A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 5

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

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HARRIS MACLEOD KING. Representing on both the paternal and maternal sides of the house families that have long been prominent in naval, military, civic and historical affairs of Georgia, Harris Macleod King has himself been actively associated with the development and promotion of the commercial interests of the state tor upwards of thirty years, being now supervising inspector of naval stores for the state of Georgia, his home being in Savannah. A son of Col. Barrington S. King, he was born in Roswell, Cobb county, in 1860, a town which was named in honor of his great grandfather, Roswell King.

Roswell King was born in Sharon, Connecticut, May 3, 1765, being a son of Captain Timothy King, who was prominent on the Continental side in the naval service of the Revolutionary war, being commander of the brig "Defiance." Migrating to Georgia after the great struggle of the colonists for independence, Roswell King settled at Darien, in what is now MeIntosh county. He subsequently married Catherine, a dangh- ter of Josiah Barrington, who was born in Ireland, and emigrated to. Georgia a few years after the arrival in this state of General Oglethorpe. who was his kinsman and friend. Old Fort Barrington on the Altamaha river, an outpost built long before the Revolution for defense against the Spaniards, was named for him.

Their son, Barrington King. Mr. King's grandfather, was born in Darien, Georgia, March Sth. 1798. About 1839. with a colony of sev- eral other families from the seacoast of Georgia, including the Bulloch's. Smith's, Lewis's. Dunwody's. Pratt's. and Goulding's, he immigrated to Cobb county, and located on the site which his father Roswell King had some years before purchased from the Indians, and founded the little village of Roswell. which. as previously stated, was named in honor of his father. His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine M. Nephew. was a daughter of James Nephew, who, during the Revolutionary war. served as lientenant in Col. John Baker's regiment of the Liberty county. Georgia, militia.

Col. Barrington S. King was born while his mother was visiting the Bulloch family in Liberty conty. the King home at that time having been in Darien, Melutosh county. Throughout almost the entire period of the war between the states. Colonel King served as a gallant soldier

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and offieer in the Confederate army, his activities being mostly in the Army of Northern Virginia. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant eolonel in Cobb's Georgia Legion, he made a distinguished record for daring and fearless bravery, and on March 10, 1865, was killed at the head of his command, in Kilpatrick's charge, in the battle of Averys- boro, North Carolina.

The maiden name of the wife of Colonel King was Sarah Elizabeth Macleod. She is a lineal descendant of Francis Harris, who emigrated from England to Savannah in 1733. Francis Harris was prominent in the Colonial service of Georgia, having been elected speaker of the first colonial general assembly, which met in Savannah January 15, 1751. When the trustees of the colony surrendered their charter in June, 1752, and the lords commissioners of trade and plantations provided for the appointment of a governor and a council of twelve, Franeis Harris was a member of the council under Gov. John Reynolds, who assumed charge on October 30, 1754. He was also a prominent factor in the commercial development of Savannah, having in 1744 associated with himself James Habersham, under the firm name of Harris & Habersham, and established one of the first exporting houses in Sa- vannah, which business was continued up to the time of his death. She is the daughter of the late William Harris Macleod, and a grand- daughter of Francis Harris Macleod, whose father,. Dr. Donald Mac- leod, of the distinguished Macleod family of Skye, Scotland, served a's a surgeon in the British navy in the war against the colonists. After the war, however. Doctor Macleod beeame a loyal American citizen, settling in Savannah, Georgia, and here marrying Elizabeth Harris, only daughter of the Francis Harris alluded to above, who had been an ardent supporter of the colonists, while his only son. Franeis Henry Harris, was captain of the first company raised in Savannah to fight the British.

Brought up in Cobb county, Georgia, Harris Maeleod King obtained his elementary education in the local schools, afterwards continuing his studies at Marietta. Georgia, and at Amherst, Virginia. Sinee early youth he has been connected with the naval stores industry of Georgia, coming to Savannah when but sixteen years old as an emplove of a naval stores eoncern. Going to Brunswick, Georgia, in 1890, Mr. King was for twenty years a resident of that city, being identified with the John R. Young Company of Savannah, as manager for their Brunswick branch office. When this office at Brunswick was discontinued, he returned to Savannah May 1, 1910, and entered upon the responsible duties of his present position on that date, and has since been super- vising inspector of naval stores for the state of Georgia, an office to which he was appointed by Gov. Joseph M. Brown. In this eapacity Mr. King has the entire supervision and direction of all the naval stores inspeetors in the state, an office requiring rare tact, ability and discrimination.

