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 31
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA
William, both of whom are now residents of Elmore county. Henry W. Emfinger was reared on a farm, received but a limited education and began life for himself on attaining his majority. He came with his par- ents to Chambers county in 1835. On May 2, 1836, he joined Capt. Moses Gunn's company of Col. McLemore's regiment, and spent some months in the Indian war of that year, being discharged September 2, following. In 1839 he married Martha Goldsmith, who was born in Georgia, and who came with her father, John Goldsmith, to Alabama. He had been a sol- dier in the war of the Revolution and died in Chambers county, Ala. Mrs. Emfinger died in 1888, having been the mother of three children, one of whom, Madison Caswell, survives. After her death Mrs. Emfinger mar- ried Mrs. Selina Ellis, widow of Jesse Ellis, who died a prisoner of war. during the rebellion. Mrs. Ellis was born in Georgia, and was the daughter of Greene Sims, who also died in Georgia. After his first mar- riage Mr. Emfinger lived a short time in Russell county, then returned to Chambers county and about 1850 came to Pike county, settling near Brun- didge, and for about ten years has lived on his present farm of 120 acres, which is in a high state of cultivation. Starting from nothing he has accumulated all he now has by his own efforts and good management. He has been a member of the Missionary Baptist church since he was six- teen years old. He has never neglected his domestic affairs for politics or other public matters. The two deceased sons of Mr. Emfinger by his first wife were William W., who was a member of the Forty-sixth Alabama infantry, and who was in poor health all the time of his service, and who died during the siege Vicksburg, and John Henry, who was killed by a snake when about five years old. Madison Caswell Emfinger, the surviv- ing son, was born in Chambers county in 1840 and was educated at Clay Hill. He began life for himself in 1860, cropping with his father, and spent a short time as a laborer on the Montgomery & Mobile railroad, intending to use his earnings in securing a better position. But in 1861 he joined company H, First Alabama infantry, for one year, was stationed at Penascola, and was at the bombardment of Fort Pickens. After the first year's service had expired he came home and re-enlisted in company C, Forty-sixth Alabama infantry, in which he went on to Knoxville, Tenn .. Cumberland. Gap, his first engagement being at Tazewell. He served through the Kentucky campaign, back to Mobile and then on to Vicks- burg. He was captured at Baker's Creek, June 17, having secreted him- self in a well, and then went as a nurse in a hospital to care for a wounded comrade. On the twentieth of the same month he made his escape, started for home, reported to Jackson, and was sent to Demopolis, where he was furloughed home. He was married September 9, 1863, to Addrann, daughter of Dr. Oliver and Olive Flemming, both of whom were probably natives of Georgia, from which state they removed to Macon county. Ala., where they both died, the latter in 1888, the former in 1886. Dr. Fleming was a practicing physician for many years, and a Meth-
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odist minister from early life. Mrs. Emfinger was born in Macon county, Ga., and was educated there and at Midway, where her people lived some years, and where she died on January 17, 1889. Mr. Emfinger was married the second time to Ella, daughter of William and Caroline Price. She was born in Columbus, Ga., and educated there. Her father died when she was an infant, and her mother, in January, 1881. On the return of the troops to the army, Mr. Emfinger joined them, and went to Chattanooga, fighting at Missionary Ridge, and at Lookout Mountain. The next summer he fought all through the Atlanta campaign, and back with Hood to Tennessee, though he was not in the battle of Franklin. He was, however, in the battle of Nashville, after which he retreated to Corinth, and then went to the Carolinas, fighting at Kingston, and at Bentonville. He was dropped just prior to Johnson's surrender, and at the time was on his way home. He was 'a drummer for about a year in the Forty-sixth Alabama, and then orderly sergeant, and when near Marietta, in 1864, he was wounded, in conse- quence of which he was at home for about ninety days. Upon his return to his regiment, he was made third lieutenant, and served in that capac- ity till the close of the war. After the war was over he lived on the old farm, east of Brundidge, until 1880, when he removed to Clay Hill, and in 1882, he moved to his present farm of 436 acres, just west of Pronto. This farm is now under excellent cultivation, but nearly all the improve- ments have been made by himself. He has one of the best cotton gins in the state, which has all the modern improvements, and a capacity of about thirty-six bales of cotton a day. He raises cotton merely as a sur- plus crop. Mr. Emfinger was county commissioner from the second district from 1878 to 1882. He is a member of Brundidge lodge, F. & A. M., and of the Baptist church. He has two children by his first wife. Mr. Emfinger is one of the most prominent and successful planters of the county, and stands high as a man of character in the community.
