Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I, Part 104

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1294

USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I > Part 104

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

MR. L. H. BECK. One of Atlanta's most successful and enterprising business men is Mr. L. H. Beck, the president of the Beck & Gregg Hardware company. Mr. Beck is a native of this state, and was born at Griffin, Ga., in Spalding county, on Aug. 5, 1848. He resided in Spalding county until he reached his eighth year, and then moved to Newton county, locating about four miles from Covington. Here he received his rudimentary education, dividing his time between the school- room and the plantation. At the age of sixteen the subject of this sketch became a member of the state troops, and served under the command of Col. Joel A. Billups. After the war he came to Atlanta, without friends or prospects, to begin the struggle of life. This was in 1866. The city presented a cheerless picture of desolation, on account of the destructive march of Gen. Sherman; but trade was beginning to revive, and the outlook for the future was one of encouragement. He secured a clerkship in the hardware establishment of Tommey & Stewart, and having gained a start, he experienced no difficulty in holding his own. By reason of his push and energy he was several times promoted, and finally, in 1870, succeeded to a partnership in the business, the firm becoming that of Tommey, Stewart & Beck. Mr. Stewart retired in 1878, and Mr. W. A. Gregg became a partner, changing the name of the firm to Tommey, Gregg & Beck. Mr. Tommey withdrew in 1880, and the firm of Beck, Gregg & Co., W. M. Crumley

71I

FULTON COUNTY SKETCHES.

making the Co., continued the business. Three years later the enterprising firm applied for a charter, which was promptly granted. The establishment was incorporated under the name of Beck & Gregg Hardware company, the first mercantile company ever incorporated in the south. The trade of this house extends all over the country, and every year a banquet is held at which all the clerks and salesmen meet together in social intercourse with the owners of the business. Mr. Beck is the president of the Atlanta Machine works, having successfully organized that enterprise several years ago, and is also connected with several other important operations. Mr. Beck is socially a most delightful gentleman, and belongs to the Capital City and Piedmont driving clubs. He was united in marriage, on Jan. 1, 1874, to Miss Sallie E. Speer, sister of the late Maj. D. N. Speer, for many years the treasurer of the state of Georgia, and his home life is one of ideal felicity. Mr. Beck has always taken a deep interest in public affairs, but has never sought political honors, being satisfied with the quiet life of an unobtrusive citizen. He is a member of the First Methodist church, and takes a deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of his denomination. From every point of view his life has been a successful one, and no citizen of Atlanta is more deserving of popular esteem.

CHARLES BEERMAN, who is perhaps as well known as any citizen of Atlanta, not only for his long residence, but enterprising spirit, was born in Hanover, Germany, April 17, 1833. During the first twenty years of his life he remained in his native country, attending the educational institutions of that highly civilized nation, and prepared his mind for the graver duties of the future. He emigrated in 1853 to America, landing at Charleston, S. C., with a large number of rare singing birds that commanded a good price and ready sales. He traveled over Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, disposing of this stock. In January, 1855, having sold his last songster, he removed to Atlanta and engaged in the cigar business for five years. Then he undertook the manufacture of cigars in connection with a retail store. When the war was over he resumed the wholesale and retail cigar trade and prosecuted this with signal success until August, 1882, when he disposed of his interest at a good price and took a lease of the old Kimball house, and began its control under the most favorable circumstances, but on the eleventh day after assuming this responsible management the house was destroyed by fire. He immediately organized a stock company to rebuild, but the enterprise failed, and, together with Gen. Robert Toombs, Joseph Thompson, L. W. Scoville and H. I. Kimball formed a syndicate and erected the present Kimball house, at a cost of $643,000. When completed, Messrs. Scoville, Beerman & Co. took charge, and a year later Mr. Scoville retired, and Charles Beerman & Co. have conducted it since January, 1885. In 1889 Mr. Beerman leased the Markham house, another Atlanta hotel, and Beerman & Co. (the "Co." being Joseph Thompson) manage this in connection with their other interests. For a long while these were the only prominent hostelries in the city. The Kimball house, especially, has gained a favorable reputation throughout the southern states. Mr. Beerman is president of the Atlanta Brewing and Ice company, having begun as treasurer; a director of the American Trust and Banking company, and largely connected with several building and loan associations, now paid out. He served in the city council as alderman for three years, and acquired great popularity and respect. Mr. Beerman has been married three times, and has four children: Margaret, wife of John Elvers, of Atlanta; Henry C., Mamie, wife of H. Haupt, of Hamburg, Germany, and Walter B., child of his last wife. Mr. Beerman united with the Lutherans in religious faith, and belongs to the Capital City and Concordia clubs of Atlanta. Mr. Beerman has few equals as a strong-minded business man, possessed of a disposition that

712

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

invites companionship, and the courage, energy and boldness of adventure that attain success.

