USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 57
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cators of Georgia, at a time when strong men were needed to serve the State, was long a resident of Greenville: Hon Wm.
* The writer carries on his right hand a memorial to Governor Slaton. We were college mates at Athens, members of the same fraternity but of different classes. He was a senior, I was a sophomore. In those days everyone called him "Jack." One evening Jack and I attended a Methodist revival meeting in an old cotton ware-house near the campus. During the long prayer, he took me by the hand, and either in a spirit of sheer mischief or because the devotional mood was upon him, Jack began to bend the writer's little finger near the upper joint. The circumstances of the moment forbade an outcry on the part of the victim, though a little shouting might not have been out of place in a meeting of this character. The pressure continued until finally there came a snap. For days thereafter the swollen member was encased in splints. Jack graduated with the first honor in the class of 1886; and when, twenty-four years later, he swept the State with the greatest tidal wave on record, it was a victory in keeping with the leadership which he maintained in his college days.
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T. Revill. The duty of equipping for public life two of the State's foremost Chief-Executives devolved upon this accomplished gentleman. They were Governor Wm. Y. Atkinson and Governor Joseph M. Terrell, the latter of whom received almost his entire educational training from Prof. Revill. In addition to these brilliant pupils, he also taught Hon. Hiram Warner Hill, a member of the present Supreme Court of Georgia; Hon. J. Render Terrell, Solicitor General of the Coweta Circuit ; Judge T. A. Atkinson, Judge H. H. Revill, and a host of others scarecly less gifted. Prof. Revill was a first honor graduate of Emory College and a class-mate of the late Bishop Atticus G. Haygood. On coming to Meriwether from Tuskegee, Ala., he first took charge of the Green- ville Institute after which he established his celebated private school. Prof. Revill died in 1904 while a member- elect of the State Legislature and was succeeded in this office by his son, Hon. H. H. Revill, the present Judge of the Greenville City Court. The Judge was born while Governor Atkinson was an inmate of the Revill home, intent upon acquiring his education. Though an unpre- tentious citizen, more anxious to kindle ambition in his pupils than to seek honors for himself; fully satisfied if he implanted in them high and noble ideals; zealous always for truth ; Wmn. T. Revill has stamped his impress indelibly and enduringly upon the annals of Georgia.
MILLER
Created by Legislative Act, February 26, 1856, from Baker and Early Counties. Named for Hon. Andrew J. Miller, of Augusta, a distinguished ante-bellun legislator and jurist. Colquitt, the county-seat, named for the noted Judge Walter T. Colquitt, one of the greatest of Georgia's statesmen and orators.
Andrew J. Miller was an eminent legislator who served with distinction in the Senate of Georgia for nearly twenty years and was twice the presiding officer
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of this important body of lawmakers. He was born in ('amden County, Ga., near old St. Mary's, on March 21, 1806, and died in Augusta, Ga., February 3, 1856, still short of the half-century mark. At the time of his death he was president of the Medical College of Georgia, city attorney of Augusta, Captain of the Oglethorpe Infantry, and a director in various corporations. He was also at one time a judge of the Middle Circuit. He distinguished himself in the Legislature of Georgia as a champion of the legal rights of women.
Original Settlers. See Early from which county Miller was formed.
Two pioneer citizens residing in Miller when the county was first opened to settlement, in 1856, both of them men of mark, were Judge Isaac Bush and Dr. Elijah B. Bush. The former became the first ordinary of the county, but he resigned this office to enter the State Senate. The latter was a noted surgeon and physician of The southwest Georgia. They were half-brothers.
grandfather of these men, William Bush, came to Georgia from North Carolina, with the famous General David E. Blackshear. James Bush, his son, the father of the Bush boys, was three times married and reared a family of twenty children. W. T. Cheshire and C. L. Whitehead represented Miller in the secession convention at Mil- ledgeville five years after the county was formed.
