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 55

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 55

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Mr. Thomas Irving Denmark, the subject of this sketch, after the death of his father and marriage of his mother, was taken and reared by his uncle, Malachi Denmark, on a plantation in Bulloch county, and had the advantage only of an "old field" school education. Dec. 1, 1831, he married Amanda Groover, daugh- ter of Charles Groover, a planter of. Bulloch county, Georgia, and settled near his father's old home. In 1837 Mr. Denmark removed with his wife and the three children, who had been born to them, to Thomas county, Ga., now a portion of Brooks county, and settled about four miles south of his present home in Brooks county, where he lived for eight years. In 1845 he moved from the place settled by him in 1837 to his present home in the piney-woods of Brooks county, four miles south of Quitman, where he has lived ever since.

Mrs. Denmark, wife of Thomas Irving, was born May 12, 1816, and died Aug. 15, 1890. She was a woman of great piety and of considerable intellectual force. Her mother was a native of Savannah, and both of her parents were descendants of the Salzburgers, a religious sect who left Austria on account of religious perse- cutions and settled at Ebenezer, in Effingham county, soon after the settlement of Savannah by Oglethorpe. The old Ebenezer church, built by the Salzburgers, still stands near the banks of the Savannah river in Effingham county. Mrs. Denmark was one of the organizers (about 1840) of Liberty Baptist church in the old town of Grooverville in Thomas (now Brooks) county, Ga.

The children of Thomas Irving and Amanda (Groover) Denmark are: Sarah Elizabeth, wife of James Lee, Jr., of Bulloch county; Agnes Assenith, widow of

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Aaron W. L. McFarlin, who now lives with her father; Redden Irving, a planter of Brooks county; Mary Jane, widow of Wade P. Hodges, of Decatur county; Clayton Rhay, a planter, died in Brooks county, December, 1886, at the age of forty- six; Frances Reiser, widow of Thomas N. Arrington, of Brooks county; Daniel Jones, died aged eleven; Ann Victoria, died aged sixteen; Brantley Astor, a lawyer of Savannah, Ga .; De Witt Clinton, who died at the age of twenty-one; Elisha Peck Smith, a lawyer of Valdosta, Ga .; Nora Judson, who died in infancy; Florence Virginia, wife of Joshua N. Saunders, of Leon county, Fla. Mr. Denmark has now living seventy-five descendants, to-wit: Eight children, forty- two grandchildren and twenty-five great grandchildren. He has had in all ninety- five descendants, to-wit: Thirteen children, fifty-five grandchildren, and twenty- seven great grandchildren.

During the Seminole war in Florida Mr. Denmark enlisted as a soldier, but saw very little active service, being in only one skirmish with the Indians.

In 1864, during the war between the states, when a call was made by the Con- federate states for an enlistment of men from 16 to 55, Mr. Denmark, though within seven weeks of fifty-five years of age, volunteered and went into the army, where he saw some pretty hard service around the city of Atlanta, and was there at the evacuation of that city by the Confederate army. His sons, Redden and Clayton, enlisted in the Confederate army in the early part of the war, and both of them were in it at the close of hostilities.

Mr. Denmark's whole life has been devoted to farming. He has always taken a very active part in the cause of education and religion. He has been a deacon in the Baptist church over fifty years, and all of his children are members of that church, except Mrs. Hodges, who is a Methodist. Three of his sons were educated at the university of Georgia. To all of his children he gave the best educational advantages that he could afford at the time. His sons and daughters are specimens of true manhood and womanhood.

Mr. Denmark had always enjoyed the best of health and is still vigorous and well-preserved in body and mind. He has always managed his own plantation. While a slave-holder he would never have an overseer. At the age of eighty-six he is still quite active and manages his own farm, looking after all its details with as much care as if he were still a young man.

He has always viewed grief and trouble with a philosophic eye -- looking back, after the first shock of death, upon the lives of his children that had gone before him, with a pleasant memory. His sole great affliction, from which he has never rallied, and the one on which his thoughts constantly dwell, was the death of his wife on Aug. 15, 1890, with whom he had lived in loving and sweet companionship over fifty-eight years.

