USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > History of Savannah, Ga.; from its settlement to the close of the eighteenth century > Part 30
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P URSE, DANIEL G. Captain Daniel G. Purse, capitalist, was born in Savannah, November 14, 1839, his father, Hon. Thomas Purse, being a prominent citizen, mayor of the city, a member of the Georgia Senate, one of the original projectors of the Central Railroad, and hold- ing various positions of public and private trust, and the son has inher- ited many of the characteristic traits of the father.
Captain Purse received his education in Savannah. His collegiate studies were prosecuted at Emory College, Georgia, and he took a bus- iness course at a commercial college in Pittsburgh, Pa. After completing his studies, he became a teacher, and later took up the study of law, which he thereafter abandoned to enter commercial life. The outbreak of the war in 1861 terminated his commercial pursuits, and he enlisted with the second company of the Oglethorpe Light Infantry ; was trans- ferred to the War Department, and at the close of the war was con- nected with the engineering department of the Confederate States, with the rank of captain. After the war, and in July, 1865, he renewed the commercial life which had been interrupted by the war, and established a commission business under the firm name of Cunningham & Purse. His next business venture was as senior partner of the firm of Purse & Thomas, in the fertilizer and coal trade, a business connection which lasted for twelve years, when the firm was dissolved, Captain Purse contin- uing the fertilizer branch of the business on his own account until 1885, since which time Captain Purse has been interested in various financial enterprises, chiefly that of the development of Tybee Island as a pleas- ure resort, and after the successful development of which he conceived the idea and carried to a practical finish the construction of a railroad from Savannah to Tybee.
Captain Purse is a man of versatile genius, and his restless, tireless
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brain is never idle. Many of the enterprises which he has brought to a successful termination were, at the inception, ridiculed by men whose conservative views always did much to chill what were considered doubt- ful enterprises and vagaries of a restless mind. Among some of these may be mentioned the development of artesian water in Savannah, as the result of which pure artesian water, for domestic purposes, has taken the place of the muddy and contaminated waters of the river, and the in- troduction of which has tended largely to the increasing healthful sanita- tion of the city, and to bringing its mortality list to the minimum, and to such a remarkable degree, that it has arrested the attention of sani- tarians throughout the South, and has resulted in the adoption of the ar- tesian well system in all the principal cities and towns of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, a far-reaching benefit which can only be appreci- ated by those who live in a semi-tropical country, where pure water is the great desideratum. When Captain Purse first originated the idea of bringing the supply of pure artesian water from a deep under-lying strata of water-bearing formation, he was not only subjected to the good- natured levity of those residing in his immediate community, but the Charleston News and Courier, and other papers outside of the State, ar- gued in a lofty way to convince Captain Purse of the utter futility of what they termed "a chimerical vagary." Charleston, situated at a dis- tance of but a little over one hundred miles from Savannah, had attempted to develop its subterraneous artesian water supply but unsuccessfully, and this fact added great weight to the criticism of the Charleston paper, and would have tended to discourage almost any other man but Captain Purse in his explorations, and when he had obtained a flow of pure ar- tesian water in the southwestern portion of Savannah, at a depth of less than six hundred feet, the fact was discredited by the Charleston critics. To-day a population of sixty thousand people in Savannah are supplied with pure artesian water from more than twenty wells, affording a flow of seven million gallons; and the city council, in the spring of 1800, be- gan to lay the foundation for a more extended water plant, which will more than double the supply of the city furnishing it with twenty mil- lion gallons of pure artesian water daily, and the doubting Charleston is now being supplied with artesian water, and is, at the time this sketch is written, sinking other artesian wells to increase its water supply.
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Following his successful water developments in Savannah, Captain Purse next turned his attention to the water supply of the sea-coast islands contiguous, and at a depth of two hundred and forty feet on Ty- bee Island, within six hundred feet of the mighty waves and roaring thunder of the ocean, he struck a vein of pure artesian water, which flowed fifteen feet above the surface of the ground, and since that time a system of water-works has been established on the island, and on all the sea coast islands of South Carolina and Georgia, the sluggish, brackish, and unhealthful surface water has given way to the artesian water sup- ply. Not only did this development of artesian water by Captain Purse have its sanitary influences, but it also had an influence upon the agri- cultural and industrial enterprises of this section, as all the ice manufact- ories have since sunk their own wells and manufactured ice of pure ar- tesian water. Truck farmers have sunk artesian wells, irrigating their crops with the waters which appear to be as healthful to plant life as they have been eminently so to animal life. If Captain Purse had done noth- ing else in 'a stirring and eventful life, his developments in this direction entitle him to be placed high on the list of public benefactors.