CHARLES HENDERSON, wholesale grocer, and also a member of the responsible firm of Henderson Bros. & Co., general merchants of Troy, Pike county, Ala., was born in Pike county in 1860, a son of J. A. and Mildred E. (Hill) Henderson, also natives of the county named. J. A. Henderson was reared a farmer, received a good country education, and when a young man spent a few years in Troy, then returned to the coun- try, married, and settled about twelve miles south of Troy, at a point afterward known as Henderson's store, where he engaged in farming and merchandising with marked success until about 1870, when he removed to Troy, and followed merchandising until his death in 1877. He was a self-made man, having started with no means, in a pecuniary sense, but he possessed energy that was untiring, also exceedingly superior busi- ness ability, and by constant devotion to his calling, he amassed a com- fortable competency, and became one of the leading financiers of Pike
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county. He was a royal arch Mason, and was conservative in politics, but was a delegate to the secession convention of 1860, and served in the Confederate cavalry . throughout the Civil war. His father, James Eli Henderson, was a native of Edgefield district, S. C., and when a young man located in southwestern Alabama. where he married. and after- ward removed to Pike county and settled nine miles below Troy, where he improved a good farm, reared a family of six sons and five daughters, became well-to-do, and died in 1855. William Hill, the maternal grand- father of Charles Henderson, was a native of Georgia, who, after his mar- riage, came to Alabama and settled below Troy, Pike county, and reared a large family. He served in the war with Mexico, and died at home in 1870. Charles Henderson is the fourth born in a family of five boys and two girls, all of whom are now among the best citizens of Troy, the boys having become the chief financiers and business men of the city, bein'g the founders and principal owners and operators of every industrial enterprise in the place. Charles, after receiving a common school edu- cation, attended Howard college (then at Marion) until his father's death, when he left college and engaged in merchandising with the firm of Hen- derson Bros. & Co., with which firm he is still connected. Later he established the Charles Henderson Wholesale Grocery company; he is also the proprietor of the ice works and bottling vaults, and has a large interest in the cotton compress, knitting factory, fertilizer works, machine shops, etc., and is now, in fact, the leader of all the principal industries of the city, although yet quite a young man. He also has extensive planting interests in the county, and was mayor of the city from 1886 and 1891. The marriage of Mr. Henderson was solemnized in 1888 with Miss Laura, daughter of the late Thomas A. Montgomery, who was for many years a prominent merchant of Raleigh, N. C. Mrs. Hen- derson was born near Raleigh, N. C., and was educated at St. Mary's college of that city. She is a consistent member of the Baptist church, while Mr. Henderson is a Knight Templar Mason. It will thus be seen that much, if not all, of the prosperity of Troy is owing to Mr. Hender- son and other members of the family, and that he is one of the prime factors in the creation of its industries, each one of which, in which he has any interest, is of a substantial character and adapted to the needs of the community, either as a producer of an article inherent to the place, as ice, for instance, or a consumer of that which is indigenous and over abundant, as cotton, which is manufactured and exported. each industry giving employment to labor that would otherwise stand idle, and keep- ing up a constant circulation of capital. in large or small sums, that would otherwise remain uninvested. Such as these are the men that make a community what it ought to be.
