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 42
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
he entered. as a private soldier, the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts infantry, company K, Capt. Denny, and was with his company in . seventeen engagements without receiving serious injury. He declined promotion, and after four years of active service, was honorably discharged at Bos- ton, July 21, 1865, a veteran in experience, but yet a minor in years, for he was then but twenty, and not a voter. He then became interested in the boot and shoe business, and was thus engaged in Boston until 1870, when he removed to Shelby, Ala., and accepted a position as bookkeeper for the Shelby Iron company. This position he retained until 1877, when he was elected assistant secretary of the company, and upon the reor- ganization of the company, in 1890, he was elected assistant treasurer. In May, 1891, he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Shelby Manu- facturing and Improvement company, of Shelby. . He has been superin- tendent of the Sunday school of the Church of the Covenant (Congrega- tional), since 1872, and clerk of the church since 1882. He has been notary public at Shelby since 1875, and was township superintendent of education from 1885 to 1890. He was married September 4, 1873, in the Shawmut Congregational church, Boston, Mass., Rev. E. B. Webb, D. D., pastor, to Mary Francis Cleveland, daughter of Rev. Charles and Lucy (Francis) Cleveland, who was born in Boston, Mass., November 20, 1845, and graduated from Mount Holyoke college in the class of 1864. Their children, born in Shelby, Ala., are as follows: Cleveland Forbes, Jr., born January 1, 1875; Lucia Crafts, born November 27, 1879, and Edwin Thomas, Jr., born November 10, 1882. Mr. Witherby's success in life is well wor- thy of contemplation by younger men. It shows what can be done by persistent application to a determined purpose, and could all young men realize that only by individual effort is such success to be obtained, there would be less dissatisfaction with what are sometimes considered hard conditions, and less socialistic teaching in the world. His labors in the church, Sunday school, and in the public schools are also worthy of all praise and commendation.
SUMTER COUNTY.
DR. DUDLEY S. BROCKWAY, one of the most eminent physicians and surgeons of Livingston, Sumter county, Ala., was born in Gaston, Sum- ter county, in 1833. His father, Dr. Augustus E. Brockway, was born in Connecticut in 1817, went to Kentucky when a young man, and in 1845 graduated in medicine from the Transylvania university at Lexington. The same year he came to Alabama and for a while practiced his profes- sion in Choctaw county, but later moved to Sumter county. He married Miss Martha E. Horn, a native of North Carolina, born in 1830, and a daughter of Jacob Horn, who came from North Carolina to Alabama at an early day, first locating in Choctaw county, but subsequently settling in Sumter county, where he reared a large family and followed the voca-
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-SUMTER COUNTY.
tion of planting until his death. in 1862. The Brockway family is of English origin. and came to America in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Dr. Augustus E. was the fourth son of a large family, and the only member of the same to come to Alabama, where he died in Sumter county, in 1863. He was a physician of great ability, a man of much intelligence, a citizen of prominence and integrity, and a bright Free- mason. Mrs. Martha E. Brockway survives her husband and is a consist- ent member of the Presbyterian church. She is the mother of one daugh- ter and two sons, born in the following order: Lenora, wife of S. H. Sprott, judge of the sixth judicial circuit of Alabama; Charles J., an attorney of Livingston, and Dr. Dudley S. The last named received his preparatory education at Mount Sterling, Ala., and, in 1874, graduated from the university of the state. He then read medicine with Dr. R. D. Webb, now of Birmingham, Ala., and in 1878 graduated from the Ala- "bama Medical college at Mobile, and in 1881, from the Jefferson Medical college at Philadelphia. For eight years he practiced at Coatopa, Sumter county, and then located at Livingston, where he stands among the fore- most of the profession, sparing no pains to keep abreast with its prog- ress. He stands as high in the esteem of his fellow-practitioners as he does in that of the public, and is grand senior councilor of the Alabama state Medical association; is secretary and treasurer of the county society, and is an earnest worker at all meetings having in view the advance- .. ment of the science of medicine. He is also worshipful master of Liv- ingston lodge, No. 41, F. & A. M., and is past dictator of K. of H. lodge, No. 3,557, as well as being a member of Sumter lodge, No. 116, K. of P. His religion is found within the pale of the Presbyterian church, of whose teachings he is a strict observer.