In the narrow confines of a sketch of this character one cannot deal so fully with the man as he deserves, but this can be said here in brief- that few of the enterprises he has undertaken have ever been begun without the opposition of those who do not enjoy the keen foresight of Captain Purse, but there are those characteristics of the man, that as op- position becomes more intense, the zeal of Captain Purse increases in proportion, and as a result of this, no enterprise which he has begun has, in any instance failed His project of building a railroad from Savannah to Tybee was ridiculed even more generally than his project to supply the city with artesian water, and for this reason long sweeps of marsh over which the Atlantic tides rise seemed to present obstacles, and it was predicted that even if the roadbed could be constructed from Savannah to Tybee, if the first locomotive did not sink from sight in the marsh the spring tides and storms on the Atlantic would wash away its roadbed ; but, nothing discouraged, Captain Purse organized his company for the construction of the road, and on the 9th day of August, 1886, he and a few friends of the enterprise assembled on his Deptford Plantation, near Savannah, and a divine blessing having been invoked by Rabbi I. P.
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Mendes, of the Congregation Mickva Israel, Master Thomas Purse, son of the Captain, stepped forward with a miniature silver spade and lifted the first dirt of what is now the Savannah and Atlantic Railway, that safely carries thousands to Tybee Island. A half century before the grandfather of Master Thomas Purse performed the same service for the Great Central Railroad of Georgia. The steel rails and solid roadbed are not to be excelled by any other road in the South, and the road has withstood the tempest as its projector said it would four years ago. Captain Purse is the president of the road, a position he has held ever since the road was constructed.
As one of the two owners of the Barnard & Anderson Railroad which has felt the impetus of his farsightedness in the development of Battery Park and the Liberty street branch, Captain Purse was largely instrumental in the consolidation of the Barnard & Anderson street rail- way with the Savannah, Skidaway & Seabrook railroad under the name City & Suburban, and was until 1885 one of the four owners of this cor- poration.
To no man is more credit due than to Captain Purse for the intro- duction of electric lighting in Savannah and it was through his efforts that Savannah was the first city of any size in the world to entirely dis- card gas for electricity in street lighting. The organization of the Brush Electric and Power Co., one of the strongest corporations of the city, was the result largely of his perseverance and energy, and of which com- pany he has been vice- president. There is no enterprise for the advance- ment and progress of Savannah with which Captain Purse is not prom- inently identified. He is vice-president of the Board of Trade, president of the Merchants' and Mechanics' Loan Association, a member of the Cot- ton Exchange, a director in the Tybee Beach Company, and chairman of its managing committee, a director in the Southern Mutual Insurance Company, of Athens, Georgia, fellow of the American Geographical Society, and an extensive rice planter, and manager of landed estates for foreign owners at Augusta and other points in Georgia and Florida.
To Captain Purse the city is indebted for the successful funding of its seven per cent. city bonds in 1877. These bonds at that time were rated at forty cents on the dollar, but were funded by Captain Purse for five per cent. bonds, which are now rated on the market at 105 and
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106. There was serious objections on the part of the original bond-hold- ers to any funding of the debt, and when the plan was suggested by Captain Purse, then chairman of the Finance Committee of the City Council, his utter failure was predicted ; but with that energy which has always char- acterized his eventful enterprises, he visited Augusta, Charleston, Balti- more, and other cities where the bonds were held, and addressing meet- ings of the bond-holders, succeeded in getting their unanimous consent that the bonds should be funded. In this connection, it may be re- marked that when Captain Purse visited Baltimore on that errand, he was met at the door of a leading banking institution in thatcity where the bonds were held, and told that there was no use to attempt to effect any such arrangement with the Baltimore bond-holders. His reply was that all he wanted was a respectful hearing. They could give him no less, and after addressing the bond-holders they were so thoroughly impressed with the facts as presented by him that when he left the bank building he took with him the written consent of all the bond-holders of Balti- more for the refunding of the old seven, in new five per cent. bonds.