Mr. King is a communicant of St. John's Episcopal church, and is a member of various social organizations, including the Society of Colonial Wars, the St. Andrew's Society, the Hibernian Society, Sons of the Revolution, Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Society of the Cineinati and the Order of Washington.

At Marietta, Georgia, Mr. King married Miss Georgia H. Baker, who was born in South Carolina of distinguished ancestry belonging to that state, but was brought up and educated in this state. Mr. and Mrs. King have four children, namely. Harris M. King, Jr., Irene Trenholm King, Barrington King and Panline Trenholm King.

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HON. JOSEPH MCCARTHY. It is safe to say that few men in the south are as well known in the labor world as Hon. Joseph Mccarthy, the prominent Georgia legislator, fighter and friend of organized labor. An advanced student of philosophy, his mental power is for the most part directed toward the solution of problems affecting the whole of society. He is an inspiration to the class whose cause he champions, for he is of humble birth and has risen to his present high position through his own efforts. Besides being a member of the state legisla- ture and a specialist in labor legislation, he is general foreman of the Central of Georgia Railroad shops and he is also the father of the county police bill of Chatham county. He is a particularly striking figure in Georgia affairs and a notable exponent of a great cause.

The Hon. Mr. MeCarthy was born in Savannah in 1868. the son of Thomas and Eliza ( Kehoe) MeCarthy, both of whom were natives of Ireland. They followed the beckoning finger of opportunity from the shores of the New World and located in Savannah previous to the Civil war. Both are now deceased. The father's occupation was that of a blacksmith. Mr. MeCarthy was reared in this city and received the greater part of his education in St. Patrick's parochial school. He learned the trade of machinist in the foundry and machine shops of the late J. W. Tynan, a prominent and well-known character of Savan- nah of former years. In 1890, the subjeet entered the employ of the Central of Georgia Railroad as a machinist in the Savannah shops and through his skill and efficiency was promoted to his present position. He is general foreman for the company in Savannah which includes both the locomotive and ear departments, this being a position of importance and responsibility.

Mr. MeCarthy has always been a strong union labor man and an ardent supporter of all measures of beneficence for the laboring elasses. He is the leading exponent of union labor principles in the Georgia state legislature, in which he has served three terms: 1907-08: 1909- 10, and 1911-12.

The record of Mr. MeCarthy's achievements in the work to which he has devoted heart and hand ean not be told more truly and coneisely than in his own words, the account which follows having been published in the Savannah Press.

"When I was first eleeted to the legislature in 1907 and 1908, I met the father of the child labor bill, Hon. Madison Bell. of Fulton county, and before any committees were appointed he asked me to let him re- main chairman of the labor committee, which I gladly consented to do on aceount of his experienee and I was made vice-chairman of the labor committee of Georgia. We drafted the bureau of labor bill and introduced it in the house and when it came before the committee the Textile Manufacturers' Association appeared against it and finally defeated it in the committee room. In 1908 he modified the bill a little and introduced it again only to be defeated by the Textile Manufact- urers' Association in the committee room. The Hon. Madison Bell, father of the child labor bill, declined to stand for reelection to the legislature in 1909-1910. I was reelected to the legislature and at that time Joe Brown was elected governor of Georgia. A committee of the working class appeared before Governor Brown and asked him to write the bureau of labor bill as a plank in his platform, which he did. I was then placed at the head of the labor committee of Georgia and in looking over the bill on which we had been defeated twice, I called on the Hon. J. Randolph Anderson who was the recognized leader of the Brown forces and he called a meeting in his room at the Piedmont Hotel. The gentlemen present were the Hon. J. Randolph Anderson, United States

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Senator Terrell. Representative Evans, who was representing the work- ing people of. Bibb county. C. T. Ladson, attorney of the Georgia state federation of labor and myself. We discussed the bureau of labor bill and the committee left it to myself. Mr. Ladson and Mr. Evans to draw the present bill, which is now a law, and introduce it in the house. But it was again defeated in the committee room by the Textile Manu- facturers' Association.

