A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 30

Author: Harden, William, 1844-1936
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1208

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Mr. Hagan married. in 1893. Mary P. Holmes, a daughter of B. P. and Lanra (Ludlam) Hohnes, natives of Horry county, South Carolina. Mrs. Hagan died in September, 1904, leaving four children, namely: Lottie, born in 1896: Annie Lanra, born in 1898; Lila, born in 1900; and Lucille, born in 1904. Fraternally Mr. Hagan is a member of Vidalia Lodge, No. 330. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. of Vidalia, which he joined in 1893. and of which he was for five years the secretary ; and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He attends the Baptist church, and is a liberal contributor towards its support.

COL. THOMAS J. PARRISH. An able and influential member of the bar, Col. Thomas JJ. Parrish has won prestige as a lawyer. his broad and comprehensive knowledge of law and of precedents bringing him well incrited success. A native son of Georgia, he was born on a farm in Emanuel county, near Summit, and was there a resident until twenty- two years old.

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Receiving his elementary education in the public schools of Emanuel county, Thomas J. Parrish continued his studies at the Agricultural College of the University of Georgia. in Dahlonega. He afterwards taught school two years. during which time he read law. Going then to Swainsboro, Emanuel county, he entered the office of F. H. Saffold. with whom he studied law until admitted to the bar. under state exami- nation, in March. 1899. Mr. Parrish at once began the practice of his profession in Swainsboro, remaining there until 1905. In that year. at the organization of Toombs county, Mr. Parrish located at Lyons, the · county seat. and has here built up an extensive and highly remunerative practice, being one of the leading lawyers of the city, and attorney for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company. He is active and promi- nent in public matters, and for two years served as mayor of Lyons, giving to the city a clean administration. Fraternally -he is a member of Toombs Lodge, No. 195. Knights of Pythias. and a past councillor. He is an official member of the Methodist church, which he is serving as steward.

Mr. Parrish married Miss Berta Barnes, of Dawson, Georgia. She passed to the higher life, in December, 1907. leaving one child, Thomas J. Parrish, Jr.

Mr. Parrish's father. James M. Parrish, was born in Bulloch county, Georgia, while his wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Dixon, was born in Warren county, Georgia. where during the Civil war her father en- listed for service in the Confederate army.

MORGAN H. CLEVELAND. A public-spirited and esteemed resident of IIazlehurst, Morgan II. Cleveland has for many years been actively associated with the development of the industrial and agricultural inter- ests of Jeff Davis county, and he rendered excellent service as city clerk at Hazlehurst for five months filling an unexpired term. A son of James Monroe Cleveland, he was born, May 22, 1856, on a farm in Stewart county, Georgia, near Lumpkin, coming from patriotic ancestry, his paternal grandfather, Benjamin Cleveland, having served in the Revolutionary war under Gen. Moses Cleveland, being major of his company.

James Monroe Cleveland was born in Franklin county, Georgia, where he grew to manhood. In his earlier life he participated in sev- eral engagements with the Indians, and in 1838 assisted in removing them from Georgia to a place beyond the Mississippi known as Indian Territory. He subsequently served in the Civil war, being commis- sioned as sergeant in a Georgia regiment of troops. He married Cath- erine Wright, a native of South Carolina, and they became the parents of several stalwart sons, as follows: Benjamin, Cromwell, Thomas, William, John, Ulisas, Joseph, Frank and the subject. Besides there were two daughters, Sultina and Eldora.

Brought up on the home farm, Morgan H. Cleveland was an ambi- tious student in his boyhood days, and after leaving the common schools of his native district he attended the State Normal school, in Athens, Georgia. Entering then upon a professional career, he taught school for eight years, being employed not only in Stewart county, but in Brown and Pulaski eonties, as an educator being successful and popu- lar. He has since been an active factor in advancing the agricultural prosperity of Jeff Davis county, owning and supervising an estate, which in its appointments and improvements compares favorably with any in the neighborhood.

Fraternally Mr. Cleveland is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; and religiously he and the family belong to

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the Missionary Baptist church. In 1899, Mr. Cleveland married Mrs. Rahabtuten, of Emanuel county.

JOHN GOLDWIRE MCCALL, LL. D. A man of broad culture and high mental attainments, John Goldwire MeCall, LL. D., of Quitman, is a fine representative of the legal fraternity of Brooks county, and a credit to the profession which he has followed so many years, and with sneh dis- tingnished snecess. A son of Francis S. McCall. he was born, January 18, 1836, in Sereven county, Georgia. He is of Seotch ancestry, his great grandfather on the paternal side having emigrated from Scotland to Ameriea in early colonial days, settling. it is probable in the South, though very little is known of his subsequent history.

