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 28
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
W. G. ROBERTSON, a prominent merchant and leading citizen of Car- rollton, Ala., was born near Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa county, Ala., Sep- tember 25, 1839. He is a son of John and Martha B. (Walser) Robertson, and a grandson of Loddick and Nancy Robertson, both natives of Vir- ginia. They emigrated at an early day to Georgia, and later to Lynch- burg, Moore (then Lincoln) county. Tenn., where they both died. Mr. Robertson was a soldier in the Indian wars and a farmer by occupation. John Robertson was born in Georgia, November 4, 1814, and his wife was born in the same state, October 20, 1813. He went to Tennessee with his parents when a small boy, and remained there until 1836, when he removed to Alabama, locating in Tuscaloosa county, where he worked as a laborer and overseer. His educational advantages were in those days necessarily limited. On October 29, 1838, he married Martha B. Walser, of Tusca- loosa county, by whom he had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, viz .: Margaret, wife of John O. Gorree, a farmer of Lime- stone county, Tex. ; Nancy E., wife of Melvin Herring, a merchant of Lime- stone. county, Tex .: Samuel L .. a merchant of Haskell county, Tex. ; Loddick T., a resident of Limestone county, Tex .; Mary A., wife of William W. Prude, a farmer of Tuscaloosa county, Ala .; Richard C., a merchant of Kosse, Limestone county, Tex. ; Alexander M., a merchant of Abilene. Taylor county, Tex. ; Robert H., deceased; Caroline, deceased; an infant, deceased. and William G. The mother of these children was a member of the Baptist church, and died in Tuscaloosa county, Ala., Feb- ruary 9, 1862. The father, in 1865, married Sarah Thompson, who. died 47*
810
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
.
.
in 1884, leaving one child, Charles O., now a resident of Texas. The father died in February, 1895, at the residence of his son, William G. Both John Robertson and his last wife were members of the Baptist church. . William G. Robertson was reared on the farm, and received his education in the local schools.' At the age of nineteen he entered a store in Tuscaloosa as clerk, and. at the age of twenty-two, enlisted in the army, in company E, Capt. R. F. Inge, Eighteenth Alabama infantry, Col. E. C. Bullock. At first he served as orderly sergeant, but in 1862 was promoted to be second lieutenant of his company. He was captured at Missionary Ridge and was taken to Johnson's Island and kept there a prisoner until the close of the war. Before his capture, in 1862, he had been home on furlough and had married Miss Sarah A. Gardner, a native of Pickens county, born August 27, 1841. She is a daughter of James T. and Rebecca (Cureton) Gardner, natives of South Carolina, the former born there in 1818, and the latter in 1825. They were married in 1840. Mr. Gardner was a farmer and merchant, and a man of prominence, hav- ing represented Pickens county in the legislature of the state. To Mr. and Mrs. Gardner were born eight children, viz .: Sarah A., wife of. W. G. Robertson; Emma E., wife of L. C. Howard, of Whitewright, Tex., a merchant; Henrietta R., wife of William P. Owings, proprietor of the Phoenix hotel at Carrollton, Ala. ; John W., a farmer living in Carrollton; Lavinia F., wife of Dr. J. B. Gresham, of West Point, Miss .; James T., a merchant of Anniston, Ala .; D. Belton, a merchant of Yalaha, Fla .; Mary E., deceased, wife of R. W. Mustin. Mr. Gardner died in 1873; Mrs. Gardner died April 4, 1862. Both were members of the Baptist church. To Mr. and Mrs. Robertson have been born six children, viz. : Henry L., mayor of Carrollton, who also assists his father in the store. He is a very popular young man; he was a student of Howard college, at East Lake, Ala., from 1886 to 1888, inclusive; Eliza S., a graduate in music from Judson institute, Marion, Ala., and an accomplished young lady; Sarah E., a gifted young lady, who entered Judson institute in 1892; Martha, who died at the age of seven years; John W., who died at the age of eighteen months; Marietta, who died at the age of eight years. William G. Robertson, upon returning from the war, engaged as a clerk for a short time in Tuscaloosa. In 1866 he removed to Pickens county, where he followed farming one year. In December, 1866, he engaged in the mercantile business with his father-in-law, remaining thus connected six years. Mr. Gardner. dying at this time, Mr. Robertson assumed con- trol of the entire business, and has since continued thus engaged, carry- a large stock of general merchandise. He was, for one year, mayor of Carrollton. In 1874 he was elected circuit clerk of Pickens county, and retained the office twelve years. He has also served as notary public. He is a member of Carrollton lodge, No. 214, F. & A. M., and is now W. M. of the lodge. He held the office of junior grand deacon of the grand lodge of Alabama for two years, 1889 and 1890. Mr. Robertson
:
..
