USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82
Alfred Kent, although never having received much school educa- tion, had finely developed natural talents which enabled him to carry on the various business affairs of life with great astuteness. He was a splendid judge of real estate and in early years made purchases of prop- erty at a very low price that later brought him a large profit. He was a born business man and money maker, and had he cared to, he no doubt could have become a man of very great wealth. He was not of an acquisitive nature, however, and his kind-heartedness and his leniency with those who owed him money kept him often from getting what was rightfully his. He never turned away anyone who was in need. neither would he ever sue a man for debt, and many times renters occupying houses belonging to him were allowed to become long overdue in their obligations. IIe was of that sturdy New England stock which was well grounded in the principle that better than honors and wealth is an irreproachable name. For many years he continued the carriage busi- ness which had been established by his father, but the latter years of his life were principally devoted to looking after his large and valuable real estate.
Mr. Kent enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest member of the Georgia Hussars, to which he had belonged since 1851, and of which in later years he was made an honorary member for life. As a citizen of Savannah he rendered valuable service to the Confederacy during the war between the states. and he was one of the committee of citi- zens whose duty it was to turn over the city to General Sherman upon the occasion of the occupation of the city in December, 1864. He took an active and influential part in public affairs, but never held but one office, that of tax assessor during the administration of Mayor Wheaton. He might have become more prominent in this respect if he had so desired, but he was a man of modest demeanor and never obtended himself upon publie attention. His counsels were often sought, how-
670
SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
ever, where matters of importance in city affairs were under considera- tion, and his advice and suggestions were always appreciated. Ile was a lover of fine horses, and at all times had many in his stable, and he was an adept in handling fractions horses, always mastering them. Ile enjoyed most of all his home life, which was happy and congenial, and his keenest sorrow came with the loss of his wife, his life's partner of more than fifty years, whose death occurred in 1908, and who before her marriage was Sarah MI. Ferrell, a native of South Carolina. In February, 1908, about one month after the death of his wife. Mr. Kent fell ill, and from this aihnent he never recovered. his death occurring February 27, 1910. In the demise of this old and honored citizen the city of Savannah suffered a severe loss, and it will be long ere one to acceptably fill his place will be found.
William Alfred Kent. the only son of Alfred and Sarah M. (Fer- rell) Kent, was born and spent all of his life in the city of Savannah. He was married in this city in 1876 to Miss Elizabeth J. Hood, daughter of Jason Paris and Sarah J. ( Morrell) Hood, a descendant of the family of which General Hood was a member. Mr. Hood. who has been dead for several years, is well remembered by the older residents of Savan- nah. He was born in Wilkes county, Georgia, the son of Burwell Hood, a pioneer of the state. and was for several years a bookkeeper and accountant for Weed & Company and for the Central of Georgia Rail- road. Mr. and Mrs. William A. Kent have had five children: Susie Vallotton, deceased. who was the wife of A. L. Stokes, of Charleston, South Carolina, and had one daughter-Susie Vallotton Kent Stokes; Alfred Duncan. who is married and has one danghter-Alfreda Mayla; William Hood, who is married and has two children-William Alfred, Jr .. and Richard Hood: Miss Sadie: and Julia Holland, who married C. N. Wilson, of Bainbridge, Georgia, and has one son-William Carson.
JAMES THOMAS MCLAUGHLIN, D. D. S. One of the leading dental practitioners of Appling county, Georgia, and a man who has done much to advance the interests of his city and county. is James Thomas MeLaughlin, D. D. S., of Baxley, who has acquired distinction in his chosen profession by close application, thorough mastery of the prin- ciples of the science and a delicacy and accuracy of mechanical skill so necessary in this important calling. Dr. MeLaughlin was born Febru- ary 7, 1882, in Wayne county, Georgia. on his father's farm, located near Odum, and is a son of J. A. and Rebecca (O'Quinn) MeLaughlin. natives of Georgia, and now residents of Odmm, where the father. a machinist by trade, has of recent years been engaged in the mercantile buisiness. Dr. MeLanghlin's maternal and paternal grandfathers served as soldiers in a Georgia regiment during the war between the states.
His great-grandfather was Scotch and French, was born in North Carolina and was named James MeLanghlin. His grandfather was also named James.
