USA > Georgia > Fulton County > Atlanta > History of Atlanta, Georgia : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 19
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In July, 1866, after an eventful, though successful and prosperous cotton brokerage business, he removed to Atlanta, at a period when the city was just beginning to shake off the ashes of war. At this time he purchased a home on Washington street, rented a store on the corner of Whitehall and Hunter streets, and organized the dry goods and shoe house of Chamberlin, Cole &
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Boynton, the last named niember of the firm being a brother of Mr. Chamber- Iin's former partner, who was killed in the war. Business was commenced on a comparatively small scale in a store twenty-five by one hundred feet in dimen- sions. A steady increase in the volume of business was made from year to year, and in a few years the firm purchased the store then occupied, as well as the adjoining one, and added carpets to the line of goods dealt in. At the end of two years Mr. Cole retired, and for two years the firm name was Chamber- lin & Boynton. In 1870 Mr. H. S. Johnson became a partner under the firm style of Chamberlin, Boynton & Co.
In 1878, so rapid had been the growth of the business of the firm, that ad- ditional room was made necessary to meet the demands of their trade. The building in the rear of their site was then purchased, and the store enlarged to more than double its former size, making 13,000 square feet to the floor. Dur- ing this period, as in years since, Mr. Chamberlin was the moving factor in the prosperity of the firm. Under his assiduous and well directed labors success came, because merited and deserved. With increased facilities the business continued to prosper and grow until more room was necessary, and in 1883 the two first stories, fifty by one hundred feet. were torn down, and in their place was completed in 1885, one of the most modern and best- equipped five-story business blocks in the South. In architecture it is most pleasing in effect ; an ornament to the city, and a fitting monument to a progressive, public spirited firm. In 1885 Mr. Boynton retired on account of ill health, and Mr. E. R. Du Bose became a partner under the present firm name of Chamberlin, Johnson & Co.
In a business career of nearly forty years, not one failure has marked the course of Mr Chamberlin. From the day he left the home of his birth and childhood, poor and friendless, and began the battle of life for himself, contin- ued success has followed every undertaking. No duty or trust that business ever laid upon him was ever slighted or neglected. He has been punctual and prompt in meeting every obligation, while confidence in his integrity has ever been beyond question or doubt. He has touched the material welfare of Atlanta, at many points, and wherever his energies have been directed lie has been a potent factor for good. In all public enterprises he believed to be for the advancement of Atlanta and its people, Mr. Chamberlin has always been a leader. Whatever he undertakes is prosecuted with that same energy and de- termination which have marked his business career and won for him distin- guished success. He served for two years in the general council, in 1876 and 1877. During that time he was chairman of the committee on sewers, and in that capacity inaugurated the present admirable system of city sewerage. He was a director and promoter of the first cotton factory established in Atlanta. He was also a director and one of the most useful and enthusiastic supporters of the Atlanta Cotton Exhibition. It was mainly due to his efforts that the
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character of the exhibition was enlarged to embrace a general exhibit of the agricultural, mineral, cereal and mechanical industries of the South. The beneficent effect of this great undertaking upon the South in general, and particularly upon the city of Atlanta, was marked, and such as to cause all connected with the enterprise to feel especially gratified. He was also a di- rector in the Piedmont exhibition of 1887, and is still an executive officer of the association.
When the present Chamber of Commerce was re-organized in 1883, he became one of its most active members, and has ever since been one of its di- rectors. The site of the present Chamber of Commerce building was secured mainly through his personal and timely work, and in the erection of the present building he was chairman of the committee having charge of its location. The ground where stands the custom-house was purchased by Mr. Chamberlin's firm as a site for a store, but when the interest of the city seemed to require it as the most eligible location for a government building, the firm waived all private interest and sold it to the city corporation.
