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 69

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 69

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SAMUEL DOWSE BRADWELL, the ex-state school commissioner of Georgia, was born in Liberty county, Ga., Jan. 5, 1840, on his father's farm near the little village of Hinesville, the county seat. His father was an educational- ist and gave his son his primary education up to the age of thirteen, when the father died. The son then attended the private schools in Liberty county for the next three years, and at the age of seventeen went to Oglethorpe university near Milledgeville. This was a Presbyterian institution, from which Mr. Bradwell, with the Rev. Dr. Samuel Knox Talmage, uncle of the famous Brooklyn divine, graduated in July, 1859, with the degree of A. B. The late poet, Sidney Lanier, was also one of his classmates. On leaving Oglethorpe university, Mr. Bradwell

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came to Tattnall county and taught school there until 1861, when he returned to Liberty county and took charge, as principal, of the academy in which his father had taught for many years, and which was afterward known as Bradwell institute. He remained there from January to August, 1861, when he organized a company known as the Liberty Volunteers, of which at the age of twenty-one he was elected captain. The company was assigned to the Twenty-fifth Georgia infantry and known as Company H. Capt. Bradwell served as such officer until July 22, 1864, when he was incapacitated from further service by wounds received at the battle of Atlanta, which obliged him to go on crutches for four years thereafter. Capt. Bradwell was in the following battles: Secessionville, S. C., Jackson, Miss., Chickamauga, Resaca, Rocky Face, Powder Springs (where he was slightly wounded in the left hand), Atlanta (where he was wounded by the fragment of a shell which kept him in bed for seven months and on crutches for four years). For three months he lay in bed and taught school, slowly recovering from his terrible wound in his right leg. About a dozen of his old scholars came to his room. Neither they nor their parents had anything to pay him, but whenever they could get a chicken, duck, turkey, or anything that a man in his condition could relish they would bring it to him. While Capt. Bradwell was thus lying on a sick-bed, the Federal general, Kilpatrick, and his command camped near by, and, of course, swept the country clean of everything required by a man in Capt. Bradwell's state of convalescence. While he needed delicacies he was, in fact, deprived of everything except the very coarsest food, several times having nothing but dried peas. Some of the Federal soldiers, however, were good to him, bringing him occasionally a fowl or some delicacy they had secured by foraging. After his recovery he returned to Tattnall county, and there taught for one and a half years. Then he returned home, took charge of the old academy, and within a year, on a capital of $150, started the Hinesville "Gazette," a weekly newspaper, conducting the dual enterprise for twenty years. He taught himself to set type, and though the paper at first was not much larger than a sheet of foolscap, he built it up until it had a circulation of 1,500 weekly and was of good size. For four or five years Capt. Bradwell lived five miles from a railroad and was compelled to carry his edition that distance to the depot. To his school came scholars from fifteen counties in Georgia. He was noted as a successful teacher, and was beloved by his scholars. Twenty-six children are named after him by his old-time pupils. Capt. Bradwell retired from active educational life in 1890, having been appointed in December of that year, state school commissioner, the duties of which he assumed Jan. 1, 1891. While compelled to seek the aid of crutches Capt. Bradwell studied law, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar in Liberty county under Judge W. B. Fleming of the superior court for the eastern circuit. Notwithstanding, Capt. Bradwell has never devoted himself to the legal profession, but has been somewhat prominent in politics. He was an elector for Hancock and English, and in 1886 was an unsuccessful candidate for a congressional nomination. In 1888-89 he represented the second senatorial district (Liberty, Tattnall and McIntosh counties) in the state senate, and was made chairman of the committee on common schools. In 1893 he traveled ten thousand miles in Georgia and made one hundred addresses on the educational question. He has some original ideas on this subject with relation to the negro as well as the white race, and will prob- ably hereafter embody his views in book form, for which his newspaper experi- ences eminently qualify him. Capt. Bradwell was married Jan. 2, 1868, to Eliza- beth, daughter of Col. William Clifton, his wife being a pupil of his when she was fourteen and he nineteen years old. She fell in love with him after the war when he was on crutches, it being another case of Othello and Desdemona, she

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loving him for the dangers he had passed. They had three children, one son and two daughters. Capt. Bradwell's father was James S. Bradwell, who was born in Liberty county, Ga., in 1796 and died in 1853. He was a lawyer, doctor and educator, but spent the best of his energies in teaching. Capt. Bradwell's grand- father was Thomas Bradwell, who was born in North Carolina, but came to Georgia, settling in Liberty county when he was a young man, and there he was married. He was a major in the war of 1812. Capt. Bradwell's great-grandfather was Nathaniel Bradwell, a native of North Carolina, and a colonel in the revolu- tionary war. He is supposed to have been the family's emigrant ancestor from England. Capt. Bradwell's maternal grandfather was Simon Fraser, a native of Scotland. Capt. Bradwell never tasted a drop of intoxicating liquor in his life, and his whole experience has fitted him well for the proud position he so creditably and honorably filled.

