USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 65
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Ilis father, Dr. Gideon Quinn, was reared in Georgia, in the vicinity
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of Augusta, and there received his elementary education. Leaving home at the age of eighteen years. he spent three years in Mississippi, and on returning to Georgia entered the Atlanta Medical College, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. He subsequently praetised a short time in Warren county, Georgia, in Alabama, and in Louisiana. On his return to Georgia, Dr. Quinn located in Montezuma. Macon county, and during the Civil war gave up his local practice to serve as a surgeon in the Confederate army. Removing to Brooks county in 1867, the doctor purchased a plantation in the Hickory Head district, and was here a resident until his death, in 1888.
Dr. Quinn married Araville Concord Aminta Ivey, who was born about forty miles from the city of Augusta, a daughter of Thomas and Rebecca (Buckholten) Ivey. Her father was a native of Virginia, his mother of south Georgia, and both spent the closing year of their lives near Augusta. She survived the doctor nearly a quarter of a century. passing away March 16, 1911. Eight children were born of their union, namely : Charles, deceased; Ada; Eula; Terry, deceased; David, deceased ; Cora : Samuel ; and George Webster.
Acquiring a good education in his youthful days, George Webster Quinn began his active career at the age of eighteen years, for awhile being bookkeeper for a naval stores company in Tallahassee, Florida. Returning to Brooks county, he accepted a position in a mercantile establishment in Quitman. Tiring of clerical work, Mr. Quinn came back to the soil, beginning life as an independent farmer on rented land. Energetic and wide-awake, he paid close attention to his chosen work. and was well rewarded for his labors. He had in a comparatively brief time saved a sufficient sum to warrant him in buying one hundred and forty acres of land. and he has since continued buying at intervals, and now has title to two thousand aeres of good land in the Hickory Head district. Fourteen hundred acres of his property are fenced, and well stocked with cattle. horses, sheep and hogs, while all of his farms are amply supplied with the machinery and implements required by an up-to-date agriculturist. Well educated, and an intelligent reader, Mr. Quinn keeps apace with the times in regard to current events, and takes much interest in local matters.
JOHN DOUGAL MCCALLUM, now one of the enterprising young mer- chants of Boston, Thomas county. began his business career here in a clerical capacity, and by industry and commercial ability has won a place among the independent business men of this community.
He was born at Alfordsville, Robeson county. North Carolina, April 22, 1878. His father, Joseph Brown MeCalhum, was a native of the same vicinity. The grandfather was John McCallum, who was born in Bladen county, North Carolina, of Scoteh ancestors that were among the early settlers there. From Bladen county he removed to Robeson county, where he became an extensive planter and at the conclusion of the Civil war freed seventy-eight slaves. Ile resided in that county until his death. He married a Miss Brown and they reared a large family.
Joseph Brown MeCallum, the father, who is still living in North Carolina, has had a varied career as educator, soldier and farmer. He was educated in common schools and at college. and then began teach- ing. The war broke into upon the pursuit of this profession, and he enlisted in the Twenty-fourth North Carolina Infantry, and fought in Virginia nuder General Beauregard in Jackson's corps. In one of its many battles the regiment was captured. and Mr. MeCallum was the only member of it that escaped. He was then transferred to the Thirty-
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fourthi Regiment, with which he served to the end of the war. His long and arduous services included many of the memorable battles and cam- paigns of the Army of North Virginia, including Manassas. Fredericks- burg, the Wilderness, Gettysburg, and the engagements around Rich- mond and Petersburg. He was present at the surrender at Appomatox, after which he returned home. He has since refused a pension or any form of remuneration for his soklier's duty, and says that he served out of pure patriotism and not for pelf. After his military experience he spent two years more at teaching, and then engaged in farming on his land adjacent to Alfordsville. where he has since resided.
Joseph B. MeCallum married Mary Elizabeth MeIntyre, a native of Robeson county. Her father, Dougal C. MeIntyre, who was born in Scotland and accompanied his parents to North Carolina, was a farmer throughout his active career and spent his last days in Robeson county. Joseph B. McCallum and wife reared the following named children: Gustavus A., John Dougal. Mary Edna, Rufus B., Lamar, Joseph B., Jr., William Duncan and Katie Blanche.
