A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 35

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

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Georgia, and there established a large business under his own name and proprietorship. His stock comprises pianos, sewing machines, etc., and in a warehouse he handles such farm implements as are not carried by the Farmers Supply Company. Through these two concerns the customers of town and a large surrounding territory are supplied with nearly everything used at the home and farm.

At the organization of the Bank of Hahira in 1905, Mr. Stanfill be- eame one of the directors, and since 1911 has held the office of presi- dent. He is owner of large tracts of land about Hahira as well as town property, and his intluence in business and in citizenship extends to many directions. He is a director of the Georgia. Alabama & West- ern Railway, and is president of the Hahira Bell Telephone Company. During his boyhood he had little opportunity to gain an education, and during his own prosperous carcer has done all he could to extend the facilities of schools to the children of his generation. He has served as a member of the town school board and couneil, and is one of the trus- tees of the Oak Lawn Academy in Milltown. In national polities he is a Democrat, and is one of the zealous workers for the cause of prohibi- tion. He has served as elector at large on the last two Prohibition presidential tickets.

Mr. Stanfill was married in 1885 to Miss Martha Belote, who was born in Lowndes county, a daughter of William and Martha ( Barfield) Belote. They are the parents of three children, Minnie Lee. Mary Avey and Stephen. The daughter Minnie is the wife of B. L. Wilkin- son, and they have a daughter named Mary Grace.

For more than a quarter of a century Mr. and Mrs. Stanfill have lived lives of trust in divine beneficenee. The quality of his belief is well illustrated in the lesson he draws from the following ineident. A number of years ago, while working among his bees and after hiving two swarms, lie gave an orphan boy the choice of either swarm. Later in the same season, from the swarm which he kept, he took first $6 worth and later $2.80 worth of honey. From his other hives he got only a little honey from some and none at all from others. In this respect men are like bees, says Mr. Stanfill, that some will gather much, others little, and some nothing at all. In his own case he is assured that Providence has bestowed upon him the many rewards of a prosperous career.

EDWARD JOSEPH SMITH, M. D. The senior member of the medical profession at Hahira, Dr. Smith is both a successful and skillful physi- eian and also a progressive citizen and busines man of this community.

Edward Joseph Smith is a native of Leesburg, South Carolina. where he was born October 20, 1872. The family were originally of Virginia, but the grandfather Smith was probably born in Edgecomb county, South Carolina, and spent most of his life there as a planter, operating his lands with slave labor. Grant S. Smith, father of the doctor, was born in Edgecomb county, and being a young man at the time of the war between the states he enlisted in a South Carolina regiment of cav- alry, under the command of General, later Senator. Butler. His regi- ment was part of the Army of Northern Virginia, and he experienced a long and varied service in this principal seat of the war, inelnding the Gettysburg campaign and the battles and movements about Richmond and Petersburg. He was never captured nor wounded, though several horses were shot from under him. When the war was over he came to Georgia and established a store and stock vard at Angusta, where he was successfully engaged in business until 1875. Failing health theu eaused him to sell out, and he spent his last days at Leesburg, South

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Carolina, where he died in 1879. He married Elizabeth Crout, and she is still living, her home being in Augusta. She is a native of South Carolina, and her father, Uriah Crout, also born in that state and of German parentage, was a planter in the vicinity of Leesville until after the war. when he was engaged in mercantile business at Leesville, and lived to the ripe age of eighty-nine years. The three children of Grant S. Smith and wife are: Inez, the widow of W. D. Van Pelt, a former attorney at Augusta; Edward Joseph; and Harry L., who is in the service of the C. & W. C. Railroad Company at Augusta.

Dr. Smith spent his youth in Augusta, where he attended the pub- lic schools and Horton Institute. . Early in life he made choice of medi- cine for his career, and in preparation he entered the medical depart- ment of the State University, where he was graduated M. D. in April, 1899. For the first two years he was engaged in practice at Augusta, and located at Hahira in 1901. Ile has a large practice and is a member of the county and state medical societies. The doctor is also secretary and treasurer of the Georgia, Alabama & Western Railroad Company. In politics he is a Democrat, and has been a member of the town couneil two years. ITis fraternal associations are with Pine Camp No. 265. W. O. W.

