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. II, Part 113

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166

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. II > Part 113

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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RANDOLPH COUNTY SKETCHES.

educated man and a minister of the Missionary church. He died at the age of eighty years, in Randolph county. Mrs. Stewart was educated in Washington county. They have one child, Theodosia E., the wife of Judge J. M. Griggs, of Dawson. The family are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Stewart is one of the leaders of the democratic party in Randolph county. He was elected to the house of representatives in 1891, and for a number of years was a member of the county school board. He is now a member of the jury commission. Mr. Stewart lives in a pleasant home about eleven miles southeast of Cuthbert.

COLUMBUS TAYLOR, one of the prominent and influential business men of Randolph county, of which he is a native, was born in 1844. His family came from South Carolina, his grandfather, Francis Taylor, being a native of the same district, that state, and coming to Georgia in the later years of his life, he died in Randolph county, where he had located. His youngest son was William Taylor, who was born in South Carolina, opposite Augusta, in 1816, and married to Matilda Bass, of North Carolina, took up a home in Randolph county, Ga., in the forties. He was the only one of his brothers and sisters to come to Georgia, and all of his life, save a few years spent in Early county, was passed on his farm in Randolph county. He was in the Indian wars of 1835-36, and in the early part of the civil war performed service in the state militia. He was a democrat in politics and a Baptist in his religious faith. He was a Mason high in its degrees, and in business a successful planter. He died in 1870. His wife was born in Sampson county, N. C., in 1822, and is yet living, residing with her daughter, Mrs. Grubbs, in Randolph county. She is a regular attendant of the Baptist church, and is hale and hearty for one of her many years. To this union were born seven children: Columbus, the subject of this sketch; Marion; Thomas B., who died in Calhoun county in 1875, leaving a wife and one child; Mrs. Martha E. Grubbs; Wiley L., Randolph county; Mitchell, and James M., of Randolph county. Columbus Taylor was educated in the local schools of Ran- dolph county, and when eighteen years old joined the Confederate army, enlisting in Company B., Forty-seventh Georgia regiment, under Col. Williams. He served until the war was ended, and was most of this time in active campaigning. He was in the battles of Jackson, Miss., Resaca, New Hope, and Kennesaw Mountain, Ga., and in scores of skirmishes. When the war was over he returned home and resumed farming. He was married in 1872 to Lucretia H. Pruett, of Calhoun county, where she was born. She is the daughter of Jeffrey W. Pruett, a merchant planter of Calhoun county, whose parents were Virginians. Mrs. Taylor is graduate of Bethel Female college of Cuthbert, who, after teaching school eight years continuously in the neighborhood with splendid success and to the entire satisfaction of her patrons, was married to Mr. Taylor, and is the mother of four children: William O., Lillie May, Gertrude and Edgar. Lillie May was married to Mr. A. K. Martin of Cuthbert. Mr. Taylor is a democrat, and in 1886-87 represented his county in the legislature. He has also been a useful member of the county board of education. In 1884 Mr. Taylor com- menced the general merchandise business on the home farm, and in 1888 he moved to Cuthbert, where a year later he opened a store. This was moved back to the old place in 1893. Mr. Taylor conducts his business, which is ten miles out in the country, but his family live in Cuthbert, where the children are being educated. Aug. 6, 1895, he was elected ordinary of Randolph county to fill the unexpired term of M. Gormley, deceased. He was elected as a democrat by a vote of three to one over his populist opponent. Mr. Taylor and wife are members of the Baptist church. His business career has been an honorable one, and his

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reputation among business men is first-class, while socially he enjoys the highest respect and esteem among his fellow citizens.