Mr. Denmark has always been a kind and generous neighbor. He is a type of what is correctly termed a "good citizen." He is punctilious, almost to a fault, in the keeping of his promises. He is a consistent, though not a puritanical, Christian. He has always been a democrat, but has never had anything to do with politics except to vote and to advocate the claims of those he thought worthy of public trust.

He was a faithful husband, a stern but kind father. He believed that boys and girls should be early taught to take care of themselves, and that idleness was the parent of many vices. His children demonstrate the wisdom of the manner in which he reared them.

Often around his table and on the wide piazzas of his country home may be seen gathered about him, in one group, children, grandchildren and great grand- children.

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REV. CHARLES SCRIVEN GAULDEN. As it is the province of these volumes to commemorate the lives and deeds of the men who have helped to shape the destiny of this fair state, the name of the deceased subject of this sketch is presented. Born and reared on Georgia soil, under which his body now sleeps, he was one of her most devoted sons, and during a long and useful life did much to elevate her in the moral and intellectual scale. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, descended from families who had first settled in Virginia, but later migrated to South Carolina, where his father, Jonathan, was reared, and who brought the name to Georgia, settling in Liberty county in the latter part of the last century. Here he reared his family and here our subject was born May 5, 1812. His mother was a Miss Paisley, of Savannah, Ga., of Scotch-Irish stock and of remarkable intellectual powers. Mr. Gaulden was second in age of seven sons. His boyhood was spent in pursuits incident to the plantation life of those early days, and in acquiring the rudiments of an education, which was completed- at the university of Georgia, which he left a few months before graduating. When he was about the age of twenty-one years his father moved with his family from Liberty county to Lowndes (now Brooks) county. Shortly after this he volunteered his services in behalf of his state, and as a gallant, fearless soldier, led the battle of Brushey creek in the war against the Seminole Indians, where he captured a number and put the others to flight, causing them finally to leave Georgia. Although so young he displayed those characteristics which followed him through life; coolness in time of danger, great executive ability, practical in all things, sound judgment, unyield- ing will and perfect fearlessness.

In this battle he received a wound in his right cheek which came very near proving fatal. As the bullet could not be extracted, he carried it through life. Shortly after leaving college he chose law as a profession, and as friend and pupil of the famous Judge Law, of Savannah, Ga., he in due course of time was admitted to the bar. Selecting Lumpkin, Stewart county, as a suitable point, he began there his career as a lawyer, which for twenty years was one of uninterrupted success. His residence at Lumpkin was at a time when that town was one of the most flourishing in the state, and the local bar, of which he was admitted leader, was not surpassed by any. The points which gave him pre-eminence were an indom- itable will, tireless energy, with lack of even the idea of fear, and perfect integrity in his business and private life. His reputation as a fearless advocate, combined with his high moral character, excellent judgment, and proficiency in his profes- sion, made him one of the most successful lawyers of his time. The fact that from the practice of his profession he amassed a fortune of about $200,000 in about fifteen years being evidence per se.

Politically, he was a whig, and represented Stewart county one term in the legis- lature, where he went for the special purpose of aiding in the establishment of the supreme court of the state, which was done largely by his influence and labor, as the entire southern portion of the state, or the wire grass section, followed his leadership. The supreme court probably would not have been established when it was but for his personal efforts and active influence. When this court had been established he secured the pledge of a majority of the legislature to elect his distinguished preceptor, Judge Law, of Savannah, to the position of chief justice, which he, however, refused, replying: "It would be the ambition of my life, but I am too poor a man to give up my practice of $25,000 per annum to accept so small a salary."

Political preferment, however, had no charm for Mr. Gaulden, and although he had several times been offered the nomination for congress, which meant his election, he refused and never again stood for office, though he served as a dele-

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gate from Brooks county in the secession convention of the state. He preferred that Georgia should remain in the Union, but went with the majority; as he never acted for mere effect, but to accomplish some good end. He afterward told a member of his family that he went with a majority of the convention, as refusal so to do would do no good. But it was one of the saddest days of his life; and he took himself to the solitude of the woods, where the tears of sorrow flowed fast as he poured out his heart in prayer to his God for his country, friends and family. But we have anticipated.

