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 94

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 94

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JOHN JAY MOORE, farmer, Swainsboro, Emanuel Co., Ga., son of Thomas L. and Emma Cynthia (Trapnell) Moore, was born in Emanuel county Feb. 2, 1856. His paternal great-grandfather, Arthur Moore, was a Burke county farmer who moved with his family to what is now Emanuel county among its earliest settlers. His grandfather, James Moore, son of the above, was quite small when he came to the county, and followed farming all his life. Mr. Moore's father was born in Emanuel county in 1818 and has been a farmer all his life. He served a short time during the late civil war, but was discharged on account of disability. His wife died in 1879, but he is still living where he has lived for more than forty years, one of the oldest citizens in the county. They were the parents of ten children, eight of whom grew to maturity: Millie, wife of A. T. Durden; James L., farmer; Elijah, deceased; Jennie, wife of L. E. Brinson, Emanuel county; John Jay; Archibald Algernon, farmer; Elizabeth; Mary C., wife of George Dinkle. Mr. Moore was reared on the farm and educated at the near-by country schools. On attaining to manhood he engaged in farming, and also made some money cutting timber and rafting it to market. He had only his own labor and resources to depend on; his father, however, gave him a inule a short time after he started in life for himself. He has worked hard early and late, cultivated frugal habits as well as his land, and judiciously invested his moderate yearly surplus until he has secured a competency and a quite large property-including 2,000 acres of good land. He owns a rice and grist mill and operates a ginnery. He is a good, thrifty farmer, makes good crops, and as to home and farm improvements he is as well conditioned as any farmer in

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EMANUEL COUNTY SKETCHES.

Emanuel county. Mr. Moore was married June 1, 1884, to Miss Cassie Ann, daughter of Richard and Lucretia Edenfield, a union which has been blessed with five children: Thomas Grover, Richard Hilton, John Elijah, and Mattie Cynthia; one died unnamed in infancy. Politically he is an uncompromising democrat.

EDWARD P. RENTZ, naval stores manufacturer, Covena, Emanuel Co., Ga., son of Rev. E. J. and Martha (McGehee) Rentz, was born in Henry county, Ala., Jan. 2, 1862. His father was a preacher, a member of the South Georgia Methodist conference and entirely devoted to his ministerial duties for twenty- five years. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity, and died in 1885, aged fifty-five years. His widow is yet living, her home being in Perry, Houston Co., Ga. This eminently pious and Christian couple were the parents of six children-five of whom survive: Lula, wife of John W. White, Hawkinsville, Ga .; Lilla, wife of J. C. Tanner, Washington county, Ga .; Edward Pierce; George, who married Miss Bessie Rentz, of Houston county, interested in naval stores manu- facture in Montgomery county, Ga., and Charles E., dentist, Perry, Houston Co. Mr. Rentz received an academic education, and when sixteen years of age engaged as a clerk in a store at Bartow, Jefferson Co., Ga., and after remaining there awhile, secured a situation with a firm engaged in the manufacture of naval stores, with whom he remained seven years. Leaving the firm, he embarked in the business on- his individual account. His success has been phenomenal, giving evidence of sagacity, courage, business qualities of a very high order, and a financial ability rarely equaled. He is actively connected with three firms: Rentz & Roberts and Roberts & Rentz, both in Emanuel county, and Rentz Brothers & Roberts, in Montgomery county. At the two Emanuel county plants they employ 180 hands, and their annual output averages 2,000 barrels of spirits and 7,500 barrels of resin. At the Montgomery county plant they employ seventy- four hands, and average an annual output of 1,000 barrels of spirits and 3,500 barrels of resin. They work forty-three crops in Emanuel county and twenty in Montgomery county, and the amount they pay yearly for labor and other working expenses is about $65,000. They carry on a general merchandise business at each turpentine farm, selling a large amount of goods. Starting in life with no capital but push and pluck, well-directed energy and a determination to succeed, and having accomplished so much while young and in so short a time, a limit can hardly be fixed to Mr. Rentz's future business achievements. He has already acquired a splendid property, with good promise of large wealth. Mr. Rentz was happily married to Miss Kate, daughter of Alfred and Mary Garton, of Eufaula, Ala., Feb. 4, 1886, a union which has been blessed with three children: Joseph Alfred, James Tanner and Mary Gibbs. He is a master Mason and an ardent member of the Methodist church.

