A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 33

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

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July 21, 1861, Mr. Avera married Mrs. Mary ( Young) MeElbeen, who represents one of the old and prominent families of south Georgia. She was born in Thomas county, September 29, 1830, and is a grand- daughter of William and Mary ( Henderson) Young. William Young in 1775, when the colonies were preparing to revolt from British rule, was a member of the council of safety at Savannah and on July 4th of that year represented the town and district of Savannah in the first assem- bling of the provincial congress. He was afterwards a planter of Sereven county, where he spent his last days. Michael Young, son of this patriot and father of Mrs. Avera, was born in Sereven county, January 16, 1797, later settled in Bulloch county, and in 1828 came and made settlement in the new county of Thomas. With wagons and other pri- vate conveyances he and his family and slaves arrived in what was then an almost unbroken wilderness, and the household camped in the forest while he and his helpers eut trees and made a log-cabin home. His location was three miles west of Thomasville. The Indians were still lingering in these hunting grounds, and all this part of the state was largely as nature had made it, so that Michael Young and his family were among those who bore the brunt of pioneer work and helped to prepare this region for the uses of subsequent generations. Michael Young had participated in one Indian war before coming here, and was engaged in another during the thirties. He cleared large tracts of land and resided in this vicinity until his death, which occurred August 24, 1856. He also was a member of the legislature and as there were no railroads here then he had to make the journey on horse- back. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Everett, who was a native of Bulloch county, and her death occurred on April 14. 1876. Her parents were Joshua and Jane (Carter) Everett. who, so far as known, were lifelong residents of Bulloch county. Michael Young and wife reared nine children, namely: James Everett, America. Remer. William Joshna. Mary Jane, Thomas JJones, John Carter. Sarah Lavinia and Michael Henderson. The sou John C. died while in school at La- Grange.

Mary JJ. Young was first married, in 1850, to William Henry MeEl- been, who was born in Decatur county, Georgia, was reared on a farm, and on beginning his independent career bought land in his native county, where he and his wife lived until his death at the age of thirty-

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five .. After the death of her husband Mrs. McElbeen with her three children returned to her parents in Thomas county. In 1857 coming to what is now Brooks county, where a brother had previously settled, she bought a traet of land to which the Quitman city limits have since been extended. At that time there was not a honse on the present site of Quitman and the whole neighborhood was a pine forest. With the aid of her slaves she began improving her land. and her home for more than half a century has been on the estate which she thus . under- took to develop. Log houses were the first homes both for her family and her slaves, but these have long since given way to comfortable frame dwellings. Her own home is a commodious colonial residence, situated well back from the street and in the midst of fruit and shade trees and is one of the most attractive homes in this vicinity.

The three children by her first marriage were Sarah America, Wil- liam Henry and Susan Tallulah McElbeen. William Henry, born in 1853, died unmarried in 1881. Sarah America, born in 1851, married Dr. D. L. Rieks, and at her death on December 16, 1901, left eight chil- dren, namely : Mary Tallulah, William L., Eunice, Ethel, Cora Lee, Leila, Josie and Hugh. Susan Tallulah, who was born May 29, 1855, and died in 1895, married Joel K. Hodges, and left four children- Mary Effie, Clara Mec, Lula Me. and Joel K.

Mr. and Mrs. Avera have reared four children-Clara Lavinia. James Walter, John Randolph and Charles Young. James W. married Maggie McMullen, and their three children are Mary Mec, Walter and James West. John R. married Beulah Whittington, and they are the parents of seven children, named Kathleen. Mary Jane, Virginia, John Randolph, Beulah, Benjamin W. and Dougald McDonald. Charles Y. first married Florrie McMullen, who died leaving two children, Maggie Daisy and Charles Young: and for his second wife he married Bertice Smith, and has one son, Henry Randolph, and a daughter, Ruth.

Mrs. Avera has five great-grandchildren. Her granddaughter, Mary Effie Hodges, married Joseph Austin Walker and has three children, Mary Bealer, Emma and Susan Tallulah. Her grandson, William L. Hicks, married Estelle Benedict and has a son Charles. Three other of her granddaughters are married-Cora Hicks, who married Mathew Fleming, Mary Mec Avera, who married Walter T. Horne, and Kath- leen Avera married Paul C. Smith. To be the head of such a family is a proud distinction. Mrs. Avera is a member of the Methodist church, as are all the children except one, who is a Baptist.

