USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 6
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The paternal grandfather of Mr. Davidson was Capt. George David- son of the British navy, who was captain of one of the quarter decks of the ship "Superb" under Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar. Follow- ing this battle he retired from the navy and became the owner of sub- stantial property interests in Fifeshire. In his later years he came to America, but did not locate in Savannah. From that time he main- taiued his residence iu New York and was buried in Greenwood eeme- tery. Mr. Davidson's grandaunt, on his father's side, was the wife of William Murray of Scotland, who was a distinguished jurist and held the position of lord advoeate of Edinburgh. Lady Amelia Murray, his . sister, was lady in waiting on the Duchess of Kent, mother of Queen Victoria. She made an extended visit to America during the period before the war in which slavery was the great issue of discussion. She traveled through the North and the South and visited for some time in Savannah. On her return to Seotland she wrote her views of the American situation, which, being published widespread and being con- trary to the views expressed by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her work entitled "Unele Tom's Cabin, " was the cause of her dismissal from her position in the household of the Duchess of Kent; the official reason being her interference in American affairs. The Davidson family are prominently connected with the history of Dunfermline and the sub- ject's father was the first child to be baptized in Dunfermline Abbey after the reinterring of the remains of King Robert Bruce in the abbey about 1822. The abbey and indeed the entire borongh are rich in the most romantic Seottish history. In the latter many of the kings were born and in the former are interred many of the most celebrated char- acters in Caledonian annals. The mother of the immediate subject of this review was the daughter of Audrew McIntire, who came to Savan- nah from Donegal. Ireland. in 1820.
William Murray Davidson was educated in this city, taking his first draughts at the "Pierian Spring" as a 'pupil in the old Barnard street school, and subsequently becoming a pupil in Chatham Academy and studying under the private tutelage of Prof. C. C. Talliaferro. IIe also attended for three months Eastman business college at Poughkeep- sie, New York. In 1879, at the age of eighteen years he took charge of his father's business and conducted the same about twenty years. For several years past Mr. Davidson has been engaged in real estate transactions and is the owner of valuable property interests in Savan- nah. He is a director of the Real Estate Bank and Trust Company and has other interests of broad seope and importance. He keeps in touch with all valuable publie works and is a member of the Savannah public library board. Ile is president of the St. Andrews Society.
Mr. Davidson was married to Miss Jennie Wyly, who was born in Jacksonville, Alabama. They have one child. William Murray David- son, and their houscholl is the abode of culture and gracions hospi- tality. Mrs. Davidson is a direet descendant of John Sevier.
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THOMAS PURSE. It is safe to say that no citizen of the common- wealth of Georgia is more widely and favorably known than Thomas Purse, secretary and superintendent of the Savannah board of trade, one of the most important and efficient bodies of its kind in the United States. Mr. Purse was elected to this highly important office in 1907, and he has since met its responsibilities with distinction. Since its organization in 1883 the Savannah board of trade has steadily developed 'into a powerful factor in the commercial life of the south and Mr. Purse has been influential in bringing about the accomplishment of its objects. which are: to maintain a commercial exchange: to promote uniformity in the customs and usages of merchants; to inculcate principles of justice and equity in trade; to facilitate the speedy adjustment of business disputes : to acquire and disseminate valuable commercial and economie information and generally to secure to its members the benefits of co-operation in the furtherance of their legitimate pursuits. Through one of its departments, naval stores alone, it is known throughout the world of trade and commerce: and its renown through its connection with the great lumber interests is almost equally widespread. The board's activities and usefulness, however, are not confined to these two industries; it is the keystone upon which rests all of the extensive commercial, industrial, mercantile and financial activities of Savannah. In aiding local concerns in the extension of Savannah's trade; in pro- moting substantial improvements of every kind in the city ; in the build- ing of new railroads ; in opposing or favoring proposed state or national legislation, accordingly as it is objectionable or beneficent: in securing harbor and wharfage improvements; in locating new enterprises: in securing new territory for local concerns-in all of these and in many more ways the body has been of the greatest usefulness. In faet, it has done and is doing everything possible that it can do in a conservative way for the welfare and development of one of the most beautiful and progressive cities of the South.
