USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > History of Savannah, Ga.; from its settlement to the close of the eighteenth century > Part 29
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Colonel John Screven was born in Savannah, September 18, 1827,
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and is the eldest son of Doctor James Proctor Screven and Hannah Georgia Bryan. His first American ancestor, the Rev. William Screven emigrated from England in 1640, settling at Kittery, Maine, but the re- ligious persecutions, which marred the history of that day, led him to come South, where he founded the first Baptist church in South Carolina. Colonel Screven is also a lineal descendant of Thomas Smith, one of the landgraves and governor of the province of South Carolina. Collaterally he is a descendant of General James Screven, for whom Screven county, in Georgia, is named.
On the mother's side, Colonel Screven is a lineal descendant of Jona- than Bryan, who figured conspicuously in the early settlement of Savan- nah and the Georgia colony, and being one of the fathers and principal founders of the colony, Bryan county was named in his honor and to perpetuate his memory. Although an associate justice of the general court of the province of Georgia, and a member of the Royal Governor's Council, Jonathan Bryan resigned those places of honor to range himself with the patriots, with whom he took an active and distinguished part. He was for a time acting governor of Georgia. When Savannah was surrendered to the British in 1778, Mr. Bryan was made a prisoner, and although in advanced age, long and cruel imprisonment was the penalty paid for his patriotic course.
The father of Colonel Screven was one of the most successful physi- cians of his day. He was a man of distinguished character and attain- ments, and had a firm hold upon the affections of the people. He held many positions of public trust and honor, in which his services were marked by fidelity and integrity, characteristics inherited by the sons. Doctor Screven was mayor of Savannah, was a State senator, and the founder and first president of the Atlantic & Gulf Railway. He died in July, 1859, in his 60th year. His wife survived him until March, ISS7, when she fell asleep in her Soth year. They were the parents of Colonel John Screven, Captain Thomas Forman Screven, George Proctor Screven, . and Mrs. Sarah Ada Henderson. George Proctor Screven, the youngest son, is deceased, but his wife and children survive him and reside in Savannah.
There are many events in the life of Colonel John Screven which are remarkable coincidents, taken in connection with a review of his father's
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life. In fact, the son seems to have followed closely in the honored path which his father trod, being like the father courteous and obliging and with his stern virtues and intellectual endowments, has filled nearly every position of honor and trust held by the father.
John Screven commenced his studies in Savannah. At Edgehill School, Princeton, N. J., he was taught, 1839-1841, by the Rev. John S. Hart, LL. D., an eminent teacher of literature and rhetoric, an author of several text-books in that department, and finally professor of rhetoric and English in Princeton College. The last school Colonel Screven at- tended was that of Antoine Bolmar, at Westchester, Pa. Bolmar had been a captain of cavalry in the army of Napoleon the First, and was a survivor of the famous Russian expedition. His school was a model of discipline and careful tuition, and he was himself the editor of a number of standard text-books for teaching the French language.
From Bolmar's school, Colonel Screven entered Franklin College, Athens, Ga., but leaving before he had completed his course, he finished his collegiate studies at home under private instruction. While at Frank- lin College he divided the first honor, gold medal, awarded for declan- ation, to Sophomore speakers. This was the first medal of the kind ever given in the college.
Colonel Screven then turned to the study of law, under the tuition of the late Judge William Law. After remaining with him about one year, he was sent to Europe, February, 1848, to extend his professional studies in a broader field. Under the advice of Hon. George Bancroft, then United States Minister at London, a personal friend of his father, he was sent to Heidelberg with letters to Schlosser and other eminent professors in the university, from whom he received much kindness. His health giving way before he could be fairly prepared by sufficient knowledge of the German language to become a matriculate in the university, he was compelled to return to Savannah. Here his law studies were resumed, and early the following year he was admitted to the bar by the late Judge William B. Fleming, but remained in the practice of the profession a few months only. Leaving the bar, he devoted himself, at his father's wish, to the management of the latter's large landed estate.