GUSTAVUS HENDRICK, M. D., a retired physician of Brundidge, was born in Butts county, Ga., September 7, 1833. He is a son of Gustavus and Martha (Hurt) Hendrick, the former of whom was born in Virginia,
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in 1793, and the latter in Hancock county, Ga., in 1797. Mr. Hendrick was taken by his parents, when about two years old, to Georgia, where he received a very liberal education, and where he became a great reader, and a man of profound thought. He was married in 1812. He devoted the earlier years of his life to the farm, and was a very successful planter. In later years, he became quite a successful politician, and for several years represented Jones county, Ga., in the legislature. After his removal to Butts county, he was a member of the state senate, serving with distinction in both branches of the legislature. He was, at one time, general of the militia, and was, for this reason, afterward known as Gen. Hendrick. He was exceedingly active in all public matters. He was a royal arch Mason, and, in early life, was a devoted ' Methodist; but in later years, owing to certain dissensions in the government of that denomination, he became a Reformed Methodist. Still later in life, , when he lived in a vicinity where there was no church except a Baptist church, he united with that church, in order that his children might be profited by the influences of the church. He remained in this connection until his death, which occurred March 20, 1883, at the age of ninety years. He was buried at Brundidge. His wife died at Union Springs in 1884, and is also buried at Brundidge. This couple lived happily together for the remarkably long period of seventy-one years. John Hendrick, the grandfather of Dr. Hendrick, was a Virginian, but in about 1795 removed to Georgia, and afterward to Kentucky, where he died at the age of fifty-two. He was of German origin, and a farmer by occu- pation. From the best authority obtainable it is thought that his fore- fathers came to this country with Henry Hudson, and settled in New York. The maternal grandfather of Gustavus Hendrick was of Irish ancestry, and was a Revolutionary soldier. He died in Hancock county, Ga., before Gustavus Hendrick was born. Dr. Hendrick is the eighth of eleven children, ten of whom reached the age of maturity. The eldest, Dr. John B., died in Covington, Ga., where he had been a successful physi- cian for many years. Two of the sons were in the late war, viz. : Maston, now living on the old home farm, in the house in which he was born, and Obadiah. who also occupies a portion of the old farm. They were ' both in the Seventh Georgia infantry, all through the war. Dr. Hen- drick was brought up on the farm, and received a country school educa- tion. At the age of twenty-one, he began the study of medicine with his brother at Covington, Ga., and in 1856 graduated from the Pennsylvania Medical college at Philadelphia. He practiced medicine in his home neighborhood until 1858, when he removed to Pike county, Ala., locating at Olustee Creek, until after the war. In 1860, he married Fannie, daugh- ter of Simeon and Amarintha Copeland, who came from Putnam county, Ga., to Alabama when Mrs. Hendrick was a baby, and later they came to Brundidge, where Mr. Copeland died. His occupation was that of a farmer. Mrs. Copeland is still living. Mrs. Hendrick was born in 'Ran-
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dolph county, Ga., and was reared in Chambers county, Ala. She is the mother of eight children, six of whom are living, viz. : Albert Sidney. a druggist of Geneva, who was educated at Brundidge; Dr. Lowndes, a prac- ticing physician at Carroll's Store, and a graduate of Mobile Medical col- lege; Henry O., who was educated at Brundidge, and now railroad agent at Ariosto; Annie, wife of John T. Ashcraft, a prominent attorney of Florence, Ala., who completed her education at Judson college, and is a very accomplished lady; Pattie Hurt, and Hallie. In 1866, Dr. Hendrick came to Brundidge, where he devoted his entire attention to his profes- sion until within a few years, when he retired from active practice, owing to feeble health. He has been a hard student all his life, and has kept pace with the progress of the times. During his professional career it was always his custom, not so much to cure his patient, as to relieve him from pain, and to prevent death, and then let nature do the rest. He is a grand councillor in the State Medical association, and for nearly ten years, was president of the Pike county Medical society. He stands in the foremost rank of living practitioners in Pike county. He was, at one time, W. M. of Brundidge, and also of Olustee lodge, F. & A. M., but his membership is now of Troy lodge, No. 56, and he is also a royal arch Mason. Both he and his wife are members of the Missionary Bap- tist church, he having been a member thereof ever since he was a young man. He-is believed to be the oldest practitioner of medicine in Pike county, and besides his practice, he has for many years been extensively interested in farming.
JOHN T. HIGHTOWER, SR., warehouseman of Brundidge, was born in Monroe county, Ga., in 1827. He is a son of Elisha and Mary (Oslin) Hightower, the former a native of south Carolina, born in 1796, the latter a native of Greene county, Ga., born in 1798. Elisha Hightower came when a boy with his parents to Georgia, received but a limited education, married in Greene county, Ga., lived in Monroe, from there moved to Harris county, from there in 1840 came to and settled near Auburn, now in Lee county. He settled in the woods, but made a good farm by his improvements, and lived thereon a good many years. Mrs. Hightower died in Texas in 1873, and Mr. Hightower afterward lived with his children, and died in Texas at the age of eighty-seven years. They were both Methodists for many years, and he was a successful planter. He was a captain of the militia and served in the war of 1812. He was very active in church matters, was a leader in society, was a stanch whig and was considerable of a politician. He was a member of a large family born to Thomas Hightower, who removed from South Carolina to Georgia at an early day. He was of English extraction. John Oslin, the maternal grandfather of John T. Hightower. Sr., was of Welsh descent, and spent all his life in Georgia, dying in Henry county when John T., Sr., was quite young. He was a farmer and raised a large family. John T. High- tower, Sr., was the fifth of a family of seven sons and three daughters.