WILEY BAXTER BURNETT, lawyer, Athens, Clarke Co., Ga., son of Rev. Jackson S. and Mary E. (Alexander) Burnett, was born at French Broad, N. C., July 9, 1852. His father was a native of Tennessee and a Methodist preacher ; during the latter part of the war he was in the Confederate service, and died in 1894, aged seventy-three years. His mother was a daughter of Mitchell Alexander, a very prominent citizen of Asheville, N. C. His parents raised three children to maturity: Alice F., deceased in 1868, wife of W. C. Kirkland; Wiley B., the subject of this sketch; and Wilbur E., cashier of the National bank of Spartanburg, Spartanburg, S. C. Mr. Burnett's parents refugeed soon after the beginning of the civil war to Spartanburg, S. C., where he was schooled at Wofford college and remained until 1869, when he went to Boston and engaged as traveling sales- man in the south for a wholesale shoe firm. He remained with the firm until 1879, when he came to Athens and in partnership with C. W. Baldwin established the shoe firm of Baldwin & Burnett. He continued in this business until 1884, when he sold out, commenced the study of law, and in 1885 was admitted to the bar, securing at once a good practice and an influential clientage. In 1888 the law firm of Lumpkin & Burnett was founded, special mention of which will be found in the sketch of Edwin K. Lumpkin in these Memoirs, indicating an influ- ential clientage of large volume and value. During President Cleveland's first administration he was postmaster at Athens. Mr. Burnett was married in Decem- ber, 1872, to Miss Annie R., daughter of the late 'Maj. Abram Jones, of Trenton, S. C., the fruit of which union are five children: Mary L., wife of Howell Cobb, Jr., Athens; Jackson Wilbur, Annie R., Fannie L., and Wiley B. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and is a royal arch Mason.

JOHN R. CRAWFORD, merchant-farmer, Athens, Clarke Co., Ga., son of Ebenezer S. and Mary E. (Richards) Crawford, was born in Madison county, Ga., in 1849. His paternal grandparents were John M. and Mary E. (Maddox) Crawford. His grandfather was a native of North Carolina, came to Georgia on horseback about 1800 when a young man, and settled in what is now Jackson county. He was a miller, and later in life bought land, cleared a farm and engaged in farming. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Mr. Crawford's father was born in Jackson county in 1831, was educated in the old field school taught in the dirt floor log house, and later at an advanced school at Woodstock. He enlisted under Capt. Dabney Gholston in the Thirty-seventh Georgia regiment, and though sick a great part of the time was in many hard-fought battles. He followed farming and saw-milling all his life, and was twice married. He was first married in 1848, and by this marriage had three children, of whom the subject of this sketch is

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the only survivor. He also had three children-Thomas B., Ebenezer S., and Mary E .- by his second wife. He died in 1866, and himself and wife were members of the Missionary Baptist church. Mr. Crawford's maternal grandparents, Royal and Rebecca (Towns) Richards, were raised in Madison county, and Mr. Richards conducted a farm and taught school. Mrs. Richards was a devout, working men- ber of the Methodist church. Mr. Crawford was reared on the farm and received a very limited education. He began life on a farm without a dollar, lived econom- ically, and worked hard six years without making anything. He then came to Athens and went into the mercantile business and opened a wagon yard. He has established a good and profitable trade, and an excellent reputation for correct business methods and integrity, and is a progressive and rising man. Mr. Craw- ford was married in 1866 to Miss Louisa J., daughter of John Y. and Sarah A. (Strickland) Williams. His wife's great-grandfather was John Willianis, and her grandparents were Elijah and Amelia Williams. He was born in North Carolina in 1785, and came to Georgia in 1792 with the family, who settled in the woods. Mr. Crawford's wife died in 1870, leaving three children: Thurston C., Viola A., and Thomas R. In 1875 Mr. Crawford married Mary E., sister of his first wife, who has borne him three children: Eliner J., John A., and Mary J. Mr. Craw- ford and wife are members of the Missionary Baptist church.

