USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 3
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"In his maternal home, and upon the benches wlience had gone forth many who had been instructed by his distinguished relative, Mr. De Renne found opportunity for earnest study. Graduating with honor, and selecting medicine as the profession best suited to his tastes, he became a private pupil of Dr. Samuel Jackson and entered the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania. This college was at that time probably the most noted in the United States, and the facilities there afforded for mastering the mysteries of the healing art were unsurpassed this side of the Atlantic. Mr. De Renne's graduating thesis was entitled 'Theory Concerning the Nature of Insanity.' It was, in 1847, privately
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printed, to the number of forty-eight copies, for special distribution. Striking in thought and composition is this production, indicating an amount of careful research, delicate analysis, and philosophical dednc- tion quite uncommon in one who had barely attained unto his majority. It elicited the praise of his preceptors, who earnestly hoped that his talents and acquirements would be consecrated to the calling which sweeps in its high scope the whole range of physical and moral science. But with Mr. De Renne there was no intention of applying himself to the active pursuit of the profession to the privileges of which he had just been admitted as a doctor of medicine. His affections turned to his island home beneath the Georgia magnolias, and his thoughts were of a quiet. independent life, devoted to the exhibition of hospitality. the pursuit of literature. and the enjoyment of dignified repose.
"Shortly after graduation he repaired to Wormsloe and there fixed his residence. With all its wealth of magnificent live-oaks. palmettoes, pines, cedars and magnolias, with its quiet, gentle views, balmy airs. soft sunlight, swelling tide, inviting prospects and cherished traditions, this attractive spot had uninterruptedly continued to be the home of his ancestors from the date of its original cession from the crown to his great-grandfather, Capt. Noble Jones. Here were the remains of the tabby fortification which he had constructed for the protection of his plantation,-then an outpost of the town of Savannah,-and there. vine covered and overshadowed by oaks and cedars, they will endure for unnumbered years, constituting one of the most unique and interesting historical ruins on the Georgia coast. During his residence at this charming abode, which continued, with occasional absences, until the Iate war between the states. Mr. De Renne gnarded his ancestral domain with the tender care and devotion of a loyal son, adding to the recol- lections of the past literary and cultivated associations in the present, which imparted new delights to the name of Wormsloe.
"His carefully selected library contained works of high repute, and of great rarity in certain departments. His reading was varied and accurate. Communing often with his favorite authors, he maintained an active acquaintance with the ever expanding domain of scientific and philosophical inquiry. His liberal education, enriched by study. travel and observation, enabled him to appreciate and cultivate those standards in literature and art which give birth to the accurate scholar and the capable critic.
"To familiarize himself with the history of Georgia and rescue her traditions from forgetfulness were ever his pleasure and pride. During his sojourn in London he obtained favored access to the records in the various public offices and to the treasures of the British Museum. Thence did he procure copies of all papers throwing light upon the early life of the colony. We have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that in a thorough acquaintance with the history of Savannah and that of Georgia, both as a colony and a state .- he was excelled by none.
"During his residence on the Isle of Hope the literary tastes of Mr. De Renne found expression in the following publications,-with one exception bearing the imprint of Wormsloe,-and executed in the highest style of the printer's art.
"In 1847 he reprinted the rare and valable political tract by George Walton, William Few. and Richard Howley, entitled . Observa- tions upon the effects of certain late political suggestions, by the Dele- gates of Georgia.' Two years afterward appeared the canstic . Observa- tions on Dr. Stevens' History of Georgia.' In 1849 was issned the second of the Wormsloe quartos, entitled 'History of the Province of Georgia ; with Maps of Original Surveys; by John Gerar William
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DeBrahm, His Majesty's Surveyor General for the Southern Distriet of North America.' This was a most valuable publication. DeBrahm's manuscript, from which the portion relating to Georgia was thus printed, exists in the library of Harvard University, at Cambridge, Massaeliu- setts. Mr. De Renne did for Georgia what Mr. Weston has accomplished for South Carolina. The next year the third of the Wormsloe quartos presented the interesting 'Journal and Letters of Eliza Lucas,' the mother of Generals Charles Cotesworth and Thomas Pinckney.