Having gained eminence at the bar, and made himself financially independent, a strange departure was made in his life-at least so it seemed to the world. But gold could not allure, or ambition tempt-in fact nothing could swerve him from the path of duty, as he conceived it. Literally renouncing what the world generally most prizes and covets, in 1859 he moved from Lumpkin to his plantation in then the new county of Brooks, and from that time to the day of his death gave his time and means to the propagation of the Gospel of Christ. His method was that of the true missionary. Being a regularly ordained minister of the Missionary Bap- tist church he would begin a series of meetings in a country community, and such was the power of his preaching and the influence of his Christian example, a baptism of the Holy Spirit would follow and conversions result, and a church would be built with means largely of his furnishing. When he went to Brooks county there was but one Missionary Baptist church in it-at Grooverville. He organized the one at Quitman, and numbers of others in the three counties of Lowndes, Brooks and Thomas. His services were always gratuitous, using what- ever was given him for the cause of missions. During the war he organized the Mercer Baptist association, and for many years was moderator. As a public speaker he was didactic in style; though when enthused could rise to flights of oratory which captivated his audience and convinced them of the truths he was uttering. A profound theologian, he expounded the truths of the Bible with no uncertain sound; and with his wealth, social position and useful life, did much to advance the kingdom of his Master. He was married in 1844, in Lumpkin, to Charlotte L. Le Sueur, a lady of French Huguenot stock, who bore him seven children, viz .: Charlie M., wife of John Tillman, hardware merchant now residing at Quitman, Ga .; John B .; James Albert; Cornelia L., who died in infancy; D. Le Sueur, lawyer, Titusville, Fla .; William T., teacher in high school, Albany, Ga .; Samuel S., physician, Quitman, Ga. With the counsel and example of such a father, aided by the ministrations of a devoted wife, no comment need be made as to the position these children now occupy in their different spheres.

Rev. Gaulden died at Quitman, Ga., Oct. 8, 1894, of pneumonia, contracted while on a visit to one of his plantations on the Etowah river, a few weeks pre- viously. Around his dying bed gathered his children and wife, who heard from his lips his last utterances, full of Christian hope and triumph over the last enemy- Death. Thus did a great man live and die; caring nothing for worldly fame, or the plaudits of men; leaving the sweet incense of a Christian life as a precious memory and inspiration to his family and numerous friends. His wife, a woman noted for her gentleness and loveliness of person and character, and unbounded kindness and hospitality, survived him but a few years, departing this life on Aug. I, 1889.

F.A. JELKS, M. D. There is perhaps no more popular person in Quitman than the gentleman whose life supplies the material for this sketch. For many years he has ushered numbers of its now bustling citizens across the threshold of life, administered to their bodily ills, and eased their exit into the

J. G. McCALL.

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great beyond. Dr. Jelks was born in Hawkinsville, Ga., Oct. 1, 1836, and was the son of Col. J. O. and Mary (Polhill) Jelks. The family on the father's side is of Welsh descent, and on the mother's of English. The three original members of the Jelks family who came to this country first settled in North Carolina, whence they emigrated south and westward. Dr. Jelks' father, Jas. O. Jelks, came to Georgia, and settled in Pulaski county, in the early part of this century, where he was a merchant and planter and raised his family, and where he died in 1885. He was quite prominent in his day, and represented the county in the legislature between 1830-40. His wife was a daughter of James Polhill, for many years judge of the southern circuit, and who died while in office. The children of this couple are : E. A., doctor; J. O., merchant, Hawkinsville; J. J., fertilizer company, Macon; Nathaniel P., doctor; Needham W. (deceased), Hawkinsville; W. A., mer- chant, Hawkinsville; and Virgie P, (Mrs. W. S. Holliman, Macon, Ga.). Dr. Jelks was educated at Mercer university, Ga., but left the senior class to study medicine under Dr. L. A. Folsom, Bellville, Fla. He attended the lectures in Philadelphia, and was in a class of 640. Of these 400 were southerners, most of whom left and came south when hostilitics seemed imminent He entered the medical college at Charleston, S. C., and graduating in 1860, settled in Quitman, Ga., and commenced the practice of his profession. He had hardly got well started when volunteers were called for and he enlisted in Company C, Twenty-sixth Geor- gia regiment, which was sent to Virginia, and became a part of "Stonewall" Jack- son's famous corps. On the organization of the regiment in Brunswick, Dr. Jelks was made assistant surgeon and on its reorganization a year later, he was appointed surgeon. He was on the field during the seven days' fight, was at Second Manas- sas, in the valley campaigns under Early, at Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg, and surrendered at Appomattox. After the war he resumed the practice of his profession at Quitman, in which he has been eminently successful, from which he is seeking to be relieved. He is largely interested in orange culture at Lake Jesup, Fla. In 1863, Dr. Jelks married Constance A. Atkinson, in Camden county, Ga., by whom he has had four children :. Bessie (deceased); Josie, single; Edwin, drug clerk, Quitman; and Nellie (deceased). This wife died in 1890, and the doctor married Janie Sinclair, who has borne him. no children. Dr. Jelks is a democrat, an elder in the Presbyterian church, and a Mason .- His geniality of dis- position and wholesouledness of character have won for him the admiration of hosts of friends in the community where his life has been so usefully spent.

