A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 72

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

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Dr. Bivins married Mary E. Gammage, a daughter of James M. and

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Winnifred (Lock) Gammage. She was also a native of Georgia. Law- rence county being her birthplace. Dr. Bivins is a member of the Ma- sonic order, and the A. A. O. N. M. S., and he also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and to the Odd Fellows. Both Dr. Bivins and his wife are members of the Baptist church in Vienna, Georgia.

WILLIAM ROBERT GIGNILLIAT. The subject of this sketch passed to his eternal reward on November 25. 1885, at Darien, MeIntosh county, Georgia, at the comparatively early age of forty-five years, having entered upon this life at Baisden's Bluff, in the same county. on June 21, 1839. During this brief period came the great crisis in the history of the South, and with quiet modesty he faced the issue and rendered heroie services to his native state during the trying days of the four years' struggle. and even more notably during the fateful days of re- construction which followed.

Delicately nurtured and accustomed to every luxury, the outbreak of the war found him in a state of health which his physicians assured him would terminate fatally, unless he turned his back on the impend- ing struggle and sought the restorative influences of southern France. Casting to the winds such advice as unworthy the consideration of a man in the hour of his country's need, he enlisted promptly at Savannah in the Chatham Artillery, but soon afterward, in connection with his lifelong friend, Capt. John M. Guerard, organized the company known as Guerard's Battery. He was first lieutenant, but often was in active personal command. Capt. John M. Guerard being detailed to staff duty and other important service from time to time. 'At the battles of Olustee, Florida, and Honey Hill. South Carolina, under his command the battery rendered conspicuous service and took its full part through- out the campaign in the Carolinas and Virginia. A short time prior to the surrender, Lieutenant Gignilliat was promoted to the rank of captain and served on the staff of Gen. J. Lamb Buist.

Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, Mr. Gignilliat completed his collegiate and legal education at the University of Georgia and the University of Virginia, and entered upon the practice of his profes- sion at Savannah, Georgia. Strikingly handsome and possessing great charm of manner, he formed many warm friendships at college and in business. His natural inclination at the close of the war was to return to Savannah or locate in Atlanta. so as to continue these attractive asso- ciations, but the country of his birth needed him most and, harkening to the call of duty, he located in Darien to take an active part in re- deeming McIntosh county from carpet-bag rule and negro domination. The notorious negro leader, Tunis G. Campbell, there held an undisputed sway as any crowned monarch. being backed by a negro population outnumbering the whites at least five to one, and by the bayonets of the Federal troops encamped at Darien. The scenes enacted in Darien and its vicinity from this time until Campbell's deposition and imprisonment in the State Penitentiary were as trying as in any place in the South. Bloodshed was not infrequent. and but for the unflinching determina- tion and bravery of a few ex-Confederates, acting under Mr. Gignilliat's advice and leadership, the situation would have been even worse and the bringing order out of chaos long delayed.

Mr. Gignilliat was chairman of the Democratie Exeeutive Committee. senior warden of the Episcopal church, and master of the Masonic lodge, and all these positions were used by him with rare taet and good judgment to allay race prejudice and restore good order. He was elected to the state senate and was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1887. He was chairman of the famous Congressional Conven-

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tion of the First district. held at Jesup in 1876, and was tendered the nomination by a conference committee appointed after hundreds of ineffectual ballots had been taken. His instant reply was that he was there as the friend and delegate of Hon. Julian Hartridge, and would stand by him to the last, and in a few more ballots Mr. Hartridge won. This incident. as well as Mr. Giguilliat's eonrse at the outbreak of the war and at the termination of hostilities. serve to illustrate the high sense of duty and absolute loyalty to country and friends, which were his predominant traits of character. These qualities. inherited from aneestors who had been of the best citizenship of England, France and Scotland, and who had much to do with the establishment of this Re- publie on a firm foundation, were carried by him to full fruition in a life of devoted unselfishness around the sacred hearth of home as well as in the wider arena of public life. IIe has left to his children a herit- age of high character, patriotism and zeal which they would do well to emulate and transmit to generations vet unborn.