Rev. William McCall, father of Francis S. MeCall, was a preacher in the Missionary Baptist church, and was also a planter of note, carry- ing on his agricultural labor with the help of slaves. He lived to a ripe old age, spending the later days of his long and useful life in Sereven county. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Pieree. survived him a few years. They reared eight children. as follows: George, Moses. Charles. Joshua. John, James. Francis S .. and Laura.

A few years after his marriage. Francis S. McCall removed from Sereven county, the place of his birth, to Telfair county, where he took up land, and was for a few years engaged in agricultural labors. Sell- ing his plantation in 1845, he removed to Lowndes county, and there purchased a tract of land that is now ineluded within the boundaries of Brooks eounty, it being situated nine miles south of the present site of Quitman. The family journeyed from one eounty to the other by private conveyances. the household goods having been transported in carts drawn by oxen or horses. At that time all of southern Georgia was but sparsely populated, while deer, bear, wild turkeys, and other game was plentiful. furnishing the new-ecmers with an ample supply of food. Clearing a spaee, he erected a house from timber which was first hewed ten inehes square, and then split with a whip saw that was operated by two of his slaves, one standing on top of the timber and the other below. Railroads. and telegraph and telephone lines were then unknown, and Tallahassee, seventy-five miles away, and Saint Marks. eighty-five miles distant, were the nearest markets and depots for sup- plies. The cotton and other surphis productions of the land had to be taken by team to one of these points, the teamster on his return trip bringing back a load of household supplies. All the sugar used was made at home, and in the smithy which stood upon the plantation a slave made all the plows, wagons and agricultural implements needed for nse in carrying on the place, in the meantime tanning all the leather used for harnesses and shoes. The shoes, however. for the entire family, and for the slaves as well, were made by the typical cobbler of those early days. an Irishman who made the rounds of the new settlement each year. On the farm which he cleared and improved. Francis S. MeCall spent the remainder of his life, passing away in 1876. at the age of sixty-six years.

Francis S. MeCall married Ann Dobson. She was born in Beanfort. South Carolina, where her father. an extensive and wealthy planter: was a lifelong resident. She died in 1901. aged eighty-five years. Thir- teen children were born into their honsehold. as follows: John Gold- wire. James IL .. Rebecca. Jane. Wilson C .. Mary. Elvira. Clementine. Joshma R., Richard M., Thomas B., Harry J .. and Adda.

John Goldwire MeCall received good educational advantages, in 18 -. being graduated from the Union University. in Murfreesboro. Tennes- see. A few months later he was made professor of Greek and Hebrew

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in that same institution, and was successfully filling that chair when war between the states was deelared. Immediately offering his services to the Confederacy. Mr. MeCall was commissioned first lieutenant of Company K, Fiftieth Georgia Volunteer Infantry, and with his regiment joined the Army of the Potomac in Virginia, having command of his company until he was wounded. Immediately after the engagement at Sharpsburg, he was given charge of a section of artillery and of three companies of infantry that were guarding a bridge across Antietam creek, and while. on duty he was severely wounded by a minnie ball passing through his face. He was immediately taken to the hospital for treatment, and during his eonvaleseence he was elected ordinary of Brooks county. Georgia.

Being disabled for further service in the army. Mr. McCall returned to his native state to accept the position to which he had been chosen, and for four years filled the office acceptably to all concerned. While thus employed he studied law, and having been admitted to the bar located in Quitman as a lawyer, and has been in active practice here since, with the exception of four years when he was judge of the city court. Mr. MeCall has been influential in publie affairs, the people hav- ing great confidence in his ability, judgment and discretion. IIe has served as judge of probate for Brooks eounty, and as mayor of Quitman, administering the affairs of each offiee wisely and well. He is president of the board of trustees of Mercer University, which in 1894, conferred upon him the degree of LL. D.

Dr. McCall married, in 1867. Rosa Elizabeth Bobo, who was born in Glenville, Alabama, a daughter of Dr. Virgil and Sarah Hanson (Black) Bobo. She is a sister of IIon. Edward J. Black; and an aunt of Hon. George R. Black, members of congress. Dr. and Mrs. McCall are the parents of five children, namely : Rosa Lee, Rachel Black, Nonnie Bobo, John F. and Edna Florida.

