A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 59

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

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John Webb, the father, after being reared to manhood in his native county, purchased land in Dooly county and was engaged in general farming there with slave labor up to the time of the war. As a Georgia

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soldier he participated in the defense of Atlanta and was so severely wounded that he lost a leg. As soon as he was able he returned home, Having sold in 1868 his interests in Dooly county and also part of the where he was convalescing when the end of the great struggle came. old homestead in Johnson county, he settled in Lowndes county in 1869. He located here before the era of modern development had begun, and was able to buy seven hundred acres three miles southwest of the present site of Hahira for the sum of five hundred dollars. His first home was a log house, and he had to haul the lumber for floor and doors from the nearest sawmill, twenty-five miles away. By the con- tinuous labor of years he improved a large part of this land, erected good buildings, and resided there until his death at the age of seventy- six in 1898.

John Webb married Elizabeth Lamb, who was a native of Houston county, this state. and a daughter of Luke and Mary (Burnham) Lamb. Luke Lamb was a son of Arthur Lamb, and both were born in North Carolina. Elijah Burnham, the father of Mary. was a native of North Carolina, and both the Lamb and Burnham families were pio- neers of Houston county, Georgia. where they settled in 1826. Luke and Mary Lamb had the following children: Washington, Elizabeth, Mary Ann. Solomon and Laura. Mrs. John Webb, whose death occurred in 1900. was the mother of the following children: William W., of this sketch: Luke Lamb; Laura, who married J. B. Miley ; John E .; Lula, who married Thomas Folsom; Eli D .; Harriet, who married John L. Redding; Thomas W., and Charles W.

William W. Webb was about eight years old when the war between the states was precipitated. That conflict swept away nearly all his father's wealth. and as a consequence all the boys had to work, and little opportunity was afforded for the education and advantages to which families of their position were accustomed. But he was able to get considerable knowledge in the neighboring schools, and the lack of earlier years his subsequent industry has largely supplied. While a youth he learned the trade of blacksmith, and that was his regular occupation for some years. In 1876 he established a business of his own at Thomasville, and conducted it four years. In the meantime he bought land three miles from the present town of Hahira, his four years at the forge giving him the money to pay for this property, and in 1881 he began his career as an independent farmer. For ten years he resided on his country place and did well in general farming, and in fact has been one of the enterprising agriculturists of this county ever since, directing his farm from his residence in town. In 1891 he moved to Hahira, where he has taken a very important part in the town life and activities.

Mr. Webb has been a member of the town council, and upwards of twenty years has served on the town board of education, and at the present time is also a member of the county board of edneation. Partly owing to his own early deprivations in schooling and also to his publie- spirited interest in all that concerns the general welfare. he has devoted himself earnestly to the provisions for public education. To his efforts as much as to the efforts of any other citizen, the town is indebted for its present admirable school system. The Hahira schools are absolutely free to all. and in efficiency they are probably not surpassed in any town of the size in Georgia. His influence and efforts contributed in great measure to the erection of the present school building at a cost of twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Webb was also for some years a member of the Farmers Alliance, and was one of the promoters and still a useful member of the Farmers Union. He is president of the Georgia, Alabama & Western Railroad Company.

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Mr. Webb was reared in the Methodist faith, and in 1895 was ordained a local preacher. He has been active in the ministry ever since. A fluent and forceful speaker, both in the pulpit and on social occasions he has used his talent for the advancement of righteousness and better ideals in his community. Mr. Webb has served eighteen years as worshipful master of Hahira Lodge, No. 346, F. & A. M., and is a member of Valdosta Chapter, R. A. M., and the Valdosta Com- mandery, K. T., having filled chairs in both these branches of, Masonry. Another important public service by which he is perhaps best known to the citizens of Hahira is his management of the local postoffice, liis duties as postmaster having been continuons since 1891.

In 1874 Mr. Webb was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Jane Vickers. Mrs. Webb was born in Lowndes county, a daughter of Henry and Malinda Vickers. They are the parents of seven children, named Solomon Wesley. Valeta, Henrietta, Ira- E., Frankie Elizabeth, Minnie Lee and Jolin A. Solomon W. married Lucy Lawson, and their four children are Willie Briggs, Louise, Roger and Dennis. Valeta is the wife of G. K. Johnson, and has two children, Emmett and Ira Edgar. Henrietta is the wife of M. M. Parish. Ira E. married Mattie Rowntree and has two children, Carrie Lou and Eugene. Frankie E. is the wife of Henry B. Lawson, and their children are Lillian, Hollis E. and Blanford. Minnie L. is the wife of Turner Folsom.

