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 52
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-TALLAPOOSA COUNTY.
line, where he died in 1852. He was not inclined to public life, but was of a military turn, and was colonel of militia while he lived in Georgia He was a thrifty, energetic man, and accumulated a large property. He was married twice, the first time to Elvira Harper, by whom he had four children, viz .: D. A. G., Frances, wife of J. J. High, Camp Hill. Ala .; Amanda, wife of William M. Trimble, Chambers county, and Sarah. wife of Rollie R. Spinks, Camp Hill. Ala. The mother of these children died in 1836, and their father married the next year Frances Harper, the sister of his first wife, by whom he has only one child living, viz. : Mary J., wife of Marcellus A. Trimble. Camp Hill. The second wife is also now deceased. The Ross family are of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the first repre- sentatives of the family in this country being three brothers, who came to America in colonial days. One of these brothers settled in Maryland, another in New Jersey, and the third, William Ross, the grandfather of Wiseman, settled in South Carolina. The Rosses were prominently con- nected with the Revolutionary war, George Ross and four brothers being in De Kalb's command. George Ross, the one that settled in New Jersey, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The George Ross that lived in South Carolina, left that state when a young man and reared his family in Hancock county, Ga. D. A. G. Ross has in his pos- session a case of bottles which his great-grandfather brought from Scot- land. The Harper family is a prominent one in Georgia, Miss Elvira Harper being reared in Jones county, that state. D. A. G. Ross was born Decem- ber, 15, 1830, in Monroe county, Ga. He received an ordinary education, and has followed farming all his life, and most of the time near where he now lives. During the war he was in Wheeler's cavalry brigade, and during the latter fifteen months in the Eighth Confederate cavalry. He participated in the Atlanta campaign and in other service. He was mar- ried, in the fall of 1852, to Jane Slaughter, daughter of J. J. Slaughter, and by this marriage he has two children: William, of Tallapoosa county, a farmer. and Frances, wife of W. A. Langley of Tallapoosa county. The mother of these children died in 1884, and Mr. Ross married in 1885, Mrs. N. F. Rowe. She died in 1891, and Mr. Ross has not married since. In 1874 and 1876 he was in the legislature from Tallapoosa county. The session of 1874 was the famous one which wrested the government from the radicals. Mr. Ross served on the committee on state debt. In 1886, he represented the county again in the legislature. He has served four years as county commisioner. As is clear from the above Mr. Ross is a popular man and a member of the democratic party, and is also a member of the Universalist church.
W. L. ROWE, sheriff of Tallapoosa county, is a son of John and Ann (Taylor) Rowe, the former of whom was born in Edgfield district, S. C. His parents moved to Alabama when he was a child, and settled in Con- ecuh county, where they lived a few years and then moved to Monroe county, Ga. There he came to maturity and was married about 1833. He
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
lived there until 1845, during which time he represented Monroe county in the Georgia legislature one term. In 1845 he moved to Tallapoosa county, and settled five miles east of Dadeville. He lived there until 1878, when he died. During his residence in Alabama he represented Talla- poosa county in the legislature in 1852 and in 1854, and from 1858 to 1860 he was in the senate. He was a democrat in politics, and when the war . came on he was in favor of secession. He was a man of thrift and energy and accumulated considerable property. He was a member of the Primi- tive Baptist church. His father, William Rowe, was a Virginian by birth and of Scotch ancestry. The Taylors were from Georgia, the mother of W. L. having been born in Meriwether county. To John and Ann Rowe born two sons and four daughters, viz .: Sarah, widow of D. P. Norman, of Bowie, "Tex .; W. L .; Mary, widow of P. A. Wise, Dadeville, Ala .; James T., deceased, clerk of the circuit court at , the time of his death; Elizabeth, widow of John R. Melton, Opelika, Ala. ; . and Emma, wife of Robert Presley, Bowie, Tex. The mother of these children died in 1866. W. L. Rowe was born October 3, 1836, in Monroe county, Ga. He received an academic education and began business, in 1859. in Dadeville. When the war came on he left his business and enlisted in the army. In the summer of 1861 he. organized a company with the intention of joining others in Tallassee, and of forming a bat- talion from Tallapoosa county, the men having enlisted for twelve months, but as the government decided not to accept any troops for less than three years, the company he had raised was disbanded and the men returned home. Mr. Rowe, however, joined the Loachopoka Rifles, company B, Sixth Alabama infantry, as a private soldier, and left for the Virginia army in August, 1861. In 1862 the regiment was re-organized and he was elected captain of the company, the letter of which was changed to "L", the regiment, however, remaining the same. He led the company at Seven Pines, the Seven Days' fight at South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellors- ville, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. On the first day at Gettysburg he was wounded in the left breast by a minie ball, a button and a comb which he had in his pocket causing the ball to range downward or he would have been killed. As it was he was left on the field and was taken a prisoner, and was conveyed to Johnson's Island, where he remained until March, 1865, when he was paroled. He was at home at the time of the surrender. From that time on, until 1888, he followed farming in Tal- lapoosa county, and he was then elected sheriff of the county, which office he has held ever since. He was married, in 1868. in Tallapoosa county, to Sue M. Maxwell, by whom he had the following children, viz. : Willis M., of Dadeville: Annie, wife of James McIntosh, merchant of Dadeville; Bessie, John, Jennie, Mary and J. C. Politically, Mr. Rowe is a democrat. He is a master Mason, a Knight of Honor, and a member of the Missionary Baptist church.