On the 3rd of July, 1849, he married Miss Mary White Footman, the youngest daughter of the late Dr. Richard Footman of Bryan county.
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To this marriage eight children were born, of whom three now survive : Georgia Bryan Screven, Mrs. Elizabeth Woodbridge Arnold, and Captain Thomas Screven. Mrs. Screven died on the 3rd of July, 1863.
In 1852 Colonel Screven was elected one of the Justices of the Inferior Court of Chatham county. This court had concurrent jurisdiction in civil matters only, with the superior courts of the State, and had also charge of the affairs of the county. He remained in this office until 1866, when the court was abolished, and its duties as to county affairs trans- ferred to commissioners. In 1857, upon the resignation of his father from the same office, he was promoted from the ranks and elected cap- tain of the Savannah Volunteer Guards, the oldest and one of the most distinguished infantry corps of the State. Retaining his command when the war broke out between the States, he was commissioned major of artillery in the Confederate States' army, and assigned to the command of the battalion to which his company was attached. This battalion was afterward designated as the Eighteenth Georgia Battalion. He served with it on the outer sea defences of Savannah, superintended the erection of fortifications, and was in charge of the obstructions to the water approaches of the Savannah River below Fort Oglethorpe.
He remained in strict military service until the close of December, 1862, when at the request of the board of directors of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Company, he was ordered back to his place as president of the company. He had been elected to this office, after the death of his father in 1859, and had been granted this prolonged leave of absence from railroad duty in consideration of his being under military obligation when the war began. While he was in actual service with his command, the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad had become a more important agent in the military affairs of the Confederacy. The increasing transportation of troops and supplies, and the internal affairs of the company itself, imper- atively demanded the presence and direction of the president of the con- pany. Believing that he could so best serve the Confederate cause, he returned to his railroad duties and there remained during the war. In 1864, however, he raised for local defence, from railroad and government employees within the city of Savannah, a battalion of five companies of which he was appointed lieutenant-colonel commanding, and for a time was intrusted with the charge of the inner line of defences of Savannah.
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Ordered by General Hardee, when Savannah was closely threatened by General Sherman, he moved south of the Altamaha with the trains and effects of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad. He returned to Savannah late in May or in June, 1865, and at once commenced the restoration of the railroad, which had been destroyed by the enemy from Savannah be- yond the Altamaha.
In 1859 he was elected from Chatham county a member of the House of Representatives in the State Legislature, and served during two ses- sions. It was this legislature which called the secession convention of 1861. His colleagues were General A. R. Lawton in the Senate, and the Hon. Julian Hartridge in the House.
Continuing in the presidency of the Atlantic & Gulf Railroad Com- pany, he retained that position until 1880, over twenty years, when this company was succeeded by the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway . Company.
In December, 1865, he married Mrs. Mary Eleanor Brown, second daughter of Dr. Hugh O'Keeffe Nesbitt, and a niece of the late Hon. John Macpherson Berrien. The two children of this marriage are Mrs. Lila Screven Atkinson, wife of Samuel Carter Atkinson, of Brunswick, Ga., and Martha Berrien Screven. Mrs. Screven died at Savannah June 30, 1883, in her 39th year.
In 1859 he was elected mayor of Savannah, and was thrice success- fully elected to that office.
In 1877 he was elected one of the delegates to the convention which formed the present constitution of Georgia. He took a prominent part in resisting that clause of the constitution which, he believed would ex- tend unnecessary and unjust powers to the legislature in limiting the vested rights and privileges of the railway corporations of the State.
In 1880 he was elected an associate arbitrator of the Southern Rail- way and Steamship Association, and still continues in that office.
Early after the war he was elected one of the board of trustees of the University of Georgia; and when under the act of 1889 the old board was dissolved, he was appointed for the long term, one of the new board from the first congressional district. In 1883 he was appointed one of the commissioners to erect the new capitol of the State, but declined the office. He has held various other offices ; among them he is now pres-
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dent of the University Club of Savannah, is one of the trustees of Chat- ham Academy, Fellow of the Geographical Society of New York, and first vice-president of the Georgia Historical Society.