"So eharmed was Mr. De Renne with . A Bachelor's Reverie' by Ik Marvel, that in 1850, by permission of and as a compliment to the author, he had a beautiful edition of twelve copies privately printed.
"In 1851 Mr. De Renne published. as his fourth Wormsloe quarto, the 'Diary of Col. Winthrop Sargent, Adjutant General of the United States Army during the Campaign of 1791.' Only such portion of the diary was printed as related to St. Clair's expedition. Of these quartos but a very limited edition was printed, and the copies were donated to famous libraries and placed in the hands of favored friends. Of the first quarto there are only twenty-one copies; of the second, forty- nine ; of the third, nineteen : and of the fourth, forty-six. They are all remarkable specimens of typography and literary taste; and, in addi- tion to the historieal value they possess, are highly esteemed because of their rarity.
"Soon after the ineeption of the war Mr. De Renne transferred his residence from Wormsloe to the city of Savannah. The desolations consequent upon the failure of the Confederate eause pressed sorely upon the coast region of our state, sadly altering the conveniences of life, changing the whole theory of our patriarchial eivilization, and begetting isolation and solitude where formerly existed inviting man- sions,-the centres of sympathies and social life which in their essential characteristies can never be revived.
"His residenee in Savannah,-the abode of the choicest hospitality, within whose walls dwelt eomfort. refinement and elegance most attrae- tive,-could never in his affeetions snpplant the love he eherished for the old homestead on the Isle of Hope. During the winter and spring, one day in each week he dedicated to the sweet influences of Wormsloe, where secluded from the turmoil of busy life. he surrendered himself to the eontemplation of seenes and the revivifieation of memories upon which time had placed its seal of eonseeration.
"Of the publie spirit which characterized Mr. De Renne as a citizen of Savannah,-the publie spirit of a high-toned, independent gentleman solieitious for the general welfare, yet courting neither personal advant- age nor political preferment .- of the sterling qualities which he exhibited in the business affairs of life and in the administration of his ample fortune,-of the active and intelligent interest he manifested in every- thing promotive of the material and intellectual progress of the city,- of his many charities, unheralded at the times of their dispensation. I may not speak. They are fresh in the recollection of us all. Were he here he would tolerate no mention of them, and now that he is gone. as his friend. I will do no violence to his known wishes.
"I cannot refrain, however, from reminding you of two princely gifts which will identify his memory with Savannah so long as human structures endure. I refer to his munificent donation of a commodious and substantial building on West Broad street to be used as a public school for the education of the children of citizens of African descent. and to his presentation, to the Ladies' Memorial Association, of that admirable bronze statue of a Confederate soldier which surmounts the momiment erected by fair hands in the military parade of Savannah in honor of our Confederate dead.
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"A meeting of the Ladies' Memorial Association was held June 3d, 1879, at six o'clock. at the lecture room of the Independent Presbyterian church, when, after the transaction of the usual routine of business, the following communication from Mr. G. W. J. De Remie was submitted by the president and ordered to be read: .
"SAVANNAH, MAY 21. 1879.
"To the President of the Ladies' Memorial Association, Savannah :
"'MADAM: In pursuance of the proposition made and accepted in April of last year, I now present to the Ladies' Memorial Association a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier.
"'It represents him as he was,-marked with the marks of service in features, form and raiment :- a man who chose to be rather than to seem, to bear hardship than to complain of it :- a man who met with unflinching firmness the fate decreed him, to suffer, to fight and to die in vain.
".I offer the statue as a tribute to the "MEN" of the Confederate army. Without name or fame or hope of gain, they did the duty appointed them to do. Now, their last fight fought, their suffering over, -they lie in scattered graves throughout our wide Southern land, at rest at last, returned to the bosom of the loved Mother they valiantly strove to defend.
" 'According to your faith, believe that they may receive their reward in the world to come :- they had none on earth.
"'With the expression of iny profound respect for those women of the South who, true to the dead, have sought to save their memory from . perishing, I am, madam,
Very respectfully, etc., G. W. J. DE RENNE.'