To Captain Purse the county is also largely indebted for the law es- tablishing the board of county commissioners of Chatham County, which was enacted in 1873. There was great apprehension at that time that unscrupulous elements might control the county's affairs, and voting pre- cincts be scattered broadcast, and in localities where unscrupulous men could easily control the large colored element in the country settlements, and, as a result, the county's finances would be mismanaged and the pro- gress and prosperity of the city, which is the greater part of Chatham County, would be retarded. In the face of a vigorous opposition, Cap- tain Purse, foreman of the grand jury, recommended the passage of the bill, and interested himself in the enactment of the law the wisdom of which has been so abundantly established by the wise and competent management of the county's affairs by the board of county commissioners appointed by the governor under the law which had its origin with Cap- tain Purse in the grand jury room.
Captain Purse was united in marriage to Miss Laura Ashby, of Fau- quier County, Virginia, who is a near relative of General Turner Ashby, a famous Confederate cavalry officer, and the fruit of this union is five sons. Their home is one of elegance and refinement, situated on one of
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the most beautiful avenues in the city, and under the shadows of that magnificent pile of architecture-the De Soto Hotel, to secure the site of which Captain Purse took a leading part.
Captain Purse, in addition to his many enterprises of an agricultural, commercial, financial, railway, and industrial character, is so methodical in the conduct of his business as to find much time in his library, which is composed of one of the most valuable collections of books in Savannah. He is a patron and member of the Georgia Historical Society. He is a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, and has been its treasurer, and a vestryman for over twenty years. He was one of the moving spirits in the collection of a fund for the building of St. John's Chapel, and chairman of the building committee which executed the work.
Captain Purse ranks high in the Masonic order. He has taken every degree up to and including the Scottish Rites thirty-second degree. He has been a mason for thirty years, and has for the past nine years been chairman of the committee on property of Solomon's Lodge No. 1, F. & A. M., and a recent report written by him upon the lodge's affairs has greatly added to his reputation as a writer upon financial subjects.
In the study and acquaintance of such a character and man as Cap- tain Daniel G. Purse, many points are to be considered, for he is a many- sided man. He has a touch of genius about him, with decided talent. Captain Purse belongs to that class which is known as the mental san- guine temperament, that gives mental activity, aggressiveness, vim and energy in a great degree. Such a mind is suggestive, and planning, and is never demoralized by defeat or failure, but asserts itself by new suggestions, greater energy and fuller resources. Broad ideas, com- prehensive plans and brilliant projects play through his brain. He is never content to work in the common rut or to confine his thoughts to only one idea. The many successful undertakings of Captain Purse are tokens of his peculiar mentality ; and his success in whatever he has un- dertaken display his mental resources. For this reason he is more san- guine than the average man, because of that peculiar mental activity. With his seeming visionary mind he is in truth and fact a cautious man ; he is first a thinker, then an actor. He wants time to reason, to see, to weigh facts, and then, when his mind has laid out his plans, he throws his whole soul, temperament and mental resources into what he under-
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takes. He first knows what is to be accomplished, and then he plans in his own way for the accomplishment ; when he is convinced in his own mind that he is right, then he becomes the embodiment of a mental cy- clonic dash, before which obstacles disappear, opposition is crushed and success assured. It is such characters, with such brain force and tem- peraments who become leaders among men, who are known as public- spirited men, fathers of great projects, and leaders in all great enter- prises. Captain Purse is not a man given to doubt himself, for his nat- ural energy and grasp of mind sees farther, grasps more and will accom- plish more than men with great brains who are wanting in mental ac- tivity.
In all the enterprises and public and private trusts, and Captain Purse has held many such, his official conduct has been characterized by the strict- est fidelity of purpose and a scrupulous integrity. No citizen of Savannah is imbued with deeper public spirit than Captain Purse, and the prosper- ity of this section is due to just such a class of men, who have not only been benefited and enriched by their unerring judgment, their unflag- ging zeal, and their superior financial ability, but at the same time while enriching themselves they have added to the wealth, the prosperity and the progress of the communities in which they live.
M cDONOUGH, JOHN J., is one of the representative manufactur- ers and business men of his city and State. He was born in Au- gusta, Ga., August 3, 1849, and is the third oldest son of John and Mary McDonough, who were the parents of eight children, four of whom sur- vive. The father was a native of Ireland, and was brought to Savannah in infancy. At the time of his death he was a prominent lumber man- ufacturer and dealer in lumber and conducted extensive foundry and ma- chine works in Savannah, having moved thither from Augusta in 1866.