J F. TRIPPE, planter, Shellman, is a native of Greene county, Ga. He was born in 1839, and is the son of James Madison and Rhoda H. (Rolland) Trippe, of Greene county, Ga. J. M. Trippe was born in Hancock county, Jan. 12, 1814, and his wife was born Feb. 1, 1818, in Greene county. In the last mentioned county they grew to maturity and were married, and there resided until their son, J. F. Trippe, was nine years of age, when they moved to Muscogee county and lived one year and thence to Stewart county. For seven years they lived twelve miles north of Lumpkin, then moving to Randolph county and settling in the tenth district, where they resided three years. The father died March 9, 1878. He was a brave soldier in the war and belonged to Company A, Second Georgia cavalry. The mother died Jan. 26, 1878, leaving one child, J. F. Trippe. He spent his boyhood days in Greene, Stewart and Randolph counties, and studied dentistry in Cuthbert under Dr. Hammel of that place, forming a co-partnership in 1859 with that gentleman. He practiced his profession at various points until the war, when he joined the regiment made up in Randolph county, the Cuthbert Rifles, which afterward became a part of the Fifth Georgia, under Col. M. K. Jackson, of Augusta. In about a year he was elected first lieutenant of the Second Georgia cavalry of Cuthbert, and then he finished the war serving under that intrepid officer, Gen. Forrest. He was in the battles of Corinth, Miss., at Murfreesboro, Tenn., under Forrest; at Perryville, Ky., under Bragg; Mis- sionary Ridge, Resaca, Jonesboro, and Atlanta, Ga. Then he went to the Carolinas, engaging in skirmishes all along the way, till the surrender of John- ston. At Murfreesboro, Tenn., the escapes Mr. Trippe made were miraculous. He was in the thickest of the fight, and after the battle found where seventeen bullets had been shot through his clothes without him receiving a scratch or a wound. After the war Mr. Trippe found that dentistry was not in as much demand as products for the stomach, and he turned his attention to farming, which he has since pursued. While home on a furlough Feb. 26, 1863, he married May E. Mayo, a native of Marion county, Ga. She was born July 10, 1842, and is the daughter of Benjamin Mayo, of Marion county. To this union have been born seven children, as follows: James B. Trippe, living at home; William H., living near the home place; Mary T., deceased wife of John Freeman, of Worth county : Thomas T., living near the home place; Emma L., married to the husband of her deceased sister; John Lee, deceased, and Fletcher Milton. Mr. and Mrs. Trippe are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is clerk and one of the trustees. In politics Mr. Trippe is a populist, and in the fall of 1893 was nominated by the people's party the day before the election to represent the county in the legislature. The regular nominee, Mr. Newton, was found to be inelligible, and Mr. Trippe at the twelfth hour made a hard fight, proving his popularity in the county. He lives on a large farm near Shellman.

REV. P. S. TWITTY. Andrew Female college, of Cuthbert, Ga., in its forty years of existence, has graduated some of the most noted women of the state, and has established a reputation known in every part of the country. It was founded in 1854, and the first president was Rev. John W. Caldwell, a member of the Methodist conference. He was succeeded by Capt. A. H. Flewellen, Dr. A. S. Hamilton, Rev. J. B. McGehee, Rev. H. W. Key and Rev. P. S. Twitty, who is now in charge. The building was destroyed by fire in April, 1892, and was rebuilt at a cost of $22,000. It contains sixty rooms, all elegantly furnished, and