ERASMUS DOUGLAS WHITE. The town of Dublin, Georgia, has since the year 1896 known the operations of Erasmus Douglas White along varied lines of enterprise and activity. As a member of the firm of White & White, which carries on one of the principal business concerns in the city, he is prominent and popular, while he is not less a leading figure in the administration of the affairs of the city. He has served as a member of the council. as mayor pro tom. and has been in charge of the municipal water and lights departments, and in all those lines of activity he has shown himself an ideal citizen and an excellent man of business.

Erasmus Douglas White was born in Sereven county, near what is now called Middleground Postoffice, on November 24. 1865, and he is the son of Erasmus Downing and Mary Elizabeth (Southwell) White, both of whom were born in Sereven county. The father was born in 1836 and died in 1908, while the mother still lives and makes her home in Sylvania, Georgia. They became the parents of ten children, of which number two are deceased. The father was a farmer, and passed

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his life in that vocation, and he was also a veteran of the civil war, having served in the Confederate army.

The early education of Erasmus D. White was secured in the coun- try schools of Sereven county. and he alternated his school attendance with work on the home farm. With the close of his school period he gave himself to the continued work of farming and therein was oceu- pied until he reached the age of thirty years, and it was about then that he first came to Dublin. His first association with the business interests in the city was in the capacity of a grocer, and after some little time he closed out his grocery interests and accepted a posi- tion as superintendent of the light and water plants of the city. He also served as clerk of the city council, and a period of seven years was passed in these connections. For four years he was buyer for the Four Seasons Department Store, and in 1909 he purchased the business of which he had been manager for some time, and with O. D. White, is now engaged in conducting that business. Mr. White is also interested in agricultural activities and owns some of the best farm land in the vicinity.

Mr. White has given valued serviee to the city in many capacities. As a member of the city council in 1907 and 1908 he had a voice in one of the most successful administrations that the city has known, and during that time served as mayor pro tem. He has served as chairman of the street commissioners and of the light and water com- mittees, and in 1910 was elected to the state legislature from his distriet. During that time he was a member of the committee on appropriations, the judiciary committee, the education committee, and the banking committee. Mr. White is distinctly in favor of com- pulsory education, and his opinions and influence bear no little weight in' all circles of thinking people in Dublin.

On April 11, 1888, Mr. White was married to Miss Sarah J. McGee, a daughter of William H. and Rebecca McGee of Sereven county. To them eight children have been born, named as follows: Eugene D., Rufus Lester, Tessie Sibley Lamar. Christopher Gadson, Cathleen, Brig- ham McGee, and William Herschel.

Mr. and Mrs. White are members of the Methodist church, and bear an active and worthy part in the activities of that body. They are among the more prominent of the citizenship of Dublin, and in this eity enjoy the friendship of a large circle of people, where they occupy a leading part in the best social activities of the community.

HON. ALBERT M. DEAL. To have lived honorably and well. to lrave employed to advantage the talents with which he was endowed and to have served his fellow men with distinetion in various capacities has been the record of Hon. Albert M. Deal, of Statesboro, Bulloch county, Georgia. Although still on the sunny side of the half-century mark he has fufilled all the duties of citizenship, has helped to frame the laws for his constituents and assists in their administration. His abilities have won him substantial recognition and in his distriet he is today considered a type of the honorable, dignified Sonthern gentleman.

Statesboro was not the place of nativity of Mr. Deal. although he has spent the greater portion of his life there. He was born in 1868 in the nearby community of Stilson, also in Bulloch county. His parents were John and Susan ( MeElveen) Deal, the former a native of Bulloch county and now deceased. He was the son of James Deal, who was born in eastern Tennessee and who came as a boy with his father. Simon Deal. to Burke county, Georgia.

The Deals are one of the old families of this county. The great-

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great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was John Deal, one of three brothers who came to America not long before the Revolutionary war and took possession of a little island in Chesapeake bay, a part of Virginia. They located on this detached bit of the commonwealth and it is still known as Deal's island. John Deal subsequently went to North Carolina and thence to eastern Tennessee.

