USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 26
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JAMES M. BARNARD figures in the business life of Savannah in three distinct capacities, namely : as ship broker, as president of the United Hydraulic Cotton Press Company and as president of the Savannah Hotel Company. A young New Englander, searcely attained to his ma- jority, his military connection at the time of the Civil war brought him to the seat of the eonfliet and his glimpse of the South falling upon the fertile imagination of youth, served so to enthrall him, that at the close of the war he severed the old associations and located in the city whose beauty is only equaled by its wealth of romantic history. He has re- sided here since 1865 and as one of the leading spirits in commercial and industrial life, has materially assisted in the growth and development of Savannah. He is known far and wide as a man of remarkable exeeu- tive eapacity, of fine initiative. with the power to make realities out of big ideas, and accustomed to "hitehing his wagon to a star." Not only has he been successful in material ways, but his career has been such as to warrant the trust and confidence of the business world, for he has condueted all transactions according to the strictest principles of honor. His devotion to the publie good is not questioned and arises from a sincere interest in the welfare of his fellow men.
Mr. Barnard was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 4th day of May, 1841. He is the son of Rev. Charles F. Barnard and he was reared and educated in the "hub of the universe." At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, and participated in various important operations in the South. One of these of nearby interest, was the famous assault on Battery Wagner, in Charles- ton harbor, this being one of the bloodiest contliets, numbers considered. in the history of the war. Ilis service was three years in duration.
As mentioned previously. Mr. Barnard came to Savannah in the year 1865 and here he has ever since maintained his residence. During his half century's connection in this city, Mr. Barnard has been engaged with important interests in maritime affairs. Soon after beginning business . here, the firm of Richardson & Barnard was formed, his partner being
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Edward C. Richardson, now of Boston. Later C. S. Connerat became a member of the firm, but without change in its name. This firm were part owners and agents in Savannah of the old Boston Line, operating the two steamships, "Gate City" and "City of Columbus," between Savannah and Boston. This prosperous ocean passenger and freight business they conducted for several years and finally sold to the present Ocean Steamship Company. The old firm of Richardson & Barnard. not long after the war, built the Tybee telegraph line and they were the first to bring the telephone to Savannah; they built the telephone line between Tybee island and Savannah. which later they sold to the Bell Telephone Company. The telegraph and telephone lines were eon- structed originally for their own business. It will from this be seen that Mr. Barnard is an innovator in very definite fashion and he has cver kept well abreast of progress.
In 1890, the old firm of Richardson & Barnard was dissolved, and since that time Mr. Barnard has continued in the same line of enterprise under the name of Barnard & Company. IIe is also president of the United Hydraulie Cotton Press Company and of the Savannah Hotel Company, which owns and operates the DeSoto Hotel in Savannah, Mr. Barnard having been one of the originators of this admirable hostelry in 1890. This magnificent tourist and commercial hotel has been a most potent factor in the modern growth and development of Savannah, attracting annually great numbers of people to the Forest city to enjoy the elimate and attractions, who would not have eome but for the elegant comforts and conveniences of the DeSoto Hotel. The chambers are unusually large and peculiarly adapted to the climate. having the advan- tage of being all outside rooms. The water is supplied from an artesian well of great purity, seven hundred feet deep and situated on the grounds. The hotel is very spacious and covers an entire block. The open air eafc. in use from May to October, during the winter months is converted into a sunny sheltered piazza, one hundred and fifty feet long and thirty feet wide.
Mr. Barnard has been a member of the pilotage commission of Savan- nah for over twenty years and is chairman of the commission. He has a wide cirele of friends, the boundaries of the state by no means limiting his acquaintance and popularity.
His wife, who is deceased and to whom he was married in 1866, was Miss Harriet L. Otis, who was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. There are five children of the union: Theodore Otis Barnard, deceased; Mrs. Grace B. Brewster, William L. Barnard, and James II. Barnard, these three of Boston, and Mrs. Elsie B. Chisholm, wife of Frank M. Chisholm of Savannah.
