USA > Georgia > Fulton County > Atlanta > History of Atlanta, Georgia : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 21
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After the war he returned to La Grange, and for a short time thereafter engaged in mercantile pursuits in Augusta, Ga. But such a life soon proved uncongenial, and he then began the study of medicine under his father's direc- tion. He completed his medical course at the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, from which institution he graduated in 1869, in the same class with Dr. A. W. Calhoun and Dr. J. S. Todd, of Atlanta. He then began the practice of his profession at La Grange, where he remained until 1874, when after spending the winter of that year in hospital practice in New York City, he located in Atlanta, and in partnership with Dr. J. S. Todd, under the firm name of Ridley & Todd, began a general medical practice. He was associated with Dr. Todd for two years, but has since been alone.
During the earlier years of his residence in Atlanta Dr. Ridley engaged in a general practice, but in recent years he has devoted himself principally to obstetrics, in which branch of his profession he has achieved notable success. He has devoted his time and energies exclusively to his profession to the en- tire exclusion of conflicting interest. His advance has been steady from the first, and both as a physician and man he stands high in public repute. His practice has grown into an extensive and renumerative one, and he finds his time and hands fully occupied. Among his professional brethren he holds a place due to his talents and manly character, and illustrates in his life and expe- rience the fact that when native worth and natural ability are wedded to indus- try and devotion to one's life work the highest form of success is secured.
He is a friend of organized medicine, but his active professional duties have
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prevented prominent participation in the various medical societies which have existed in this section, but he is a member of the Georgia Medical Association.
Dr. Ridley was married November 23, 1875, to Miss Emmie Leila Hill, daughter of the late Senator Benjamin H. Hill. She was a refined, cultured and beautiful woman, and her death which occurred May 19, 1883, caused wide- spread sorrow. Five children were born to them, of whom three are now liv- ing-two sons and one daughter. Dr. Ridley again married in February, 1886, Mrs. J. F. Kiser, of Atlanta, and to them one child, a son, has been born.
Personally Dr. Ridley is affable and pleasant in manner, fond of social in- tercourse, and has a wide circle of close and intimate friends, to whom his steadfast attachment is warmly reciprocated. In the social life of Atlanta he is a prominent figure, and his home is the center of refined hospitality. He is domestic in his tastes and has no desire or inclination for official life. He is progressive in his ideas, and has ever been ready, according to his means and opportunity, to advance every public enterprise. No physician possesses more fully the confidence of his patients in his skill, while his natural kindliness of manner and genial ways have made him deservedly popular. His life has ever been above reproach, and in Atlanta his reputation as an honorable, upright citizen is no less high than for professional attainments.
DOWELL, DR. THOMAS SPENCER is of Welch descent, and is a native of Brunswick county, Va. His American ancestors settled early in King and Queen county, and to them were born ten sons, three of whom, after ar- riving at manhood, located in Brunswick county. From one of these sons the subject of this sketch has lineally descended. His father, Captain M. D. Powell, at the age of eighteen, while a student at college, married Miss Sarah Harwell, daughter of Major John Harwell, of Brunswick county, their union being blessed with only one child.
The collegiate education of Dr. Powell was begun at Oakland Academy, in his native county, under the able director, Professor John P. Adkinson, and completed with honor at Lawrenceville Male Institute, then in charge of the celebrated Professor Brown, of William and Mary College. Both at home and at school young Powell evinced those worthy traits of character which distin- guished his paternal ancestors, and which throughout his life have secured for him the esteem and love of all with whom he has been brought into contact. It is also true that in early childhood he manifested such a strong predispo- sition for the practice of the healing art, that his father wisely decided that medi- cine should be his profession. His education was therefore directed with special reference to this purpose, and when his collegiate course had ended his father placed him under the care of Dr. Benjamin 1. Ilicks, of Lawrenceville, Va., who had attained high rank in his profession. One of the most beneficent re- sults of his study under Dr. Hicks was a course of practical pharmacy in the 16
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manufacture and compounding of drugs, a branch of medicine in which most physicians of the present day have limited knowledge.