His death was the occasion of universal sorrow and his fimeral probably the most. largely attended of any that ever took place in the county, the Masonie services being conducted by his devoted friend. Hon. Rufus E. Lester. Numerous obituaries and tributes of respect were penned at the time. From one we quote as follows :

"We shall miss him-we, the people of MeIntosh county, for whose advancement and interest he was always ready to work and did work, when days were dark and friends were few."

From another: "The State and county have sustained a loss which will be felt by every good citizen. since by his death comes the want of wise counsel, always directed to the best interest and welfare of the pub- lie, an absence of one whose words were strong, foreible, magnetic. a parting from a man whose heart was always full of sympathy toward his fellow men." And from the resolutions of the Masonie Lodge: "An affectionate and beloved father, a zealous and proficient craftsman, a tal- ented. eloquent and honest lawyer. an enterprising and publie-spirited citizen, a courtly, educated and polished gentleman."

To such men is the South indebted for the halo of glory, which. notwithstanding the defeat in battle. was the outeome of the terrifie struggle of the early sixties, and is still more indebted for her recon- struction. Mueh has been said and written regarding the New South, but the faet that its development is in large measure the work of the men who made the Old South a civilization beyond compare, and who fought and bled in defense of her constitutional rights, and that this work is being carried forward by their descendants, rather than any new element from other parts of our common country or from abroad. and that these younger sons of the South have also gone ont and are potent factors elsewhere in the nation, has not yet been sufficiently recognized or presented with the elearness and force which it merits.

It is not within the scope of a brief biographical sketch like this to do justice to such a theme and the thought is only suggested here with the hope that some worthy writer of the Southland may take up the subject broadly and with an abler pen give it due place in history.

A brief notice of the descendants of the subject of this sketch may serve to give further point to the thought above presented. particularly when it is considered that every community in the south furnished to the canse just such men as William Robert Gignilliat-modest and faith- ful-letting their light shine serene, and differing from each other only as one star differeth from another in glory : and that their descendants. even more numerous, are today in every state from Canada to Mexico. and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, working ont under the hand of

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God, which guided their forefathers, not only the destiny of the south, but of the entire nation.

The subject of this sketch was survived by six sons and one dangh- ter, and the tenor of their lives is only one of many instances in point.

The oldest son, William L. Gigmilliat, born at Savannah. Georgia, April 21, 1861, following in the footsteps of his father, adopted the legal profession. On account of the war and its aftermath, his edu- cation was obtained with difficulty, and he was compelled to content himself with the facilities offered by the public schools at Savannah. Ile graduated on the seventh of JJune, 1881, and after a brief visit to the family home in MeIntosh county, he returned to Savannah and entered the law offices of Tompkins & Denmark, afterwards becoming a member of the firm of Denmark & Adams. He was compelled to withdraw from this firm by ill health and sought the pine lands of Effingham county, in 1890, where he has ever since made his home. Upon recovering his health he resumed the practice of his profession in Savannah, becoming associated with Mr. W. B. Stubbs. under the firm name of Gignilliat & Stubbs. After this partnership was dissolved, he practiced alone for several years and then entered into partnership with Daniel G. Heidt. Jr .. under the firm name of Gignilliat & Heidt, which firm is still in active practice. During this period of over twenty- five years, he has enjoyed a large practice in the surrounding counties, as well as in the city of Savannah, and is universally liked for his con- siderate and courteous treatment of all with whom he comes in contact.

Mr. Gignilliat manifested but little military spirit in times of peace. but promptly on the outbreak of the war with Spain, volunteered for service and joined the Effingham Hussars. He was spoken of as cap- tain in case that command went to the front, but the United States Government, declining to enlist additional cavalry companies, he turned his attention in another direction, and at his own expense organized the Second Battalion, Georgia Naval Reserves, with the expectation of having a ship manned by Georgia men, and under the command of his brother, who was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, take part in the struggle, but the battle of Santiago was fought before they were fully mustered in, and more than 200 men which he then had in various squads at Savannah, Brunswick, Wayeross and Thomas- ville, were disbanded.

