A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 34

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

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Silas M. Young married, on October 17, 1871, Miss Ivy Johnson, who was born in what is now Brooks county and is still a resident on the homestead in the Morven district of this county. Her great-grand- father was Jonathan Johnson, who was a soldier of the Revolution and also fought in the Indian wars. and spent his last days in Tattnall county, Georgia. Her grandfather was Benjamin Johnson. Sr., who married Patsy Lane, and both were lifelong residents of Tattnall county. Benjamin JJohnson, Jr., Mrs. Young's father. became one of the pioneer settlers of Brooks county, living there until his death in 1860, at the early age of twenty-seven. He married Mary Simmons, a native of Lowndes county. Her father, Ivy Simmons, a native of North- Carolina, became a pioneer settler of Montgomery county, Geor- gia, where he resided for a time, and then came to Lowndes county and later to the east side of Brooks county, where he spent the rest of his life. He married Piety Joyce, who was a daughter of Henry Joyce, an early settler in South Georgia. Mary (Simmons) Johnson sur- vived her husband more than half a century, her death occurring when she was eighty-seven years old. She reared two children, Mrs. Young and her brother, Benjamin, who now lives on the old Johnson homestead.

Mr. and Mrs. Young were the parents of the following children : Arminta Creech ; Lane; Briggs: Morton ; Rachel; Lavinia; James, who died at the age of twenty-one; and Annie, who died aged eighteen.

ATYS PERLETTE HILTON. In praising the founders of great enter- prises, and lauding their farsightedness and their initiative, we often pass lightly over the work of a no less important class of men. that is those who take up the work which the pioneers have begun and carry it on successfully. They, too, must be men of force and executive ability. Such a man is Atys Perlette Hilton, cashier of the Commer- cial Bank of Dublin. Georgia. As yet only in his prime he has aceom- plished much, and is regarded as one of the strong men of his home city.

Atys Perlette Hilton was born in Sylvania. Georgia, on July 9, 1869. His father was James L. Hilton, of Taylor county, this state, and his mother. before her marriage, was Mary Lanier, a native of Sereven county, Georgia. Mr. Hilton is the possessor of a good education, having received his preparatory education in the public schools of Sylvania, and completing his work at Emory College, one of the best colleges in the state of Georgia. After his graduation, which took place in 1895. and in which he was given the degree of A. B., Mr. Hil- ton tanght school for a year and a half in his old home, Sylvania. He then came to Dublin and purchased the Dublin Dispatch. Here he gained his practical knowledge of journalism. a knowledge that after- wards aided him in making a success of his newspaper enterprises.

For a number of years Mr. Hilton worked for this newspaper, also

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for the consolidated Dublin Courier-Dispatch, and in 1907 he pur- chased the Dublin Times. In 1910 Mr. Hilton was appointed clerk of the city conneil. and he served in this position until 1911. With the organization of the Commercial Bank in 1911, in which Mr. Hilton took a very active part, he was elected cashier, and has held this office until the present time.

On March 14, 1899, Mr. Hilton was married to Luella Gilbert, of Albany, Georgia. She was the daughter of John and Lula Gilbert. Her father is now dead, but her mother is alive and makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Hilton. In the fraternal world Mr. Hilton is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

CAPT. GEORGE ARCHIBALD JACKSON. Probably none of the colonial Georgia families through the different generations have given more worthy and efficient members to the varied professional,. business and civic life of the state than the Jackson family, a prominent representa- tive of which is Captain Jackson of Adel. Berrien county.

Of Scotch-Irish parentage, Benjamin Jackson. the founder of the family in Georgia, was a native of Virginia, whence he moved to North Carolina, settling in the Peedee river district, fought the British armies during the Revolution, and soon after that war came to Georgia and was one of the pioneers of Hancock county, while one of his brothers settled in Greene county. Benjamin was the great-grandfather of Cap- tain Jackson.

John Jackson, grandfather, was born in Haneoek county, Georgia, afterwards bought land in Sereven county, employing a number of slaves in its cultivation. and resided there until his death, both he and his wife being buried in Sparta. On coming to Sereven county soon after his marriage he bought land near the Ogeechee river, but from there moved to Hudson's Ferry, which continued his home until his death at the age of eighty-seven. John Jackson was a soldier of the War of 1812, so that the Jackson family has been represented in practically all of the great wars of the nation. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Whit- field, and she was born in Putnam county, and her brother William lived in that county and another brother in Jackson county. Sarah (Whitfield) Jackson attained to a ripe old age, and she reared ten chil- dren, whose names were Thomas, John. William, George L., Andrew, Robert, Loreta. Sarah, Martha and one whose name is not now recalled.