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possesses all modern equipments. Rev. P. S. Twitty was born in Meriwether county, Ga., in February, 1842. He was educated in the schools of Americus, Ga., and taught school for several years after the war. He was just reaching manhood when the call for volunteers was heard in 1862, and he joined the Sumpter Light guards, of Americus, Capt. W. L. Johnson. The company was assigned to the Fourth Georgia regiment, and participated in some very hard campaigning and desperate battles. While fate spared his life, yet he seemed particularly unfortunate in receiving wounds, and was four times injured during the war. The first was at Malvern Hill, Va .; the second at Antietam, Md .; the third at Washington, D. C., while on Gen. Early's raid through Maryland, and the last at Winchester, Va. He was captured at Gettysburg, and taken to Point Lookout, Md., where he was a prisoner for eight months. He was exchanged and returned to his command, serving to the conclusion of the war. He attained the position of orderly-sergeant while in service. For awhile after the war he engaged in merchandising, and then taught school at Smithville. In 1872 he joined the Methodist conference, and until 1890, occupied the pulpit of their church. Part of this time he was presiding elder of the Waycross and Americus districts. In 1890 he was elected to the presidency of Andrew Female college. Rev. Mr. Twitty descends from one of two brothers who came from the northern part of Ireland to America in the eighteenth century. One brother joined Daniel Boone in the settlement of Kentucky, while the other located in North Carolina. From the latter springs the Georgia family, Peter Twitty coming to this state in 1800. John W. Twitty, the father of Rev. Mr. Twitty, was an itinerant preacher in the Methodist church and died in Americus in 1852 when he was thirty-three years of age. Mr. Twitty was married to Rebecca Smith of Americus, Ga., and to them have been born seven children: John, Lucy, Howard, Annie, Russel, Helen and Peter. He is a man of spotless integrity, and is conscious to all the affairs of life. He is amiable in disposition, courteous, and ever mindful of the feelings of others. Andrew Female college has enjoyed a prosperous career under his administration, and has been advanced in the standing of educational institutions of the land.

W.J. T. WHALEY, planter and ginner, Shellman, was born where he now lives in 1848. He was the son of Wilkins D. Whaley and Malinda (Lindsey) Whaley, natives of Troup county. They came to Randolph county in 1832 and there lived all their lives. James Adolphus Whaley, grandfather of the subject of this memoir, with his wife came to Randolph county about the same time and settled the town known as Cleveland, on the line between Terrell and Randolph. He built a great mill on Lunkey creek and was an important personage in the neighborhood. They had eight children, all of whom are deceased. Wilkins Whaley married in Troup county, and was a blacksmith and farmer. He served in the late war and died in July, 1880, aged sixty years. His wife died in 1877, aged fifty-five years. To this union were born nine children that lived to be grown, one of whom is now deceased. They are Mrs. Nancy E. Hart, Mrs. Susan Sappington, Mrs. Fredonia Hart, Armenta Ellen McMillan, James A., W. J. T., Mrs. Texas Anne Arnold, Ardella, deceased, Mrs. Valeria Victoria Bigby. Mr. W. J. T. Whaley attained his majority in the neighborhood in which he now lives, and when fifty-three years old was married to Fannie E. Wall, a native of Marion county. She came to Randolph county with her parents in 1860, and was educated at Brookville, Randolph Co., and Pineville, Marion Co. She was the daughter of Thomas A. and Eliza (Powell) Wall. Mrs. Whaley was an excellent Christian woman, and her death in September, 1883, was much lamented. She left the following children: William Wesley, Thomas Wall, Joe Davis,

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Homer Powell, Annie May. Thomas Wall is married and lives in Randolph. Mr. Whaley's second marriage was to Fannie V. T. Stewart, born in Ellerville, near Americus, Ga. She was the daughter of W. D. Stewart, a native of Georgia, now deceased, and her mother was Martha Ann Stovall, born in this state and still living in Randolph county. Mr. Whaley was about twelve years of age when his parents moved to Dawson, where Mrs. Whaley was reared and educated. She is the mother of two living children, Birdie, and Robert Roy. Mr. Whaley belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church and is a democrat in politics. He is considered one of the best farmers in the county and owns a magnificent farm, in a high state of cultivation.

RICHMOND COUNTY.

