USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I > Part 60
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
William H. Chambers, 1878; Gov. Alfred H. Colquitt, 1879; Lionel C. Levy, 1880; Capt. Reese Crawford, 1881; Rev. S. P. Calloway, 1882; G. E. Thomas, Jr., 1883; Major Raphael J. Moses, 1884;
Henry R. Goetchius, 1885; Thomas J. Chappell, 1886; Charlton E. Battle, 1887; Judge S. P. Gilbert, 1888; Dr. J. Harris Chappell, 1889; Fulton Colville, 1890; Capt. W. E. Wooten, 1891; Capt. John D. Little, 1892; Hunt Chipley, 1893; Judge John Ross, 1894; Lionel C. Levy, 1895; Rev. W. A. Carter, 1896; Robert Howard, 1897; Henry R. Goetchius, 1898; Albert H. Allen, 1899; Lucian Lamar Knight, 1900;
Peter Preer, 1901; Rev. Dr. Wray, 1902; A. P. Persons, 1903;
825
MUSCOGEE
Cecil Neill, 1904; John Henry, 1905;
Dr. I. S. McElroy, 1906;
Dr. J. A. MeMunn, 1907;
A. H. Toomer, 1908;
Prof. A. H. VanHoose, 1909; Rev. Guyton Fisher, 1910; Wm. C. Pease, 1911;
Judge W. A. Covington, 1912.
At the lower end of Broad street stands the hand- some Confederate monument erected by the patriotic women of Columbus, in 1879, to commemorate the heroes of the Lost Cause. The inscription on the south side of the shaft reads:
Erected by the Ladies' Memorial Association, May 1879, to honor the Confederate Soldiers who died to repel unconstitutional invasion, to protect the rights reserved to the people, and to perpetuate forever the sovereignty of the States. Their glory shall not be forgotten.
On the east side is this inscription.
In Memoriam. "No truth is lost for which the true are weeping, nor dead for which they died."
On the west side:
Honor to the brave. "Gather the sacred dust Of warriors tried and true Who bore the flag of our nation's trust, And fell in the cause, though lost, still just, And died for me and you."
On the north side, in the center of an ornamental wreath of victory, Washington is portrayed on horse- back. There is also this inscription:
The Confederate States of America, February 26th, 1862. Deo Vindice.
Recollections of General Mirabeau B. Lamar. Volume II.
-
826
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Muscogee's Distin- Both Augusta and Savannah were guished Residents. approaching the century mark when Columbus was born; but the contri- butions which this relatively young town has made to the bead-roll of illustrious names will favorably com- pare with those of either. General Mirabeau B. Lamar, before leaving Georgia to become the hero of San Jacinto and the second president of the Republic of Texas, lived in Columbus, where he founded the city's first newspaper. Here, too lived James W. Fannin, who went from Colum- bus to Texas to achieve a martyr's halo of immortality in the brutal massacre of Goliad.
Judge Walter T. Colquitt-perhaps the most versatile man of his day in Georgia-established his home in Co- lumbus where he held the first session of the Superior Court for the newly created Chattahoochee circuit. He be- came a United States Senator, a minister of the gospel, and a Brigadier-General in the State militia. Whether as an advocate before the jury or as an orator on the poli- tical hustings, he was unexcelled in emotional power. He died in Columbus in 1855.
His gallant son, Colonel Peyton H. Colquitt, who fell at the head of his regiment in the battle of Chickamauga, went from Columbus to the front.
Henry W. Hilliard, an orator, who frequently cross- ed swords with Yancey on the hustings in Alabama, an author of note, a minister of the gospel and a diplomat, lived at one time in Columbus, where he edited the Enquirer.
Here the renowned novelist, Augusta Evans Wilson, spent her girlhood days.
Theodore O'Hara, the famous bard of Kentucky, who wrote "The Bivouac of the Dead," one of the noblest elegies in our language, settled in Columbus at the close of the war, where he engaged in commercial pursuits. But he was wholly unfitted by temperament for business
827
MUSCOGEE ยท
life; and retiring to a plantation on the Alabama side of the river, he died there, on June 7, 1867, at the age of forty-eight. Mr. O'Hara was buried in Linnwood Ceme- tery, at Columbus; but in 1874 his ashes were reinterred with military honors, at Frankfort, in his native State. He sleeps at the base of the great battle monument which the Commonwealth of Kentucky has lifted to the heroes of the Mexican War. It was to celebrate the formal en- tombment in Kentucky's soil of the ashes of these fallen braves that O'Hara's immortal hymn was sung. Today there is not a Federal cemetery in which the stanzas of this unrivaled master-piece-written by one who wore the gray uniform-cannot be found, emblazoned upon iron tablets.