IVEY P. CRUTCHFIELD, as architect and builder, has made a name for himself in his locality in southeastern Georgia, and as he is yet a young man he has prospects for a broader, greater work.

Mr. Crutchfield was born at Irwinton, Georgia, in 1878, son of J. I. and Celia (Smith ) Crutchfield, both natives of the Empire State of the South ; and when he was a small boy the family moved to a farm near Cochran, where he lived until he was seventeen. Then he began life for himself. He learned the builder's trade in its every detail. beginning with hammer and saw, and while he contracted for and built houses of various descriptions he studied architecture : he was not content merely to erect according to the plans and specifications of others, he was ambi- tious to follow his own plans. For four years he made his home at Vidalia and previous to that time Cochran was the seat of his operations, at both of which places and others are to be found monuments of his skillful workmanship. As a contractor he erected seven of the principal mercantile buildings of Cochran, also the oil mills and a number of the most prominent residences of that town, among them being the $14,000 residence of P. L. Peacock. At Soperton he built a sale stable and cotton warehouse and fifteen mercantile buildings, and later on he planned a $20,000 bank building at Soperton, Georgia. His first work of note as an architect was the building occupied by the large store of Leader &. Rosansky, Vidalia. Among his other architectural works are the First National Bank Building. the Thompson & Hamilton Building. the Cres- cent City Barber Shop Building, Vidalia Furniture Company Building, the Bank of Vidalia, the New Vidalia Cafe Building, the building ocen- pied by the buggy business of S. B. & E. L. Medows. the annex of Vidalia College Institute, G. N. Mathews & Sons Store, and many residences in Vidalia. He drew the plans and erected the $16,000 residence of R. MI. Garbett of Lyons, the county seat of Toombs county, and other buildings erected by him at that place are those of Moses Coleman and I. Q. Cole- man respectively, and the school annex. also the home of F. M. Smith at Lyons. He was the architect of the Bank of Nashville, the Mount Ver- non Bank of Mount Vernon. the Uvalda Bank of Uvalda, Georgia, the

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Farmers-Merchants Bank of Nunez. and the Bank of Soperton. In Jan- uary, 1913, he moved to Savannah and opened an office in the Germania Building.

June 10, 1906. Mr. Crutchfield married Miss Annie Renfroe. daugh- ter of Thomas Renfroe of Cochran, and they have two children: Lawrin and Ivy Thomas.

Mr. and Mrs. Crutchfield are members of the Methodist church, and, fraternally, he is identified with the Knights of Pythias.

WILLIAM H. GURR. An able and worthy representative of the legal fraternity of Terrell county, William H. Gurr, one of the leading attorneys of Dawson. is a fluent, earnest and convincing advocate, and through his industry and ability has built up a large and remunerative practice in his adopted city. A son of Edward M. Gnrr. he was born in Bibb county, Georgia. February 9, 1871. His grandfather. Samuel Gurr, was born in South Carolina. a son of John Gurr, who is supposed to have been the founder of the American family of Gurr.

Sammel Gurr grew to man's estate in South Carolina, and was there reared to habits of industry and thrift. Early in life he migrated to Georgia, settling in Houston county in pioneer days, bravely daring all the privations and hardships of life in a new country, in order to pave the way for those who followed, and to establish a home for his children. Buying land that was in its original wildness, he was there engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his years. He married Elizabeth Bishop, a native of South Carolina, and she survived him, passing away at the age of four score years. They reared eight children, as follows: Elvira, Thomas Jefferson, Robert, Mattic, Edward M .. James P .. John W., and Samuel D.

