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 114

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 114

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FULTON COUNTY SKETCHES.

federate history and assisting soldiers and soldiers' widows in need. As he was one of the youngest generals in the war, he has still before him many years which he will employ usefully for his state.

CAPT. W. S. EVERETT is the senior partner of the large dry goods firm of Everett, Ridley, Reagan & Co., of Atlanta, Ga. He is a true scion of sturdy Puritan stock, and came of a family connected with the Everetts, Claflins and Spragues of New England. His father was a Baptist minister who served several churches in various places in obedience to the calls made for him, and he himself was born in Alleghany county, N. Y., Jan. 21, 1839. Capt. Everett received his early education in the schools of his native state, and completed two terms in the academy at Ithaca. During these school years he employed his vacations industriously by work on the farm, and afterward learned to become a merchant by clerking in stores. In 1857, when about eighteen years of age, he came with his parents to Georgia, but they after a short time moved to the west. He then began business as a traveling salesman of books and music, and after a few months secured a position with J. L. Cutting & Co., a dry goods firm in Atlanta, with whom and their successors he continued until Jan. 1, 1862. At that time this northern-born boy, who had cast in his lot with the state of his adoption, enlisted in Company A, Ninth battalion Georgia artillery, in which he was appointed second sergeant. The company was rapidly recruited to such numbers as to require a division into the two commands, Company A and Com- pany E, in which latter company Mr. Everett was elected junior first lieutenant, a position which he filled until promoted to the rank of captain in 1864. This gallant company, known in orders as Battery E and also as Everett's battery, did arduous and splendid service, having the distinction of never losing a gun during the war. During a great part of this service it was used on detach duty, and in all its battles except one, Everett as first lieutenant and afterward as its captain was in command. Capt. Everett was a skillful as well as a brave artillery officer, and gained merited distinction especially at the bloody battle of Chicka- mauga, where his battery played a most conspicuous part in the victories of the Confederates. Previous to that battle his command was in east Tennessee, but was detached from the battalion at La Fayette and reported to Gen. Bushrod Johnson at Dalton, and from that point first met the enemy at Ringgold. Fight- ing with Forrest in the advance, the battery crossed the Chickamauga creek on Friday night, and was in the engagement Saturday. But on Sunday it was in the scenes of brilliant charges made by the Confederates, being advanced as the battle progressed from ridge to ridge. Late in the afternoon it occupied a hill from which it poured steady shot upon the retreating foe, succeeding in blocking the road of retreat with guns and caissons disabled by its well-aimed fire, and pressing from this point to another position of advantage joined in some of the hardest fighting of the war. It was at this time that the battery, getting out of ammunition, served its guns directly from captured Federal boxes. After this great battle he went through the campaign of east Tennessee with Gen. Longstreet, after which he returned to Virginia and was detached and sent with McCauslan's cavalry to meet Hunter, who was advancing upon Lynchburg, and hold him in check until Lynchburg could be reinforced. He was next employed actively with Gen. Early in the valley campaign. The last service of the gallant company was in the defense of Richmond and in the retreat of Lee's army to the final day at Appomattox. At Richmond, Capt. Everett was assigned to the command of Fort Gregg, which he held until the evacuation of that city. Thus terminated an honorable military career. Guns which had never been

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captured in equal battle were now surrendered to become the property of patriot- ism, and Capt. Everett and his paroled command returned to their homes to resume the occupation of peaceful citizens. It was a feature of the civil war that brothers fought on opposite sides. Two of Capt. Everett's brothers were brave soldiers on the Federal side and he equally gallant on the side of the south. Their valor and patriotism belong to mutual American history. After laying aside his sword with the strife it symbolized, Capt. Everett rode his horse to Atlanta, and bringing his family from LaGrange, commenced business life anew without capital, but with the will and ability to succeed. It shows the state of

things at the time that he secured three hospital tents and pitched them on a lot belonging to his mother-in-law in Atlanta for the purpose of a dwelling, where he lived several months. Beginning business he traveled for a few months for the firm of Claghorn & Herring, of Philadelphia, and then returned to selling dry goods. In the fall of 1868 he became an employe in the house of M. C. & J. F. Kiser, and in 1872 was admitted into partnership under the firm name of M. C. Kiser & J. F. Kiser & Co., where he remained until the dissolution of that firm, when the Everett, Ridley, Reagan company was organized, of which he is the senior member and president. Capt. Everett was married in 1860 to Frances G. Haynes, daughter of Mrs. Judith A. Haynes, widow of Reuben Haynes, and has four children, two sons and two daughters: Fannie O., wife of W. O. Jones; Clarence, captain on staff of the Fifth regiment; Edward Q., and Myrtle M., graduate of Notre Dame, Md., with first honors. Capt. Everett is a self-made man. The wealth he now enjoys is the fruit of skillful management and constant attention to business. He is a substantial representative of the commercial world.

