Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 37

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1148

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Judge John H. Martin, of Hawkinsville, a distinguish- ed occupant of the Bench and a gallant ex-Confederate officer, recently in command of the Georgia Division, U. C. V., spent his boyhood days in Bainbridge. Here Colonel John E. Donalson, a widely known member of the local Bar, was born and reared. His wife is one of Georgia's most brilliant women. John W. Callahan, owner of the famous Callahan line of steamboats, is a resident of Bainbridge. Mr. Callahan is one of the most generous and public-spirited citizens of the town.

Hon. Rienzi M. Johnson, appointed United States Senator from Texas, to succeed Hon. Joseph W. Bailey, for the unexpired term, was once a resident of the town of Bainbridge. He fought gallantly in the Confederate ranks, though a mere lad; and at the close of the war entered the newspaper office of Hon. Benjamin E. Russell where he received his journalistic equipment. For years Colonel Johnson has been president and editor-in-chief of the Houston Post. From 1900 to 1912 he was a mem- ber of the National Democratic Committee from Texas. The Senator-elect will merely fill the unexpired term of

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Mr. Bailey. He was not a supporter of the Wilson ticket in the preferential primary and for this reason was not a candidate for the full term .*

DEKALB

Created by Legislative Act, December 9, 1822, from Henry and Fayette Counties. Named for Johann, Baron De Kalb, a gallant French officer, who accompanied Lafayette to America. He was commissioned a Major-General and during the latter part of the Revolution was second in command to General Gates, in the Southern Department. He fell mortally wounded at the battle of Camden. Decatur, the county-seat, named for Stephen De- catur, one of the most noted of American naval heroes, killed in a duel with James Barron. Both were Commodores. When organized in 1822 DeKalb ineluded a part of Fulton.

Sutherland: The On an eminence to the north of the Home of General Georgia Railroad near the town of John B. Gordon. Kirkwood, stands Sutherland, the pict- uresque home of the great soldier and statesman, General John B. Gordon. It is four miles to the east of Atlanta, but well within the limits of DeKalb. The stately mansion is one of the best specimens' of the classic type, to which the wealthy planters of the South, during the ante-bellum days, were much attached. Its colossal and elegant proportions, rising to a height of three stories, broad wings, ample grounds and stately forest oaks, all suggest the opulent and splendid days of the Old South. Though General Gordon was a Democrat, the home in which he lived was patrician. If it contras- ted with his simple and unaffected manners, it empha- sized the importance which he put upon home life, and the large place which he filled in the dramatic history of his times. It is doubtful if there ever lived in Georgia a man whose home life approached nearer to the ideal. His wife, a daughter of General Hngh A. Haralson, was his devoted companion and helpmeet. She accompanied him

* Mr. Dallas H. Wood, of Attapulgus, Ga., is engaged in compiling a "History of Decatur County," the appearance of which is awaited with mueh interest.

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to the battlefield, she dressed his wounds, she shared his privations, and in every circumstance whether of defeat or of victory she was constantly at his side, ready to congratulate or to console him. This gentle woman was never more gracious than in her beautiful home at Kirk- wood. The hospitality which she here dispensed was reminiscent of the old regime, and here too she was supremely enshrined in the affections of her household, the idol of her husband and the devoted mother of her. children. Sutherland was destroyed by a fire some time in the nineties. The manuscripts of General Gordon's war memoirs were also consumed by the flames. When the news went abroad, there was an immediate offer of funds with which to restore his stately home; but he promptly declined these generous proffers of help. From the proceeds of his famous lecture on "The Last Days of the Confederacy," he rebuilt Sutherland; and at leisure moments he wrote his "Reminiscences of the Civil War." Since the death of General Gordon, Southerland has passed into other hands, but the handsome mansion is still preserved intact, not only as an attractive feature of the landscape but also as a patriotic shrine for pilgrims.

The Colquitts : A Parallelism. Volume II.

Thomas Holley Chivers: An Erratic Genius.

Volume II.

Decatur. Decatur, the county-seat of DeKalb, is a city of homes. It is practically a suburb of Atlanta, from which bristling center of population it is only six miles distant. The beautiful thoroughfares which con- nect the towns are lined with elegant mansions. But the older city possesses a wealth of peculiar attractions. For

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years past it has been a favorite place of residence with professional and business men, who maintain offices in Atlanta but who prefer to live in Decatur, where an atmosphere of refinement, unvexed by the feverish tur- moil of commercialism, greets them at the close of busi- ness hours. The little town of Decatur has always pre- ferred culture to commence. When the Georgia Railroad was built there was little hospitality extended to the new comer. It was kept at a distance of more than half a mile from the court house, to avoid the disquieting ef- fects; while Atlanta, on the other hand, true to her com- mercial instincts, greeted the swarthy stranger with open arms. Thus Decatur missed the opportunity of becoming a metropolis. She stepped aside in favor of her rival, content to pursue the even tenor of her way along the forest paths and to keep in touch with the fragrant memories and lofty ideals of the Old South.