No citizen of Savannah commands, to a greater degree, the respect and esteem of those who know him. He belongs to the type of an old- time hospitable southern gentleman. It may be said of him that while not a man of brilliancy or dash, he is a man of great intellectual capacity, with a mind well poised, and while some men might for the time attract a greater following, none would retain it so long as would the subject of this sketch, whose deeper reasoning, pleasantly modulated voice, and depth of sincerity would far outweigh the short-lived eloquence of an hour.
Colonel Screven is the last man who can be flattered by panegyrics. The latent mental force of the man is known to those who have watched his career and know how thoroughly equipped he is in dealing with questions upon which he is called upon to express his views.
Colonel Screven is a man of high literary attainments, and has one of the most valuable private libraries in Savannah. In the companionship of his books many hours of his leisure are spent. He has many warm personal friends. Some of these friendships began in the school-room and have deepened with the eventful years of Colonel Screven's life, that most crucial test of a man's character ; for such kindly ties are riveted only where the objects are deserving. In the community where Colonel Screven has lived for more than half a century, it may be truthfully said of him that he enjoys, to the fullest degree, the admiration of those who know him intimately and well, and the universal respect of all. His af- fable manners, the valuable services rendered his native state, his county, and his city, with courage, wisdom and prudence, and often when the gravity of the occasion was pronounced, the fidelity and integrity which has been characteristic of his public services, and his proverbial honesty and sincerity, all have combined to fix him firmly in the affections of his people as one of their honored landmarks and a man " sans peur et sans reproche."
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TOUNG, JOHN REMER, the subject of this sketch, was born in Thomas County, Ga., April 7, 1856, and is a son of the late Remer Young, who was one of the largest and most successful planters in Lowndes County, to which county he removed in 1859, where the earlier years in the life of John R. Young were spent. From estimable and cultured pa- rents the son inherited splendid traits of character. He was educated at Valdosta Institute, and at the University of Georgia. After completing his education he spent a few years on his father's plantation, and in the management of the plantation of J. W. Lathrop & Co., in Lowndes Coun- ty, after which, with an associate, he began the manufacture of naval stores, a business venture, which proved to be successful, but which he disposed of to accept a position with the large naval-stores house of Pea- cock, Hunt & Co., in 1888. After two years with this firm, Messrs Ellis and Holt, the junior partners, withdrew from the company, and formed a copartnership under the firm name of Ellis, Holt & Co., and offered Mr. Young an interest in the business, which he accepted. Subsequent to the death of Mr. Holt, Mr. C. B. Parker was admitted, and the firm became Ellis, Young & Co., under which it has built up, and now conducts one of the largest trades in turpentine and rosin in the world. That the present high standing and immense naval-stores trade of the firm of Ellis, Young & Co., is largely due to the energy and business foresight of Mr. Young, cannot be doubted; this young man of 34, who came to Savannah seven years ago an entire stranger, is to-day president of the Board of Trade, and so thoroughly identified with every enterprise of a public character, that no one is better known on 'change and throughout Geor- gia and Florida. In seven years Mr. Young has stamped the impress of his sterling business qualities and infectious zeal upon every project looking to the advancement and progress of not only his own city and State, but it has been extended to the peninsula State of Florida.
In addition to his share of the active management of the naval stores and general merchandise interest of the firm of Ellis, Young & Co., Mr. Young organized the Georgia Pine Investment Company, of which he is president. This corporation has a capital of $75,000, owns 100,000 acres of the best pine lands of the South, and an interest in five of the largest turpentine farms in the South. No man has a more abiding faith in the continued prosperity and future grandeur of this sea-port, whose every
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industrial, commercial and railroad interest he has aided to foster, and to the development of which he has brought to bear individual enthusiasm which has been infectious.
