USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 27
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Sigo Myers came to Savannah in 1868. one year after his brother. For several years he was actively associated with his brother in the cigar manufacturing business and became president of El Modelo and the Cuban American Cigar Manufacturing Company, mentioned in a pre- ceding paragraph. These interests took him away from Savannah for some years, during which he resided in Florida. As a capitalist he took a prominent part in the building up of Jacksonville, in which city. as well as in Tampa. he still holds large and important property interests. Previous to his brother's death he was vice-president of the National Bank of Savannah and upon his brother's death he became president of the institution. and through his wise, skillful and experienced manage- ment the bank has continued to flourish as it has from the beginning. He also succeeded his brother as president of the Oglethorpe Savings & Trust Company. In addition to those in Savannah and Jacksonville, he also has important financial interests in Macon and Columbus, Georgia. He is vice-president of the Muscogee Real Estate & Improvement Com- pany of Columbus and is vice-president of the Macon Railway & Light Company. He is a director of the Glen Springs Company. Spartanburg, South Carolina. also a director of the Gainesville & Midland Railway. Mr. Myers has taken a very active part in the founding of the Jewish Educational Alliance. a non-sectarian institution, and to which he donated the building. He stands high in Masonry. being a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner, and is president of the Masonie Temple Association. Under his administration, and the present trustees, ground for the temple was broken.
Colonel Myers has always taken an active interest in the famous mili- tary organizations of Savannah; he is one of the board of directors of the Savannah Volunteer Guards; he was a member of the Georgia Hus- sars for several years. Upon the election of Joe M. Brown as governor in 1909 he was appointed lieutenant colonel upon the governor's staff and served as such until the expiration of Governor Brown's term in June, 1911.
Colonel Myers takes an active interest not only in local affairs, but in matters generally of national and world-wide interest. He is known particularly as an ardent sympathizer with and prominent advocate of world-wide peace. On this subject he made a notable address on July 4, 1911, before the annual convention of the Witham Bankers' Associa- tion, at Warm Springs. Georgia, and a month or two later, while so journ- ing at Carlsbad. in Bavaria, he wrote a public letter on the subject of world-wide peace which received prominent space in the Paris edition of the New York Herald. Colonel Myers has an intimate knowledge, not only of national. but also of world politics, and, speaking not only as a citizen, but as a representative of the great banking interests which always are called upon to finance wars, his views on this important sub- jeet, and his enthusiastic advocacy of disarmament and of world-wide peace. receive the most respectful attention.
In July, 1911. he married Mrs. Nellie Simmonds, of New York.
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EDWARD J. THOMAS of Savannah is one of the representative civil engineers of Georgia, and is county surveyor of Chatham county. He was born in Savannah on March 25, 1840, and is a son of Maj. John A. and Malvina II. ( Hngnenin) Thomas: the former was born in MeIntosh county, Georgia, and the latter in Charleston, South Carolina. Maj. John A. Thomas was a planter by vocation, established in MeIntosh county, and his death occurred there in 1858. He was a son of Jonathan and Mary Jane ( Baker) Thomas. His wife, Malvina, was a danghter of John and Eliza ( Vallard) Huguenin, both of whom were of French Huguenot stoek. Mrs. Thomas survived her husband for many years, her death occurring in 1895.
Edward J. Thomas secured a good education in the academie sense, as well as in the line of his profession. He was graduated in the Uni- versity of Georgia as a member of the class of 1860, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In early manhood he taught school for two months. but his vocation during practically his entire career has been that of civil engineering. For many years he was the civil engineer for the Savannah Street Railway Company, and for eight years he rendered most efficient services as county engineer for Chatham county.