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-TALLAPOOSA COUNTY.
DR. R. V. SALMON, physician of Dadeville, Tallapoosa county, Ala., is the son of Robinson B. and Julian (Vaughan) Salmon, the former of whom was a native of North Carolina. When he was about twenty-five years of age, in 1839, he came to Alabama, settling in Dadeville. He was a mechanic and followed that occupation during his life. He was married in Dadeville to Miss Julian Vaughan, and by her had a family of four children, viz: James H. who enlisted in the Thirty-fourth Alabama infantry, as a private soldier, and was killed at the battle of Chickamauga in 1863; R. V., Virginia and Emma, both of whom died in childhood. Mr. Salmon died in 1848, and his widow married, in 1876, Joseph Greer, of Chambers county and is still living. Dr. R. V. Salmon was born April 21, 1843, in Fredonia, Chambers county, Ala. He received a common school education and when the war came on he enlisted as a private soldier in company I, of the Eighth Confderate cavalry, in 1862, and served until the final surrender. He was in the western army, and par- ticipated in the battles of Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge, and throughout the Atlanta campaign. From Atlanta he went on a raid through Tennessee with Gen. Wheeler. He went thence to Savannah and on up into the Carolinas, and was at the battles of Ben- tonville and Fayetteville. He was paroled at Washington, Ga. He returned home May 23, 1865, and followed farming until 1870. He then began the study of medicine at Louisville Medical college. He was there during the sessions of 1870 and 1871. He practiced medicine in St. Clair county, at Greensboro, until 1874, when he went to the Alabama Medical college and graduated from that institution in 1875. He then located at Alexander City in Tallapoosa county, remaining until 1876, when he removed to Dadeville, where he has since remained. He also owns and manages a drug store. He was married in January, 1867, in Dadeville, to Miss America Wagner, whose family had lived in Tallapoosa county since 1838, coming to Alabama from Georgia. She was born and reared in Tal- lapoosa county. To this marriage have been born the following children: Henry W., a salesman for Oliver Bros. of Dadeville; R. H., who will com- plete his medical education at the Alabama Medical college in 1893; F. A. and J. A. at home. Politically Dr. Salmon is a democrat. He is a master Mason, a Knight of Honor, and is past dictator of his lodge. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. south, and he is a trustee of his church. Dr. Salmon is a genial gentleman, and has an excellent reputation as a physician.