Mr. Purse has become known as one of the expert board of trade officials in the country. With the foundation of expert knowledge as a statistician, which forms an important feature of the board's work, he is in addition a thoroughly live, resourceful and efficient official in carrying out the greatly varied activities of the board. He takes up the various matters affecting shipping interests, both ocean and rail. and is highly successful in adjusting such. Ile keeps in touch constantly with the many ramifications of the board of trade's interests. not only with local trade. but with the commerce of the world. His is a fasci- nating profession, and to meet its requirements he is peculiarly fitted.
Mr. Purse is a native son of Savannah and one of those who have elected to remain permanently within its borders. The date of his birth was March 19, 1874, and his parents were Capt. Daniel G. and Laura (Ashby) Purse, the former, now deceased, a native of Savannah, and the latter, who survives, a native of Fanquier county, Virginia.
Thomas Purse was educated in the public schools of Savannah and in the Georgia Military Institute, near Atlanta. For ten years he was employed in the accounting department of the Antwerp Naval Stores Company in Savannah. Following this he was connected as an expert accountant with the firm of Mustin & Marsh, public accountants, and in 1907, as previously mentioned. accepted his present position as super- intendent and secretary of the Savannah board of trade.
Mr. Purse's wife, before marriage, was Miss Elizabeth Morrison. who was born in South Carolina. When she was a child her parents died and she was reared and educated by her grandfather. Ilon. John Lawton, of Lawtouville. South Carolina, one of the leading citizens
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of that state. Mrs. Purse is now one of the well-known hostesses in exclusive social circles of the Forest city. Their union was celebrated on the 5th day of May, 1898, and they share their home with two children : Thomas, Jr., and Elizabeth Lawton.
Mr. Purse is a member of St. John's Episcopal church. and he is a Scottish Rite Mason. For some years previous to his marriage he was an active member of Company B, Savannah Volunteer Guards, and he is still interested in things military.
In 1908, Capt. Daniel G. Purse, father of the foregoing gentleman and one of Savannah's foremost citizens in any day or generation.
"Gave his honors to the world again, His blessed part to Heaven ; and slept in peace."
Captain Purse was one to whom publie spirit and civic loyalty was far more than a mere rhetorical expression and it may truly be said that there was nothing of public import in the Forest city during his life- long residence here in which he was not helpfully interested. It was, however, not merely in the capacity of a helper that he was valuable in the economic and civic history of his native city and state, for he was a man of great initiative, with a rare capacity for the handling of affairs of great scope and importance, and in the splendid ideas which be metamorphosed into realities he finished to himself a monument more enduring than bronze. When the nation went down into the valley of decision in the dark days of the '60s, firm in the conseientious convietion of the supreme right of the states to sever their connection with the national government, he enlisted in the Confederate service and served as offiecr during the war.
Captain Purse was born in this city November 14. 1839, the son of Thomas and Eliza Jane (Gugle) Purse, the former a native of Winehester, Virginia, and the latter of Savannah. Georgia. Thomas Purse came to this city in youth and played a prominent part in its affairs. In 1849-50 he represented his district in the state senate and in 1862 was mayor of Savannah; for many years before and after that period he was a member of the board of aldermen, and he filled many other civil and political positions of distinction and honor. He held the institutions of the South in ardent affection and it was a great trial to him that he could not enter the ranks of the Confederate army in Civil war times, but physical infirmities made this impossible. He passed to the great beyond at the age of seventy years, but there are many of the elder generation who still remember this man of fiery enthusiasm and loyal energy. He was one of the original projeetors and promoters of the Central of Georgia Railroad. He was its first superintendent and he invented the first time-table ever employed in the operation of rail- road trains. the equated principle which he formulated being now utilized on railroads throughont the world.