Of this family. George Lewis Jackson was the father of Captain Jackson. Ile was born in Sereven county on the 11th of February. 1811. During his youth he was converted and joined the Newington Mission- ary Baptist church, which he served as clerk for seven years. was licensed to preach in 1846 and the following year ordained at Newington. He was missionary for three years in the counties of Sereven, Burke, Effing- ham and Chatham, and later spent many years of devoted service as pastor at different churches in these same counties, baptizing upwards of a thousand persons. He continued in the active work of his ehnreh until two weeks before his death, which occurred in his ninety-first year. His remains now rest in the Little Buckhead churchyard near Millen in Jenkins county.

Rev. George L. Jackson married Elizabeth Zetrower on April 18. 1836. She was born in Effingham county, a daughter of Solomon Zet- rower, whose ancestors had come to Georgia with the Sulzbergers and settled at Ebenezer. She died in hme, 1859, and left four children, namely: George A., Ann Lavinia, Solomon Z. and Julia E. Solomon Z. died nnmarried; Ann L. married Dr. Thomas JJ. Ward of Burke county ; and Julia E. married Dr. Edward Perkins, of Burke county.

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George Archibald Jackson was born in Sereven county, Georgia, May 21, 1839. During his youth he attended the public schools of Sylvania and also the high school. In November, 1860, he and some other asso- eiates formed a military company known as the Ogeechee Rirles. The Confederate records show that George A. Jackson was successively third, second and first lieutenant, with Andrew J. Williams as captain of the Rifles. Later the organization became Company D. then Company B. and finally Company K of the Twenty-fifth Georgia Infantry. C. S. A. The company was mustered into the Confederate service at Savannah on August 8, 1861. The Federal records show that George A. Jackson. captain of this company, was paroled in Augusta the 22d of May. 1865. From August. 1861, until the spring of 1863 Captain Jackson, with his command. was engaged in eoast defense in Georgia, South and North Carolina, after which he joined the western army in Mississippi. With the fall of Vicksburg he went into Tennessee: participating at the battle of Chickamauga. and then fought Sherman's army all the way to Atlanta. When that city surrendered. he was ordered into Hood's com- mand, with which he participated in the battles of Jonesboro. Franklin. Murfreesboro and Nashville. Captain Jackson was next sent into Mis- sissippi and after a short time to South Carolina. being with the south- ern forces that interrupted Sherman's march at Branchville early in February, 1865. and also fought at Rays and Binache's bridges and at Orangeburg. At the last named place he was severely wounded and taken to the hospital at Columbia, being among those made prisoners when that city fell. and he was an eye witness of the burning of Colum- bia. In that city he remained in confinement until the end of the strng- gle a few weeks later. when his father sent a horse and cart to convey him back home. During his long and arduous service he was five times wounded, but not serionsly until at Orangeburg.

As soon as he was able to get about on crutches, Captain Jackson commenced teaching school in Burke county and continued teaching four years. In the meantime he had married and bought a farm in Burke county, and there he lived and was engaged in the quiet pursuits of the soil for nearly twenty years. In 1884 he moved to Morgan county, and a year later to Walton county, where he bought a farm and resided until 1893. He was a resident of Irwin county about seven years. in 1900 came to Adel, living in town four years, and then bonght a farm in Brooks county, on which he resided until 1909, sinee which date his residence has again been in Adel.

Captain Jackson has been well prospered in life and has a fine family. He was married on the 17th of January. 1866. to Lavinia Jamieson Zealy. Their marriage was the result of a rather romantic meeting, as will be mentioned. She was born at Orangeburg. South Carolina. October 8, 1843. Her grandfather. James Zealy. of English ancestry. was a native of Beanfort, South Carolina, as was also her father. Joseph T. Zealy. The maiden name of her grandmother was Rebecca Parsonage. Joseph T. Zealy, the father, learned the trade of carpenter, and was a carpenter and contractor of Orangeburg for a number of years. Later he acquired the then new art of photography. and had a gallery in Columbia and was in active business there until the city was captured and burned by the Federals on February 15. 1865. His home and gal- lery were both destroyed by the flames, but as soon as the bricks were cold he began cleaning them, and with this old material erected a building which he named the Phoenix. Financially he was at the very bottom, and with a capital of five dollars which he borrowed he engaged in mercantile business on a very modest scale. In a few years he was again fairly prosperous and finally sold out his business and lived retired.