He has for many years been a member of the New ehureh (Sweden- borgian), actively identified with the society at Savannah, and often conducting the serviees at the chapel in this city in the absence of the regular minister. Shortly after his removal to Effingham county, Mr. Gignilliat became chairman of the Democratic Executive Com- mittee, and he has been an active participant in various congressional and state conventions. He is recognized as one of the most effective workers and public-spirited citizens of this section of the state. and could obtain any position within the gift of the people, but he has avoided rather than sought public preferment, declining the judge- ship of the county and the superior court and the collectorship of the port of Savannah, and avoiding nomination for the legislature and state senate and for congress, he has devoted his time with unflagging zeal to developing the natural resources of this section.

Mr. Gignilliat is thoroughly identified in the public mind with the town of Pincora, which was named and founded by him during the period of his retirement above mentioned, and which he has ever since carefully fostered. Besides the building up of the town, Mr. Gignil- liat is interested in a large sawmill enterprise at this point, but his chief field of endeavor is the scientific development of the fine agri-

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cultural possibilities of that section, and the encouragement of the settling of the best type of farmers on a ten thousand aere tract of land in which he is largely interested and which adjoins the town.

Thomas Heyward Gignilliat, who was born at Aiken. South Caro- lina. February 10, 1863, and departed this life July 5, 1911. attained distinction in the arts of war and peace. Ile was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, but retiring soon after his gradna- tion, he spent years in the study of agronanties and the actual con- struction of a flying machine at Hartford. Connectiont. He was a mathematician of unusual talent, the formulas of flight worked out by him during the two years, crnise following his gradnation from the Naval Academy, and which he embodied in his machine, coming to the attention of the leading institutions of learning in the country and leading to the revision of the text of that portion of the mathe- matical works then used in dealing with that subject. In company with his brother, William L. Gignilliat, and Mr. William B. Stillwell, E. F. Bryan, T. F. Johnson and other prominent Savannah men. he organized the American Aeronautic Machine Company, which was the first corporation of its kind in the world. but for lack of funds. due to one of the financial panies, which swept over the country shortly after the incorporation of this company. he would have won the laurels in this field of endeavor which have since fallen to others, the correct- ness of the ealeulations and plans upon which he was working, having been since demonstrated by their achievements.

Following these experiments he spent some years in the United States Corps of Engineers and in the War Department at Washington. D. C. He was closely associated with Gen. John M. Wilson, then chief of engineers of the United States Army immediately prior to the out- break of the Spanish-American War, and it is interesting to know that much of the designing of the Atlantic Coast fortifications and the proper equipment of the same with suitable ordnance and ammunition, involving the expenditure of large sums of money, devolved upon him. The energy displayed by him and his singular aptitude for the work. was highly appreciated by General Wilson and found expression in a letter written by him shortly afterwards.

After remaining in the War Department long enough to finish his work and complete the necessary details of the equipment of the forti- fications, on the designing of which he had worked so well, Mr. Gignilliat resigned in order to take part in active hostilities, and was assigned to the fleet in the West Indies with the rank of lieutenant. From this service he received an honorable discharge, with the thanks of congress, and returned to his position in the War Department. His health had been impaired by a long attack of fever, contracted in the Spanish- American war, and at his request he was transferred to outdoor work and did good service at various points from New England to Florida. as a member of the United States Engineering Corps. He resigned from that organization to accept the position of principal of one of the public schools in Savannah. His career as principal of the Barnard school demonstrated his faenlty for discipline and organization. During the earlier Years of his stay in Savannah he assisted in reorganizing the naval reserves and became its commander.

