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 116

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 116

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1879 to Ella, daughter of the late Isaac Jones, of Augusta, and that union has been blessed by the birth of three children, viz .: Mary L., Ella J., and Thomas L. The father of Frank L. Fuller, Francis M., now retired, was sheriff of Columbia county, Ga., for many years. One of his sons, William T., was a soldier in the Confederate army and served during the latter part of the civil war.

WILLIAM A. GARRETT, of the firm of Garrett & Latimer, cotton factors, Augusta, Ga., was born in Edgefield district, S. C., in 1840, and was reared and educated there, coming to Georgia when about thirty years of age. He attended Mercer university, then located at Penfield, Ga., but was forced to give up his studies there one year before his graduation. In April, 1861, Mr. Garrett entered the Confederate service as a private in Company I, South Carolina troops, and was detailed for duty in the quartermaster's department for two years. In 1865 he was made a lieutenant in Company M of the Seventh South Carolina regiment, and served as such until the close of the war, being an active participant in the bloody battle of the first Manassas. After the close of hostilities Mr. Garrett returned to his home in Edgefield district, and was engaged in agricultural pur- suits for one year. He then removed to Augusta, Ga., and went into the grocery and cotton business, and for more than twenty-five years he has been engaged in the cotton business exclusively, the present firm having been organized in 1874. Mr. Garrett is a director in the Sibley Manufacturing company, of Augusta, and served for one year as a member of the Augusta city council. He is a deacon in the First Presbyterian church of Augusta. He was married, in January, 1861, to Miss Alice, daughter of the late Alexander Houston, a native of Abbeville, S. C., and that union has been blessed by the birth of five children, all of whom survive, viz .: Cornelius B., Thomas C., Jenna H., Alice L., and Henry B. The ancestors of William A. Garrett came originally from Virginia. His father, Thomas Garrett, was a native of South Carolina, and died in 1874, at the age of sixty-six years.

MAJ. WILLIAM T. GARY, attorney at law, Augusta, Ga., is a native of Cokes- bury, Abbeville district, S. C., and is a son of Thomas R. and Mary A. (Porter) Gary. Thomas R. Gary was born in Newberry district, S. C., in 1801, and was a son of Jesse Gary, a native of the same district and state, and was of English descent. Thomas R. represented his native county in the South Carolina legisla- ture several terms, and was at one time treasurer of the Greenville & Columbia railroad, of which he was one of the projectors. He was also a planter on a large scale, and followed that vocation until his death, in 1851. Mrs. Mary A. (Porter) Gary is a native of Golden Grove, Greenville district, S. C., and is a daughter of Hugh Porter, a once famous Methodist preacher. It is related of the latter that one day, on his way to church, he was insulted by a rough man, and the more Mr. Porter reasoned the worse the man got to be, until finally Mr. Porter laid his over- coat on the ground and said: "Lay there, Methodism, until I give this man a whipping." And he did give him a good one. The quotation became a current expression throughout the neighborhood, and is still in vogue. The children born to his parents are as follows: Dr. F. F., Col. Smith G., Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Griffin, Gen. M. W., John H., Dr. Thomas P., Mrs. Ann V. Evans, William T., Mrs. Atlanta F. Hodges and Louella P. Maj. Gary graduated from the South Carolina college in 1861, and in the spring of the same year entered the Confed- erate army as first lieutenant of the South Carolina college cadets, and subse- quently served on the staff of Gen. N. G. Evans, his brother-in-law, who was voted a testimonial by the South Carolina legislature for his successful manage- ment of his troops at Leesburgh, Va., being the only general so honored by the