John McDonough was educated in the public schools in Atlanta, Ga., and completed his education at St. Francis Xavier College, New York city. In 1866 he was given a clerical position in one of his father's lumber yards in Savannah ; three years later he was appointed superintendent of his father's mills in the interior, and was admitted to the firm in 1870, which became that of John McDonough & Son. Ten years later he
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bought out his father's local interest in Savannah, since which time he has been engaged in all branches of lumber manufacture. In 1877 he purchased his father's interest in the foundry and machine works of Mc- Donough & Ballantyne, which interest he still retains.
He has an extensive lumber and planing mill in Savannah, which does an annual business of $100,000. Here everything in the line of doors, sash, blinds, and all kinds of interior finish, including hard woods for the finest classes of buildings, are manufactured. The inside finish of the new hotel " De Soto" and that of the new court house of Savannah was turned out at Mr. McDonough's factory. In addition to the Savannah mill, he owns two of the largest and finest saw-mills in Georgia which are located in Clinch and Pierce Counties. They turn out about 25,000,- 000 feet of lumber annually for domestic and foreign markets. With them are connected forty miles of railroad, laid with steel rails.
These roadways are equipped with locomotives and cars for the mov- ing of logs from the timber lands to his mills.
Mr. McDonough manufactures and builds cars for his own railroads. Machine shops are connected with his mills where locomotives and ma- chinery of all kinds are rebuilt and repaired. With his out-of-town mills are connected large stores or commissaries from which the necessaries for his five hundred employees and their families are supplied.
Mr. McDonough is now serving his second term as Alderman of the City of Savannah. He has been Chairman of the Harbor and Wharf Committee and that on Assessments, which latter he resigned in the spring of 1890 to accept the Chairmanship of the Water Commitee, as a more extensive water plant was then contemplated and he was urged to accept the first place on that Committee, in view of his practical mechan- ical fitness for that important position. Mr. McDonough was one of the directors of the Savannah and Tybee Railroad and when it was reor- ganized under the name of the Savannah and Atlantic Railway Co., be- came a director in the same.
He is largely interested in the Tybee Beach Co., of which he is the Presi- dent and has taken a decided interest in the improvements of this favorite southern sea-side resort. Mr. McDonough is a member of the Cotton Exchange and of the Board of Trade and is connected with many en- terprises of a progressive character. He is a stockholder in the South
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Bound Railroad and the Savannah Construction Co., which was organ- ized in the spring of 1890 to build the railroad from Columbia, S. C., to Savannah, Ga. Mr. McDonough is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and is a liberal supporter of a number of benevolent and civil societies. He is also connected, as honorary member, with many of the military organizations, for which Savannah has been famous for more than a century.
In his domestic relations he is most happy. He was united in mar- riage November 5, 1869 with Miss Ellen M. Cullen, of Savannah, by whom he has two children, Marie and John. He is a kind and indul- gent husband and father. His social qualities are many and well known to all who enjoy his personal acquaintance.
He is liberal as an entertainer and his host of friends who frequent his pleasant home always enjoy his large-hearted hospitality.
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INDEX.
A CADEMIES and schools, 511 et seq. of Georgia, early, 513. Adjustment of Mary Musgrove's claim, 299. African Baptist Church, First, 510. Agriculture, society for improvement of, 321. Allies, loss of, at seige of Savannah, 283. Anderson, Dr. Hugh, 436. Anderson Street Church, 507. Arms, first passage of, 224.
Arnold, Dr. Richard D, 439
Arrest of Governor Wright, 220.
Artillery company, organization of. 314.
Assault upon Savannah by allied army, 275. Assembly, address of both Houses of, to the King, 185.
royalist, called together by Governor Wright, 296.
Attorney-General, arrival, and measures of, 155. Attorneys, leading, at close of last century, 421.
B AILIFFS, and their works of office, 418. Ballantyne, Thomas, biography of, 608. Banks, 488.
Merchants' National, 489. Savannah Bank and Trust Co .. 489.
Southern Bank of the State of Georgia, 489.
National Bank of Savannah, 489.
Oglethorpe Savings and Trust Co., 490. Citizens' Bank, 490. Charles H. Olmstead & Co., 490. Henry Blun. 490.
Baptist Church, 508.