The loyalty of Mr. Thomas to the cause of the Confederacy was mani- fested in a most unequivocal way during the war between the states. He served two years in the ranks, but on account of physical disability was appointed quartermaster sergeant in the Fifth Georgia Cavalry, with Wheeler's command in General Johnston's army, and surrendered at Greensboro. Many and thrilling were the experiences of Mr. Thomas during his military service, and at a meeting in February, 1912, of the Confederate Veterans' Association in Savannah, Mr. Thomas related some war-time reminiscences for the delectation of the assembly which
were particularly well received. He had been asked to read a paper on the evacuation of Savannah, but upon reflection, he said he had come to the conclusion that as he had no business being in Savannah at the time of its evacuation, it might be more appropriate to change his topie to deal with interesting experiences of camp life, dealing particularly with those of the western cavalry just prior to the surrender of Atlanta. He said that after the big fight at Murfreesboro when his command was returning to Savannah the order was passed that every man without a mount could get a thirty days' furlough. The Confederate troopers owned their own horses, so Mr. Thomas gave his horse, saddle and bridle to his comrade, and thus being without a mount. took advantage of the furlough and spent thirty days at home. which explained how he came to be in Savannah at the time of its evacuation. Among other interesting things, he related how he recruited a horse in the bushwhacking country by the peculiar method of going out in the early morning before day- break and rifling the nearest stable of its best mount for his use, and told how he saved his neck, likewise retained possession of a stolen horse, by the exercise of a bit of quick wit and strategy. These and many another experience, rich in movement and excitement, told by Mr. Thomas in his peenliarly interesting mamer, proved a delightful offer- ing in the program of the evening.
Mr. Thomas is a member of the United Confederate Veterans and of the University Club of Georgia. He is a Democrat in his political faith. Ile and his wife are members of St. John's Episcopal church. Mr. Thomas is now actively engaged in his profession and is at the head of the plans and specification committee of the drainage commission to devise and construet storm and domestic sewers for the entire city, as ontlined in the $600,000 issue of bonds (1912).
On April 2, 1862, Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Alice G. Walthour,
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daughter of George and Mary ( Russell ) Walthour of Walthourville, Liberty county, Georgia. Seven children were born to them, namely : Abbott; Walthour; Julia, wife of C. H. Gibbes; Alice, married R. C. Gordon; Edward J., Jr .; Huguenin. and Dr. Marion R. Of these, Walthour died in youth, Mrs. Gibbes died in 1900, and Abbott died in 1912.
THOMAS RALPH MOYE, M. D., has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Abbeville for abont fourteen years. He is a native of Georgia, born in Washington county on November 7, 1873, the son of Robert J. and Laura (Graybill) Move. both natives of Washington county. The father is deceased, but the mother still lives. Robert Moye was a planter and merchant, and was prominent in the public life of his county, representing Washington county in the house of representatives in 1884-85, and in the senate in 1898-99. He was a highly esteemed citizen of his community, and his death was a distinct loss to the communal life.
Thomas R. Move was educated in Washington and Johnson counties. with regard to fundamentals, and when he was sixteen years of age he entered the University of Georgia, from which institution he was graduated in 1894, after which he completed a course of study in the Physicians and Surgeons College in Atlanta, being graduated there- from in 1899. Between the two college courses, however, the young man taught school in Butts and Franklin counties, as a means of further- ing his progress in an educational way. Immediately following the com- pletion of his studies Dr. Move located in Abbeville where he has con- tinued ever since, and he has been successful in building up a fine practice in this community. He has attained a high degree of promi- nence in a publie way, and has been a member of the city council for a number of terms, and in 1909 was mayor of the city.
On Deember 20. 1899. Dr. Move was united in marriage with Miss Rilla Leedy, daughter of J. D. and Annie E. Leedy, natives of Indiana. Mrs. Moye received her education in the schools of Bourbon, Indiana. Dr. and Mrs. Moye have one daughter-Annie Belle, born December 15, 1900. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Dr. Move is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows.
Dr. Moye is one of a family of eleven children, of which number seven are now living. R. T. is a farmer in Washington county; Dr. L. G. is conducting a practice at Adrian, Georgia: E. L. is located at Augusta : B. H. is an attorney in Wrightville; Mattie is the wife of W. B. Daniels, a traveling salesman, and Lula is the wife of C. C. Battle, of Sorrento, Florida, Dr. T. R. Moye making the seventh of the number.
CAPT. WALTER C. HARTRIDGE, solicitor general of the eastern circuit. superior court. and a member of one of the strongest law firms of Savan- nah-O'Byrne, Hartridge & Wright-is a native of the city in which he lives. He was born in 1870, a son of distinguished parents, Hon. Julian and Mary M. (Charlton) Hartridge.