After his graduation from the Alfordsville high school. John D. McCallum prepared for a business career by attending Massey's Busi- ness College in Columbus. Georgia, where he graduated in 1901. In the same year he located at Boston, with which town he has been identified throughout his practical career. He was first a bookkeeper for the Comfort Trading Company a year, then in the same capacity with J. B. Way Company two years. and with J. B. and J. S. Norton until 1905. In that year he established a general store of his own, and has since built up a very prosperous business.
Mr. McCallum married. in 1905, Miss Jemmie Way. Mrs. McCallum is a native of Thomas county, and her grandfather, Moses Way, was one of the pioneer settlers of south Georgia. Mr. McCallum and wife are members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is elder, and he is affiliated with Boston Lodge No. 138, I. O. O. F. In politics he is a Democrat.
THOMAS ADAMS. A retired merchant of Boston, Georgia, and at present an extensive farmer of Thomas county. Thomas Adams has acquitted himself throughout his life in a manner worthy of his ances- tors who were among the brave pioneers who eleared the way for civiliza- tion in southern Georgia. The grandfather of the subject of this history, also named Thomas Adams, was born in North Carolina, and came among the carliest settlers to that part of Irwin county, now called Thomas connty. At the time of his coming. the Indians had newly ceded the territory included in southern Georgia to the state, but they did not always act in good faith, and Thomas Adams, and the other white men who had settled in the vicinity lived in constant fear of the depredations of the redskins. They united into a band to protect their homes from the savages. however. and erected a log stockade in each settlement, for the purpose of affording refnge to the women and chil- dren. Thomas Adams cleared a farm from the wilderness with the help of his slaves, and on this property he lived until his death. He and his wife, who was a Miss Swilley. reared a large number of chil- dren, one of whom was Thomas Adams. Junior. the father of the man whose name appears at the head of this sketch.
Thomas Adams, Junior, was born in the year 1818, on his father's plantation in Thomas county. Reared as he was amid the perilous seenes of frontier life, and growing up in constant fear of maranding savages. it is no wonder that he was ready and eager to enlist in the Indian war at the early age of eighteen years. He fought in three hard-won battles.
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including the one at Brushy ereek, where the Indians made their last stand against their civilized masters. When he was ready to start out in life for himself, Mr. Adams bonght some land in the southern part of the county, where he cultivated a large farm, using slave labor. He employed at this time more than one hundred slaves. After a few years, he sold this plantation, and bought land north of Thomasville. He only remained in that locality a few years. however, before he disposed of the property and purchased a traet situated on the south side of the railroad, and now included in the town of Boston. He had surveys made of this land, and had it subdivided into town lots, which he sold, buying a plantation on the Sevilla river in Thomas county, where he remained for the rest of his life, passing away in the year 1906, after a long and useful career as publie and private eitizen. His serviees to his community in private capacities were rewarded with the office of county judge, in which eapacity he acquitted himself with great eredit.
The wife of Thomas Adams, Junior, was Georgia Everett, a native of Bulloch county, Georgia. Her father, Jesse Everett, was one of the pioneer settlers of Thomas county. Mrs. Adams died at the age of seventy-eight years, having reared a family of nine children to be honest and industrious citizens of their country.
One of these children was Thomas Adams, III. He first saw the light of day at his father's farm, four miles north of Thomasville, January 3, 1860. He attended school at Boston, and partook of the excellent tutelage of Professor Moody, an educator well-known in that distriet. Mr. Adams resided with his parents until he had reached the age of twenty-four years. At that time, he started out for himself, embarking in the mercantile business at Boston. He remained in that town for ten years, and is still remembered there as an enterprising merchant. At the end of a decade, however, having previously purchased the homestead upon which his wife was born, located in Lot No. 236, of Thomas county, he entered upon the pursuit of agriculture, and now has acquired the reputation of being one of the most substantial and progressive farmers of the locality.
In the year 1887, Mr. Adams was united in the bonds of holy matri- mony with Aliee Ida Mims, a native of Thomas county, and the daughter of Wilke Mims, also born in Thomas eounty. Mrs. Adams' grandfather, David Mims, came to Thomas county from Montgomery county, Georgia. He was one of the first settlers in southern Georgia, and bought a large traet of six hundred acres, which he cleared and cultivated. After residing on this property for several years. he sold out and moved to Colquitt county, where he remained until his death, at the age of eighty- four years. His wife, Sally Kemp Mims, had died some years before in Thomas county, having reared eight sons and eight daughters.