Albert M. Deal was reared on the Deal place near Stilson and attended the local schools. He then took a two years' course in the academie department of Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, graduating in the schools of history and political science. Ile also studied law in that department of the same university, gradu- ating in the class of 1896. This was the last class taught by: John Randolph Tucker, who died the following year.

In 1896 Mr. Deal began the practice of his profession in Statesboro. the county seat of Bulloch county, and has been so engaged since that time. The bar of Statesboro is notable for its high standing in the matter of ability and for maintaining the best ethics of the profession, and among these gentlemen Mr. Deal achieved and has ever maintained a position of the highest standing.

His knowledge of law. coupled with no little ability as a public speaker and a wide acquaintance among the people naturally drew his attention toward public affairs. He was solicitor for the. county court of Bulloch county and later was chosen as county commissioner, serv- ing several years. For five years, beginning with 1900, he was a mem- ber of the state legislature. representing Bulloch eounty. In the general assembly inneh of his duties was concerned with the judiciary eom- mittee, of which he was a member. He was one of the first to see the advantage of utilizing the labor of prisoners in making good roads. He had passed a special act by which Bulloch county was enabled to follow this plan. in advance of the general legislation on that subject which was later enacted.

Although his profession is that of the law, Mr. Deal's largest inter- ests are those of agriculture. Reared on the farm, he has never given up his interest in or direct connection with the farming industry. Incorporated under the name of John Deal Company, he and other members of his family own over five thousand aeres of agricultural land near Stilson. on which they carry on extensive farming, operating principally in cotton.

In addition to this Mr. Deal's home place. a mile and a half south of Statesboro, is a fine farm of 154 acres. His residence here is an extensive and commodious structure of modern type, fitted up with every convenience. It is regarded as one of the most attractive coun- try seats in Bulloch county. Nearby. on the east. are the buildings and lands of the first congressional district agricultural school, credit for the successful establishment of which at Statesboro was largely due to Mr. Deal's enterprise and public spirit. He headed the list with a subscription of $1.000 toward a fund for the purchase of three hundred acres of land to be given in order to assure the loca- tion of the school in this community. This find grew to something over $100,000, contributed by citizens of Statesboro and of Bulloch eounty.

Mr. Deal holds membership in the Presbyterian church and in his social relations belongs to the Masonie fraternity and K. of P. He was married in Stilson to Miss Azalia Mae Strickland, a native of Bulloch county, and they have tive children-Roscoff, Stothard. William J. S., Ruby An and Ewell Morgan.

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COL. J. MONROE BUSSELL. The young gentleman whose name stands at the head of this brief review is one of the promising members of his profession and at the present time holds the office of city attorney of Rochelle. In no profession is there a career more open to talent than is that of the law, and in no field of endeavor is there demanded a more careful preparation, a more thoroughi appreciation of the abso- lute ethics of life or of the underlying principles which form the basis of all human rights and privileges. Unflagging application and deter- mination fully to ntilize the means at hand are the eoneomitants which insure personal success and prestige in this great profession, which stands as the stern conservator of justice; and it is one into which none should enter withont a recognition of the obstacles to be eneountered and overcome and the battles to be won, for success does not perch on the banner of every person who enters the competitive fray, but comes only as the legitimate result of capacity. Possessing the requisite quali- ties of the able lawyer, Mr. Bussell doubtless has a successful career ahead of him.

He is a native son of the state, his birth having occurred on March 13, 1885, near Fitzgerald, Irwin county, Georgia, on a farm. His parents were J. M. Bussell and Mrs. Frances C. Bussell whose maiden name was Hill. Amid the seenes of his birth Colonel Bussell passed the roseate days of early youth, there remaining until sixteen years of age. He received his early edneation in the public schools and subse- quently entered the school at Norman Park, where he studied for a time. He drank deeper of the "Pierian Spring" in the Georgia Nor- mal College and the business institute at Douglas, Georgia, and then entered Mercer University where he prepared for the profession to which he hoped to devote his life. He entered in 1907 and was gradu- ated in 1911 with the well-earned degree of LL. B. While in college he was associated with no fraternity institution. Shortly after he located at Fitzgerald, where he remained but five months and then came to his present location at Rochelle, where he is engaged in gen- eral praetice and where in the month of March he was elected to the office of city attorney, and re-elected in January, 1913.