MAJ. JOSEPH V. H. ALLEN, was born in Augusta, Ga., May 22, 1830, and was the youngest child and son of Richard Allen, of that city. Like many citizens of that city, his early and only training was obtained at the Richmond academy. While he did not enjoy the benefits of a college course he was a man of fine ideas and culture. His purpose in life was to become a business man and to that end he faithfully and successfully strove. His first employment was as clerk with Thomas Richards, bookseller, of that city; his next was as bookkeeper for Warren, Lewis & Co., commission merchants and millers. By his industry, integrity, courtesy and ability he soon succeeded that firm by Lewis & Allen, of which he was a member. The commencement of the war found him in pos- session of a paying and promising business. When Company A, Oglethorpe light infantry volunteered, though exempt from military duty he enlisted therein with a commission as first lieutenant. At the expiration of twelve months' time of enlistment he returned home and organized an artillery company that became a part of the famous Sixty-third Georgia, when he was promoted to the rank of major. Those who knew him bear testimony to his bravery, to his devotion to the cause, and his untiring attention to his command and men. After the war he was elected secretary and treasurer of the National Express and Transportation company, with Gen. Jos. E. Johnston at its head. Later he organized and was made secretary of the Commercial Insurance company, which charter was amended and under it the Commercial bank was established. He was the senior member of the firm of J. V. H. Allen & Co., composed of himself and Mr. G. Henry Allen, which conducts a general insurance business and represents more companies than any other agency here. Indeed, as an insurance man Maj. Allen had wonderful special information. He was a director of the Commercial bank, Augusta & Knoxville Railroad company, Augusta, Chicago & Elberton Railroad company, and a trustee of the Augusta Free school and the Augusta Orphan asylum. Maj. Allen was a man of fine business qualities, of remarkable genial nature, of marked courtesy and manly bearing. His executive talents were observed by the people and by them pressed into their service; many times a member of the council, always giving satisfaction to his constituency. In 1870-71 he was elected mayor of Augusta; his term was distinguished by conservatism, ability and faithfulness. Besides suggesting many reforms in the administration of the city he was conspicuous in forming and maintaining to a high efficiency a police force that has not been excelled since or before his administration. In

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his inaugural address in December, 1869, he alluded to the improvement and enlargement of the Augusta canal, the first suggestions put forth on this important subject. April 1, 1870, he sent a message to the council, in which he urged the step to be taken and submitted a contract for enlargement. Said he: "The Augusta canal contains the germ of the future prosperity and growth of our community and that by increasing its capacity to the extent now known to be practicable we have within our reach the only means of adding to our personal wealth and population." When this scheme was finally executed, and he chanced to think of the past, he seemed happy in the recollection that during his official connection he had given this great measure his encouragement. He was a member of the national democratic convention that nominated Mr. Tilden, and a member of the state convention that nominated Gov. Colquitt, and at the time of his death was chairman of the county democratic executive committee.

RICHARD ELLIOTT ALLEN, leading underwriter, Augusta, Ga., was bornf in that city July 21, 1861. He was reared in the city of his birth, receiving his education at the old Richmond county academy, which seat of learning he left in 1879. For three years thereafter he was engaged as clerk for Garrett & Latimer, cotton factors of Augusta. Upon the death of his father, Joseph V. H. Allen, in 1883, he was taken into partnership in the insurance business of his brother, G. H. Allen, who had assumed charge of the business of his father. G. H. Allen having died in 1885 the business has since been carried on alone by the distinguished gentleman whose name entitles this sketch, though the original firm title of J. V. H. Allen & Co. is still retained. This house represents some of the strongest and stanchest insurance organizations in the world, and it may be said to the credit of the house that every honest claim has been promptly met, since it was founded in 1866. The companies here represented comprise such high-class concerns as the Royal of England, Liverpool and London and Globe of England, Imperial of England, Insurance Company of North America, Phil- adelphia, Aetna of Hartford, Conn., National of Hartford, Conn., New York Underwriters' agency, and the Georgia Home Insurance company, of Columbus, Ga. The clientage of this house, while largely local, also comes from the territory in South Carolina and eastern Georgia contiguous to the city of Augusta. Mr. Richard E. Allen, the present sole proprietor, is one of the best known residents of the "electric city." He is identified with a number of useful organizations, and is also a large real estate owner. He is president of the Augusta Real Estate and Building association. The agency he controls has long afforded great con- veniences and advantages to the residents of Augusta and vicinity. During the years of 1892, 1893, 1894 and 1895 R. E. Allen was on the board of assessors of Augusta. In masonic circles he is especially prominent, being eminent com- mander of Georgia commandery No. I, Knights Templar, and grand junior warden of the grand lodge, Knights Templar, of Georgia. Mr. Allen is also a demitted member of the Knights of Pythias.