Mr. Young's success and ability as a business man, so widely attracted attention throughout the commercial channels of Savannah, that four years after he settled in Savannah he was elected vice-president of the Board of Trade, and was at the following election promoted to the presi- dency by the Board, and the next year was re-elected, and is now serv- ing his second term. Mr. Young's address in 1890, reviewing the trade of Savannah for 1889, was one of the ablest documents of its kind ever presented for the consideration of the Board, and showed that all the ram- ifications in the city's commerce had been thoroughly canvassed by him, and that he was familiar with every statistical detail of the most prosper- ous commercial year known to the city of Savannah. In that report he showed that Savannah had done a naval stores business for that year of nearly $6,000,000, an increase of $1,500,000 over the year previous, and that the grain, provision and grocery trade had increased 25 per cent., and this in the light of the fact that prices on nearly all the leading ar- ticles were lower than for several years before, showing that there was an increase in bulk considerable in advance of the percentage in value. His recommendations on the increase of industrial industries and increasing railroad facilities, not only commanded attention at home, but has at- tracted the attention of capitalists elsewhere.
Mr. Young is a director of the Metropolitan Loan Company of Savan- nah, a director of the Citizens' Bank, and is directly interested in many other enterprises which have been established in Savannah within the last five years.
UCKENHEIMER, SIMON, who stands at the head in the commer- cial ranks of the city of Savannah, was born April 6th, 1830, of Jew- ish parents at Burghaslach, a town in Bavaria, Germany, thirty miles south of the ancient city of Nuremberg, where in his childhood days he received a common school education which proved to be the foundation of a sub- sequent stirring and prosperous life. He eagerly seized every opportu- nity for self advancement and prosecuted his studies with a zeal and. fixedness of purpose which have characterized his commercial and financial
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operations in later years. His parents were people of moderate circum- stances, and at the age of thirteen years young Simon was withdrawn from school, and at fifteen was apprenticed by his father to a merchant weaver, where he learned his trade, and assisted in the store connected with the factory, where his ability soon attracted the attention of his employer, and it was here that the young weaver and clerk formed an attachment in his youth by losing his heart to the daughter of his employer, whom, in later years, he made his wife.
A few years satisfied young Guckenheimer that he was designed to be more than an apprentice boy, and after having served four years with Mr. Haas, was called home; his elder brother was taken sick, and he took his place in assisting his father, who farmed and also kept a small dry goods store, and two years later signified his intention of going to Amer- ica. Having obtained the consent of his parents he bade them and the object of his heart's affection farewell and embarked March 1, 1851, in the sailing vessel, Meta, at Bremenhaven, bound for America. He ar- rived in New York six weeks later unable to speak the English language, and a stranger in a strange country. His capital was fifty florins, or twenty dollars, out of which he invested $12 in notions, and started out as a peddler. Many young men would not have overcome the difficulty he experienced and the hardships of his occupation which his ignorance of the language and manners and customs of the people in a strange country occasioned, but the persevering young man had but one pur- pose, and that was to succeed, and to carve out a fortune from this small beginning, which he has so thoroughly done. He continued in this oc- cupation until August 5, when by his industry and frugality he had so far increased his capital as to enable him to pay his passage to Savannah, where he arrived August 8, 1851, with the capital increased from $20 to $40, and again he took up his country travels, having invested his cap- ital in another stock of goods, which he replenished from time to time, journeying from place to place, until the spring of 1852, when his carn- ings enabled him to purchase a horse and wagon, not only to facilitate his travels, but to enable him to carry a larger stock,, which his business re- quired-soon after a larger wagon, drawn by two horses, was necessary. His increasing trade demanded more frequent visits to larger markets, and in 1853, two years after his arrival South, his trade had so largely increased
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that it was necessary for him to visit New York to purchase his supplies. In 1855 Mr. Guckenheimer discontinued peddling and opened a general store in Centre Village, Charlton county, Ga., where for five years he con- ducted a most profitable business, his courteous dealings with the trad. ing public marked by a scrupulous integrity having been the foundation which made his business venture there so profitable.
