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 53

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 53

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ROBERT ALEXANDER NISBET, clerk of the superior court of Macon, was born in Russell county, Ala., March 20, 1848, and lived there till he was fifteen years old. He attended the country schools and Oswichee academy at Oswichee, Russell Co., Ala. In the winter of 1863 he entered the Confederate service in the Nelson Rangers, organized in Columbus, Ga., which company did courier duty for Gen. S. D. Lee's corps, western army. Mr. Nisbet entered as a private and served until Gen. Johnston surrendered at High Point, N. C. After the surrender he returned to Alabama; coming from there to Macon, Ga., in 1866, where he studied law in the office of the Nisbets, a firm consisting of Eu- genius A., late judge of the Georgia supreme court; James A. and James T., son of E. A. Nisbet. He was admitted to the bar in Macon in 1869 and practiced until 1881, when he retired to his farm near Macon. Mr. Nisbet remained on his farm until 1891, when he was elected clerk of Bibb superior court for two years, and in 1893 re-elected for a second term and again in 1895. In 1878-79 he was a representative from Bibb county to the state legislature, serving on the finance and railroad committees. This was called the long parliament; during its session the state treasurer was impeached and the finance committee had charge of the investigations into the matter. Mr. Nisbet helped to reorganize the Macon volun- teers after the war and was a member of that military organization for fifteen years. He is a Royal Arch Mason, Knight Templar, and has been chancellor commander of the Central City Lodge No. 3, Knights of Pythias. Mr. Nisbet was

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married in 1871 to Florence, daughter of Thurston R. Bloom, and again in 1876 to Cora C., daughter of Henry Soloman, and widow of Samuel Hunter. He has been since 1880 a member of the Bibb county board of public education and since 1886 its president, taking a very active interest in the progress and advance- ment of the public schools. Mr. Nisbet's father, Frank A. Nisbet, was born in Greenc county, Ga., was a graduate of the state university, and moved to Alabama after reaching maturity. He represented Russell county in the Alabama state legislature several times, and was a member of the Alabama state constitutional convention. He married Arabella Alexander, a native of Putnam county, Ga., and they had ten children, of whom three were girls. Four of the sons were in the Confederate service: William L., sergeant-major in the Thirty-fourth Alabama regiment, served all through the war, was wounded at Bentonville, N. C., in 1865, and is now living in Russell county, Ala .; Cooper C., also in the Thirty-fourth Alabama regiment, died in the service, having served from the beginning of the war; James W. entered the same regiment with his brothers in 1863 and sur- rendered with Gen. Johnston in North Carolina, died in 1881, and Robert Alex- ander. The other brother, Frank L., is living in Russell county, Ala., and has been state legislator three terms. Mr. Nisbet's father and mother both died in Alabama.

CAPT. ROBERT E. PARK, one of Macon's representative citizens, was born in La Grange, Ga., Jan. 13, 1844. His father was Maj. John Park, a native of what is now Clarke county, Ga., born January, 1800. He was the son of William Park, of Spartanburg district, S. C., who was a soldier in the patriot army under Gen. Sumter. Capt. Park's great-grandfather was John Park, a native of Chester county, Pa., who was killed at the battle of Cowpens, S. C., during the revolution. The founder of the Park family in America was Arthur Park, of County Donegal, Ireland, who came to West Chester, Pa., in 1720, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. Capt. Park's mother was Sarah Truly Robertson, a native of Clarke county, Ga., born March 5, 1805. Her father was John S. Robertson, of Nottoway county, Va. He was the son of Beverly Robertson, who was a soldier in the colonial army, held the rank of lieutenant in a Virginia regiment, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at the siege of Yorktown. When Capt. Park was a babe his parents moved from La Grange to Greeneville, Ga., where he was brought up and received his primary education. He also attended Brownwood institute, La Grange, Ga., taught by Prof. William John's, and was prepared for his entrance into Emory college at Oxford, Ga., in 1860. He remained there a year, and then went to the Agricultural and Mechanical college at Auburn, Ala. He left there June 12, 1861, to go to Tuskegee, Ala., where he enlisted in Company F, Twelfth Alabama regiment of infantry. The company's first captain was R. F. Ligon, afterward lieutenant-governor of Alabama. After serving as a private for a year his company was reorganized, and Mr. Park was unanimously elected second lieutenant of Company F. At the battle of Seven Pines he was made first lieutenant. After the battle of Winchester, Va., he was made captain, though he had commanded his company for nearly eighteen months, owing to the disability from wounds of Capt. J. W. McNeely. He acted as captain until Sept. 19, 1864, when he was captured at the battle of Winchester, where he was badly wounded in the leg and left on the field of battle. Thirteen pieces of bone were taken from his leg, and he couldn't be moved for a month. He was then sent to West's prison hospi- tal at Baltimore, then to Point Lookout prison, Md., then to Old Capitol prison at Washington, D. C., and lastly to Fort Delaware, where he was kept till June 14. 1865, when he was released. Capt. Park participated in the following battles:

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Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, seven days' fight around Richmond, Fredericksburg, Va., Frederick, Hagerstown, South Mountain, Md., where he was captured and held prisoner nineteen days and exchanged. Then he retreated to Richmond with his command and was in the battle at Hanover courthouse, was with Gen. R. E. Lee in his invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and was in the battle of Gettysburg, where he was wounded and sent back to Richmond. After thirty days in the hospital he was given a furlough, which he only used for twenty- five days, and then rejoined his command, and for several days commanded the regiment, all the senior officers being killed or wounded and absent. His next battles were at Spottsylvania courthouse, and then came the battle of Monocacy. He then went to Gen. Early to threaten Washington, D. C. Then came the battles of Bunker Hill, Kernstown, Newton, Martinsburg, Winchester, where, as stated, he was wounded and captured. When Gen. Lee surrendered, Capt. Park refused to take the oath of allegiance, though he was a prisoner in Fort Delaware at the time. After the war Capt. Park returned to his home in Greeneville, Ga., where his mother was then living, his father having died when he was a child. He com- menced to study law, and in 1866 accepted the position of teacher in the Tuskegee, Ala., high school, remaining there a year, then went to Mt. Meigs, Ala., where he taught as principal in the Henry Lucas institute. He remained there two years, and then spent two years as principal of the La Grange, Ga., high school. He then came to Macon and accepted the position of general agent for the southern states for Ivison, Blakeman & Co., school and college text-books, and represented them in that capacity until 1890, when the company was united with the American Book company, which company he represented five years in the same capacity. Capt. Park is vice-president of the Equitable Building & Loan association, vice-president of the Macon Fire Insurance company, and director of the Exchange bank, and the Union Savings Bank & Trust company, first vice-president of the National Security Loan & Abstract company, and is president of the Macon board of trade, and has been since 1892 president of the Riverside cemetery company. He was elected manager of it for life, and has been president since its organization in 1887. He is president of the Cumberland Island company, of the Macon Hospital asso- ciation, and of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and vice- president of the Georgia Quincy Granite company. In 1878 Capt. Park bought 743 acres of land in Bibb county, eight miles north of Macon, at Holton, Ga., to which he has added from time to time until now he has over 1,200 acres. Holton is an interesting suburb of Macon, and is a handsome and attractive village at the railway station that lies midway of Capt. Park's plantation. Here are commodious cottages, school buildings, a brick store, postoffice, summer houses and a brick church and beautiful park. There is a very large acreage on this farm devoted to grass and the grains, but the farm is cultivated chiefly that its grain may supply the live stock, and this brings in the profit. The stock consists of registered Jersey cattle, Little Guinea cattle, Berkshire pigs, Poland China hogs, and Shetland ponies. Since 1880 Capt. Park has been a member of the executive committee of the State Agricultural society, and is chairman of the board of trustees of the Mulberry Street M. E. church. He is a Royal Arch Mason and Odd Fellow, and belongs to the A. O. U. W., Knights of Honor, the Royal Arcanum and Knights of Damon. Since 1886 he has been trustee of Emory college at Oxford, Ga., his alma mater, and is a trustee also of Wesleyan Female college in Macon. Capt. Park was married in 1875 to Ella H., daughter of Gen. William S. Holt, deceased, and has two children-William Holt Park and Ella Holt Park. His wife died on March 8, 1890, and on April 27, 1892, he was united to Mrs. Emily Hendree Stewart, daughter of the late Dr. George Hendree, of Tuskegee, Ala. He was lieutenant-colonel on

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the staff of Gov. W. J. Northen during his first term, but declined a reappointment. He is an honorary member of the Macon volunteers and a great friend of the mili- tary and of all public enterprises.