"The following year l introduced the bill again and, finally, after a hard fight, got it out of the committee room, only to be defeated on the floor of the house by those who were bitterly opposed to the bureau of labor. I was again elected to the legislature and Gov. Hoke Smith was reelected. after being defeated for one term. I made a trip to Atlanta and waiting on him, asked him to write the bureau of labor bill as a plank in his platform, which he did. When the Georgia legislature convened in 1910 I was again appointed chairman of the labor committee, with a new committee composed of members who had just been elected as representatives. This was composed of twenty- seven members of the house and all but a few were strangers to me. I seriously canvassed my committee to find if they were favorable to the people. I organized my committee and called a meeting. I was then notified by Hon. Henry Alexander. of Atlanta, an ex-member of the Georgia legislature and at one time on my committee, that he had been employed by the Atlanta Builders' Exchange, an association organized for the special purpose of defeating any labor legislation in the state. I notified Mr. Alexander of the date of the meeting and he appeared before the committee to fight the bill, but with all his power and the power of the Atlanta Builders' Association, he could not do a thing with the committee. The committee then recommended the favorable passage of the bill, The bill was so reported to the house, with recom- mendation that it do pass. It passed July 25. 1911, ayes, one hundred and eight, nays, thirty-five. The bill was immediately transmitted to the senate and there read the first time. July 31, and then referred to the senate committee on immigration and labor.

"The Textile Manufacturers' Association sent representatives before that committee and plead for it to be postponed for one week, so that they could have a hearing. I knew that this was the first move to try to defeat the bill. On the date set by the committee one hundred Textile Mannfacturers' Association representatives appeared in a body. There was not a committee room large enough to hold these representatives, so the committee adjourned to the house. When the roll was called for the committee both sides answered ready. Mr. Anderson was allowed five minutes to speak for the bill. The gentleman in favor of the bill to follow Mr. Anderson was Mr. Ladson of Atlanta, and when he finished. Jerome Jones of Atlanta, who also favored the bill, spoke, which closed our side. Mr. Alexander, representing the Atlanta Bniklers' Exchange, was allowed to speak twenty-five minutes. He made one of the most tell- ing speeches I have ever heard against the bill and this I saw, had ter- rible influence upon the senate committee. He told the senate com- mittee that he voted against the bureau of labor bill while a member of the honse, and that organized labor defeated him when he ran for re- election. one thousand to fifteen hundred votes. After he got through I knew that I could kill the inthence and asked permission to speak five minutes in answer to Mr. Anderson's speech.

" I told the senate committee that I had been a member of the house when Mr. Anderson was a representative and that he was placed on my labor committee, was in favor of my bureau of labor bill and voted for it. I told the senate committee that what defeated him was the faet

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that the citizens of Atlanta were knocking at the legislature's door and demanding the passage of a local bill to elect their recorder by the vote of the people. Mr. Anderson took sides against the other three repre- sentatives and fought the bill viciously on the floor of the house, but was defeated and the bill was passed to elect the recorder by the vote of the people. There were members of the senate who could corroborate this and I completely destroyed the force of Mr. Alexander's speech. Senator Shingler of the tenth distriet, who fought the bill so vigorously, demanded of me if there were bureaus of labor in other states and I proved to him that thirty-five states had commissioners of labor.

"The committee went into executive session and I waited patiently until 7:30 o'clock, when they came out of executive session. Senator Morris, of the committee. told me that they could not agree and would have a meeting next morning. I then feared there was no hope for my bill and that they were playing for time to defeat its passage. The committee met again and did not agree and again Senator Morris came to me and asked if I would agree to an amendment to leave the office to be elected by the people. I told him it was one of the cardinal prin- ciples of the masses to eleet to office by the vote of the people and that they could make no fight against it. The committee inet and agreed and reported the bill to the senate with the recommendation that it do pass as amended. On the floor the next day, Senator Shingler, who fought every inch against the passage of the bill, asked that the bill be recom- mitted, but it was voted down and read the second time August 7, 1911. It was read the third time on August 15, 1911, and passed, aves, twenty-three and nays, sixteen. I had finally seen the passage of my bureau of labor bill."