James Thomas MeLaughlin was five years of age when he was taken by his parents from the Wayne county farm to Brunswick, Georgia. where he commenced his education in the public schools. He was eleven years old when the family removed to Wayeross, and after spending three years there and a like period in Statesborough, went to Fitzgerald, a locality in which the family remained two years. After finishing the graded course in the public schools, Dr. MeLaughlin attended Black- shear high school, and on being graduated therefrom became a student
-
671
SAVANNAH AND SOUTHI GEORGIA
in the Dental College, from which he was graduated in 1908 with high honors, being especially commended by his college preceptors for excel- lenee in his work. Subsequently he took a course in the Southern Col- lege of Pharmacy, at Atlanta, and on leaving that institution began the practice of his profession at Bristol, but after one year there changed his field of operations to Baxley. Here he has established a most satis- factory professional business, his careful and skillful work having given him a high reputation. He has well appointed offices, the mechanical equipments of which are of modern design, while all work is executed with serupulous fidelity and the utmost skill. The Doctor enjoys marked popularity and esteem in professional, fraternal and social cir- cles, and is recognized as an able and progressive business man. energetie and public spirited. He belongs to the Blue Lodge of Masonry, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.
Dr. MeLaughlin was married October 4. 1905, to Miss Jessamond Dae Carter, daughter of Dr. L. A. Carter, of Nashville, Georgia, and they have one child. James Treyvance, a bright lad of six years. Dr. and Mrs. MeLaughlin are faithful members of the Missionary Baptist church, and are widely and favorably known in religious and social circles.
CHARLES ANDERSON DAVIS. A man who has ever been useful in his community, and an able assistant in promoting its agricultural pros- perity, Charles Anderson Davis, of Hickory Head district. Brooks county, has nearly all of his life been a tiller of the soil, and in the independent occupation still finds his greatest pleasure. He was born on the farm which he now owns and occupies December 18, 1865, a son of Charles A. Davis.
. Charles A. Davis, the father, was born, January 21, 1824, in Jones county, Georgia, but was brought up in Harris county, where his par- ents moved when he was a child, and where they spent their remaining years. He had a natural talent for musie, with a clear, strong voice, and while a young man taught musie, having classes in Lowndes county, and in various other counties in southwest Georgia. When ready to settle permanently in life, he bought a tract of land in Hickory Head distriet. in what is now Brooks county, and built a commodious and substantial log house, which has since been weather-boarded on the outside, and sealed inside. With the help of slaves he cleared a large part of the land, and carried on farming, being assisted by his slaves until they were freed. During the war between the states he served in the Georgia Reserves, going with his command to the defense of Atlanta. On the farm which he cleared from the forest, he resided until his death, Oe- tober 8, 1884. Ile was a total abstainer from both liquor and tobacco.
The maiden name of the wife of Charles A. Davis was Henrietta McMullen. She was born in that part of Lowndes county now included in Brooks county. December 3. 1831. and died December 25, 1895. Her father, Hon. James MeMullen, a native of Georgia, was taken by his parents to southwest Georgia when young, they having been among the earlier settlers of Thomas county. Some time after his marriage he re- moved from there to that part of Lowndes county now known as Brooks connty, buying a tract of land in Hickory Head district. With the help of slaves he redeemed a farm from the wilderness, and there both he and his wife spent their last days. He was an active member of the Whig party, and represented his distriet one or more terms in the state legis- lature, and as that was before the days of railroads in this part of the
672
SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
country he journeyed to Milledgeville, then the capital of Georgia. on the back of a mule. To Charles A. and Henrietta Davis eight chil- dren were born, as follows: James R .; Fannie: JJefferson : Charles A .. the subject of this brief biographical record; Henrietta; William J .. who died at the age of twenty-seven years; and Maggie May.