Agnes Scott College. Agnes Scott College is located at Decatur. Established in 1889 by the munificent liberality of Colonel George W. Scott, an elder in the Decatur Presbyterian Church, it has since become one of the foremost institutions of the South for the higher education of women. To say that it ranks with the best schools of the North and East is to employ no extravagant figure of speech. It possesses a plant valued at $1,000,000; maintains an admittedly high standard of scholarship; and from more than a score of States draws an increasingly large patronage. The presi- ident of the institution is Dr. F. H. Gaines, an accomp- lished educator. Included among the benefactors of the college, besides Colonel Scott, may be mentioned Andrew Carnegie, of Pittsburg, Pa., Samuel M. Inman and Robert J. Lowry, of Atlanta, and many others. Though under Presbyterian control, it is conducted upon broad and liberal lines of policy and is in no sense sectarian.

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The high altitude of the surrounding locality, its excel- lent health record and its delightful charm of environ- ment, are among the additional secrets of its success.

Decatur is also the site of the Orphan Home of the North Georgia Methodist Conference-the first institu- tion of the kind to be established by Georgia Methodists.

During the Civil War almost the entire western half of DeKalb County was involved in the operations inci- dent to the historic battle of July 22nd, 1864; and on the court house grounds at Decatur stands a superb monu- ment to the heroes of the Lost Cause. Agnes Lee Chap- ter U. D. C. has also mounted on the court house square a relic of the Indian War of 1836, in the form of a cannon.

Stone Mountain : . A Monolith of Granite Reared in Prehistoric Times. Volume II.

Original Settlers. As given by White, the original set- tlers of DeKalb were: William Jack- son, James Montgomery, John R. Brooks, William Ez- zard, W. M. Hill, Joseph Hewey, Stephen Mays, Reuben Cone, J. M. Smith, William David, Mason Shewmake, John Simpson, Amos Towers, John W. Fowler Edward Jones, Andrew Johnson, John Turner, J. P. Carr, James W. Reeves, Colonel Clrarles Murphey, George Cliffton, James Jones, Jesse Lane, L. Johnson. William Terrell, and George Brooks.

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To the above list may be added : Rev. John S. Wilson, D. D., Elijah N. Ragsdale, William M. Ragsdale, William Morris, William Gresham, James M. Calhoun, William H. Dabney, Charles Lattimer, Jacob Redwine, John K. Holcombe, Samuel McElroy, William McElroy, Jennings Hulsey, Eli J. Hulsey, the Kirkpatricks the Colliers, the Masons, the Rossers, and other pioneer families.

The first session of the Superior Court of DeKalb was held in the house of William Jackson, on the old Mc- Donough road, a mile to the south of the present court house square. Under an act of the Legislature, approved December 10, 1823, the county-seat of DeKalb was fixed at Decatur. The town site was surveyed by James Diamond, a resident of the county, then living in Dia- mond's militia district, near the present town of Lithonia. The first court house was built of logs, at one end of the square. In a few years this was abandoned for a small brick structure which was built in the center. De- stroyed by fire in 1842, it was replaced by the old land-mark which occupied the same spot until 1898, when the present handsome edifice was erected. The first com- missioners appointed, with plenary powers, to govern the new town, were: Reuben Cone, William Morris, William Gresham, James White, and Thomas A. Dobbs .*

Soldiers of the Two soldiers of the Revolution are buried Revolution. in the town cemetery at Decatur, John Maffett and John Hayes. The former was a commissioned officer, with the rank of Colonel. Both graves are marked by weather-beaten headstones. one of which at least needs re-placing. The old patriots

* Authority: Hon. C. M. Candler, an address on "The Founders and Early History of Decatur, Ga., delivered October 12, 1911.

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occupy areas enclosed by pipe railings. William Morris, a veteran of the first war for independence and a pioneer settler, is buried at Cedar Grove, in the lower part of DeKalb. At Fellowship Church near Tucker on the Sea- board Air Line three patriots of '76 lie buried in a group : Daniel Phone, Learell Edward and Graner Whitley; and there are doubtless a number of others, who sleep in graves which have never been marked, or from which the headstones have disappeared.