Colonel Bussell is one of a large family of children. His brother, J. A. Bussell. has for forty years been a farmer near Fitzgerald; a sister, Mahalie E .. is the wife of Charles F. Dement ; Isabella is the wife of J. Walter Ballenger: Amie E. is the wife of J. M. Fountain; and Pollie M. married Y. S. Gibbs, all of the aforementioned gentlemen being farmers in the vicinity of Fitzgerald.

Colonel Bussell is a member of the Missionary Baptist church, South. He is popular in the community; well informed, cordial and engaging.

JOHN CALVIN MAY. A young man of exeellent ability and sonnd judgment, John Calvin May is identified with one of the leading mer- eantile enterprises of Toombs connty. as part owner, and the manager, of the Vidalia Furniture Company, of Vidalia, carrying on an extensive and highly remunerative business. A son of John May, he was born September 18, 1880. in Russell county, Alabama, near the state line. and not far from Columbus, Georgia.

John May was born in Sumter county, Georgia. October 5. 1844. and was there reared to agrienltural pursuits. In 1876 he moved to Alabama, and is still a resident of that state. During the Civil war he enlisted in Company F. Sixth Georgia Volunteer Infantry, which became a part of Colquitt's Brigade, and with his command partici- pated in many engagements of importance. On September 30, 1864, at Fort Harrison. Virginia, he received wounds of such serions nature Vol. 11-15

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that he was unfitted for further duty in the army. He was twiee mar- ried. He married first. October 23, 1868, Georgia Powell, who passed to the life beyond December 22, 1870. He married second, Fannie Powell, and they are the parents of six children, as follows: Lilla, wife of E. W. MeLendon, a prominent planter of Omaha, Georgia; John Calvin, the special subject of this brief sketch; Georgia died at the age of ten years; Charles W. died at the age of twenty years, hav- ing received injuries that proved fatal while playing football at the Auburn, Alabama, Polytechnic Institute; Marie, a successful teacher in Russell county, Alabama; and Louise, who married Thomas Kirbo, of Omaha, Georgia, where they live, he being an extensive farmer and merchant. These children all received excellent educational advantages, with the exception of John Calvin, who began to hustle for himself when young, instead of continuing his studies.

Leaving the home plantation when eighteen years of age, John Calvin May began life for himself as a clerk in a general store, and subsequently located at Omaha, Stewart county, where he bought out Lee Kirbo, and was engaged in mercantile business for eight years. Coming from there to Vidalia in 1910, Mr. May, in partnership with Charles E. Adams and John L. Sneed, organized the Vidalia Furniture Company, the only exclusive furniture house in this part of Toombs county, and has since been manager of the large business built up by this wide-awake firm. This company occupies a floor space of six thous- and, four hundred feet, which is devoted entirely to the display of its stock, which is valued at $5,000.00, and includes house furnishings of every description, from the kitchen to the parlor and the bed-rooms.

Mr. May was postmaster at MeLenden, Georgia, for two years, where he had a branch store, and was there at the same time, from 1903 until 1905, agent for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company. He belongs to the Vidalia Chamber of Commerce, an organization of energetic and progressive business men, and is vice president of the Vidalia Ice & Coal Company, in which he is the heaviest stockholder. Fraternally he is . a member, and master, of Vidalia Lodge, No. 330, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, which consists of one hundred members, and in which he has passed all the chairs: a member of the Oriental Order of Pilgrim Knights; and is a member, and master of finance, of the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. May married first, February 5, 1902, Maggie W. Lee. a daugh- ter of Mrs. Sallie J. Lee, of Concord, Pike county, Georgia. Of the five children born of their union, three died in infancy ; John C. May, Jr., and Louis R. survive. Mr. May married second, June 29, 1908, Martha E. Powell, a young lady of sixteen years, a daughter of Henry M. Powell, of Omaha, Georgia. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. May, namely : Louis Ouida, who lived but one short year ; and Marjorie Deane. .

