USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 11
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"A country gentleman of the old South ! No better title can adorn his brow. Of all the crowns which eloquence, statesmanship, and chiv- alry have placed there, none did he wear with greater grace or with more perfect ease, for that title was his by heredity and his own devel- oped culture. Standing before the young men of this generation they saw what type it was of grace and manhood-manly courage and womanly tenderness-that of the old South, at its very best. could pro- duce for the inspiration of her sons and for the admiration of the world ! As the shadows came out of the skies and fell upon his sleeping place, we seem to feel the historian's words of old: 'They buried him among the kings,' and with them came the poet's interpretation of them :
"'Yes, lay him down where sleep the royal dead. His steady hand no more the censer swings; Room for this man beside the bones of kings. For kingly was he. tho' unerowned they said. Great hearted friend. thee. too, we counted bred For manhood. loftier than the tardy wings Of souls content with songs the caged bird sings Are wont to soar to. Thine it was to wed Far sundered thoughts in amity complete- With Christ's own freedom fettered minds to free; To thread the darkling patter where timid feet Faltered and slipped. Oh. it was not in thee To blanch at any peril! Then most meet That thou amidst the kings should buried be.'
"In sense of the loss this Society has sustained, in admiration of the character he bore,
"Resolved, that the secretary inscribe upon our minutes this testi-
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monial to our late president, Col. John Sereven; and to his family extend the profound sympathy of this Society in their bereavement-a loss to them too deep for words, and to us so great that our words do but feebly represent the sentiment of our hearts.
"R. FALLIGANT, "CHARLES H. STRONG, "POPE BARROW, "Committee."
The following memorials and tributes are introduced to still further show how profoundly the death of Col. John Sereven was felt by his friends and associates :
"Memorial and Tribute to Col. John Sereven. At Confederate Hall, February 6, 1900.
"The meeting was presided over by the newly elected president, Robert Falligant. Immediately after the meeting was called to order First Vice-President Louis G. Young moved to dispose of the reading of the minutes and the regular order of business.
"'At our last monthly meeting,' he said, 'there was one with us whom we loved .to see here; his presence was a benediction, and we thought to have him with us many years, so we elected him to office, and we expected him to answer to the roll-eall tonight, but our eyes were darkened; we could not see that his last was a farewell visit. Early in the morning of the ninth of last month the Great Captain called him and we can imagine his soldiery adsum as he joined the ranks of the hosts beyond the sky. John Sereven, late lieutenant colonel in the provisional army of the Confederate states, is not here with us in the flesh tonight; they tell us he is dead, but as he lives in our hearts and is present in our thoughts, it is meet that we do homage to his memory.
"'I therefore move that the minutes of the last meeting and the regular business of this, be dispensed with, and that a committee of three be appointed by the chair to prepare a memorial and draft resolu- tions in commemoration of the death of our comrade and late third vice-president, Col. John Sereven, the same to be presented and aeted on at this meeting.'
"In seconding the motion Capt. M. P. Usina took occasion to introduce the response received by the executive committee of the re- union, of which he was a member with Colonel Sereven, from the mem- bers of the family, of the deceased. replying to the action taken by the committee as follows :
" 'The executive committee. Confederate Reunion: Gentlemen : The daughters and son of Col. John Sereven thank you individually and collectively for your beautiful tribute to the memory of their father. and they beg that you will extend their thanks to the Confederate Veterans Association of Savannah for their presenee at his funeral. Ile often spoke in the highest terms of the members of your committee. and he was exceedingly proud that he had the good fortune of being a member of your committee and of the association. It is most gratify- ing to them that he was held in such high esteem by yourselves and by the veterans, the memory of which they trust will ever be to them a pleasure and a joy.'