June 1, 1898. Dr. Smith married Miss Nellie Regina Mahoney, who was born in Augusta, a daughter of John J. and Mary Mahoney. Dr. Smith and wife are parents of three children : Virgil C., John Raymond and Dorothy.

JOHN A. HODGES. A native and lifelong resident of Lowndes county, the owner of many broad and fertile acres near Hahira, John A. Hodges has succeeded in life through ability. and well timed industry, and has long been a prosperous and influential citizen of his community. Ile was born in Lowndes county on the 11th of February, 1849, and repre- sents one of the old and prominent families of south Georgia.

His grandfather Nathan Hodges was, so far as known, a native Geor- . gian, and about 1828 moved from Tattnall county to Lowndes county, settling some five miles south of the present site of Hahira. Lowndes county then comprised a much greater territory than at present, with Franklinville the county seat, which was subsequently transferred to Troupville. Nearly all the land was under state ownership, and directly from the commonwealth Grandfather Hodges bought a lot of four hun- dred and ninety acres, nearly all timber. IIis family were sheltered under tents while he was erecting the first log-eabin home. For many miles around no mills had yet been built. He had brought with him a steel mill, operated by hand, for grinding grain, and this became sneh an institution that the neighbors brought their packs of corn long dis- tances to be ground into meal. The date of the Hodges settlement was also several years previous to the final expulsion of the Florida Indians, and it was a not infrequent occurrence that maranding bands erossed the border and disturbed the south Georgians. A log fort stood on the grandfather's place during these years, and it several times shel- tered the inhabitants of this vicinity while hostile redskins were near. On this okl homestead the grandfather and his wife spent their last years. They reared eight children, three sons and five daughters, namely: John, Daniel, Aleck, Elsie, Eliza. Caroline. Maria and Polly.

Of this family John was the father of John A. Hodges. He was born in Tattnall county, being nineteen years old when his parents came to Lowndes county. He was one of the militia or minutemen of the settlement during the period of Indian strife, and also participated in the final struggles that broke the power of the red men. These occurred

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in 1836, in which year there were three Indian battles, including the well-known conflict at Brush Creek, when the Indians made their last stand. On attaining his majority John Hodges bought a lot of land consisting of four hundred and ninety acres, and gave what was then con- sidered a very good price for it. $50, a sum which would hardly buy one acre now. Not a railroad had yet come into this region. Marketing was difficult, and for several years the cotton from his and other planta- tions was hauled by team and wagon to Newport, Florida. He estab- lished on his farm one of the old cotton gins operated by mule power. its capacity during a long day's run being half a bale. He improved and developed a considerable quantity of land in this vicinity, and continued his residence there until his death in 1875 at the age of sixty-six years. The maiden name of his wife was Julia Ann Boyd, and she was a daugh- ter of Banar and Sarah Boyd, also early settlers of Lowndes county. Her death occurred in 1872. Her twelve children were, named as fol- lows: Hardy, Polly Ann. Sarah J., Thomas B., Susan, George, John A., Julia, Laura. Charlotte, Henry B. and Samuel H.

The pioneer scenes which have been above referred to had not yet vanished from this section of Georgia during the childhood and youth of John A. Hodges. and his memory goes back to the time when deer, wild turkey and other wild game were plentiful among the sparse set- tlements. His mother did all her cooking at a fireplace, no stoves having yet been introduced, and she earded, wove and spun the wool or cotton or flax with which she dressed all the family in homespun. In such a household John A. acquired early habits of industry. His assistance when a boy was given to the farm labor, and when the weather did not permit outdoor labor he helped his mother at the wheel or loom. He is one of few men living who were once skilled in the old-fashioned art of spinning and weaving. Mechanical skill was one of nature's gifts to him, and though he never learned a trade for a regular vocation he had a practical craft for various lines of handiwork, and during his youth earned all his spending money through this skill, never calling on his father to supply him a cent. At the age of fourteen he made a sub- stantial but plain saddle, which he sold for $10. Buying some brass tacks, he ornamented his next saddle, and secured $15 for it. Ile also made slioes.