I. C. PLANT was born in the city of New Haven, Conn., Feb. 27, 1814. When only thirteen years of age, he went to South Carolina and was educated in the Columbia college. He afterward removed to the state of Georgia, which became the home of his matured life. In his youth he manifested a preference for banking, and at nineteen years of age was in business for himself, and this profession became the occupation of his life.

In 1839 he was appointed agent of the Marine Bank of Georgia, located in Macon. Under his skillful management, the agency prospered greatly, and the bank became one of the solid moneyed institutions of middle Georgia. He con- tinued in this bank for over twenty years, until the war between the states closed such establishments. During this long period, many state banks failed, and several in the city of Macon. Mr. Plant sometimes referred with pardonable pride to the fact that no bank which he controlled had ever experienced any financial embarrassment. Being the soul of integrity and rectitude, he surrounded himself with assistants of like character, and no shadow of suspicion attached to any transaction of a long and honored banking career.

Mr. Plant was twice married. His first wife was Miss Charlotte Walker, of Boston, Mass., who lived only a few months. His second wife was Miss Elizabeth M. Hazlehurst, of Glynn Co., Ga. He left four children by this latter marriage, all being born in Macon, Ga.

In 1865, Mr. Plant organized the First National bank of Macon, being elected president. which office he held continuously until his death, a period of nearly twenty-eight years. In 1865, he organized also, the banking house of I. C. Plant & Son, which has done a most prosperous business, the firm being con- tinued after his death. His son, Robert H. Plant, of the latter firm, was made president of the First National bank, and his younger son, George H. Plant, vice- president of the same, after Mr. Plant's death. It is a high distinction when a father and sons have originated and controlled successively a great banking house and maintained the unbroken confidence of its patrons.

A successful banking career of half a century, under systems of state banks and national banks, through several periods of monetary depression and vicissi- tudes of a great civil war, testify most emphatically to the conservatism, the integ- rity, the energy and the sagacity of Mr. I. C. Plant.

Mr. Plant cherished a warm interest in everything which promoted the welfare of the city of Macon. Its library, its public buildings, its manufactories, and improvements of all kinds had no more earnest and intelligent advocate. At the county and state fairs, held in the city, he made it a point to contribute something to the exhibition, either from his collection of minerals or from the products of his farm in the suburbs of the city. He had a fondness for natural history and it afforded a healthful recreation for his leisure hours. His office was the center to which came all the curious minerals, ores, shells, fossils, birds, etc., of the adjacent territory. He was full of anecdotes about these curios, many of which were unique and valuable. His collection contained quite a full series of the unionidae or fresh water mussels, whose shells he had been gathering for years for Mr. Lee, of Philadelphia, the great specialist in unios. His collection of Indian relics was also large. Some of his fossil ammonites were very fine.

He was genial and companionable. He had a kind word for every one. He took a personal interest in the employes of the bank, and many owed their success in after life to his advice and influence.

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At an early age, Mr. Plant gave evidence of interest in religious matters, join- ing the church at thirteen years of age, and for many years being a member of the First Presbyterian church of Macon and a regular attendant upon its services.

His contributions to the church and to private charities were liberal, and he is remembered by many for his thoughtful assistance in time of need. With regu- lar habits and a vigorous constitution, he enjoyed almost uninterrupted health, and was able to discharge the duties of his office up to a short period before his death. He died Nov. 16, 1892, in his seventy-ninth year.

SYLVESTER B. PRICE, the present postmaster of Macon, Ga., was born in that city Sept. 22, 1846, was educated and has resided there nearly all his life. The many public offices to which he has been elected attest the esteem in which he is held in his native city. In the fall of 1863, when but a seventeen-year-old boy, Mr. Price enlisted in the Confederate arniy, serving as a private in Massenburg's battery for several months and then in Key's battery of Helena, Ark., till the close of the war. He was in numerous battles, was badly wounded at Rocky Face and just before the close of hostilities was captured while doing courier duty near Macon and detained as a prisoner three days, before he succeeded in making his escape. Immediately after the war he returned to Macon and held a mercantile position for two years, going from there to Atlanta, where, with his uncle, George W. Price, he engaged in the shoe business until 1872. At that time he returned to Macon and in partnership with his father and brother established a grocery which he conducted until 1886. In 1876, Mr. Price was elected alderman from the Fourth ward of Macon, and in 1882 again elected to the same office in that ward. He has served four terms as mayor, his first election to that honor being in 1884. March 14, 1894, he was appointed postmaster. While not an orator, Mr. Price is an inde- fatigable and successful political worker for his party. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, a Royal Arch Mason and affiliates with the Episcopal church. He was married in 1872 to Mary Lee Perkins, daughter of A. L. Perkins, of Monroe county, Ga. Mr. Price's brother, Albert C., was a private in the Second Georgia battalion and was killed at Petersburg, Va., in 1864. His brother, Willis F., who lives in Macon, served in Massenburg's battery all through the war and was wounded at Spanish Fort. Mobile, Ala.