Receiving his early educational advantages in the common schools. Charles Anderson Davis developed into manhood on the home farm, being trained to the habits of industry and thrift which laid the foun- dations of his subsequent success. At the age of twenty-one years he started in life for himself as an agriculturist, for four years having charge of his brother's farm, later superintending the management of Dr. MeCall's and Judge Morton's estates. In 1898 Mr. Davis purchased the parental homestead, which he has since managed with most satis- factory results. as a general farmer and stock-raiser, being eminently successful. Ile has a very pleasant home, and in the yard in front of the house is a pecan tree that invariably attracts the attention of the passerby. The nut from which it sprang was planted by Mr. Davis sister about fifty years ago, and the trunk is now fully twelve feet in circumference, the limbs being very long, and the shape symmetrical. the tree being. it is said. the largest tree of the kind in Georgia.
On October 18. 1899, Mr. Davis was united in marriage with Miss Clifford Anderson Arrington, a native of Brooks county, Georgia. IIer father, Thomas Arrington. was born in Twiggs county, Georgia. Leav- ing home at the age of eighteen years, he became a pioneer settler of what is now Brooks county. Buying a tract of heavily timbered land. he felled the giant trees, uprooted the sod, and on the homestead which he hewed from the forest spent his remaining years, passing away in 1881, aged fifty-six years. Mr. Arrington was three times married, his first and second wives having been near relatives. He had four chil- dren by his first union. namely: William, Mattie, Louise, and Henry : but of his second marriage there were none. Mr. Arrington married for his third wife Fannie Denmark, who was born in Brooks county, Geor- gia, a daughter of Thomas and Amanda (Groover) Demark. At. his death he left her with six children to bring up and educate, namely : Annie D .: Briggs A .: Hattie; Clifford Anderson. now Mrs. Davis; Julia S .; and Thomas N. Mr. Arrington had assisted his older children, those by his first wife. to homes of their own 'ere his death. and there- fore he left to his third wife and her children his entire plantation. Mrs. Arrington was a woman of much energy and ability, and she superintended the farm herself, making the rounds of the place on horseback, and proved herself such a good manager that she was en- abled to give each of her children either a college or an academical education, fitting each for the vocation which he or she might choose. She died in June, 1900, having accomplished her life purpose. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have one child, Charles Anderson Davis, Jr., born June 11. 1909.
WILLIAM J. LEWIS. Postmaster at Dawson, Terrell county, since 1906, Mr. Lewis began his publie career at the age of twenty-one as deputy sheriff in Colombia county, Florida. Ile has been a practical man all his life and was at work in a printing shop when eleven years old. and finally became head of a printing establishment of his own. Mr. Lewis belongs to an old family of the Carolinas and Georgia. which has furnished a number of soldiers. civil officials, and men of ability to the nation and commmity.
673
SAVANNAH AND SOUTHI GEORGIA
William J. Lewis was born January 10, 1874, and is a son of Wil- liam Turner Lewis, who was born in Carroll county, Virginia, and a grandson of Archibald Lewis, who was also born in that county of Virginia. It is believed that this branch of the Lewis family is directly descended from a General Hepsibah Lewis, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. Archibald Lewis, the grandfather, moved from Virginia into North Carolina and settled at Mt. Airy on the French Broad river, where he spent the remainder of his days.
William Turner Lewis, the father, was a youth when his father died and then came under the guidanceship of an older brother, Charles W. Lewis. This older brother went away to the war as a Confederate soldier on the beginning of hostilities. The younger boy wanted to enlist in the same regiment but his brother would not consent. He therefore ran away from home and when sixty miles from his home community enlisted in Captain Logan Whitlock's company with which he went into Virginia and participated in many of the historic eam- paigns and battles of the war. He was slightly wounded in the foot by a spent ball, but escaped capture. His service as a soldier eon- tinued until the close and he then returned home and with his brother engaged in the tobaeco business for a while. Then with his brother he came into Georgia, and this migration was accomplished from begin- ning to end across country, with a team. William Turner Lewis located at Dawson where he was engaged in merchandising for a time and sub- sequently at farming near the town. Ile then returned to Dawson again, and once more became one of the local merchants. While in the war he had contracted inflammatory rheumatism and eventually was ineapaeitated for business, so that he was succeeded by his sons. He died greatly respected as a citizen and man on June 28, 1898. He had served as a deputy sheriff of Terrell county, and also as mayor of Dawson.