DR. JOSEPH EVE ALLEN, professor of obstetrics and pediatrics of the medical department of the university of Georgia, was born in Augusta in 1857. He was brought up and educated in Augusta and was graduated from the medical department of the state university in 1877, and at once commenced practice. In 1880 Dr. Allen was appointed lecturer on clinical midwifery, and in 1884-5 he was adjunct to the chair of obstetrics, and in 1894 he was appointed to the chair he now holds. He is president of the Augusta Academy of Medicine, and has served some time on the Augusta board of health. He is consulting obstetrician to the city hospital and to the Freedman's hospital of Augusta. Dr.

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Allen is past master of Social lodge No. I, F. and A. M., and is a Knight Templar, being prelate of Georgia commandery, of Augusta. He also belongs to the I. O. O. F. and I. O. R. M. Joseph Eve Allen's maternal grandfather, Dr. Joseph Eve, was a native of South Carolina. He was one of the founders of the Augusta Medical society, and president of the State Medical association. He was, also, for more than fifty years professor of obstetrics in the Augusta Medical college, and honorary fellow of the American Gynecological society, and of the Boston Gynecological society, and of the American Medical association.

HON. GEORGE F. BARNES, president of the Augusta Gas-light company, of Augusta, Ga., was born in that city Aug. 14, 1833. He was reared in Augusta, receiving his education at the old Richmond academy, and in 1850, entered the university of Georgia, at Athens, from which institution he was graduated, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, three years later. Returning to Augusta, he was for a time acting correspondent at Milledgeville, the then capital of Georgia for the "Augusta Press." In 1854 he began the study of law under Judge William T. Gould, of Augusta, mastered it, and engaged in the practice in that city. In 1859-60, Mr. Barnes was elected a member of the general assembly of Georgia from Richmond county, and was re-elected for three successive terms thereafter. In April, 1861, he entered the Confederate service as first lieutenant of the Wash- ington artillery, an old volunteer company, and served in that capacity one year, taking part in the engagements at Pensacola, Fla., and at Corinth and Shiloh, Miss. During the latter part of the war, Mr. Barnes was captain of artillery, sub- sequently being promoted to the rank of major, and served on the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina, participating in the bombardment of Fort Pickens and in the engagement at Savannah. After the close of hostilities, Maj. Barnes returned to Augusta and formed a partnership in the practice of law with Maj. Joseph B. Cumming, which partnership was continued for more than eighteen years. Maj. Barnes was a member of the national democratic executive committee in 1876 to 1884, a delegate-at-large to the national democratic conventions of 1868, 1876 and 1880, and was elected a national representative in the forty-ninth, fiftieth and fifty-first congresses (1885-91), and gained much prominence in the latter congress by his able service as a member of the committee on territories. From his entrance into political life, he has demonstrated that he is a successful, common-sense states- man, a remarkably practical man, with ardent convictions and an iron will, and he has exerted a strong and healthful force on legislation. Since 1884 he has not devoted his time and talents to the general practice of law, but has appeared occasionally in cases of special moment. In private life, Maj. Barnes is a model of rectitude.

WILLIAM H. BARRETT, city recorder of Augusta, Ga., was born in that city Sept. 10, 1866. He was raised in Augusta and educated at the old Richmond academy. In 1881 he went to Bellevue academy, Bedford county, Va., where he took first honors. Then he went to the university of Georgia, and grad- uated, in 1885, with first honors and the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Then returning to Augusta, he was made principal of the Central Grammar school, of that city, studying law part of the time. On Nov. 10, 1887, he was admitted to the bar, and for one year was in the office with Maj. J. C. C. Black, present con- gressman. Since that time he has been alone. In December, 1893, Mr. Barrett was appointed city recorder by the mayor, to fill a vacancy occurring in that office, and in January, 1894, he was elected to fill the unexpired term by the city council. Mr. Barrett takes an active part in politics. He belongs to no secret order, and is a member of the Episcopal church.