Bar, post-bellum members of the, 430. prominence of the early, +18. roster of, 435. Barracks, erection of, 347.
Bartow, General, sketch of, 362 note.
Battalion, ordered to be raised by Continen- tal Congress, 217.
officers of, on organization, January 7, 1776, 218. Battery Park, 538.
Bonaventure Cemetery. 539.
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Bulloch, President, death of, 236. Bulloch, Dr. William G,, 442. Burr. Aaron, visit of, 331.
Beaulieu, 535.
Benevolent Association, the Savannah, 551. Berrien, Judge John McPherson, 426.
Bethesda, Whitefield's, 512, 546.
Bills of exchange, 146. Biography of,
Ballantyne, Thomas, 608.
Dorsett, Charles Henry, 615.
du Bignon, Fleming G., 603.
Duncan, Dr. William, 613.
Estill, Col. John H., 562.
Flannery, John, 596. Guckenheimer, Simon, 630.
Hartridge, Alfred Lamar, 565.
Jones, Colonel Charles C., 585.
Lawton, Gen. Alexander R., 575.
Lester, Daniel B., 610.
Lovell, Edward, 618. McDonough, John J., 640.
McMahon, Captain John, 570.
Meldrim, Peter W., 612.
Mercer, Col. George A., 567.
Olmstead, Charles H .. 620.
Purse, Daniel G., 634.
Screven, John, 622. Thomas, Daniel R., 594.
Young, John R., 629.
Blues, the Republican, 416.
Bosomworth enters Savannah with belligerent Indians, 125.
result of influence of, over his wife, 125. Rev. Thomas, villainy of. 122 et seq. Mrs. final settlement of claim of, 129.
treacherous compact with Malatche, 123 et seq. Boston Port bill, 197.
Boundary conference in 1768, 188.
Boundaries, extension of, in 1763, 173. Brandt, Dr. C. N., 453.
British outrages at Savannah, 247. ships of war, arrival of, 238.
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INDEX.
Brown, Governor, order of, to Colonel Law- ton, in 1861, 358.
Bryan, Hon. Jonathan, notice of death of, in "Georgia Gazette," 320.
motion to expel from council, McCall's account of, 198
C YADETS, Savannah, 415. Calamitous year, 353.
Campbell, report of Lieut .- Col., 238.
Capital, efforts to remove the, to Hardwick. 461.
Capture of vessels at wharf of Savannah, 232. Cathedral Cemetery, the, 542. of St. John, the, 509.
Catholic Library Hall Association, the, 491.
Catholics, exclusion of, 492.
Causton, Thomas, affairs entrusted to, during absence of Oglethorpe, 64.
charge of the colony reposed in, 66. charges against, 100.
death of, 102. defalcation of, 99.
dismissal of, 101. malignity towards John Wesley, 92. offenses, as stated by Oglethorpe, 104. Oglethorpe's arraignment of, 101. John, usurpation of power by, 419. Cemeteries, 539.
Cemetery, mutilation of Catholic, by Federals, 386.
Central Railroad. the, 479 et seq.
absorption of other lines by the, 483. and Banking Company, 486. effect of opening of, 471. synopsis of growth of, 484.
Ceremonies of Indians at landing of Colonists, 31.
upon promulgation of Declaration of In- dependence, 234.
Charlton, Dr. Thomas J., 447.
Charlton, Judge R. M., famous decision of, 429.
Charlton, Judge T. U. P., 425, 427, 429. Charlton, Walter G., 433.
Charters, Dr. William M., 445.
Chatham Academy, 513, 514.
Chatham Artillery, guns presented to, by Washington, 325.
Chatham Real Estate and Improvement Com- pany, the, 490. Chisholm, Judge Walter S., 431. Cholera, 353.
Christ Church, 49, 159, note, 495. founding of, 402.
Christian Church, 511.
Churches, establishment of, 161, et seq note.
Churches of colored people, 511.
Church of the Sacred Heart parish, 509.
Citizens Bank, the. 490.
City Court judges, 435.
Civil government, establishment of, 152.
Civil war, events immediately preceding the, 356 et seq.
Olmstead's account of opening of, 359.
Clifton, William, 433.
Colding, Dr. C. H., 453.
Colonies, determination of, 'to resist Englislı taxation, 189.
joy of, upon repeal of Stamp Act, 185. Colonists, accessions to, in 1733, 44.
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