:
M. L. STANSEL.
813
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-PICKENS COUNTY.
and his wife are members of the Baptist church, and be is deacon of his church and superintendent of the Sunday school, having held the latter office twenty-six years. They have a beautiful home of the ancient southern style, adorned with flowers and shrubs, which give it a delight- ful air of comfort and repose.
GEN. M. L. STANSEL, a prominent attorney of Carrollton, Ala., was born in Savannah, Ga., in April, 1824, He is a son of William R. and Jane C. (Riddell; Stansel, the former of whom was a native of Edgefield district, S. C., born in 1786, and was a planter and a Baptist minister. His wife was a native of North Carolina, born in 1802. They emigrated to Pickens county in 1831, and were the parents of eight children, viz .: Richard W., deceased; John C., deceased; William B., a resident of Texas, and a well known ranchman; Alva H., killed in the late war, although a mere boy: Mattie A., widow of a Mr. Ball, and now a resi- dent of Pickens county; Mary, deceased wife of a Mr. Hines; Frances, wife of William Newell, a planter living in Texas, and M. L. The father of Rev. William R. Stansel was an Englishman, who came to America with the Huguenots, and settled among them in South Carolina. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The father of Jane C. Stansel, Mr. Riddell, was a captain in the Revolutionary war. Rev. Mr. Stansel was in the war of 1812, and died in Pickens county in 1860, his widow dying October 16, 1868. Gen. Stansel was married, in 1858, to Miss Olivia Sherrod, daughter of James B. and Mary C. Sherrod, natives of North Carolina, who moved to Alabama at an early day, and located in Pickens county, where their daughter, Olivia, was born in 1842. To the marriage of Gen. Stansel with Miss Sherrod, there have been born three children, viz. : James B .. born in 1861, an attorney-at-law, and a resident of Car- rollton; Mrs. Mary E. Pearson, born in 1866, widow of the late P. P. Pearson, who died at his home in Texas, in 1891, Mrs. Pearson now liv- ing with her parents, and Olive Lou. born in 1874, a pupil at Judson college, and an accomplished young lady. Gen. Stansel received a liter- ary education at the university of Alabama, entering in 1840, taking a regular course, and graduating in 1844. The same year he began the study of the law with Hon. P. Martin, of Tuscaloosa. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, at Carrollton, where he rapidly acquired a wide prac- tice, and also rose to distinction as a politician. He represented his county in the lower house of the legislature in 1858-59, and in 1859-60. At the first call for troops Gen. Stansel offered his services, and enlisted in a company raised in Pickens county, of which he was chosen major. About one month afterward he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel, to fill a vacancy, and soon afterward he was promoted to be colonel, by rea- son of the resignation of the colonel of the regiment, the Forty-first Ala- bama infantry. After Gen. Gracie's death, he commanded Gracie's bri- gade, which was at the great explosion at Petersburg. He participated in all the principle battles of the war, among them, Murfreesboro,
.
814
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA
Chickamauga, Bean's Station, East Teun. ; Drewry's Bluff, battles in front of Richmond and Petersburg, Appomattox Court House, and many others. He was in the service during the entire war, and after it was over, he returned to Pickens county, and in 1865 he was elected to the state senate, serving three terms. In 1888-89 he was again in the lower house, and in 1890, he was elected state senator, which office he now holds. He has been a life-long democrat. Gen. Stansel . is one of the prominent men of the state of Alabama, an able attorney, and a popular politician. He was president of the Alabama State Bar association in 1882-83. He has been connected with the highest educational forces in the state. He is a trustee of the state university of Alabama, and also, of the Auburn Poly- technic college. He has occupied the same law office for forty-two years, except the four years he was in the war. He is an extensive owner of lands in both Alabama and Mississippi. Gen. Stansel and 'his most estimable wife have, in the rural village of Carrollton, a delightful home which is surrounded by foliage and flowers, suggestive of both ele- gance and refinement. They are both members of the Carrollton Baptist church, and of high standing in society.