Julian Hartridge was born in Savannah, Georgia, September 9, 1829, and died in Washington, District of Columbia, January 8, 1879. At the age of nineteen, he graduated with honors in the class of 1848 at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and he studied law in the Harvard Law School, from which he received the degree of LL. B. in 1850. Returning to his home in Savannah, he entered the law office of Judge Robert M. Charlton and began the practice of his profession. Soon there-
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after he was elected by the legislature to the position of solicitor-general of the eastern judicial circuit, in which office he proved his abilities as a lawyer of the first class. In 1859 he was elected to the general assem- bly of Georgia, and in 1860 was sent as a delegate to the national Demo- cratie convention. At the breaking out of the war between the North and the South in 1861, he entered the service of the Confederate army, as second lieutenant of the Chatham Artillery of Savannah, and served in that capacity until 1862, when he was elected a member of the Con- federate state congress. He served with distinetion in this capacity until the close of the war and the consequent breaking up of the Con- federacy. Then he returned to Savannah and resumed the practice of law, in partnership with Judge Walter S. Chisholm. In 1874 he was elected a member of the forty-fourth congress from the first district of Georgia. In that year also he presided over, as chairman, the first Democratic convention which gave to Georgia its first governor elected by her own people, following the reconstruction period. This conven- tion made him also the chairman of the state Democratic executive com- mittee. In 1876 he was an elector on the Tilden and Hendricks ticket. and in the same year he was elected to the United States congress. He had served out this term and was preparing to return to his home in Savannah, where it was his ambition to resume the practice of his pro- fession and devote his time exelusively to it, when death overtook him, his demise oeeurring, as above stated, at Washington, on January 8, 1879.
Among the people of his native city and state Julian Hartridge was universally aceorded a place of the highest distinction. He was hand- some in person, accomplished in intellect, polished in manner; withal he was kind, gentle, considerate and generous, and he had a keen sense of honor. Endowed by nature with an intellect adapted to the discern- ment of truth. and embellished by literary attainments of the most liberal deseription-this, together with an honorable ambition and a persever- ing industry, rarely equipped him for the practice of law. As an orator his language was unusually ehaste and elegant, as well as easy and fluent ; his delivery, correct and impressive; his logic, clear and con- cise; his voice, musieal and magnetie. As a legislator he was pre-emi- nently conservative and just, and although a Democrat of the strictest sort, he did not hesitate to disregard the demands of mere party exigency whenever there was a conflict between them. His broad views of life and his sterling traits of character made him a man admired by the people among whom he lived-admired and looked up to and loved.
The wife of Julian Hartridge was before her marriage Miss Mary M. Charlton, eldest daughter of Judge Robert M. Charlton.
Walter C. Hartridge was reared in Savannah and received his edu- cation in the public schools and in Chatham Academy. He studied law in the office of Charlton & Mackall, was admitted to the bar in 1890 and began the practice of his profession. and he practiced alone for six years. In 1898 he became identified with the firm of O'Connor & O'Byrne, and the name was changed to O'Connor. O'Byrne & Hartridge. This firm style continued until January 1, 1910, when Mr. O'Connor's name was dropped, he having died in November. 1909; Anton P. Wright was then admitted to the company and the name became O'Byrne, Hartridge & Wright, which today represents one of the strongest legal firms in Savannah.
From time to time Captain Hartridge has been honored with import- ant position. He was city recorder (police judge) of Savannah for four years, from 1897 to 1901. In November. 1908, he was elected solie- itor general (proseenting attorney) of the superior court, eastern jndi- cial circuit. for a term of four years, and took charge of this office on
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January 1, 1909. Here he has proved his efficiency; his service has received the high approbation of the people.
Before the Spanish-American war, Mr. Hartridge was an active member of the Savannah Volunteer Guards, Company D. This company enlisted for service in that war, in which it became Company B of the Second Georgia Regiment of Volunteers, of which company he was second lientenant. Subsequent to the war he was made captain of Com- pany D of the guards, which rank he held for about two years, until he tendered his resignation.