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His death cecurred at the home of Captain and Mrs. Jackson in Walton eounty. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Badger, who was born in Charleston, a daughter of James and Mary ( Bell) Badger, both natives and lifelong residents of Charleston. Mrs. Zealey died in Charleston while on a visit to that city. She reared four children, Lavinia J .. Anna, Richard and Mary G. Richard Zealey was a Con- federate soldier, being a member of what was first known as the Rich- land Ritles, and later as Company A of the Fifteenth South Carolina Infantry. He was wounded in the battle of the Wilderness in June, 1864. and he died at home a month later as a result of these wounds. He had gone into the war when fifteen years old. Ilis sister Lavinia, as a member of the Ladies Relief Corps, was one of the devoted southern women who carried the cheer of their presence and practical aid into the hospitals of the sick and wounded. and it was during these visits to the Columbia hospital that she met Captain Jackson, who soon after the war became her husband.

Mr. and Mrs. Jackson reared seven children: S. Annabel, Lizzie T., George L., Caroline W., Joseph Zealy, Henry Lee, Robert F., and a daughter Mamie who died at the age of seventeen months. S. Annabel married Jesse L. Watkins and has five children, Archie Jaekson, Wil- liam Mason, Jesse Bernard. Thomas S. and Winnie Bell. Lizzie T. married James Cooper. and their children are John Zealey, Lueille and Keith L. George married Miss Nannie Braeken and has one son, George Archibald. Caroline beeame the wife of Eugene M. Horn, and their children are Mattie C., Fannie E., E. M. and Lorell. Joseph L. mar- ried Evelyn Cunningham and has two children, Charles E. and Evelyn. Henry L., who married Aliee Kent, has two children, Henry Lee and Flora A. Robert F. married Leia Wilkerson, and their children are Ouida and Robert Lee. The grandson, Archie J. Watkins, married Anna Miller, and their children, Archie Jackson, Jr., and Annabel, are the great-grandchildren of Captain and Mrs. Jackson. The eaptain and his wife are members of the Baptist church.

JOSEPH ZEALY JACKSON. Two of the sons of Capt. G. A. Jackson took up the profession of law and are now among the leading attorneys of Berrien county, the firm being J. Z. and H. L. Jackson at Adel.

The senior partner, Joseph Zealy Jackson. was born on the 27th of September, 1877, during the residence of his parents on a farm in Burke eonnty. From his father and mother. who were both educated and cultured people, he received his first lessons and studied under their direction until he was about twelve years old, when he first at- tended the neighborhood sehool. He was also a student in the high school at Arabi in Dooly county. and later in a special school taught by Mrs. M. E. Fields at Syeamore, this state.

As the beginning of his praetieal career he learned the printing trade, and for about three years was employed in the offices of different newspapers. From that he turned his attention to law and entered Mereer University, where he was graduated in the law department in the class of 1900. For twelve years he has been actively engaged in his profession at Adel, and has gained recognition as an able lawyer, well versed in both the law and its practice. He has served five years as city attorney for Adel. In 1901 he prepared the code of ordinances for the town and revised it in 1912. In polities he is a democrat.

Mr. Jackson has fraternal affiliations with Adel Lodge No. 310. F. & A. M., Daisy Chapter No. 82. R. A. M., Malta Commandery No. 16. K. T., and is also a member of Adel Lodge No. 178 of the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife are members of the Methodist church. As

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mentioned in the sketch of his father, Mr. Jackson was married to Miss Evelyn Cunningham, and their children are Charles E. and Evelyn.

HENRY LEE JACKSON, son of Capt. George A. Jackson and junior partner in the law firm of J. Z. and II. L. Jackson at Adel, was born on the home farm in Burke county in 1879.

Reared on a farm, his father and mother being his first teachers, he continned his education in the public schools. He remained at home until twenty-one years of age, when he went to Maeon and there learned the trade of carpentering, which he followed six years. He then took up the study of law and entered the law department of Mercer University, where he was gradnated in 1908. In that year he formed the partnership with his brother. and their combined ability has brought them a large and successful practice. Mr. Henry L. Jackson affiliates with Adel Lodge No. 310. F. & A. M., and he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. He married Miss Alice Kent, and they are the parents of two children, Henry Lee and Flora A.