JOSHUA R. ROUNDTREE, farmer, Swainsborough, Emauel Co., Ga., son of Manning and Lucinda (Durden) Roundtree, was born in Emanuel county Sept. II, 1847. His paternal great-grandfather was Joshua Roundtree, who was a native of North Carolina, whose home was on Tar river, in that state, where he lived and died. Two of his sons, George and Joshua, migrated to Georgia and settled in Emanuel county. From these two brothers are descended the very large number of those bearing the name, scattered across and through southern Georgia. They were generally recognized as among the most progressive and successful of the community in which they live in whatever calling they adopt, occupying high social positions, and prominent politically. Mr. Roundtree's father was a farmer, and devoted his life to that vocation, accumulating a large estate-politically unam-

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bitious. Himself and wife were very devout and devoted members of the Primitive Baptist church-an almost life-long membership. They were the parents of ten children: Sarah, married Leander Sutton; Mary, married Elder Hudson Temple; Jane, married George I. Burwick; Manning R., Primitive Baptist preacher; Ebe- nezer D., farmer; Andrew J., farmer; Isaac U., farmer; Washington G., farmer; Joseph B., farmer, and Joshua R., farmer. Mr. Roundtree received his primary education at the country common schools, and afterward attended the academy at Swainsborough, after leaving which he taught school for five years. He then entered in earnest on a farnier's life, and has devoted himself to it almost exclusively, the exception being the response to his fellow-citizens' demand for his valuable services as a county official. His first service was by election to the office of receiver of tax returns in 1871; after which he was a member of the county board of education, until 1880, when he was elected county school com- missioner, and held the office continuously by re-election twelve years. Besides being exceptionally prosperous in his farming operations, he has traded some in timber lands, and has acquired quite a large property. Enterprising without bustle, and persevering in whatever is undertaken, he quietly accomplishes his object. He is public-spirited, liberal in spirit and purse, and is a popular and highly-esteemed citizen. Mr. Roundtree was married April 4, 1871, to Miss Dora M., daughter of William and Nancy Sumner, Emanuel county. To them eight children were born: Mary A., Amy E., William M., Julian R., Emma B., George L., Lena E. and Joshua C. . Mrs. Roundtree, who, for many years was a working and exemplary member of the Methodist church, died May 14, 1894.

ROBERT J. WILLIAMS, lawyer, Swainsborough, Emanuel Co., Ga., son of Stephen M. and Carrie E. (Pughlesy) Williams, was born Sept. II, 1855. His . father was a planter, and died Nov. 1, 1891, aged sixty-five years; his mother is still living at the age of fifty-nine years. They were the parents of ten children, all living: Emma E., wife of J. W. Wright, Bulloch county; Robert James; Sidney S., manufacturer naval stores, Bulloch county; William P., architect and mechanic, Florida; Sallie Gertrude, married Paul Purvis, Bulloch county; Stephen G., manufacturer of naval stores, Bulloch county; Belle, wife of J. Q. Stephens, Emanuel county ; George Herschell, lawyer, Mount Vernon, Montgomery Co., Ga .; Nellie, at industrial school for girls, at Milledgeville; J. Carlton, clerk, Swains- borough. Mr. Williams was raised on the farm, and received his primary education in the common schools of the county, and finished at Swainsborough high school in 1874. He read law under the preceptorship of Col. Josephus Camp -during which time he was clerk in the ordinary's office and assistant clerk of the superior court of Emanuel county-and was admitted to the bar at the October term of the court, 1880. That year he was appointed United States census enumerator. Immediately after his admission to the bar he established himself in Swainsborough, and soon secured a large practice. He has been recorder and treasurer of Swainsborough, solicitor of the county court, and is now a member and president of the board of education. A stanch democrat, he was elected alternate delegate from his district to the national democratic con- vention, held in St. Louis in 1888. He is now the senior of the law firm of Williams & Smith, the leading member of the profession in this county, with a large and growing clientage. The firm is recognized as one of ability, and ranks high with the profession. Mr. Williams conducts a farming interest in connection with his. other business. Mr. Williams married Mrs. Mollie E. (nee Camp) Moring, daughter of Col. Josephus and Sarak Camp, who has borne him four children: Lida Bell, Robert Jewel, Roscoe Camp, and John H., deceased. Mrs. Williams has, by her first husband, two children: Nettie and Josie Moring.