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legislature named. John H. Gary, a brother of our subject, was the first captain of the South Carolina college cadets, and led that company to the field. He was killed at Battery Wagner in 1863, while commanding a company of regular Con- federate artillery, and on account of his gallantry on that occasion Battery Gary was erected at Charleston harbor in his honor. Soon after the battle of Charleston harbor he was attached to the staff of Gen. N. G. Evans, and served in the Mary- land campaign. Maj. William T. Gary served in the Virginia campaign until after the battle of Sharpsburg, when he was transferred to the staff of his brother, Gen. Martin W. Gary, promoted to the rank of major, and served as such until the close of the war. Maj. Gary was an active participant in a number of battles, among which were Rappahannock (near Warrenton), Va .; second Manassas, An- tietam, and Boonesborough gap. On his return to South Carolina he read law with his brother, Gen. Martin W., was admitted to the bar in 1866, and formed a co-partnership with the general, which lasted until 1875, when he removed from Edgefield court house, S. C., to Augusta, Ga., where he has since been actively and successfully employed in the practice of his profession, and has built up a reputation co-extensive with the state. In all the cases of which he has had charge he has never permitted a white client to be sent to the penitentiary, and but two of his black clients have met that fate. He was the leading attorney in the defense of the Hamburg rioters, of whom more than fifty were under indictment for mur- der, and also leading attorney for the Ellenton rioters; he was likewise the principal attorney in defending the Edgefield lynchers, of whom thirty-three were indicted for murder, all of whom were acquitted; he also defended Jones, charged with killing three men in one fight, and has succeeded in clearing him of two of the charges, the third not yet having been decided. In 1882 and 1883 the major represented Richmond county in the general assembly, and his course while a member of that honorable body proved the wisdom of the people in selecting him. He was the author of several of the important bills introduced during the session, and was one of those who advocated the sale of the state road. He was one of the orators elected by the legislature to deliver a eulogy on the death of Hon. Ben Hill, and was appointed to present to the retiring speaker of the house a testimonial from its members. He is also attorney for the Augusta, Gibson & Sandersville railroad, in the building of which he was a prominent director, and of the pros- perity of which he has been a prime promoter. Feb. 12, 1885, he married Miss Fanny H. Phinizy, daughter of Dr. Thomas B. and Fanny (Hamilton) Phinizy, of Augusta, Ga., and his home has been brightened by the birth of one son, Wil- liam T. Gary, Jr. Mrs. Gary is a member of the Baptist church, and the major is a bright Mason, having risen to the degree of Knight Templar. He is also a member of the college fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi. William T. Gary attended the schools of his native district until preparation for the South Carolina college, now the university of South Carolina, whose president was Judge A. B. Long- street, a noted, Southern author. Mr. Gary and his college classmates at the beginning of the civil war, were formed into a company called the South Carolina college cadets, and took an active part in the attack on Fort Sumter. In 1861 the cadets were reorganized, Mr. Gary being elected first lieutenant.

DR. EDWARD CONYERS GOODRICH of Augusta, president of the Georgia Society of Medical Examiners for Life Insurance, was born in that city April 1, 1852. He attended Emory college, Oxford, Ga., for three years, and in 1869 began the study of medicine at the medical department of the university of Georgia located at Augusta, graduating from that institution in March, 1873. During the following autumn he went to Europe and studied in the clinics of

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London, Berlin and Vienna for two years. Returning home, he began the practice of medicine in his native city, which he has continued to the present time. Dr. Goodrich is treasurer of the State Medical association of Georgia, is a member of the American Medical association, the American Public Health association and of the Augusta Academy of Medicine. He is also a member of the Augusta board of health, and examining surgeon for pensions in the United States pen- sion department for eastern Georgia and a portion of South Carolina. For the past sixteen years he has given much of his time to life insurance examining. Beginning sixteen years ago as chief examiner for the Equitable, he is now not only nominator for eastern Georgia, but chief examiner at Augusta for twenty life insurance companies, notably of the Mutual Life Insurance company of New York, United States Life, Metropolitan Life, New York Life, Nederlands Insur- ance company, Aetna Life, Mutual Benefit of New Jersey, Penn Mutual Life, and the Mutual Life Insurance company of Kentucky. He has been treasurer of the medical association of Georgia for over ten years, and was for some years city physician of Augusta. He also enjoys a very lucrative private practice. In April, 1894, Dr. Goodrich conceived the idea of forming an association of medical examiners of life insurance for the state of Georgia, for the purpose of combining all examiners in the state for mutual benefit and protection. This association has already done incalculable good, and honored itself by honoring its founder, Dr. Goodrich, who was unanimously elected to serve as its first president.