Rosa Lee married John O. Lewis and has five children, Rosa IIunt, Minnie Cleborn, John O., Frank McCall and Virgil Bobo. Rachel Black, wife of Charles F. Cater, has one child, John McCall Cater. Nonnie B. is living with her parents. Edna F., wife of Albert L. Tidwell, has two children, Rose Elizabeth and Edna McCall. Dr. and Mrs. McCall and their family are members of the Missionary Baptist chmureh. In politics the judge is a staneh adherent of the Democratie party.

JOHN AZARIAH MEWBORN. It is always pleasant and profitable to contemplate the career of a man who has made a snceess of life and won the honor and respect of his fellow citizens. Such is the record of the well-known gentleman whose name heads this sketch, than whom a more whole-souled or popular man it would be difficult to find within the limits of the county which is his home. John Azariah Mewborn is not a inan who has exclusively confined his life to one line of endeavor. He was in educational work for twenty years, and after finishing his term as a director of the "yonng idea" he engaged for a short time in the mereantile business. He then first engaged in his present work. insurance, and has been sneeessful as a representative of important companies in the line of life and fire insurance, casualty and loans.

Mr. Mewborn is a native Georgian. His birth having ocenrred in Gwinnett county, on a farm in the vicinity of Laurenville, the date of his nativity being July 15, 1859. The reverberations of the guns of the Civil war echoed about his cradle and many of his relatives par- ticipated in the great conflict between the states, his father losing his life on the field of battle, whence he had bravely gone forth in defense of the cause in which he believed. The subject remained upon the

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paternal homestead until about the age of twenty-four years. He drank of the "Pierian Spring" in the common schools of his district and then entered Gainesville College, from which institution he was graduated in 1888 with the well-earned degree of bachelor of arts. Thereafter he engaged in school teaching, in the state, and as previously mentioned, his pedagogical work extended over a period of a score of years and was of the most enlightened and satisfactory character .. He continued in the mercantile business only for two years and then became representative at Rochelle, whither he had removed in the year 1908, for the Pennsylvania Mutual Life Insurance Company and proving exceedingly successful in this field, he added the general agency for fire insurance, casualty and loans, the latter addition being in the same year. Ile also handles real estate, and has located several families from other states.

Mr. Mewborn is the son of Archibald Marion and Cynthia I. (Noel) Mewhorn, the former a native of Elbert county, Georgia, and the mother of Gwinnett. His maternal forebears were natives of Virginia and of Irish origin and the father's ancestry was English. The father enlisted at the time of the Civil war, was a member of the forty-second Georgia Infantry under Capt. L. P. Thomas and died in the service. His uncle, George Noel. also gave up his life for the cause of the Confed- eracy, but his brother, James, served throughout the dark days of the struggle and is still living at the present time, a veteran and respected citizen. Five paternal uncles, Jeff, James, John V., William M. and Martin C. were among the flower of young southern manhood who testified by enlisting to their conviction in the supreme right of the states to sever their connection with the national government, and all served in Georgia regiments. Martin was severely wounded while in the service.

Mr. Mewborn was happily married on January 24. 1895. his chosen lady being Clara Loveless, daughter of John G. and Sallie (Shockley) Loveless, the latter's father having originated the famous "Shockley apple." Their union has been blessed by the birth of one son, Fay Ellery, born January 8, 1903, and now ten years of age.

Fraternally Mr. Mewborn is a member of the Odd Fellows, and while at school was a member of the Ben Hill debating society. He attends the Methodist church. He is a man of fine character and takes a helpful and publie-spirited interest in the affairs of town. church, county and state, exerting a very definite influence toward their advance- ment.

JUDGE DAVID BASCOM NICHOLSON is one of the most prominent mem- bers of his profession in this scetion of the state and having served since 1906 as judge of the city court. He has earned the reputation of being one of the most learned and impartial of jurists. He has an excellent legal equipment and has also brought to bear the strength of a fine and upright character, so that he has gained and held the inviola- ble confidence and regard of his fellow practitioners and of the general public. While a resident of his native state, North Carolina, he was sent to represent the interests of his county in the state legislature and in that body was recognized as one of its most intelligent and publie-spirited members.