When he was twenty-one he began his career as an independent farmer by working a tract of his father's land for half the crop. Four years later he bought two hundred and fifty aeres at $2 an acre. paying two hundred in cash and obligating himself for the balance with twenty per cent interest. It took him six years to clear himself of the interest and principal. At his father's death he inherited land worth $300 and also bought the share of a sister. He later bought a tract of six hundred acres a mile north of Hahira, going in debt $2.400 with interest at fifteen per cent. It is on this latter land that he has spent most of his career as a general farmer. He has long been known as a practical farmer, one who could produce profits from his land, and besides his own prosperity his example has been valuable to the general welfare of this agricultural region. In 1912 Mr. Hodges moved to an attractive modern home which he had built on land adjoining the town of llahira. His land holdings embrace upwards of fourteen hundred aeres in the vicinity of Hahira, and for this material evidence of prosperity he owes all to his own efforts and good management.

At the age of thirty-two Mr. Hodges married Miss Susan L. Law- son. She is a native of Lowndes county, and a daughter of John and Mary A. (Sineth) Lawson. On the paternal side she is descended from Ashley Lawson (see sketch of Irvine and L. F. Lawson). Her mother

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was a daughter of William and Mary Sineth. The following children compose the family of Mr. and Mrs. Hodges: Lewis, Corine, Perry (deceased ), Slater, Edward. Irene, Louell, Robert T. and Bevins. Lewis married Sally Marshall and has two children, Anna Lee and John Lewis. Corine is the widow of James Hall.

JAMES B. BAGLEY, M. D. Noteworthy for his keen intelligence, professional knowledge and skill, James A. Bagley, M. D., is meeting with excellent success as a physician, since loeating at Waycross hav- ing acquired an excellent patronage. A native of Georgia, he was born, January 16, 1866, in Ware county, which was likewise the birth- place of his father, Berrien Bagley.

Ilis paternal grandfather, Ransom Bagley, was a Virginian born and bred. As a young man he removed to North Carolina, being accompanied by two of his brothers, one of whom settled in Raleigh, that state, while the other brother located in Alabama, He, himself. came to Georgia, and having purchased land in Ware county carried on general farming with the help of slaves for a number of years. but subsequently removed to Florida, where he spent the remainder of liis life.

Born in Ware county in 1815, Berrien Bagley was reared to agri- cultural pursuits, and when ready to begin life for himself bought land lying within three miles of the parental estate, and continued life as a farmer. There were no railways in the state when he was young, and he was forced to haul the surplus productions of his farm with teams to Savannah, a distance of one hundred miles, but ere his death there was a railroad within six miles of his home. Honest. industrious, and a good manager, he was very successful in his call- ing, acquiring a competeney. On the farm which he improved he spent his last days, passing away in January, 1908, at the venerable age of eighty-three years. He married Eliza Thompson, a daughter of Rev. Henry Thompson, for many years a Methodist Episcopal preacher in Ware county. She passed to the higher life. aged eighty years. Of the twelve children born into their home, ten grew to years of maturity, namely: Mary J., Rachel, Julia, John W., Amanda, James B., Roan II., Thomas Berrien, Francis, and Ella.

Brought up on the home farm, James B. Bagley attended school as opportunity offered, in the meantime becoming intimately acquainted with farm work of all kinds. When he was eighteen years old his father gave him one hundred acres of land, and he began his career as an independent farmer. Having been trained to habits of industry and thrift, and well drilled in the art and science of agriculture, he sueeeeded from the start, and continued a tiller of the soil until 1892. Desirous then of gratifying a long cherished ambition, Mr. Bagley began the study of medicine in the Atlanta Medical School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1894. Immediately begin- ning the practice of his profession at Millwood. Ware county, Dr. Bagley contimed there fifteen years, meeting with unquestioned sue- cess. Locating at Waycross in 1909, he has here built up a large and remunerative patronage. the people roundabout having great confi- denee in his skill and ability.

Dr. Bagley married, when a youth of eighteen summers, Miss Lucinda Meeks, who was born in the northern part of Clinch county, Georgia, eight miles from Pearson. a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wil- liam Meeks. Four children have been born to the Doctor and Mrs. Bagley, namely: William Francis, now, in 1913. studying medicine: James Wesley; Daniel English; and Loney. The Doctor and his two

J. B. Bagly m.

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older sons are engaged in agricultural pursuits. conducting a stock and poultry farm near Beach. The Doctor and his wife are consist- ent members of the Primitive Baptist church, and their two older sons are affiliated by membership with the Methodist Episcopal church.

