion Junction, Ala., for some years. In 1886, he located at Uniontown, where has since resided, and where he has been engaged in merchan- dising, except the first year. During the last five years he has acquired considerable property, and has also established for himself a reputation for the possession of fine business qualifications, of which any man might be proud. For four years he was city marshal of Uniontown. In poli- tics he is a democrat, and he is a Knight of Pythias. In 1880, Mr. Glass married Miss Emma Weaver, of Perry county. She has borne him four children, viz. : Edwin R., Emma C., Julius F., and Mary E. Mrs. Glass is a member of the Baptist church, and she and Mr. Glass are among the most highly respected citizens of Uniontown.
BEVERLY F. HARWOOD, manager of the cotton compress and ware- house, of Uniontown, Ala., was born in Charles county, Va., in 1844. He is a son of John T. and Mildred (Morecock) Harwood, both of whom were natives of Virginia, and were reared and married in that state. They had two sons and one daughter, all of whom yet survive, viz. : John M., Minerva T. Walker, and Beverly F. The father of these children was a farmer by occupation and died when Beverly F. was a small boy, and Mrs. Harwood died when he was fourteen years old. The father was of English origin, and it is said that at an early day three brothers came to the United States, and one settled in the north, while the other two set- tled in the south. Mrs. Harwood was also of English descent. Beverly Harwood was reared in Virginia, and received a fair education before the war at a military institute in Virginia. When the war came on, he enlisted in the Confederate army at the age of seventeen as a member of the Third Virginia cavalry, and with this command served until the close of the war, as a private soldier. Returning to his home at the close of the war, he remained there until the fall of 1867, when he removed to Uniontown, Ala., and has remained there ever since. At first upon com- ing to Uniontown he accepted a position as salesman in a grocery store, and one year later he was appointed agent for the Alabama Central, now the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad company, at the Union- town station, and held that position until October, 1891, a period of twen- ty-one years, when he resigned. In 1876 he built the first cotton warehouse at Uniontown. and has since conducted a cotton warehouse business. In 1890 he erected a cotton compress at Uniontown, and he is also a dealer in coal and agricultural implements. He also conducts a ginnery and a grist mill, in the latter of which he has a partner, but the rest he manages on his own account. In 1870 he married Miss Mary Lee, of Marion, Ala., by whom he has had two sons and one daughter. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He is a royal arch Mason. and is at present high priest of the chapter at Uniontown. He is a member of the Knights of Honor and of the Amer- ican Legion of Honor. He is a successful business man and a most highly
.
784
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
respected citizen. His wife is a daughter of the Hon. Henry C. Lea, deceased, who was a prominent lawyer and had a state reputation. Her mother was a Miss Serena Roots, a member of a distinguished Virginia family related to the Cobb family, of which Hon. Howell Cobb and others who have gained prominence in the political world were members. Mr. Harwood is a member of the Uniontown city council and of the board of education.
JUNIE HARWOOD, one of the representative men of Uniontown, was born in Charles City county, Va., October 16th, 1844. His parents were William H. and Rebecca (Christian) Harwood, both of whom were natives of Virginia, the former being born in 1302, and the latter in 1804. He died in 1862, and she in 1876. He was a son of Edwin Harwood, who was also a Virginian by birth, and of English origin. Mrs. Harwood was a daughter of Joseph Christian, likewise a Virginian, and of Revolutionary fame, and was known as "Fighting Joe." William H. and Rebecca Har- wood were the parents of nine children that reached mature years. Of these children, Junie and five of his brothers were in the Confederate army. He went in when he was but seventeen years of age, as a member of the Fifty-third Virginia infantry, and after the second battle of Manas- as, he was transferred to company D, Third Virginia cavalry, and served until the close of the war. In 1867, he moved to Uniontown, Ala., where he has since resided, and where he has carried on business as a merchant. He was elected in 1872 democratic mayor of Uniontown, and was re-elected three successive times. He served for a period of ten years as a member of the city council, and he is now treasurer of Uniontown. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, and is superintendent of the Sun- day school of his church. He is a royal arch Mason, is a past-master, and is now secretary of the royal arch chapter at Uniontown ._ He is a member of the Knights of Honor, and is past dictator of his lodge. In 1871 he married Miss Emma Ware, of Uniontown, by whom he has four children. During his service in the war, he was in the following battles: Seven Pines, Kelley's Ford, Fleetwood, Gettysburg, Sharpsburg, and others of less note. He was twice wounded, first at Sharpsburg, and then again at the second battle of Bull Run.
JAMES H. HOUSTON, M. D., practicing physician of Uniontown, Ala., was born in Iredell county, N. C., December 22, 1826. His parents were James H. and Sarah L. (Kerr) Houston, both natives of the same county, in which they were reared and married. They had six children, viz. : William, Charles. John, Julius, Milas and James H. The father of James H. Houston, Sr., was Cap. James Houston, a native of Ireland, who came to the United States and settled in Iredell county, N. C. He mar- ried Miss Brevard. a relative of Dr. Ephraim Brevard, the author of the famous Mecklenburgh declaration of independence of May 30, 1775. He was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and was wounded in the battle of Ram- sour's Mills, near Lincolnton. The father of James H. Houston, M. D., died
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.