Capt. Daniel G. Purse received his early education in private schools in Savannah and Sandersville, Georgia, subsequently entering Emory College at Oxford. Georgia, which institution he left at the end of his junior year (in 1857). to take a commercial course in Pittsburgh. Pen- sylvania. under Peter Duff. a celebrated accountant of that day. His first adventure as an active factor in the busy workl was in a pedagogical . capacity. taking charge of Monteith academy in Savannah, but retain- ing his preceptorship only for a twelvemonth. He then accepted a clerk- ship and shortly after bonght ont a paint and oil business, which he was successfully conducting at the outbreak of the war between the states. When hostilities began he was not able to leave with Company
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A of the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, with which he had been previously connected. Later he took an active part in recruiting and organizing Company B, which was attached to the First Georgia Volunteer Infan- try and of which he became third sergeant. He was serving as sergeant- major at Fort Pulaski when he was transferred to the ordinance depart- ment at Savannah and served most acceptably in this department from November, 1861, to November, 1864. Within this period he was tendered and declined a second lieutenancy in a camp of instruction in the northern part of the state and was offered the captainey of a company in the field, but his services in the ordnance department were considered so valuable that it declined to release him at the time. with the under- standing that he was to be commissioned and assigned to duty in the field as soon as he could be spared. In November. 1864, he was ordered to Augusta, Georgia, where he organized an engineer's supply station for the military department of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, with a commission as military storekeeper of the eorps of engineers and the pay and allowance of captain of infantry. He was always under the direct command of Gen. J. F. Gilmer, chief of engineers in the Confederate service. In 1862, while in the ordnance department, as the result of a severe illness, Captain Purse was rendered unfit for field service. He served in the engineer's eorps until the close of the war, receiving a parole at Athens, Georgia, August 16, 1865, at the hands of Maj. M. A. Ewen, of the One hundred and sixty-sixth New York volunteers and provost marshal. He then returned to Savannah and in the beautiful old city lived out the remainder of his life.
He was long connected with the Central of Georgia Railway and for fourteen years successively was elected president of the Savannah board of trade, resigning in his fourteenth term on aecount of the pressure of private business interests. From 1881 to 1885 he served as president of the Savannah Bank & Trust Company. He was at the time of his death president of the Interstate Sugar-Cane Growers' Asso- ciation, which aeeomplished a magnificent work in promoting the sugar industry in the South. He completed the cirele of both the York and Seottish Rites of Masonry, taking the thirty-seeond degree in the latter. He was a leading member and communicant of St. John's church, Protestant Episcopal, in which he served as seeretary, treasurer and vestryman, retiring as senior warden of the church, from parochial offiee, in 1895.
On December 20, 1865, Captain Purse was united in marriage to Miss Laura Ashby, daughter of Marshall and Luey (Cooke) Ashby, of Fauquier county, Virginia. His married life was in all respeets the fruition of his early hopes and the union was blessed by the birth of four children.
To enumerate the movements for eivic and state progress and bet- terment with which Captain Purse was identified, would be almost to give a summary of the history of the progress of Savannah during the entire period of his aetive years, the impress of his enterprise, vigor and zeal being stamped upon every material undertaken that fostered the growth and prestige of the city of his birth. As alderman and chairman of the finance committee in 1877, after Savannah had been scourged and rendered almost bankrupt through the yellow fever epidemie of the preceding year, he sneeceded in funding an oppressive bonded indebtedness upon terms much more favorable to the city than the most optimistie thought possible, maintaining, meanwhile, the respect and confidence of the city's creditors 'and his fellow citizens. When he advanced the idea that a railway should be constructed across nearly twenty miles of salt marsh to Tybee island, it was received with doubt
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and its author was pronounced a visionary; yet he built it, and the island is now the favorite snnnner resort of many Savannah and Georgia people. He was president of the road until it passed into the control of the Central of Georgia Railway. on terms most favorable to the original owners. The domestic water supply of Savannah was drawn from a muddy river and unsanitary surface wells. Captain Purse put down the first artesian well in Savannah and the second in the state, demonstrating the fact that unfailing crystal waters flow. in subter- ranean channels to the sea, and as the result of his experimentation the towns, cities and islands of the south Atlantic coast have a pure water supply, drawn from depths ranging from two hundred to fifteen hun- dred feet. Savannah's entire water supply is now derived from artesian wells. Upon the very beach of Tybee island, where the salt waves wash its white sands. Captain Purse sunk artesian wells and fresh water was found for thirsty pleasure seekers. He was the leader in the project for the deepening of the channel in the river from Savannah to the sea. With unparalleled energy he instituted a campaign of education, enlist- ing the interest and support of congressmen in every state in the Union, at a time when there was a growing tendency to curtail river and harbor appropriations. By his pen and voice. by his visits to state governors and to commercial bodies in the principal cities of the West and South, and by attending meetings of state agricultural societies, he marshaled a corps of auxiliaries that made the way easy for the generous appro- priations which resulted in the deepening of the channel of the Savannah river so that vessels drawing 32 feet can now enter and depart from the harbor, the result being that Savannah has stupendous shipping interests, ranking her as the first seaport of the south Atlantic coast.