WILLIS CURL, of the firm of Curl & Altman, general merchants of York, Sumter county, Ala., was born in Edgecomb county, N. C., in 1820. His parents, Redmond and Nancy (Williams) Curl, were natives of the same district, where Mrs. Curl died at the birth of Willis; Redmond also filled out his days in the district of his birth. The father of Redmond was also named Willis, and was probably a native of Virginia, but died in North Carolina before his grandson, Willis, was born; there also, the maternal grandfather, Drew Williams, passed away when Willis was a boy. Redmond Curl was twice married and had born to him four chil- dren by his first wife and several by his second. Of the four born to the first marriage, Willis is the youngest and the only survivor. the eldest, Kinchen, having died at Athens, Miss., before the war, and Sarah and Mary, next in order of birth, having died in North Carolina. Willis Curl was reared on a farm and never had an opportunity of attending school but very little. At his majority he began to work for himself as a farm hand and then engaged in overseeing until shortly before the opening of the Civil war. He had come to Alabama in 1842 and had resided in' Greene county until 1852, since which year he has resided near York,
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA
in Sumter county, or within the limits of the town. After he had aban- doned overseeing, he followed farming almost exclusively until about 1889, when he entered into mercantile business with W. A. Altman, the firm now doing an extensive trade, as well as conducting large planting operations. In 1852, Mr. Curl was united in marriage with Miss Penelope McAlpin, a native of Georgia, who has borne him eight children, two only of whom now are living: Alonzo and Lela, wife of Allan Cameron. Mr. Curl started in life as a poor young man, but by his industry, economy and shrewd business tact, he has made a competency. He has led a busy, although an uneventful life, and is still an active man. During the late war, he was ardent in the cause of the Confederacy, and rendered patriotic service in more ways than one. He has always held the respect of the community, and, when it had an existence, was a mem- ber of York lodge, A. F. & A. M. He and his wife are still faithful workers in the Methodist Episcopal church, south.
WILLIAM EDMONDS, one of the most prosperous of the merchants of York, Sumter county, Ala., was born in Lancaster county, Va., in 1845, a son of Robert and Elizabeth (George) Edmonds, both natives of Lancaster county, who died in 1865 and 1850 respectively, members of the Baptist church. Robert Edmonds, of English descent, was a gentleman of no small ability, and for many years was an officer in the custom house. Zamoth George, the father of Mrs. Elizabeth Edmonds, was a native of Virginia, was a planter, and died when William Edmonds was a boy. The latter was the fifth born of a family of six children, the others hav- ing been named Virginia and Roberta, both now residing in Virginia; Luther, who died before the opening of the late war; Rebecca, twin of William, died in infancy, and Mary, who is also deceased. William Edmonds was but a schoolboy of seventeen when he joined company L, Fifty-fifth Virginia infantry, and fought at Chancellorsville, and through all the campaigns of northern Virginia, under Gen. Lee, and had been separated from the main command but a few days when the final sur- render was made by his general at Appomattox. In 1865 and 1866, Mr. Edmonds was employed as a clerk in Baltimore, Md., and was then engaged in the oyster business, in Virginia, until 1869, when he came to Alabama, and located a Coatopa, where he followed his vocation of clerk for one and a halfyears, until 1871.at which time he went in business for him- self, for one year, at Brewersville, then moved to York, and clerked for one year, since which time he has been in business for himself, and has done a prosperous trade, having made himself quite popular. He also has large planting interests that have proved to be remunerative, and has succeeded in securing a fine property, with nothing to begin with excepting business foresight, and a determination to succeed. In 1870, Mr. Edmonds was united in matrimony with Miss Agnes E. Stewart a native of Virginia, who survived until 1873; in 1875, he married, Miss Alice Morris, a native of Georgia. His family now comprises five chil-
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS -- SUMTER COUNTY.
dren. Mr. Edmonds served his fellow-citizens, some years, as justice of the peace, and filled the position very satisfactorily; he is a Knight of Pythias, York lodge, No. 77, and he and wife are members of the Pres- byterian church.
