USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume II > Part 9
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WARING RUSSELL, JR. One of the most highly esteemed and popu- lar citizens of Savannah, Waring Russell, Jr., has served continuously as clerk of the city court for upwards of fifteen years, administering the affairs of his office so ably and intelligently as to win the approba- tion of every member of the bar and of all others with whom he is brought into business contact. A native of Savannah, Georgia, his birth occurred December 2, 1854. He is of pioneer stock. his ancestors having come to this country with General Oglethorpe in 1733, being among the original settlers of Savannah, and subsequently identified with the history of the Revolutionary war.
His father, the late Judge Philip Moses Russell, was born December 17, 1815, in Savannah, a son of Isaac and Perla (Sheftall) Russell. At the age of eighteen years he began the study of law with his unele, Hon. Mordecai Sheftall. at that time a leading member of the Savan- nah bar, but afterwards for many years judge of the court of common pleas and over and terminer of the city of Savannah, a position to which he was elected by the state legislature. Here it may be well to mention that the present city court of Savannah. with which some members of the Sheftall or Russell families have been officially con- nected for more than a century, was known before the Revolutionary war, and for some time after, as the mayor's conrt. In 1820 the name was changed to the "Court of Common Pleas and Over and Terminer." and in 1856 was again changed, becoming the "City Court of Savannah."
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In 1835 Judge Philip M. Russell was appointed a director of the Savannah & Altamaha Canal Company, a position which he retained until receiving his appointment as deputy sheriff of Chatham county, and deputy United States marshal under Col. William I. Davis, posi- tions in which, by urbanity of character and strict attention to and impartial discharge of his official duties, he made many personal and political friends. On June 15, 1843, Judge Russell was elected sheriff of the city of Savannah, and on April 9, 1844, was elected justice of the peace in the first district. defeating the Democratic and Whig oppo- nents by a majority of twenty-five votes. While holding this office he was appointed inspector of customs by the collector, Gen. Edward Harden. Removing then to the second district, the judge was there elected justice of the peace in January, 1846, receiving a large vote. On January 1, 1850, he was elected clerk of the court of common pleas and oyer and terminer of the city of Savannah, and in January, 1853, he was elected city marshal of Savannah, an office which he filled acceptably for two years. In the year 1855 Judge Russell acted as elerk of the United States eircuit and district courts, and in January, 1856, was elected clerk of the city court of Savannah, and held the position until the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861.
In 1853, Judge Russell was made a member of the "Republican Blues," a favorite volunteer company of the First Regiment of the Georgia Volunteers, in which he maintained his membership as long as he lived. When, by the occupaney of Fort Pulaski. the company en- tered into active service, Judge Russell was detailed to look after the com- fort of the families of his fellow-members in service, and at the organi- zation of the state forces, under Governor Brown's administration, was commissioned as captain and commissary of subsistence, and assigned to duty with Colonel Karkie's regiment. Gen. G. B. Harrison's brigade.
In September, 1863, the judge became a candidate for the legisla- ture, and was elected the following month by a handsome majority of the votes cast, and two years later was re-elected by the highest vote in the county. At the expiration of his legislative term, Judge Russell, having become re-enfranchised under the reconstruction acts. resumed his position as clerk of the court of the city of Savannah, and con- tinued in office several terms.
In 1876, Judge Russell was again the Democratic candidate for representative to the state legislature, receiving thirty-nine of the forty-two votes cast in the county convention, and was elected, leading his ticket by seventy-two votes. At the expiration of his term he had the honor of being re-elected to the legislature by a majority of two hundred votes over the highest candidate on the opposition ticket, and in 1886 was onee more elected to the state legislature, leading his oppo- nent at the polls by two hundred and ninety-eight votes.
Judge Russell served his people in various offices with conspicnous ability and untiring energy. He was clerk of the city court of Savan- nah for nearly thirty-five years, and was chief of the fire department for many terms. A staneh and unflinching Democrat in polities, he always received the highest vote cast for his ticket whenever he was the party's nominee for official positions. He represented his party in numerous conventions, and was chairman of the committee which noti- fied Alexander II. Stephens of his nomination for governor. His death. December 11. 1902, at the ripe old age of eighty-eight years, removed from the community one of its best loved and most revered citizens.
Judge Russell married first. September 15. 1834. Elizabeth C. Ferre. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who died October 10, 1886. He married second, in 1889, Eliza P. Aneker. of Philadelphia. also. He was the father of eleven children.