ALBERT DECATUR WILLETT, a popular and rising young attorney of Carrollton, Ala., was born in Pickens county, Ala., March 24, 1859. He is a son of the late well known Maj. Albert Decatur Willett and Can- dace (Bostick) Willett, his wife. Maj. Willett was a native of Tennes- see, and was born in May, 1828. He was educated at Emory and Henry college, Virginia, at which institution he took, and graduated in, a liter- ary course of study. After his graduation he returned to Tennessee, but remained there only a short time, when he removed to Pickens county, Ala. He at first taught school in Carrollton two years, at the expira- tion of which time he began the study of law under Judge Alexander B. Clitherall, one of the most remarkable men of the state. He at length formed a partnership with Judge Clitherall, who afterward went to Mont- gomery, where he rapidly rose to distinction. Upon leaving Carrollton Judge Clitherall left his law business with his partner, Maj. Willett, who though a young man retained all of the firm's old clients during his lifetime. and his son. E. D. Willett, now retains most of the same clients. Maj. Willett was a member of the constitutional convention from Pickens and Greene counties, and he represented Pickens county in the lower house of the general assembly in 1878-79. He died March 19, 1890, very suddenly of apoplexy while leading the Methodist Sunday-school of Car- rollton, of which he was superintendent, in prayer. He was a member of the Methodist church, and a talented, courteous and christian gentle- man, loved by all who knew him, and the entire community mourned his sudden death. To Maj. and Mrs. Willett were born twelve children, all of those who survive living in Carrollton near their mother, with but one exception. Mrs. Willett is a member of the Baptist church. Their chil- dren were as follows: Frank W., a graduate of the state university in
.
:
:
815
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-PIKE COUNTY
1880, who died suddenly from heart failure September 3, 1892; Albert Decatur Willett; Joseph J., an attornew-at-law in Anniston. a rising young man who already has a large and profitable practice; Effie May, a grad- uate of Judson college, Marion, Ala., and an accomplished young lady ; George W., a student of Bellevue Hospital medical college, graduating in 1892. He is a graduate of the university of Alabama; Elizabeth B., a graduate of Judson college, a cultured young lady residing with her mother; Archibald M., who graduated from the university of Alabama in 1892. The other children died in infancy. Albert Decatur Willett received his literary education at the university of Alabama, graduating in 1878. He began the study of law in the office of his father, and was examined by a committee appointed by the court and admitted to the bar in the spring of 1880, when twenty-one years of age. For six years, com- mencing in 1882, he represented Pickens county in the lower house of the legislature, and was the youngest man in that body, being barely eligible to the position. He was elected to the house by the people of the county for the purpose of securing relief for them from the payment of bonds floated by the Selma, Marion & Memphis railroad company, which had been adjudged valid claims against the county. The bonds amounted to 8200,000, and the people needed relief, as they were too poor to pay the indebtedness. Through the concerted efforts of the represent- atives from other insolvent counties the legislature passed what is known as the "strangulated county bill," which applied to the counties of Lee, Chambers, Tallapoosa, Randolph and Pickens, and remitted to these counties the state tax for a period of three years, with the exception of Randolph county, to which these taxes were remitted for four years. By this law Pickens county compromised her indebtedness for nineteen cents on the dollar, and she is now paying the state at the rate of one-fourth of one per cent. per annum for those taxes, this amount being levied as a special tax. In 1887 Mr. Willett went to Anniston, and formed a partner- ship with S. D. G. Brothers, and his brother J. J. Willett, under the firm name of Brothers, Willett & Willett. At the time of Maj. Willett's sud- den death Mr. Willett retired from this firm and returned to Carrollton to take charge of his father's law business. The firm was at this time entirely dissolved, Mr. Brothers going to Jacksonville, Ala., and Mr. J. J. Willett remaining in Anniston. Mr. Willett is one of the young and promising professional men of the state. He is a talented lawyer and devotes his attention strictly to the law. He is a member of the Bap- tist church, and in all respects a good citizen.
PIKE COUNTY.
JOHN P. ALLRED, M. D., physician and surgeon and planter, . living three miles southwest of Troy, Pike county, Ala., was born in Newton county, Ga., December 29, 1826. He is a son of William B. and Jane O.
816
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
!