REV. DAVID JESSE MILLER. Coming from pioneer and Revolution- ary stoek, Rev. David Jesse Miller is distinguished not only for the honored ancestry from which he is descended, but for his own good life and works, having been intimately associated with the develop- ment and advancement of the agricultural and industrial prosperity of Ware county, and being now a member of the board of county com- missioners, and an esteemed resident of Waycross. A son of Capt. David J. Miller, he was born, November 11, 1847, near Waresboro, Georgia. His great-grandfather, William Miller, presumably a native of South Carolina, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and afterwards settled in Georgia, becoming a pioneer of Bulloch county, where he spent his closing years of life.

Henry Miller, Mr. Miller's grandfather, spent his early life in Bnl- loch county, Georgia. Subsequently locating, in pioneer times in Ware county, he bought land near Waresboro, and on the farm which he cleared and improved resided until his death, at the advanced age of eighty-three years, his body being then laid to rest in Kettle Creek cemetery, beside that of his wife. He reared four sons, William, Ste- phen, Henry, and David J., and two daughters, Nancy and Snsan.

Capt. David J. Miller was born on the home farm in Bulloeh county, Georgia, being there reared amid pioneer scenes, for in the days of his youth Ware county was a frontier region, over which the Indians roamed at will, frequently proving very troublesome to the white settlers. Joining the militia when young, he was made captain of a company, which he led against the savages. There were then two forts in this vieinity, one being located at Waresboro, and the other on the present site of Waveross, and whenever the Indians were on the war path the women and children took refuge in these forts. while the men pursued and fought the redskins. During all of his earlier life there were no railroads in the state, and he used to market his cotton and surplus farm produets in Centerville and Saint Marys. fifty miles away. journeying there and back with teams, on his return trip being loaded with whatever merchandise was needed for family use, and for which he had invested the proceeds received from his cotton and other farm productions. Ile was quite successful as an agriculturist, and resided on his homestead until his death. at the age of seventy-two years. He married Loanza Dyer, who was born in Tattnall county, Georgia, and died in Bulloch county, when sixty- seven years old. The miou of Captain and Mrs. Miller was blessed

David & Miller

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by the birth of twelve children, as follows: William, Henry. Thomas, James, David J., Stephen F., Nancy, Mary, Caroline, Susan, Serena, and Anna.

Leaving home at the age of twenty-one years. David Jesse Miller purchased land in Ware county, near Wayeross, and for a few years successfully carried on general farming. While thus oeenpied he became interested in the turpentine industry, which was one of great importance and valne, and, having removed to Wayeross, was engaged in the manufacture of turpentine for ten years. Of late, however, Mr. Miller has devoted his time and energies to his official duties, since 1908 having rendered efficient service as county commissioner. and to his ministerial work, in which he has been actively engaged for up- wards of thirty years. Mr. Miller united with the Methodist Episco- pal church as a youth, and in 1879 was licensed as a local preacher, and has since preached in various places in Ware and near-by counties, being an effective and popular speaker.

Rev. Mr. Miller married, in 1869, Serena C. Sweat, who was born, in October, 1847. on a farm near Wayeross, being a daughter of James and Mary (Blackburn) Sweat. Mrs. Miller passed to the life beyond in February, 1910, leaving five children, namely: Molhe, who mar- ried J. L. Stephens, and has eight children; Cora, wife of A. J. Wil- liams, has seven children : Lovina married J. P. Lide, and they are the parents of five children; Della, wife of W. W. Webster, has four children; and James T., the only son, married Minnie Davidson, and they have eight children.

GEORGE PERRY LEGGETT. The ex-mayor of Adel in Berrien county is one of the progressive and enterprising yonng citizens of south Georgia, and by his ability and industry has acquired influence and leadership in his community. Mr. Leggett is a fine type of the young men who now and in subsequent years must share the inereasing re- sponsibilities for the development and welfare of their state.