OLIN STEWART McCOY. Numbered among the substantial and well- to-do residents of Cordele is Olin Stewart MeCoy, who, as proprietor of McCoy's Steam Laundry, is conducting a lively and prosperous busi- ness. IIe was born, February 27, 1869, in Houston county, Georgia, which was also the birthplace of his parents, Meredith and Mary Emma (Blount ) McCoy, neither of whom is now living. His father. who served as a member of a company of Georgia Cavalry in the Civil war, was for many years a merchant and farmer in Houston county, but spent his last days in Macon, whither he settled after selling his farm. He reared eight children, all of whom are living.

Completing his studies in the connnon schools of his native eounty, Olin Stewart McCoy accompanied the family to Macon. Georgia, when about nineteen years old, and there began life for himself in a mercan- tile establishment. In March, 1896, when the town of Fitzgerald was organized. in Ben Hill county, he located in the place, and was there a resident for five years. Coming to Cordele in 1901. Mr. McCoy was engaged in the bottling business until March, 1904, when he purchased his present steam laundry plant, which had been here established in 1902. Under his efficient management. the laundry is being eondueted most suecessfully, employing about fifteen people, and being well pat- ronized. The laundry is now housed in a building thirty-six feet by eighty feet, and is fully equipped with modern machinery of all the kinds required in an establishment of this kind. . The business is rapidly increasing in size and value, and in order to meet its demands Mr. MeCoy is now considering the ereetion of a briek building much larger than the present plant.

Mr. McCoy married Mae Terry, a daughter of James J. and Ida (Parker) Terry, natives respectively of Canada and Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. MeCoy have two children, namely : Mary Lois, born in 1903; and Olin Terry. born in 1907. Mrs. MeCoy is a member of the Baptist chureh, and is bringing up her children in the same religious faith.

IVY MILTON POWELL. A man of keen foresight and unquestioned business ability and judgment, Ivy Milton Powell occupies a conspicu- ous position among the enterprising and influential citizens of Cor- dele. as owner of the Cordele Eleetrie Light & Power Company, and of Powell's Garage, being actively associated with two of the leading industrial enterprises of this part of Crisp county. A native of North Carolina. he was born, September 16, 1866. in Clinton. Sampson county, being a son of Milton and Elizabeth Powell, lifelong residents of North Carolina. He is one of a family of eight children. six sons and two danghters. as follows: J. W., who died in North Carolina: G. H .. a miller in North Carolina; I. W., engaged in farming in his native state: O. J., engaged in mercantile business in North. Carolina : Rev. D. J., a Baptist minister. now located in Grafton, West Virginia: Ivy Milton: Neely, wife of E. Williamson, a North Carolina farmer; and Livingston, who died, aged about thirteen years.

Growing to manhood in his native state, Ivy Milton Powell deter- mined as a young man to try the hazard of new fortunes, and in his quest came to Georgia. About 1889 he took up his residence in Cordele. and has since acquired distinction along various lines of enterprise. In 1897, when the service of the Cordele Electric Light & Power Com-

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pany was very unsatisfactory, Mr. Powell purchased the plant from the city, and has since so thoroughly improved and equipped it that it has now reached a high state of efficiency. For the past five years Mr. Powell has been actively engaged in the automobile business, for a year occupying his present location, his garage being a fully equipped build- ing, sixty-two feet by one hundred twelve and one-half feet, with a eement floor. In this line he has built up a substantial business, hand- ling both the Olds and the Overland machines, automobiles of the high- est type of construction, and eminently satisfactory to all buyers. Mr. Powell is also an extensive landholder, owning a farm of one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-six acres adjoining the city.

Mr. Powell married. in 1890, Beulah Johnson. a daughter of William Johnson, of Worth county, Georgia, and they are the parents of three children, namely: Edwin, born in 1895; Ivy, born in 1900; and Louise, born in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Powell are both Baptists in religion.