JOHN NEWTON FAIN, school commissioner, Fulton county, Ga., was born in Dandridge, Jefferson Co., Tenn., July 17, 1830. He was reared in the town and educated in Man academy located there. After leaving school he entered the store of his father, who was a merchant, and whose business was amongst the heaviest of any in that section. He remained with his father until his death, in 1854, and afterward with his brother, who succeeded his father, until 1856. That year he with his two brothers bought a cotton factory at Mossy Creek, Jefferson Co., Tenn., which they operated until 1858, when they went to Osceola, Ark., where they engaged in cotton planting until 1865. From there they moved to Memphis, Tenn., and engaged in the cotton business; but the cholera coming there in 1866 they came to Atlanta and embarked in the whole- sale grocery and commission business. They continued this business until 1869, when Mr. Fain withdrew and became a contractor, in which he was unfortunate, and at the end of a year abandoned it. After this he engaged in various businesses for some considerable time. His next venture was a partnership with A. P. Stewart, under the firm name of Stewart & Fain, in the stove and tinware business; he continued it for several years, and then sold out. After this Mr. Fain took life easily and leisurely until 1884, when he was appointed county school commis- sioner, an office whose important duties he has discharged with scrupulous fidelity. Able, attentive and conscientious, and devoted to his work, he has made a model officer. Mr. Fain has been married three times. His first wife was Miss Maria L. E. Moore, whom he married in 1860, who bore him one child, Maria E., and died in Arkansas. His second wife was Mattie C. Moore, a sister of his first wife, by whom he had five children, one only of whom, Mattie F., is living, the wife of Dr. Max M. Z. Crist, Atlanta. His last wife was Mrs. Virginia A. Watts, who has had no children. Mr. Fain is a Knight Templar Mason, an elder in the Central Presbyterian church, Atlanta, and clerk of the session.

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THOMAS B. FELDER, JR., the well known attorney of Atlanta, Ga., was born Oct. 6, 1863, in Burke county, Ga., and in this and Emanuel county passed his boyhood days. He received his early education at the Waynesboro high school, from which institution he was graduated in June, 1879, taking the highest available honors, and receiving the first prize for declamation. From here he went to the North Georgia Agricultural and Military academy, Dahlonega, Ga., remaining a member of the same for a year, deriving much benefit from both the classic and military branches of the school. Leaving after the expiration of the first term, he entered the law department of the university of Georgia, received his diploma in 1883, and after locating in Dublin, Ga., was admitted to the bar during the same year. Six months later, having given great attention to his practice and gained a broad popularity in his section, he was made solicitor of the county court of Laurens county, Ga., and served as such for six years. He resigned in 1889 to accept the higher office of mayor of Dublin, holding this place creditably for one year, and was re-elected for a second term, but declined in order to serve as presidential elector on the Cleveland ticket. Mr. Felder moved to Atlanta early in 1890, and continued in this city the practice of his profession. Mr. Felder is a business man of much ability and it did not require long for his associates and acquaintances to recognize this fact. In June of 1892 he was elected president of the Atlanta Traction company, and filled this position until May, 1893, when he resigned. Mr. Felder was married on Aug. 12, 1886, to Charlotte, daughter of Grafton Johnson. They have no children. He is a Royal Arch Mason and chairman of the committee of laws and appeals of the Elks, and is also a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, the Knights of Pythias and the Methodist church. Besides these secret societies and religious organization he is a director in the State Savings bank, president of the Union Loan and Trust company, and a director of the Southern Exchange bank. He has manifested a versatility that is seldom surpassed; and his efforts in the many different enterprises in which he has been engaged have never met with dis- appointment or failure. His father is Thomas B. Felder, a native of Sumter, S. C., who served as colonel in the late war and conducted himself chivalrously in a great number of campaigns. When the war was over he returned to his home in the palmetto state and followed the profession of law until a few years ago, when he retired permanently from active work. He now resides at Dublin, Ga. Mr. Felder is the worthy scion of an old, illustrious southern family, and by dint of perseverance is advancing rapidly to the front.