Ilis next effort combined both military and educational features. being the establishment of the Culver Summer Naval School at Culver. Indiana. in collaboration with his younger brother, Leigh R. Gignilliat. hereinafter mentioned. This service has been duly recognized by both national and state anthorities, and though his stay in that state was only during the summer vacations of the Savannah school, the rank

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of commander of Naval Reserves was conferred upon him by the state of Indiana. Noting his demise, the Savannah Press of July 6, 1911, says of him :

"Passing from such matters as rest under the public gaze, to matters connected with the inner life, and which constitute the real man, it may be said that from earliest boyhood he was noted for a disposition sin- gularly sweet but coupled with unflinching resolution. Not aggressive. but of unfailing. physical and moral courage. he sought in a quiet way to impart to all with whom he came in contact his own love for all that was noble, true and beautiful in life. and his aversion to everything that tended to lower and degrade.

"Thus lived and thus has passed away, too soon, a son of the south, true to its best traditions- un chevalier sans peur et sans reproche.'

Helen Mary Hart Gignilliat. the only daughter of the subject of this sketch, born at Aiken, South Carolina. June 23, 1865, possesses the notable traits of the southern gentlewoman, and is a devoted wife and mother. Her husband, Hon. Livingston Kenan, was for many years solicitor general of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit and a resident of Darien, but is now a resident of Milledgeville, Georgia, where he occupies the position of both city and connty attorney.

Arthur Mathewson Gignilliat was born at Walthourville, Liberty county, Georgia, March 26, 1868, and died at Hampton county, South Carolina, December 11, 1890, from a gun-shot wound. He had spent several years in Texas in bridge building and other railroad work, but had returned to his native state and was a civil engineer on the con- struction of the bridge across the Savannah river, now a part of the Seaboard Air Line System, at the time of his death. He was noted for his great physical strength and for bravery amounting almost to reck- lessness, as well as for unusual energy and aptitude in his line of work. But for his untimely death he would, no doubt, have kept equal pace with his brothers in the endeavors of life.

Robert Deas Gignilliat. born in MeIntosh county, Georgia. February : 25, 1873, has shown ability of a high order as a civil engineer, and more particularly in the line of concrete construction. It fell to his lot to superintend the work on the fortifications at Fort Sereven, Tybee Islaud, Georgia, which were in process of construction immediately preceding and during the war with Spain, and for months he worked night as well as day to put this important outpost in condition to make an effective defense of the city of Savannah, in case of attack by the Spanish fleet. The concrete construction at this fort has been pro- nounced unsurpassed by any work done during that period. Preceding and following this public service, he was actively engaged in river and harbor work and railroad construction. holding important positions which he filled with zeal and efficiency. About four years ago he re- moved to Milledgeville, Georgia, where he opened and still maintains an office as an engineer, surveyor and contractor in concrete construction.

Leigh Robinson Gignilliat, born at Savannah, Georgia, July 4, 1875. more nearly resembles his father than any of the sons, and has the same faculty for making friends and winning his way along paths calling for talent of a rare order. He graduated with distinction site- cessively from the Emerson Institute at Washington, D. C .. and from the Virginia Military Academy. At the latter institute he was private secretary to the superintendent, captain of one of the companies, presi- dent of the literary society, editor of the college publication and valedictorian of his class.

His first service in active life was with the corps of United States engineers engaged in road work and bridge building in Yellowstone

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National park. Returning to the family home in Georgia, he spent a few months there before accepting the position of commandant of the Culver Military Academy, at Culver, Indiana, an institution then but · newly founded. He spent considerable time in architectural study while in Washington, and on the house drainage system for the city of Savannah, and other practical work while in Georgia. This varied experience, as well as the positions held by him at the military academy in Virginia, stood him in good stead at Culver in directing the laying off of the grounds, the ereetion of larger and finer buildings as the school developed, as well as in the higher work of discipline and organi- zation. It was his good fortune at the outset of his career at Culver to be thrown in close contact and intimate companionship with Col. A. E. Fleet, a Virginia gentleman of the old school and of the highest type of southern manhood, as well as one of the most prominent educators of his day. Their combined efforts placed the Culver Military Academy second only to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Mr. Gignilliat, upon Colonel Fleet's retirement. became superintendent of the institution, and has carried forward the work with great ardor and success, the annual enrollment numbering many hundreds of scholars and the equipment being now unsurpased. Not content with the regn- lar work, almost herculean, of the Culver Military Academy, his energy and mental activity have found expression from time to time in writing for the leading magazines and periodicals, as well as in the establishment, in connection with his brother, Thomas Heyward Gignilliat, of the Culver Summer Naval school.