Hines Holt, a member of Congress before the war. and a lawyer of note, lived in Columbus. He was a kinsman of the Colquitts.
United States Senator Alfred Iverson lived here at one time. This was also for years the home of his gallant son, who bore the same name. Both of the Iversons served the Confederacy as Brigadier-Generals.
Judge Eli S. Shorter, one of the ablest of ante-bellum jurists, lived here.
Seaborn Jones, coming from Milledgeville to Colum- bus, in 1827, when the town was first located, became at once the recognized leader of the Bar. He also represent- ed the State in Congress. Colonel John A. Jones, his only son, fell mortally wounded, on Little Round Top, in the battle of Gettysburg.
On the same field perished another heroic son of Columbus-General Paul J. Semmes.
Here lived one of the greatest of the South's war poets-Dr. F. O. Ticknor. His "Virginians of the Val- ley" and his "Little Giffen of Tennessee" are world-re- nowned lyrics.
828
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Thomas Flournoy Fostor, after serving a period In Congress, removed from Greensboro to Columbus, from which place his fellow-citizens again returned him to the halls of national legislation. He was an uncle of the great Methodist Bishop, George Foster Pierce.
Colonel Absalom H. Chappell also lived here. He was a distinguished jurist, who represented the State in Con- gress and wrote "Miscellanies of Georgia," a work of rare value which is now out of print. Colonel Chappell married Loretta, a sister of General Mirabeau B. Lamar. His son, Dr. J. Harris Chappell, was the first president of the Georgia Normal and Industrial College, at Mil- ledgeville.
Brigadier-General Henry L. Benning, whose gallantry in battle earned for him the sobriquet of "Old Rock," lived in Columbus, where he stood at the head of the local Bar. Be became after the war an occupant of the Su- preme Bench of Georgia.
To the State's highest court of appeal, Columbus has contributed three other distinguished members-Martin J. Crawford, who succeeded Judge Bleckley, in 1880: Mark H. Blandford, who succeeded Judge Crawford, in 1883; and William A. Little.
Samuel Spencer, the first president of the Southern Railway system was born and reared in Columbus; and here he married a daughter of General Benning.
Major Raphael J. Moses, who executed the last order of the Confederate government, lived at Esquiline Hill, near Columbus. He was one of the pioneer peach-grow- ers of Georgia, an accomplished lawyer and an orator of note. He died while on a visit to his daughter, in Brus- sels, Belgium, at the age of eighty-two.
The Straus brothers, Nathan, Isidor, and Oscar, famous in the business world of New York, came to Col-
.
829
MUSCOGEE
umbus from Talbotton; and lived here for several years before removing finally to the metropolis. Oscar Straus was Secretary of Commerce and Labor in the Cabinet of President Roosevelt. He also represented the United States government, under three administrations, at the court of Constantinople.
George Foster Peabody, the famous New York banker and railway magnate, was born in Columbus; and here his boyhood days were spent.
Three of the ablest Speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives since the war have come from Colum- bus : Louis F. Garrard and the two Littles, William A. and John D., father and son. Judge Little was succes- sively, Attorney-General of Georgia, Assistant Attorney- General of United States and Judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Governor James M. Smith was a resident of Colum- bus when he was called to the chair of State in 1872; and here, too, lived Provisional Governor James Johnson.
Marshall J. Wellborn, an ante-bellum Congressman, a minister of the gospel and a jurist, lived in Columbus until an old man, when he removed to Atlanta.
Dr. Thomas Goulding, the first native born Presby. terian preacher in Georgia, occupied for years the pulpit of the First Presbyterian church in Columbus. It was his son, Dr. F. R. Goulding, who wrote "The Young Maroon- ers." Columbus was also the home of Dr. Lovick Pierce and of Dr. Jesse Boring, the former of whom was called the "Nestor" and the latter the "Salvator Rosa" of Methodism.
Here, too, lived Thomas W. Grimes, who represented the Columbus district in Congress, from 1886 to 1890 and Porter Ingram, a member of the Confederate Congress at Richmond.
But no list of the distinguished residents of Colum- bus will be complete which fails to include William H.