Mr. Chamberlin is religious, as the result of the clearest and most deliberate of convictions, and since his residence in Atlanta has held consistent and active membership in Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, where, for more than twenty years, he has been steward. He takes a warm interest in all agencies which tend to elevate the standard of morality, and make men lead purer and better lives. Ever since the organization of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, he has been a member and one of its most earnest supporters. He is a man of generous impulses, his pity is easily excited, and rarely appealed to without response. Many of his deeds of charity are unknown, even to his in- timate friends, because they are unostentatious. " Several nights," said a close business associate, to the writer, " in the coldest season of the year, have I spent with him, going from cottage to hovel, carrying a load of blankets and food for the poor and hungry." While the deserving poor are never turned away empty-handed, he is a firm believer in that well-directed charity that aids the needy to self help, the saviour of self respect, and often has he ex- tended a helping hand to young men whom he has found bravely struggling against poverty and adverse fortune. Always aggressive, and at times impetu- ous, he is ever thoughtful of the comfort of those in his employ. Thorough, methodical and punctilious in business, he demands the same kind of service from his employee; but while he is strict and exacting, no one under him, who does his duty, fails to understand that he takes a genuine interest in his wel- fare. No employee was ever sick that did not find that this strong, positive man of business had the tenderness of a woman, and the noble impulses of generosity. Ever since he has been in business for himself it has been an un- broken rule that all who entered his employ should be cared for when sick, and in case of death, should be decently buried. It is not strange that with
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the knowledge of such a kindly interest in their welfare that his employees should feel a genuine interest in his success and cheerfully contribute their full share to the accomplishment of work, which would be impossible were his lieu- tenants less en rapport with their chief.
Mr. Chamberlin is of a sanguine temperament, but aggressive and full of energy, and mentally works harder than any one connected with his firm. He has always lavished his energy upon the work of his life, but he has always kept his heart in his body, and the natural kindliness of his disposition remains unimpaired. He possesses none of the petty irascibility and impatience often exhibited by smaller men, whose time is of infinitely less value. Every comer is certain of a respectful hearing, and, if need be, he will receive a respectful refusal of his request. The hard features of commercial life are left behind when he emerges from business, and all that makes a man welcome wherever he goes, takes their place. His home life has been singularly a happy onc. He was married in 1857 to Miss Levisa, daughter of the late Dr. Seymour Catchings, of Lumpkin. They have had five children, only two of whom are now living : one a son, named after his father, at present attending Emery College, at Oxford, Ga., and the other, a daughter, Eva G., attending the Sunny South Seminary, in this city. Mr. Chamberlin is domestic in his tastes, and finds his chief relaxation from business cares at home, surrounded by his family.
In this sketch of Mr. Chamberlin we have aimed to portray him as he is judged by those who know him best. In the brief space allotted to the task, we have tried to describe the prominent characteristics of this public-spirited citizen, successful merchant, generous-hearted Christian gentleman, whom, to many, is only known as the active, ever-on-the-move, always ready, and ap- parently never tired business man. In the prosperity of Atlanta he has been an invaluable factor. His talents were never hoarded in a napkin, or put out at usury, but have flowed in unceasing streams through the pockets of his fel- lows, leaving golden grains behind. We might say much more in deserved praise, but could not say less and do justice to one whose steadfastness of pur- pose, integrity in business, fidelity to promise, and sagacity in all enterprise, make his name a synonym for all that leads to success in business and good works.
A TORCROSS, JONATHAN. The chief moving force in the development of a city must be its men of courage, energy and brains, and among this class of men who from the infant days of the city of Atlanta to its present stal- wart proportions, have contributed their full share toward the city's prosper- ity, none are entitled to more of credit than Jonathan Norcross. In any sum- mary of the mental and moral forces which have made the city what it is, and have aided to give it not only a name for business enterprise, but business in-
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tegrity, his labors have formed no mean part. Coming to Atlanta when it had less than a hundred inhabitants, his great earnestness and tireless energy soon made him a marked figure in the busy life around him, and in many helpful ways his fortune became inseparably linked with the city's growth and pros- perity.