FLEMING DAVIES TINSLEY. Among the foremost eitizens of Savannah is Fleming Davies Tinsley, whose relation to the business community is concerned with the products peculiar to this section of the South, Mr. Tinsley being an exporter of cotton and phosphate rock. It is safe to say that he has no peer in his knowledge of these partienlar fields, and as one concerned in a line of industry which has important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of the community, he occupies a con- spienous position in business circles. He belongs to representative fami- lies of the South, on the maternal side coming of Revolutionary stock, this family-the Davies-having been prominent in this section previous to the struggle for independence.
Mr. Tinsley was born at the summer residence of his parents at Mil- ledgeville, Georgia. Their home, however, was in Savannah, and as the greater part of his life has been passed within the boundaries of the
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beautiful and historic city, whose traditions are very dear to him, he maintains that he is a native Savannahian. and no one will gainsay this. He is the son of William B. and Sarah Grantland (Davies) Tinsley. The father was born in Hanover county, Virginia, and came to Savannah during the early '40s. For several years before the war and during the first of the supreme struggle between the North and South, he was the cashier of the old Savannah Bank, which occupied the building at No. 15 Bay street, East. Prior to the war between the states he held the office of state treasurer for several terms. This was previous to becoming cashier of the aforementioned bank. The demise of this gentleman occurred when the subject was a child, during the war, but he is still well and affectionately remembered by the older residents of Savannah. Mr. Tinsley had four older brothers in the Confederate service during the Civil war. His mother was the daughter of Judge William Davies, of Savannah, one of the distinguished lawyers of his day, and judge of the United States circuit court for the district of Georgia, and of the superior court for the eastern judicial circuit. Judge Davies was the son of Edward and Rebecca (Lloyd) Davies, the latter the daughter of Benjamin Lloyd of South Carolina, who was a lieutenant of artillery in South Carolina troops in 1779 and 1780. Mr. Tinsley's great-grandfather, Edward Davies, of Savannah, served as a member of the provincial con- gress of Georgia in July, 1775, and for that reason he was named in the celebrated "disqualifying act," passed by the royal council of Georgia.
Mr. Tinsley received his early schooling in the public schools of the city ; afterwards he had private tutelage in Macon, to which city the family had temporarily removed. Upon growing to manhood, he entered business life, for which his tastes and abilities fitted hin, his first asso- ciation being in the office of Seymour, Tinsley & Company of Macon, wholesale grocers, the junior member of the firm being his brother, A. R. Tinsley. He remained in this business in Macon for some years and then went to Alabama, where he engaged in the fertilizing business. In 1899, he left Alabama and returned to his old home, Savannah, the memory of whose charms and advantages had ever remained vividly with him. Mr. Tinsley has encountered the best of fortunes here. He is the senior mem- ber of the firm, Tinsley & Hull, exporters of cotton and phosphate rock. This is a prominent firm widely and favorably known in the world of trade concerned with these two great industries.
Mr. Tinsley married Miss Martha Rodman Ruan, daughter of John G. and Amanda (Clark) Ruan. They are prominent in the social and benevolent activities of the community. Mr. Tinsley is a vestryman of Christ church. He is a member of the Cotton Exchange and the Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Oglethorpe Club and of the Savannah Yacht Club. Besides his exporting business he has several additional interests of wide scope and importance, among other things being a mem- ber of the board of directors of the Merchants' National Bank of Savan- nah.
ANDREW JACKSON MOYE. A position of leadership in a community is not easily acquired except by hard work, careful management and endor- ing integrity. When his fellow citizens in Randolph county speak of Mr. Moye as the wealthiest or one of the wealthiest men of the county they also imply in this assertion that he has acquired this position of both affluence and influence by the most honorable means, and that his long life has been one of utmost honor in all its varied relations.
