USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 38
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Mr. Conoley was married on December 20, 1893, to Miss Clara Alline Spivey, who was born in Lowndes county, a daughter of J. Benton and Adella Spivey. Clara A., William B., Jr., and Clyde Elizabeth are the names of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Conoley. The first, Clara A., was born January 26. 1895, and died July 29, 1899. Mr. Conoley and his daughter are members of the Presbyterian church, while his wife belongs to the Missionary Baptist. Mr. Conoley is an active Mason, having membership in St. Johns Lodge. F. & A. M., Valdosta Chapter, R. A. M., Malta Commandery, No. 16, K. T., and the Alee Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
JOHN A. NEESE. One finds occupying the position of judge of the city court of Eastman, Georgia, a man who is worthy of the trust implied when he was appointed to this position. John A. Ncese is a man who has scareely reached his prime, yet has proved to be not only a clever lawyer but a broad minded citizen. Gifted with a natural eloquence, and with a logical and clear method of expression, his sue- cess is not to be wondered at. He is especially interested in educational affairs, believing that the South is more greatly in need of good schools than of anything at present. He is a native of the state of Georgia, and has grown up within her boundaries, and no man is more loyal to her interests or more interested in her future than is John A. Neese.
The maternal grandfather of Judge Neese, John A. Brown, was a veteran of the civil war, having participated in all of the campaigns, from Chattanooga to Dalton. The war proved fatal to him, for he died at home from sickness contracted during his years as a soldier. The father of Judge Neese was John Wesley Neese, a Methodist minis- ter belonging to the North Georgia conference. He was born in 1840, and died on December 9. 1884. His wife was Sarah Elizabeth Brown, who was born in 1850, a native of Hart county, Georgia, and is still living.
Judge Neese was born on June 24, 1866, in Hart county, Georgia. He received his education in the district schools of North Georgia, his education being somewhat fragmentary, because of the frequent moves necessitated by the demands of his father's profession. He early in life determined to become a lawyer, and soon after leaving school, began
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to read law with J. F. L. Bond, of Danielsville, Georgia. He was admitted to the bar in 1894, at Danielsville, the county seat of Madi- son county. Ile opened his first office at Carnesville, Georgia, where he soon had a flourishing practice. He determined, after having prac- ticed long enough to have added the lessons which experience teaches to those learned from his law books, that he was ready to attempt a larger field. and so in 1906 moved to Eastman. In 1910, on December 25th. he was appointed by Governor Brown as judge of the city court of Eastman, and has filled this rather difficult position to the satisfac- tion of both lawyers and citizens not of the profession.
Judge Neese was married on December 25, 1888, to Ella Tucker, a daughter of C. C. Tucker, of Hart county, Georgia, who was a promi- nent farmer in that seetion. Judge and Mrs. Neese are the parents of three children. The eldest of these, Wesley Loviek, was born on Feb- ruary 14, 1900, and is now employed by the government in the post- office department of Milledgeville, Georgia. Blanche, who was born on February 14. 1901, is living at home. Two of the children died in . infaney. and the youngest, Donald, was born on February 14, 1902. The father of Mrs. Neese was a soldier in the Civil war.
From 1895 to 1902 Judge Neese was county school commissioner of Franklin county. He resigned from this post, but was immediately elected a member of the board of education of Franklin county, which post he resigned when he came to Eastman to live. In January, 1912. he was elected member of the city board of education for a four year term. Throughout these years of public service he won a reputation for progressive action which he has never lost. IIe is a member of the Masonic order. and belongs to the blue lodge. Both he and his wife are carnest members and. workers in the Methodist Episcopal church.