Captain Hartridge has been twice married. His first wife, who was Miss Bessie D. Hartridge, was a consin. She died, leaving him with one son, Julian Hartridge. The present Mrs. Hartridge was before her marriage Miss Catharine Melntire, and is a daughter of James W. and Catharine (Foley) MeIntire of Savannah.
CHARLES CLARKE MILLAR. Sometimes by executive order the wheels of a great railroad system are checked for a few moments to signalize the passing of a famous official, such is our appreciation of that which is spectacular and unusual. But when the stipulated time has expired work is resumed and those who did not know the man quickly forget the incident. It is the man whose passing can claim the thoughts of his fellow workmen and arouse their sorrow and regret who receives the truest tribute in this busy day and age, and such a man is invaria- bly one who has worked with and worked for his associates, who has understood and appreciated them, rather than one far distant who by the chance of fortune or fate has attained to a directive capacity.
Of the latter class, the well-beloved leader and loyal co-worker. was the late Charles Clarke Millar, of Savannah, for forty years master car builder for the Central of Georgia Railroad. His long connection with the system as its master car builder was in itself a silent tribute to his ability and character, and there is another silent testimonial to his worth standing beside his grave in the beautiful cemetery at Savannah. It is a monument of chaste but striking design, and bears upon one face the following inscription :
CHARLES C. MILLAR
Died May 5, 1880 Age 64 years.
Erected by the employes of the Central Railroad Car Department, with which he was connected as master ear builder for forty years, in grateful remembrance of his many virtues.
This brief, but beautiful tribute from the grateful hearts of men who were for years intimately associated with Mr. Millar in their daily life, and who knew better than any others what a splendid type of character he possessed, indicates how fondly he was held in the affeetions of his friends and fellow workers.
Charles Clarke Millar was born at St. Mary's, Camden county, Geor- gia, March 19. 1816, and died at Savannah, Georgia, on May 5, 1880. He was a son of Jacob and Lydia ( Pieree) Millar. Jacob Millar was born in Boston, Massachusetts, September 15, 1777, and settled at St. Mary's. Georgia, in 1809. ITe removed to Savannah with his family abont 1837 and died in that city on Angust 29. 1854. His wife, Lydia Pierce. was descended from a long line of prominent New England ancestry, one of her forbears being Capt. Michael Pierce, who was distinguished for his service in King Philip's war. Jacob Millar himself was of English
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ancestry, the members of his family being early settlers in New England and members of the Plymouth colony, and thus of old Puritan stock.
In 1837, the year that he came of age, Charles Clarke Millar came to Savannah, which city continued his home as long as he lived. He entered the railroad service with the Central of Georgia, and in 1840 was appointed master car builder. Ile remained in that position continu- ously as long as he lived, covering a period of forty years, with the exception of the time that he was doing railroad duty for the Confed- eracy during the war between the states. These duties, however. were mainly in connection with the Confederate goverment's use of the Central of Georgia, so that his service with that company was practically continuous. He espoused immediately and unequivocally the cause of the Confederacy when the war broke out, and his sympathies remained strongly with the latter.
As previously noted, his services were eagerly accepted and he was detailed on railroad duty, where his practical knowledge and efficiency made his service a particularly valuable one. During the two scourges of yellow fever in 1854 and in 1876, he remained in the city, attending to his business duties and preserving the routine of affairs, and in addi- tion, aiding the sick and suffering in every possible way. He was a member of the Masons and the Odd Fellows, but took the keenest inter est in the latter organization, partienlarly in its field of charity and practical usefulness. No more faithful member of the order ever was known in the vicinity, and he esteemed it a privilege to encounter a call to aid a sick or needy brother or his family.
His kindness to the distressed or suffering was by means limited to his fraternal affiliations. however. but his bounty was ample and free. He was kind and considerate to his men, and they reciprocated. He possessed a taste for good literature and was an insatiable reader. His well-stocked library was one of his most valued possessions and one that he delighted in, and many of his leisure hours were spent there. com- nuning with the best authors. He was ever ready to lend a good book to any of his hundreds of employes, believing that the inspiration of a good book was one of the best resources of man.