Judge Nicholson was born September 19, 1853. near Magnolia. Dnplin county. North Carolina. He was reared to the age of fifteen years amid the rural surroundings of the father's farm. He received his early education in the public schools and also in private schools and subsequently entered Trinity College, now at Durhan, from which

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institution he was graduated with the class of 1875, receiving the degree of bachelor of arts. He took post-graduate study and ultimately aequired the degree of master of arts. His first adventures as a wage- earner were in the capacity of a school teacher and during his peda- gogieal endeavors he also read law in spare minutes. pursuing this pro- fessional preparation under the direction of Col. W. A. Allen, a dis- tinguished lawyer of Goldsboro, North Carolina. In 1880, the subject was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of North Carolina, and to inaugurate his practice, he removed to Kenansville, the judicial cen- ter of Duplin county, and there remained for two years. He repre- sented Duplin county in the state assembly, as mentioned previously, and was instrumental in bringing about considerable helpful and wise legislation. Following that he removed to Clinton, Sampson county, North Carolina, where he praetieed for ten years, and in 1893 he eame to Abbeville, Georgia, where he resided two years, and then moved to Rochelle, where he has won recognition of the highest eharacter. In that year he was appointed solieitor of the county court of Wilcox county, and he remained in that office until the establishment of the city court in 1896, when he was appointed by Governor Terrell judge of the eity court, and subsequently. in 1908, he was elected to the same office for a term of four years, being at the present time the inenmbent. Wilcox county looks upon this gentleman as an acquisition of great value and no matter with what responsibility entrusted he has never been found wanting.

Judge Nicholson is a son of Rev. David B. Nicholson, a distinguished member of the North Carolina conference of the Methodist Episcopal chureh South, and of his wife, Zilpha (Pearsall) Nicholson, both of these admirable people being natives of North Carolina.

He was happily married in 1876, his chosen lady being Miss Katie Powell, daughter of the late Col. Luke A. and Mary A. (Vann) Powell. Mrs. Nicholson's father was eolonel of a regiment of North Carolina troops in the Civil war, and the record of that gentleman is gallant indeed. The children of Judge and Mrs. Nicholson are: Luke Powell, a locomotive engineer on the Atlantic Coast Line; Edwin Forrest, an electrical engineer of Americus, Georgia : David B., Jr., a Baptist minis- ter of Macon, Georgia ; and James Marvin, a student at Loeust Grove Institute. Justin L. died Mareh 5. 1909, and Mary died April 3. 1911.

Judge Nicholson is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows and at college was a member of Chi Phi fraternity. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. South. and his wife of the Missionary Baptist church at Rochelle. They maintain a household redolent of that warm and wholly charming hospitality for which the South is so justly famed.

WALTER G. BROWN, prominent banker and merchant of Rochelle, has been a resident of this eity since 1898. and has been actively identified with the foremost business interests of the city in the years that have passed sinee his settling here. He was born in Dooley county. near Vienna, on June 1. 1862. and is the son of Judge Ira Brown and his wife, Henriette (Lasseter) Brown. The father was judge of the Dooley county court as long as forty years ago, and was one of the leading men of his community during his lifetime. He later ocenpied the same posi- tion in Wilcox county. There were seven children in the Brown family. of which Walter G. was one. Of his four sisters, but two are living today, Emma and Lney, both married to prosperons farmers of Wil- cox county.

Walter G. Brown received his early education in Dooley county.

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In about 1882 he became interested in the merchandise business and established a store near Abbeville, where he continued for four years. He then located at Seville, remaining there in business for nine years, coming from there to Rochelle. Mr. Brown has prospered in his mer- cantile ventures, and he owns the building where his present business is conducted, a two story brick with a floor space of eighty-five by fifty feet, and boasting the only elevator in Wilcox county. In addition to his flourishing merchandise business, Mr. Brown is owner of the Brown Bank Company of Rochelle. This institution was organized as the Citi- zens Bank in 1908. under the laws of the state. In 1909, when the City Bank had been in operation one year, Mr. Brown bought it out, since which time it has been conducted as a private institution, and it is operated on a sound and conservative basis which has won and retained to it a high standing and the confidence and patronage of the best citizenship of Rochelle.

Mr. Brown was postmaster at Seville, under Grover Cleveland's last administration, a position which he most ably handled, and he has in other positions of a public nature exhibited the same characteris- tie efficiency and trustworthiness which marked his career as postmas- ter, and in the private business which he conducts.

On March 14, 1890. Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Sallie Elizabeth Hardaman, daughter of J. D. Hardaman of Seville, but formerly from northern Georgia. Five children were born of their union, of which number four are living. Birdie died at the age of two years. Walter E., aged sixteen, is a student at the North Georgia Military School. in Dahlonega, Georgia. Annie Wilmer, seven years old; Mildred, aged five, and William, now two years of age, are the remain- ing members of the family.

Mr. Brown is a member of the Masonic fraternity, blue lodge degree, and is one of the most highly esteemed men in Rochelle.