JUDGE JAMES BISHOP, SR. The life of Judge James Bishop, Sr .. has been intimately connected with the growth and development of Eastman, Georgia, and the surrounding country. Having lived all of his life in this section, he has taken an active interest in its prosperity and has had a hand in some of the most beneficial enterprises in the county. He is one of the men who is helping the South to win back the prosperity which was hers before the war swept away everything. Peo- ple say, "It is Northern capital that is bringing wealth to the South." It is often true, and the South is grateful. but she is returning them fourfold the money which they are spending in her mines and cotton fields and mills; and it is to sneh men as James Bishop that the South turns her loving eyes, knowing that when he invests money he does it. thinking of the good it will bring to the country, and not purely of the money it will put in his pocket. He belongs to that class of men who favors inviting and welcoming capital and intelligence to his city, and to the county expert tillers of the ground, on whom the multiplied mil- lions of earth are dependent for their bread and meat. He is in full sympathy and accord with every movement that tends to encourage and foster agrienltural advancement, which he considers the most important avocation under the sun. and the only safe and sure vocation that keeps the nation alive and prosperons. Mr. Bishop believes firmly in the prin- ciples of brotherhood as set forth in the erved of the Masonie Order. Ile is a charter member of the Eastman lodge. and is a Royal Arch Mason. having been initiated. passed and raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason in Mount Hope lodge. No. 9. F. & AA. M .. Hawkins- ville, Georgia, in the twenty-second year of his age, and a few years afterward he became a member of Constantine Chapter No. 3. Maeon.
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James Bishop Ir + Frite
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Georgia. He is perhaps among the oldest living members of that fra- ternity in the state, his Masonie years numbering sixty-two. His po- litical creed in his early days was that of an Old Line Whig of the Clay and Webster type, both of whom he regarded as supreme models of American statesmanship and patriotism. After the war he identified himself with sonthern Democracy and has never since been known to vote any other than a straight Democratic ticket. During the war he belonged to the State Troops and was stationed for quite a while at Camp Rescue, Macon, Ga., on provost duty. and faithfully perform- ing every other military duty required of him without a murmur. Before the war Judge Bishop was postmaster at Bishop's Store and after the war at Inglewood; and during the war he was appointed post- master at Johnston Postoffice established by the Confederate govern- ment and named by President Davis in honor of his bosom friend, the lamented General Albert Sidney Johnston, who was killed at the Battle of Shiloh. All of these offices were located at the same place, on the very spot of his birthplace. He married Mary E. Guyton, daughter of Major Moses Guyton, an extensive planter of Laurens county, Georgia, but a native of South Carolina. Her mother before marriage was Mary Love, a native Georgian. a sister of Judge Peter E. Love. who was a member of congress from the second congressional district of Georgia when the state seceded from the Union. Mrs. Bishop was a lady of pronounced culture and refinement, with a finished education. which was primarily received from scholarly private teachers in her father's family, and afterwards at Charlestown Female Seminary. Massachu- setts, and at LaGrange, Georgia. She was the instrument of organizing the first missionary society in Eastman, The Woman's Foreign Mis- sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal church, South Georgia Conference, and was instrumental in organizing many others in ditfer- ent counties, being vice president for the district. . She also organized a society known as " The Dorcas Society," which afterwards merged into "The Woman's Home Mission Society." She died December 18, 1888, at their Inglewood home, where she was temporarily residing, but was buried in Woodlawn cemetery at Eastman. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop had born to them eight children, three sons and five daughters. The boys are all dead, the girls are all living. Saxon, the oldest, died at the age of twenty; Guyton. the youngest, at the age of one; James, Jr., the second child and son, at the age of fifty. He was happily married to Miss Minnie Douglas, of Talbotton, Ga., who is still living. He was a lawyer of marked ability. After graduating with a speaker's place at old Franklin College, now known as the University of Georgia, he read law under Colonel Clifford Anderson, former attorney-general, and was admitted to the bar in his young manhood, and was soon recognized and classed as one among the best lawyers in his judicial cireuit. llis first legal battle was by appointment of the court in the defense of the Eastman rioters. This unpleasant duty he reluctantly, though faith- fully and fearlessly performed, under the most trying circumstances to his personal feelings. This trial resulted in the hanging of five negroes from the same scaffold, four men and one woman. a life sent- ence for nine. and a large number of acquittals. In addition to his general practice in the courts he was the leading attorney in this ter- ritory for the Southern Railway Company, and legal adviser and trusted representative of The William E. Dodge Land & Lumber Company. the largest concern of its kind in the state. Both of these positions he held without an effort from the time of his appointment to the day of his death, under the firm name of Delaey and Bishop. He was mayor of Eastman for two years, giving the city the most satisfactory Vol. 11-17