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FANNIN COUNTY SKETCHES. .

Mrs. Williams is a member of the Baptist church; and Mr. Williams is a member of the I. O. O. F., a master Mason, and a member of the Methodist church, of which he is a trustee.

ARCHIBALD A. MOORE, farmer and lumberman, Swainsboro, Emanuel Co., Ga., son of Thomas L. and Cynthia (Trapwell) Moore, was born in Emanuel county March 10, 1858. (For previous history of family see sketch of John J. 'Moore in these Memoirs.) Mr. Moore grew to manhood on the farm and received a limited education at the common schools of the county. When nineteen years of age (1887) he started in life for himself, beginning with farming on a small piece of land his father gave him, and then taught school some time. In 1892 he embarked in the manufacture of lumber and in the business of cutting and rafting timber to tide-water. He has established a quite large business with Darien, stands well in the commercial world as a man -of excellent business qualifications, of strict integrity and may be regarded as on the high road to fortune. He has a very fine 600-acre farm, with 150 acres in cultivation, and raises sea-island cotton, cattle and hogs. He is a democrat in politics, and is one of Emanuel county's best citizens.

FANNIN COUNTY.

THOMAS AVEY BROWN, a member of the Fannin county bar, was born .. at Morganton, in Fannin county, on June 2, 1861. He was reared and educated in Fannin county, where for three terms he taught school. In January, 1882, he went to Texas, where he taught school one year, and returned to his home. Having resolved to prepare himself for admission to the bar, in January, 1883, he commenced the study of law in the office of J. R. Chastain, at Morgan- ton, and on May 28, 1884, he was admitted to practice in the superior court of Fannin county. He began to practice his profession at Morganton, where he has continued to reside. His practice extends throughout the Blue ridge circuit, where he is rapidly rising to merited prominence in his chosen profession. On Feb. 7, 1886, Mr. Brown was married to Alice D., daughter of John A. and Martha Stuart of Fannin county. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Thomas Thurman Brown, born on Nov. 19, 1890. The father of Mr. Brown was Charles E. Brown, a native of North Carolina. He moved to Fannin county with his parents in 1848. At the opening of the war he entered the Con- federate service, enlisting as a private in Company H, Fifty-second Georgia regiment, which company was commanded by his brother, Capt. W. W. Brown. He died in a hospital at Knoxville on May 20, 1862. The mother of Mr. Brown, Mary Ann Brown, is still living in Fannin county. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Brown was James Brown, born in Wilkes county, N. C., on Feb. 14, 1809. He is still living in Fannin county. His paternal grandmother was Nancy Ger- man, born in Wilkes county, N. C., on Feb. 15, 1805. She died in October, 1892, in Fannin county. Mr. Brown has two sisters living: Samantha, Mrs. Jacob Addington, Morganton, and Nancy, Mrs. Perry L. Akins, Morganton. In 1886 Mr. Brown was the candidate of the democratic party for the office of representa- tive in the legislature of this state, and was defeated by William Franklin. He is at present an active populist.