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Waring Russell, Jr., the son of Judge Philip M. and Elizabeth (Ferre) Russell, was brought up and educated in Savannah, attending first the public schools, and later the private school taught by Prof. James F. Cann. On January 19, 1878, he was appointed deputy sheriff of the city court of Savannah by David Bailey, Esq., sheriff of said court. An extract from the minutes of the city court says that on July 20, 1880, the resignation of Waring Russell. Jr., as deputy sheriff was accepted with deep regret-David Bailey, sheriff, and approved with regret-William D. Harden, judge.
Mr. Russell resigned the office of deputy sheriff to accept the posi- tion of justice of the peace of the third Georgia district, to which he had been elected, after a heated contest, in March, 1880. Through con- tinuous re-election he held the office until January, 1899, when he was elected clerk of the city court of Savannah, a position which his father had previously held for thirty-five years. On November 5, 1899, by legislative enactment, this office was made elective by the people, instead of by the mayor and alderman as formerly. At the ensuing election, in May, 1900, Mr. Russell was elected to this office by the people, being the only successful candidate for official honors on his ticket at that election. He has been continuously elected every two years since, and in every election has led his ticket. A thoroughly competent and efficient man in every respect, Mr. Russell has invariably had the unqualified endorsement and support of practically every member of the bar at each election. Universally popular in Savannah, he thoroughly under- stands political conditions, and being plain spoken, open and frank, with never a thought of resorting to political chicanery, it is said of Mr. Russell that he can have any public office which he desires.
Mr. Russell married, in Savannah, Miss Georgia A. Mendel, and they have three children, namely: Thomas Sheftall Russell: Mrs. Frances M. Harper ; and Mrs. Georgia C. Smith. Thomas Sheftall Russell was educated in the public schools of Savannah, and was graduated from the high school and Chatham Academy. Subsequently studying law, he was admitted to the bar, but has never engaged in the practice of his profession. For several years past he has been chief deputy clerk of the city court, serving under his father, and giving universal satis- faction in the position.
DR. JAMES PROCTOR SCREVEN. (Prepared by Thomas F. Sereven.) Dr. James Proctor Sereven was born October 11. 1799, near Bluff- ton, in St. Peter's Parish, now Beaufort county, South Carolina, and died July 16, 1859 at the Hot Springs in Virginia, where he had gone in the hope of restoration to good health after an illness which began some time in the fall of 1858; this illness was probably attributable to his ardent and energetic attention to the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad (now a part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad) of which he was the faithful and first president.
Dr. Sereven was the oldest son of Major John Sereven, born Jan- uary 18, 1777, in South Carolina, Major of the Second Battalion of Militia at Savannah, Georgia, and a planter in South Carolina and Georgia; he died November 20, 1830. at Savannah, his then place of' residence and was there buried; his wife was Hannah (Proctor) Sereven, born Jammary 8, 1778, in South Carolina, and killed with her son John Sereven, (born Angust 4, 1803) in the great storm of Sep- tember 8, 1804, on Wilmington island, Georgia, by the fall of the family residence.
Hannah ( Proctor) Sereven was the second daughter of Richard Proctor, born 1734 in Charleston, South Carolina, and said to have
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been the first male baptized at St. Philip's church at Charleston ; he died April 26, 1817, at the age of eighty-three years, in Savannah, Georgia, at the residence of his son-in-law, Major John Sereven, and interred near Bluffton, South Carolina; and his wife, Mary Ann ( Vinson) Proetor, born February, 1752, and died in 1822. She was a daughter of George and Martha Vinson of South Carolina.
Richard Proctor was a son of Stephen Proctor of Charleston, South Carolina, and Hannah (Simons) Proetor, his wife, widow of John Royer, and a daughter of Benjamin and Mary (DuPre) Simons of South Carolina, and of French Huguenot deseent.
Dr. Sereven's grandfather, Lieutenant John Sereven, was born No- vember 23, 1750, on JJames island, South Carolina; he died September 2, 1801, and was buried at Montpelier which is located on the southern shore of May river, or the River of May, and nearly opposite Bluffton, South Carolina; Lieutenant John Sereven moved from South Carolina to the St. John's Parish, afterward known as Liberty county. Georgia, where his brother, James Sereven, resided and became a planter there; he is recorded as becoming Lieutenant in Capt. James Sereven's company of St. John's Rangers, by the Council of Safety of the State, and as engaged in the issue in 1776 of paper money for that state.