"Captain Usina also read a letter received by the members of Colonel Sereven's family from Col. Thomas 11. Carter, proctor and superin-
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tendent of grounds and buildings of the University of Virginia. Colonel Carter was a colonel of artillery in the Army of Northern Virginia. For a number of years he was associated with Colonel Sereven as a member of the board of arbitration of the Southern Railway and Steam- ship Association. Colonel Carter wrote his letter to the family just after reading the announcement of Colonel Sereven's death. In his letter he says: 'For sixteen years your father and myself stood to- gether in the closest and most confidential bonds of friendship. His was the closest friendship formed by me since the days of my youth. In an acquaintance with a long line of men of the highest character. I never knew a nature more chivalrous. an honor more spotlessly bright, a sense of justice that more truly and bravely sought the right. As the needle with merring instinct points to the pole. so his mind, by intuition, turned always to the truth. In arbitration, the most difficult, delicate and responsible, involving interests hicalculable, he was ever true to the right, and as steady and brave as a veteran of a hundred fields. I esteem it one of the greatest privileges of my life to have known intimately a man so pure, noble and cultured, and ean say in all sincerity that the earth that bears him dead bears not alive a truer gentleman.'
"Mr. Young's motion that the regular order of business be dispensed with and that the chair appoint a committee of three to prepare a suit- able memorial to the late vice-president was unanimously adopted. The chair appointed Vice-President Young and Comrades Pope Barrow and J. R. Saussy. A short recess was taken while the committee pre- pared its report. When the meeting was again called to order the report was submitted by Vice-President Young as follows :
In Memoriam. John Sereven. Born in Savannah, Georgia. Sept. 18, 1827. Died in Savannah, Georgia, January 9, 1900.
"His first American ancestor, the Rev. William Sereven, emigrated from England in 1640, and located in Kittery, Maine, from which place, driven by persecution, he went to South Carolina, where he set- tled and founded the illustrious family from which sprung in due time the knightly comrade whose death we mourn.
"Colonel Sereven was the eldest son of Dr. James Proctor Sereven, and Hannah Georgia Bryan-his father an eminent physician and one of the leading men of the city and state; his mother a lineal descendant of Jonathan Bryan, one of the most prominent of the early settlers of the Colony of Georgia. Inheriting the intellectual and moral qualities which adorned generation after generation of his family, and which have made it conspicuous in public and private life, Colonel Sereven, from yonth to old age added lustre to the goodly name he bore. Studi- ous and dutiful as a boy. he grew in knowledge, was educated with the best advantages, and. endowed with the nobility of soul which readily assimilated the refinement and virtues of a cultivated home, wherein dwelt all gentle, Christian virtne, he commenced life thoroughly equipped for the career of usefulness and honor which lay before him. Appreciating from the start the duty which he owed to God and his fellow men, he lived a faithful servant of both, and died as he had lived, in favor with God and man.
"Colonel Sereven's was an active, useful life, surpassing in measure that of most men. Faithful and conscientions in the performance of
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his several eallings, he was always ready to serve family, friend, eity, country ; and many and various were the places of honor and trust to which he was called. But the record of these is beyond the scope of this memorial. To the biographer must be left the details of a life replete with incident, and forming so important a part in the history of Savannah, that she must ever mumber him among the foremost and most illustrious of her sons. Ours the privilege as Confederate veterans to make mention of his services in the sacred cause for which we fought, the object of which is to sustain a principle,-the broad principle of constitutional liberty .- the right of self-government. Ours the part to recall his virtues .- to turn to them for consolation and example and to hold them up for the emulation of our youth.
"The simple account of Colonel Sereven's record as a soldier, sanc- tioned by himself, runs thus: 'In 1858 he was elected captain of the Savannah Volunteer Guards. and his was one of the three companies designated to occupy Fort Pulaski. when it was seized by order of Governor Brown in the name of the state of Georgia, January 3. 1861. Although president of the Atlantic and Gulf Railway during this period, he was appointed Major of Artillery in the Confederate Provisional Army, and continued to serve with his command until December. 1862, when he was ordered by the commanding general to resume his railroad duties. In 1864, when Sherman commenced his movement towards the coast, Major Screven raised a local battalion of five companies to aid in the defense of Savannah, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant eolonel.' Thus was Colonel Sereven active in war service, even before the Confederacy eame into existence, and although but a short time in the field, always held commissions in the army, and left the field only at the eall to more arduous and trying duties; if in a less conspicuous sphere, yet one in which he could serve his eountry to most advantage. "The war ended. Colonel Sereven took up the thread of life where it had been broken, and from that time to the close of an eventful and cheekered eareer, so bore himself in publie and private life that he has left to us the legacy of a spotless name. Upright in heart and mien, with nobility of soul stamped upon his face, he walked among us, the height of chaste thoughts so beaming from his countenance that men turned to look upon him and to gather inspiration to follow in his foot- steps. No one eould hold intercourse with him without feeling that : 'Here is a gentleman in whom I have an absolute trust.'