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MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

JUDSON RUCKER CHASTAIN, farmer and lawyer, was born at the old homestead in Fannin county, Ga., near Morganton, March 16, 1856, and here he was reared and educated in the public schools, his father dying when he was sixteen years old. Most of his education was obtained and paid for by himself. In 1879 young Chastain entered the law office of H. P. Bell at Cumming, Ga., and in August of that year he was admitted to the bar. He then returned to his home, where he has practiced law and farmed since. In 1891 our subject formed a partnership with Hon. A. S. Clay, who is located at Marietta, and the partner- ship still continues. In 1884 he ran for representative from Fannin county and tied his republican opponent, B. C. Duggan, but the second race resulted in his defeat by only eighty-four votes in a county usually 300 republican. This same year he was appointed deputy internal revenue collector of the northern district of Georgia (second division), and served as such fourteen months, when he resigned. . On March 22, 1893, Mr. Chastain was appointed commissioner of the United States circuit court for the northern district of Georgia. He is a royal arch Mason and was reared in the Baptist church. He was married Feb. 15, 1883, to Emma Greenwood, daughter of Martin Greenwood of North Carolina, and they have seven children: Carleon C., Garnett McMillan, Ophie, Linton S., Judson T., Virgie and Clarissa. Mr. Chastain's father was Elijah W. Chastain, a native of South Carolina, born in 1813 and died in 1874. He came to Georgia at the age of twenty-three. He was a captain in the Seminole war and was made colonel in the same war. He was also made colonel in the Eighth regi- ment, Georgia state troops, by Gov. Joseph E. Brown, and was presented with a beautiful sword by his officers and men for gallantry and kind- ness. He was in the Georgia house of representatives from Gilmer county soon after the Seminole war, serving two terms, and later he served in the Georgia senate. In 1856 he went to congress and served two terms. He was attorney for the state railroad for some time before the war, under Gov. Brown. He was a member of the secession convention.

I EVI BURTON CRAWFORD is one of Fannin county's oldest and most respected citizens, and is at present a merchant at Blue Ridge. He was born Jan. 31, 1838, in Jackson county, N. C., at the foot of Caler's hill, on Scot's creek. In February, 1844, he moved with his parents to Union, now Fannin county, in this state, settling upon a farm one mile from the present site of Morganton, where he was reared and where he resided until his marriage. He received a common- school education. From 1858 until 1863 he was engaged in mercantile business at Morganton. Mr. Crawford was a prominent Union man at the opening of the war and strongly opposed secession. In February, 1863, he was pressed into the Confederate service and was enrolled as a private in Company A, Fifth Georgia regiment of infantry. At the date of his enlistment he was colonel of the militia and not subject to the conscript act. But having been arrested for disloyalty to the Confederacy, together with his father, who was imprisoned in the Atlanta barracks, he volunteered for his own safety and for the purpose of liberating his father. Mr. Crawford continued in the service until January, 1864. Shortly previous to the battle of Chickamauga he sustained an injury which disabled him for duty and was sent to Gilmer hospital at Atlanta, and later to Forsyth, Ga., where he obtained a furlough and returned to his home. In October, 1863, he was elected clerk of the inferior court of Fannin county and retired from the mili- tary service. In 1867 he engaged in his old business as merchant at Morganton, continuing in business there until October, 1893, when he moved to Blue Ridge, where he now resides, and is engaged in mercantile business. Mr. Crawford