. Edward M. Gurr first opened his eyes to the light of the world on a farm in Houston county, Georgia. where he lived until sixteen years old. Then ambitious to become a wagc-earner, he entered the employ of the Central Georgia Railroad, with which he was connected as an employe until thirty years old, in that capacity having been exempt three years.

from military service during the Civil war. After the death of his father, he purchased a part of the old homestead. and managed it for IIle then traded that property for a farm in Crawford county, where he resided until his early death, at the age of forty-two years in 1887. Ilis wife. whose maiden name was Nancy Balkcom. was a native of Quitman county. Her father, Ichabod Balkcom, who died in the Confederate army during the war between the states, moved with his family from JJones county to Quitman county, and on the farm which he purchased his wife. nee Caroline Moore, spent her re- maining years. Both the Moore and Balkcom families were reared in Monroe county. and moved to Quitman county about the same time. Mrs. Edward M. Gurr survived her husband four years, dying in 1891. She was the mother of eight children as follows: James W., William H .. Thomas Edward. Frank B .. Mattie L., Fanny G., Ophelia, and Belle.

As a boy, William HI. Gurr, in his efforts to obtain an education, used to walk three miles to the rural schools of his native county. The knowl- edge thus acquired was further advanced at higher institutions of learn- ing, he having attended first the Cuthbert Military College, and later Emory College in Oxford. Georgia, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897. In June. 1898. Mr. Gnrr enlisted in Ray's Regiment of Imunmes, designated as Third Regiment United States Volunteer Infantry, and went with this command to Cuba. where he remained eight months, being stationed at Santiago. Baracoa. and Sagua de Tan- amo. He was honorably discharged with his regiment, May 2. 1899,

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and on his return home turned his attention to the study of law, a profession for which he is well adapted. In January, 1900, Mr. Gurr was admitted to the bar, and immediately located at Dawson, where he has been in continuons practice ever since.

In September, 1900, Mr. Gurr married Helen H. Giles, who was born in Stewart county, Georgia, a daughter of William H. and Martha (Boyette) Giles. William II. Giles was born on a farm seven miles west of Lumpkin in Stewart county. February 5, 1851. His father was John Frank Giles, who it is thought, was a native of Baldwin county, this state. Anyhow he came from that portion of the state about 1835. and located in the wilderness of south Georgia. He was one of the men who bore the pioneer burden in a country sparsely settled withont railroads, where wild game of all kinds was in abundance. and where the Indians roamed through the forest still claiming the privileges of hunting as they had for generations. Grandfather Giles was in south Georgia in time to participate in the final overthrow of the Indian tribes of Florida and Georgia, and fought in the battle of Roanoke in 1836. He was subsequently for a number of years an overseer on plantations in Stewart county. and his death occurred when about sixty-five years of age. He married Mary Armstrong, who was born in Baldwin county, a daughter of James II. and Mary ( Davis) Armstrong. Her death occurred at the age of seventy-two. Their seven children were named Mary F., Sarah A., J. Alexander, William II., George P., John F., and Robert F. William H. Giles was reared on a farm, re- ceived his early education in some of the Stewart county schools, and a considerable part of his early youth was spent during the troublous times of the Civil war. He became one of the prosperous farmers of this county, and continued actively in those pursuits until 1893, at which time he removed to Richland, where he has since been proprietor of the principal hotel of that town. When twenty-two years of age he married Miss Maggie Boyett, who was born in Clay county, Georgia, a daughter of James and Sarah ( Adams) Boyett. Mr. Giles and wife reared two children, the first being Helen Holmes, wife of Mr. Gurr, and the second being Willard James.

Mr. Gurr has served for five years as city attorney, and is now solic- itor of the city court of Dawson. An active and influential party since casting his first presidential vote for William J. Bryan, Mr. Gurr has since served as a delegate to two state conventions, and was a dele- gate to the national Democratic convention held in Baltimore in 1912. Fraternally Mr. Gurr is a member of P. T. Schley lodge No. 229, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and belongs to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity.

ALEXANDER J. MCKINNON, the prominent farmer and stock grower of the Way district of Thomas county, can boast descent from two fam- ilies who have been gentry in Scotland for many hundred years, the MeIntosh and the Mckinnon families. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch, John MeKinnon, was the first representative of the family to make his home in Georgia. He was born in Robeson county, North Carolina, abont two years after his parents had come to the United States from Scotland, about 1773. He spent his early youth in the locality of his birth, and was there married to Mary MeIntosh, whose natal day ocenrred in Scotland in the year 1775, and who came to the United States with her parents when she was but six years old. Mary MeIntosh Mckinnon had two brothers, Daniel and Murdoch. Daniel had three children, John Anderson, Roderick, and Margaret MeLoed. The offspring of Murdoch were John, Caroline, Benjamin,

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Daniel, Mary and Charlotte. John McKinnon had two brothers, Hec- tor and Kenneth, who passed their lives in Robeson county, North Carolina, and whose descendants still live in the turpentine and lumber district of that state.