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and brilliant administration it ever had. He was also judge of the city court of Eastman under Governor Chandler's administration. He died February 20, 1908, deeply mourned by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. Every order and organization of the city paid loving tribute to his memory, covering his casket with rare and costly flowers. In his death the city, county and state lost a useful citizen. IIe was held in high esteem by every one who knew him for his unblemished character and many virtues. He was emphatically a good man in its most extensive signification. Of Judge Bishop's five daughters, three are widows and two are unmarried. Mary, who now lives in Jaekson- ville, Florida, was married to G. F. Harrison, a native Georgian and farmer. He died May 9, 1907. Carolyn resides in Waynesville, N. C. Her husband was R. L. Bush, a North Carolinian and turpentine op- erator. He died April 11, 1898. Estelle, whose home is Orlando, Florida, was the wife of E. W. Bullock, a native of North Carolina and a naval stores dealer. He died December 1, 1910. Helen and Emma, the unmarried daughters, live with their father in Eastman. Each of Judge Bishop's widowed daughters have one or more grown sons, all brilliant young men, filling honorable and remunerative posi- tions. He has twelve living grandchildren and four great grandehi !- dren. The father of Judge James Bishop, Sr., was Simeon Bishop, a native of New Jersey. He came South when a young man to super- intend a large lumber business near Darien, Georgia, but later made his home in the southern part of Pulaski county, where he conducted a large and lucrative mercantile business. He was a man of excep- tional business eapaeity, much loved by his numeous customers, many of whom almost idolized him for his upright dealings and unbounded generosity. He died October 15, 1836, in the fortieth year of his age. Judge Bishop's mother before marriage was Naney J. Daniel, whose parents moved from South Carolina to Georgia when she was quite young. She was a strong-minded woman of great force of character and determination. She died March 16, 1874, at the age of seventy- three. Judge James Bishop, Sr., the subject of this sketeh. was born in Pulaski county, December 1, 1829. He was left fatherless when only seven years old. His mother gave him a liberal edueation in some of the best village schools of the state, but for the best part of his moral and mental training he feels deeply indebted to the Rev. Adam T. Holmes, a noted school teacher and distinguished Baptist minister and graduate of Yale College, under whose immediate supervision and tutor- ship he remained for four successive years. Hle read law under Judge A. II. Hansel, and though prepared for admission to the bar, decided to abandon the law and settle down on the old plantation where he was born, preferring the ease and independence of farm life to that of a profession. Here he remained until the close of the Civil war, when in common with all Southern slave holders his entire inheritance was almost completely wiped out, leaving him only a large body of land, a few horses and mules, with nothing to feed them on, and no one to look after them but himself. Soon after the surrender that part of Pulaski where his home is situated was cut off to help form the new county of Dodge, with Eastman as the county site. Judge Bishop, foreseeing the future possibilities of the new town, moved there while yet in its infaney and has lived to see it grow, as if by magic, from a mere hamlet to its present dimensions, with every element of industry, enterprise and intelligence that constitute a perfeet and model city with undi- minished lustre still in waiting. Judge Bishop was the second mayor of the town, succeeding General Ira R. Foster. the first incumbent, under whose administration as clerk of council, he formulated the
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original ordinances of the city, most of which are still in force. Within the last half century Judge Bishop has filled many places of honor and trust, among which may be mentioned that of merchant, Sunday school superintendent. jury commissioner. county sehool commissioner for twelve consecutive years. editor, express and railroad agent, newspaper correspondent, bank president and other positions of less responsibility, but equally important. He was also appointed by the governor of the state judge of the county court with limited criminal and civil juris- dietion. In every instance he gave perfect and entire satisfaction to all coneerned. voluntarily resigning them one by one as best suited his convenience and pleasure. Judge Bishop has now retired from all business activities and will spend his remaining days in Eastman, the city of his cherished pride, where he has a choice home, plenti- fully stocked with fruits and flowers, with his dutiful and devoted daughter, Helen, at the head of the household, giving her life in adding comforts to her father's declining years.