George Perry Leggett was born at Naylor in Lowndes county on the 31st of July, 1879. His father, George W. Leggett, a native Georgian, was reared on a farm and was a young man at the time of the Civil war. Enlisting in one of the Georgia regiments, he went to Virginia and saw a long and arduous service in General Longstreet's corps, doing a soldier's duty until the close of hostilities. Afterwards locating at Naylor, he was engaged in farming there until 1890, then bought a farm in Tay- lor county, Florida. bnt three years later became one of the first citizens of the newly established town of Adel, where he engaged in the mercan- tile business a number of years. At the present writing he is farming near Milltown in Berrien county, The maiden name of his wife was Mat- tie Perry, who was born at Troupville, the one-time county seat of Lowndes county. Her father, William R. Perry, who was a pioneer settler in Lowndes county, afterward moved to Belleville, Florida. where he spent the rest of his days. Mattie (Perry) Leggett died in 1896. She was the mother of two sons, the younger, John Lewis, dying at the age of eighteen.

George P. Leggett received his education in the public schools of Naylor, in Florida and at Adel, during the residence of the family at these different places. As a boy he also assisted his father in the man- agement of the store, and at the age of nineteen began his independent career in the railroad service, with which he has been identified ever since. His first experience was in the station at Adel, and a year later he was appointed station agent for the Georgia & Alabama at Rhine. where he remained a year. He then secured a transfer to the Adel

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station on the Georgia Southern & Florida line, and faithfully performed his duties there for seven years. At the end of that period Mr. Leggett took an exenrsion into other lines of business, and for three and a half years conducted a Inmber yard at Adel. Ile then returned to railroad service as joint agent at Adel for the Georgia & Florida and the South Georgia & West Coast railways. This office has been under his manage- ment to the present time.

Mr. Leggett served two terms as mayor of Adel, and previously served as member of the town council. In politics he is a Democrat. He affiliates with the lodges of the Knights of Pythias and the order of Odd Fellows at Adel, and is one of the popular men of this eom- munity. He was married in 1900 to Miss Eva Rebecea Dopson, who was born at McRae in Telfair county, a daughter of Robert and Rebecca Dopson. Mr. and Mrs. Leggett are the parents of one son, named Julian.

LUCIUS M. STANFILL. From a farm hand at wages of three dollars a month to one of the most prosperous and enterprising merehants and bankers of Lowndes connty, is a brief statement of the business career of Lucius M. Stanfill. of Hahira. To his own industry and integrity he has added an implicit trust in Providence and devoted service of his Lord. and he believes that his prosperity has come as a reward of his faith and works.

A native of Brooks eounty, where he was born on the 4th of January, 1864, he was the youngest child of Jesse John and Rebecca Miley (Tyson) Stanfill. It is thought that his father was born in one of the Carolinas. He was a carpenter by trade. following that occupation in Brooks county for some years. Ile was a soldier of the South in the war between the states, and his death oceurred not long after he had returned from the front. The mother was a native of Thomas county. belonging to a pioneer family of that seetion. Her children were Joseph T., Mattie S. and Lucius M., and after the father's death she eoura- geously managed to keep her family together until they beeame indepen- . dent. Her death occurred at the age of fifty-two.

Lueius M. was a child when his father died. and as soon as old enough began earning his own living and contributing to the support of his mother. His first work was as a boy on a farm, getting $3 at the end of each month of labor. After several years spent in this way, he cropped land on the shares. and thus gradually got ahead a little. When eighteen years old he was converted and has ever sinee been a devout member of the Missionary Baptist church. Believing that all blessings come from the Lord, after his marriage he resolved to give a tenth of his profits to the Master's work. His wife did the same, tak- ing a tenthi of the proceeds from her poultry, dairy and garden. This plan had hardly been put into effect when prosperity came upon them and has been inereasing ever sinee.

For seven years he operated the Richard Seraggs farm in Brooks county, and then came to Lowndes county, where he continued farming until 1895. In that year he became a cotton buyer for A. P. Brantley & Company, and also agent for the products of the Valdosta Gnano Company. In 1901 he organized the Farmers Supply Company. of which he is half owner and superintendent. A. J. Strickland of Val- dosta being president of the company. This company has at Hahira a large store for an extensive stock of general merchandise-furniture, stoves. etc., and also a fire-proof warehouse for a stock of wagons, car- riages and farm implements. Besides this enterprise. Mr. Stanfill in 1911 erected in Hahira a two-story building, forty by eighty feet, with pressed-brick front, which is one of the finest business blocks in south

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A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 34

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