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 58
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gomery, the scene of so many of his legal triumphs, and the place indel- ibly associated with his master achievement of 1874, and here he was laid to rest, accompanied to his grave with the respect, the honor and the veneration of every citizen of his native state. Capt. Bragg's second wife was Elizabeth Marks Fitzpatrick, an accomplished and beautiful woman, who by her wealth and her attraction did much to adorn his offi- cial life in his last years. His first wife was the mother of the two children who survive him. Mrs. Paul W. Smith (Eugenia Bragg), and Walter L. Bragg, both of whom now reside in Montgomery, and both of whom in character and bearing suggest the iron will and purpose of their dead father.
JOHN D. ROQUEMORE .- It is a pleasure to the biographer to have to deal with a career like that of John D. Roquemore. It has been marked throughout by the display of such notable ability, skill and tact in life and skill and tact in the practice of his chosen profession, that the chronicler has but to record but one success after another, on the part of the subject, until a leading rank among the lawyers and public men of the; state had been achieved. John D. Roquemore was born in Barbour county, Ala., August 27, 1846. He is a son of Zachariah and Julia A. (McGibony) Roquemore, both of whom were natives of Georgia, itself the mother state of Alabama. Young Roquemore was educated at the com- mon schools of his native county and in the city of Eufaula, subsequently the scene of much of his professional labors and political career. In 1863 he entered the university of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa. In that year, it will be remembered. the national government made assaults that were almost definitive in character upon the southern Confederacy; Vicksburg fell and Lee was driven back from Gettysburg. Cadet Roquemore was soon to know by actual experience something of the hardships of war, till then to him the vague clamor of the outside world, that intruded upon the still air of delightful studies in the university, only to stir the students with martial ardor and make them long to take up arms themselves. The Federal armies began to close in upon Alabama, and at the age of seventeen Mr. Roquemore closed his books, shouldered his musket, and, as a member of the Nelson Rangers, went forth with his companions to spend their lives, if need be, to defend the soil of their native state. The Nelson Rangers were assigned as an escort to Gen. Stephen D. Lee. The young soldiers had no opportunity to take part in any great pitched battles, but it would be a mistake to think that pitched battles involve greater danger than the hurried raid, the forced retreats in the presence of overwhelming numbers, scouting expeditions, night attacks and the hundred and one risks of life and limb that were braved by the military escorts of soldiers like Forrest and Stephen D. Lee. The wreck of private fortunes at the south, caused by the disasters of the war, involved young Roquemore also, and he found it impossible to resume his studies at the university on the close of hostilities. The camp, how-
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Yours truly Juhu 2 Roquemore
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ever, has in it some teaching that no other school can give. In our war it made a man of many a beardless boy. Mr. Roquemore returned to his old home in Barbour county, and began at once the study of the law. After two years of application to his studies, he was in May, 1867, at Clayton, Ala., admitted to the practice, and he opened a law office at Eufaula. As a lawyer he was equipped unusually well to start upon his career. He had a manly appearance, a fine address, great energy, an intuitive knowledge of men and affairs. The degree of success he merited and won is indicated by his appointment in 1876, when he had been less than ten years at the bar, as one of the commissioners to revise and codify the statutes of the state, a work that had before engaged the talents of men like Toulmin, Clay, Stone and Walker, and that since engaged men like Brickell and Hamilton. In 1878 he was elected to the state senate to represent Barbour county. The writer well remembers the impression he created in the state senate. In personal appearance he was the beau ideal of a senator. Perfectly proportioned in figure, large, without having a pound of superfluous flesh, grave and courteous in his demeanor on the floor, ready in debate and with a pro- fessional equipment that placed him instantly among the leading mem- bers of that body. He was a member of the judiciary committee, the leading committee of the senate, throughout his term of service, and of the second session of the senate he was elected president of the senate, vice the lamented Little of Sumter, who died while in office. Nothing could have been more certain, at that time, than that Mr. Roquemore would have gone steadily forward in a distinguished political career if he had chosen to turn aside from his profession to gratify political ambi- tion. He did not so choose, however. At the expiration of his term as senator he declined a re-election, and at once