After two years of preparatory reading and training he attended two full courses of lectures at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with distinction in the spring of 1846. In September following he located in Sparta, Ga., and began the practice of his profession. Prompt in responding to professional calls; kind, charitable and courteous to all; emi- nently successful in the treatment of his patients, he soon commanded an ex- tensive and lucrative practice.
In 1847 he married Miss Julia L. Bass, daughter of the Rev. Larkin Bass, and granddaughter of Governor Raben, of Georgia, a highly educated and ac- complished lady, beloved by all who knew her for her charming character.
Dr. Powell is not only a successful physician, but an enterprising and pub- lic spirited citizen, quick to observe the wants of his section and resolute in enforcing such enterprises as tend to promote the general welfare. He is not only zealous in the advocacy of works of utility, but generous in the use of his own means for the good of the public. It was at his suggestion that a cotton factory was built at Sparta, and to his personal assistance the success of the enterprise is due.
He has always been a warm and resolute advocate of railroads, and several of the roads which have been built in Georgia, and are now blessings to the sections through which they pass, owe much to his advocacy and well directed efforts. As much of his influence was applied through the medium of anony- mous letters, published in newspapers, comparatively few were apprised of the work he performed.
In the early period of his practice Dr. Powell wrote and published a medi- cal work known as Pocket Formulary and Physicians' Manual, which was most favorably noticed by the journals of that day, and highly appreciated by mem- bers of his profession.
During the great financial crash of 1844, his father, until that time a very wealthy man, lost the principal portion of his estate. True to the noble instincts of his nature, Dr. Powell, as soon as his own financial condition would permit, se- cured one of the most desirable farms in the county of Hancock, and after supply- ing it with all needed stock and farming implements established his aged parent upon it. He also paid several thousand dollars of his father's indebtedness, and at his death turned the estate over to his stepmother and her children. His gen- erosity and kindness of heart were further illustrated by the fact that he edu- cated his four half-brothers, making two of them physicians and two of them merchants, all of them having rendered valuable service to the cause of the South, and two of them offering their lives as a sacrifice for their country, leaving only two surviving brothers the elder of whom is Capt. M. L. Powell, a prosperous and influential merchant and farmer in Hancock county. The
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other brother Dr. T. O. Powell, who is more extensively known and beloved than any Physician in the State, having faithfully and satisfactorily filled the position of Superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum for upwards of twenty years.
In 1857 he was invited to deliver the annual address to the graduating class of the Atlanta Medical College, his subject being: "The Moral Duties of the Physician." This address was most favorably received, and so impressed the faculty and trustees of the college that he was subsequently elected to an im- portant chair in that institution. This fact caused his location in Atlanta. While engaged in the able and faithful discharge of his duties as a member of the faculty of this college he found time for an extensive and profitable city practice, which has continued until the present.
The same public spirit that characterized him when a citizen of Sparta, has distinguished him in Atlanta. Scarcely had he arrived in his new home when he went to work for the common good. He organized a company for the pur- pose of controlling the Atlanta Mineral Spring, and soon secured a deed to that property in favor of the city; had its waters analyzed, and performed other acts deemed beneficial to the public.
Boundless in resources and quick to conceive projects tending to promote the growth and prosperity of Atlanta, he began to advocate with voice and pen many enterprises. He was one of the first to suggest and urge the building of a railroad from the Central Railroad via Eatonton to the Gate City, a charter for which he soon secured. He was also the first citizen who proposed the scheme of a canal for bringing the waters of the Chattahoochee River through Atlanta, an enterprise he still urges as feasible, and which he yet hopes to see accomplished.
Nothing seems to escape the keen observation of this public spirited citi- zen, and althoughi in the past he has by his advocacy of the varied interests of his home, comprising its hotels, churches, banks, schools, railroads and manu- factures, he is still actively engaged for the general welfare. His broad com- prehension has planned many enterprises for the good of Atlanta, which are not yet accomplished, but which he strongly believes will yet be realized.