He is the second son of Rev. Jesse Norcross, of Charlestown, Me., and was born April 18, 1808, in the town of Orono, Me. He received a good common school education in his native State, and before attaining his majority served at the trade of a millwright and machinist. He left home when quite a youth, and first located on the island of Cuba, where he was engaged in putting up mills and machinery on a sugar plantation. He afterwards spent two years in Philadelphia studying the arts and sciences, mainly at the Franklin Institute. While there he wrote an essay on Mercantile Integrity, which was highly com- mended by the Philadelphia press. From there he came South, landing in North Carolina in 1833. Here he engaged in teaching, and numbered among his pupils several who afterwards became prominent in that State, while the Garrets who became famous merchants in New York City were also his pupils. He removed to Georgia in 1835 and first located in Augusta, and from that time has been a citizen of this State. While in Augusta, still teaching, he was employed by some Northern capitalists to take charge of some large lumber interests in the southern part of the State.
Mr. Norcross was one of the first to see the advantages of the site of Geor- gia's present capital, and here took up his residence in 1844, when the primi- tive forest covered nearly all the space where the city now stands. He em- barked in trade, and soon became the largest and leading merchant in the city. At the same time he took an active part in all public enterprises, and was be- hind none up to the commencement of the civil war in the bestowment of his labors and liberality of his purse. The marked success of his business ventures soon demonstrated his excellent business ability, while his honesty and integ- rity of character commanded confidence and respect. That he should have become a prominent factor and a trusted leader in the young city, was but a natural sequence. In 1850 he was elected mayor of the city. At this time · Atlanta contained four or five thousand inhabitants, and among them was a large number of lawless characters who had become a terror to the law abiding citizens. Mr. Norcross was elected by the better element of the city, who re- cognized in him the moral and physical bravery required to maintain law and order. His election was rightfully construed as a menace to the freedom of evil doers, and on taking his seat as mayor, a mob composed of gamblers and roughs was organized, which demanded of him his resignation. But they mis- took the fearless independence and courage of the man. Not only did he re- fuse to surrender his position, but with the assistance of the order-loving citi- zens had several of the ringleaders arrested and imprisoned. His unhesitat-
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ing courageous course put a speedy check to all further lawlessness, and had a lasting effect upon the evil doers and the character of the city.
In 1851 Mr. Norcross was largely instrumental in procuring the charter of the Atlanta Bank, the first ever organized in the city, and which had a prosper- ous and creditable career. With wisdom beyond many of his day, he early fore- saw the great changes the railroads were destined to make in the commercial history of the country, and how important the part they were to play in the future of Atlanta. When he settled in the city Atlanta had practically no rail- road connection, and from that time to the present no one more persistently and ably has advocated their construction. At times he has stood almost alone, but has had the satisfaction of seeing his predictions in regard to the benefits Atlanta would reap from railway connections verified by the outcome of events. He was largely instrumental in securing the charter for the Air Line Railway in 1857, and by his pen and active labors gave the first impetus to that great enterprise. He was the president of the company for two years, and by the information spread broadcast by his pen and speeches, showed not only the possibility but the practicability of the work which led to its comple- tion. Indeed such was his activity, liberality and enterprise in all projects to advance the prosperity of Atlanta from 1845 to the outbreak of the civil war, that he has often been called the father of the city.
Mr. Norcross was originally a strong Whig in political faith, and always a firm and uncompromising Union man, and did all he could to prevent the ca- tastrophe of the civil war. In public speeches and in numerous published arti- cles he warned his friends that when war was commenced it would close with the destruction of slavery. He saw the hopelessness of the impending strug- gle, and constantly repeated the Greek adage, " Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad." He remained in Atlanta during the first two years of the war, after which he ran through the blockade, went North and remained until the struggle he so much deplored and vainly strove to avert had ended as he had predicted.