ALEXANDER S. ERWIN, lawyer, Athens, Clarke Co., Ga., son of Alexander and Catharine (Wales) Erwin, was born in Clarkesville, Habersham Co., Ga., July 19, 1843. His father was a native of North Carolina, came to Georgia in 1828, and engaged in merchandising in Clarkesville, where he died in 1876. His mother was a native of Connecticut. They were the parents of four children, three of whom were boys: William S., now deceased, was a prominent lawyer, a captain in the Eleventh Georgia cavalry regiment, and who subsequently represented Habersham county and the senatorial district in the general assembly; Joseph B., who was a quartermaster, and Alexander S., the subject of this sketch. Mr. Erwin was raised and educated in Clarkesville, where, in April, 1861, he enlisted as a second lieutenant of infantry in Phillips' legion, and after a year was made first lieutenant. In 1863 he was promoted to a captaincy, which rank he held at the time of the surrender. He was a gallant participant in Gen. Floyd's campaign in West Virginia, where he was engaged in few battles, but many skirmishes; second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga. Two days later, near Chattanooga, he was severely wounded in the right arm, which was crippled for life, and also in the hip. While at home convalescing he served in the conscription department. In January, 1865, he rejoined his com- mand, near Richmond, and two weeks before that city was evacuated he came back to Georgia on post duty, which he was discharging when the war closed. On his return home he began the study of law, and in October, 1865, was admitted to the bar in Hiawassee, Towns county. He located in Clarkesville, where he prac- ticed two years, and was solicitor of the county court of Habersham a year. In 1868 he resigned the office and came to Athens, where he made his permanent home. He has established an excellent professional reputation, ranks high as counselor and advocate, and is popular with all classes. He has been a member of the city council of Athens; in 1878 he was elected judge of the western circuit, and held the office four years-the circuit comprising eleven counties-and in 1885 was appointed a railroad commissioner by Gov. McDaniel, which he held six years. Judge Erwin was married, in 1872, to Miss Mary A., daughter of ex-Gov. Howell Cobb, a union which has been blessed with nine children, seven of whom are boys. Judge Erwin is a member of the Presbyterian church, of which he is a deacon.

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JOHN GERDINE, physician, Athens, Clarke Co., Ga., son of William L. and Lucy (Lumpkin) Gerdine, was born in Oglethorpe county, Ga., Feb. 28, 1840, the eldest of sixteen children, of whom seven survive. His father was a prominent planter of Oglethorpe county, and his mother a daughter of ex-Chief Justice Joseph H. Lumpkin, the first chief justice of the supreme court of Georgia. When he was four years old his parents moved to Mississippi, where they lived ten years, and then came to Athens. Completing his preparatory education, he entered the university of Georgia, from which he graduated as Bachelor of Arts, in 1859. After studying medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Joseph B. Carlton, he attended a course of lectures at Jefferson Medical college, Philadelphia, then went to the medical department of the university of Louisiana, from which he graduated in 1861. The war between the states having begun, he enlisted, May 12 of that year, as a private in Blythe's Mississippi regiment, and after serving a year as such was made assistant surgeon of the Ninth Confederate regiment. At the end of twelve months he was transferred to hospital duty at Durant, Miss., where he remained a year, and then was assigned to duty with Gen. Peter B. Starke. During his arduous and useful army service he was in the following, among other, battles: Belmont, Shiloh, near Grenada, and West Point, Miss .; Fort Pillow, Frank- lin, Spring Hill, Columbia, Johnsonville, Tenn., and Selma, Ala. Three of his broth- ers were also in the Confederate army. After the surrender he rode from Gainesville, Ala., to his old home, near, West Point, Miss., where he followed farming a year, and then commenced the practice of his profession, which he successfully prose- cuted there until 1876, when he came to Athens, which has since been his home, and where he has held important and honorable civic and professional positions. From 1880 to 1885 he was lecturer on medical jurisprudence in the university of Georgia. He is an honored member of the State Medical society, of which he was vice-president in 1888, and was censor from 1882 to 1887. In 1892-93 he served as alderman on the city council of Athens. A gentleman of the highest literary culture and professional attainments, none outranks him in the public esteem. Dr. Gerdine was married in Mississippi, in 1871, to Miss Susan, daughter of the late Thomas W. Golding-a union which has been blessed with nine children: Thomas G., Susan G., John, Lucy, William, Mary E., Sarah H., Lynton and Marion C. The doctor is a member of the masonic fraternity and of the Presby- terian church, of which he is an elder.