DR. JOHN W. EPES, retired merchant of Epes Station, a thriving little town of Sumter county, Ala., named in his honor, was born in Lunenburg, Va., May 8, 1836, a son of John C. and Sarah A. (Smith) Epes, the former a native of Prince George county. Va., born January 8, 1801, and the latter a native of Lunenburg county. Mrs. Sarah A. Epes died in 1836, when the doctor was but a few months of age, and Mr. John C. Epes died in 1859, a well-to-do planter. The latter was a captain in one of the earlier wars, was a justice of the peace several years, and was a person of considerable importance in his community. His father, Peter Epes, was born in England, came to America with his people in 1717, and located at City Point, Va. He died, however, in Lunenburg county, the father of four sons and four daughters ... The maternal grandfather of the doctor. James Smith, was a Virginian by birth, was a very wealthy planter, and for twenty-one years represented Lunenburg county in the Virginia general assembly. Dr. John W. Epes is the younger of the two children born to his parents -- the elder one, Sarah L., now deceased, having been the wife of William E. Randolph of Virginia. The doctor was reared on the old plantation, attended Hampden-Sidney college, Va., and then the South Carolina Medical college at Charleston. In 1858 he graduated from Jefferson Medical college in Philadelphia, and the same year came to Alabama and located at Jones Bluff, now Epes. Being pos- sessed of strong proclivities for traffic and having a natural inclination toward trade, he engaged in mercantile pursuits and farming until 1862, when he responded to the call to arms by his adopted state and joined company A, Thirty-sixth Alabama regiment, as a private, and served on the coast for some months; in 1863 he joined Forrest's cavalry, and saw service in northern Mississippi. When the war had terminated, he resumed merchandising, which he followed many years before retiring, a wealthy man and one of the most extensive land-owners in the county of Sumter. The marriage of the doctor took place in October, 1858, to Miss Martha J., daughter of W. R. and Melicent Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were natives of Edgecomb county, N. C., but in 1833 came to Sumter county, Ala., lived here many years, and finally moved to Meridian, Miss., where they died. Mrs. Martha J. Epes was born in Sumter county, and is now the mother of six children viz. : John P., James V., Una E., wife of George P. Kinkle, of Birmingham, and mother of two children, viz. : Una E., and Mattie May; Mattie S., Minnie M., and Junie W. The family are highly honored in the community, and the father is a consistent member of the Presbyterian church. The doctor is a royal arch Mason and a Knight of Honor, in politics is a stanch democrat, and is a valued and public-spirited citizen.
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
DR. DARBY HENAGAN, of Epes Station, Sumter county, Ala., one of . the oldest and most experienced physicians of the county, was born in Marlboro' district, S. C., in April, 1831, and has been a resident of Sumter county, Ala., since 1860. His parents, Ephraim L. and Ann (McInis) Henagan, were natives, respectively, of Marlboro' and Marion districts, S. C., and were of Scotch-Irish and Scotch descent-their ances- tors having come to America prior to the Revolutionary war. Ephraim L. Henagan was a farmer of some considerable consequence in his dis- trict in his day, took an active part in public affairs, and was, for a num- ber of years, sheriff of Marlboro' district, where he died in' 1845. His widow, a daughter of Malcolm Melnis, came to Alabama in 1865, and here died, in Sumter county, in 1883. She reared a family of seven sons and six daughters. The sons, with three sons-in-law, were all gallant Con- federate soldiers, and were born in the following order: John W., who who was colonel of the Eighth South Carolina infantry, was captured by the enemy near Winchester, Va., and died a prisoner on Johnson's Island; Angus, now of South Carolina, was a cadet at West Point, N. Y., and was cavalryman in the Confederate army throughout the war; Charles S., now an extensive planter of Sumter county, Ala., was a major in the Thirty- sixth Alabama regiment, was captured at Missionary Ridge, and was imprisoned on Johnson's Island until the close of hostilities. Dr. Darby Henagan, the fourth son, joined company A, Thirty-sixth Alabama, as company surgeon, was made assistant surgeon of Bay batteries, Mobile, and early in 1865, was made surgeon of the Bay batteries, which posi- tion he filled until the close. operating chiefly on the coast; Malcolm I. was appointed quartermaster of the Eighth South Carolina regiment in the beginning of the war, served one year and died; then James M. was appointed to fill his place and served in that capacity till the close of hostilities; Ephraim L., died in an ambulance on the retreat from York- town; he was elected lieutenant while in the hospital and never lived to join his command in Hampton's legion; the sixth son, James M., men- tioned above, now of Texas, was a quartermaster in the Eighth South Carolina. The three brothers-in-law of these seven sons are Dr. Allen E. Moore, of New York, and W. H. Brown of Sumterville, Ala., and Augustus Evans of South Carolina. Dr. Darby Henagan was reared on the home plantation, received a high-school education, and in 1856 and 1857 attended Jefferson Medical college at Philadelphia; in 1858, he graduated from the South Carolina Medical college at Charleston, and until 1860 practiced his profession at Rockingham. N. C., and then located at Sumterville, Ala. After the Civil war was closed, he resumed his practice at Sumterville, where he continued to reside until 1868, since which time he has made Epes Station his abiding place, where he is physician and surgeon to the entire community, and also holds large planting interests. He is universally respected, and is recognized by the profession as a skillful and well-informed practitioner; they have shown
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-SUMTER COUNTY.