PEYTON L. WADE is one of the men of note in the state of Georgia today. As a lawyer he has made a brilliant record, early becoming known not only as a man of splendid attainments in his profession but as a man who was worthy in every way to uphold the standard of honor and integrity that the family of which he is a member had always been noted for. A man was heard to remark the other day that one must go south in order to find the natural lawyer. If this is true, then Mr. Wade is a fair example, for he would seem to have been gifted by nature with those gifts of eloquence, logical reasoning and the power of persuasion that are of so great value to the successful lawyer. Adding to natural ability a tendency for hard work and a lasting enthu- siasm, he has won from fate a fair measure of prosperity and is now in his prime, reaping the reward of years of hard work and close application.
Peyton L. Wade was born in Sereven county, Georgia, on January 9, 1865, the son of Robert MI. Wade and Frederica ( Washburn) Wade. Screven county was the birthplace of the father as well as of the son, and the birth date of the former was March 4, 1840. The Wade family is an old and well-known family in Savannah and the vicinity, and Robert Wade added luster to the name. He was educated at the Georgia Military Institute, at Marietta, Georgia, being graduated from this institution in 1860. He then took up his medical studies in Savannah but they speedily came to an end, for the Civil war broke out and the young would-be physician turned soldier to defend his beloved South- land. He enlisted in the First Georgia Regulars, and was first lieu- tenant of the company. Afterwards he served on the staff of Gen. Frank W. Capers as aide, in the Georgia militia. After the Georgia militia were disbanded, he served in the Twenty-second Georgia Bat- tery Artillery as hospital steward, in charge of a field hospital. After the evacuation of Savannah, was in the quartermaster's department for a time. He served in Virginia in the active campaigns there at the beginning, and later, as stated, in connection with militia and hospital department in the field. The story of the nobility and bravery of the surgeons and doctors during the Civil war has never been told. and probably never will be, for their heroism was like the work of the electricians in a play, carried on behind the scenes, and so easier for- gotten than the spectacle being presented on the stage. In how many hearts today lingers the memory of such men as Dr. Wade, who helped to render bearable the terrible conditions that existed in the hospital camps. Lieutenant Wade was at the battle of Bentonville, and sur- rendered with Jos. E. Johnson. When there was no longer any necd
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of his services and the war was a closed incident, he attended the medical department of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, from which he was graduated in 1872. He then moved to Athens, Georgia, and entered the practice of medicine, which he continued up to a short time before his death, which oceurred in December, 1904.
The following notice in an Athens paper was a deserved tribute and expressed the feeling of the people among whom he lived for a quarter of a century :
"Dr. R. M. Wade is dead, and with his passing out there is removed one of the noblest, truest men that ever lived in Athens. We have known him for many years, and have observed his walk among us. He had a heart pure as gold and big enough to take in all the suffering and sorrow around him, and alleviate all the distress and suffering that came under his notice. Unostentatious, tender and true, he was an ornament to his profession and to society. He had been a sufferer for some years with Bright's disease and succumbed to the ravages of this fell destroyer on Wednesday at 6 o'clock. He and his good wife have raised a noble family of sons and daughters, who are ornaments to society. Their loss is great, beeause of the extreme tender affection each held for the other. Ile was a stanch member of the Methodist church, and that institution will miss him much. Our deepest sympa- thies go out to the bereaved in their great loss."
The wife of Dr. Wade was also a member of a very prominent family in this region, her father being Joseph Washburn, who was president of the old Savannah Bank for many years prior to the war of 1861. one of the best known financial institutions in the state at that time.
The schools of Georgia being very poor during the years that Peyton Wade was growing up, he was educated largely by private tutors, but the objection that is usually urged against this type of education, that is of the laek of inspiration through contact with other children, was needless in his case, for he was one of a large family, and soon learned the lessons of self-reliance and generosity. He was the eldest: next in order is Eugene W., who was born in 1868 and is now living in Galveston, Texas; Edward I., born in 1870. is a resident of San Francisco, California; Rosalie lives in Athens. Georgia, and she was born in 1873; Robert M., Jr., who was born in 1876, also lives in Athens: Maeon, Georgia, is the home of Fred HI .. who was born in 1878; and the youngest, Georgia, is in Athens; her birth occurred in 1885. After his elementary education was practically complete, Peyton L. Wade attended the high school in Atlanta, Geor- gia, for a year, and then entered the State University of Georgia, from which he was graduated in. 1886 with distinction, fifth in his class of forty-seven. He spent the next two years in reading law with his nnele. Ulysses P. Wade, at Sylvania, Georgia, and was admitted to the bar there in 1888, and returned to Athens, where after practicing his profession for a year. he came to Dublin, Georgia, where he has since remained.