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Five of the sons were in the late war, viz .: Asbury W., was in Clanton's command of Alabama troops, the latter part of the war, and was captured near Mobile, near the close of the war. He afterward removed to Texas, where he died; Isaac O., now of Texas, was in a Texas command in the Tennessee army; William A., was also in a Texas command in the Ten- nessee army. He afterward removed to Texas, where he died; Elisha F., was a lieutenant in an Alabama command from 1861, was captured at Island No. 10, and was in prison in Camp Douglas a short time, when he was exchanged and rejoined his regiment. He was killed at Atlanta July 27, 1864. John T., Sr., was reared on a farm, received a limited education, and began life for himself at the age of twenty-one as a farmer. He was married in Lee county, in 1849, to Sarah, daughter of Dr. Oliver and Olive (Bradford) Flemming, natives of Jefferson county, Ga., who were married there, and in 1837 moved to what is now Lee county, Ala., then went to Barbour county, and later to Pike county, where ' Dr. Flemming died about 1886, and Mrs. Flemming in March, 1888. Both were Methodists for many years, and the doctor was a graduate of Macon (Ga.) Medical college, and practiced his profession until his death. He was a local Methodist preacher for thirty-five years, and was in every sense a noble man. Mrs. Hightower was born in Washington county, Ga., and was educated in Lee county, Ala., both she and her future hus- band attending the same school together when they were children. They have been the parents of twelve children, eight of whom are living, viz. : Oliver E .; Harriet, wife of R. D. Tompkins, of Florida; Mary Olive, wife of J. C. Parks; Charley W .; Nettie V., wife of R. D. Watson, of King county, Tex. ; John T. ; Lelia A., and James F. When first married Mr. Hightower located near Midway, in what is now Bullock county, and in 1860 removed to Pike county, near Brundidge. He followed farming and -brick laying until 1890, since which time he has been living in Brundidge. In the fall of 1862 he joined company B, Fifty-third Alabama cavalry, and during the first two years of the war served in northern Alabama, and then with the Tennessee army until the close of war in the Georgia campaign, and then on with Johnston to Savannah. He was furloughed home, and was on his return when Johnston surrendered. Though he was in many severe skirmishes and had his horse shot under him, he was never wounded or captured. After the war he resumed farming. He had a good farm. which he sold. He started with nothing, and made all he had by hard work and good management. He is a member of the Brundidge lodge, F. & A. M. He and his wife have lived a happy life together for nearly half a century. They have been members of the Methodist church from their childhood, and all their children are members of the same church. Mr. Hightower has always been rigidly honest, believing in the maxim that honesty is the best policy, and believing also in the education of the youth of the land, has given all his children a good education.