One of his grandest conceptions, having in its scope a splendid charity, worthy of his head and heart, was the establishment of a home for invalid ladies. Conceiving this project in 1860 he soon elicited the support of many philan- throphic men and women, and went to work with all the earnestness of his na- ture to secure the money to buy the necesssary grounds and construct the re- quired buildings. This grand scheme was on the way to a successful termina- tion when it was defeated by the fortune of a civil war, which spared not even the edifices erected by the hands of charity.
Dr. Powell has earned a distinguished reputation as a lecturer, having in Atlanta and other places, on various subjects, delivered addresses of great lit-
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erary merit and power. Among other themes which he has treated with abil- ity and eloquence are the following: "Woman as Daughter, Wife and Mother," " Woman as Contrasted with Man Physically and Spiritually," "The Achieve- ments of Christianity," "The Charm and Power of Music," "The Ministry, or Power of Silence," "Southern Institutions," and " Parlor Literature." His lecture on " Music," delivered in Petersburg, Va., and repeated in Atlanta, has been characterized by competent critics as grandly beautiful and eloquent. Soon after the war he delivered a lecture on " Independent Thought," which elicited universal praise. His lecture on "The True Physician," was awarded a prize of seventy-five dollars by the State Medical Association, as a model of literary beauty and excellence. He generously declined to accept the prize.
The doctor is no less distinguished as a writer than lecturer, having con- tributed many valuable papers to the medical literature of the country, which have been published in pamphlet and book form, as well as in the journals of the medical profession. As the founder and senior editor of the Southern Med- ical Journal, he has accomplished much for the advancement of medical science and the good of mankind. For nearly twenty years this magazine has gone out to the practicing physicians of the United States freighted with reports of discoveries in the causes and treatment of human maladies.
Dr. Powell is a zealous member of the American Medical Association, and has served one term as president of the American Editors' Association. He has long been a member of the State Medical Association, at one time being first vice-president, and at another the nominee for president, which honor he magnanimously declined in favor of his friend, Dr. Dugas, of Augusta.
As a member of the Atlanta Board of Education, he has been most efficient, having from the earliest establishment of her public school system, supported it with all his influence. Twice has he been elected a member of this board when not a candidate. The education of the masses has always been with him a cherished scheme, and the children of Atlanta are greatly indebted to him for the excellent educational facilities they enjoy.
Dr. Powell having in 1866 severed his connection with the Atlanta Medi- cal College, was urged by many of his professional friends and other leading citizens to establish a new medical school in Atlanta. This he declined to do until 1879, when with some of his professional friends he decided to carry out the enterprise, and with him to embark in any undertaking is to complete it, for he yields to nothing save " the acts of God or the king's enemies."
In the presence 'of many obstacles a board of trustees was organized, com- prising prominent merchants, ministers, and statesmen, with Governor Ste- . phens at the head. A charter was secured, and the new school was named the Southern Medical College. The trustees elected Dr. Powell president of the institution, and selected a faculty of eminent physicians as teachers. A build- ing committee consisting of Dr. Powell and two other members of the board
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was appointed to purchase a suitable lot on which to erect a large and suitable college building. At this time there was not a dollar at the control of the committee, and the whole matter was placed under the management of Dr. Powell, to whose financial ability all interested looked with hope and expecta- tion. He inspired confidence in the enterprise, his friends rallied to his sup- port, and although the committee was appointed in June, to the astonishment of the community, the corner-stone of the present spacious college building was laid on July 3, 1879, following, by the Masonic brotherhood. On this occasion Dr. Powell delivered an address which was regarded as one of the best efforts of his life, and created in the hearts of the people lasting sympathy for the college, and laid the foundation of the generous patronage this institu- tion has since merited and enjoyed.
The first session of the Southern Medical College opened in October, 1879, with sixty-four students, probably a larger number than had ever attended the opening session of a medical college in this section. At the second session the matriculates numbered more than one hundred, and the building was then thor- oughly fitted up with a museum, plates, laboratory, dispensary, and a dissect- ing-room, having every modern appliance, and equal to the best in America.