ALBERT BELLINGRATH, Atlanta, Fulton Co., Ga., son of Leonard Belling- rath, was born in Prussia, April 26, 1838. His father emigrated to the United States in 1848, and settled in Fayetteville, N. C. He died in 1874. In 1852, when fourteen years of age, Mr. Bellingrath came to this country and joined his father in North Carolina. He engaged in the building of steamboats and other seagoing craft, remaining there until 1856, when he came to Atlanta. In October of that year he commenced work in the shops of the Georgia railway, in Atlanta, remaining there until 1863, having been detailed to that work by the Confederate government. In 1865 he was ordered to Cuthbert, Ga., to make spirits of nitre for the government, and continued there until the surrender. Immediately after that event-May, 1865 -he returned to Atlanta and entered into the firm which has since expanded into the great plumbing and heating and house-furnishing firm now known as the Hunnicutt & Bellingrath company, of which he is manager of the mechanical department. Retiring and unassuming, and of irreproachable private life, and occupying a front position in his specialty as an artisan, he is justly esteemed as a mechanic and in the commercial world. Mr. Bellingrath was married, Oct. 17, 1861, to Miss Mary G., daughter of William H. McMillan, Quincy, Fla. Of eight children born to them, seven survive: Carrie M., wife of Dr. W. D. M. Mason, Fort Worth, Tex .; Katie S., Albert F., Helen M., Herman W., Julia M., Henry L. Mr. Bellingrath is an exemplary and highly esteemed member of the Presbyterian church.

DR. CHAS. F. BENSON. While the shock of internecine warfare thrilled with awe and dread suspense the heart of the nation, and hurrying armies rushed to bloody conflict, the subject of this sketch entered upon the battlefield of life. On July 28, 1861, Dr. Charles Francis Benson was born near Aiken, S. C. His father, Chas. F. Benson, was at the time a gallant officer of the southern Con- federacy, whose fortunes he shared throughout the four years' war; while his mother, nee Elizabeth Fitzsimmons Trotti, with the Spartan courage character- istic of the southern women of that day, managed her husband's large estate for the maintenance of his family, and the benefit of the soldiers in the field. Dr. Benson's paternal grandparents were Lawrence S. Benson and his wife, Elizabeth Fast- bender Shafner, of Charleston, S. C .; while he traces his lineage on his mother's side to Dr. Lawrence J. Trotti, an eminent M. D. of Barnwell, S. C., and his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Collins, of Richmond county, Ga. When the embryo doctor was six years old, his parents moved from South Carolina to Atlanta, Ga., where the family lived until he was thirteen years of age, when they became residents of Lake Weir, Marion Co., Fla. During the family's residence in Atlanta, Charles F. Benson, Jr., passed meritoriously through the grammar schools and, after remaining in Florida three years, he returned to Atlanta and entered Prof. T. De Means' high school for young gentlemen, where after three years of studious application to his books, he completed his academic education. With characteristic energy he immediately began his medical instruction under Dr. W. S. Armstrong, professor of anatomy in the Atlanta Medical college, which institution he entered later, and where, after two years, he graduated with dis- tinction in 1882. After this the young doctor returned to Florida, where he. expected to locate permanently, and was at once appointed United States surgeon to examine applicants for pensions. His appointment as demonstrator of anatomy in his alma mater the same year (1882) caused a reversal of his decision, and he returned to Atlanta to accept the responsible position offered him. After filling.