actively resumed the prac- tice of law in Eufaula. In a few years he found that his native county did not furnish a satisfactory field for his professional labors; he was get- ting a full share of all the business done at the bar of Eufaula, but there was then little promise that the near future would add any thing to the volume of litigation. No lawyer, who has in him the true love of his profession, who loves its triumphs, and its delights, for there are delights, in the law, can sit patiently down to a cabined and cribbed career, when other and more inviting fields are before him. Montgomery was then, as it is now, in some sort the real centre of Alabama socially and politically, and beside it was growing at a steady pace that would assure any lawyer of Mr. Roquemore's ability a professional career that would display still further and on a larger stage his abilities. In 1886 he formed a partnership with Hon. J. M. White of Clayton, one of the soundest lawyers in the state, and together they removed to Montgomery and began the practice under the firm name of Roquemore. White & Long. Mr. Long continuing to keep an office in Eufaula, Later, Mr. S. H. Dent, Jr .. was taken into the firm instead of Mr. Long, deceased, and the style of the firm is now,
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Roquemore, White & Dent. The senior in this firm went to Montgomery with an uncommon professional prestige. He had been for years a prac- titioner in the state supreme court and in the supreme court of the United States. He had been for a long while the attorney of the Cen- tral Railroad & Banking company of Georgia, and he had particularly distinguished himself in this capacity. In several cases for that com- pany brought by him to the supreme court of Alabama, important princi- ples to the jurisprudence of Alabama were first settled. In the Central R. R. & B. Co. vs. Carr, 76 Ala., the question of the judisdiction of the Alabama courts of a tort committed in a foreign jurisdiction upon a non- resident by a foreign corporation, is definitively settled. In the Cen- tral R. R. & B. Co. vs. Smith, 76 Ala., an important question of ultra vires was determined, and in another case he was successful in defining the liability of a carrier for a lost registered letter, where the servants , of the railroad company and not a regular United States mail agent had charge of the mail.
Soon after his removal to Montgomery the prodigious movement in real property in north Alabama attracted Col. Roquemore, as it did so many others. Continuing his connections in Montgomery, he proceeded to Decatur in 1887. He was, to use a large term, the demiurge of the industrial movement in that quarter. He was a dircetor in the Decatur Land company, vice-president and counsel of the Decatur Street Railway company, president and counsel of the Decatur Water company and pres- ident and counsel of the Exchange bank of Decatur. Returning from Decatur to Montgomery he resumed, with his partner, the active prac- tice of his profession, and in a very short while they had secured for themselves a foremost rank among the bar of the capital city. The high class of practice they had been doing continued to seek them, and they soon became well known as the ablest of corporation lawyers. In one well-known case, the city of Birmingham vs. Klein, they were retained by the city of Montgomery to present the claim of that municipality, the question involved being the right of a city to compel adjacent property owners to bear a share of the tax necessary to provide for paving the streets. The contention in this case was thought by many to be wild. but the points involved were put before the court with so much clearness and force that a signal triumph was achieved, and the doctrine of the property owners' liability was definitely established.
In politics, Col. Roquemore has always been a democrat. He was elected president of the first white man's club ever organized in Barbour county. The activity of this club, its splendid organization, its unselfish devotion to the welfare of the state and the really great work it achieved was at the bottom of Barbour county's winning a new name in Alabama politics, namely, "the third grand Division." Barbour under his leader- ship was the home of an iron-willed democracy. In 1874, they routed the enemy, horse, foot and dragoons. In that year Col. Roquemore can-
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vassed every section of the county and laid the foundation for his reputa- tion as one of the best political debaters the state has ever seen. Politic. ally speaking he won his spurs in that campaign and issuing from it he had only to be mentioned for any office by his friends and it was his, such was the admiration evoked by his discreet and yet courageous leadership. With the exception, however, of his service in the state senate, already referred to. he has never held public office, though he has repeatedly served his party on county and state executive committees, while his strong, rational, dispassionate manner of discussing political questions has made him one of the most thoroughly acceptable orators when the people have demanded order and not violonce, reason and not prejudice, in the presentation of a great party's doctrines.