During the five years the Savannah bureau of freight and trans- portation was in operation Captain Purse was its able and zealous commissioner, the organization doing a wonderful work for Savannah in the way of regulating freight rates and adjusting other matters touching the commercial welfare of the city. In purely local enter- prises he was repeatedly chosen the leader; in securing the camp for Lee's army corps at Savannah in 1898; in bringing President Mckinley and his cabinet to the city in 1899. and Admiral and Mrs. Dewey in 1900; in seenring to Savannah its massive Georgia marble government building and in securing the site for the DeSoto hotel. He took great interest in legislation for the prevention of adulterated foods and contributed earnest and logical essays to the press of the country in advocacy of federal legislation in this direction. The pure syrup law of Georgia owes its passage largely to the public sentiment created by his public letters and his personal efforts throughont the state and at the national capital.
GEN. ALEXANDER ROBERT LAWTON. This celebrated lawyer. states- man and officer of the Civil war was born in St. Peter's Parish. Beanfort District. South Carolina, November 4. 1818, and died at Clifton Springs. New York. July 2. 1896. He was the son of Alex- ander James Lawton and Martha Mosse. natives of South Carolina and Georgia, respectively. The Lawton family was an old one in South Carolina, and General Lawton was the grandson of Joseph Law- ton, a planter of Edisto Island, that state, who later removed to Bean- fort Distriet, South Carolina, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a lieutenant in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution, and his patriotism and publie spirit were transmitted in fullest measure to the subject.
At the age of sixteen years, young Alexander Robert entered West
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Point Military Academy, and was graduated from that institution in 1839. He entered the United States army as second lieutenant in the First Artillery, but resigned his commission December 31, 1840, to enter the law school of Harvard University. After completing the law course there he settled in Savannah and in this eity entered upon the career which was to prove so useful and distinguished. In 1855-56 he served as a member of the lower house of the legislature and in 1859-60 represented his constituency in the state senate, with an eye single to the interests of the people, accomplishing much in these years of public .service.
When the Civil war opened he was colonel of the First Georgia Regi- ment of Infantry. composed of Savannah citizens, but on the day of the fall of Fort Sumter he was appointed brigadier general in the Confeder- ate army, commanding the Georgia Military District, C. S. army. He served with distinction in the Army of Northern Virginia until severely wounded at the battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland. Upon his recovery, he was (in 1863) made quartermaster general of the Confederate army and held this position until the conclusion of the great conflict. The brigade of which he had command at the beginning of the war was assigned to Ewell's Division. Jackson Corps. General Lawton's military record was a gallant and unblemished one; he was a remarkably effi- cient officer, successful in inspiring his men with courage and greatly beloved by them.
At the close of the war, he accepted the new conditions with manly vigor and frankness, and gladly laying down the sword, betook him- self to his law practice. He was again sent to represent Chatham county in the Georgia legislature. this time serving from 1870 to 1875. In 1877 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention: in 1876 was president of the State Electoral College; in 1880 and 1884 chairman of the state delegations to the national Democratie conventions. In April, 1887, he was appointed by President Cleveland to the post of minister to Austria, and his embassadorial duties he performed with distinction during that term. He was for many years general counsel and a director of the Central Railroad & Banking Company of Georgia, the responsibilities of which office is now successfully vested in his son, Col. A. R. Lawton. His identifieation with Georgia railway affairs did not end with this for he was also at one time president of the Augusta & Savannah Railroad. He was a curator of the Georgia His- torical Society and served as alderman of the city of Savannah from 1853 to 1855. In all relations, he was a credit to his eity and every cause with which he became aligned had reason to be proud of its rep- resentative. He was one of the most public-spirited of men, in his breast burning brightly the spirit of eivie altruism and keen indeed was his recognition of individual obligation to the public weal.