After his marriage. John MeKinnon left the community where he had been born, and migrated to Montgomery county, Georgia, in which loeal- ity he was a pioneer. IIe resided there as a farmer and stoek raiser until about 1830. in which year he moved to Thomas county. settling about six miles east of Thomasville, on timbered land. He was quite a large slave holder, and nsed slave labor in clearing his new prop- erty, and engaging in farming and stock raising. He died five years after coming to Thomas county, in the spring of 1835, of measles. He had been raised in the faith of the Presbyterian church, but on coming to Thomas county, where there was no church of his denomination, he had united with the Methodist congregation, and in that church he died. A pious, God-fearing man all his life, it is said that ahost with his dying breath he repeated snatches of the old hymn, com- mencing,

"Jesus, and shall it ever be. a mortal man ashamed of Thee."

And so passed to his eternal reward with his Master's name upon his lips.

After her husband had been laid away in the plot of ground which he had set aside for the' family cemetery. the cares of a large family of children, and of the farm as well, devolved upon Mary McIntosh Mckinnon. She did her duty well, managing the business of the farm so efficiently that when her children reached the age of maturity. she was able to start each one out in life with a plot of ground and two or three slaves. She fell asleep in the year 1857, after a life devoted to all that is loveliest and best. in Christian womanhood.

John and Mary MeIntosh Mckinnon had twelve children, many of whose descendants are now honored and prosperous citizens of southern Georgia. They were Malcohn, who was born in the year 1799, and married Margaret McArthur; Roderick, whose natal day occurred in the year 1801, and who died unmarried; Neil, whose birth took place in 1803, and who married Sarah Rains Mitchell: Elizabeth, born in 1805, who became the wife of Thomas Pugh; John, born in 1807, whose wife was Mary Louise Jordan; Nancy, who married Murdoch MeKin- non; Kenneth, husband of Ann McRae: Daniel, who died as a young man; Margaret, who became Mrs. Malcolm MeKinnon; Murdoch, whose wife was Mary Ann McArthur; McIntosh, who married Margaret McArthur, sister to Mary Ann, and niece of the Margaret McArthur who married Malcolm MeKinnon; Mary, who became the wife of Alex- ander MeRae, the brother of Ann MeRae.

The father of the subject of this history, Kenneth McKinnon, was born in Montgomery county, Georgia, July 14, 1814. He accompanied the family to Thomas county, and after his father's death continned to live with his mother on the old homestead until his marriage, when he settled on a tract of land in what is now the Way distriet of Thomas county. There he engaged in general farming and stock raising. In 1861, when the War of the Rebellion broke ont. he joined the Georgia Reserves, and served until honorably discharged on account of physical disability. He was not the only one of John MeKimon's descendants to take part in the great struggle. At the very beginning of the conflict between the states, twenty grandsons of John MeKhmon gave their lives in the aid of the Confederate canse, and later, two more grandsons died in the service of the stars and bars. Seven of these young men Were unmarried, but the rest left wives to mourn them.

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When the war was over, Kenneth MeKinnon continued farming on his old farm, and remained there until his death, which oceurred in the year 1882. His wife survived him by nearly twenty years, departing this life on the twenty-eighth of May, 1900. Mrs. Kenneth MeKinnon, who was Ann MeRae before her marriage, was born in Telfair county, Georgia, April 10. 1819. Her parents, Philip and Elizabeth MeRae, were natives of Scotland. and pioneers of the county in which Mrs. MeKinnon was born. An MeRae MeKinnon bore her husband seven children, by name. Mary, Isabelle, Philip, Margaret, William D., . Alex- ander J., and Julia F.

Alexander J. Mckinnon was born on the farm where he now makes his home on March 4, 1857. He attended the schools of the neighborhood. and resided with his parents until he gradually succeeded into the active management of the property, after which they made their home with him. He has continued to farm the home tract of eight hundred aeres, but. as his prosperity has increased, he has added to it from time to time until he now possesses about twelve hundred acres.