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
WILLIAM J. HILLIARD, judge of the probate court of Pike county, was born in Stewart county, Ga., in 1833. He is a son of William and Mary (Daniel) Hilliard, natives of North Carolina and Washington county, Ga., respectively. When a boy Mr. Hilliard, Sr., went with his parents to Georgia. He was reared on a farm, and as a consequence received but a limited education. After marriage he lived in different counties in Georgia, and in 1851 removed to Pike county, Ala., settling about eleven miles southeast of Troy, on a small improvement, which has long been known as Hilliard's Cross Roads, most of his land (about 1,000 acres) being woods. Here he spent the rest of his life as a hard-working, industrious farmer, in which vocation he was more than usually suc- cessful; and he enjoyed the fruits of his labors by faring sumptuously every day. Mrs. Hilliard was noted far and wide as a proficient in the culinary art, the most useful of the arts to which woman can devote her talents and time. Mr. Hilliard was a voluminous reader, by which means he acquired a vast and valuable fund of information. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hilliard were members of the Methodist Protestant church. In 1863 they were both stricken with small-pox, the disease carrying away the father, who died at the advanced age of seventy-five years. The mother recovered only to die, however, the following year, 1864. Mr. Hilliard was a son of Maj. Hilliard, who was probably born of English and Dutch ancestry, in North Carolina, but who removed to Georgia at an early day, in which state he died before the judge was born. During his life time he was a well-to-do farmer. His father was one of three brothers who came to America in colonial times. Ezekiel Daniel, the maternal grandfather of William J. Hilliard, was a substan- tial farmer, reared a large family, and died in Washington county, Ga. William J. Hilliard was the youngest but one of thirteen children, four of whom are living, three besides himself. George W. (deceased) was a sergeant in the Fifty seventh Alabama infantry. Dr. Charles W. was also a member of the same regiment all through the war. William J. Hilliard was reared on a farm, receiving but a limited education, in part because of the newness of the country. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-one, being the main dependence of the family for many years. He then spent one year teaching school in Georgia, when his father, who still depended upon him for the support of himself and wife during their old age, requested him to return to their home. With this request he complied, and cared for his father and mother dur- ing their last illness. In July, 1861, he joined company F, Fifteenth Alabama infantry, as a private soldier, and served therein twenty-two months as a portion of, the army of Virginia, fighting in the battles of Port Royal, Winchester and Cross Keys. After the death of his parents he remained at home for a short time on the farm, and on December 25, 1864, he married Laura Bullard, daughter of Allan and Martha Bullard, who removed from Georgia to Coffee county, Ala., where the mother-
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died, and where Mr. Bullard still lives, a well-to-do general trader, etc Mrs. Hilliard was born in Georgia, and died in 1881, having borne five children, viz. : Mary V. (deceased), who had married William Parks; Martha G., wife of James E. Henderson: Camilla J. ; Belle, and William W. In November, 1881. Mr. Hilliard married Mrs. Amelia Kelsoe (née Cooper), a native of Georgia, who has borne him two children, John W. and Alice Lee. After his marriage Mr. Hilliard engaged in carriage work and blacksmithing at Brundidge, continuing thus engaged until 1871, when he returned to the farm, and after two years of exclusive farming added blacksmithing and wood working thereto. In 1878 he removed to the vicinity of Troy, and continued the same business there until 1880, when he was elected probate judge, and was re-elected in 1886. He has a fine small farm, partly within the city limits, where he resides, and is engaged in growing fruit. He is a member of Troy lodge, No. 56, F. & A. M. He was formerly W. M. of Brundidge lodge, and high priest of the chapter there, which he assisted to organize. He has also taken the Knight Templar degree. Both Mr. Hilliard and his first wife were mem- bers of the Methodist Protestant church, while the present Mrs. Hilliard is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. Mr. Hilliard has one of the finest and best selected libraries in the state, and is a great reader.
EDWARD H. JOHNSON, M. D., a practicing physician and surgeon, of Troy, was born in that city in 1845. He is a son of Dr. Osborn S. and Eliza J. (Hobdy) Johnson. Dr. Osborn S. Johnson was born in Marion county, Ga., in 1820, and Mrs. Johnson was born probably in North. Car- olina. Dr. Johnson received a common English education in Georgia. He then read medicine and graduated from the Medical college of Augus- ta, Ga., about 1841. He next moved to Pike county, locating at Monti- cello, and practiced there until the removal of the county seat to Troy, when he also removed to that place. At Troy he was married and con- tinued the practice of medicine until 1854 or 1855, when he removed to Mt. Ida, in what is now Crenshaw county, where he continued his prac- tice until the breaking out of the Civil war. He was married twice. His first wife, the mother of Dr. Johnson, died in 1833. Mr. Johnson died October 17, 1867, after a successful career as a physician and farmer. In these two vocations he accumulated a great deal of property, which was destroyed during the war. He was a public-spirited man, a royal arch Mason, and was one of the leaders of the whig party in 1852. At this time the two parties being nearly equal in numerical strength, Dr. John- son was selected to make the race for the state senate against the late Harold Hobdy, his brother-in-law, and a democrat, the doctor being defeated by only a few votes. He was one of a large family, and one of his brothers died in the Mexican war. Dr. Johnson was a member of the Methodist church. His father-in-law, Edmund Hobdy, was one of the
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