HON. CHARLES A. HARPER, president of the board of education of Rich- mond county, Ga., was born in the city of Augusta, Ga., Feb. 22, 1845. His father, William, was a native of County Antrim, Ireland, came to the United States in 1810, to Georgia one year later, and located the following year in the city of Augusta, where for many years he was engaged in the cotton factorage business. He departed this life in Augusta in 1857. Charles A. Harper was rcared in the city of Augusta and received his earlier education at Richmond county academy, went thence to the university of Georgia (Athens), but never graduated, as he, like the majority of the members of his class, left that institu- tion in the senior year to enlist in the Confederate service as a private in the Twelfth Georgia battalion of artillery. After serving a year with that command he was transferred to the Sixty-third Georgia infantry, commanded by Col. (after- ward Gen.) John B. Gordon, now United States senator from Georgia. In the latter part of the summer of 1863 he was again transferred-this time to the signal service-and stationed at Savannah, Ga., where he remained until the second bombardment of Fort Sumter, thence being transferred to Sumter, but escaped capture. Returning to Savannah, he remained there until that city was evacuated, when he followed the army of Gen. Hood in retreat and surrendered with him. During the civil war Mr. Harper was not a participant in any of the more important battles, though he was under fire many times and proved himself a most gallant soldier. After the close of hostilities he was engaged for three years in agricultural pursuits in Dougherty county, Ga. During that time he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Burke county, Ga., in 1871, locating at Augusta, where he immediately entered actively and successfully upon the practice of his profession, which has been continued uninterruptedly since. Mr. Harper has been very active in the behalf of the democratic party and was elected chairman of the democratic executive committee of Richmond county. He was unanimously elected president of the board of education of Richmond county, he having been a member of that board for the past ten years. He was happily married in 1872 to Miss Mary E., daughter of Hamilton H. Hickman of

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Augusta, Ga., who is vice-president of the Georgia Banking company, and that union has been blessed by the birth of one daughter, Sarah Whatley Harper.

LINWOOD CLINTON HAYNE, president of the Planters' Loan and Savings

bank, and of the National bank of Augusta, Ga., was born in the fine old county of Burke, Ga., April 23, 1858. He attended the schools of his native county for a number of years, and then, in 1881, took a commercial course of study in Atlanta. Returning to Augusta, he entered one of the great dry goods houses of that city, remaining therewith many years, and being successively promoted from subordinate clerk to the responsible position of credit man. In 1888, Mr. Hayne was elected president of the Planters' Loan and Savings bank, and in 1894 president of the National bank of Augusta. His career in the great world of business affords a striking illustration of what may be accomplished by strict attention to business and fair dealing; an object lesson well worthy of the attention of the youth of Georgia. Beginning thirteen years ago as a clerk, he has achieved wealth and reputation as a business man, and now occupies a most desirable place among the successful citizens of his section of the state. Mr. Hayne is an honored member of the Knights Templar, is past master of Webb lodge No. 166, F. and A. M., and past commander of Georgia commandery No. I, K. T. He is a member of St. John's Methodist Episcopal church south, Augusta. He has never embraced the matrimonial tie.