To the list of pioneers may be added: J. S. Bush, Jame Cook, F. E. Fudge, G. P. Shingle, C. J. Spencer, Dr. J. P. Cook, M. B. Shepard, J. W. Bailey, and Dr. P. E. Wilkin, who were among the first settlers to locate at Col- quitt; and C. T. Babcock and Judge Bush Vann, of Bab- cock .*
* These names were furnished by Judge B. B. Bush, ordinary of Miller.
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MILTON
Created by Legislative Act, December 18, 1857, from parts of three counties: Cherokee, Forsyth, and Cobb, originally Cherokee. Named for Hon. John Milton, a patriotic public official, who kept the records of the State from falling into the hands of the British, during the Revolution. Apharetta, the county-seat. The name was coined from the first letter of the Greek alphabet.
John Milton was Georgia's first Secretary of State; and to this patriotic and faithful public servant is due the preservation of the official records of Georgia, when Savannah fell into the hands of the British during the Revolution. At the imminent risk of his life, he first car- red them to Charleston, S. C., thence to New Bern, N. C., and finally to Maryland, where they remained in security until the triumph of the American arms. John Milton did not take advantage of his civic duties to escape the hard- ships of service in the ranks. He entered the Continental army as a lieutenant and was at the battle of King's Mountain. When lower Georgia was overrun by the enemy, Wilkes and Richmond Counties, through dele- gates chosen for the purpose, formed an executive com- mittee, of which Colonel Milton became a member, and, for a while, he became the dominant factor in civil af- fairs. On the surrender of Fort Howe, he was made a prisoner and for nine months was incarcerated in a dun- geon of the old Spanish fort, at St. Augustine, Fla. The re-capture of Savannah found him before the walls with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He was subsequently twice re-elected Secretary of State; and in the first elec- tion for President of the United States such was his popularity that he received the votes of several of the Georgia electors. He died on his plantation near Louis- ville, Ga. Colonel Milton was a charter member of the Society of the Cincinnati. His descendants include a number of distinguished men and women, among them, a son of General Homer V. Milton, an officer of note in the war of 1812; a grandson, Governor John Milton, of Flor- ida; a great-grandson, General William H. Milton, of the Confederate Army ; and a great-great-granddaughter,
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Mrs. William Y. Atkinson, widow of the late Governor of Georgia.
Original Settlers. See Cherokee, from which county Mil- ton was formed.
Included among the early comers into Milton may be mentioned also; Wm. P. Maxwell, who owned a farm of 480 acres near Alpharetta; David R. Morris, James Thomason; Givens White Arnold, for whom the little vil- lage of Arnold was named; Clark Howell, the father of Captain Evan P. Howell, of Atlanta; Jackson Graham and J. C. Street. The two last named pioneers represent- ed Milton in the Secession Convention at Milledgeville in 1861.
MITCHELL
Created by Legislative Act, December 21, 1857, from Baker County, originally Early. Named for General David B. Mitchell, an officer of the State militia and one of Georgia's most noted chief-executives. Camilla, the county-seat, named for the Governor's daughter, Miss Camilla Mitchell.