SILAS MORTON YOUNG. A life of industry and usefulness was that of Silas Morton Young, who for many years was a successful farmer resident of Brooks county and is now deceased. He represented some of the oldest and most prominent families of Georgia.

He was born in Lowndes county on April 3. 1850. The Young family has been identified with Georgia since before the Revolution. William Young, great-grandfather of Silas ML .. was appointed to the council of safety in Savannah on Time 22, 1775. and three weeks later represented the town and distriet of Savannah in the meeting of the provincial congress. Ile was later a planter in Sereven county. He

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married Mary Henderson, and both he and his wife were buried on a hill overlooking the valley of the Ogeechee river in Sereven county.

James Young, the grandfather, whose birthplace was probably in Sereven connty, during his young manhood moved to Bulloch county, where he bought land and was engaged in farming with a number of slaves. Ile afterwards bought the Jones homestead adjoining his first purchase, and there he and his wife spent their last days. He mar- ried Lavinia Jones, through whom another old Georgia family is prop- erly introduced into this record. IIer grandfather, Francis Jones, a native of Wales, who came to America in colonial times, lived for awhile in Virginia, and then became a pioneer settler of Burke county, Georgia. The deed to his land, given by the King of England and bearing the date of 1765, is now in possession of the descendant who owns the old homestead at Herndon, Burke county. Late in life Fran- cis Jones, having given this original homestead to a son, moved to Sereven county, where he bought a considerable tract of land. He finally went on a visit to Virginia, where he died and was buried. He was twice married, the first time in Wales to Mary Robins, and second to Elizabeth Huckabee. Three children were born of the first wife, and seven of the second. and one of the latter was James Jones, the father of Lavinia, who married James Young. James Jones was born in Burke county in 1764 and on September 27, 1791, married Elizabeth Mills. They settled in Bulloch county, where he bought land and was engaged in farming until his death, after which his widow sold the estate and with some of her children came to Lowndes county. James Young and wife reared ten children. The only one now living is Sarah A., the widow of James Oliver . Morton (see sketch elsewhere) .

Mathew Young, the son of James and father of Silas M., was a native of Bulloch county, where he was reared and married, and afterward came into southwest Georgia as one of the early settlers of Lowndes county. This was then a wilderness region, where wild game and Indians still abounded, and long before the railroads brought their attendant improvements and modern conditions. The cooking in the home was done at the fireplace, and the housewives carded, spun and wove the cloth with which all the family were dressed. Buying land in the sonthwest part of Lowndes county, Mathew Young improved a farm and lived upon it until his death. The maiden name of his wife was Emily Morton, who was born in Sereven county, a daughter of Silas and Sabina (Archer) Morton and a sister of the late James Oliver Morton of Quitman (see sketch). She was a lineal descendant of the George Morton, an Englishman who joined the little colony at Leyden, Holland, and thence in the year 1622 crossed the Atlantic and settled among the other Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Through this Morton branch some members of the Young family can directly trace their ancestry to the oldest settlers of New England. Mr. and Mrs. Mathew Young reared seven children, named as follows: Michael. who settled in Nankin district of Brooks county; William, a soldier of the Civil war, who gave his life to the Southern cause on the field of battle; James, who served four years in the Confederate army and afterwards settled in Coryell county, Texas: Arminta, who married Isaiah Tillman of Lowndes county; Mathew, who settled in Hunt county ; and Silas Morton, a brief sketch of whose carcer is now to be given.

After spending his youth on the family homestead he bought some land in the eastern part of Brooks county, where he resided until 1878, when he sold his place. Ile then bought a tract of a thousand acres six miles north of Quitman and engaged in farming and stock raising

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on an extensive and successful scale. He gradually added to his land holdings until at the time of his death they comprised upwards of twenty-five hundred acres, and he was one of the largest land owners of Brooks county. Ile had most of this land well improved and eulti- vated. A commodious residence, built in colonial style with broad verandas and as comfortable inside as it was attractive without, situ- ated in a grove of fruit and native trees, was the home in which he spent the happiest years of his life, and where he died. The late Mr. Young was a director of the First National Bank of Quitman, was a Democrat in polities, and served his community several years as mem- ber of the school board. Fraternally he was affiliated with Shalto Lodge. F. & A. M.

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A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 33

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