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became a Mason Feb. 4, 1861. He is a member of Ocoll lodge No. 201 of F. & A. M., at Morganton. He owns several large farms in Fannin county and is the largest taxpayer in that county. On Sept. 19, 1858, Mr. Crawford was mar- ried to Sarah Ann, daughter of Jesse R. and Mary Beaver, of Fannin county. Ten children have been born of this marriage, nine of whom survive: Alice, born July 17, 1859, married J. A. Leg, Dec. 12, 1875, on the decease of her husband she married N. B. Cutcher, by whom she had five children, and died at Blue Ridge April 16, 1891. She was buried in the family lot with her infant child at Blue Ridge. Four of her children survive: Ada B., wife of H. D. Gurley of Dahlonga, born Nov. 14, 1861; she has four children: H. Bruce, born July 19, 1864; he is at present a merchant at Blue Ridge, and has never been married. Boone, born Feb. 8, 1867; he resides at Morganton; married Bessie Chastain, daughter of O. F. Chastain, and is engaged in the mercantile business. Mark, born Nov. 14, 1869, who married on Jan. 27, 1889, Miss Laura Mckinney; he is engaged in farming in Fannin county, near Morganton. Florence, wife of W. C. Boling of Blue Ridge, born Jan. 12, 1872; they have one child, a daughter, Claud, born Sept. 25, 1873, and resides with her parents; Laura, born Oct. 9, 1877, married B. F. West; Maud, born March 6, 1880, and Carl, born Aug. 31, 1882. The father of Mr. Crawford was Samuel Hunter Crawford, born in Rutherford county, N. C., in 1805, and died at his home near Morganton, Aug. 18, 1892. The mother of Mr. Crawford is Celia, daughter of Gelico Jones. She was born in Rutherford county, Jan. 9, 1810, and is still living with her son at Blue Ridge. Mr. Crawford is a man of high and benevolent character, and throughout his life has been strictly abstemious, never having used spirituous liquors nor tobacco in any form. Mr. Crawford is now mayor of Blue Ridge. He is one of the men that donated the site of the school building in Blue Ridge and he is now engaged in building a Baptist church and masonic hall in the town. It is mainly by his efforts and liberal contribution that the structure is being erected. Mrs. Crawford, a most estimable lady and pious Christian, has seconded her husband in this work. She is a devoted member of the Blue Ridge Baptist church and has been struggling for years.to have an edifice built.

[ EONIDAS GLENN CUTCHER, of Morganton, Fannin Co., was born in Union county, Ga., on Nov. 8, 1848. In February, 1869, he moved with his parents to Morganton, where he has since resided. During the period from 1871 to 1876 he taught school in Fannin county, and was repeatedly re-elected to that office, serving in all' six years as clerk. Retiring from office he next engaged in agriculture until January, 1893, when he was elected ordinary of Fannin county, the duties of which position he still continues to discharge. On Aug. 4, 1878, Mr. Cutcher was united in marriage to Nancy Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Adeline Smith, of Fannin county. Three children were born to them: Mollie, on May 6, 1879, who died Nov. 21, 1882; Julia A., born Feb. 4, 1881, and died Sept. 24, 1882; and Nellie, born May 6, 1883. The early death of their two children, both of whom were unusually bright, clever and attractive, left a load of sorrow to be borne by the afflicted parents, which has weighed heavily upon them, and of which time alone can relieve them. The father of Mr. Cutcher, James C. Cutcher, was born July 8, 1822, in North Carolina. He moved to Georgia in his youth, settling in Union county with his parents. He is still living and resides at Morganton. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Cutcher was John Cutcher, a native of Baltimore, Md. He died in Union county about 1866, at the advanced age of one hundred years. The mother of Mr. Cutcher was Martha E. Jones, daughter of John Jones of North Carolina, where she was

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MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

born March 3, 1820. She was married to James C. Cutcher in Union county, Ga., on April 25, 1847. Six children were born to them, all of whom are living: Mary Ellen, Mrs. J. F. Adams, Blue Ridge; Newel B., who resides at Blue Ridge; Martha E., Mrs. Robert P. Smith, now postmaster at Morganton; John, of Ducktown, Tenn .; and James M., of Blue Ridge; and the subject of this sketch.