REV. JNO. P. SHAFFER, D. D., is a Baptist minister, residing at Dadeville, Ala., and is a descendant of an old and honorable German family. His grandfather, William Shaffer, was born in the state of South Carolina, and married Miss Simpson, a lady of Welsh descent and a Baptist. Wm. Shaffer was a decided Baptist; a deacon of his church, and a planter in easy circumstances. From his marriage with Miss Simpson came a large family, now all deceased. Dr. Rhodham Shaffer
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died in the state of Texas, and his descendants are there, Mrs. Eliza Womble also died in Texas leaving descendants. The other members of the family, except Simon, died childless. About the year 1828, Wm. Shaffer removed from South Carolina to Perry county, Ala., and some years later he removed to Talladega county, where he spent the remainder of his life. Simon P. Shaffer, father of Rev. Jno. P. Shaffer, was born in Fairfield district, South Carolina, in the year 1811. He was married in Talladega county in the year 1839 to Miss Martha Foreman. He removed to Coosa county in the year 1845. He was a mill owner, merchant and hotel-keeper, and died at Rockford, Ala., in the year 1858. His family consisted of three sons and one daughter: Rev. Jno. P., William, of Galloway, Texas; Isaac, deceased, and Mary J , now Mrs. Wood, a widow, of Roanoke, Ala. The mother, Mrs. Truett, is a widow, and resides near , Jackson's Gap, Ala. Rev. Jno. P. Shatier was born in Talladega county, Ala., March 13, 1841. : He received an academic education in the east Alabama Masonic institute. The death of his father retired him from school before his education was completed; but he has been a lifelong student, and has thus compensated, in large measure, for the misfortune occasioned by his father's death. Upon a profession of faith in Christ, he was bap- tised by the Rev. Platt Stout, in 1858, and became a member of the Baptist church at Rockford, Ala. When the late civil war between the states broke out, he went to the field at once as a private soldier in the Fourteenth Alabama regiment of infantry. He was afterward made lieu- tenant, and subsequently promoted for gallantry on the field of battle. He was wounded, resulting in the loss of a part of the left foot; being thus disabled, he tendered his resignation and returned home. Almost imme- diately after his return home, business matters made it necessary for Mrs. Margarette Bell to visit Mr. Shaffer, and the young man never re- covered from the strange fascinations of the beautiful dark-eyed young widow, and on December 26, 1862, they were most happily married. From this marriage came six children; four daughters and two sons. The daughters are all married, Mattie, wife of W. H. Blake, M. D., of Line- ville, Ala .; Carrie, wife of W. L. Hill, president of Rosedale Manufactur- ing company, Rock Mills, Ala .; Rosalie, wife of Guy H. Handley, mer- chant at Roanoke, Ala .; Lizzie, wife of B. O. Driver, merchant at Roa- noke, Ala .; Graves, assistant cashier, Bank of Tallapoosa, and merchant of Dadeville, Ala., and Carry, at home at school. Mrs. Bell had two sons. John and George. John is a merchant of Anniston, Ala., and George is a Baptist minister. The family is a very pleasant one, and holds high social rank. Jno. P. Shaffer was ordained to the full work of the Gospel ministry at the request of the Crooked Creek church, now Lineville church, in the year 1563, and at once engaged actively in the discharge of his ministerial duties. Dr. Shaffer is a vigorous man from every point of view. He is a bold and thoughtful man, and has the courage of his con- victions. He ranks amongst the ablest Baptist ministers of Alabama, is
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-TALLAPOOSA COUNTY.
a thorough missionary, a conservative Christian. and a respected and use- ful citizen. His life beautifully demonstrates what an orphan boy, with limited early education aed no money, can do for himself and others if he only has a mind to work. Dr. Shaffer has been widely trusted and honored by the Baptists of Alabama. - He is a trustee of both the Baptist state schools-Howard College and Judson Female institute. He is a member of the state mission board, and of the Bible and colportage board, and is moderater of his home association, Liberty (east). The . degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Howard college. No man in east Alabama has been more prominent or more active in educational and church matters than he. He was superintendent of education for Talla- dega county during 1866-67. In 1868 he gave birth to the Lineville academy, now Lineville high school. He organized Roanoke college'in 1875, and was its president for ten years. He was financial secretary of Howard college in 1889; indeed, his i.fe has been a busy one in the interests of christian civilization, and he enjoys the respect and confidence of his denomination in a marked degree. He was pastor of Lineville church ten years, and of Roanoke church twenty years. He is now pastor of Dadeville, Good Water and Camp Hill churches.