"The following resolutions were then offered and unanimously adopted by a rising vote:
" 'Whereas our fellow citizen, G. W. J. De Renne, has presented to this association the bronze statue of a Confederate soldier now crowning the monument erected in the military parade of this city to the memory of the soldiers who perished for the cause they held more precious than life ;
" 'Therefore. Resolved, that we, as members of this association, indi- vidually and as a body, do hereby unanimously express our grateful appreciation of this noble gift; recognizing its great merit not only as a work of art, but as a signal ornament to our beloved city, and as a valued contribution to the public sentiment worthy of the munificent and soleinn purpose of the donor.
"' 'Resolved, that we do hereby accept this tribute with profound gratitude, and, in the name of all who are true to these heroic dead, we reverently consecrate it to the memory of the Confederate army who 'went down in silence.'
" 'Resolved, that two copies of these proceedings be signed by each of the officers of this association ;- one copy to be presented to G. W. J. De Renne, Esq., and the other to the Georgia Historical Society, with the request that it may be placed for preservation in the archives of the society.
HENRIETTA COHEN, President. S. C. WILLIAMSON, Treasurer.
S. C. MANN, Secretary.'
"Thus are the name, the generosity and the patriotism of G. W. J. De Renne indissolubly linked with the holiest monument erected within the confines of the monumental city :- a monument redolent of the
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prayers, the loves and the tears of mother, wife, sister, daughter ;- a monument crystallizing in towering and symmetrical form the memories of the Confederate struggle for independence; a monument standing as a spotless, imperishable, just tribute to our Confederate dead."
HON. CHARLES GORDON EDWARDS. In March, 1907, there took his place in the Congress of the United States, representing the First District of Georgia. a young statesman of the type upon which the south founds its hope-the Hon. Charles Gordon Edwards, of Savannah. So excel- lent was the record made by him in the Sixtieth Congress that he was returned at the next election. He is particularly well fitted by nature and training for the duties of his office and combines in himself the theoretical and practical, which produces the man who begets great ideas and knows how to make them realities. He has carried with him to the National Assembly well defined and unfaltering ideas of duty towards his constituents and is in refreshing contrast to the self-seeking politician who has proved the menace of modern society. In truth he has been very successful in keeping his political skirts free from cor- ruption. As a lawyer he has already taken rank among the most able in the city.
Mr. Edwards is a native son of Georgia, his birth having occurred in Tattnall county. July 2, 1878. His parents are the Hon. Thomas .I. and Annie (Conley) Edwards, who reside at Daisy. Tattnall county. the former being. indeed, a life-long resident of that section. Ile served with distinction as a Confederate soldier in the war between the states, enlisting as a member of the Fifth Georgia Cavalry, but early in the great conflict he became a courier on the staff of Gen. Bob Anderson, in which capacity he spent the greater part of his army service. He beeame one of the best known and most highly trusted couriers in the Confederate army, his services taking him from northern Virginia through the Carolinas and Virginia to Florida. His military career it would be impossible to exceed in interest, filled as it was with thrilling adventures and escapes from the enemy. The forbears of the subject , on both sides of the family have for many years been identified with this part of the south. His paternal grandfather. Dr. William II. Ed- wards, was one of the pioneers of the county and assisted in laying the paths straight and clean for the coming of latter day civilization. His great-grandfather. Willis F. Edwards, was a soldier in the Continental line from North Carolina in the Revolutionary war, and at the con- dłusion of his services in the cause of independence, he settled in Georgia. The maternal grandfather. Rev. William Fletcher Conley, also a pioneer of Tattnall county. assisted in the suppression of the Indians. He was a son of William F. Conley, a Virgiman and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Thus it will be seen that the gentleman from Georgia is a thorough American, which in this day of foreign in- vasion is coming to be a notable distinction. He has inherited the patriotism of his ancestors and is very loyal to American institutions.
Mr. Edwards received an excellent education, attending the Gordon Institute at Barnesville, Georgia : the University of Florida: and the University of Georgia. Ile graduated in the law department of the latter in the class of 1898, receiving the degree of B. L. He immediately began the practice of law at Reidsville. the county seat of Tattnall county, where he remained until December, 1900, in which year he located permanently in the city of Savannah. Here he soon found the recognition to which his gifts entitled him. Upon first arriving he formed a partnership with Capt. R. J. Travis and later with A. L.