Dr. Sereven's grandmother was Elizabeth ( Pendarvis) Bryan, born May 23, 1755 ;. died April 5, 1804; widow of Josiah Bryan (son of Jonathan Bryan) daughter of Joseph Pendarvis, whose pioneer an- cestor was Joseph Pendarvis, died in 1694, and Mary Bedon, daughter of Col. Richard Bedon, and descended from George Bedon who came over from England with the Sayle colony in 1670. Josiah Bryan and Eliza- beth Pendarvis were married August 14, 1770; he died 1774. leaving one son, Joseph, who was born August 18, 1773; by Elizabeth ( Pendarvis) Bryan's first marriage she had one son. Iler marriage to Lieut. John Sereven oeeurred January 13, 1776, and they had thirteen children.
Dr. Sereven's great-grandfather was James Sereven of James island. South Carolina, born 1609, son of Samuel Sereven, who, was a son of the Rev. William Sereven, born in Somerton, England, about 1629, an immigrant to Kittery, Maine, removed to South Carolina about 1696 with his family consisting of his wife, Bridget (Cutt) Sereven and children, and Baptist congregation; founded the first Baptist church as its minister and died on the site of Georgetown, South Carolina, in 1713 and is there buried.
Dr. Sereven's great-grandmother was Mary (Smith) Sereven, born 1717, died 1758, a daughter of the second Landgrave Thomas Smith of South Carolina, son of Thomas Smith of Exeter, England, born 1643, first landgrave and governor of South and North Carolina, and Bar- bara Smith, his wife. Mary (Smith) Sereven's mother, Mary, was a daughter of Col. Edward Hyrne. of Norfolk, England, and of North Carolina, and his wife, Elizabeth (Massingbird) Hyrne. (A bible record of the Girardeau family).
Dr. Sereven completed his grammar school education at Willington,' near Abbeville, South Carolina, under the tuition of Dr. Moses Wad- dell, then celebrated as a successful instructor of youth, and who be- came president of Franklin College, afterward the University of Georgia, at Athens, Georgia. He then entered the South Carolina Col- lege at Columbia, South Carolina, and graduated in 1817 with honor. Returning to Savannah he studied medicine under Dr. Wm. R. Waring. one of the leading physicians. Upon the completion of that course he entered the University of Pennsylvania. in Philadelphia, where he gradn- ated April 6, 1820, obtaining a medical diploma, also one from the Medical Society of Philadelphia, dated at the time of his appointment
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to honorary membership in that society. This society appears to have been founded in the year 1779. Upon the completion of his course at the University, at his father's desire he obtained a French passport, dated May 27, 1820. and left for London, England, where he studied at Guy's and St. Thomas' hospitals, Sir Astley Cooper being one of the surgeons who gave him a certificate, dated April 13, 1821, of his diligent attendance upon the practice of surgery and medicine, in Guy's and St. Thomas hospitals for six months last past. Then he went to Paris, France, still in the active pursuit of his profesional studies, but also to learn their cognate branches. He was also a pupil of the celebrated Cuvier, as well as of others, the most distinguished of the French Medical school. Here he mastered the French language and probably the Italian. He numbered LaFayette as one of his friends.
The remainder of Dr. Sereven's stay in Europe, which occupied over two years, was spent in travel in Switzerland and Italy. In the latter country, the late Hon. George Bancroft, the historian, was his com- panion. His son, John Sereven, wrote: "I have long used a copy of Horace belonging to my father. evidently a vade mecum with him, as it was copiously marked with his references to objects of interest men- tioned by the poet, and indicated not only his habitual closeness of observation but that he definitely associated those objects with the careful and well-directed maintenance of his classical studies. IIe made full and conscientious use of his European experiences. both in his profession and in the sciences, which later had their earlier accepted development in that period .- that is, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Without professing to apply himself to the sciences other- wise than as a man of advanced intelligence, he devoted much time to geology, mineralogy, eonchology, chemistry and comparative anatomy," so when he and Dr. Joseph C. Habersham learned of the discovery of the remains of a strange animal on the shore of Skidaway island in Chatham county, his knowledge of anatomy convinced him that the remains were that of a megatherium, and to congratulate himself that he had been a pupil of Cuvier. He delivered his views on this interest- ing subject before the Georgia Medical Society, of which he became a member in 1823. Some of these remains were sent to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., but were destroyed when the orig- inal buildings were burned. Portions of these remains were given to the Georgia Historical Society some time after his death. Another instance of the value of his observations in Europe was his letter to the council of Savannah in Angust. 1823. upon the subject of dry eulture as observed in the south of Europe, which was referred to a committee and reported as "well calculated to set the question of the utility of dry culture at rest" and "after six years have passed away the operation of the dry culture system, imperfectly as that system has been enforced, it has given evidence the most conchisive of a favor- able influence npon the health of Savannah." A newspaper of the time, September 16, 1823, stated: "No dispassionate man, after reading it can longer doubt. By the friends of Dr. Sereven, this letter must be received as a most satisfactory evidence of the manner in which bo has appropriated the time he passed in Europe-to his comumity and the country, this letter gives a high promise of future usefulness. We cannot close our remarks without expressing our approbation of the mauly, dignified and chaste style of the writer.