JOHN A. FITTEN, hardware merchant, Atlanta, was born in Augusta, Ga., in 1846. He lived and attended the schools there until he was fifteen years of age, when his father moved to Bartow county, Ga. In 1863 he entered the Georgia Military institute, Marietta, Ga., and in the spring of 1864 went with the cadets into the Confederate service as assistant quartermaster of battalion, and continued as such until the surrender. After the war he returned to his home in Bartow county and engaged in farming, until 1867, when he came to Atlanta and entered the employ of the hardware firm of T. M. & R. C. Clarke. About three years afterward he was admitted to membership in the firm, whose name was changed to T. M. Clarke & Co. In 1892 he retired from the firm, and subsequently spent about nine months in Europe. In April, 1894, he formed a partnership with A. P. Thompson and re-engaged in business under the firm name of the Fitten - Thompson Hardware company. Maj. Fitten has superior business capacity and sagacity, and has been successful in all his undertakings. Ample capital, com- bined with these pre-requisites, has made his last venture a success from the

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start. Cultured, traveled and affable, Maj. Fitten occupies an enviable position in society, as well as in the commercial world. Maj. Fitten was married, in 1871, to Miss Marianna, daughter of the late James A. Turner, a native of North Caro- lina, and to them there have been born two sons and two daughters. He is an active and prominent member of the Protestant Episcopal church.

WILLIAM J. GARRETT, capitalist, Atlanta, Ga., was born in Laurens district, S. C., in 1825. He was about six years old when his father came to Georgia and settled in Campbell county. He was reared on the farm, and received such education as the county schools of the time afforded. When he reached maturity, with $300 capital, he opened a small "cross-roads" general merchandise store, did a good business, and by strict attention to it, with economy, he made money. Three years later he moved to Campbellton, the county seat, where, with Gen. Alfred Anstett (afterward founder of the Atlanta National bank), he engaged in a general merchandise store, building up a large trade and accumulating capital. In 1857, after the completion of the Atlanta & West Point railway, he moved to Palmetto, a growing town on the line of the road. There he conducted a business on his personal account until 1865, when himself and a younger brother- Young-established a grocery and produce house in Atlanta, under the firm name of Garrett & Bro., which was continued until 1883, when he retired from active business. During his partnership Capt. Garrett established stores at several points on the line of the A. & W. P. railway, in one of which-at Grantville, Ga .- he still retains an interest. During the war, when Gov. Brown called out the reserves, he was commissioned captain of a company, served six months in camp, and afterward about eighteen months in the commissary department, with the rank of major. He was stationed at Augusta, Ga., when hostilities ceased, and surrendered a large amount of stores. When the Atlanta National bank was organized he was made a member of the board of directors, and continued to be one for years. He served one term-voluntarily retiring-on the board of county commissioners of Fulton county ; also one term-1885-86-on the general council of the city; is a director of the West View Cemetery company, of which he was president for some years; and is a director of the Exposition cotton mills, in which he is the largest stockholder. Capt. Garrett was married, in 1855, when in business in Campbellton, to Miss Ellen, daughter of the late Col. Thomas A. Latham. She died in 1874, leaving no children. For his second wife he married Mrs. Mary A. (nee Wallace) Buttrell, daughter of William Wallace, of Dougherty county, Ga. Of the children born to them, three are living: Emma L., Mattie E. and Viola A. Capt. Garrett is a master Mason, and, although not a member, worships at the Baptist church.

DR. J. M'FADDEN GASTON, of Atlanta, Ga., was born in Chester district, S. C., Dec. 27, 1824. His early education was that of a country boy, and he attributes a great deal of his strength of body and endurance of fatigue to the hunting and fishing that he did in Chester district. The South Carolina college at that time was in a very flourishing condition, and no less a man than Rev. James Harper Thornwell, D. D., presided over this institution. Dr. Gaston's high moral character and ability as a writer are doubtless to be attributed largely to the years he spent at the South Carolina college, where he was graduated in 1843, at the age of nineteen. He entered immediately upon the study of medicine under the preceptorship of his father, Dr. John Brown Gaston, then practicing and farming in Chester district. After a year of diligent study and experience in compounding medicines, he entered the university of Pennsylvania, medical department, and