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Alexander. The latter partnership existed until his election to Con- gress.
In the election of 1906. Mr. Edwards was elected to Congress, repre- senting the First District of Georgia and throughout the city there was at that time and still persists a conviction that the right man had triumphed and that the interests of the people would be well represented. He took his seat in the National Assembly on March 4. 1907. as a member of the Sixtieth Congress. IIe was reelected in 1909 and on March 4. 1910, became a member of the Sixty-first Congress. At the time of his appearance in the Sixtieth Congress he was the youngest member of that body. Mr. Edwards has in every way justified the confidence of his constituents and has made a fine record for practical usefulness. all of which has made him justly beloved in Savannah and throughout the First District. IIe is a member of the important Rivers and Harbors Committee, one of the seven big committees of the House. He is also a member of the Committee on Elections. in which committee he is ranking Democrat, ranking next to the chairman. He is identified with the Com- mittee on Alcohol Liquor Traffic and he has taken part in the enactment of much important legislation. At home, in state affairs, it was largely through his agitation. eloquent and logical, that the Georgia State Drainage Law was enacted, under which a vast acreage of rich land. particularly in the vicinity of Savannah and in southeast Georgia is being scientifically drained and reclaimed for agricultural purposes. As such land is now practically waste land the beneficence of this meas- ure will readily be seen, and will conduce in material fashion to the prosperity of the section. It will result not only to adding greatly to the agricultural wealth of the state by coming under cultivation, but it will also have a tendency to decrease malaria and other diseases arising from low, swampy and flooded lands.
Besides his work as a statesman and in the law profession. Mr. Ed- wards in commercial life has substantial interests in naval stores, saw mills, farming and banking. He was formerly a member of the Ogle- thorpe Light Infantry in Savannah, in which he became a lieutenant. He is a member of Epworth Methodist Episcopal church, and a trustee of the Southern Methodist College at McRae, Georgia. He has many fraternal and social affiliations. being identified with Sigma Nu frater- nity, the Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, the Elks. the Oglethorpe Club, the Georgia Bar Association. the Savannah Bar Association. the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and he is also a Knight Templar Mason and a Shriner.
Mr. Edwards was happily married December 17, 1902, his chosen lady being Miss Ora Beach, of Waveross, Georgia, daughter of Ilon. William W. and Margie ( Hinson) Beach. They share their hospitable and attractive home with one son, Charles Beach Edwards.
HON. WILLIAM W. OSBORNE is a member of the firm of Osborne & Lawrence, general practitioners of law. The firm has been general counsel for the Savannah Electric Company, which has operated the street railway system since 1897. Mr. Osborne has been a member of the state legislature from Chatham county. session of 1892-93, and state senator in the session of 1894-95. While in the lower honse he was chair- man of the committee on immigration and in the upper, chairman of the committee on railroads.
Mr. Osborne was born at Graniteville. October 19. 1867. His par- ents were John II. H. and Mary Stoney ( Wilson) Osborne. The former was born at Sparta. Georgia, and the latter in Savannah, Georgia. In his early childhood, Mr. Osborne removed with his parents to Savannah.
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He was reared in this city. Here he received his public school educa- tion, graduating from the high school in 1882. For his higher educa- tion he became a student in Mercer University at Macon in 1882 and 1883. The following year hie entered the University of Georgia at Athens, from which institution he was graduated in 1885. With the idea of adopting the law as his profession he entered the law office of Denmark & Adams and was admitted to the bar on December 7, 1886. For a time he practiced alone, but subsequently formed a partnership with the late Pope Barrow, a gentleman of many distinctions, who had been United States senator and who later beeame judge. This part- nership continued from. 1894 until 1902, and in the year last mentioned, Mr. Osborne formed a second partnership with Alexander L. Lawrence, which has eontinued to this day.
In 1906, Mr. Osborne organized the Exchange Bank of Savannah, and is president of the same. In 1910-1911, Mr. Osborne was elected to the office of president of the Georgia Bankers' Association. In addition to the foregoing honors, Mr. Osborne was elected and served as solicitor general for the eastern eireuit, superior court, for three terms of four years each, his tenure of office extending over the period comprised within the dates January 1, 1896, and Jannary 1, 1908.