The herculean task of building and establishing the Southern Medical Col- Iege having been performed with an excellence and promptitude which none but such a man as Dr. Powell could have done, he conceived the purpose of creating a hospital in connection with the new institution. In connection with his many lady friends in Atlanta, he promptly organized the " Ladies Hospi- tal Association," and through this society means were raised to purchase the site of the present Ivy Street Hospital. Subsequent efforts of the association have secured funds for aiding Dr. Powell in furnishing and otherwise improv- ing the hospital, which is now capable of accommodating one hundred and fifty patients. From the date of opening this hospital until the summer of 1888, it was not only a most important auxilliary to the Southern Medical College, but a means of great convenience and economy to the city of Atlanta by providing a home and medical treatment for her sick and indigent citizens. Ever since the hospital has been opened it has been under the supervision and control of Dr. Powell, whose superior ability as a financier has utilized the available funds of the institution to the best advantage, and enabled it to ac- complish a vast amount of good for afflicted humanity. During the present summer (1888) it ceased to be a public hospital, and hereafter will be con- ducted as a private institution in conjunction with the Southern Medical Col- lege, and is now under control of a board of physicians, of whom Dr. Powell is the president. It has now entered upon the career originally designed by its founder.
In December, 1882, Dr. Powell was united in marriage-the second time -to Mrs. Jennie Miller, of Virginia, a lineal descendent of a renowned Scotch
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family-Roxboro- from whom the town of Roxborough, Scotland, derived its name.
While the position of Dr. Powell at the beginning of the secession move- ment was indicative of great devotion to the Union, and while in earnest and able letters to the people through the most popular papers of the South, lie urged his strong opposition to the threatened secession of the Southern States, no one was more loyal to the Confederacy.
Dr. Powell is one of the most industrious men who has ever lived in Geor- gia. He is never idle with mind or body, but is constantly engaged, conceiv- ing and executing plans for the general welfare. His great labors have at- tracted the notice of friends who have urged him to take more rest, but he has pleasantly replied : "Never, never can I stop until the road to Baltimore by way of Lexington, Salem and Ashville and Atlanta is complete, opening up new fields of wealth and enterprise for our people, and making Baltimore the great commercial head of the Middle States, and putting the last essential spoke to Atlanta as the hub and commercial center of the Southern States. I must also see the Southern Medical College, with an annual class of three hundred students, bringing a yearly revenue of one hundred thousand dollars to Atlanta.
In reviewing the history of Dr. Powell, it is difficult to decide whether to admire most his characteristics of mind and heart or the splendid details of his life work. The nobility of his heart is discovered in his broad charities, his splendid patriotism, and his devotion to truth and morality. The powers of his mind are apparent in his writings, his addresses, and the institutions he has originated and established. He has never been known to falter by the way nor succumb to rival or opposing forces. In all things and under all circum- stances he has proven himself a true man, and has made a record of which any one should feel proud.
R ICE, HON. FRANK P., the subject of this sketch, was born in Claremont, N. H., on the 28th of October, 1838. His parents were natives of Ver- mont and were of English and Welsh extraction. They came to Georgia when their son, Frank P., was only nine years of age, and located in Atlanta, which was then in its infancy, with a population of not more than twelve or fifteen hundred.
His father impressed him with the necessity and the duty of industry, so that when a boy, lie began to grapple with the stern realities of life as a vendor of newspapers and such articles as were readily sold about the passenger depot and on the streets of Atlanta. Many of the old people who knew him in boyhood bear testimony to his industry. The quality of a business man, ex- emplified in his childhood, has proved a distinguishing characteristic of his subsequent life.
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When eighteen years of age he conceived the purpose of learning a trade, and soon, with the consent of his father, bound himself for three years and a half to Mr. William Kay, of Atlanta, to acquire a knowledge of the art of book- binding. The contract of apprenticeship was signed, in due form, placed prop- erly on record, and faithfully obeyed until the term of his service ended and he was acknowledged master of his trade. His faithful observance of every obligation as an apprentice was an illustration of his future life, in which he has been true to all his contracts, never having suffered a dollar to remain unpaid a day beyond the maturity of the debt.