their appreciation of his standing by electing him presiding officer of the county Medical society, a position he held for one term. The doctor was married, in 1870, to Miss Catharine. daughter of James and Martha Etheridge, natives, respectively, of North Carolina and Alabama. The father, a farmer, died in Clarke county, Ala., and the mother in Sumter county, of which latter county Mrs. Henagan is a native. The doctor is a member of Livingston lodge, F. &. A. M., and, with his wife, of the Presbyterian church. An uncle of the doctor, Barney K. Henagan, was elected lieutenant governor of South Carolina on the ticket with Patrick Noble, and on the death of Gov. Noble, April 7, 1840, succeeded to the gubernatorial chair; another uncle of the doctor, John McInis, once served as a member of the Alabama legislature from Sumter county.
JEZIEL P. HILLMAN, one of the prominent planters of Epes Station, Sumter county, is a native of Orange county, Va., born in 1319, the younger of the two sons born to Joseph and Frances Hillman. These parents were also born in Orange county in 1783 and 1786, respectively, the father of Welsh and the mother of English lineage. The father was a lieutenant in the war of 1812, and was an energetic and progressive planter. He was twice married; by his first wife he became the father of four sons and two daughters. and by his second wife, Frances, of two sons, the elder of whom, William, died in Sumter county, Ala., in 1862. The younger, Jeziel P., was reared on the home plantation, received five years of good schooling, and then learned to be a blacksmith. In 1839, when twenty years of age, he came to Alabama and settled in Sumter county, whither several of his older half-brothers had preceded him. Near where Epes now stands he set up a forge for the conduct of his business, and for thirty-six years wrought industriously at his trade, realizing $34,000 as his reward, and is still active and robust. although he has retired from manual labor and devotes his attention to the man- agement of his agricultural interests, owning, as he does, 1,100 acres of fertile land. In 1867 he for awhile conducted a mercantile establishment at Jones' Bluff, but commerce did not prove congenial to his tastes, and he turned the store over to his son, who still follows the business. As far back as 1857 Judge Hillman, as he is familiarly called, being a pioneer of the county and ever anxious to advance its material prosperity, became a stockholder in a railroad company that was then being built, but the construction of which was checked by the disastrous war that intervened. The road has. however, been since finished, and is now known as the Alabama Great Southern railroad, but it was Judge Hillman, and such as he, that strengthened its sinews in its incipiency. Indians, in the earlier days of the judge's coming, were still numerous, and he became well acquainted with their manners and customs, and could readily converse with them in their own language. and was consequently always on terms of friendship with them. In March, 1844, Judge Hillman was united in matrimony with Miss Mary J., daughter of Patrick V. and Charlotte
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
(Griswold) May, who were, respectively, natives of North Carolina and Georgia, but very early settlers of western Alabama, and who passed away in Sumter county. Mrs. Hillman was born in this county, March 23, 1819. She bore her husband two children. one of whom died in infancy, and the other. Joseph J., is the prosperous merchant of Epes Station, who ,succeeded his father in the business as mentioned above, so many years ago, when the place was known as Jones' Bluff. Mr. Joseph J. Hillman was not yet seventeen years of age when he joined the Hampton legion, and served in the army of Virginia until sometime in 1864, when he was ordered south. In a battle in North Carolina he was shot through the face, the result being that he was confined in a hos- pital until the close of hostilities permitted his return to his home. He married Miss Emma Garrett, daughter of Dr. Garrett, and is one of the most respected citizens of Sumter county, and, like his father, is looked upon as one of the most reliable and public-spirited members of the community.