JULIEN RANSONE, retired planter, Macon, was born in Hancock county, June 7, 1835. Sparta, a small village, was his birthplace, and there he grew to manhood, attending the school of Prof. Carlisle P. Beman, then one of the most noted teachers of his day. In the summer of 1852 he entered Yale college, and left there on the termination of his junior year, to take an eclectic course for the senior year, though he did not graduate, leaving for the purpose of taking certain studies that the curriculum of Yale did not include. Notwithstanding this apparent breach of law, the name of Mr. Ransone appears in the class of 1857. After leaving col- lege he retired to his plantation, a magnificent estate. with about 200 slaves, located in Early county, and there led the life of an old typical planter, spending his winters in the northern cities. When the war broke out, he was sick in bed, but as soon as able, he went to Richmond, and the Confederate government being in great need of artillery, he offered to procure some field guns at his own expense. His generous offer was refused and he then attempted to purchase some from the American foundries, but without success. Finally, in the fall of 1861, he ran the Federal blockade, personally visiting England, and secured six eighteen-pound Blakely guns at a cost of $60,000 to himself. These were delivered, four to Wil- mington, N. C., and four to Charleston. On his return, the steamer on which he

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was aboard ran aground at an island in Charleston harbor, and was under fire of the Federal blockading fleet. In his attempt to reach shore he was captured and carried to northern prisons, eventually reaching New York, where he secured his release. He ran the blockade of the Potomac and reached Richmond just before the battle of Fredericksburg. There he was commissioned by the Con- federate secretary of war as captain of light artillery, and his battery was composed of four guns. He served through the war in this rank and was in the battles of Olustee, Fla., and John's island, in Charleston (S. C.) harbor, and served fourteen months on James island. He left Charleston on its evacuation and went with Hardee, being in the engagement at Averasboro, N. C., where he was wounded. After the war he returned to his plantation in Early county, where he remained until 1879, when he moved to Macon, where he has since lived a quiet retired life. He belongs to no church or secret society, but affiliates with the Episcopalian church.

MAJOR WILLIAM H. ROSS, president of the Central City Loan and Trust association, of Macon, Ga., was born in that city and there received his pre- liminary education. In 1857 he entered the junior class at the military institute, leaving in his senior year and returning to Macon, where he engaged in handling cotton. In the spring of 1861, the Floyd rifles, a militia company organized in Macon in 1847 of which Mr. Ross was first lieutenant, entered the Confederate service, was assigned to the Second Georgia battalion, and thereafter known as Company C. Six months later Lieut. Ross received a commission as lieutenant- colonel, and returning from Norfolk, Va., to Georgia organized Ross' battalion, of which he was lieutenant-colonel, commanding. This rank he held one year, the period for which the men in this battalion had enlisted. He was then assigned to the staff of Maj .- Gen. W. H. T. Walker, of the army of the Tennessee, with the rank of major. He remained on this staff until Maj. Walker was killed at Atlanta, July 22, 1864, and was then transferred to the staff of Lieut .- Gen. W. J. Hardee and acted as assistant inspector-general of Hardee's corps until the sur- render, Maj. Ross surrendering at Greensborough, N. C. He fought in the follow- ing battles: Sewell's Point, Va .; Fort McCallister, Ga .; and going with the second battalion of Georgia sharpshooters under Gen. Johnston into Mississippi, partici- pated in the engagements at Raymond, Jackson (two battles); then in Tennessee in the battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Rocky Face, Cassville, New Hope church, Kennesaw Mountain, battles around Atlanta, Jonesboro; then at the fall of Savannah, in the engagements in the retreat from Savannah to Charleston; was in Charleston when that city was captured; then in the fight at Cheraw, S. C., Averasboro, N. C., Bentonville, N. C., and was only once wounded -at Jackson, Miss. For four years after the war Maj. Ross and his father, J. B. Ross, engaged in mercantile business in Macon, Ga., the firm being, J. B. Ross & Son. The following ten years he conducted a cotton business and then estab- lished the real estate and banking enterprise which he now carries on. He is president of the Central City Loan and Trust association of Macon, Ga., organ- ized in Macon, September, 1883, with a capital of $150,000, which was increased to $190,000 in 1894. He is a charter member of the Macon bond commission, which, when appointed, took charge of the city's 7 per cent. bonds-at that time quoted at 50 cents on the dollar-and refunded that issue at 6 per cent., the bonds being now, in 1894, salable at 112 I-2. Maj. Ross has served as alderman of the city of Macon four years and in 1877 represented Bibb county in the constitutional convention. For some years after the war he was lieutenant-colonel of the second battalion of the state militia and has frequently been a delegate to state and congressional conventions. He was one of the directors of the Macon & Cov-