Distinguished Resi- Hon Charles Murphey, who repre-

dents of DeKalb. sented Georgia in Congress from 1852 to 1854 resided at Decatur. His son-in-law, Hon. Milton A. Candler, likewise a mem- ber of Congress from 1877 to 1881, resided at the county- seat of DeKalb for more than fifty years. The present chairman of the State Railroad Commission of Georgia, Hon. Charles Murphey Candler, is the latter's son.

Judge William Ezzard, an early mayor of Atlanta, lived for years in Decatur.

Hon. James M. Calhoun resided here. He afterwards became Atlanta's war mayor. It devolved upon Mr. Calhoun to surrender the city to General Sherman, in 1864, when there was no discretion left to him in the matter, but he insisted upon the protection of non-com- batants and exacted the best terms possible under the circumstances. His son, Colonel William Lowndes Cal- houn, was at one time mayor of Atlanta and for years Judge of the Court of Ordinary of Fulton. His brother, Dr. E. N. Calhoun, was an eminent physician.

General John B. Gordon, one of the most illustrious soldiers of the Civil War, was for years a resident of De- Kalb. He attained the rank of Lieutenant-General, was

----

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three times elected United States Senator, twice Governor of Georgia, and Commander-in-Chief of the United Con- federate Veterans for fourteen years. He also achieved distinction on the lecture platform and left a volume of memoirs entitled : "Reminiscences of the Civil War."

General Gordon's near neighbor at Kirkwood was Hon. Alfred H. Colquitt. This distinguished Georgian, during the Civil War, attained the rank of Major General and was dubbed "the Hero of Olustee" by reason of an unparalleled victory over the enemy at Olustee or Ocean Pond, in Florida. During his first term as Governor occurred the famous Goldsmith and Renfro impeach- ment trials. There was an effort to discredit liis adminis- tration on account of these inquiries, but he was trium- phantly and overwhelmingly re-elected, and finally closed his distinguished career in the nation's highest public forum.

Colonel Thomas C. Howard was another brilliant son of DeKalb. But he subordinated his own ambitions to promote the political interests of his friend, Governor Colquitt. He was a gifted speaker, a virile writer, and a man of sparkling wit. On one occasion he said of Gen- eral Butler, that he wouldn't trust him in the Desert of Sahara with the anchor of the Great Eastern.

Hon William Schley Howard, the present Congress- man from this district, is a son of Colonel Thomas (. Howard. His victory over Hon. Leonidas F. Livingston created a sensation in national politics. The latter had been an occupant of the office for twenty years; and though repeatedly opposed he was seemingly invincible until he encountered his Richmond in the person of this eloquent young tribune of the people.

The gifted Mrs. William H. Felton, of Cartersville, was born in DeKalb. Her father, Mr. Charles Latimer, kept the inn at Decatur, during the red hot days when there was war to the knife between the Democrats and the Whigs; and here it was that Mrs. Felton, then only a slip of a girl, received her first introduction to the public

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men of Georgia and acquired her first taste for politics. The statesmen to whom she listened around the open fire- place of her father's inn little dreamed of the powerful pen which she was one day to wield in the political con- troversies of her State, when most of them should be forgotten.

Here lived the celebrated Dr. Thomas H. Chivers, a melancholy child of genius, from who Poe is said to have borrowed the metrical lilt of his immortal "Raven." Jesse F. Cleveland, a lawyer, who represented Georgia in Congress from 1837 to 1841, resided at Decatur. General Thomas Glascock, a distinguished soldier of the war of 1812 and a former member of Congress, removed to Decatur from Augusta, some time prior to the Civil War, and was here killed by a fall from his horse.

Dr. John S. Wilson, one of the earliest pioneers of Presbyterianism in North Georgia, lived for several years at Decatur, where he preached and taught school. He afterwards became the first pastor of the First Pres- byterian Church, of Atlanta.

Bishop Warren A. Candler, of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, South; Colonel Asa G. Candler, the distin- guished manufacturer, capitalist and banker; and Judge John S. Candler, an ex-member of the Supreme Court of Georgia , have been identified with DeKalb. Bishop Candler today lives on the county line, with his property running back into Fulton. Judge Candler, just across the street from him, lives in DeKalb. Both reside at Druid Hills. Colonel Asa G. Candler's home is in Inman Park.

515

DODGE

Created by Legislative Act, October 26, 1870, from parts of three counties: Telfair, Montgomery and Pulaski. Named for Wm. E. Dodge, Esquire, a wealthy financier of New York. Eastman, the county-seat, named for W. P. Eastman, Esq., of the State of New Hampshire, who came to this locality in 1870 and founded here the Dodge Land and Lumber Com- pany, an establishment which was largely instrumental in developing this part of Georgia.