CAPT. JAMES H. HOLMES, the well known merchant of Cuba, Sumter county, Ala., is a native of the county, and was born in 1838, a son of Thomas N. and Margaret (Hall) Holmes, natives of North Carolina, but who both came to Alabama when young, the latter with her parents, and were here married. . Mr. Thomas N. Holmes was a well-to-do planter, descended from a notable family and the only member of it who came to Alabama. His father, Gabriel Holmes, was a distinguished politician and statesman, a member of congress and once governor of the "Old North State;" he was a brother of the gallant general, Theodore Holmes, and was of Irish extraction. Archibald Hall, the maternal grandfather of Capt. James H. Holmes, was also a native of North Carolina, but came to Sumter county, Ala., at a very early day. Miss Margaret Holmes, having lost her husband in 1842, was subsequently married to W. B. Rew. By her first marriage she had three thildren, viz. : Siddie E., widow of a Mr. Cannady, Capt. James H., and Thomas N. Mrs. Rew died in 1884, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. Capt. James H. Holmes was reared on the farm and received his early education at the neighborhood schools, subsequently attending the junior class of Sum- merfield college until April, 1861, when he joined company G, Fifth Ala- bama infantry-the first company to leave Sumter county- and served in the Virginia army, fighting at Seven Pines, Mechanicsville, Cold Harbor. Malvern Hill. and in the valley campaign with Gen. Early, at Spottsyl- vania Court House, the Wilderness and South Mountain, at which latter point he was captured, and for two months imprisoned at Fort Delaware. Later he fought at Sharpsburg. Gettysburg, around Petersburg, etc. He ranked first as a private, then as second lieutenant until the battle of Winchester, when he was promoted to be captain, and commanded his company until the final surrender. After the war had closed he farmed a few years, and then engaged in merchandising, the firm now being
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-SUMTER COUNTY.
McGowen & Holmes. The business has been a profitable one, and the captain is now owner of about 1,000 acres of land, in different tracts, all earned through his own efforts. In 1866 the captain married Miss Fannie M. Ward, daughter of Solomon and Ann Ward, and a native of Greene county, Ala .; of her six children four are still living, Capt. Holmes has never sought political honors, but, in 1871, was prevailed upon by friends to accept a nomination for the general assembly, to which he was triumph- antly elected, and in which he served, in the session of 1871-72, as mem- ber of the committee on military affairs, agriculture, and on corporations. Socially he is very popular, and at one time was worshipful master of the now defunct Western Star lodge. No. 222, F. & A. M., of Cuba.
WARNER H. LEWIS, a prominent retired citizen of Cuba, Sumter county, Ala., was born in Raleigh, N. C., in 1822, a son of Warner and Winnifred (Wimberly) Lewis, natives respectively of Virginia and North Carolina. The father died in 1822, before Warner H. was born; the mother survived until 1840, when she died in the Methodist faith. She was a daughter of Malachi Wimberly, a planter, who died in Wake county, N. C. Warner Lewis, Sr., was a printer and died in the prime of life. He was twice married and had born to him one son, Merriwether, by his first wife, and two sons by his second. His father, John Lewis, . was a native of Virginia, and was of the first generation of the family born in America. Warner H. Lewis is the younger of the two sons borne by Mrs. Winnifred Lewis. The elder, Alfred, went to California during the gold fever of 1849, was engaged in mining for some years, and in 1850 was also tax assessor of Sacramento county. He never mar- ried, and is now probably deceased. Warner H., when young, served a few years as an apprentice to a tailor in Raleigh, and in 1842 came to Alabama, and worked about one year in Vienna, Pickens county, at his trade; thence he moved to Pleasant Ridge and later to Eutaw, Greene county, he then went to Mississippi and was one of the first to locate at Lauderdale Springs station, where his earnings of the past years, amounting to several thousand dollars, were destroyed by the Federal army. He then joined Capt. Williams' Sumter county troop of cavalry, Armistead's brigade, and was in active service till the close of the war, operating chiefly on the coast, escaping wounds and capture. After the war he engaged in farming near Cuba, and in 1869 entered into mercan- tile business, which he followed most of the time until 1887, when he retired, and has since devoted his time to the care of his estate, consist- ing of farming interests in Alabama, and various interests in Mis- sissippi and other states. He has led a very active and industrious life. and has been remarkably successful. He has never aspired to public . office, but has, nevertheless, been postmaster for forty years at Pleas- ant Ridge, at Lauderdale station, and now at Cuba. Mr. Lewis has been four times married, first in 1845 to Mrs. Elizabeth Reed, daughter of Col. John Ward, of Pickens county, Ala. This lady died in 1851, the mother
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