David B. Mitchell, twice Governor of Georgia, was a native of Scotland, where he was born, October 22, 1766. The circumstances under which he came to Georgia are replete with interest. Dr. David Brydie, an uncle for whom he was named, preceded him to America by several years; and, becoming a surgeon in the American army, during the War of the Revolution, he attended General Screven, when he fell mortally wounded in an ambuscade, near Midway Church. He accumulated quite a fortune in the practice of medicine, which at his death he be- queathed to his namesake and nephew, then a youth of seventeen, in the distant highlands of Scotland. It was for the purpose of settling the affairs of the Brydie
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estate that young Mitchell in 1783 came to Savannah; but he was so pleased with the outlook that he decided to try his fortunes in the new world. He studied law, went to the State Legislature, where he fought the Yazoo Fraud, became a Major-General in the State militia, and, finally, in 1809, Governor of Georgia. To the latter office he was again elected in 1815, after an interval of two years. These were troublous times, covering the period of the second war with England, but Governor Mitchell proved himself equal to the demands of the hour. Presi- dent Monroe, in 1817, appointed him agent to the Creek Nation, to accept which post of honor he resigned the office of Governor; and he subsequently concluded upon advantageous terms a treaty of peace with the Indians. Though his conduct of affairs, during this period of high excitement was not exempt from criticism, in certain quarters, nothing detrimental to his character could be found. It was even charged that he was smuggling African slaves into the United States, through the Gulf ports, deriving large sums of money from this illicit traffic, in flagrant violation of the Federal Constitution. He died at his home in Milledgeville, Ga., on April 22, 1837, and was buried in the local cemetery, where the Legislature caused a monument to be erected over his grave, in recognition of his services to Georgia.
Original Settlers. See Baker, from which county Mitchell was formed; also Early, the parent county of this section of Georgia.
Major Robert J. Bacon, a native of Liberty County, Ga., founded the town of Baconton, in 1858. He was a gentleman of rare culture and a planter of large means, who conducted his extensive farming operations on strictly scientific principles. He was one of the chief
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personal factors in the development of southwest Geor- gia. DeWitt C. Bacon and George M. Bacon were also early owners of large landed interests in Mitchell. The former established the town of DeWitt. The Bacons demonstrated to the world the fertility of this region. They opened here the first peach orchard in the wire grass, with 20,000 trees, besides experimenting also with pears and pecans.
In 1883, Judson L. Hand, of Pelham, was the largest naval stores operator in the United States. He was also at this time the largest grower of watermelons. With the changed conditions in this section of the State, he has turned his attention to other inerests. He is today one of the largest land-owners and one of the wealthiest finan- ciers in southwest Georgia. He has represented the State in both branches of the General Assembly and has been a power in politics.
Included among the pioneer spirits of this section of Georgia may be mentioned also: Wm. T. Cox and Jesse Read, who represented Mitchell in the Secession Conven- tion at Milledgeville in 1861; Judge John L. Underwood, who was both a jurist and a Presbyterian minister; Absa- lom Jackson, with his two sons, Green S. and George W. Jackson, Daniel Palmer, Joseph Ellis, David West, Dan- iel McElvain, Rev. J. J. Bradford, Judge John Sapp, Laban Rackley, Stokes Walton, James B. West, John West, Troup Butler, Cuthbert Adams, Leonard Acres, Rev. Moses Smith, Moab Gregory, Shade Gregory, M. F. Davis, Calvin Bullard, Asa Joiner, Alfred Joiner, Col. B. M. Cox, Henry Nelson, Sam Alligood, Hilary Alligood, William Collins, Israel Maples, Andrew Cumbie, C. W. Collins, John Tyus, Owen Ivey, and Clem Walker .*
Some of the earliest settlers to locate at Camilla were : David West, Thomas West, John W. Pearce, Alexander Puckett, Andrew Cumbie, William Sharp, Gibson West, Thomas Colquitt, Dr. W. Cox, and Dr. H. C. Dasher.
* Names furnished by J. H. Powell, County School Commissioner of Mitchell.
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MONROE
Created by Legislative Act, May 15, 1821, out of lands acquired from the Creeks under the first treaty of Indian Springs, in the same year. Named for James Monroe, author of the famous Monroe doctrine and fifth Presi- dent of the United States. Forsyth, the county-seat, named for the illustrious orator and statesman of Georgia, Hon. John Forsyth, who, while occupying the office of United States Minister to Spain, negotiated the purchase of Florida, in 1819, from King Ferdinand VII. When organized in 1821 Monroe embraced Pike and Upson and in part Bibb, Butts, and Spalding.