While Mr. Norcross has taken a warm interest and an active part in the discussion of political and moral questions, he has never been a seeker of place or power. In 1875 he wrote and published an essay on the dangerous doc- trine of State sovereignty, which was extensively circulated and aroused much discussion. When the Republican State Convention was held in Macon in 1876 he was unanimously nominated for governor. He also wrote the plat- form of principles adopted by this convention, which created a sensation by the boldness of its declarations, and evoked sharp criticism from the opposition. Mr. Norcross made an active canvass of the State during his candidacy for governor, and in a fearless manner discussed the political question at issue, although aware in the then existing state of affairs there was no possibility of his election.
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Since the war he has hardly been less active in promoting all public enter- prises connected with this city and State, than marked his course in the early days of the city, and few projects could be named of a public character which have not felt the aggressive force of this energetic man. He has always been a great friend and advocate of public schools, and in the winter of 1874-75 de- livered and published an excellent speech upon this subject which was widely circulated and read throughout the State. He has been a deep student of po- litical affairs and has well defined views upon all questions of a political nature which have agitated the country since its formation. In 1884 he published a volume of over two hundred pages entitled The History of Democracy Consid- ered as a Party Name and as a Political Organisation. This work shows much study of the history of political parties and of governments, and was highly commended by some of the leading journals of the country. The Atlanta Sunny South said of this book and its author: "One of the cleverest thinkers and best informed politicians of the day is the Hon. Jonathan Norcross, of this city. He has a clear and analytical brain, which serves him admirably in dis- secting abstruse questions in science and political economy, and he never fails to throw a flood of light upon any subject which he proposes to discuss. We have a handsomely bound volume before us from the large publishing house of G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, entitled The History of Democracy, by Jonathan Norcross, and its pages teem with valuable information for the states- man and the political student. He traces in a terse and graphic style the his- tory of Democracy from the old Grecian days down to the present. and seeks to show that modern Democracy in its practices and avowed purposes is very different from the original and proper meaning of the term. He sketches briefly, but forcibly, the records of all organizations which have adopted it as a party name, and backs his propositions with a formidable array of facts and figures."
The most prominent of the recent public services rendered by Mr. Norcross was the part he took in advocating the passage of the laws creating the Inter- State railroad commission. He was among the first who had the courage to publicly arraign the railroad companies which were making unjust discrimina- tion in freight charges against Atlanta. Here, as in all that ever concerned the best interests of the city, he was a bold champion of its rights. At his own expense he published and distributed thousands of pamphlets attacking in a masterful and fearless manner the railway combination which sought to impose upon the city unjust commercial conditions. It is not too much to say that by his pen and voice no man did more to create in the minds of the people of Georgia the sentiment which here and elsewhere culminated in the demand for the present Inter-State Railroad Commission, which has proved an invaluable agency in protecting the rights of the people against the selfish aims of railroad managers.
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HISTORY OF ATLANTA.
So much for a bare and inadequate outline of the career of this still well- preserved, robust veteran of four score years. His has been a busy, active life, crowded with events and crowned with success-a life such as commands the respect of all men who admire manly independence, honesty and sincerity of purpose, unselfish devotion to the public good, and a public and private career above reproach.