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attended there his first course of medical lectures, from 1844 to 1845. His second course of lectures was taken in Charleston, where he was graduated in 1846, from the medical college of South Carolina, at the age of twenty-one. If we count the three years of his medical education, we may say he has been studying and practicing medicine over fifty years. He has been a student and practitioner all his life, never entering politics or business to any extent, so as to divert his attention. The first six years of his practice were spent in partnership with his father. He then moved to Columbia, S. C., where he practiced alone and in part- nership with Dr. A. N. Talley for about eight years. He had married Miss Sue G. Brumby, daughter of Prof. R. A. Brumby, Nov. 4, 1852. Their marriage has been blessed by a family of seven daughters and three sons. Five daughters and one son are still living, and are as follows: Mrs. A. W. Gresham, Greensborough, Ga .; Mrs. J. B. Kolb, Bahia, Brazil; Mrs. Nannie G. Blackford, Atlanta, Ga .; Mrs. E. N. Shaw, Cameron, Texas, and Mrs. T. B. Gay, Atlanta, and Dr. James McF. Gaston, Jr., Atlanta. Dr. Gaston has been permitted to see nearly a score of grandchildren, before he has reached the age of three score years and ten. When the civil war broke out he was doing probably the largest practice in Columbia, was living in his own house, and with his carriages and horses was considered to be on the high road to prosperity. Neither family nor home caused him any hesitation, however, as to the course he should pursue. He enlisted in a company of volunteers called the Columbia Greys, which he had organized himself, and would have served during the war as a private had he not been made chief surgeon of the Carolina forces under Gen. M. L. Bonham, and made medical director on his staff. His service during the war was a long and varied one, being in all the important battles from Manassas to Gettysburg, under such leaders as Beauregard, D. R. Jones, R. H. Anderson, as medical director at Manassas under Beauregard, and chief surgeon of Anderson's division. He did a great deal of surgery during the course of these battles, and afterward in hospital service at Marietta and Fort Valley and Fort Gaines. Many of the Confederate veterans now testify to his kind- ness and his timely surgical skill in cases of wounds of all kinds. After the war he was penniless and disappointed-but never discouraged. So he moved to Brazil, South America, having to borrow money for the purpose. He first went to Brazil alone, and then returned and published Hunting a Home in Brazil. He then removed with his family and many friends. He had an audience before Dom Pedro II., of Brazil, and that noble monarch received him kindly and offered him a place as consulting surgeon in the Brazilian army, with the rank and pay of the highest medical officer. He had just been so actively engaged in a war in which his heart centered that he declined to take part in the war with Paraguay in this capacity. His idea was to investigate the advantages of the country and report on the same in the form of a diary for the benefit of his friends whose homes were devastated, and who wished to avoid the inconveniences of recon- struction-at least for a few years. Speaking of this stage of Dr. Gaston's life, so able a writer as James Wood Davidson, in his standard work, Living Writers of the South, says: "James McFadden Gaston, M. D., is a native of South Carolina, a graduate of the state college at Columbia, and of the medical college at Charleston. He practiced medicine before the war for several years in Columbia, and stood in the front rank of his profession. He contributed occasion- ally to the medical and scientific journals of the day, and paid some attention to belles lettres, writing verse sometimes. During the war he was a division surgeon in the army of northern Virginia. At the close of the war he went to Brazil in quest of a future home for himself and family. The only volume that Dr. Gaston has thus far published is an account of that tropical region. It was published for