William E. Dodge was a wealthy merchant of New York who, acquiring extensive tracts of timber land be- tween the Oconee and the Ocmulgee Rivers, developed the saw mill and lumber industries of this section and became one of the State's foremost benefactors, though never for any length of time a resident of Georgia. Mr. Dodge was a native of Hartford, Conn., in which cultured old town of New England he was born in 1802. When quite a lad he worked for a while in his father's mill, after which he entered the business world of the great metropolis and became in time an active member of the firm of Phelps, Dodge and Co., of New York, marrying the eldest daugh- ter of his senior partner. This noted mercantile estab- lishment made heavy investments in timber lands, pro- moted railway enterprises, and engaged in various opera- tions the object of which was to develop the country's material resources. On succeeding to the sole manage- ment of the business, Mr. Dodge turned his attention chiefly to the South. He purchased the Couper estate on St. Simon's Island and erected thereon a mill which em- ployed a force of one hundred hands, while along the upper tributaries of the Altamaha River he purchased large bodies of pine lands, from which the timber was transported by private railway lines to the Altamaha, and then down the Altamaha by water to the mills to be made into lumber for the world's market. It is said that the quality of lumber produced by Mr. Dodge was such that the city of New York gave him an unlimited order for every foot of lumber which he could produce of this character. Appurtenant to the mills a town was estab- lished by Mr. Dodge who personally supervised the build-

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ing of houses and the laying off of streets and lots; and since the government of the town was vested exclusively in the superintendent of the mills there were no municipal elections to disturb the community life. Mr. Dodge was an ardent believer in temperance; and to further the ends of sobriety as well as to insure good workmanship he caused a bill to be passed by the Legislature of Geor- gia forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors not only on St. Simon's Island but on any of the waters leading thereto. Though a strong Republican Mr. Dodge was a staunch friend to the South. He represented the State of New York in Congress for two terms, was a member of the Indian commission under appointment of Presi- dent Grant, gave liberally to religious, temperance, and other causes, and died in 1883 in the city of New York, leaving a large estate, not a small part of which was dis- pensed in philanthropic gifts.

Eastman. At a point on the Southern Railway chosen for a station, soon after the county was formed, in 1871, arose the present town of Eastman. It was then only a little cluster of wooden shacks, in the midst of a vast primaeval forest of pines; but today the town is a wideawake and vigorous young metro- polis, with a future of splendid possibilities. Eastman is provided with an abundant supply of pure water from artesian wells.

Original Settlers. See Telfair, Montgomery and Pulaski Counties from which Dodge was formed.

To the pioneer list may be added: W. P. Eastman, for whom the town of Eastman was named; L. M. Peacock,

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W. W. Ashburn, Judge David M. Roberts, Colonel John F. DeLacey, Dr. Harris Fisher, Dr. J. M. Buchan, the first Representative from Dodge in the Legislature; Judge C. B. Murrell, W. N. Leitch, J. M. Arthur, H. Herrman and others. These were the representative business and professional men whose pioneer labors laid broad and deep the civic foundations of the present grow- ing metropolis of Eastman.

DOOLY

Created by Legislative Act, May 15, 1821, from lands acquired from the Creeks under the first treaty of Indian Springs in the same year. Named for Colonel John Dooly, of the Revolution. Vienna, the county-seat, named for the famous Austrian capital on the Danube. When organized in 1821 Dooly included Crisp and parts of Lee and Worth.

Colonel John Dooly was a Revolutionary patriot who met his death at the hands of the Tories. He was a native of North Carolina, but coming to Georgia prior to the Revolution, with a number of his kinsmen and neighbors, he settled in what is now the upper part of Lincoln, not far from the Savannah River. These were troublous times for the pioneers. Between the Indians, and the Tories, they were constantly beset by dangers, which, added to the hardships of the frontier, made life in the wilderness a bed of thorns. On July 22, 1776, Captain Thomas Dooly, a brother of Colonel John Dooly and a gallant officer, was murdered by the Indians, on the Oconee River, in a skirmish, under circumstances of great aggravation. Says Otis Ashmore: "Fired by resentment at his brother's death as well as by a lofty feeling of patriotism, he became a terror to the Indians throughout Georgia. So eager was he to carry out his purposes that he planned an attack upon the Indians at Galphinton, after propositions of peace had been made by the constituted authorities. The plan, having been discovered, Dooly was put under arrest and General

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Elbert was ordered to try him by court-martial. But he was permitted to resign his commission." Shortly after this episode he was made a Colonel of militia in his home county of Wilkes; and joining forces with Clarke and Pickens he helped to win the victory of Kettle Creek, by which the Tory power in Upper Georgia was broken.