Past eighty years of age, Mr. Move is one of the oldest residents of Randolph county, and represents a family which gave pioneer service
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in clearing the woods, and making farms and planting the early crops and founding of civilized institutions in this section of Georgia. Andrew Jackson Move was born on a plantation about ten miles east of Barn- well Courthouse in South Carolina, December 12, 1832. His father was the Hon. Allen Move, who was born on the same plantation in 1798. The grandfather was Matthew Move who was born in North Carolina. whence he removed to South Carolina, purchasing land bordering upon Falttatcher creek, ten miles east of Barnwell Courthouse. The grand- father was a man of much ability and considerable property, and with the aid of his slaves cleared out a farm and made it his home until his death.
Allen Move, the father, acquired a good education in his native dis- trict and was still a very young man when he was called into publie affairs. He was elected a representative in the state legislature. a few weeks before he was twenty-one years of age. In 1834 he sold his es- tate in South Carolina and came into Georgia, settling in Randolph county. On that journey he was accompanied by his wife and six children, and they came through the woods and over the rough roads and trails with teams and wagons, bringing all their household goods and a large supply of agricultural implements, the slaves following along on foot. A traet of land three miles northwest of Cuthbert was the site chosen for his location. At that time the population in this district was very sparse and the Indians were still here and laid claim to the region as their hunting grounds. He was in Georgia in time to par- ticipate in the last great Indian war of 1836, when the southwestern Indians were finally defeated and compelled to remove to the West. In 1841, Allen Move became a candidate for the state senate. During the campaign he attended a rally and barbecue at which he caught cold and his death occurred before the election. Allen Move married Sarah J. Rice. daughter of Charles Rice, who so far as known was a lifelong resident of South Carolina in the Barnwell district. Mrs. Moye died in 1862 at the age of sixty years. Her ten children were named Wil- liam, John, George, Andrew J., Mary, Benjamin, Wyatt, Allen, and Sarah.
Andrew Jackson Moye sinee he was two years of age has spent nearly all his life in Randolph county, and there is probably no other resident whose actions cover so much of the development of this section from its primitive conditions to the present time. As a boy he attended one of the neighborhood schools, that school being taught in a log build- ing on the home farm. Subsequently the old frame courthouse at Cuthbert was removed in order to make room for a new brick strue- ture, and the old building was then put to use as a school house, and as a boy he remembers that building as one of the institutions in Ran- dolph county. Early in his youth he went to Georgetown, and became clerk in a general store. With the earnings of that occupation during two years he was enabled to advance his education. and attended the Brownwood Institute at Lagrange, and remained there as a student until the death of his brother George. Then at the solicitation of his mother he returned home to take charge of the farm. The following year he went to Eufanla, Alabama, where he was engaged in elerking for a time, after which he returned to the farm for a few months, and then moved into Cuthbert, where he was clerk in the store of Mr. Jesse E. Key until the latter's death. Then in 1859 he bought a plantation ad- joining the okl homestead and devoted all his time and attention to agricultural activities until after the war.
In 1864 Mr. Moye enlisted in Company B, of the Tenth Georgia
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Infantry, and was engaged with this regiment in the defense of Atlanta. After the fall of that city he was in the battle at Griswolds Station. and while the army was on the march to Altamaha he was detailed as assistant quartermaster, being sent back to Macon where he remained until the close of the war. He was then paroled, and returned home to the farm. where he continued to live and manage the property until 1875. In that year he moved into Cuthbert and has since had his home in the county seat. His father soon after moving to Randolph county. bought a block of land west of and facing the public square in Cuthbert, and on a portion of this land Mr. A. J. Moye erected a building which he has since used for an office. For many years he has made a business of loaning money. and also employs his time in looking after his various investments. and other affairs.
In November. 1859. he married Laura J. West, who was born in Stewart county, a daughter of William and Laura Elizabeth (Pettit) West. Mr. and Mrs. Move have five children: Andrew Clinton, Robert Leiden, Andrew Pettit, Loraine Miekle and Claude T. The son, Andrew Clinton, is a planter and has a mill and gin in Randolph county. He married Dixie Harris, and their two children are named Hubert Melton and Clinton. Robert L. is a practicing attorney and former mayor of Cuthbert. and by his marriage to Florence Powell has three children named Annie Laurie, Powell. and Eloise. Andrew P. is a merehant and planter, and married Lilla Tumlin, and their five children are Lewis, Guydon, Marie. Martha and Claude. Loraine M. married Elizabeth Walrath, and their two children are Laura Estelle and Andrew J. The parents of Mr. Move were Baptists, and his wife is a member of that faith and has reared her children in the creed and practice of this religion.