Wilke Mims was raised and edheated in Thomas county. At the beginning of the struggle between the states, he enlisted, with six of his brothers, in the Confederate army. He was detailed for service in the quartermaster's department. He contracted some disease during the war, and died in June. 1865. only a month after his return home. Wilke Mims was married in 1851. to Belle Moore, who was a native of Leon eonnty, Florida. Mrs. Mims', father. Ilowell Moore, was born in Wash- . ington county. Georgia, and was one of the pioneers of Leon county. Hle owned a farm about eighten miles from Tallahassee, cultivating it by means of slave labor. He was a carpenter by trade, and at length became a contractor, building many churches and dwellings in the dis- triet in which he spent his life. His wife, the grandmother of Mrs. Adams, was a Matilda Coleman, the daughter of JJacob and Betsy Cole- man. She also died on the Florida farm, having spent a life in harmony
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with the precepts of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the congrega- tion of which faith both she and her husband were members. Mr. and Mrs. Moore reared a family of eight children, including Mrs. Adams' mother.
Left a widow with a family of five children on her hands, Mrs. Mims, like so many of the brave and noble women whom the Civil war de- prived of their natural protectors, managed to keep her family together until they had all found homes of their own. She still lives on the farm to which she came as a bride, and although she is very old, and has seventeen grandchildren, as well as eleven great-grandchildren, she is quite active, working in the garden, and doing many of the tasks that have been hers so long. She has an excellent memory, and it is with undimmed faculties and cheery spirit that she awaits the call of the Master.
JAMES WILLIAM DUREN. Representing some of the oldest and best known families of Thomas county, James William Duren is one of the progressive and successful young farmer citizens near Thomasville. His forefathers were pioneers of this region, clearing and developing homes out of the wilderness, and he in his turn has taken up the tasks of modern agriculture and has applied to it the energy and skill which make the twentieth century agriculturist the most independent citizen of America.
He was born on a farm in the Oak Hill district of Thomas county on the 23d of December, 1874. His father was Reno Duren, who was born in Gwinnett county April 6, 1853. The grandfather was William Duren and the great-grandfather George Duren, both identified with earlier generations of Georgians, and the history of the Duren family in greater detail will be found in a sketch of George L. Duren elsewhere in this work.
Reno Duren. the father, was a boy of twelve when he came with the family to Thomas county. At the age of twenty he was married to Miss Susan S. Hall, and they then resided at her father's farm a few years. Her father then gave her a tract of land in lot 128 Oak Hill district, and there Reno Duren located and was engaged in general farming until his death. which occurred in 1908. The mother, Susan S. Hall, was born in Leon county, Florida, in 1852. Her father, David J. Hall, a son of Juniper and Serena Hall. pioneer settlers of Florida, was himself a native of Florida, and afterwards settled at Thomasville when it was a village and all the surrounding country little improved from wilderness conditions. After a few years he bought a large tract of land in the Oak Hill district, and there engaged in farming and stock- raising until his death in 1881. David J. Ilall married Harriet Wilson, a native of Thomas county and danghter of Allen Wilson, who was also a pioneer settler here. Allen Wilson owned a large amount of land five miles northeast of Thomasville, cultivating with slave labor, and lived there till his death at a good old age. Ile was three times married and reared a large family of children. Susan ( Hall) Duren, the mother, died in 1891, and her seven children are named as follows: Eva, James W. Clarence. Scellie. Mande, Lottie and Reno.
James W. Duren had the advantages of a good home and received a substantial education first in the common schools and later in the South Georgia College at Thomasville. He assisted in the labors of the home farm until his marriage, and then lived two years on his father- in-law's place, after which he bought the old Duren homestead. where he has since been prosperously engaged in general farming, hortienlture
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and stock raising. IIe has built a comfortable residence and otherwise improved the farm since it came into his hands.
, In 1900, he was united in marriage with Miss Bama Bulloch. Mrs. Duren is a native of Thomas county, and her parents were James N. and Susan (Singletary) Bulloch. Mr. and Mrs. Duren's six children are : Joseph D., James N., Susan, Evelyn, Ollie and Ray. Mr. and Mrs. Duren are members of the Missionary Baptist church.