830
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
Young who was perhaps the first man in the South to engage successfully in the manufacture of cotton. He organized in 1855 the old Eagle mills, thus realizing a dream which came to him more than twenty-eight years before, when he visited this region as a lad and first conceived the idea of utilizing the splendid water power of Coweta Falls. With a genius for organization little short of Napoleonic, Mr. Young originated the Georgia Home Insurance Company and became the president of the Columbus Bank. The war laid everything in waste. But in 1865 on the ruins of the old plant Mr. Young be- gan to revive the Eagle mills, and borrowing the sug- gestive idea of the Phoenix in rising from the flames, he changed the name of the establishment to the Eagle and Phoenix mills, by which name this colossal plant is still known. As early as 1876 there were three separate mills owned by the company. Both cotton and woolen goods were manufactured. The establishment is perhaps the largest in the Southern States; and, from first to last, under the management of Mr. Young, the business yielded the handsome sum of $1,775,820 in dividends to stock- holders. It was in the capacity of credit man and treas- urer of this gigantic establishment that G. Gunby Jordan one of the foremost industrial captains of the State, de- veloped his masterful resources as a financier.
NEWTON
Created by Legislative Act, December 24, 1821, from parts of four counties: Baldwin, Henry, Jasper and Walton. Named for Sergeant John Newton, a native of South Carolina, who, in association with the gallant Jasper, made a famous re-capture of prisoners, by a bold surprise most happily executed. Covington, the county-seat, named for Gen. Leonard Covington, a soldier of the Revolution.
Emory College at Two miles north of the town of Cov-
Oxford. ington is the little village of Oxford, reached by a trolley line which meets the Georgia Railroad at Covington, from which point
831
NEWTON
it speedily transports the visitor to the broad campus grounds of the great school of learning which is here maintained by Georgia Methodists. It is called Emory College in honor of Bishop John Emory, while the village is named for the alma mater of the illustrious founder of Methodism. The circumstances connected with the estab- lishment of this famous school at Oxford possess an exceptional interest. Dr. George G. Smith, a patriarch of the church, tells the story thus. Says he: "Dr. Olin. who married a Georgia lady and whose property interests were in Georgia, was chosen president of Randolph- Macon College, in Virginia, and was anxious to secure the support of the various Southern conferences. He ac- cordingly asked the Methodists of Georgia to endow a chair in the college with $10,000 and to patronize the institution, giving them some special privileges in return. The conference consented to accept this offer and decided, in addition, to establish a high school in Georgia on the manual labor plan, so popular at the time. The latter was located at Covington. It was not productive of the best results, however, to conduct a high school and a farm at the same time, and the conference, under the influence of Dr. Ignatius A. Few, in 1836, decided to establish a college. For this purpose a charter was granted and a site for the proposed institution was selected about two miles from the manual school. One thousand four hundred acres of land were bought, a vil- lage laid out, and, in 1837, the cornor-stone of Emory Col- lege was laid."
Dr. Few was the first president. Under him, the col- lege was opened, in 1839, and two years later were held the first exercises of graduation. Judge Augustus B. Longstreet, the famous author of "Georgia Scenes," snc- ceeded Dr. Few. He was formerly an eminent jurist, but relinquished the law to enter the pulpit. He was also at one time an editor of note. On leaving Emory, he became
832
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
the president of the University of Mississippi. Dr. George F. Pierce, the great orator of Methodism, came next. But he was soon elected Bishop. Dr. Alexander Means, the distinguished professor of Natural Science, succeeded him. Fifty years in advance of his day, Dr. Means predicted the motor car and the electric light. He was succeeded after a year by Dr. James R. Thomas, who was president when the war commenced. The college was suspended during the greater part of this period and the buildings used for hospital purposes under the Con- federate government. The close of the war found the institution without endowment and the people of the South impoverished. But Bishop Pierce took the field, made an earnest plea on behalf of the college and suc- ceeded in keeping the fires alive until prosperity began to return. With the aid of Bishop Pierce's Endowment Society, supplemented by the zeal of a devoted corps of professors, the college began to revive. New buildings were erected, new students were enrolled, and an era of splendid growth was inaugurated. Dr. Luther M. Smith was the president under whom the institution was firmly re-established. He was elected to succeed Dr. Thomas, who was called to a college in California.
Next came Dr. O. L. Smith, but he resigned to take a professorship, and Dr. Atticus G. Haygood succeeded him. It was during the administration of this great apostle of learning that Mr. George I. Seney, a wealthy banker of New York, attracted by some of the broad views of the new president, gave to the institution the munifi- cent sum of $150,000. With a part of this gift, Seney Hall was erected. The remainder was applied to the per- manent endowment fund. Bishop Haygood resigned to administer the Slater educational legacy and was after- wards chosen bishop. He was succeeded by Dr. I. S. Hopkins, who resigned to become president of the Geor- gia School of Technology, an institution which was measurably the outgrowth of his own experiments at Oxford. Dr. Warren A. Candler was next called to the
833
NEWTON
executive chair. Under him, the sum of $100,000 was added to the permanent endowment fund. Of this amount, Mr. W. P. Patillo, of Atlanta, subscribed $25,000. The handsome new library building, in honor of the presi- dent, was christened "Candler Hall." On being elevated to the episcopal bench, Dr. Candler was succeeded by Dr. C. E. Dowman, and he in turn by Dr. James F. Dickey, the present head of the institution. Since the incumbency of Dr. Dickey began, the endowment fund of the college has been greatly increased and the roll of attendance con- siderably lengthened.