HON. ALEXANDER A. LAWRENCE. One of the adopted sons of Savan- nah, Georgia, is Hon. Alexander A. Lawrence, member of the state legis- lature and an able lawyer of the city. He is qualified by his professional experience and success, his integrity and his qualities of mind and heart for the position to which his political and personal friends have called him.
Mr. Lawrence was born at Marietta, Georgia, on April 5. 1869, and comes of a Southern family. his father, Robert DeTreveille Lawrence having been born at Beaufort. South Carolina. and his mother, whose maiden name was Annie E. Atkinson. in Camden county, Georgia. They reside at the present time at Marietta, where the father has lived sinee 1842, having gone there as a child with his father in that year. The elder gentleman is a civil engineer by profession and he is a Confederate veteran of the Civil war. in which he served in the signal corps, in the southern army.
Mr. Lawrence, whose name heads this review, received his preliminary education in the common schools of this birthplace, Marietta, and subse- quently entered the University of Georgia at Athens, from which institu- tion he was gradnated with the class of 1890. Ile had in the meantime come to the conclusion to adopt the law as his profession and made preparatory study for the profession at Brunswick, being admitted to the bar in 1891. Ile first hung ont his shingle, as common parlance has it, at St. Mary's in Camden county. and remained there two or three years, from the first giving evidence of an unusually good legal mind. In 1894 he moved to Savannah and became established in the practice of law in this city, which has ever since been his home. In 1900 he formed a law Vol II-12
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partnership with W. W. Osborne, under the firm name of Osborne & Lawrence, and the same has developed into one of the prominent and sueeessful law firms in the city. This coneern, in addition to a large general practice, is the legal representative of the Savannah Electric Rail- way Company, which operates the eleetrie street railway system in Savan- nah.
Mr. Lawrence is one who gives his support to the men and measures of the Democratic party. In 1904, in manifestation of the general high regard in which he is held, he was elected a member of the Georgia state legislature for the regular term of two years. Recommended by his past record in such capacity, he was again elected to the office in 1908 and onee more succeeded himself in 1910. His legislative district embraces Chatham county. He has proved a most useful member of the state assembly, his work therein being to a considerable extent in the nature of opposing needless and harmful legislation, rather than in the intro- duction of new bills. In the session ending in 1911 he was chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments, and has been a member of both the general judiciary and the special judiciary committees.
Mr. Lawrence was formerly a member of the Savannah Volunteer Guards, and as such enlisted as a private for service in the Spanish- American war, his company being a part of the Second Georgia Regiment. Later he was transferred to the Third Georgia Regiment, in which he was made lieutenant of Company K.
Mr. Lawrence finds pleasure in fraternal association with his fellow men and is prominent in a number of organizations of such character, among which are the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Eagles, , and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
In 1900 Mr. Lawrence married Miss Isabel Ashby Paine, who was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and they have four interesting children, namely: Harriet, Alexander A., Jr., Ann and Virginia.
COL. SIGO MYERS. The name of Myers has figured with gratifying prominence in the life of Savannah for more than half a century as bankers, manufacturers. merchants and citizens of the highest type. The Myers brothers have ever been known as men who did things and their imprint is upon many splendid enterprises. In 1852 the little Bavarian family located within the fair boundaries of the South and in the ensuing years they have proved the possessors of all those characteristics which make the typical German so admirable an acquisition to our nation, and the support of our institutions. Sturdy integrity, indomitable perse- verance. highi intelligence and much business sagacity have been repre- sented in them, and no more honored subjeets could be represented in a work of this character.