W. J. STREET, planter of Alexander City, Ala., is a son of Hezekiah and Nancy L. (Talbert) Street, the former of whom was born in Virginia, near Richmond, in 1789. He was reared, and married, and lived there until 1837, when, with his family of nine children, he came to Alabama, settling in what was then Talladega county, but what is now Clay county. The mother of the family died here in 1863, and the father in 1864. He He was a democrat in politics, and a Baptist in religion. The Street fam- ily are probably of Irish descent. David Street, father of Hezekiah, was a Revolutionary soldier, serving with Gen. Washington seven years, and he was a noted Baptist preacher in Virginia. The Talbert family was also from Virginia. The family of Hezekiah Street consisted of thirteen children, six of whom are now living, viz. :
Merritt, deceased; Paulina, wife of William Tolan, of Millerville, Ala .; Robert S., of Coleta, Clay county; W. J .; Judson W., of Munford, Ala., A. Jackson, of Munford, Ala .; Clementina, widow of M. Wright. W. J. Street was born May 31, 1838, twenty miles north of Alexander City, and for some years, in both early and middle life, taught school. In 1861, he enlisted as a private soldier in company G, Twenty-fifth Alabama infantry. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville, Shelbyville, in the Atlanta campaign, and was wounded in the battle of Atlanta, in the hip, and did not fight any more. He returned home, and taught school until 1880. He was mar- ried, in 1864, to Fannie Dunn, daughter or Joseph Dunn, one of the first settlers of Alabama. By this marriage he has six children, viz. : Annis V., wife of J. T. Russell, of Alexander City, Ala .; M. Lilla, John J,, Will- iam S., Thomas H., and Ada Clare. Politically, Mr. Street is a demo- crat, and he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has a
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
plantation of 1,000 acres, and owns stock in the Queen City bank. The family is a well-known one in Alabama, and its members are highly respected.
FREDERICK A. VAUGHAN, merchant and lime manufacturer, of Dade- ville, is a son of James and Sarah (Vaughn) Vaughan, the former of whom was born in Lunenburg county, Va. ; married in the state and lived there until 1837, when he came to Alabama and settled in Tallapoosa county on Tallapoosa river. He lived there three years and then moved to a place about one mile north of Dadeville, and lived there until the war., He then moved into town and lived there until his death in 1880. By occupation he was a farmer, and was an energetic and thrifty man, accumulating a considerable amount of property. He dealt largely in notes and securities, and prospered in that line of business. He was a man of decided convictions, and when he had arrived at a conclusion on any subject, he was fearless in the expression of his opinions. He was strongly opposed to secession, but after the state had seceded he gave his assistance, unstinted, to the new government. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and also of the Masonic fraternity. He reared a family of five sons and six daughters, viz: Martha, deceased; Julia, wife of Joseph Greer of Chambers county; Samuel C., deceased, was a captain in Clanton's cavalry; Emily, wife of Z. J. Wright of Comanche, Texas; J. M., enlisted in the eighteenth Alabama infantry as a private soldier and was killed at Shiloh; Sarah, widow of J. M. Turner; John A., deceased, was a lawyer of Dadeville for a number of years; Lavina, deceased; Amanda, deceased; Frederick A .; George, deceased. The mother of these children died in 1875. The Vaughan family in this part of the United States sprang from a Samuel Vaughan, who emigrated from England to this country in colonial days, and was a lieutenant- colonel in the Revolutionary war. Frederick A. Vaughan was born March 30, 1845, in Tallapoosa county, on the old home place one mile north of Dadeville. He enlisted at Troy, Ala., in 1863, in company C, Sixth Ala- bama cavalry. His service was first in Florida and then in Mississippi. He was with Johnston on his retreat to Atlanta and participated in sev- eral battles. When Sherman started to the sea, his regiment was sent to meet a Yankee raid under command of Gen. Rousseau. He met Rousseau at Loachapoka, just below Dadeville, and he along with others in an advance guard were captured. He was, however, paroled the next day, and after some time exchanged. Rejoining the army, he was sent to the southern part of the state to meet the raid under the Union general, Steele. He was this time captured in a skirmish on the Conecuh river with nearly all of his regiment, was present when Gen. Clanton was wounded. and was taken to Ship Island and kept several months. He was exchanged about the time of the surrender of Lee. Since the war he has been mostly engaged in merchandising. About ten years ago he established a lime manufacturing business, and now has plants at Che-
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-TALLAPOOSA COUNTY.
wacla, Ala., and at Graysville, Ga. He is president of the Southern Lime association, composed of all the lime manufacturers in the south. He is also president of the Roanoke bank. He was married in 1871 in Dadeville, Ala., to V. Cooper Sturdivant, daughter of Judge Sturdivant, and by his marriage has one child, Daisy, fourteen years of age. Politi- cally, Mr. Vaughan is a democrat, and is chairman of the county execu- tive committee. He has lived away from the county a portion of the time at Graysville, Ga., but has always come home to vote, even though the distance is three hundred miles. He is a master Mason and a Knight of Honor. Mr. Vaughan is a very enterprising and industrious man and is exceedingly popular and highly respected. He is unanimously endorsed by the executive committee of Tallapoosa county for United States mar- shal for the middle district of Alabama.