Dr. Sereven began the practice of medicine in Savannah in 1822-3. He and his brother-in-law, Dr. Wm. C. Daniell, formed a partnership and on April 23, 1823, they issued a public notice to the effect of their having procured the building orenpied as a poor honse and hospital,
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and would open May 1st next for the medical treatment of siek seamen and negroes.
Dr. Sereven was elected January 8, 1824, by couneil "the first health officer under the new method."
Dr. Sereven was alderman from April 13, 1826 to September 11, 1826; from then to September 10, 1827, and again from December 4, 1828.
Dr. Sereven was married December 26, 1826 by the Rev. Abiel Carter, rector of Christ church at Savannah, to Miss Hannah Georgia Bryan, born August 31, 1907. daughter of Joseph Bryan and Delia (Forman) Bryan, (died December 16, 1825), daughter of Gen. Thomas Marsh Forman, of Rose Hill. Cecil county, Maryland.
Joseph Bryan and Delia Forman were married April 9, 1805, at the residence of Judge Ezekiel Forman Chambers, (a relative of Gen- eral Forman) at Chestertown, Maryland. Joseph Bryan was born August 18, 1773, son of Josiah Bryan, and died September 5, 1812, at his own home, Non Chalanee, Wilmington island, and there interred. He was several times a member of the state legislature and once a mem- ber of the United States congress.
It is said that Joseph Bryan's popularity was greatly increased in the state by his successful fight, unarmed, with a bear, which he killed. At a house in the country, he desired at night a bath in a horse-water trough near the premises, which the bear also inelined to. A contest for the bath ensued, in which he succeeded by his great strength and courage. He resigned in 1806 from the United States congress before his term expired.
The distinguished John Randolph, of Roanoke, of Virginia, his dear- est and most intimate friend, wrote of him in an obituary notice: "The character of Mr. Bryan was every way original. He was himself and no one else at second hand. Edneated in Europe, which quarter of the globe he again visited for improvement by travel. He was every way free from taint of foreign manner. He lived and died a Georgian. Soon after his last return from Europe he was elected to congress from his native state. He took no part in the debates of the house, but his zeal against the Yazoo claims was not surpassed by even that of his friend, General James Jackson himself. In the spring of 1806, after serving three sessions in congress, Mr. Bryan resigned his seat. in conse- quence, it is believed, of his marriage the preceding year, with a beau- tiful and amiable lady of the eastern shore of Maryland, who, (with five children), survive him. Congressional life is incompatible with domes- tie enjoyments.
"His dissolution was uncommonly rapid; but his spirit retained its vigor to the last. He made light of his disease, and a few days before his death invited an old friend to dine with him next Christmas. All his fortitude could not save him. His complaint was of the liver, with dropsy.
"In person Mr. Bryan might have served as a model to the stat- uary. He possessed wonderful strength and activity of body, united to undaunted resolution : but he was not more terrible than generons as au enemy. The brave are always generous. As a friend, he was above all price. His mind was of the first order-stored with various but desultory reading; for he read solely for his own amusement. His integrity was nnimpeached and unimpeachable; his honor unsullied. Quick in his resentments, but easily appeased when injured, and equally ready to acknowledge an error when wrong, provided the appeal was made to his sense of justice; for he knew not fear; he was brave even to rashness, and his generosity bordered on profusion. Strange, wonder-
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ful man! Some fatality must have taken hin from the sphere for which nature designed him, and he has left his friends to regret that his talents, integrity, honor, unbounded and unexampled courage should be so carly lost to them."
Josiah Bryan, born Angust 22, 1746, in Sonth Carolina, died 1774 at Brampton, Georgia, married Angust 14, 1770, Elizabeth Pendarvis, was a son of Jonathan Bryan and Mary ( Williamson) Bryan, who were married October 13, 1737. Mary ( Williamson ) Bryan was a daughter of John Williamson, of South Carolina, and Mary ( Bower) Williamson. Mary ( Bower) Williamson was a daughter of William Bower and Martha ( Hext ) Bower. The latter was a daughter of Hugh Hext. William Bower and IIngh Hext came together from England to South Carolina. Their descendants were numerous and allied with prominent families of the province and state.