In religion Col. Roquemore is a Baptist, and so are his children, who are connected with any church. His mother, brother and sisters were' Baptists, and some of the most noted Baptist preachers in Georgia, fifty years ago, were Roquemores, and akin to Col. Roquemore. To briefly recall some facts in his career, the chronicler has found it most conveni- ent to omit to mention before: He was. in 1886. appointed adjutant-gen- eral of the state. In- the same year the university of Alabama conferred the degree of master of arts upon him. a well merited distinction, and one that was the more acceptable to him, as it proved his alma mater had not forgotten the young soldier, who, at the call of his country, had forfeited the diploma that otherwise would have been his. Col. Roque- more was married. in 1867. to Miss Mary L. Hunter, of Eufaula, a lady remarkable for her beauty. and for her loveliness and strength of character.
· Mrs. Roquemore died, leaving five children. four of whom are living, one, Miss Annie, a charming young lady, another, Hunter, an active and able young attorney in Montgomery, and two sons beside, who have not as yet entered upon any profession. His second wife is Miss Henrietta L. Brown, a beautiful and highly educated Boston lady, noted for her accom- plishments, her amiability, and her rare good sense, to whom he was married in 1887. They have one child, a lovely girl. Terese. A notable fact about Mrs. Roquemore, who was reared in the Congregational church, is that she was a pupil in Sunday school of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Col. Roquemore, we may say in conclusion, has made his contest for position and for honor among men, without in any measure sacrificing the finer qualities so often lost in the hard and selfish battles of the world. He remains a man of quiet manners, but courtly address. He knows nothing in his treatment of men of differences in rank; to high and low alike, he is uniformly civil, with the civility of the well bred gentle- man. He is cultured and well read, but carries his accomplishments for the strength they give him and not for display. In the same spirit his religious creed is less the matter for a formal observance, than the natu- ral expression of his nature. And in all things with him the character bespeaks the man of unaffected simplicity and straightforwardness of
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purpose, a gentleness that is gentle with the weak, but capable of being aroused, and discovering. in the gloved hand, a grasp of steel. Every anticipation that Col. Roquemore could have cherished in leaving his old, to seek his fortune in a new home, must have been realized in Montgomery. He has there achieved a first rank at the bar. He is universally respected and admired, and with a charming home and a charming family, he can look forward with undismayed eyes to whatever the future has in store for him. Col. Roquemore, has been frequently mentioned in connection with the highest offices in the, gift of the sovereign people of Alabama, and there can be no doubt if he shall ever choose to reassume his politi- cal career, he can command the enthusiastic support, not only of his per- sonal friends, but of that wider group in a free commonwealth, who stand ready to hail and approve high personal character, disciplined intelli- gence, and the ability to command.
THOMAS HARVEY CLARK was born at Pine Level. Montgomery county.' Ala., November 16, 1857. He was the fifth child of Henry W. and Mary (Wright) Clark, one of eleven children, ten of whom were boys, and eight of whom survived to reach manhood and womanhood. The family stock came originally from Amelia county, Va. They drifted down the coast, under a migatory impulse, settling first in North Carolina. Henry W. Clark was born in Spartanburg, S. C., and his grandfather was once sheriff of the county of which Spartanburg is the county seat. His mother was a native of Georgia. As.a lad, Thomas H. Clark was edu- cated in a common school of his native village, attending for several years a school conducted by a Mr. Starks. In 1870 the family removed to Montgomery and have ever since lived there. Here young Clark attended several schools, the principal one being that of Prof. G. W. Thomas, who in effect prepared him for college. In October. 