William Turner Lewis married Frances Cora Bell, who was born in Webster county, Georgia, daughter of Arthur and Eliza Bell. Her father was a well-to-do farmer in Webster county. Mrs. Lewis died in early life. and the father was again married, Mrs. Susan (Jones) Clarke, of Lee county, becoming his wife. The three children of the first marriage were Charles G., William J., and Archibald A., all of whom were carefully reared by their step-mother, who had two sons by her first marriage. named George E. Clarke and Albert S. Clarke.
While growing up to manhood in Dawson and Terrell county Wil- liam J. Lewis attended the public schools, but most of his education was attained through practical experience and the inevitable education which goes with the printers' trade. When eleven years old he became printers' devil in the mechanical department of the Dawson Nors, and there learned the art preservative. When four years had passed and he had beeome an expert workman, he went to Murphy, North Carolina, where he was employed in typesetting for three years. and thenee moved to Fort White. Florida, where he edited the Fort White Herald. Then at the age of twenty-one, Mr. Lewis was appointed deputy sheriff of Columbia county, Florida, and served two years in that office. Re- turning to Dawson in 1895. he took the position of foreman of the Nors office, and some time later bought the job printing department of the. Nous and condneted a successful printing business until 1906. In that year he was appointed postmaster at Dawson, and has been continued in this office by reappointment to the present time.
Mr. Lewis on May 31. 1896, married Miss Selina Hay, a daughter of
-
674
SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
Isaae and Mollie (Cannon ) Hay, and a granddaughter of Martin Hay and Jeptha Cannon. Isaac Hay is one of the most successful farmers in South Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have two children named Charles Arthur and Alice Maybell. The family worship in the Methodist church and Mr. Lewis is affiliated with Dawson Camp No. 74, of the Woodmen of the World, being consul commander.
JOHN A. FOSTER. Connected with the lumber interest of the south since boyhood and holding rank among the progressive men who have been instrumental in developing this industry in Georgia, John A. Fos- ter is widely known among the business men of this state and more especially in the city of Savannah, where he is a member of the firm of Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company.
John A. Foster was born in Savannah. in 1853, a son of John A. and Ruth ( Laehlison) Foster, natives respectively of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania and Preston, England, the mother being a sister of the mother of Joseph Hilton, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. A brother of Mr. Foster is Captain James L. Foster, an account of whose distinguished services as a soldier follows on a succeeding page.
John A. Foster was reared in his native city where he was brought up amid the excitement of war and in the hardships of reconstruction and resided there until 1869 when he went to Darien. Like his brother he has been connected with the Hilton & Foster Lnmber interests, now known as the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, since 1869. At that time, when only sixteen years of age, he started at Darien as a board inspector, and in 1882 became a partner in the firm with which he has sinee been connected as a member. He had charge of the southern di- vision of the ITilton-Dodge Lumber Company until 1907, in which year he eame to Savannah. For several years he resided at Ceylon on the Santillo river, where the company had two mills and from that point moved to a home on St. Simon's Island, where his family resided until the removal to Savannah in 1907. Mr. Foster's long experience in the lumber industry has given him a vast and comprehensive knowledge of every detail of the business, and he is regarded as one of the best informed lumbermen in the state. He returned from Nicaragua. April 19, 1913, and is now negotiating with the government of Nicara- gua for timber properties and a transcontinental railroad franchise, which looks very favorable. His business capacity is of a high order. but high as this ability has ranked in the special department of Georgia's industries to which his energies have been so long and so suecessfully devoted. it stands not higher than his personal character in the estimation of a large cirele of acquaintances and of the people of that portion of the state where his large interests are centered.
Mr. Foster has been twice married. his first wife having been Miss Estella Floyd, who was the mother of four children. namely: Ruth. Katharine, Ida Hilton and Jule Floyd. Three years following the death of his first wife. Mr. Foster was married to Miss Angusta Russell. and they have five children. whose names are Georgia. Elizabeth Lachlison, Rosa Lee. Floyd and John.
CAPT. HENRY CUMMING CUNNINGHAM. A man of distinctive culture and forceful individuality, Capt. Henry Cumming Cunningham is an able and influential member of the Savannah bar, and a citizen of promi- nenee. Ile was born April 5. 1842. in Savannah, a son of Dr. Alexander and Anna Frances (Mayhew) Cunningham, and in the city schools acquired his first knowledge of books.