Mr. MeCarthy also gives the following enumeration of the achieve- ments of organized labor.

"Organized labor has been a potent factor in the passage of the child labor law, the law in reference to headlights on engines, in refer- ence to requirements of safety appliances, in providing regulation in reference to the convenience of female employes, and limiting the hours of employment. Organized labor was also an effective factor in the passage of the bill providing that administrators may recover in case of homicide and in rendering recovery possible even though the employe was to some extent negligent. Organized labor has also favored in legis- lative halls the protection of the indigent borrower from the excessive demands of the extortionate money lender. In the general sum total, . the trend of influence of organized labor upon the Georgia legislature has been in favor of the amelioration of the burdens of the unfortunate and the exaltation of the individual into a higher and broader life. Organized labor has generally been favorable to education, and its representatives have encouraged the dissemination of knowledge every- where. This is to be expected of any order whose purpose is to elevate mankind.

"I further state that when the whole state of Georgia was in a turmoil over the conviet lease system, it was organized labor that wrote the elause to protect free labor and was one of the greatest factors in passing the bill which is now a law. I am eternally and forever opposed to child labor as a blight on civilization and I am tooth and nail for state-wide compulsory education and for furnishing free books to every child in Georgia. If wise heads and kind hearts continue to control the federa- tion of labor so that the rights of both employer and employe will be recognized and the absolute necessity of aiding the welfare of both be accepted, the result will be beneficial to everybody. The best and noblest Vol. 11-3

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ideals of the individual of the organization are comprehended in the effort to uplift humanity and render it aid."

Mr. MeCarthy was married in Savannah to Miss Minnie Baker, a native of Augusta, Georgia. Into their household have been born four children-Thomas, Minnie, Joseph, Jr., and Helen. The eldest son, Thomas, has charge of his father's interest in the grocery store of Green- field & McCarthy on West Broad street. In May, 1912, Miss Minnie was married to Clarence L. Harris of Atlanta, son of C. L. Harris, a prominent insurance man of Atlanta. Mr. and Mrs. Harris reside at Atlanta.

ALBERT WYLLY. One of the most conspicuous figures in the recent history of Savannah is the well-known gentleman whose name intro- duces this review. An enumeration of the men of the state who have won honor and public recognition for themselves and at the same time have honored the community in which they live would be incomplete without reference to him as a political leader and director of opinion. Albert Wylly is active in the many-sided life of the city as property owner and county commissioner, and he is the scion of one of the oldest and most prominent families in all Chatham county. No name is more highly regarded and in many generations bearers of the name of Wylly have given valiant service to the country in times of both peace and war. The Wyllys are an exceptionally strong race of men, each gen- eration having retained and transmitted the strength and virility of its predecessors. They have never deteriorated and down to the present time each generation of the Wyllys has been represented by strong, clean, high-minded citizens, upholding the traditional honor and high ideals of the family's progenitors. Without exception they have been highly educated and successful and prosperous in life. At the present time in Savannah the descendants of the three original Wylly brothers are among the most representative men of affairs in the city. Not only have they achieved personal success, but their devotion to the public good is not questioned and arises from a sincere interest in the welfare of their fellow men.

Albert Wylly was born in Savannah on the 25th day of October, 1859, the son of George W. and Sarah Anne ( Revel) Wylly. George W. Wylly died at his home in Savannah in 1906 at the age of ninety years, his birth having occurred in this city in 1816. During the active period of his life he was one of the city's most prominent and successful business men and for a long number of years a leading figure in its affairs. He had held many positions of trust and responsibility at the hands of the public, among which was that of mayor pro tem of Savan- nah during the entire period of the war between the states, or until Sherman's army came into Savannah, upon which occasion he turned the city over to General Sherman. His eldest son, Col. William H. Wylly, commanded a regiment. in the Confederate army. Another son, Dr. King Wylly, although a very young physician, acted in the capacity of surgeon for the Confederacy. Both of these sons have sinee died. Dr. King Wylly went to France at the breaking out of the Franco-Prus- sian war and became a surgeon in the French army. In testimonial of his services he was presented with the medal of the Legion of Honor, having distinguished himself in the siege of Paris. Two cousins of the subject's father-Capt. Robert Habersham Wylly and William C. Wylly, were also in the Confederate army and one of George W. Wylly's was a captain of the Jasper Irish Greens, going out from Savannah in the Mexican war.