Revolutionary Anderson Redding, a veteran of the Revo- Soldiers. lution, died in Monroe, on February 9, 1843, at the age of 80. The following account of him is preserved in Historical Collections of Georgia: "No sooner had he arrived at manhood than he was enrolled among those who determined to be free. He served under his country's banner with a patriot's zeal and devotion. He was present at the consummation of American liberty ; the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. The recollections of the glorious day lingered long in his memory, a rehearsal of which often caused him to feel as though the ardor and buoyancy of early days were yet fresh upon him, while a big round tear would fall and moisten the old man's cheek."
Rev. Isaac Smith, who died in this county, in 1834, aged 76 years, was another Revolutionary soldier, who fought under Washington. Says White :* "He was pres- ent at most of the principal actions which were fought by this distinguished leader, and although his term of service expired before the close of the war, yet he was present as a volunteer at the capturing of Cornwallis at Yorktown; after which he retired from military life and was soon after, under the preaching of the Methodists, awakened and converted, and called of God to preach deliverance to the captives and the opening of the prison doors to those who were bound by the fetters of sin."
Wm. Jones, a patriot of the Revolution, was granted a Federal pension in 1814, while a resident of Monroe.
· Historical Collections of Georgia, Monroe County, Savannah, 1854.
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Eight miles from Forsyth, near the public highway to Griffin, lies buried an old soldier of the first war for independence-William Ogletree. His grave in the family burial ground is at present unmarked, but the spot has been identified beyond any question and will be marked by the Piedmont Continental Chapter of the D. A. R. Between Yatesville and Cullodon, in a grave at present unmarked, sleeps William Haygood also a patriot of '76. His grave will likewise be marked by this same Chapter .*
Monroe was settled almost exclusively by Georgia people who came from the adjacent counties. The new immigrants were deeply religious. They were also wide- awake, intelligent, and eager to grasp large opportuni- ties. The first railway enterprise ever projected in the State was the famous old Monroe Road, a line which was afterwards merged into the Central of Georgia. It was built to connect the new town of Forsyth with the little metropolis of Macon, on the Ocmulgee River. The line was completed to Forsyth early in the forties; and by means of this steel highway the ambitious little county- seat of Monroe was the first interior town of Georgia to connect with a stream open to navigation.
Bessie Tift College. Bessie Tift College, located at For- syth, is one of the oldest institutions in the State for the higher education of women. It is the outgrowth of a school taught by the Rev. E. J. C. Thomas, in a building known as the Monroe Railway Bank and owned by the Masons. In 1850, the citizens of Forsyth acquired the property, enlarged the building, and estab- lished here the Forsyth Collegiate Institute, under the
* Mrs. Richard P. Brooks, of Forsyth, Ga., Regent Piedmont Continen- tal Chapter D. A. R.
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government of an interdenominational board of trustees. It was duly incorporated, and Dr. W. C. Wilkes, a distin- guished educator, became the president. Two years later the old Monroe Bank building was abandoned. The growth of the institution demanded ampler quarters, and for this purpose the old Botanic College building was acquired in an unfinished condition and put in readiness for occu- pancy by this school. It was not long thereafter before the Baptists of Forsyth by an agreement in equity ob- tained exclusive ownership and control of the plant; and from the date of this transfer it became the Monroe Female College. Dr. Wilkes remained at the helm for seventeen years, after which Dr. Shaler G. Hillyer, a noted Baptist divine, became president. In 1879, the plant was almost completely destroyed by fire, a disas- ter little short of fatal to the institution.