713

FULTON COUNTY SKETCHES.

this appointment for three years Dr. Benson entered actively and aggressively upon the practice of his profession, with constantly increasing success. On Oct. II, 1893, Dr. Chas. F. Benson was united in marriage to Miss Stella Clare Carr of Atlanta, daughter of Elias R. Carr, of Logan county, Ky., and Jane F. Carr, nee Redding, of Macon, Ga. Genius is irrepressible, and the implanted gerin of greatness, patiently and persistently cultivated, ultimately attains to perfect growth. Dr. Benson, although a young man, is far on the road to deserved success in its highest sense, and his native trend, supplemented and assisted by indomitable will, untiring energy and earnest integrity of heart and mind, which, looking above and beyond mere selfish considerations, seek the good of mankind, prophesies for him deserved greatness in his chosen profession.

JOHN S. BIGBY, lawyer, Atlanta, Ga., president of the Eagle and Phoenix Manufacturing company, of Columbus, Ga., was born in Coweta county, Ga., Feb. 13, 1833, and is a son of John and Susan L. (Powell) Bigby. John Bigby, his father, was a native of Abbeville district, S. C., and died in 1865. He was for many years a minister in the service of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, and afterward became a farmer and planter in Coweta county. He was a devout follower of the "meek and lowly Nazarene," and a man of much native talent and mental strength. His wife was a native of Glyun county, Ga., the accomplished daughter of James M. Powell, a prominent citizen of that section of the state. John S. Bigby was reared and received his earlier education in Coweta county, and later became a student of Emory college, Oxford, Ga., graduating from that institution with the degree bachelor of arts in the class of 1853. Soon after his graduation he was admitted to the bar at Newnan, Ga., and practiced his pro- fession there for more than thirty years. The rising young attorney was not long in having his talents recognized, and was appointed solicitor-general of the then Tallapoosa (now Coweta) circuit in 1867. He was also a delegate to the constitu- tional convention held in Atlanta, Ga., in 1868. Mr. Bigby was also chosen as a delegate to the national convention, held in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1876. Judge Bigby was appointed United States district attorney for the northern district of Georgia in 1881, and served until that administration laid down the reigns of power, four years later. He served as judge of the Tallapoosa (now Coweta) circuit for two and a half years, having been appointed in 1869 for eight years, but resigned in 1871. In 1870 Judge Bigby was elected a member of congress, and after serving one term resumed the practice of law, in which he has continued with remarkable success, having some years ago established himself in Atlanta. In 1891 Judge Bigby was chosen president of the Eagle and Phoenix Manufacturing company of Columbus, one of the largest manufacturers of cotton and woolen goods in the southern states. During the civil war his term of service as a member of the Georgia state troops was limited to a period of about six months. Aside from his profound legal knowledge Judge Bigby is one of the most success- ful business men in Georgia, occupying numerous positions of trust and impor- tance, among which it may be mentioned that he is a member of the board of directors of the Atlanta & West Point Railroad company, a director and vice- president of the Newnan National bank and of the First National bank of Newnan; he is also a member of the board of directors of the Fidelity Banking and Trust company, a director in the West View Cemetery company and vice-president of the West View Floral company, all of Atlanta. Mr. Bigby is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Mary C. Dougherty, of Newnan, Ga., to whom he was united in 1853. She was a daughter of John Dougherty, deceased, who was one of Newnan's

714

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

prominent citizens. She departed this life in 1870, leaving as issue of her wifehood two sons and one daughter. In 1872 Judge Bigby was married to Miss Elizabeth K., daughter of John J. McClendon, of Newnan, Ga. The fruits of this union consist of one son and five daughters, all of whom are now living.