When not engaged in fighting the Tories with sword and rifle he was pursuing them vigorously with the processes of law. According to the records, it was on August 25, 1779 that the first court was held in Wilkes, and at this time Colonel John Dooly was appointed to act as attorney for the State. Not less than nine persons were sentenced to be hanged, at the first session, mainly for treason; and, on the authority of Judge Garnett Andrews, "the indictments were about as long as your finger." We quote again from Professor Ashmore : Says he : "The name of Dooly became a terror to these parties, and in 1780, a band of Tories, headed by Captain Corker, who had been dispatched by the British commander at Augusta into the adjacent country, with authority to grant protection and to exact oaths of allegiance to the British Crown, forced an entrance into the dwelling place of Colonel Dooly, and in the most barbarous manner murdered him in the presence of his wife and children. There is a well authenticated tradition that three of these Tories were caught and hanged to a red oak tree near what is still known as Torry Pond, on the Egypt planta- tion in Lincoln. Five of the party crossed Broad River and paid a visit to Nancy Hart, whose famous part in effecting the capture and execution of the whole number, forms one of the most thrilling episodes in the history of the Revolution. Colonel Dooly was the father of the celebrated wit, Judge John M. Dooly, of Lincoln."

Original Settlers. White in his Collections of Georgia omits to mention the original settlers of Dooly. He merely gives the names of a few old peo-

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ple of the county who reached the century mark, among them, Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth and Mrs. Napier. Dooly's two delegates to the Secession Convention, both of whom represented pioneer families, were John S. Thomas and Elijah Butts. Thomas H. Key, a delegate to the Tariff Convention of 1833, and Judge Wm. B. Cone, a noted jurist were also among the pioneers of this section.

DOUGHERTY

Created by Legislative Act, December 15, 1853, from Baker County. Named for Charles Dougherty, a noted ante-bellum lawyer and jurist of Georgia. Albany, the county-seat, probably named for the historic capital of the State of New York.

Charles Dougherty was one of the leaders of the ante- bellum Bar, who practiced his profession at Athens. He became judge of the Western Circuit, an office to which he brought the most signal qualifications; and since he occupied no high political office it is in the nature of the most eloquent tribute to his professional attainments that one of the counties of Georgia should have been named for him soon after his death. Nor is it any less a tribute to this eminent jurist that Georgia's great Sena- tor, Benjamin H. Hill, should have conferred the name of Charles Dougherty upon his youngest son, one of the brainiest solicitors the State has ever known. Judge Dougherty was a Whig in politics, but was identified with the extreme wing of the party which advocated South- ern rights. He was a man of unselfish patriotism and of spotless character. Two of his brothers, Robert and Wil- liam, also achieved high honors. The former located in Alabama. The latter is said to have accumulated the largest fortune ever derived from the practice of law in Georgia. Judge Dougherty died in Athens during the decade which immediately preceded the Civil War.

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Anecdotes of Judge

Dougherty.

Volume II.

Albany. Albany, the county-seat of Dougherty, is located on the west bank of the Flint River, 107 miles south-west of Macon. There is perhaps no city in Georgia more signally favored with respect to situation. At the head of high water navigation on the Flint it communi- cates with the Gulf of Mexico by a splendid system of steamboats; and when the Panama Canal is opened the ocean trade of Albany will be more than doubled. Numer- ous radiating lines of railway also center at this point, to-wit: The Central of Georgia, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line, the Albany Northern, and the Georgia Northern, forming here a net-work of iron rails. In a rich agricultural region, Albany controls large commercial interests, especially in cotton, cotton seed oil, melons, peaches, pecans, fertilizers and lum- ber. The town was founded in 1836 by Nelson Tift, Esq., of Mystic, Conn., who built the first house in the future metropolis. (See county of Tift.) Most of the early settlers of Albany came from Palmyra, a town long since obliterated from the map but once the most populous community in this part of the State. It was located some five miles north of the present city of Albany, in what is now the county of Lee. White, in speaking of the early days of Albany, says :* "The place where it now stands was in 1836 an unbroken pine forest, without an inhabitant. The removal of the Creek Indians from the south-western part of the State promoted the settlement of this fertile territory by the whites. In 1841 the Legislature granted a charter for the city of Albany." For many years the growth of the town was only nomi- nal. The water was not the best and the climate was thought with good reason to be unwholesome. But with the introduction of artesian wells, there dawned a new

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 37

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1148