There are few institutions in the country which sur- pass Emory in the standards of scholarships. The dis- cipline is strict and the moral atmosphere pure and whole- some. The library of the college contains something over 25,000 volumes, including a number of rare folios. Three presidents of Emory have succeeded to the episco- pal honors, Drs. George F. Pierce, Atticus G. Haygood, and Warren A. Candler. Without an exception the presi- dents have been preachers. Bishop Candler and Dr. Dickey are both kinsmen of the first president, Dr. Ig- natins A. Few. Connected with the college, there is an excellent school of law, of which Judge Capers Dickson is the dean. Besides, there is also a department of Peda- gogics. The cabinet of minerals at Emory is one of the most unique collections of. this character to be found in the South. It contains a number of rare speciments which cannot be duplicated. The college at Oxford is the joint property of the Georgia and Florida conferences of the M. E. Church, South.
Dr. Ignatius A. Dr. Ignatius A. Few, the first presi- Few: His Monu- dent of Emory College, is buried on ment on the College Campus.
the heights of the Oconee River, at Athens, Ga., but in commemoration of his services to Christian culture there stands upon the campus at Oxford a substantial
834
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
monument on which is chiseled the following inscription to the distinguished founder :
"I. A. Few, founder and first president of Emory College. Elected December 8, 1837. Entered upon his duties, September 10, 1838. Resigned July 17, 1839. ' Memoria prodenda liberis nostris'." .
"In early life an infidel, he became a Christian from conviction and for many years of deep affliction walked by faith in the son of God." etc.
On the north side, the two literary societies of Oxford, the Few and the Phi Gamma, have placed an appropriate inscription to the founder of both organizations.
On the east side, the Masons have placed the following epitome of his career :
"The Grand Lodge of Georgia erects this monument in token of high regard for a deceased brother, Ignatius A. Few, who departed this life in Athens, Ga., Nov- ember 28, 1845, aged 56 years 7 months, and 17 days. He was born April 11, 1789, in Columbia County, then the county of Richmond, in this State.
"As a Mason he possessed all those noble traits of character which constitute the worthy brother of this ancient and honorable order. As a minister of the gospel he exemplified the beautiful description of the poet :
"his theme divine
His office sacred, his credentials clear, By him the violated law spoke out
Its thunders; and by him in strains as sweet As angels use, the gospel whispered peace."
"As a patron of education and learning his comple- ment is seen in the building which this monument confronts.
"As a patriot he was among the first on the battle- field at his country's call, in the war of 1812, from which he returned to honor his country as a private citizen." etc.
835
NEWTON
Dr. Few was the youngest son of Captain Ignatius Few, an officer of the Revolution. He was also a nephew of the two patriots, Benjamin and William Few, and of the first martyr to the cause of liberty, in North Carolina, James Few, who was one of the leaders in the famous up- rise at Alamance. Because of his zeal for independence, James Few suffered an ignominous death, in 1771, at the hands of the loyalists. Colonel William Candler, an early colonial pioneer of Georgia, was the maternal grand- father of Dr. Few. As stated above, the future founder of Emory College was at one time an infidel. It was by contact with pious Methodist itinerants, in his father's home that he was eventually converted, to become a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of faith.
Original Settlers. As given by White, the original set- tlers of Newton were : Rev. Charles HI. Saunders, Dr. Conyers, Dr. Bates, Cary Wood, Judge Sims, Moses Milton, Isaac P. Henderson, Daniel P. Kelly, Henry Talley, Rev. Mr. Colley, and George Cunningham.
To the foregoing list some few additions may be made. Elijah Ragsdale, a native of Virginia and a soldier of the Revolution, was an early comer into Newton. The list should also include : Stewart McCord and Thomas Ander- son, both soldiers of the War of 1812; Alfred Livingston, father of the noted Congressman; Silas H. Starr, for whom the town of Starrsville was named; John Thomp- son, Robert L. Hayes, James B. Zachary, William J. Wright, Leroy Willson, Richard Floyd, Joel Broadnax, and a number of others. Joseph Lane, whose daughter, Nancy, married Judge Walter T. Colquitt, was also one of the early settlers of Newton ; and Parmedus Reynolds, long an influential resident of the county, must be
1
836
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS
listed among the pioneers. Two distinguished citizens of Atlanta, Colonel Robert F. Maddox and Dr. James F. Alexander, married daughters of the latter.