But friends came to the rescue. It rose once more from the ashes, and in 1898, the college became the prop- erty of the Georgia Baptist Convention and the support of the denomination throughout the State was henceforth insured. The presidents of the institution, succeeding Dr. Wilkes, have been as follows: Dr. Shaler G. Hillyer, 1867-1873; Prof. R. T. Asbury, 1873-1884; Rev. Moses M. McCall, 1884-1885; Prof. R. T. Asbury, 1885-1890; Rev. J. E. Powell, 1890-1895; Rev. Marshall H. Lane, 1895- 1897; Mrs. C. D. Crawley, 1897-1898; Rev. S. C. Hood, 1898-1899; Dr. A. A. Marshall, 1899-1900; and Prof. C. H. S. Jackson, LL.D., since 1900 to the present time. Under the wise direction of Dr. Jackson, a new era of growth began. The present executive head of the insti- tution proved to be a masterful administrator. There has been no backward step since he formally took charge, and today the institution is one of the foremost in the land, enjoying the liberal patronage of many States. In 1907, the name of the school was changed to the Bessie Tift College, in compliment to one of the most generous friends of the institution, Mr. H. H. Tift, of Tifton, Ga. His wife, nee Miss Bessie Willingham, was a graduate
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of this school, in the class of 1878, and one of the most unwearied workers in the cause of her alma mater. To Mr. W. D. Upshaw, an eloquent layman, much credit is also due for raising funds throughout the State, and one of the handsomest buildings on the campus bears the name of Mr. Upshaw's mother. By reason of an accident in early youth, Mr. Upshaw has not walked for thirty years without his crutches, but in spite of this handicap he has been one of the most magnetic advocates of tem- perance reform and one of the most zealous champions of education. He was a recognized leader in the fight for State-wide prohibition.
According to Dr. George G. Smith, the first brick church ever erected by Methodists in Georgia was built in the town of Forsyth. It is also a fact for which this same authority vouches that the Congregational Meth- odist church, a body which is Congregational in form of government and Methodist in doctrine, was first organ- ized in the county of Monroe. The Presbyterians were never strong in this locality, but the Episcopalians hoped at one time to establish here an educational center. At Montpelier, fourteen miles from Forsyth, was formerly located the Georgia Episcopal Institute, founded by Gazaway B. Lamar, at one time a resident of Savannah, afterwards of New York.
Historic Culloden.
Volume II.
The Falls of the Towaliga. Volume IT.
Original Settlers. The first comers into Monroe, accord- ing to White, were: O. Woodward, B. Rogers, P. Lacy, Rev. O. Rogers, Job Taylor, T. Harpue,
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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
A. Ponder, Mr. Lester, Williamson Mims, John Brown, E. Brown, A. Chapman, A. Lockett, A. Redding, Thomas Holland, Simon Brooks, Thomas Dewberry, Josiah Hor- ton, A. Davis, Joseph Dunn, Moses Dumas, Benjamin Dumas, D. Ponder, Thomas Battle, E. Jackson, A. Chap- pell, W. P. Henry, Wilkins Hunt, Andrew West, Rev. G. Christian, Dr. Brown, Dr. E. W. Jones, David McDade, Dr. Law, and George W. Gordon.
On June 3, 1822, at the home of H. H. Lumpkin, Esq., nine miles northwest of Forsyth, was held the first ses- sion of the Superior Court in Monroe, Judge Christopher B. Strong presiding. A. G. Saffold was Solicitor-General. The following citizens qualified as Grand Jurors : George Cabaniss, Isaac Welch, Abner Lockett, James D. Lester, Hugh W. Ector, Lemuel Gresham, Henry Wimberly, John C. Willis, Thomas Wynn, Wood Moreland, David Dumas, Roland Parham, William Saunders, John Hamil, James Slattings, Joseph Youngblood, William D. Wright, Wil- liam Bell and Jesse Evans.
There were numerous instances of longevity among the early settlers. Mrs. Haygood died at the age of 93. · Says an old newspaper: "She was born on Christmas, married on Christmas and baptized on Christmas." John Watson was 86 at the time of his death. Mr. Harper was 90, and Mrs. Brooks was between 80 and 90. W. A. Wheeler and Benjamin Haygood were each 83. Mrs. Sarah Woodward reached the age of 84. Aaron Jordan was 82 when he died, and the following old residents reached the age of 80: John Chappell, Philemon Lacy, Rev. Richard Holmes, Mrs. Richard Holmes, Mrs. Joiner, Simon Brooks and Major Sullivan. Jesse Powell died at 81.