While at Centre Village the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad and the Flor- ida Railway and Navigation Railroad were built, diverting the trade of the village to larger markets, and the keen business foresight of Mr. Guck- enhiemer led him to prepare to establish himself in one of the larger cities of the South. ' He sold out his store, and after settling up his business he turned his face toward the Fatherland, embarking on the steamer for Ger- many. During the nine years of absence many changes had taken place under the old roof tree ; his father had died, and the longing desire to see his widowed mother, and those near and dear to him, led Mr. Gucken- heimer to return home, but probably no magnet was so attracting as that of his young sweetheart, Miss Sarah Haas, who was but a child of thir- teen years when he left home, but who, during the nine years of absence, had grown into womanhood with her child love deepened into that firmer affection which led her to become his wife October 23, 1860. In No- vember of that year the happy bridal pair took passage for Savannah by steamer via New York, arriving December 11, 1860.
When Mr. Guckenheimer returned to Savannah he began the jobbing tobacco business, which was the foundation of the present enormous es- tablishment now conducted by himself and sons. This tobacco business was succeeded by the wholesale grocery store conducted under the firm name of Guckenheimer & Selig. In 1870 Mr. Selig, the junior partner died, but the business continued until 1872 under the same name in ac- cordance with the last request of Mr. Selig, Mr. Guckenheimer's part- ner, between whom there was more than an ordinary business relation- ship, the two partners being firm and fast friends. In 1872 Mr. Gucken - heimer conducted the business in his own name, subsequently S. Guck- enheimer & Co., and in 1882 he admitted his son Samuel into the busi- ness, the firm becoming S. Guckenheimer & Son, under which name the extensive business has been conducted up to May 1, 1890, when his sec- ond son, Abraham S., was admitted, the firm becoming S. Guckenheimer & Sons.
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The rapid development of the South bringing increasing business to the firm it necessitated more extensive quarters, and in 1888 Mr. Guck- enheimer erected one of the most imposing mercantile structures in the South, suitably and conveniently arranged for the business of his firm, and which might well be called a mercantile palace, which is not only an in- dex to the steady growth of Savannah, but is a monument to the name of Guckenheimer, Savannah's most princely merchant.
A recital of Mr. Guckenheimer's early experience of his lonely trips through the country would fill a volume ; his name is familiar in almost every household throughout the territory in which the large trade of his house extends; many of the older citizens remember him in his early days; his representations could be relied upon, and some of the largest and best customers of his present extensive business are those who bought goods from hin in a small way nearly forty years ago. These early pat- rons and their children, many of whom are now engaged in mercantile pursuits in the interior, never fail to call on Mr. Guckenheimer when they visit Savannah. His business integrity has been a household word with them for nearly half a century. Honest and straightforward dealings have been the characteristic traits of the man, and by reason of which he enjoys the confidence of the people.
Such a man necessarily fills a prominent position in a progressive city like Savannah, where constant demands are being made to advance public enterprises, none of which find a more liberal patron and advocate than Mr. Guckenheimer. He is pre-eminently a public-spirited citizen, and his connection with financial enterprises is a sufficient guarantee for pub- lic confidence. He occupies many prominent positions in various organ- izations, being a director in the Merchants' National Bank, in the Savan- nah and Western Railroad, and in many other such institutions. He is, and has been one of the Sinking Fund Commissioners of the city of Sa- vannah ever since that office was created. He is a prominent member of the Cotton Exchange and of the Board of Trade. He worships at the Temple Mickva Israel, has been its president for many years, and is now one of its trustees.
Mr. Guckenheimer's family consists of his wife, three son- and two daughters ; the children are Samuel S., Abraham S., Moses S., Mrs. Al- bert Gerst, of Danville, Va., and Mrs. L. Adler.
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While Mr. Guckenheimer still exercises a supervision of his large busi- ness, he does not so actively engage in it as in former years, as his sons, who have received under him a careful business training, relieve him of his exacting duties, and enable him to enjoy many of the pleasures which were denied him in his earlier days when he was applying himself to lay the foundation for what is now the most extensive grocery establishment in the State.
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