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ington railroad, now known as the Macon & Northern, running 106 miles from Macon to Athens and served in that capacity until this road went into the hands of a receiver. He was married in 1861 to Miss Smith, of Mobile, Ala., a daughter of H. B. Smith, a native of Georgia. Maj. Ross is well known in finan- cial, railway and political circles and enjoys the confidence, not only of his clients, but of the people of the state at large. His military record is unexcelled.

DR. JAMES THWEATT ROSS, was born in Cuthbert, Randolph Co., Ga., July 18, 1861, and at the age of two years moved with his parents to Taylor county, Ga., and two years later from there to Houston county in the same state. At the latter place and in Fort Valley young Ross was reared and received his early education. In 1879 he entered Mercer university and graduated in 1882 with the degree of A. B. He then commenced the study of medicine with his father, Dr. Benjamin L. Ross at Fort Valley, and in the fall of 1883 entered Jefferson medical college, graduating April 2 1885. Returning to Fort Valley he practiced his profession there until September, 1889, when he came to Macon, and formed a partnership with K. P. Moore, M. D. This partnership continued until Aug. 1, 1892, since which time Dr. Ross has practiced alone. He is a member of the Georgia state medical association and vice-president of the Macon medical society. He is not a church member but affiliates with the Baptists. Dr. Ross was married Feb. 13, 1889, to Mary Belle, daughter of Fred Danish, a native of Germany, but a resident of South Carolina. Dr. Ross's father, Benjamin L. Ross, was born near Irwinton, Ga., in 1825. He is a licensed preacher of the Baptist church, and a graduate of the medical college of Charleston, South Carolina, having also taken courses of medical lectures in Philadelphia, Pa. Benjamin L. Ross married Louisa F. Maugham, a Georgian. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. John P. Ross, judge of the Macon city court, is a brother of Dr. J. T. Ross. Dr. Ross' grandfather, John Ross, was a native of Georgia, a noted Baptist minister of his day, who died in 1837, at the age of fifty- two years. Dr. Ross is well and favorably known in both professional and private circles and is one of the most promising of Macon's young physicians.

ALONZO D. SCHOFIELD, manufacturer, Macon, was born in that city Jan. 3, 1857. His father was John Shepley Schofield, founder of the Schofield Iron works and an old resident of the city. The subject of this sketch received his primary education at the hands of his private tutors and in private schools, and in 1871, he entered the state university at Athens, Ga., from which he was graduated in 1874, with the degree of A. B., at the age of seventeen. He then went to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and took a commercial course in the Eastman business college, and returning to Macon entered the Exchange bank as bookkeeper. After two years' service there he entered the business of his father, being made a partner, the firm name of J. S. Schofield & Son continuing until the death of the father in 1891.

John Shepley Schofield, was born near Manchester, in Derbyshire, England, in 1820, and came to America with his younger brother Joshua R. in 1840. He located in New York, but shortly afterward came to Georgia and became con- nected with the Central railroad, remaining in its service until he established the Schofield Iron works. He was a prominent democrat, though not given to aspiring to office, was a Mason and a member of the Presbyterian church. He was an unobtrusive man, kind and generous, and enjoyed the esteem and re- spect of everybody who knew him. He was married in 1845 to Miss Emma Mackey, a native of South Carolina and they had eight children of whom but two

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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 53

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