" 'He was a Christian, in faith, hope and charity; An Israelite, indeed, in whom there is no guile. A Knight in Chivalrie, Treuthe and honour, freedom and eourtesie.'
"A gentleman! And 'what is it to be a gentleman ? Is it to have lofty aims ? to lead a pure life ? to keep your honor virgin ? to have the esteem of your fellow citizens and the love of your fireside? to bear good fortune meekly? to suffer evil with constancy ? and through evil or good to maintain in truth always? Show me that happy man whose life exhibits these qualities, and him we salute as a gentleman.'
"Thus was he,
'And indeed he seems to me Searce other than my ideal knight, Who reverenced his conscience and his king Whose glory was redressing human wrong, Who spake no slander. no, nor listened to it. We have lost him, he is gone.
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We know him now; all narrow jealousies Are silent, and we see him as he moves,
How modest, kindly, all-accomplished, wise ;
With what sublime repression of himself,
And what limits and how tenderly;
Not swaying to this faction or that ;
Not making his high place the lawless pereh
Of wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage ground
For pleasure: but through all this track of years, Wearing the white flower of a blameless life.'
"Therefore, be it resolved, That in the death of John Sereven, who was our third vice-president. our comrade, and one of the most devoted of our members to the sacred cause we represent, our association finds cause to mourn.
"That in contemplating his worth, his many virtues, and prineely character, we find cause for gratitude and consolation in our grief.
"That in these times when our youth are misled by the teachings which measure sueeess by the gain of money, we point them to an example of a life whose sueeess lay in its wealth of honor, and truth and piety.
"That with a copy of these resolutions we extend to his family the heartfelt sympathy of the association."
In seconding the motion to accept the resolutions, Mr. Barrow said that he seemed to see again the slender, graceful form and gentle faee which had been so familiar on the streets of Savannah. Mr. Barrow spoke from the long personal aequaintanee and friendship with the deceased. He spoke especially of his grace and charm of manner, and said he never spoke a word or did an act that was unbecoming. His words and acts always seemed to suit the occasion. It was the nature of the man to act the gentleman. The sad feature of Colonel Sereven's life, Mr. Barrow said, had been that his last days were not his best days. As he deelined in years misfortunes had crowded upon him and he had been troubled with many cares. Mr. Barrow gave a tender and sympa- thetie aceount of his last visit to his deceased friend only two days before his death.
General MeGlashan said that he had known Colonel Sereven but a comparatively short time, but his strong individuality, his marked dignity of character and his purity of soul had drawn him strongly to him. He had been more strongly drawn to Colonel Sereven, he said, during his association with him as a member of the joint executive committee,, while the preparations for the recent reunion were in prog- ress, the success of which had been largely due to the unceasing efforts, the wise judgment and the constant attention to details of the deceased. It was Colonel Sereven who smoothed over all differences, preserved harmony and kept attention constantly centered upon their work. "Like his great prototype," said General MeGlashan. "he was a man who drew all men to him. His heightened manner of looking at everything elevated us all. Colonel Sereven was a man who typified in himself the highest type of a Georgia gentleman. In other words, he was a eitizen of the first rank of the greatest nation on earth. In his death we have lost a warm. sincere, patriotic comrade, an officer. who would have guided ns wisely : a warm friend whose grasp was over true: a Con- federate whose heart was over warm to the cause and whose effort since the struggle ended was ever to dignify the name of the Confederate soldier."
Mr. Saussy spoke of the galaxy of distinguished men who had
James
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been members of the association, but who had since become members of the great army beyond, among them the sturdy Lawton, the fiery Jackson and the brave MeLaws. Among them all there was no man who filled so mueh the measure of a man as Colonel Sereven. He was first of all a perfect gentleman, with an ease of manner which made it always a pleasure to be with him. Being possessed of unusual advantages in youth, he had made good use of these. becoming possessed of many accomplishments. Ile was thus fitted for the offices he had held, all of which he had discharged honorably and well. The reverses of later life had only served to bring out the strength and nobility of his character. His was a remarkably well-rounded character. Whatsoever things were true, honorable, just, pure and beautiful .- these were characteristics of him. Having lived a life worthy in all its parts that made man in the image of his Maker, he was able to gather the drapery of his eoueh about him and lie down to pleasant dreams.