JOHN G. M'CALL, son of Francis S. and Ann (Dopson) McCall, was born in -Screven county, Ga., Jan. 18, 1836. This is a large and prominent family in Brooks county, descended from two brothers, Daniel and William McCall, who came from Scotland to America among the earliest colonists. William McCall, grandfather of John G., settled in eastern Georgia, in Screven county, where he lived a useful and exemplary life as a Baptist minister. During the revolutionary war he served as colonel under Gen. Francis Marion, with conspicuous efficiency. In 1835 Francis S. McCall, father of John G., married Ann, daughter of Joseph Dopson, a very wealthy and influential planter of Beaufort district, S. C. Mr. McCall died Aug. 30, 1877, but his widow is still living at the advanced age of seventy-seven years. The newly-married couple lived in Screven county three years, and then removed to Telfair county, Ga., where they lived until 1845, when they removed to what is now Brooks county, and settled at a point eight miles below the present site of Quitman, the county seat. Here the family enjoys an influence deserved and wide. Mr. McCall was especially active during his life- time in looking after the interests of the Baptist denomination in that section.

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This worthy couple raised to maturity a family of thirteen children, all of whom became useful and honored members of society. Those now living are: John G., Dr. J. H., president Merchants' and Farmers' bank, Quitman; Jane, wife of C. M. Quarterman, druggist, Quitman; W. C., lawyer, Quitman; Mary, wife of J. B. Finch, merchant, Quitman; Elvira, widow of Elijah Ives, Orlando, Fla .; H. J., lawyer, Madison, Fla., and Addie, wife of J. N. Stripling, lawyer, Jacksonville, Fla. Capt. McCall was educated at Union university, Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he graduated with the degree of A. M. in 1858. He was immediately elected by the trustees of the university adjunct professor of mathematics and languages, and after serving one term was elected to the chair of Greek and Hebrew. He held this position until the university suspended on account of the war, when he returned home. The following year he enlisted and was made first lieutenant of Company K, Fiftieth Georgia regiment. He retained this position until pro- moted to the captaincy of the company after the battle of Gettysburg. Immediately after entering the service Capt. McCall's company was stationed three months at Savannah, and then was ordered to join Gen. Longstreet's corps in the army of Northern Virginia. While in this corps his command participated in a number of the most sanguinary battles of the war-notably Second Manassas, Fredericks- burg, Antietam and Gettysburg. Immediately after this memorable engagement Capt. McCall's military life was suddenly terminated by a distressing wound. On the retreat of the army across the Potomac he was assigned to the command of several companies and a section of artillery with instructions to hold the bridge at all hazards. Just as Capt. McCall had completed the advantageous position of his men he was struck by a minie ball from the gun of a sharpshooter, which so shattered his lower jaw as to necessitate the amputation of a large portion of it. A remarkable fact connected with it was that the pain was slight, and it healed so rapidly that he was able to be about in a few days. On his return home he was elected ordinary of the company, serving four years, and during which time he entered upon the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and commenced the practice as one of the firm of Hunter & McCall, a partnership which continued until 1871, since which time he has practiced alone. Capt. McCall has always taken an active interest in public affairs, particularly educational, both local and state. He has been chairman of the board of educa- tion and is now chairman of the city school board. The very excellent system of graded schools at Quitman is largely due to his intelligent efforts, he having been mayor when it was inaugurated. His earnest and persistent work has done much toward securing the phenomenal success the schools have achieved. He is a member of the board of visitors and advisers of the Southern Female college at La Grange, Ga., and for many years has been connected with Mercer university as a trustee. Capt. McCall is a valued and very prominent member of the Baptist church, and has enjoyed the rare distinction, not often bestowed on a member of his profession, of being elected moderator of the Mercer Baptist association. The following exceedingly complimentary mention is made of Capt. McCall by one of the state dailies: "In fact Capt. McCall is a wonderfully well-rounded man. He is an able lawyer, a profound theologian, an eminent scholar, a successful financier and one of the best Sunday school superintendents that ever managed a school." Capt. McCall was married in Quitman, Jan. 31, 1867, to Rosa, daughter of Dr. Virgil Bobo. His wife is of French descent, a niece of the distinguished Edward J. Black, many years ago a member of congress from Georgia, and is a cousin of Congressman G. R. Black. To them five children have been born: Rosa (Mrs. J. O. Lewis), Quitman: Rachel Black, Nonnie Bobo, Edna Floride, and a son, John Francis, Jr., who is a student at Mercer university-all of whom are mem-