THOMAS L. BISHOP, a promising and popular young attorney of Atlanta, Ga., was born in Newton county, Ga., in 1861, and, with his parents, came to Atlanta in 1867. He was educated in the public schools, and after graduating, having determined when a mere boy to become a lawyer, entered the office of Mr. Julius L. Brown, with whom he studied law for several years. He was admitted to the bar in 1885, to the supreme court of Georgia during April, 1890, and to the United States district and circuit courts in December of the same year. In 1889 Mr. Bishop was elected a member of the board of education of Atlanta, being the youngest member who ever served in this responsible position. Feeling and understanding the need and influence of the schools, he was useful in laboring for their interests, and worked hard to increase the efficiency of the system. In 1880 Mr. Bishop was employed by Senator Brown to take charge of the renting of his real estate in Atlanta, and the executors of Senator Brown still continue him in charge of it. This is a splendid indication of the trust and confidence placed in his ability and integrity by one whose judgment of men is proverbial. Mr. Bishop was married in 1886 to Stella, daughter of W. M. Thomas, of Fayette county, Ga. He belongs to the order of Knights of Pythias, the Odd Fellows, and Red Men, but affiliates with no church. In the capacity of a business man his interests are manifold and guarded with a sagacity that assures success. He is president of the Snow Church Collecting agency, the Excelsior Steam laundry, the Atlanta Real Estate and Investment company, director and attorney for the State Building and Loan association, and acts as attorney for several other corporations. Mr. Bishop is a logical, aggressive lawyer, full of enterprise and energy. He is genial and generous, hating shams and shallow pretenses, and appreciates genuine merit. His practice is constantly increasing, and it is doubt- ful if any lawyer of his age in Atlanta has better clientage. His youth, quickness of perception and affability guarantee a bright future. He is a member of the law firm of Bishop, Andrews & Hill. Mr. Bishop has declined public office and sought no prominence in politics, yet his reputation is spreading, and if he had done nothing better than improve the public school system of the city he would be endeared to its thinking population.

DR. BENJAMIN WILLIAMS BIZZELL, a very successful physician of Atlanta, was born on Feb. 27, 1866, on his father's cotton plantation in Greene county, Ala., and received his primary education in the schools of that vicinity. In 1883 he matriculated at the university of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, but was obliged to leave college two years later on acount of ill health, although he had reached his senior year. He graduated from the Southern Medical college at Atlanta in 1887 and went immediately to the college of physicians and sur- geons in New York city, graduating therefrom in 1888. He passed the following six months in the New York polyclinic and then, having landed interests in Arcola, Miss., went to that city and there practiced his profession until February, 1892, at which time he located in Atlanta, Ga. Dr. Bizzell is a member of the Georgia state medical association, the Atlanta society of medicine, the southern surgical and gynecological association, the national association of railroad sur- geons, and is a member of the Atlanta board of United States examining sur- geons. While in Arcola, Miss., he was medical examiner for the New York

THOMAS L. BISHOP.

715

FULTON COUNTY SKETCHES.

Life and the Mutual Life insurance companies of New York. Dr. Bizzell has contributed numerous articles to the leading medical journals, among them one on super-vaginal hysterotomy, which was published in the Atlanta "Medical and Surgical Journal." Dr. Bizzell is a member of the Methodist Episcopal churchi. His father, James C. Bizzell, was born in South Carolina, and came to Green county, Ala., when a child. James C. Bizzell was a planter and married Mary, daughter of Benjamin Williams, a native of Virginia. They had three sons and three daughters, all three of the sons choosing medicine as their profession and graduating with first honors from the colleges which they attended. The first, Dr. William D. Bizzell, attended the Mobile medical college and practiced a few years in Mobile, during which time he was elected to the chair of chemistry in his alma mater. Coming to Atlanta in 1881 he was elected by the faculty of the Southern medical college professor of the principles and practice of medicine. which honorable position he held until his death in June, 1890. The second son was a graduate of the Mobile medical college, also of the Southern university of Greensboro, Ala., and is now a practicing physician in Arcola, Miss. The third son is Dr. Benjamin Williams Bizzell. The father died in February, 1891. Dr. Bizzell's grandfather was a soldier in the war of 1812 and his maternal great- grandfather Williams was killed serving his country in the war of the revolution.