Mr. MeKinnon was married on May 8, 1882, to Mattie Dukes, the daughter of John W. and Wealthea ( Peacock) Dukes. Six children are the issue of this marriage, namely. Frank L., Clara May. Wealthea Elizabeth, Luey Alexander, George Remer. and Howell Edward.

Mr. McKinnon shares the dominant characteristics of the MeKinnon family, and is a quiet, law-abiding citizen of his community. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are valued workers in the congregation.

WILLIAM RIDGELY LEAKEN. Distinguished not only for the high position which he has attained in legal circles and in public life, but for the honored ancestry from which he traces his descent, William Ridgely Leaken is widely known as collector of customs for the port of Savannah. and as special assistant attorney general of the United States. A son of Rev. George Armistead Leaken, he was born, February 13, 1859, in Baltimore, Maryland. Of Irish and English lineage. he comes of good old colonial stoek, his great-grandfathers on both sides of the family having served in the colonial wars. One of them, Theodore Middleton, his mother's grandfather, having raised and equipped at his own ex- pense two companies of soldiers, after which he served as lieutenant of Maryland troops in the Continental army, under Gen. Mountjoy Bailey.

Rev. George Armistead Leaken was named for Gen. George Armistead of Maryland, with whom his father, Gen. Sheppard Church Leaken, of Maryland, an officer in the War of 1812, was asso- ciated in the engagement at Fort McHenry, both having command of troops at the bombardment of that fort. He was born in Baltimore. Mary- land, in 1818, and died July 10, 1912. Educated in Princeton College, he entered the priesthood of the Episcopal church in early manhood, and for half a century was rector of Trinity church in his native eity. This long continuous period of useful activity. in the intimate relation naturally existing between pastor and parishioner. made him a greatly loved and revered character in Baltimore. Dr. Leaken is an author of several valuable books of a scientific and religious nature, one of which. "The Law of Periodicity," is known the world over. His wife, whose maiden name was Anna Maria Middleton, died several years ago.

Acquiring his rudimentary education in the schools of Baltimore, William Ridgely Leaken entered Trinity College, in Hartford. Connec- ticut, in 1876, and was there graduated in July. 1880. with the degree of

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Bachelor of Arts, his alma mater subsequently conferring upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Removing soon after his graduation to Albany, Georgia, Mr. Leaken was there engaged in tutoring for two years, in the meantime taking up the study of law. Coming to Savannah in the autumn of 1882, he completed his legal studies in the office of Chisholm & Erwin, in 1883 being admitted to the bar. In 1885 he was admitted to practice in the United States courts of Georgia, and in 1897 to the supreme court of the United States. From 1883 until 1890 Mr. Leaken was associated with the firm of Chisholm & Erwin, but since that time has continued his practice alone.

Mr. Leaken's talents, skill and efficiency as a lawyer have received wide recognition, particularly in official circles. In 1897 he was ap- pointed assistant district attorney for the southern district of Georgia, in which capacity he rendered satisfactory service for seven years. In 1904 he was made special assistant attorney general of the United States, a position that he is still filling most acceptably. On July 9, 1909, Mr. Leaken was appointed by President Taft collector of customs for the port of Savannah, and immediately entered upon the important and responsible duties of the position, which he still holds. His able ad- ministration of this post is greatly appreciated by the commercial and shipping interests of Savannah, which are constantly increasing in mag- nitude and value, while the city's status as the principal port of entry on the south Atlantic seaboard is each year being advanced with the continued development of the South.

In 1898, at the beginning of the Spanish-American war, Mr. Leaken enlisted as a private in the Second Georgia Regiment. United States Volunteers, and was subsequently promoted to second lieutenant of his company. He is now an honorary member. for service, of the Savan- nah Volunteer Guards. and formerly he was judge advocate of the First Battalion of Infantry, National Guard of Georgia.

Prominent in political life, Mr. Leaken was a delegate to the na- tional Republican convention of 1900, and in 1897 was a Republican presidential elector from Georgia. He is identified with various patri- otic, social and fraternal organizations, and does much to promote their good. He is a charter member, and former historian, of the Georgia Society of the Sons of the Revolution; governor of the Georgia Society of Colonial Wars: a member of the Oglethorpe Club; of the Savannah Board of Trade; of the Hibernian society : of the Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Order of Masons, he is a Knights Templar, and a member of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Religiously he is affiliated with Christ church, Episcopal, and is president of the choir guild.

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A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 59

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