He has never eared to take an active part in politics, as do so many men of the legal profession, for he feels that polities have often been the ruination of a good lawyer. Mr. Wade was married on April 13. 1895, to Gussie K. Black. a daughter of George R. Black, who was congressman from the Savannah district. Mrs. Wade's grandfather was Edward J. Black, in his day a distinguished lawyer, who also served in congress for several terms from the same district represented after- wards by his son, Geo. R. Black. Mr. and Mrs. Wade have one child, Frederica, who was born in Dublin, in 1901.
ROGER DYER FLYNT. The year 1902 saw Roger Dyer Flynt gradu- ated from the law department of his alma mater, and the same year
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saw his establishment in practice in the city of Dublin. Georgia, where he associated himself in a partnership with L. R. Milton, under the firm name of Flynt & - Milton.
Born on August 2. 1881, at Union Point, Greene county, Georgia, Roger Dyer Flynt is the son of William T. and Lilla ( Moore) Flynt. The father was born on October 5, 1850, and the mother on May 26, 1856; she died the day before Easter Sunday. 1912. William T. Flynt is still living and enjoying life in the freedom from care in his declin- . ing years. They were natives of Taliaferro and Greene counties, respect- ively, and the father, who was a farmer during many years of his life, is now postmaster at Sharon. Georgia. He is a man of prominence in his section of the state. and served two terms in the state senate in the years 1890-91 and 1896-97. ITis service was for the nineteenth senatorial district, comprising the counties of Taliaferro, Warren and Greene. He now resides in Taliaferro county, which has always been his home, and where their son, the subject of this review, lived until he was twenty years of age.
Roger D. Flynt attended the country schools of his home com- munity as a boy, later was entered at the Stephens high school at Craw- fordville, Georgia, the same having been named for Alexander H. Stephens, and his old home being still used for the home of the teachers. In Mercer University, at Macon, Georgia, he studied law, and was. duly graduated in 1902. Almost immediately thereafter he came to Dublin and formed a partnership with Mr. Milton, as previously stated. but their association continued only a short time. The next combination of which he was a member was that of Williams, Flynt & Blackshier. In 1905 Mr. Flynt withdrew from the firm and went to Crawfordville. where he edited the Advocate, Democratic, for a year. during 1906. IIis next entry into the law was at Dallas. Georgia, in partnership with a Mr. Whitworth. In that eity lie also did considerable newspaper work. finding himself with a peculiar talent for the work and his services always in demand, his connection with newspaper business in Dallas being on the New Era. In 190S he returned to Dublin, here forming an association with M. II. Blackshier, which endured for a year. and he then joined forces with Judge Adams, and later became the partner of G. H. Williams, with whom he is now connected.
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Mr. Flynt is a director of the Carnegie library of Dublin. as well as secretary and treasurer of the library. He is a member of the Baptist church. On October 10, 1912, he married Miss Nellie Louise John- ston, daughter of John G. Johnston, a business man of Dexter, Georgia. She is a graduate of the state normal school of Athens. Georgia.
Mr. Flynt is one of the seven children of his parents. all of whom are living. Fitzhugh C., the eldest. is a civil engineer of Nashville, Tennessee; Albert II. is principal of the school of Carlton, Georgia ; Roger D. was the third born; Max S. lives in Atlanta, Georgia : Roy A. is assistant civil engineer of the L. & N. R. R. at Pensacola. Florida; Mabel and Donald are at home with the parents, and are students in the public schools. Mr. Flyut's maternal grandfather. Dr. W. A. Moore, was a physician who practiced a nummber of years at Union Point, Greene county, Georgia, and at Milledgeville, Georgia.
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