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DR. VIRGINIUS G. HITT was born in Augusta, Ga., June 14, 1840. He traces his ancestry back to Peter Hett, who emigrated from England in 1720, settling in Fauquier county, Va. John Hett, the great-grandfather of the gentleman whose name entitles this article, was born in Fauquier county, Va., and migrated to South Carolina after the war of the revolution, during which he was an officer in a Virginia regiment. His son, Martin, was a native of South Carolina, and was a planter all his long and useful life. The son of Martin Hitt and the father of Dr. Virginius G. Hitt, Charles B., was born in Edgefield district, South Carolina, in 1806. He was a merchant in the city of Augusta, Ga., for many years and later speculated in land. He died in Augusta, in 1888. Vir- ginius G. Hitt was reared and educated in the city of Augusta. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Oglethorpe infantry, which company was assigned to the First Georgia regiment and known as Company I. After six months' service Mr Hitt was promoted to the rank of assistant surgeon and detailed for duty at the hospital at Staunton, Va., remaining there until March 2, 1862, when he resigned. He then enlisted as a private in the Twelfth Georgia battalion of infantry, and soon thereafter went to Richmond, Va., where he received his diploma from the Richmond Medical college. Dr. Hitt was next made assistant surgeon, and assigned to the Palmetto sharpshooters, Jenkins' brigade, and was thence sent first to Camp Winder, near Richmond; thence to southwestern Vir- ginia, as assistant surgeon to the Batelourt artillery. He was finally assigned to the Georgia battalion as senior medical officer and remained with that' command until the close of hostilities. Dr. Hitt was a participant in the battle of Carrick's Ford and numerous other skirmishes on the retreat therefrom, the battle of Cloyd's Farm and Lynchburg, serving throughout the campaigns of Gen. Early in Virginia; then in the siege of Richmond and at Appomattox Court House. After the war closed Dr. Hitt entered actively upon the practice of medicine at Augusta, removing in 1868 to Lee county, Ga., where he pursued his profession ten years. He returned to Augusta in 1878 and has since resided there, devoting his entire time and attention to a large and increasing clientele. Among the

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members of the medical profession, Dr. Hitt ranks very high. He is also an honored member of the State Medical association. He is a member also of the masonic fraternity. Dr. Hitt was happily married in Leesburg, Ga., in 1874, to Miss Lucy M., daughter of the late Joseph Woolfolk, a native of Georgia. This union has been blessed by the birth of three manly sons and a charming daughter.

DR. JAMES MERIWETHER HULL, of Augusta, was born in Athens, Ga., Feb. 3, 1859, and lived there until about six years of age, when he came to Augusta. At the age of ten years he was sent to Georgetown university, District of Columbia, where he remained three years, and then went to Bethany college, West Virginia, where he continued until the junior year, then came to Augusta, studied medicine under Dr. Ford, and graduated in 1879 in the medical depart- ment of the state university. Later he went to Vienna and Berlin, where he devoted three years to the study of eye, ear and throat diseases. Then he returned to Augusta, where he now resides. Dr. Hull has served on the Augusta board of health, and was in 1891 placed on the police board. He was vice-president of the State Medical association during the year 1890. He has also served as president of the Augusta Medical society. In 1882 he was appointed lecturer on diseases of eye, ear and throat before the medical college in Augusta. In 1893 the chair of ophthalmology, otology and laryngology was created and Dr. Hull was appointed to fill it, holding that position at the present time. He is examiner for the Northwestern Life, Penn Mutual, Kentucky Mutual and the Insurance Clearing company of New York, the Washington Life Insurance company of New York, the Union Central company of Cincinnati, and the Union Mutual of Portland, Me. Dr. Hull belongs to St. Paul's Episcopal church. He was married in 1883 to Miss Mary, daughter of Jasper F. Lyon of Mobile, Ala. Dr. Hull's father was Jasper M. Hull, who died in 1863, in the Confederate service. He was a captain in the Third Georgia regiment, and had served from the first. He died at the age of twenty-three. Dr. Hull's great-grandfather, Rev. Wm. Hope Hull, assisted in founding Franklin college, now the university of Georgia.

MAJ. GEORGE T. JACKSON was born in Augusta, Ga., Dec. 29, 1822, and educated at the Richmond academy, Augusta, never having had the advantage of a collegiate course. At the age of fourteen he commenced business as a clerk with his brothers, who were then conducting an auction and commission business, which was subsequently merged into a wholesale dry goods business. He com- bined with them as clerk and co-partner, when after various changes to different firms, he became the head of the firm of Jackson, Miller & Verdery. This firm was in existence until near the close of the war. During the war Maj. Jackson purchased the granite mill, located on the Augusta canal, associating with him in the flour and grain business Messrs. John T. Miller and Edward F. Kinchley; this mill was subsequently the nucleus of the building of the Enterprise factory, the first factory erected after the enlargement of the Augusta canal. During his business career he was often solicited to accept political offices, but always declined except in one single instance, when he served in the city council from the First ward. He was appointed by the governor a director in the Bank of Augusta about 1848, and in 1854 was elected a director in the Georgia Railroad & Banking company, in which board he remained until 1882. While serving on that board he aided greatly in inducing the Georgia Railroad & Banking company to promote the building of the Port Royal & Augusta railroad, also the Charlotte, Columbia & Augusta railroad. With all its advantages, the building of the Augusta & Summerville railroad came near being abandoned when he, having been appealed to by its projectors, concluded to aid in its construction and it was