(Park) Allred, born respectively in Richmond county, N. C., and Greene county, Ga., the former May 22, 1801, and the latter August 15, 1807. Mr. Allred was reared on a farm with but limited educational opportuni- ties. When a boy, he went with his parents to South Carolina, and, in 1821, to Montgomery county, Ala., where he remained a short time, and then went to Clarke county, Ga., where he married. He then removed to Newton county, Ga., where he lived until 1840, when he removed to Pike county, Ala., settled six miles southwest of Troy, where he lived until 1878, when he died. He was a well-to-do farmer, industrious and honest, an old line whig and a Union man at the breaking out of the war. He was a charter member of Troy lodge, No. 56, F. & A. M. His father was Jonathan Allred. He died in South Carolina, but was probably born in North Carolina, and was probably of the first generation of his people born in the United States. The mother of Dr. Allred died in 1885. She had been a Methodist for many years. Her father, Richard Park, died in Newton county, Ga., at the age of fifty-six years, when the doctor was a boy, his wife having died some years before. The doctor is the only child of the family living, his sister having died when about twelve years old. He was reared on a farm, and received a good education, mostly at Troy. In 1848 and 1849 he read medicine with Dr. D. M. Will- iams of Troy, but was engaged in merchandising for some years. In .November, 1848, he married Marie Antoinette, daughter of Obadiah M. B. and Elizabeth Fielder, natives of Morgan county, Ga., but who after their marriage removed to Jasper county, Ga., where they died, he in 1855 or 1856, and she in 1847. Mrs. Allred was born, reared and educated in Jasper county, and is the mother of eleven childern, viz .: Mary J., deceased; Frank H., Oscar B., Dr. Idus Park, of Dothen, a graduate of Atlanta Medical college; James S., depot clerk for the Midland railroad at Troy; Dr. Charles Spaulding, a dentist of Troy, and graduate from the Vanderbilt university; Elizabeth, widow of G. D. McSwain; Arkie A., wife of W. P. Cox, and three others, deceased. Dr. Allred lived in Troy until 1857, when he removed to his present farm of 440 acres. This is a fine property, and beside the farm the doctor has property in Troy, all obtained through his own efforts. In 1863 he enlisted in company A, Fifty-seventh Alabama infantry, and served about six months as first lieutenant. After the war he continued farming until 1867, when he attended the medical department of the State university at Augusta, Ga., was granted a diploma pro forma by the board of censors, and has since practiced his profession with success in connection with farming, in the neighborhood where he has lived for nearly fifty years. He was post- master of Troy during Fillmore's administration. He is now raising a fine grade of Jersey and Holstein cattle and Berkshire hogs, raising cot- ton only as a surplus crop. He is a member of Troy lodge, No. 56, F. & A. M., and of the chapter, and also of the First Baptist church of Troy for nearly forty years. He has spared no effort'nor expense to
....
....
1.
1
:
817
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-PIKE COUNTY.
give his children a good education, feeling that intelligent citizenship is the glory of the country.
GEORGE W. BARKER., planter, of Dixon's beat, No. 7, was born in Rockingham county, N. C., near the Dan river, in 1814. He is a son of Alexander and Mary Barker, both of whom were natives of North Caro- lina, Mrs. Barker being a native of Rockingham county. She was born during the Revolutionary war, and died in Georgia during the Civil war. George W. Barker was reared on a farm, with but limited opportunities for securing an education. At the age of eight years he was bound out as an apprentice, and when eighteen, ran away, and engaged to work on a farm at 82.50 for the first month, at $3 for the second month, at $3.50 per month for the next five months, and then at 84 per month for a year. Afterward he worked for a portion of the crop until his marriage (which was opposed by his wife's people, and in consequence of this opposition the young couple beat a hasty retreat to Georgia). All his earthly pos- sessions at that time consisted in a half-interest in an old blind horse. In Georgia he followed overseeing at $140 for the first year and $200 for the second year, getting his start in life in this way. His marriage occurred in 1830, his wife having been Miss T. E., daughter of Sirach and Sallie (Moseley) Lynch, natives of Virginia, where Mr. Lynch died when Mrs. Barker was an infant, from the effects of exposure in the war of 1812. His father was a Frenchman and came to Virginia at an early day. He was the founder of Lynchburg, Va. He was married four times, and by the first three of his wives he had thirty-two children. He and fourteen of his sons were in the war of 1812. While Mrs. Barker was still an infant her mother removed to North Carolina, where she mar- ired, and afterward removed to Muscogee county, Ga., where she died at an advanced age. Her father. Samuel Lynch. died in Virignia, his native state. He was the father of fourteen children, was a soldier in the Revo- lutionary war, and saw two of his brothers killed by the tories. Mr. Barker is the father of eight children, as follows: William Alexander, who was in the Second Georgia regiment from 1861, and was killed during the seven days' fighting in June, 1863; John Henry, who was a member of the Thirty-ninth Alabama infantry, and died at Okalona, Miss., in July, 1863; Mary Jane, wife of Samuel F. Smith of Troy; George Tyler, a member of the Twenty-ninth Alabama infantry, who died at Greenville, Ala., in August, 1863: Sarah E., widow of L. W. Friar, who died in 1891; Reuben C., who was in the war a short time, a mere boy, and who was captured at Line creek and taken to Columbus, Ga., paroled and came home; Martha Adeline, wife of J. M. Sterckey of Montogmery; Thomas Neal, who died during the war at the age of eight. Mr. Barker's mother was born during the Revolutionary war and died in Barbour county, Ala., during the Civil war. Mr. Barker has had thirty-one grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren. Immediately after his marriage he went to Georgia, where he lived seven years, in Wilkinson, Griggs, Houston and
818
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA
Dooley counties, and in 1840 removed to Barbour county, Ala., and lived in different parts of the county until 1866. He then removed to his present farm at Clay Hill, now Pronto, where he has a fine farm of 400 acres of land, one of the best farms in the county, the larger part of which is under cultivation. Since he became its owner he has very much improved it! In 1847 he was licensed to preach by the Methodist church, and for twenty years he devoted much time to church work, and has occupied all the positions in the church to local elder, and served three years in missionary work in the Perote mission. He has spared neither pains nor expense in advancing the work of the church, and is well known and universally esteemed. He was made a Mason at Clayton nearly forty-five years ago. He is a man of noble character, and he and his wife have lived happliy together for nearly sixty years. Both have been members of the Methodist church for nearly half a century, and all their children and grandchildren, that are grown, are also members of that church. About 1845 he built what was for many years known as Barker's church in Barbour county, east of Clayton, and after his removal west of Clayton he built the new Prospect church, about 1854. This is now known as Barker's church. In 1875 he was instrumental in having built the present Clay Hill church in his immediate neighborhood. Taken all in all, Mr. Barker is one of the most prominent and remarkable men of his county.