JAMES ALEXANDER BUSSELL, M. D., has been engaged in the practice of medicine since 1893, and since 1896 he has been located at Rochelle, where he has become well and favorably known to the medical fra- ternity and where he has built up a practice in every way consistent with his splendid ability and his high character.

Born in Dooly county, Georgia, in 1873, Dr. Bussell is the son of W. A. and Edith Young ( Raffield) Bussell, both of that county. The father was a veteran of the Civil war. Dr. Bussell is one of eight children, all of whom are living. They are: Lula, the wife of S. J. Barrett of Abba, Georgia; Mariette, married to W. J. C. Brown, also a farmer of Abba; Minnie, married to Medelton Grayham, a farmer of Isaac, Georgia: I. J., a farmer located in Abba: B. R., a doctor of Rochelle; Charles, a farmer living at Abba; James Alexander of this review, and William, a machinist of Abba.

At the age of four weeks James A. Bussell accompanied his parents to Irwin county. where his boyhood was spent, and it was there he received his preliminary educational training, finishing in the Rochelle high school. His medical training he received at the Atlanta Medical College, graduating therefrom with the class of 1893, beginning the active practice of his profession in the same year at Sibbie, Georgia, where he continued for three years. After he had located at Rochelle, Dr. Bussell completed a course in phamaceuties, and for three years or more conducted a drug store in this place, but the remainder of the time has confined his entire attention to his general medical practice.

In October, 1893, Dr. Bussell was married to Miss Ids Coffee, dangh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Coffee. Four children were born to Dr. and

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د بابات على ٩ألوان سائل

Henry Mitchele

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Mrs. Bussell-Harry, Eva Mae, Sallie and James. The wife and mother died in September, 1902, and on January 20, 1904, Dr. Bussell married Mae Coffee, a sister of his first wife. They became the parents of two children-Ethel, born in May. 1907. and Earnest, born in 1905. Mrs. Bussell passed away on September 15, 1910, and Dr. Bussell contracted a third marriage in September of the following year. when Elizabeth Annie Coffee, a sister of his first and second wives, was united to him.

Dr. Bussell is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the F. & A. M., and his wife is a member of the Methodist church, while he is a Baptist.

HENRY MITCHELL. For many years identified with the develop- ment and promotion of the lumber interests of Georgia, Henry Mitchell is now living retired from active pursuits in Waycross, enjoying to the utmost the well-merited reward of his long-continued and unremitting toil. Coming on both sides of the house from a long and honored line of pure Scotch ancestry, he was born, November 11, 1841, in the parish of Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland. a son of William Mitchell.

His Grandfather Mitchell. a tiller of the soil, for many years operated the farm known at "Bartlett field," which was located about six miles north of Perth. He and his wife were both life-long residents of Scotland. They reared five children, one daughter and four sons. The daughter, Helen, married a Mr. White, and spent her entire life in her native country. All of the sons left Scotland, one of them, Henry, settling in London, England; Robert located permanently in Ireland; George came to America, settling in Wellington county, Ontario, Can- ada; and William also immigrated to America.

Born in the parish of Dron, Stirlingshire, Scotland, William Mitcli- ell learned the trade of a tailor when young, and followed it for a num- ber of years in Abernethy, Perthshire. Immigrating to America in 1848, he opened a merchant tailoring establishment in Guelph, province of Ontario, Canada, where he spent his remaining years, passing away at the advanced age of seventy-nine years. He married Jane Kinghorn, who was born in Perthshire, Scotland, of Scotch ancestry, and was there reared and married. Her brother, Joseph Kinghorn, was an expert steamboat engineer, and when the Turks bought steamships in Scotland he went to Turkey on board one of the vessels, and was for several years in the employ of the sultan, teaching the Turks how to operate the ships. Another of her brothers, Henry Kinghorn, immigrated to the United States. and served as foreman of the shipyard in New York when the steamers Atlantic, Pacific, Adriatic and Baltic were under process of construction. He continned a resident of New York nntil his death, and many of his descendants are still living there. Mrs. William Mitchell survived her husband about a year, dying at the age of seventy-nine years. Seven children were born of their union, as follows: William, deceased; Jane, wife of Richard Waldron, of Guelph, Ontario: Henry. the subject of the sketch: David, deceased ; Robert, who was for many years a merchant in Guelph. and is now the postmaster: John, a carriage top manufacturer in Guelph; Helen, wife of Myron W. Burr, of Guelph, a furniture manufacturer, now retired.

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A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 30

Author: Harden, William, 1844-1936 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1208

Author: Harden, William, 1844-1936
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1208