JUDGE LOGAN E. BLECKLEY. No state in the union surpasses Georgia in the quality of her judicial talent as illustrated in the records of the supreme court of this state; and of all the public men who have adorned the bench by the splendor of their legal gifts and the purity of their exalted lives, no one is more conspicuous than ex-Chief Justice Logan E. Bleckley, whose recent retirement from the bench is more than ordinary loss, if, indeed, it falls short of a calamity. In forming the legal mind of Judge Bleckley it is not improper to assume that generations had been at work. Endowed by nature with peculiar gifts, the early development of these unusual qualities admit of, no other explanation. His legal turn of mind began to assert itself in early childhood, and on one occasion, much to the amusement of his grandfather, it declared itself in a manner both precocious and amusing. His grandfather, who had taken him in charge, as he was too young to be sent away from home, being only five years old, decided to apply the rod to his young pupil one day, and accordingly made known to him his intention. The quick mind of the boy, in order to escape the rod, seized upon an idea and he resolved to make a plea of insanity. He told his grandfather that his mind was not sound and for this reason he did not think he ought to be whipped. This circumstance in the life of Judge Bleckley is significant. It shows that his success at the bar and on the bench is not merely the result of discipline, but chiefly the fulfillment of nature's own prediction based upon the rare gifts committed to him at his birth. In his firm grasp of a legal proposition and the clearness of his judgment in arriving at the principles of right and justice involved in any issue brought before him, Judge Bleckley has never had a superior, and perhaps few equals, on the supreme bench. Judge Logan E. Bleckley was born in Rabun county, Ga., among the picturesque mountain views of the extreme northeast corner of the state, on July 3, 1827. At this time the cataracts and waterfalls that plunged through the chasm at Tallulah were in the possession of the Cherokee Indians, together with all that unbroken wilderness. The county of Rabun had been organized but a few years at the time of Judge Bleckley's advent, and the dangers incident to pio- neer life in that section of the state were neither trifling nor far apart. The courage of a brave man was needed to battle with the solitudes of that remote

716

MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

wilderness and the heart of a less heroic man than Judge Bleckley's father might have given up in helpless alarm. Judge Bleckley has written a charming sketch for one of the law magazines in which he gives a lengthy account of himself in a letter addressed to posterity. In this letter he says: "At eleven years of age I commenced writing in the office of my father, who at that time was a farmer without any lands and tenements and with only a few goods and chattels. He lived on a rented homestead, just one mile from Clayton, the county town, and was clerk of three courts-the superior, inferior and ordinary. He was a man of strong intellect, fair information and some business experience. He had been sheriff of the county. A more sterling character was not in the world-certainly not in that large group called the middle class to which he belonged. Loyal to the truth, he scorned sham, pretense and mendacity. He was a native of North Carolina, as was my mother also. His blood was Irish and English combined ; hers German." In his father's office the young clerk soon acquired a marked familiarity with legal forms and as he grew in usefulness larger shares of work were given him to do. He soon acquired a fondness for law and, strange to say, for an immature boy, found great stores of pleasure, if not romance, in the tedious volumes of the law. He made himself familiar with the constitution of the state and of the United States, and at the age of seventeen borrowed a copy of Black- stone, and a few other legal text-books. There being no resident lawyer in the county, the young applicant for admission to the bar toiled away by himself and explored unaided the deep mysteries of legal science. Now and then he made excursions for the purpose of being catechised, into the adjoining counties, and received encouragement from a number of prominent lawyers in this way. Among these the late Judge Underwood took a deep interest in the young student, and the kindness of the great jurist was never forgotten by Judge Bleck- ley, who paid a beautiful tribute to his memory, a few years ago, from the bench. In April, 1846, at the age of nineteen, the young applicant stood his examination and was formally admitted to the bar. The business of the county, however, failed to support him, and after struggling two years he accepted employment as a bookkeeper for the Western & Atlantic railroad. This brought him to Atlanta in 1848. In this connection it is interesting to observe that, in after years, when the honors of the highest judicial office in the state rested upon him, Judge Bleckley prepared his decisions within a few rods of the spot in which he toiled away, an obscure youth, at the books of the Western & Atlantic railroad. In this position he remained for three years, his salary ranging from $40 to $66 a month. He then gave up the position to become the governor's secretary at Milledgeville with a salary of $1,200. He retired from this position in 1851, having saved enough money to provide himself with a small library, and to keep him above water for several months. He opened a law office in Atlanta and found to his satisfaction, by reason of his late connection with the railroad, that he was largely in demand. His practice grew and his fees with it. In 1853 he vas elected solicitor-general of the Coweta circuit, then embracing eight counties. His term of service lasted four years and at the expiration of this time he was married. He continued the practice of law in Atlanta until 1861. Touching upon his military experience during the late war, Judge Bleckley gives this amusing account of himself: "The first battle of Manassas, alias Bull Run, occurred while I was in a camp of instruction, endeavoring to acquire some skill in the noble art of homicide. By nature I am pacific. The military spirit has but a feeble development in my constitution. Nevertheless I tried the fortunes of a private soldier for a short time in behalf of the southern confederacy. I was dis- charged on account of ill-health, after a few months' service in western Virginia,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. I, Part 104

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1294

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1294