1874, he entered Howard college, Marion, Ala., a Baptist institution, and was graduated there in 1877. While in college he won the sophomore medal for declamation, and he was a contributor to the college paper. In 1878 he was engaged to teach the classics and mathematics in the high school of Montgomery. After a year's experience in teaching he entered Harvard university as a post-graduate student. He here devoted the main part of his time to exploring the library in Gore Hall, and in the year he was there formed a superficial acquaintance with the literature of almost every nation. Returning to Alabama in 1879, he entered upon the study of the law. and in May. 1880, was admitted to the bar. In 1882 he attended the summer course in law at the university of Virginia. His first partner in the practice of the law was Mr. James Weatherly, now of Birmingham. He was later associated for a short time with Mr. O. D. Sayre. In 1885 Mr. Clark removed to Texas, and located in Cle- burne, Johnson county, going into business with Hon. Tillman Smith, one of the ablest lawyers at the Texas bar. He was not pleased with Texas life, and, returning to Alabama, he embarked
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in journalism, as editor of the Selma Times. This paper was of limited circulation for a daily, but the new editor managed to give it considerable importance by a bold and uncompromising advo- cacy of tariff reform, hard money, and a thorough reform of the civil service. After leaving the Times he joined the staff of the Montgomery Advertiser, the leading daily in the state, but did not remain long with this journal, nor longer in the field of journalism. In August, 1887, he was tendered, by Gov. Thomas Seay, the position of recording secretary in his office, and, accepting, held this place during the remainder of Gov. Seay's two terms. His association with Gov. Seay, Mr. Clark is accus- tomed to speak of as among the most valuable experiences of his life, such was his admiration for the disciplined and catholic intelligence and the really noble character of the governor, In 1891 Mr. Clark resumed the practice of the law, and is at present associated with Mr. William H. Thomas, under the firm name of Clark & Thomas. Mr. Clark has held a number of public positions. He was, during four sessions of the legis- lature, assistant secretary of the senate; ne represented his ward in the city council of Montgomery and resigned this post to enter upon the dis- charge of his duties as a member of the house of representatives. He was alternate delegate at large to the Chicago convention in 1892, and is, at present, secretary of the democratic state executive committee. Mr. Clark has been a frequent contributor to the press. on various subjects, more especially to his home paper, The Advertiser, and to the Evening Post and the Nation, of New York. He has also delivered a large number of occasional addresses at Montgomery. Selma. Marion, Auburn, Rome, Ga., and other points. He was married on April 13, 1887, to Caroline Marks, daughter of James and Eliza (Means) Marks. They have one child, Thornton, born August 5, 1890.
REUBEN SEARCY, M. D., was born at Chapel Hill, N. C., December 20, 1805, and in 1826 moved to Tuscaloosa. Ala. He was clerk on the first steamboat that came up the Black Warrior river to Tuscaloosa. Having decided to study medicine, he left the steamer and taught school, pursu- ing his medical studies, at the same time, in the office of Dr. James Guild. He graduated in the medical department of the Transylvania university, Lexington, Ky., in 1832, and began the practice of medicine in Carthage, Tuscaloosa county, Ala., where he remained two years. He then returned to Tuscaloosa and entered into partnership with his preceptor, Dr. Guild. His practice soon became very extensive in Tuscaloosa and adjoining counties. For nearly thirty years he was president of the board of trus- tees of the Alabama hospital for the insane, and by his wise counsel con- tributed much toward making it the remarkable institution it became. He was for more than fifty years a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and in it filled many places of trust and responsibility. He was twice married. His first wife lived only one year: and in July, 1837, he married Miss M. A. Fitch, with whom he lived for nearly fifty years.
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His wife and four children still survive" him. He died March 10, 1887. As a physician. Dr. Searcy ranked high; and as long as he lived his pro- fessional popularity never waned. As a citizen he had no superior. He was all that the words high-toned. christian gentleman would import, and he never had an enemy. anywhere. He was universally esteemed in life and universally lamented when he died.