I H. GOSS, physician and surgeon, Athens, Clarke Co., Ga., was born in Banks county, Ga., April 28, 1853. When ten years of age he went with his family to Fayette county, Ala., and after living there five years returned to Georgia, and was in the merchandise business for two years-during which time he studied medicine. He then attended the medical college at Louisville, Ky., from which he graduated in 1875. The ensuing year he took a post-graduate course at the same institution, after which he located in Madison county, Ga., where he successfully practiced his profession three years. He then went to New York, where he attended what is now the medical department of Columbia college. Returning home, he resumed his practice and continued it until 1889, when he took a course in the post-graduate school and hospital in New York, also a course in the New York Polyclinic, and attended the Loomis laboratory, in New York, from which he was graduated in 1889. He then came to Athens, where he located, in January, 1890, and commenced the practice of his profession. But in the winter of 1894 he returned to New York and took a special post-graduate course at Columbia college, and may now be considered as exceptionally well equipped and perma- nently located. He is a member of the State Medical association and of the

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American Medical association. He was a member of the ninth international medical congress, which met in Washington, D. C., in 1887, and also of the Pan- American medical congress, which met in the same city in 1893. Comparatively a young man, unquestionably devoted to his profession, and ambitious of attaining the highest excellence, he certainly has before him a brilliant professional career. Dr. Goss was married, in 1878, to Miss Everleila, daughter of John M. Mont- gomery, now deceased, of Madison county, Ga., by whom he has had three children: Ralph M., Agnes C. and Leila G. Dr. Goss is a Knight of Pythias, a member of the I. O. O. F. and a master Mason, and a prominent member of the Methodist church.

WILLIAM S. HOLMAN, president Athens Electric Railway company, son of Robert Holman, was born in Bowling Green, Ky., in 1844. The family is of English extraction, and when members of it emigrated to this country they settled in Virginia. Mr. Holman's father was born in the "old dominion," followed farming all his life, and died in 1860, aged sixty years. Mr. Holman was reared and educated in Bowling Green, and in June, 1862, he enlisted in Company L, Second Kentucky regiment, which was assigned to the command of Gen. John H. Morgan. He was in the battle of Lebanon, Ky., besides some minor engagements and numberless skirmishes, and was with Gen. Morgan in his famous raid into Indiana and Ohio. He was captured during this daring incursion and sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, and afterward to Camp Douglas, Ill., and held from July, 1863, to January, 1865, when he was exchanged and joined the army of northern Virginia. He afterward started to join Gen. Johnston's army at Greensborough, N. C., but learning that that general had surrendered his command, went to Charlotte, N. C., where President Davis was. From here Mr. Holman, with nine others, went to Salisbury, N. C., and escorted Gen. John C. Breckinridge to Charlotte to meet the president. From here President Davis and Gen. Breckin- ridge started for the trans-Mississippi department, under the escort of 1,500 men, Mr. Holman bearing a very conspicuous part in the movement. The party was headed off at Woodstock, Oglethorpe Co., Ga., and the president and Gen. Breckin- ridge having separated from the escort, the command surrendered. It will be ob- served that Mr. Holman bore a very hazardous and important part in the closing scenes of the war; that his relations were quite confidential with its illustrious chiefs, and that he was among the very last to surrender. During his service he was wounded -but only slightly-by both shell and saber. In 1868 he went into the live stock business in Bowling Green, in which he was successful and prosperous. Two years iater he established branch headquarters in Athens, and in 1873, so satisfactory was his business, he moved to Athens to live-continuing his business at Bowling Green until 1877. He does a very large business, his sales amounting to more than 1,300 horses and mules annually. Besides transacting this business, he owns a dairy and stock farm near Athens; is president of the Athens Park and Improve- ment company, and of the Athens Electric Railway company. This is sufficient to show that he is a man of great energy and judicious enterprise, as well as unusual business capability. A brother of his-Leander-was in the Confederate service as a sergeant in the Ninth Kentucky regiment. He was captured, was a prisoner in Fort Delaware, and died in Philadelphia soon after his release, while on his way home. Mr. Holman was married, in 1877, in Danville, Ky., to Agnes, daughter of the late James Spears, who died in 1892, leaving five children : Annie, Mary, Lena, Maggie and Robert. Mr. Holman is an Ancient Odd Fellow, and worships at the Baptist church.