W. L. WATERS, merchant of Alexander City, is a son of John an'd Mary E. (Russell) Waters, the former of whom was a native of Coweta county, Ga., and when quite a boy came to Alabama with a gentleman named Ballard, who reared him, his parents having died when he was a young boy. John Waters was married in 1860, ten miles south of Alex- ander City, and had two children, W: L., and Tilla, now the wife of C. C. Evans, a farmer of Tallapoosa county. The father of these children served in the Fourteenth Alabama infantry, and served until the sur- render, in the army of northern Virginia. W. L. Waters was born March 13, 1861, and lost his father in 1867, whose death was caused by his service in the war. His mother married again to a Mr. Picthford, and is still - living. W. L. Waters had a hard time when a boy. He was com- pelled to work very hard, but with the assistance of his mother he was enabled to secure some little education. At the age of nineteen he moved to Alexander City and accepted a clerkship with Renfrow & Lancaster, and at the expiration of about eighteen months he went to Lexington, Ky., and there took a course of study in the business department of the university of Kentucky. In the fall of 1882, he went into business for himself on a small scale, in Alexander City, and continued on until 1885, when he formed his present partnership with B. F. Russell, under the firm name of Waters & Russell. At first he was in a small building, but after some time he erected a fine two-story stone building, at a cost of about 84,000. The firm keep a general stock, valued at about $12.000. In 1891, they erected a large warehouse, and in connection with that build- ing they deal in mules, horses and fertilizers. In 1883, a young men's ticket was gotten up in order to give the young men representation in the council, and Mr. Waters was elected a member of the council, though only twenty-two years of age. He served one term at that time, and in 1891 he was elected and also in 1892. He was elected by the council, in 1891, city clerk, and still retains that office. He was married at Wilson- ville, Shelby county, in 1882, to Lela H. Henderson, daughter of Milton and Matilda Henderson; this family came originally from Georgia, rela-
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tives of the family living at the present time in Atlanta. By his marriage to Miss Henderson he had two children, William, died in infancy, and Benjamin, died when seven years old. Politically, Mr. Waters is a demo- crat. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Knights of Honor, and is vice dictator of his lodge. He is a member of the Baptist church. and is a very active worker in the Sunday school. He is a mem- ber of the Alexander City rifles, organized in 1887, and containing about forty members. He was at first sergeant of his company, and is now quartermaster-sergeant. Mr. Waters has been remarkably successful in his business and is a very popular man.
LAWRENCE M. WILSON, planter of Agricola, Ala., is a son of John D. and Mary (Jordan) Wilson. John D. Wilson was born in Georgia, and it is thought in Oglethorpe county. He came to Alabama when a young , man, and settled in Elmore county. He was a fine mechanic and built many of the fine old residences in Montgomery. He married in Autauga county and lived there until 1833, when he movad to Coosa county, near Talladega Springs. Here he resided until his death, which occurred after the close of the war. He was in the war of 1812, and was a colonel of militia for years. The Jordans came from South Carolina, the mother of Mrs. Mary Wilson being a member of the noted Elmore family, in honor of whom Elmore county was named. John D. and Mary Wilson reared a family of ten children, only three of whom are living, viz. : Archelaus, of Prattvile, Ala .; John H. of Bryan City, Tex., and Lawrence W. The latter was born August 30, 1822, in Autauga county, and received only a common school education. He followed farming in Coosa county until the Mexican war came on, when he volunteered in Seables's battal- ion of volunteers as second sergeant in company C, under Captain Gibbs and served through the rest of the war, though he did not get there in time to do more than a little guerrilla fighting. After peace was declared he returned to his farm in Coosa county. He came home from the army with the determination to be a religious man. He attended a camp meet- ing soon afterward and was converted, and on the night of his conversion commenced preaching and has preached ever since. He was admitted to the conference the same year, and his first charge was centenary circuit in the neighborhood of Selma. He has preached in the following counties: Wilcox, . Dallas, Monroe, Conecuh, Lowndes, Autauga, Perry, Marengo, Macon and Calhoun. In 1865 he was appointed presiding elder and held that office until 1889, when he removed to Agricola in Tallapoosa county. In 1874 he was elected to the legislature for the purpose of redeeming the county from radical rule. He was then living in Shelby county, which had been strongly radical after the war, but Mr. Wilson carried it by 800 majority for the democracy. He was probably the only man that could have carried the county. He was elected for two terms in 1874, and held over until 1876, and since then he has taken an active part in almost every campaign. In 1892 he was a candidate for the legislature on the democratic
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