JOHN TAYLOR GILMORE, M. D., was born on the 7th day of December, 1835, in Lowndes county, Miss. He entered the junior class of the uni- versity of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. "at the age of twenty years, and graduated therefrom with distinction in 1857. From an early age he gave indications of an active and enterprising intellect, and manifested in vari- ous ways strong surgical proclivities. After leaving college he com- menced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. L. G. Thomas, now a distinguished New York professor, and in due time received the degree of doctor of medicine from Jefferson medical college, Philadelphia. Sub- sequently he prosecuted his medical studies in Paris, the world-renowned teachers and inexhaustible chemical advantages of the French capital · making it at that time the very Mecca of medical science. Returning from France he began the practice of his profession in Oktibbeha county, Miss., and very soon distinguished himself by the performance of several brilliant surgical operations. His career here, however, was a short one. Very soon, the great conflict between the states opened a wide field for the exercise of his surgical abilities. He entered the army, commissioned as surgeon of the Fifteenth Mississippi regiment. He was soon made chief surgeon of Griffith's brigade, which was subsequently commanded in suc- cession by Gens. Barksdale and Humphries. From this brigade he was transferred to the division then under the command of Gen. McLaws, and afterward was under the command of Gen. Kershaw, with the rank of division surgeon. After the defeat of Gen. Early, in 1864. his failing health made it necessary for him to retire from service in the field, and he was then transferred to the military hospital at Greenville. S.C., where he remained until the close of the war. His surgical experience in the army was immense, and he probably performed as large a number of surgical operations as any other Confederate surgeon. In the great medical and . surgical history of the war, which was prepared and published under the direction of the surgeon-general of the United States army, his name appears in connection with some of the most difficult operations that have ever been performed. The war over, he returned to Mississippi and again commenced practice in his original location. But finding here, after a few months' trial, no sufficient field for the exercise of his restless activity and the gratification of his surgical proclivities, he removed to Mobile, and established himself in the office of Dr. J. C. Nott. by whom his abilities were held in high estimation. Of his history in Mobile, it is not necessary to speak at length. Perhaps no man, there, was ever more generally known or more generally appreciated. He made his way
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rapidly-almost indeed, at a single bound-to the very front rank of his profession, and made himself a reputation which extended, not only from one end of Alabama to the other, but throughout the United States. In 1867, he was elected to the chair of anatomy in the Medical college of Alabama, and in 1870 he was made professor of surgery in the same institution. It is but to echo the common voice of his colleagues to say that he so filled these important positions as to confer honor both on himself and on the college. He was a member of the Mobile Medical society, a member of the Mobile board of health, and a counselor of the Medical association of the state of Alabama. Few men have ever attained so much distinction in so brief a period of time. If he had lived out the three score years and ten, allotted as the span of human life, we cannot tell to what additional eminence he might have risen; but surely much might have been expected of one who had already achieved so much: He was remarkable for the energy and self-reliance of his character. He never doubted that whatever had been done by any other surgeon, he ·also could do as well or better. His knowledge of his profession was profound, accurate, and comprehensive, and his promptness, decision, and wealth of resources in emergencies have, perhaps, never been surpassed. No matter how sudden the summons, no matter how unexpected and appalling the danger, he was always ready and always equal to the occa- sion. Not full of years, but full of honors, he was called away from the scenes of his earthly labors in . the year 1875. He died of pulmonary consumption. Some months before his death he became a member of the Roman Catholic church. Soon after the war he married the daughter of the Hon. Milton Brown, of Jackson, Tenn, who, with several children, still survive him.
PETER BRYCE, M. D., LL. D., was born at Columbia, S. C., on March 5th, 1834, and received an academic education at the South Carolina Military academy, where he graduated with a high grade of scholarship. He is described as possessing from his earliest youth a quick and sprightly mind, with genial manners that always won easy access to the hearts of his friends and college companions. Upon completing his aca- demic studies, he lost no time in entering upon the prosecution of the medical profession, which he was destined to ornament as one of its most learned and renowned members. In 1839 he graduated as doctor of medi- cine in the medical department of the university of New York. After receiving his diploma in this college, he pursued his studies in Europe, and especially in the hospitals of Paris, which were then supposed to afford the finest fields for clinical study in the civilized world. Upon returning to America he became associated with the State Insane hospital of South Carolina, and afterward became, for a short time, assistant physician in the State hospital of New Jersey. From this latter position he was called, in the year 1860, by the unanimous voice of the first board of trustees of the Alabama Insane hospital, to the position of medical
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