Judge Falligant said that he eonld not allow the opportunity to pass withont saying a word of tribute to the memory of one who was so highly esteemed by all. It had been peenliarly characteristic of the cause and the principle for which they had fought, he said, that the men who had stood up for this canse had been of the loftiest type of man- hood. It was not necessary to run over the list of noble names embahned in every southern heart. Of this type had been the man to whose memory they paid merited tribute. It is a type of eivilization which is fast passing away and one never to be renewed in the history of the world. Judge Falligant closed with the idea that in the great moral world there is no death. While mortal frames perish, the moral truths which they have exemplified live on to exereise influenee over the world of life.
The resolutions were then unanimously adopted and a copy ordered to be spread upon the minutes. Those members who did not make remarks gave their hearty endorsement to what had been said. It was a remarkable tribute to one who had so recently passed from their midst and to whom those present seemed to feel they were but render- ing his just dne.
CAPT. THOMAS F. SCREVEN. Distinguished not only as a splendid representative of the native-born citizens of Savannah, his birth having occurred in this city April 19, 1834, but for his honorable record as a brave and efficient soldier, and for the very efficient and creditable man- ner in which he is filling his present position as sheriff of Chatham county. He comes of honored pioneer stock, being a son of James Proe- tor and Hannah Georgia (Bryan) Sereven, of whom an account may be found on another page of this volume.
Beginning his early studies at home, under the instruction of a pri- vate tutor in the family, Thomas F. Sereven afterwards attended Miss Church's school and the Chatham Academy, in Savannah, and then entered Franklin College, now the University of Georgia, from which he was graduated with the class of 1852. For a short time thereafter he was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Savannah, but gave up his position in order to take up the study of medicine with Dr. R. D. AArnokl. Finding that to his liking, he continued his studies at the old Savannah Medical College, where he was graduated in 1858. Subsequently his father sent him abroad, but after being in Europe but six months he was forced to return to Savannah on account of the ill health of his father. In caring for his father. Captain Sereven subsequently trav- . eled with him a good deal in those days, and never took up permanently the practice of medicine, although his professional knowledge was most
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usefully applied in treating the varions ailments of the negroes belong- ing to the Sereven family.
In 1852 Captain Sereven had joined the Savannah Volunteer Guards, of which he was still a member when the dark clouds of war began to hover over the country. Following the secession of South Carolina from the Union. Governor Brown resolved to take possession of the forts and barracks on Georgia soil. a wise decision as subsequent events proved. Under his order to that effeet. Colonel Lawton. of the First Volunteer Regiment, took fifty men of the Savannah Volunteer Guards (which were then commanded by Mr. Sereven's brother. the late Col. James Sereven, then captain ). also taking a detachment from the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, and from the Chatham Artillery, and. on January 3, 1861, seized Fort Pulaski. Mr. Sereven, who had assisted in the taking of the fort, was made second lieutenant junior of Company B, Savan- nalı Volunteer Guards, on February 25, 1861. In March, 1862. he was commissioned first lieutenant of company A. S. V. G., and on May 10, 1863, was promoted to captain of said company, a position which he filled bravely and well until the end of the war, the Savannah Volun- teer Guards having been organized as the Eighteenth Georgia Battalion, which served throughout the war with distinction.
Captain Sereven's service was in Georgia, South Carolina. and Vir- ginia. With his company he served for a time under fire of the terrible bombardment of Battery Wagner (Charleston Harbor). Going with his command to Virginia in May, 1864, he joined Lee's Army, and was stationed at Mattoax. on the Richmond & Danville Railroad. In Oc- tober, 1864, the Captain went with the battalion to join the forces of the Richmond lines, and was there stationed at Chafin's farm. In April, 1865, Captain Sereven returned to Georgia on a furlough, and on May 1, of that year, received his parol at Augusta.