A DAM DAVENPORT, of Morganton, Fannin Co., was born in that county on Feb. 3, 1845. His early education was obtained in the common schools, and later he finished his literary studies at Fort Hembree, N. C. In February, 1863, he enlisted in Company H, First Georgia state line troops, under Col. Gault, and continued in active service during two years. He participated in the battles of New Hope church, Kennesaw mountain and Sand Town, and in the siege of Atlanta. After the war he taught school and engaged in farming. In 1879 he was elected school commissioner of Fannin county, and has been in continuous service as school commissioner since that time. His work as an educator has met with public approval, as is best evidenced by his numerous re-elections to the office of school commissioner. On Jan. 9, 1868, he married Mary Ann, daughter of Jasper and Margaret Ashworth, of Fannin county. They have ten children: Kara E., wife of E. A. Rivers of Blue Ridge, born April 14, 1869; Sebas- tian, born Aug. 16, 1871, and married to Estella Gorman of Grand View, Tenn., Dec. 18, 1894; Walter Oscar, born Oct. 30, 1873; Claude Duval, born Feb. 27, 1876; Prescott, born Sept. 19, 1878; Herman, born March 10, 1881; Luther, born May 22, 1884; Tybee, born Sept. 3, 1886; Zetler, born Aug. 15, 1887; Arthur Beals, born Feb. 15, 1889; and Clara Davenport, born July 20, 1894. The father of Mr. Davenport was William Davenport, born in Washington county, Va., March 13, 1800. He was the son of Clayborne Davenport, a native of Virginia. William Dav- enport was reared in Virginia and migrated to Tennessee, where he lived about eleven years, and settled in Fannin county, Ga., about 1843. He died at his home in this county on April 17, 1875. The mother of Mr. Davenport was Margaret Speare Rhea, of Rhea county, Tenn., where she married William Davenport July 17, 1832. She died in Fannin county in 1880. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Davenport was a revolutionary soldier who served throughout that strug- gle. He fought at the battles of Brandywine, Trenton, Monmouth and Princeton, and served under Gen. Lincoln at the siege of Charleston. After the surrender of that city he effected his escape from his guards with five of his companions, making his way through the British lines to friendly territory, traveling only at night. The paternal great-grandfather of Mr. Davenport was born in England and settled in Jamestown, Va., in the early part of the last century.

OLIVER REED DUPREE, of Blue Ridge, and a member of the Fannin county bar, was born Oct. 5, 1854, near Woodstock, in Cherokee county, and was educated at a private school. In 1876 he commenced the study of law in the office of B. F. Payne of the Cherokee county bar, at Canton. In 1877 he was admitted to the bar in the superior court of Cherokee county, and commenced the practice of law at Ellijay, in Gilmer county, where he resided six months. He next located at Morganton, where he practiced his profession with success until 1891, when he moved to Blue Ridge, where he now resides. Mr. Dupree's practice extends throughout the Blue Ridge circuit. He gives especial attention to cases involving the title to real estate. He is a safe counselor and a very capable lawyer. In December, 1882, Mr. Dupree married Henrietta Beaver, of Morganton. They have three 'children, two girls and one boy: Willie, born

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FANNIN COUNTY SKETCHES.

Dec. 4, 1886; Marion Grady, born July 2, 1888; and O. R., born Sept. 11, 1890. The father of Mr. Dupree was William Dupree, born about 1810 near Spartan- burg, S. C., who moved to Georgia and settled in Gordon county, about 1852. In 1854 he moved to Woodstock, where he resided until his death in 1892. He served as justice of the peace for a period of thirty years. The mother of Mr. Dupree is Miriam, daughter of Timothy Haney. She was born about 1812, near Spartanburg, S. C. She is still living near Woodstock. Mr. Dupree is the eighth of a family of thirteen children, eleven of whom are still living: Joshua, who died while in the service of the Confederacy, just before the first battle of Manassas; Syninimous, who married Thomas Freeman, and resides in Texas; Selena, who married W. P. Dobbs, and resides near Woodstock; Perry Pinkney, a lawyer living in Canton; Sallie, married to Cicero Dobbs, and lives near Wood- stock; Caroline, married to a Mr. Petril, and lives in Cobb county; Vesta, who inarried Reason Dobbs, of Cobb county; Alice, Simanthi, and Robert Lee reside at home in Cherokee county, and Samuel is a lawyer living at Canton.

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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 94

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