WILLIAM ALBERT WALKER, M. D. For more than twenty years suc- cessfully engaged in practice and the proprietor of a large and well equipped sanitarium at Cairo, in Grady county. Dr. Walker has repre- sented the highest ability and best personal qualities of the medical profession. Ife is the type of physician whose work has been quietly performed, and whose services, while without the conspicuous qualities of men in public life. have been none the less valuable to society and deserving of the mention which is bestowed on conscientious and efficient work. Dr. Walker is a physician who is always apace with the develop- ments and discoveries of his profession, and has enjoyed a practice that has absorbed all his time and energy.
Representing an old family of southern Georgia, William Albert Walker was born on a plantation four miles from Thomasville. His father was Jonathan Walker, and his grandfather was Talton Walker. The latter, a native of North Carolina, where he was reared and married, came to Georgia and became an early settler in Banks county. At the time of his settlement the greater part of Georgia was a wilderness, with the forest untouched, game of all kinds in plentiful quantities, and the Indians still living here and claiming the region as their hunting ground. Talton Walker and his brother Jonathan both participated in the Cherokee Indian wars. He had a large plantation, cleared out of the wilderness, operated it with slave labor, and remained a resident there until his death at the age of seventy-six years. His wife also lived to a good old age, and they reared twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, namely: Jonathan, Thurman, Samuel. Benton. Lumpkin. Polk, Byron, Augustus, Obie, Mary, Ellen, and Margaret. All of these sons, except Obie, served in the Confederate army. When Governor Brown, toward the close of the war, called out all the boys and old men, the mother wrote the governor that she already had eight sons in the army and only one at home, who was just old enough for service under that call. and saying that she needed this son at home, and requested the governor to release him from military duty. She quickly received a letter from Governor Brown, granting her desire.
Jonathan Walker, the father, was reared in Banks county, and about 1850 moved to Thomas county, buying a farm four miles east of Thomasville. In 1862. he entered the Confederate army and went with his command into Virginia, where he was attached to Longstreet's corps, participating in many of the more important battles of the Virginia campaign. He escaped capture and was wounded bat once and then not seriously. When the war was over he made his way back home as best he could, and resmed the quiet pursuits of agrienlture. He resided on his farm until a few years before his death. when he came to Cairo .. where he lived retired until death came to him in 1902, when he was seventy-six years of age. The maiden name of his wife was Nancy Jane Kitchen, who was born in Banks county, and who died in 1908 at seven- ty-nine years. She reared seven children whose names are Casper. Alice, Caledonia, Cornelia, Janie. Laura and William Albert. Both parents were members of the Methodist church.
Dr. Walker attended the rural schools of Thomas county until he
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was seventeen years old, and then became a student in the high school at Cairo. Two years later he entered the Louisville Medical College at Louisville, Kentucky, where he was graduated M. D. in February, 1889. In the same year he took a post graduate eourse at the New York Polyclinic. His ambition to keep his accomplishments abreast of the growing knowledge in medical science has caused him to take a post graduate course in the New York Polyclinic every two years since he began actual practice. He opened his first office in Cairo, and has been in the enjoyment of a large practice in this locality for nearly twenty- four years. In 1905 he established a sanitarium at Cairo. The build- ing at first had only three rooms, but its popularity has grown and its equipment in proportion, so that in 1912, the doctor erected a commo- dious brick building with twelve rooms and in the best style of archi- tecture and arrangement and furnishings to serve its purposes.
In 1893 Dr. Walker married Jessie Powell, who was born at Cairo, a daughter of Rev. William and Lneretia ( Brockett ) Powell. Dr. and Mrs. Walker have six children, whose names are Wyeth, Agnes, Ellen, William Wayne, Mae, and Martha. The doctor and wife worship in the Methodist church.
JOHN MCKINSTRY HENDRY. A representative farmer of the Morven district, Brooks eounty, John MeKinstry Hendry stands as a true type of the energetic, hardy and enterprising men who have actively assisted in the development and advancement of this fertile and productive agri- cultural region. A son of Rev. John McPhail Hendry. he was born, December 2, 1859, in Hamilton county. Florida.
William Hendry, his paternal grandfather, who was of Scotch-Irish aneestry, was one of the earlier settlers of Liberty county, Georgia. Migrating to the southwestern part of the state about 1825, he took np land not far from the present site of Barwick, in what is now Brooks county, improved the water power, and there erected the first mill in this part of Georgia. Clearing a part of his land, he was there en- gaged in farming and milling the remainder of his life, both he and his wife dying from typhoid fever. Her maiden name was Mel'hail. They were people of sterling character, and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church. To them ten children were born, as fol- lows: Ely, James, William, Neal, John, David, Mary, Harriet, Betsey, and Nancy.