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bers of the Baptist church, a fact of which the parents are especially and justly proud. After Capt. McCall's admission to the bar in 1866 he rose rapidly in the estimation of the bar and the public and built up a large and lucrative practice and an excellent reputation as a constitutional lawyer, no higher evidence of which could be given than the fact that he has lost but one case before the supreme court in all these years. His activity in educational and religious life has gained for him a state-wide reputation as an exponent of advanced thought along these lines.

In June, 1894, the degree of LL. D. was conferred on Capt. McCall by Mercer university, Macon, Ga. He is also vice-president of the Merchants' and Farmers' bank of Quitman, Ga., which institution is now in successful operation.

BUTTS COUNTY.

THOMAS JACKSON DEMPSEY, a prominent real estate broker of Jackson, Butts Co., Ga., is a native of Cobb county, Ga., and was born in December of 1852. When he became of age, he left the farm and went to work on the railroad, being contractor for the N. O. & N. W. trunk line for a period of nine years. In 1883, he moved to Jackson and entered the mercantile business which he carried on successfully for several years, when he sold out and went into the present real estate business. Since his location in Jackson, Mr. Dempsey has labored faithfully for the welfare of the city and has been honored by public office a number of times. He served one term as mayor of Jackson, having been elected to that office in 1889. Prior to that time he had served several times as a member of the city council. The success of the Jackson institute is due largely to the efforts of Mr. Dempsey, he being a member of the board, and one of the few men who built and who help to maintain it. Having so faithfully labored in municipal affairs the people of the county recognized his true worth and ability by electing him to represent them in the general assembly. He served in the sessions of 1892 and '93, and as a member of the committee on corporations, education and finance, and as chairman of the committee on journal, acquitted himself in his usual cred- itable manner. In 1877 Mr. Dempsey was married to Miss Narcissus Smith, a daughter of John D. and Irene (Nix) Smith. Mr. Smith was one of the most substantial farmers in Cobb county. His death occurred in February, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey became the parents of four children: Elam Franklin, now eighteen, will take a course in Oxford college, and then enter one of the professions; Irene Emma; Ernestine May; and Thomas J., Jr. Mr. Dempsey is the son of Alvin G. and Emeline (Waters) Dempsey, the father being a native of Cobb county, born in 1833. A veteran of the civil war, he did gallant service as lieutenant of his company. After the war closed he entered the ministry, and also took some interest in politics. The mother is a native of Coweta county, and is at present living among her children in Cobb county. The Dempsey and Waters families are of Scotch-Irish descent, emigrating from the north of Ireland and settling in Virginia.

Mr. and Mrs. Dempsey are members of the Methodist church, in which organization Mr. Dempsey holds the office of steward and trustee. A free and I-25

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accepted Mason, he holds the office of senior warden in his lodge. The foregoing is only a short outline of the life of one who, starting in life with only health and strength as his capital, has by industry and integrity surmounted every difficulty and risen to his rightful place among the foremost people of Butts county.

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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 55

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