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the author, in 1867, and is entitled Hunting a Home in Brazil, and gives a lively but practical account of that country, with special reference to its being the home of the southern emigrant. It lays no claim to merely literary excellence, though it is written in a very healthy and earnest style, that reflects credit upon the learned author. Dr. Gaston is now in Brazil, with his family, and the probability is that he will make it his permanent home." The Brazilian government offered a large sum for 500 copies of the work on Brazil. His life in Brazil was one of trial and often of privation, until he had surmounted all obstacles, passed satisfactorily the examination for license to practice, before the faculty of the National Medical college at Rio Janeiro, and removed to Campinas, where he finally did the largest practice in the city; also having a surgical infirmary, where patients from all the surrounding country were treated. In 1880 Dr. Gaston paid a visit to the United States, after a residence in Brazil of thirteen years. He and Mrs. Gaston came over, leaving the other members of the family in Brazil. In New York he was paid some special attention by the medical profession, and attended the meeting of the American Medical association there. Among his friends were Drs. T. R. Agnew, J. Marion Sims, Ramsey, Nathan Bozeman, T. Addis Emmett and T. Gaillard Thomas. He attended the clinics of the colleges and the operations at the hospitals. His experience in the army was now reinforced by years of private practice in these lines-surgery and gynecology-and he profited by the ample opportunity for seeing the operations of so many distinguished surgeons. He returned to Brazil by way of Europe, so that he might have the oppportunity of seeing the skillful surgical work of such men as Spencer Wells, William Meredith and others. He went to London, Antwerp, Brussels and other points. He heard the famous preacher, Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, in London. His impressions of him are very vivid, and his admiration for the man is so great that he reads everything he has written, when he sees it in print. The Crystal palace, in London, and the museum, were also of special interest. In this way he became acquainted with the most prominent men in the profession, and has kept up a correspondence with them. He settled up his affairs in Brazil as soon as possible after his return. Moving to Atlanta in December, 1883, he opened an office and began to write upon surgical topics. To say in a few words what Dr. Gaston has accomplished in Atlanta would be impossible. Coming to the city a complete stranger, at an age when most men are unable to compete actively in a large city with the rush of the day and times, he has made a success of life. At the time he was made editor of the "Southern Medical Record," this medical journal made the following editorial remarks about him, in January, 1892: "To the profession, Dr. Gaston needs no introduction. As professor of the principles and practice of surgery in the Southern Medical college, as a contributor to Wood's Reference Hand Book, as one of the editorial staff of the 'Annual Universal Medical Science,' and as a contributor to the 'International Clinic,' he has made for himself a national fame. He comes to us bringing with him a rich store of knowledge, which he has acquired through long years of the practice of his branch, both in this and other countries. He is also chairman of the section of surgery of the American Medical association, and president of the Southern Surgical and Gynecological associ- ation." He is a member of the Medical association of Georgia, of the American Medical association, of the American Surgical association, the Southern Surgical and Gynecological association, and of the American Academy of Medicine. He is also a member of the Confederate Veterans' association, of the Scotch-Irish association of Georgia, and other local organizations. He is a Free Mason, having joined the order in Brazil. He is a Presbyterian, having been elder of the Presbyterian church in Columbia, S. C., being elected to succeed his father-in-law,

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Prof. Richard T. Brumby, professor of chemistry and geology in the university of South Carolina, as it is now called. He has always shown himself to be a consistent Christian gentleman. Dr. Gaston is recognized as a writer and a teacher of medicine, and it is interesting to describe his methods. He says: "I have never prepared any medical paper until the necessity for it was urgent, and then no time is lost until the work is done. I am a creature of circumstances, and cannot work unless under the pressure of the occasion." He does not write in his office in the day, but sits up at night and prepares the compact, lucid and learned papers that are so widely read and so thoroughly appreciated by the general practitioner and the student. His brother, Dr. J. B. Gaston, of Montgomery, has told him that he is not careful enough, and that he should take longer to write his articles; but if he should do this he would write as rarely as his brother does. The strong mark in most great men's minds seems to have been observation. They have seen things where others have seen nothing. They have put some of their individuality into things that had none of their own. So it has happened that Dr. Gaston has impressed the students that from year to year hear him lecture at the Southern Medical college. In dealing with practical subjects he draws upon the field of observation that he has had, and in a few pointed words pins the main facts in the memory of the most listless student. Never leaving out a detail where it is neces- sary, but at the same time never wearying with useless harangues, he points the young doctor to the great landmarks of surgery, and illustrates them by his own cases. A list of Dr. Gaston's contributions and reports of cases shows that he has performed all the important operations and is entitled to the rank that Dr. Richard Douglas, professor of gynecology in Vanderbilt university, medical de- partment, accorded to him when, addressing the Medical association of Georgia, he said: "I feel a hesitancy in presenting my views when we have present the Nestor of surgery in the south, a man whose surgical skill is recognized all over the country. I refer, gentlemen, to Dr. Gaston. (Applause). But it is as a man, battling with the cares and vexations of life, never baffled, but always cheerful, that he wins the hearts of men, who do anything in the world for him." To illustrate this point, we need only quote a few casual remarks, never intended for publication, coming from men who have known him best. The late Dr. W. D. Bizzell once said: "He is a grand old man. He is like a piece of bronze, any way you strike it it gives out a good sound-like a perfectly ripe apple, mellow to the core." Old Mr. Heinz, who lived in Columbia for forty years and then moved to Atlanta, and in this way, knowing the difficulties of getting a foothold here, and at the same time appreciating Dr. Gaston, as he knew him in Columbia before the war, said: "The way he has struggled through the many vicissitudes he has seen, and still retains the gentlemanly bearing and control of his temper throughout, is some- thing heroic-is something heroic."

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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 114

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