Jonathan Bryan, born 1708 in South Carolina and died 1788 at Brampton, his place of residence near Savannah in Georgia, was a son of the pioneer ancestor. Joseph Bryan and Janet ( Cochran) Bryan, a daughter of Hugh Cochran of South Carolina. Mr. Bryan assisted Gen. James Oglethorpe in the selection of the site upon which Sa- vannah stands; was useful in the construction of the country road leading to Darien and Frederiea, and in 1740, as lieutenant of a com- pany of "Gentleman Volunteers," attended General Oglethorpe's ex- pedition to capture St. Augustine in Florida.
Mr. Bryan moved in December, 1752, with his family, to Savannah, permanently. With a high standing in South Carolina, he soon became more prominent in Georgia: One of the king's council; one of the judges of the court of oyer and terminer and the general court; treas- nrer of the province; captain of a company of horse militia: prominent in the councils of the malcontents with the actions of the British gov- ernment in regard to taxation, who desired and finally succeeded in a separation of the provinee and state from the control of that govern- ment; resigned from the king's council, because of its threat to expel him, whereupon the Union Society bestowed upon him a silver vase, a gift expressive of the society's appreciation of his devotion to the . cause of his fellow citizens; member of the Council of Safety and Exee- utive Couneil. at one time acting as president of the state; in January, 1779, captured with his son, James, by the British at his "Union" plantation, twelve miles north and west of Savannah, but on the north- ern shore of the Savannah river, both taken to New York and held there in close and severe imprisonment for more than two years; when exchanged they returned to Georgia or South Carolina. Mr. Bryan's last effort for the colonists was his fighting with General Wayne in the latter's vietory over the British and Indians near Savannah in the last year of the war.
Ilis danghter, Mary, widow of John Morel, married in 1784 Richard Wylly, a distinguished officer of the Revolution and member of the Society of the Cincinnati; and another danghter, Hannah, married John Houstoun, lawyer by profession, son of Sir Patrick Houstoun, and member of the congress of the states, governor of Georgia, 1778, first mayor (1791) of Savannah, again governor of the state, judge. etc.
General Thomas Marsh Forman, born August 20, 175S, died 18-45 and buried at his residence, Rose Hill, Cecil county, Maryland, was a son of Ezekiel Forman and Augustine or Angustina ( Marsh) Forman, born 1744, daughter of Thomas Marsh and Mary ( Thompson) Marsh, who was a granddaughter of John Thompson and Judith ( Herrman) Thompson, and great-granddaughter of Angustin Herrman and Janetia Herrman, danghter of Casper and JJudith Varleth.
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Thomas Marsh Forman joined Smallwood's regiment in the Revo- lution as a cadet, shortly before the battle of Long Island, New York; the next winter was commissioned lieutenant in the 11th Pennsylvania regiment; then becoming captain in his uncle David Forman's con- tinental regiment ; and in 1779 succeeded James Monroe as staff officer to Maj. Gen. Lord Sterling. He served in the legislature in 1790, 1792, and 1800, and during the bombardment of Fort MelIenry, War of 1812, commanded a brigade of militia. In his will, he bequeathed his estate to his grandson, Thomas Marsh Forman Bryan, son of Joseph Bryan and Delia ( Forman) Bryan, provided he changed his name to Thomas Marsh Forman, which was done by the legislature of Maryland.
General Forman was descended from Robert Forman "who was driven from England by the persecutions of Archbishop Laud, and took refuge in Holland. His name and that of his wife, Johanna, are en- rolled upon the church register at Vlissingen, Holland, the English nanie being Flushing. On Long Island, New York, he was one of the incorporators of Flushing in 1645, which was then governed by the Dutch, but the incorporators were Englishmen. The charter at Al- bany has Robert's name spelled "Firman," but in all documents signed by him it is spelled "Forman." He moved to Hempstead, Long Is- land, incorporated November, 1645. His name appears among the forty-three signers of a letter to Governor Stuyvesant agreeing to pay the "tenths" demanded by the governor, if it can be shown that they are legally obliged to do so. On December 9, 1658, Governor Stuyves- ant chose to be magistrates Richard Gildersleeve and Robert Forman. On May 12, 1664, Robert Forman was one of the two magistrates at Oyster Bay, then under New England jurisdiction. His will, dated February 7, 1670 (record of Oyster Bay), mentions his sons, Moses, Aaron and Samuel. His wife was Johanna as shown by deed dated June 9, 1665. Ile died in 1671. Aaron Forman moved to Monmouth county, New Jersey, April 11, 1693. His son Samuel married in 1667 or 1668 Mary Wilbur, daughter of Samuel Wilbur and Hannah Porter.
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