JOSEPH JACKSON COOPER, one of the best-known merchants of Vienna. Georgia, is successfully carrying on the business established and con- ducted by him in 1897. Born in Dooly eounty on January 16. 1869, he is the son of John C. and Mary (Moring) Cooper. The father was born and reared in Baldwin county, Georgia, while the mother is a native of Dooly eounty. John C. Cooper served the South during the Civil war, fighting with the Baldwin Blues, Fourth Georgia Regiment, and was captured just before the elose of the war. IIe was a prisoner of war at Governor's island, New York, and participated in many of the hottest engagements of the struggle. After the close of the war he returned to his farm in Dooly county and there passed the remainder of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper were the parents of four children: Lizzie, married to J. W. Bozemore, a farmer in Dooly county; J. B., also a farmer in Dooly county; Annie, the wife of J. B. Foreham, and the subject, Joseph Jackson.

The early life of Joseph Jackson Cooper was passed as a helper on the farm of his father and an attendant of the schools of the community wherein he was reared. He also attended the high school in Snow Springs. When he was twenty-two years of age he entered the service of the F. H. Bland Company, dealers in dry-goods, and after some time went from that firm to Pine Hurst, Georgia, with the firm of the Fnl- lington-Barfield Company. Hle advanced rapidly with that firm and the last three years of his connection with them was as secretary and treasurer of the coneern. In January, 1897, the young man decided to launch ont into business on his own responsibility, and he accordingly located in Vienna, opening up an establishment as dealer in dry-goods. house furnishings, etc. He is the sole owner of the business, and in the years that have elapsed since its establishment. it has grown apace. expanding and reaching out into hitherto untapped channels of trade. The store occupies a two-story brick building at the corner of Union and Third streets, the property being owned by Mr. Cooper, who is also the owner of a handsome residence erected since his location in Vienna. Mr. Cooper has been able to give some of his time to civic mat- ters, despite his necessarily busy life, and has served as a member of the city council, of the board of health, and is now a member of the school board. His presence on anything of a like nature is proof of honest - effort being expended in the interests of the community, and Mr. Cooper has proved himself a citizen of a high order in the years of his residence in Vienna.

On October 2, 1896, Mr. Cooper was nited in marriage with Miss Ella Lytle, the daughter of Thomas T. Lytle and M. T. (Smith) Lytle.

Inicialy Yours,

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One ehild has been born to them, Lillian, now eight years of age. All members of the family are affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church of Vienna.

DE WITT BUTLER THOMPSON has been a resident of Vienna for about twenty-one years, having come to this eity in 1890. Ile is a native of the state of Georgia, born in Houston county on September 4, 1861, and is the son of Steven L. and Margaret Elizabeth Thompson, both of Houston county.

Mr. Thompson was educated in the common schools of his county and remained under the care and guardianship of his parents until he was sixteen, at which early age he took serviee with the Macon & Bruns- wiek Railroad as water boy. He continued in railroad work in various capacities and eventually became a section foreman. After fifteen years in the employ of the Macon & Brunswick road he severed his connec- tion with the company, and established the merchandise business which he is now conducting. He has prospered as a merchant, and has been the author of splendid aecomplishments in industrial lines. To Mr. Thompson is aseribed the credit for the building of the first eotton gin in Vienna, and he was the first man to introduce the eylinder bail idea in this seetion of the country. He is the owner of a large quantity of real estate and owns the store building where he carries on his merchandise business. It is a fine up-to-date store, eighty by eighty-eight feet in size, and is well equipped and thoroughly modern. In addition he eon- duets a large warehouse where they handle cotton, hay, feed and other produce. IIe also owns his beautiful home in Vienna.

Mr. Thompson is a man who has taken his full share of the civic responsibilities of the community, and has served as alderman on the city board for two terms. He is always ready and willing to assume a generous part of the burdens of the communal life, and has ever acquitted himself as a most exemplary eitizen in the long years of his identifieation with the business life of Vienna. The Thompson family has ever shared in the responsibilities of worthy citizens, and the father of Mr. Thompson, as well as two of his brothers, served their state in the years of strife between the North and the South.

Mr. Thompson was married on August 5, 1886, to Miss Margaret Daugherty, of Isle of Wight eounty, Georgia. She died on September 12, 1888, and on Mareh 20, 1889, Mr. Thompson was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Crumpton of Florida. Six children have been born to them : Maggie, aged twenty-one years ; Steven Milton, aged twenty ; Mary, sixteen years of age; Sadie, aged thirteen years; Anie Lou, eleven years old, and D. B., Jr., aged five years.

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A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 35

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