JAMES M. BEAN, M. D., a practicing physician of Buck Horn, was born near Post Oak, in what is now Bullock county, Ala., in February, 1848. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Williams) Bean, the former a native of Edgefield district, S. C., born in 1813, the latter a native of Georgia, born in 1825. John Bean received an ordinary education when a young man, and went to Georgia, where he married, and soon after- ward removed to Russell county, Ala., and in about 1847 to that part of Pike county "that is now Bullock county, settling on a small improve- ment, and spending there the rest of his life, dying in 1881, his wife dying in May, 1891. Both were members of the Missionary Baptist church for many years, and Mr. Bean was a member of Post Oak lodge, F. & A. M. He was a hard-working, honest and industrious man, and somewhat retired in his disposition. He was one of a large family born to James Bean, who died in South Carolina. James was of Scotch par- ents, and it is thought he was a native of Scotland. The maternal grand- father of James M. Bean, George Williams, was a native of Georgia, where his wife spent all her life, but Mr. Williams, after her death, removed to Alabama and died at Mr. Bean's in Bullock county. James M. Bean was the third of a family of four sons and six daughters, viz. : Bartlett, now of Florida, who served a short time during the latter part of the late war, in a boy's company stationed at Pollard. He has been a Missionary Baptist minister for many years; Dr. John Bean is a practicing physician of Trenton, Ark., and is a graduate of Louisville, Ky., Medical
.
819
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-PIKE COUNTY.
college; Whitfield, now studying medicine' with James M .; one of the daughters died when quite young, and another soon after her marriage. The other daughters are, Mary, wife of Rev. P. M. Calloway, a promi- nent Baptist minister of Newton, Dale county; Fannie, Lula, wife of Clayton Poyner, a prosperous merchant of Newton, and Eula, now attend- ing the Southern normal school at Winchester, Tenn. James M. Bean was reared upon a farm, and received a good education at a neighboring school. He then attended school at Troy, and then followed teaching for a time. He then went west and attended Baylor university, at Indepen- dence, Tex. ( since removed to Waco ), from which institution he gradua- ted with the degree of A. B., in 1878. He then read medicine with Dr. T. W. Royston of Round Rock. Tex., nearly three years, and in 1881 and 1832 attended the Missouri Medical college at St. Louis, Mo. In 1883 he graduated from the medical department of the university of Louisiana at New Orleans, now the Tulane university. He then practiced medicine in the vicinity of his birth place until August, 1883, since which time he has resided at Buck Horn, where he has an extensive practice. He is a hard student, and is thoroughly devoted to his profession. He is one of the most successful practitioners in the county, and there is no doubt he has a bright future before him. He is a member of the State Medical association and of the Pike county Medical society. He also has exten- sive planting interests, owning 460 acres of land, and has of this about 300 acres under cultivation. It is amongst the best land in Pike county. Dr. Bean is a Mason, holding his membership in Round Rock lodge, Texas, No. 227, and was at one time W. M. of that lodge, and secretary of the chapter there. In December, 1885, he married Susan M., daughter of Augustus and Jane (Melmoth) Wood; she is a sister of J. P. Wood, whose sketch is elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Bean was born and educated at Brundidge, and is of an excellent family. They have a son and daughter born unto them, Frank Bean, born December 24, 1887, and Janie Bean, born March 2, 1889.
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.