So much has been said and written in current publications of the Culver schools and of the aetive spirit that controls and directs them, that further elaboration in a sketch of this kind is unnecessary.

Ravenel Gignilliat, the youngest son, was born in MeIntosh county. Georgia, January 9, 1879, and still has ample time to add a higher record to the good beginning which he has made. He was educated in the publie schools of Savannah and at Emory College. after leaving which he engaged in civil engineering. Though still young in years, probably no one in his profession has seen more active or varied serv- ice. He has served with the United States engineering corps, also in the laying out and constructing of several railroad lines, in water and factory construction, besides miscellaneons surveying and engineering. He now has an office in Savannah, Georgia, where his proficiency and untiring energy are fully recognized. and he bids fair to win an envia- ble reputation in his chosen work.

To those who, noting family traits. are interested in tracing them back to their origin, a brief sketch of the family history will prove interesting.

The ancestry of the Gignilliat family can be traced in a direct line to Jean Francois Gignilliat, a French Hugenot, whose people tled from France to Switzerland, where Jean Francois was born. He came to America early in the eighteenth century, with the Ravenels, Porchers and other Hugenot families. and was granted a tract of 5,000 acres of land in South Carolina. at Purysburg. on the Savannah river, a short distance above Savannah, "he being the first of the Swiss nation to emigrate to these colonies." according to the records of the South Carolina Historical Society. It was not long afterwards that his descendants removed to the new colony of Georgia and the family be- came identified with the Scotch settlers in the early history of Meintosh county. Each succeeding generation has been represented by strong men who took a prominent part in the history of the state and left to their descendants the heritage of an honorable name, notable among

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them being James Gignilliat, a member of the first constitutional con- vention of Georgia in 1777.

The father of William Robert Gignilliat. for whom he was named, received his education at the state university in Athens. He was a typical ante-bellum rice planter, possessing culture and refinement. as well as wealth. His other sons, Thomas Hart Gignilliat and Gilbert West Gignilliat, were twins, who at the early age of nineteen years entered the service of the Confederacy and were with the Fifth Georgia cavalry, the former as lientenant and the latter as private and non- commissioned officer. nntil the close of the war. both being noted for that daring and utter disregard of personal danger so generally mani- fested by young volunteers in those days.

The mother of William Robert Gignilliat was Helen Mary Hart. of an old English family, settling first in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and afterwards spreading to the Carolinas and Georgia. This family was noted for men of vigor and eminence, furnishing to the nation one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. besides several army officers and noted pulpit orators. She was a native of Liberty county, Georgia, but spent several years at Athens pursuing her studies in music, botany and astronomy. Possessing a nature absolutely spiritual, and retaining throughout her lifetime a deep interest in scientific study, the family residence at Greenwood plantation attracted kindred spirits. even from a distance-one of them, a native of Connecticut and grad- uate of Yale college, has of late years (recalling the visits of his early manhood to the old plantation) referred to the home life there as a "veritable paradise on earth."

The wife of William Robert Gignilliat was Hattie W. Heyward. also descended from an old English family, which settled in South Carolina and which, likewise. furnished a signer of the Declaration of Independ- ence, as well as army officers, both in the Revolutionary war and the War between the states, a chief magistrate of the state of South Caro- lina and many minor public officials-being. in fact, one of the best known families in the south. She, like her mother, was endowed with noble traits of mind and soul and even amid hardship and adversity made her home a refuge and delight for her husband and a large circle of relatives and friends.

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A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II, Part 72

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