In 1880, General Lawton became candidate for the United States senate in opposition to Gov. Joseph E. Brown. He entered the race entirely against his own will. without the slightest hope of success from the beginning, but as the generally accepted representative of those who desired to enter a stremous protest against the placing of Governor Brown in the senate in succession to Gen. John B. Gordon. He was a great friend and admirer of General Gordon and one of the griefs and disappointments of his life was the happenings of the year 1880, to which he never referred with anger, nor with resentment, but always with deep sorrow. The tie between the two generals was strong indeed, and Lawton's Brigade, after the injury of its commander at Sharpsburg, became Gordon's Brigade.
General Lawton's marriage on November 5, 1845, proved in fullest
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degrec the fruition of his early hopes. The young woman to become his wife was Sarah Hillhouse Alexander, daughter of Adam Leopold Alex- ander, of Washington, Georgia and of Sarah Hillhouse Gilbert, his wife. Mrs. Lawton was the second of the ten Alexander children, of whom the sixth was the late Gen. Edward Porter Alexander, chief of artillery, Longstreet's Corps, C. S. A., president of the Central Railroad & Bank- ing Company of Georgia, ete .; the seventh member of the family was James Hillhouse Alexander. for many years a merchant in Augusta and for some time mayor of that city. The Alexanders were in truth an un- usual family. The father was the same Adam Leopold Alexander, to whom is addressed the very beautiful dedieation of Mr. Alexander HI. Steph- ens' "Reviewers Reviewed," the same being the answer to the critics of his "War Between the States." The six daughters of Mr. Alexander were all remarkable women, and the very flower of the family was Mrs. Lawton, to whom was undoubtedly due a very large part of the successful career of her husband. She was a woman of the highest intellect and most extensive cultivation, with an unequaled will power and self control, truly,
"A noble woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort and command."
Their domestic life was flawless; it was an ideal of Christian mar- riage; he a true and tender knight to his chosen lady; she the wise and charming counselor in all his undertakings.
General and Mrs. Lawton celebrated their golden wedding anni- versary, November 5, 1895. surrounded by their children and grand- children. The eldest daughter, Corinne Elliott, born September 21, 1846, died January 24, 1877. Louisa Frederika, born June 9, 1849, married in 1878 Leonard C. Mackall, of Baltimore, Maryland, and to their union three children were born, all of whom are living. Nora married in 1886 Henry C. Cunningham, of Savannah, Georgia, and they have one daughter living. Alexander Rudolf Lawton married April 27, 1882, Ella Beckwith, daughter of Rt. Rev. John W. Beckwith, Episcopal bishop of Georgia, and the two sons of this union both are living. Less than a year later General Lawton passed away and this beautiful companionship of half a century was terminated. Mrs. Law- ton survived her husband but a year, dying in New York City, No- vember 1, 1897.
The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Lawton, Adam Alexander, was a citizen of the old town of Sunbury, Liberty county, Georgia, and a surgeon-major in the Revolutionary war. Coneerning her sisters the following data is herewith entered. The eldest, Lonisa, married Maj .- Gen. J. F. Gilmer, chief of engineers, C. S. A .; Harriet married Wal- lace Cumming, cashier of the old Bank of the State of Georgia, and afterward a private banker in Savannah; Mary Clifford married George Gihner Hull, prominent in railroad operations and construc- tion in Georgia, before, during and after the war: Marion married the Rev. William Ellison Boggs, a distinguished Presbyterian minister and some time chancellor of the University of Georgia: and Aliee mar- ried Col. Alexander C. Haskell of South Carolina, a distinguished Confederate sollier, who as chairman of the Democratie executive committee, was in charge of the celebrated South Carolina campaign of 1876, when Hampton was elected governor, and was afterward judge of the supreme court of South Carolina.
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