Rev. John MePhail Hendry was born in Liberty county, Georgia. July 5, 1822. Of a naturally religious temperament, he was converted in his youth, and at the age of eighteen years was licensed as a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church. Subsequently going to Gadsden county, Florida, he bought land, and built a mill, which he operated for a time. Joining then the conference, he held pastorates in different parts of Florida. Afterwards, having joined the South Georgia confer- ence, he preached in various parts of this state. Later he went back to Florida, once more became a member of the Florida conference, and for a number of years thereafter was active in the ministry. When ready to give up his ministerial work, he returned to Georgia, and spent his last days in Brooks county, passing away at the age of seventy-five years. Progressive and enterprising. ever interested in edneational mat- ters, he established. in 1850. an advanced schools for girls in Macanopy, Florida, the first institution of the kind in the state. The maiden name of the wife of Rev. Mr. Hendry was Caroline Matilda Bell. She was born, October 20, 1835. in Hamilton county. Florida, where her parents, James and Matilda (Johnson) Bell, natives of Georgia, were pioneer settlers. Five children were born of their union. as follows: John Me-
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Kinstry; James Edward; Caroline, who was ealled Minnie; George Pierce; and Marvin E.
Attending school, in both Florida and Georgia, John Mckinstry IIen- dry obtained a practical education in the public schools. Choosing for himself the independent life of a farmer, he began work on his ae- count on land belonging to his mother. In 1889 he purchased a traet of timber in the Morven district, Brooks county, Georgia, and in the midst of the fragrant woods built a small, two-room house, and immediately began the ardnous task of redeeming a farm from the wilderness. Sell- ing that property in 1899. Mr. Hendry bought his present farm, which is advantageously located on the Quitman and Adel road. It contains two hundred and forty aeres of land, with a good set of buildings, and he is here profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising.
On March 17, 1889. Mr. Hendry was united in marriage with Susan Martha Wilkins. She was born in Florida, a daughter of John and Susan Ellen (Taylor) Wilkins, and a granddaughter of Rev. Richard Taylor, a pioneer preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Hendry have three children living, namely: John F., Olin Mckinstry, and Clara Lee. In his political affiliations, Mr. Hendry is a Democrat, and fraternally he is a member of the Woodmen of the World. He also belongs to the Morven Farmers' union. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hendry are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and con- tribute generously towards its support.
PROF. WILLIAM GREEN AVERA. The career of a man who for the greater part of a life time has been identified with the training and edu- cation of the youth is always one of the most valuable assets of a com- munity. Probably no educator in south Georgia has been so long or so closely connected with educational progress and the practical work of the schools as the present superintendent of the Berrien county schools, Prof. William Green Avera. He belongs to a family of pioneer Geor- gians, and was born on a farm in Clineh county, the 1st of August, 1855.
His great- grandfather, Moore Avera, of Welsh ancestry, was born in Robeson county, North Carolina, and after arriving at mature years emigrated to Georgia, making the journey with his private conveyanee and becoming a pioneer settler of Wilkinson county. There he bought land and was engaged in farming and stock raising until his death.
Daniel Avera, son of this pioneer and grandfather of Professor Avera, was a native of Wilkinson county, was reared on a farm, and in 1845 moved from that locality into south Georgia, establishing the name and family fortunes in Lowndes county. It may be remembered that all of south Georgia was then sparsely settled. much of the land still in state ownership and its value counted in cents rather than dollars per acre. The grandfather's purchase of land was near what was then the center of Lowndes county, the area of which has since been materially redneed by the organization of other counties. As railroads and market towns had not Vet become features of this part of Georgia, the planters took their surplus products to the St. Mary's river or to the gulf ports. In 1858 the grandfather. having sold his possessions in Berrien county, (Berrien having been organized in 1856.) moved to the southern part of Clinch county, where he engaged in cattle grazing on the borders of the Okefenoke swamp, and lived in that neighborhood until his death at the age of eighty. The maiden name of his wife was Tabitha Cook, and she was a native of Wilkinson county, and she also reached the age of eighty years. Their ten children were named Cynthia. Nancy, William M., Stephen W., Elizabeth, Rebecca J., Mary Ann, Sally, John R. and Zanie.
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