Mr. Osborne was married in 1894 to Miss Louette Dale. They have two daughters: Kate Dale and Mary Stoney.
GEORGE J. MILLS. One of Savannah's leading citizens is George J. Mills, who has come to attain an admirable and influential position among the able financiers of the eity. The success attained in his busi- ness enterprises has been greatly owing to his steady persistence, stern integrity and excellent judgment, qualities which eause him to take rank with the eminent men in this section of the state, besides winning for him the confidence and esteem of the public to a marked degree. Mr. Mills was born in this eity on the 7th day of June, 1850, the son of Capt. J. G. and Hettie Mariah (Cope) Mills. Captain Mills was born at St. Marys, Camden county, Georgia. For a long number of years before the war, he was a prominent figure in maritime affairs on the Atlantic ocean. Starting as a youth before the mast. he was promoted through his own merit and efficiency to higher positions and beeame the master of a sailing vessel. Later Captain Mills went into the ocean shipping business for himself; he established and for several years was the owner of the Mills line of sailing vessels, operating between Savan- nah and Liverpool, and in this business he accumulated a comfortable fortune, all the more creditable from the faet that he started in with nothing. The Mills line of sailing vessels had to go out of business on aceount of the war, and after the termination of seetional hostilities, Captain Mills became a member, with his brother, of the firm of T. R. & J. G. Mills. cotton merchants of Savannah; which business was continued until about 1874, when Captain Mills retired from active business life. He died on September 24, 1880.
Mr. Mills is bound to Savannah by all the most important associa- tions of life. He was reared and educated in the city of his birth and has been in business here ever since he became of age. He found his first field of ocenpation in his father's cotton business, and afterward. with the elder gentleman went into the private banking business, in which he continued after the demise of Captain Mills. His unusually fine business qualifications have brought success to a number of enter- prises. He is, a capitalist, having large financial interests in various important commercial and industrial concerns and he is one of the financial bulwarks of Savannah. He is chairman of the Sinking Fund
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Commission of Savannah. He was made a member of this commission in 1907, and has served upon it continuously since that time. He is a director of the Central of Georgia Railway; a director of the Merchants' National Bank; and a director, or stockholder in various other corpora- tons. He has also acted efficiently and with publie spirit in various philanthropie movements in the city and is president of the Savannah Hospital Association and a director of the Savannah Port Society. He is chairman of the board of trustees of the Independent Presbyterian church. Regarded as a citizen, Mr. Mills belongs to that useful and helpful type of men, whose ambitions and desires are centered and directed in those channels through which flows the greatest and most permanent good to the greatest number. His sympathies are ever with his less fortunate brothers and with no one is the betterment of the "other half" a more vital issue.
Mr. Mills was married in Savannah, Miss Euphemia F. Postell, member of a prominent South Carolina family of that name, becoming his wife. Mrs. Mills is a sister of that well-known gentleman, Col. C. Postell, of Savannah. Their daughter, Sarah C., is the wife of Henry W. Hodge, a civil engineer and bridge builder of New York City.
HON. GEORGE W. TIEDEMAN. Savannah for three elections chose the same man for her chief executive. Such confidence is sufficient proof of the worth of the Hon. George W. Tiedeman, ex-mayor of Sa- vannah. Before becoming identified with the civie affairs of the city, Mr. Tiedeman had won prominence as an able and energetic business man, and he has carried his methods of doing business into the direction of the city's affairs. His administration was productive of many public improvements. and was particularly diligent in measures for the protec- tion of the public health and the proper sanitation of the city, and for its freedom from bribery and misuse of funds, such as most American cities of today have to endure. The movement for a "Greater Savan- nah" received the most enthusiastic support from the administration, and the great stride forward that Savannah has taken in recent years is due in no small part to the personal influence of Mr. Tiedeman. His whole administration not only thought for the present but made prep- aration for the future. In the optimistic mind of Mr. Tiedeman, there has never been the least doubt but that Savannah would have a promi- nent place among the greater American cities and in his plans for her welfare lie looked far ahead and attempted to meet the demands of such a city as it now seems certain Savannah will become. In short. to quote the words of William Harden, the administration of Mr. Tiedeman "has been essentially a constructive administration."
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