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G EORGE H. HULME, wholesale grocer, Athens, Clarke Co., Ga., son of George W. Hulme, was born in Elbert county, Ga., in June, 1859. His father was a native of Elbert county, enlisted in the Confederate army when the civil war began and died at Richmond while in the service. When Mr. George H. Hulme was about nine years old he went with the family to Newton county, Miss., where he remained about eight years. Returning to Georgia he stopped in Frank- lin county a few months and then went to Hartwell, Ga., where he went to school two years and finished his education. He taught school one term in Hart county and about 1880 came to Athens and engaged as a clerk in a family grocery store. After clerking three years he commenced a retail grocery business on his own account, which he continued until September, 1894, when he changed his retail to an exclusively wholesale grocery business. Since he went into business for him- self his trade increased rapidly and he has been exceptionally prosperous. He started on a capital of $2,000 and has done an annual business amounting to $200,- 000. He has already established a very large wholesale trade with a promise of its ultimately reaching immense proportions. Mr. Hulme was married in 1884 to Miss Willie, daughter of the late William Matthews of Athens, by whom he has had three children: George Harold, Jr., Kathleen and Marguerite. Mr. Hulme is a master Mason and a prominent member of the Baptist church.

JOHN A. HUNNICUTT, capitalist and banker (retired physician), was born in Coweta county, Ga., Sept. 16, 1838. He was reared and schooled in his native county, among other schools attending Longstreet institute until 1858, when he went to Madison college, Madison county, Miss. In 1860 he graduated from this institution and returned to Georgia, where in 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Seventh Georgia regiment and served through the war, surrendering at Appomattox. He participated in the battles at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Wilderness (where he was slightly wounded), Petersburg and on the retreat to Appomattox. After the war he walked to Greensborough, N. C., and thence rode and walked via Salem, N. C., to Newnan, Ga. He taught school some months and read medicine, and then entered Atlanta Medical college, from which he grad- uated in 1866. Locating in Newnan he practiced his profession with growing reputation and steadily increasing patronage until 1870, when he moved to Athens, and has since been chiefly engaged in banking and various important enterprises requiring superior financial management. From 1883 to 1893 he was president of the Bank of the University, of which he is now one of the directors. Since his retirement from the presidency of that bank he has been president of the Athens Savings bank, and is also president of the Athens Gas company and the Athens Fertilizer company, and is on the board of directors of the Southern Mutual In- surance company, a position he has held for twenty years. He has served several terms as a member of the city council of Athens and also as mayor of the city. He was one of the best and truest and most progressive officials the city ever had, and has ever been foremost in any and every movement looking to the interest and welfare of the people and the upbuilding of the city-gas, electric lights and its sanitary improvement. For the poor and distressed he has always had a soft heart and an open purse. Dr. Hunnicutt was married Feb. 22, 1870, to Miss Mary L., daughter of the late Louis J. Deupree (of Huguenot lineage), by whom he has had eight children: Martha A., Lucy E., Deupree, Mary H., Sarah E., Eleanor K., John A., Jr., and Nellie G. Dr. Hunnicutt is a prominent member of the Methodist church, of which he is a steward and trustee.

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EDWIN K. LUMPKIN, lawyer, Athens, Clarke Co., Ga., son of Prof. W. W. Lumpkin (now of Atlanta), was born at the home of his ma- ternal grandfather in Marion, Ala., Jan. 2, 1854. His paternal grand- father was Ex-Chief Justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin of the supreme court of Georgia. While yet very young his father returned with his family to Athens, where Edwin K. was reared and educated, graduating at the university of Georgia in 1872. Among his classmates were Judge John L. Hardeman of Macon, Ga., and Joel Hurt of Atlanta. After graduating as a civil engineer he followed that profession three years, when he engaged in farming and land surveying for three years. He then began the study of law under the preceptorship of Ex- Senator Pope Barrow, and in 1878 was admitted to the bar at Oconee superior court. He immediately located in Athens, his present home, where he rose rap- idly in his profession, in which he now occupies a high rank. In 1888 he formed a partnership with W. B. Burnett, which still exists. He makes a specialty of anti- corporation practice, in which his firm has been connected with a very large num- ber of the most important cases which have been litigated. Mr. Lumpkin was the active moving power which forced the Southern Mutual Insurance company to distribute its immense accumulated surplus (about $1,000,000) in 1888. Mr. Lumpkin was married in 1878 to Miss Mary B., daughter of John G. Thomas of Milledgeville, Ga., and to them seven children-four girls and three boys- have been born. He is a member of the masonic fraternity and affiliates with the Presbyterian church.

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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 69

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