For some time after the war, Captain Sereven was engaged in agri- cultural pursuits on the Sereven plantation, in Chatham county. but for many years past he has resided in Savannah, an honored and respected citizen. For a long while after the war the captain remained a mem- ber of the Savannah Volunteer Guards, serving as captain of Company B from 1872 until 1883. On retiring from the captaincy of the com- pany, its members presented him with a beautiful silver set, and resolu- tions expressing their high regard for him, and their regret at his leav- ing them. On February 7. 1888, Captain Sereven became a member of Camp No. 756, United Confederate Veterans. In 1906 the captain was elected sheriff of Chatham county, and has since filled the position with credit to himself and to the great acceptation of all concerned.
Captain Sereven married first. in 1860, Miss Adelaide Van Dyke Moore, a danghter of Dr. R. D. and Elizabeth (Stockton) Moore, and granddaughter of Maj. Thomas Stockton, who served as major in the United States army, and at the time of his death was governor of Mary- Jand. She passed to the life beyond in 1864. In 1866 the captain married for his second wife Miss Sallie Lloyd Buchanan, a daughter of Admiral Franklin and Ann Catherine (Lloyd) Buchanan, her father having been first a member of the United States Navy, and later of the Confederate States Navy.
CAPT. FRANCIS D. BLOODWORTH, vice-president of the National Bank of Savannah, and in many ways identified with the city's activities, is a native of the Empire State of the South.
It was in Spalding county, Georgia, October 16, 1842, that Francis D. Bloodworth was born. son of Solomon W. and Lucy (Thornton) Bloodworth, both natives of this state. He completed his education in
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Marshall College. Griffin, Georgia, where he was a member of the Spalding Grays, one of the companies which were ordered to Virginia by Governor Brown in April, 1861, upon the call of Governor Letcher of Virginia. They were sent to Norfolk to guard the stores abandoned by the enemy, and, with the other Georgia companies that went at the same time, were organized as the Second Independent Georgia Battalion, under the command of Colonel Hardeman, being the first troops from another state to arrive in Virginia. After a year's service in the vieinity of Norfolk. his battalion joined the army under General Lee, and participated in the Seven Days' battle around Richmond, and in the Manassas. Maryland and Fredericksburg campaigns. In the summer of 1863, Mr. Bloodworth, who had risen to the rank of first sergeant of his eompany, was detailed, owing to his physical condition, as clerk in a hospital in Atlanta, where he was on duty until January, 1864. Then he returned to his battalion in Gen. Ambrose R. Wright's brigade, Anderson's division, Gen. A. P. Hill's eorps, Army of Northern Vir- ginia, and fought through the Wilderness campaign. His health failed under this arduous service, and he was again disabled from active serviee until February, 1865, when he joined his command on the Petersburg lines. His last engagement was a fight between High Bridge and Farmville on the retreat to Appomattox, April 7, 1865, when he was slightly wounded, and captured. He was paroled at Burkesville, Virginia, shortly after General Lee's surrender, and returned to Griffin, Georgia.
Captain Bloodworth resided at Griffin until 1871, when he removed to Savannah and embarked in business as a commission merchant. And here he has since made his home. with the exception of two years, from 1893 to 1895, when he was engaged in manufacturing at Atlanta, and sinee 1895 he had held the important and responsible position of cashier and vice-president of the National Bank of Savannah, one of the strongest banking institutions of the state. This bank has a eapital stock of $400,000, with surplus and undivided profits in exeess of $600,000.
At the time of his leaving Savannah for Atlanta in 1893, Captain Bloodworth was vice-president of the Confederate Veterans' Assoeia- tion, a director of the Merehants National Bank. and a member of the sanitary board of the eity of Savannah. And previous to that time he had served one term as president of the Cotton Exchange. Since then he served one term as president of the Georgia State Bankers' Asso- ciation, and for several years, ending in 1911. he was president of the Savannah Clearing House Association. He is vice-president of the Savannah Port Society and a director of the Savannah Cotton Exchange. For a number of years he was an active member of the Georgia Hussars. Among other organizations of a social or business nature with which he is identified are the Oglethorpe Club. the Golf Club, the Yacht Club, the B. P. & T. Chub and the Capital City Club of Atlanta. .
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