George W. Wylly, father of the immediate subject of this brief

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review, was the son of William C. Wylly, who in turn was the son of Thomas Wylly and the latter was the son of William Wylly. Thomas Wylly was an officer in the American Revolution and thus the present generation are in direct line for membership in the Society of Cinein- nati. William Wylly was a brother of Col. Richard Wylly and of Campbell Wylly and it was these who founded the Wylly family in America. They were of an English family, but came from the North of Ireland early in the eighteenth century to the West Indies and went thenee to Savannah not long after the founding of the city by Ogle- thorpe in 1733. Their descendants, as noted above, have resided here continuously ever since. Colonel Richard Wylly was a Continental officer in the Revolution. Mr. Wylly's paternal grandmother was Naomi (Dasher) Wylly, a danghter of Martin Dasher, who was the son of Thomas Dasher. all of Savannah and representative of another old family in the city. Thomas Dasher was an Englishman by birth, but followed the beekoning finger of opportunity from the shores of the new world. He located in Savannah and was given a grant of two thou- sand acres in its vicinity by the king of England. The subject's mother, whose demise occurred many years ago, was a member of the noted Chitty family of South Carolina, of French Huguenot descent.

Mr. Wylly and his brothers and sisters were all afforded the best of educational facilities both in America and Europe. He, himself, received his finishing education in Princeton University, where he was graduated in the class of 1879. a classmate and intimate companion of Woodrow Wilson, who graduated in the same class.

Mr. Wylly has always taken an active part in the affairs of the city and county and has large property and financial interests. He was elected a member of the board of county commissioners of Chatham county in 1903 and has since served in that eapacity, with credit to himself and honor and profit to his constituents.

It is by no means difficult to understand Mr. Wylly's remarkable loyalty to the city with which his honored forebears have so long been identified and upon which his own interest and affection are eentered. A glance at the careers of the present-day Wyllies is indeed edifying, for the usual student of biography confesses to an eager desire to traee the ancestral forces that are united in every son and daughter of unusual force and ability. No fine soul appears suddenly ; the foothills slope upward, and mental and moral capital are treasures invested for us by our forefathers.

Mr. Wylly has three brothers and a sister, viz .: Fred C., Martin Dasher, George W. and Miss Naomi A. Wylly.

WILLIAM MURRAY DAVIDSON, property owner and real estate dealer, is one of the prominent citizens of the city of Savannah, a power in the business world and of most distinguished stoek. As his name indi- cates. he is of Scotch descent and is a fine representative of the people, who never conquered, though often beaten, finally gave kings to Eng- land, field marshals to France and Prussia and Russia, cardinals to Rome, the second greatest man to the Reformation and to America a body of citizens whose priceless vale cannot be reckoned and who have made such an imprint npon our history that any of our citizens are proud to claim Scotch blood.

Mr. Davidson was born in Savannah on the 27th day of Angnst. 1862, the son of Capt. W. M. and Sarah Anne ( MeIntire) Davidson. Captain Davidson was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. in the year 1821. Ile came to Savannah in 1840 and in 1844 established himself as a mer- chant in a location on Congress street between Jefferson and Barnard.

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Before the war he had joined the Chatham Artillery of Savannah, of which he was second lieutenant when the war broke out. He gave up his business to go into the Confederate army and was in active service throughout the war. He was in command of the company of infantry that was the last to leave Savannah when General Sherman's army occupied the city, his command having had charge of the breastworks on the caual west of the city. After the war he resumed business, in which he continued for several years, and he served three terms as alderman of the city of Savannah. The demise of this highly respected and well remembered gentleman occurred in Savannah in 1894.

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A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 5

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