675
SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
In 1858 he entered South Carolina College. now the University of South Carolina, and was there graduated with the class of 1861. Im- mediately after receiving his diploma, he entered the Confederate army as a private, and one year later, upon competitive examination, was appointed first lieutenant of artillery, and assigned to ordnance duty upon the staff of Gen. William B. Talliaferro, who was stationed in Savannah. Later Captain Cunningham was in service at Charleston. Sonth Carolina, being with the army at the evacuation of that city. Subsequently, while holding a similar position upon the staff of Gen. Stephen Elliott, he participated in the battles at Averysboro and Ben- tonville, and in other engagements of the Carolina campaign, at the elose of the conflict being paroled at Greensboro.
After the war Captain Cunningham returned to Savannah, and entered the service of the Central of Georgia Railway Company, first as a elerk, and later becoming treasurer of the company. Studying law in the meantime, the captain was admitted to the bar in 1872, and for four years was associated in the practice of his profession with Charles N. West. From 1876 until 1881, he maintained an individual practice, in the latter year forming a partnership with Gen. A. R. Lawton and A. R. Lawton, Jr., the firm of Lawton & Cunningham was established. and has been continued under this name ever sinee, a period of more than thirty years. Upon the withdrawal of General Lawton from the firm, Captain Cunningham became senior member of the firm, which is one of the leading law firms of Georgia. This firm is general counsel for the Central of Georgia Railway Company, and has an extensive and luerative patronage.
From 1880 until 1887 Captain Cummingham was corporation attorney of Savannah, and he is now one of the members of the board of managers of the Georgia Historical Society. He is senior warden of the Christ church, Episcopal, and occupies an honored place among Savannah's most distinguished eitizens.
Captain Cunningham married first, December 19, 1867, Miss Virginia Waldburg Wayne, a daughter of Dr. Richard Wayne. of Savannah. She died, leaving four children. of whom three are living, namely : Thomas Mayhew Cunningham: Mrs. Virginia C. Cleveland; and C. Wayne Cunningham. The captain was subsequently married to Miss Nora Lawton, a daughter of Gen. A. R. Lawton, and they have one daughter, Miss Sarah A. Cunningham.
WILLIAM BARRON CRAWFORD, M. D., Savannah, Georgia, is elassed in the foremost rank of the younger members of his profession in this city, where he was born and reared.
Dr. Crawford dates his birth in 1876. Through his father, William C. Crawford, he traees the line of ancestry back to progenitors in Scot- land: and through his mother, Mary (Barron) Crawford, he claims Irish blood.
The first of the Crawfords who came to this country from Scotland landed here as early as 1663 and made settlement in Appling county. Virginia, which was the home of the family for many generations. There were born his grandfather and great-grandfather Crawford, both named William, and both of whom, when the former was a small child, came to Georgia. In Muscogee county, near Columbus, Georgia, William C. Crawford, the doctor's father, was born, and from there, at the age of six years, was brought by his parents to Savannah, which eity remained his home during the rest of his life, and where he died in 1883. He was a Vol. II-10
.
676
SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
successful merchant, and for a number of years was a member of the hardware firm of Crawford & Lovell.
The doctor's mother died in Savannah in 1890. She was born in Philadelphia and in her childhood came to Savannah. where she grew up and married and where the rest of her life was passed. Her mother was a native of the city of Cork, Ireland, and a member of the O'Brien family which furnished a bishop to the Roman Catholic church.
After his graduation from the Savannah high school, William B. Crawford, having decided to enter the medical profession, went to New York to pursue his studies. There, in 1899, he graduated from the medical department of Columbia University. after which he spent two years as interne in Roosevelt Hospital. Returning to Savannah in 1901, he opened an office and began the practice of his profession among the people who had known him sinee childhood. Thoroughly fitted for his work, and with a deep interest in and love for it, his practice has been attended with success from its beginning, and today he occupies a position among the leading physicians of the city. He is consulting surgeon of St. Joseph's Hospital, and is identified with a number of medical organizations, ineluding the American, the State and County Medical societies. He is a member of the Catholic church, and also bas membership in the Hibernian Society, Knights of Columbus, and B. P. O. E.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.