On April 15, 1822, the first session of the Superior Court was held at Covington. The following pioneer citi- zens were sworn as Grand Jurors: Solomon Graves, L. Dunn, W. Whatley, C. A. Carter, R. Q. Lane, H. Jones, James Johnson, William Jackson, Thomas Jones, John Storks, S. D. Echols, William Fannin, F. H. Trammell, Junius Bloodworth, H. Lane, David Hodge, Robert Leake,, John Stephens, G. B. Turner, George Cunning- ham, John F. Piper, and James Hodge, Sr.
Oliver Porter, a soldier of the Revolution, is buried in Newton. His home for many years was in Greene. There were a number of patriots living in this county who were granted Federal pensions for Revolutionary services. Among them, Elijah Swann, a private, in 1839; Richmond Terrell, a corporal, in 1847 ; Thomas A. Walker a bugler, in 1847; John Mabry, a private, in 1847; and James Dick, a corporal, in 1848. Pressley Thornton, a corporal, who was granted a Federal pension as early as 1795, afterwards became a resident of Newton. Rich- mond Terrell was a survivor of King's Mountain.
Newton's Distin- Colonel Leonidas F. Livingston, for guished Residents. twenty years a member of Congress, was a life-long resident of Newton. When a member of the National House of Representa- tives he was one of the most effective members of the Georgia delegation. For this reason although he be-
837
NEWTON
longed to one of the rural counties of the district, he re- ceived in each of his campaigns the most cordial support of the Atlanta precinets, notwithstanding the fact that he was frequently opposed by local candidates. He was largely instrumental in securing for Atlanta the new million dollar post-office building and the great Federal prison. He was a strong supporter of Mr. Cleveland's Venezuelan policy, and by special invitation was after- wards an honored guest of the South American republic. His father, Alfred Livingston, reached the phenomena! age of ninety-eight years. The son bade fair to reach the same age, but his defeat for Congress, in 1910, doubtless hastened the end. His death occurred in Washington, D. C., at the age of eighty ; and he was buried at his home place near King's. Colonel Livingston came of vigorous Scotch-Irish stock; and like his father before him was for years an elder in the little Presbyterian church where he worshiped. On entering Congress, he was scarcely known outside of the Georgia delegation, but he became in time one of the best known and one of the most influen- tial members of the National House of Representatives. He was not an orator, but a man of sound business sagacity, a tireless worker, and a consumate master of the science of politics.
"Justice Lamar, after graduating from Emory College, located temporarily in the town of Covington for the practice of law. He also represented the county for one term in the State Legislature. In 1847, he married Vir- ginia, the daughter of Judge Longstreet, and when the latter became president of the University of Mississippi he decided to join his father-in-law, with the result that next to Jefferson Davis he became the most illustrious son of his adopted State. Brigadier-General Edward L. Thomas was for many years a planter in Newton. Two other brigade commanders of the Confederacy lived here : Robert J. Henderson and James P. Simms. Identified in
838
GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS.
an educational way with the famous school at Oxford have been some of the most distinguished men of the land, among them: Bishop Atticus G. Heygood, Bishop George F. Pierce, Bishop Warren A. Candler, Dr. Ignatius A. Few, Dr. Alexander A. Means, Dr. Isaac S. Hopkins, and a host of others. Oxford was also for many years the home of Bishop James O. Andrews, and here he lies buried.
OCONEE
Created by Legislative Act, February 25, 1875, from Clarke County. Named for the river which bounds it on the east, a term of Cherokee Indian origin. Watkinsville, the county-seat, named for Hon. Robert Watkins, of Augusta, Ga., a noted awyer and one of the compilers of the earliest Digest of Georgia Laws.
Original Settlers. See Clarke, from which county Oconee was formed; also Jackson, the parent county of both.
The following early pioneers may be added to the list: John Thrasher, a soldier of the Revolution; Isaac Thrasher, his son; John Calvin Johnson, a native of North Carolina; Philip Tigner, and Edmond Elder. John Thrasher came to Georgia soon after the close of the Revolutionary struggle, locating near the site of the present town of Watkinsville. He married Sarah Barton, and was the ancestor of Judge Barton E. Thrasher. David Elder, a patriot of '76, is buried on the old Elder plantation. On the list of Revolutionary veterans there is also a Mr. Bishop who is buried somewhere in Oconee. The town of Bishop is named for the family to which he belonged and his grave is doubtless in this neighborhood.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.