In 1845 Mr. Millar married Miss Mary Letitia Yonge, who was born in Liverpool. England. but at the time of her marriage was a resident of Darien. Georgia. Of their children only one daughter survives the parents. She is Mrs. Carrie Millar Everitt, and she has five children : Edward Millar Everitt, Athol Everitt, Thomas B. Everitt, Horace P. Everitt, and Carrie, the wife of Louis Boyle.
Mr. Millar's brother. Horace P. Millar, was born in St. Mary's in 1826, and died in Savannah in 1867. He. like his brother, was a rail- road man, but was not so well known in Savannah, having lived there for only two years prior to his death. Ile, too, left to his wife and children the heritage of a good name and an honorable record, and one could not ask for more.
JOSEPH HILTON. Standing in the front rank among the more promi- nent and more successful representatives of the lumber interests of Georgia is Joseph Hilton. of Savannah, president of the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, which has become a dominant force in the industrial and commercial life of the South. Starting in life for himself without capital, and without the assistance of influential friends, or the advant- ages that wealth can bring, he has steadily worked his way upward from the ranks. through his own ability and efforts building up this splendid business, which stands as a monument to his years of persistent and systematie application to his work.
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Born in England, October 19, 1842, Mr. Hilton, in 1853, eame to America with his parents, Thomas and Jane (Lachison) Hilton, who located in Darien, Georgia. At the outbreak of the Civil war he en- listed in the MeIntosh Guards, of which he was made captain, and which, as Company B, Twenty-sixth Georgia Infantry, became a part of Stonewall Jackson's corps in the Army of Northern Virginia. Serv- ing during almost the entire period of the conflict in Virginia. he received several promotions, at the time of the surrender, at Appomattox, being adjutant general of Gordon's old division, then under command of Gen. Clement Evans.
After the close of the war, in 1865, Mr. Hilton and his brother, Thomas Hilton, Jr., embarked in the lumber business with their father, in Darien, Georgia, under the firm name of Thomas Hilton & Sons, con- tinuing the sawmill business established by the senior member of the firm before the war. Thomas Hilton, Sr., subsequently retiring from active pursuits, James L. Foster succeeded to his interests, and the firm name was changed to Hilton & Foster. Later this enterprising firm acquired the sawmill business of both Joseph P. Gilson and R. Lachli- son & Son, and continued business under the name of the Hilton Tim- ber & Lumber Company, operating four mills. In 1889 the business was again enlarged by being merged with the interests of Norman W. Dodge, which consisted of two mills on Saint Simon's island. the firm name then becoming the Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company, a name which it retained even after, in 1900, Mr. Dodge disposed of his inter- ests, and retired from business.
In 1901 this corporation purchased the mill of the Vale Royal Manufacturing Company, in Savannah, and in 1906 acquired the Mill Haven lumber mill in Sereven eounty, and in addition to those two plants the company also owned and operated a large three-band mill at Belfast; a mill at Darien; one near Brunswick; and another on the Satilla river.
In the autumn of 1911 the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, of which Mr. Hilton is president, was reorganized and reineorporated with a capital stock of seven and one-half million dollars. Under the previous organization this company had control of the following named plants : the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company of Darien; the Mill Haven Lum- ber Company of Sereven county; the Vale Royal Manufacturing Com- pany of Savannah : the Savannah Mercantile Company ; and the South- ern Export Company of Savannah. The new corporation, with its greatly enhanced capitalization, was organized for the special purpose of bringing all of the business of these subsidiary companies under one head, and to build and operate additional plants, thus enlarging the scope and value of its business. The new charter of the corporation enables it to handle timber lands on a gigantic scale: to acquire and handle agricultural land and town property, and improve the same; to engage in the naval stores industry in all of its branches; to carry on agricultural and live stock business. and other enterprises that are naturally auxiliary to a great humber industry. In 1913 they added a fleet of barges to their equipment at a cost of half a million dollars.
Mr. Hilton married Miss Ida Naylor, who belongs to a prominent and influential family of Savannah, and they have four children. a son, Thomas Hilton, a member of the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, and three daughters, namely: Ida, wife of JJ. Barton Seymour: Ruth, wife of Edmond B. Waiker, and Miss bney G. Hilton.
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