Col. Sigo Myers, president of the National Bank of Savannah, suc- ceeded to this position upon the death of his brother, the late Herman Myers, who from its founding until his deeease on March 24, 1909, held that position. Herman Myers, who was the elder brother, was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1847. the son of Sigmund and Fanny Myers, who in 1852, joined the numerous Teutonic company in quest of American independence and opportunity, and with their family crossed the Atlantic and shortly after arriving on our shores, located at Warm Springs, Bath county, Virginia, where their children were reared. There young Her- man received his publie school edneation, and, the family being in mod- est circumstances, he learned, like the usual German lad, a trade, his being that of a tanner. His father died in 1861 and the family removed
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to Lynchburg. In 1867, Herman Myers came to Savannah, which city remained his home until his death, his active and busy life attaining for him a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests were allied. After coming here he became engaged in the cigar and tobacco business, and subsequently became a large handler and exporter of wool, under the firm name of II. Myers & Brother. Ile con- tinued his interest in the cigar business, however, and in association with his brother, Sigo Myers, became an extensive manufacturer of cigars. He acquired the controlling interest in El Modelo Cigar Manufacturing Company, of which he was president and which, maintained a large cigar factory at Tampa, Florida. He organized the Cuban American Cigar Manufacturing Company, into which El Modelo Company was merged and which maintained an office and factory at Havana, as well as in Tampa. This became one of the largest cigar manufacturing industries of the country. A few years before his death he disposed of his interests in the cigar manufacturing business and thereafter centered most of his activities in the banking business in Savannah.
He was the principal organizer and from its founding until the time of his decease was the president of the National Bank of Savannah, which began business in 1885. He promoted the erection of the National Bank building, the home of his bank. a splendid office building of hand- some design, ten stories in height, standing at the corner of Bull and Broughton streets, the heart of the business section and one of the show places of the city. The capital stock of the bank is $250.000, while its surplus and undivided profits amount to nearly double that sum. It is one of the strongest financial institutions in the South and numbers among its board of directors a list of citizens whose business reputation and financial resources rank among the highest in Savannah. The bank has always been well managed to the extent that it gives the best of satis- faction in profits to its stockholders combined with the best of accommo- dations to its customers.
Herman Myers was one of the organizers and for years was president of the Savannah Grocery Company, wholesale. He was also the presi- dent of the Oglethorpe Savings & Trust Company, an auxiliary of the National Bank, organized to handle its large savings department. He was one of the organizers and promoters of the construction of the South- bound Railway Company, of which he was the vice-president until the time of its disposal to the Seaboard Air Line Railway Company. He was also largely interested in the old Savannah & Tybee Railroad and the Tybee Hotel Company. In addition to his Savannah interests he was a member of the syndicate which purchased the Macon Street Railway & Lighting System, and was president of the reorganized company.
In 1885, Herman Myers was elected a member of the board of alder- men of Savannah. He was continuously a member of the city council for ten years, serving on the finance committee during the entire period. For five years he was a member of the sanitary board. These duties equipped him well for the position of mayor, to which he was called by election of the people in 1895. Hle served out the term of two years, and then, after an interval of two years, he was again in 1899 elected mayor. He was re-elected in 1901. 1903, and 1905, the last three terms quite without opposition. Ilis administration during those years was marked by the greatest permanent public improvements in the history of Savan- nah, including street paving. enlargement of the water works plant, street openings, and. the greatest achievement of them all, the building of the present city hall, one of the finest imicipal buildings in the South. In Masonry he had taken the Scottish Rite degree. His life was in every way an honor to himself and to his home city, Savannah.
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Although he has given "his honors to the world again, his blessed part to heaven." his benignant influence will not soon be lost in the city which was so much the better for his having lived in it.
Col. Sigo Myers, brother of the foregoing, was born in Bavaria in 1850, and was about two years old when his parents came to America. His boyhood history was nearly identical with that of his brother in rear- ing and education. Like Herman Myers he is entirely a self-made man, rising to his present position of wealth and influence in the financial world. from the ranks. The Myers boys lost their father in early child- hood, and, without any inheritance or financial assistance of any kind. found it necessary to begin earning their livelihood at an early age.
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