A few years ago there appeared in the Constitution an extended account of Mr. Norcross's early experience in Atlanta. We make the following extract from this article as it gives a striking pen picture of the prominent character- istics and personalities of the man, and vividly shows the relation he bears to the past and present history of the city: "Probably nine men out of ten in At- lanta know Mr. Jonathan Norcross. By this I mean to say that his tall, bent figure surmounted with a beaver hat, his strong, grizzled face with its forceful lines, and its searching, direct look, his strenuous voice easily lifted in debate, and pat as an echo in replication-that nearly all these are familiar to nearly every man in this great city. But there are a few who have any idea of Mr. Norcross's history ; few who know how intimately his life has been woven in with that of Atlanta; how for long years before many of us were born he de- fended the rights of a hamlet; how with a faith that never wavered, he pro- claimed the future greatness of the Gate City, when he stood in the heart of a wilderness, and the townfolks of Marietta and Decatur laughed him to scorn. He is one of the strongest links between the past and present of this city. On three occasions at least, he has in my opinion determined the future of Atlanta, and each time his decisive influence has been cast for her good. A hard fighter in everything, a man of direct methods and perfect integrity, those who con- demn him as a fanatic in politics, should remember that he has always been a fanatic in Atlanta's behalf, when its friends were few and timorous, and has maintained his opinions fearlessly, honestly and sincerely. No one can study the early history of this town without feeling his breast warm to this gray old veteran, who halting midway between two flourishing towns foresaw a city in the heart of a wilderness, and planting his feet there, with admirable courage and obstinacy bent down against and turned away persuasions. It is a trib- ute to the man's character to say that if the wilderness were yet a wilderness, he would still be found there-so firm was his belief in the locality when he first came upon it."
Mr. Norcross was married in April, 1845, to widow Montgomery, nce Miss Harriet N. Bogle, of Blount county, Tenn., who died in August, 1876. The issue of this marriage was one son, the Rev. Virgil C. Norcross, a Baptist cler- gyman of Atlanta. Mr. Norcross's present wife was Miss Mary Ann Hill, whom he married September 4, 1877.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
0 RME, DR. FRANCIS HODGSON, was born in Dauphin, Pa., January 6, 1834. He came of English stock, his paternal great-great-grandfather, John Orme, M.V.D., having emigrated from England and settled in Mont- gomery county, Md., in 1720, and his maternal great-grandfather, Dr. Joseph Priestly, the discoverer of oxygen, having likewise emigrated to Northumber- land, Pa., during the latter part of the last century. His great-grandfather, Archibald Orme, was a colonel in the Revolutionary War.
His father, Archibald Orme, having died when he was six years of age, his mother moved with her family to Milledgeville, Ga., where he was under the care of his uncle, R. M. Orme, well known as the editor of the Southern Re- corder. Having received preparatory education through- different academical institutions and at the hands of private tutors, he went to Savannah in 1850 and entered the office of Dr. James B. Gilbert, the pioneer in Georgia of homeo- pathic practice, as a student of medicine. After a four years' course of as- siduous study, embracing courses of lectures in the medical department of the University of New York, he received his diploma as doctor of medicine from that institution in 1854. Returning to Savannah he at once formed a partner- ship with Dr. W. H. Banks, his preceptor's successor-a physician in large practice.
Dr. Orme's first year was one of severe trial, being the year in which the most violent epidemic of yellow fever ever known to the city occurred. Eight physicians and two medical students, engaged in assisting their preceptors, lost their lives during the season from the fever. This was a fearful mortality among physicians in a city of about twenty thousand souls-nearly one-half absent. But two physicians escaped the fever ; both men of advanced years. Dr. Orme had a severe attack, but recovered so as to be at his work again in ten days. He also had it again during the epidemic of 1858.
During two weeks of the worst of the plague he was the only one of five homeopathic physicians in the city who was able to attend to patients, the re- maining four having sickened and left the city to recuperate. This was an ordeal which most thoroughly tried his quality as a man as well as his skill as a physician. The responsibility of his position was fearful for one of his years. His successful application of homeopathic remedies (for homeopathy made a good record in its grapple with the disease), and his faithful adherence to his professional duties fully established his practice, so that he had not the usual protracted novitiate period to pass.
From considerations of health and family he moved to Atlanta in 1861, at which point he has continued in his profession, to which he is strongly attached, and has done as much for the spread of homeopathy as any physician in the South. Although a graduate in old-school medicine, he early became con- vinced that he could be a better physician as a homeopathist, a conviction that has strengthened with years. While he is aligned with this school of practice,
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