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To the foregoing list of early settlers may be added a number of others who came within the next decade :
Robert McGough, a soldier of the War of 1812, came to Monroe from Jones, with the first band of immigrants and blazed a trail through the forest to a place on Tobe- sofkee Creek, where he built his home. He was a large land-owner and a man of affairs. Mr. McGough died at the age of 96.
In 1821, Elbridge G. Cabaniss, then a youth of nine- teen, settled in the town of Forsyth, where he became principal of the local academy; and, after teaching for a few years, he studied law, rose to a seat on the Superior Court Bench, and became one of the foremost jurists of his day in Georgia. The family originated in one of the cantons of French Switzerland, where it bore a conspicu- ous part in the great Protestant reformation. Several of the sons of Judge Cabaniss became distinguished men, including Thomas B. Cabaniss, a member of Congress, and H. H. Cabaniss, a journalist of note and a man of affairs. His daughter, Eliza, married Judge Cincinnatus Peeples.
Caleb Norwood, a native of England, settled in 1830 at Colloden. He carried Jane Manson, a Tennessee lady of Scotch-Irish parentage, who became the mother of the future United States Senator, Thomas Manson Norwood.
Andrew West, the grandfather of General A. J. West, was also an early settler of Monroe. The list also in- cludes : Dr. B. F. Chambliss, a pioneer settler at Cullo- den; Andrew Zellner, for whom the town of Zellner was named, and the father of Judge B. H. Zellner; Anderson Redding, a soldier of the Revolution; Thomas Redding, his son; Isaac Smith, a minister of the gospel and a sol- dier in the first war for independence; Dr. James Thweat, a surgeon in the War of 1812; Alexander Parker, a sol- dier in the Indian Wars; Davis Smith, John Moore, Ivy Brooks; Dr. Daniel B. Searcy, a noted physician and a man of large means; Samuel Barron, Thomas Hollis, John C. Anderson, Hardy Lassiter, William Rowe, Wil-
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liam Glenn, Henry W. Walton, the Sharps, the Willing- hams, the Worshams, and other well-known families.
Monroe's Distin- Some of the most distinguished resi-
guished Residents. dents of Monroe lived in the town of Culloden, viz., Judge Thomas M. Nor- wood, a former United States Senator from Georgia, a noted author, and a well-known jurist; Judge Alexander M. Speer, a former occupant of the Supreme Bench of Georgia; Dr. Eustace W. Speer, a noted Methodist divine, at one time professor of Belle Lettres in the University of Georgia; Colonel N. J. Hammond, a former member of Congress and a great lawyer; Governor James Milton Smith, a former Chief-Magistrate of Georgia; and the two widely-beloved Methodist ministers, Dr. W. F. Cook and Dr. J. O. A. Cook.
Besides these may be mentioned a number of others identified with the town of Forsyth. The list includes : Judge Robert P. Trippe, a former member of Congress, afterwards a judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia; Judge Cincinnatus Peeples, one of the ablest jurists of the State, for years Judge of the Atlanta Circuit; Judge E. G. Cabaniss, also a noted jurist; his son, Thomas B. Cabaniss, a former member of Congress, afterwards a jurist of high rank; Colonel Robert L. Berner, a distin- guished lawyer, who was commissioned to command a regiment of volunteers in the Spanish-American War; General L. L. Griffin, the first president of the old Monroe Road, for whom the town of Griffin was named; William H. Head, a distinguished financier and legislator, also a veteran of two wars, the Mexican and the Civil; O. H. B. Bloodworth, a brilliant lawyer, at one time a strong minority candidate for Congress; Bartow S. Willingham, author of the famous Willingham prohobition bill, intro- duced in the Legislature sometime in the nienties, and a host of others no less worthy of mention. General Philip
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