The skill he had attained and his habits of industry and temperance soon secured him a good situation at fair wages. At this period Atlanta was mak- ing her first strides in the way of her " manifest destiny," and Mr. Rice saw op- portunities to accumulate money more rapidly by abandoning his trade. He therefore determined to hold it in reserve for possible emergencies, and en- gaged in the business of contractor for stone masonry, then greatly in demand in the growing young city. In this business he exercised a faultless judgment and realized fair profits on all the work he performed.
When scarcely arrived at manhood he contracted for the stone masonry re- quired on the line of the Savannah, Griffin and North Alabama Railroad, and carried out his contract with fidelity, and to the satisfaction of all concerned.
On the second day of May, 1861, he married a daughter of the Rev. I. G. Mitchell. He has one child, a son, Charlie F. Rice. Believing that Atlanta was destined to be a great city, he demonstrated that confidence by investing largely in Atlanta real estate.
The war of the States came and Mr. Rice went into the State service in the Thirteenth Regiment of State troops, and was elected lieutenant of Company B. At the end of his term of service he was engaged as special railroad agent.
As a consequence of war Atlanta was laid in ruins. Thousands returned to find the once fair city a literal mass of bricks and ashes. Among the number who set in to rebuild and advance Atlanta far beyond her former attainments, was Frank P. Rice. Full of confidence in her future he went bravely to work, and from that day to the present has labored to advance her in every interest. No citizen has accomplished more in this respect than Mr. Rice. It may be truly said that the life of Mr. Rice has been devoted to the material, intel- lectual and moral advancement of Atlanta.
Considering the contemplated Air Line Railroad an important auxiliary to the growth of Atlanta, he indicated his faith in its completion by the purchase of large bodies of land along its route, giving the right of way through his prop- erty to facilitate and hasten its construction. When the Air Line Railroad was finished he went into partnership with Mr. R. C. Mitchell, his brother-in- law, and under the firm name of Rice & Mitchell, continued for about eighteen years to prosecute the lumber business. This firm was dissolved about five years ago.
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The Georgia Western Railroad, designed to connect Atlanta with the coal fields of Alabama, had been chartered, and after years of delay and doubt as to its completion, became the property of a syndicate interested in its de- feat. Mr. Rice comprehended their plan, and determined, if possible, to check- mate it. To accomplish this, he drew, in connection with other gentlemen, a charter for a railroad passing from Atlanta to Alabama, in the same direction, and having corresponding privileges to those granted the Georgia Western Railroad. When the owners of the old charter saw that a railroad would be built under new charter they sold their franchise, and the Georgia Pacific was built, accomplishing for Atlanta the objects anticipated from the Georgia West- ern. Mr. Rice contributed to this result.
Mr. Rice has been elected four times as councilman of the city of Atlanta. He was first elected in December, 1870, and served during the year 1871. In December, 1872, he was again elected for the term of 1873. In December, 1873, he was chosen the third time, and served until December, 1874. In De- cember, 1886, he was elected a fourth time, and this time for the period of two years, which ended December 31, 1888. In each instance Mr. Rice prevailed over his opponent by a large majority, receiving the support of all parties and of the people without respect to color or condition, notwithstanding he had always been an avowed Democrat. Thus has Mr. Rice demonstrated the high esteem which he is held by the masses, an esteem which is the result of a just, honorable and charitable life.
Mr. Rice was one of the city fathers who planned and established the splen- did system of public schools, which has proved such a blessing to the rising generation of the city, and so important a factor in the increase of her popu- lation and wealth. No one has been more in sympathy with the policy of general education, or a more earnest advocate of the most liberal system that could be supported by the people. His vote has invariably been cast in favor of Atlanta's great system of schools, so adjusted as to distribute its adantages equitably to the children of the several wards. Therefore he has shown him- self both in public and private ffe, the unyielding friend of universal educa- tion, its blessings extending to all children regardless of color or condition.
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