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COL. THOMAS GLASCOCK BARRETT, stock and bond broker, of Augusta, Ga., was born in that city July 5, 1838. His father, Thomas, was a native of Augusta, Ga. Prior to the civil war, he was president of the State bank of Augusta, and during that war, president of the City bank of Augusta. He was in the Con- federate service, being a member of the "Silver Grays," Georgia reserves, a com- pany from the city of Augusta. He died in April, 1865, at the age of fifty-eight years. His father, Thomas, grandfather of Thomas Glascock, was a native of England, and came to Georgia in early manhood. He established a commission business in the city of Augusta, soon after his arrival, which he successfully conducted until his death, in 1825. He was married to Miss Strong, a native of Oxford, England, and that union was blessed by the birth of seven children, of whom Thomas, the father of Thomas Glascock, was the third. The maternal great-grandfather of Thomas Glascock Barrett was Thomas Glascock. Both he and his father, William Glascock, served in the armies of the colonies during the war of the revolution, the former in active service, and the latter in the civil service, for a time. William, the father of Thomas, was the first speaker of the Georgia house of representatives. Thomas Glascock, at the close of the war of the revolution, had reached the rank of brigadier of militia, enlisting as a lieutenant. He was attached to the staff of Pulaski, and bore that general from the field when severely wounded by the British at the battle of Savannah, Ga. Thomas Glascock, maternal grandfather of Thomas Glascock Barrett, commanded a Georgia brigade in the Seminole war, and was a brigadier-general. He also served for several terms in the congress of the United States. Thomas Glascock Barrett was reared in the city of Augusta, Ga., and educated at the private school of Prof. Snowden and Richmond County academy, subsequently attending the Georgia Military college, from which he was graduated in 1858. Entering the wholesale drug business in Augusta, together with his father, Thomas Barrett, and his cousin, John B. Carter, under the firm-name of Barrett, Carter & Co., in 1859, he and his associates were very successful and continued in that business until the dissolution of the firm, ten years later. In 1869, he entered the wholesale produce and commission business, and carried it on successfully for eleven years. In 1882 Mr. Barrett was elected president of the Bath Paper mills, of Augusta, holding that position four years, and resigned, owning a large amount of the stock of the mills. In 1890 he established the stock and bond brokerage business in which he is now engaged. The war record of Mr. Barrett is a notable one. He entered the Confederate service as a member of the Irish volunteers, a company organized a great many years before the war, and of which he was elected lieutenant, in 1858. His company was assigned to the Fifth Georgia infantry, being known as Company C. After a service of nine months, he returned to Augusta, in order to organize another company; but just about the time he had completed that task he received a telegram from Gen. Bragg to report for duty as captain of Company C, Seventeenth Alabama infantry, at Corinth, Miss. Two months later he was transferred to Company B, of the same regiment, and was in command until ordered to Mobile, in 1862, where he was attached to the staff of Gen. John K. Jackson, serving on that staff until after the fall of Savannah, Ga., thence being ordered to establish an ordnance depot at Branchville, S. C., where he remained until the fall of Charleston, when he went to Kingstree on the same mission; but remained only a few days, as the army retreated. Under orders from the war department, he was super- numerary to the ordnance department until Fayetteville, N. C., was reached, when he relieved Maj. Huger as chief ordnance officer of Hardee's corps, and served in that capacity until the Confederates laid down their arms, at Greensboro, N. C., April 26, 1865. Mr. Barrett was an active participant in the battles of Santa Rosa island, Fla., Farmington, Miss., "Dog Trot," Ky., Murfreesboro, Chatta-

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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. II, Part 113

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1166

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166