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built. There was scarcely an enterprise which tended to promote the public welfare of his native city in which he did not take an active interest. During the civil war he was elected captain of a company he helped raise in Augusta, Ga., and responded to Gen. Beauregard's call for volunteers to go to Charleston, S. C., when that city was threatened with a land attack while being bombarded from the Federal ironclads. Subsequently he was promoted to the command of the Augusta battalion, and saw active service in Georgia and South Carolina. He met with business reverses in 1884, and has since, although deeply interested in anything which may be for the general welfare of Augusta, lived a private life. While a progressive Christian, he is not a member of any church. Maj. Jackson married Miss Kate W. Mixon, in Augusta, Dec. 15, 1846. They had nine children, five boys and four girls. When the Hon. Thos. W. Miller organized the Augusta orphan asylum, Maj. Jackson was one of the original subscribers, and was on the finance committee many years. He is now the oldest member of that great charity board.

WILLIAM ELBERT JACKSON, prominent attorney of Augusta, Ga., was born in that city in 1851. His father, John K. Jackson, a native of Georgia, was a graduate of the South Carolina college, Columbia, and was engaged in the practice of law in Augusta, Ga., for more than seventeen years. During the war between the states he was a gallant Confederate soldier, rose to the rank of brigadier-general, and died soon after the memorable struggle. William Elbert Jackson was reared and received his primary education in the city of Augusta, afterward becoming a student of the university of Georgia, Athens, from which seat of learning he was graduated, in the class of 1870, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Immediately after his graduation he returned to his home in Augusta and engaged in the cotton business, which business he successfully conducted for five years. But finding the law better suited to his tastes, Mr. Jackson gave up the cotton business and entered the office of F. H. Miller, studied law assiduously for more than a year, and was admitted to practice at the superior court for Richmond county in 1876. Since his admission to the bar he has practiced in Augusta, never having resided anywhere else. Though a keen observer of politics, and a student of men and measures since his advent to man- hood, Mr. Jackson takes no active part in the politics of the day, preferring to devote his time and talents exclusively to the law, among the members of which profession he sustains a most desirable rank.

CHARLES W. JACKSON, soliciting agent of the Augusta Southern railway, with headquarters at Augusta, Ga., was born in that city Dec. 25, 1861. He was reared in Augusta and attended the Richmond academy until he had reached the age of nineteen years, when he entered Bethany college, Brooke county, W. Va., from which he graduated in 1882, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Return- ing to his home, he at once went to work as shipping clerk for the Excelsior mill, and a short time thereafter was promoted to the position of bookkeeper and manager of the shipping department. For four years he invested his earnings in the stock of the mill, believing it to be a most successful venture; but that enterprise failed in 1887, and he found himself destitute of all resources, save an indomitable will and a determination to succeed in spite of adversity. Beginning life anew as train hand in the employ of the Central railroad of Georgia, he was successively made baggagemaster, warehouseman and conductor of trains. Two years later, having resigned his position of conductor of trains, he organized the grocery firm of C. W. Jackson & Co., of which firm he continued as senior

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partner until a few months ago, when he retired and accepted his present position, which he is conducting with his characteristic diligence and success.

COL. CHARLES COLCOCK JONES, JR., LL. D., historian, biographer and archaeologist, the most prolific author Georgia has ever produced, and who stands at the head of historical writers of the south of the present generation, was born in Savannah, Ga., Oct. 28, 1831. He comes of an old family, his ancestors in the male line having removed from England to Charleston, S. C., nearly two centuries ago. His great-grandfather, John Jones, the first of the family com- ing from South Carolina to Georgia, was a rice planter in St. Johns parish. Dur- ing the revolutionary war he espoused the cause of the patriots, and, as major in the continental army, fell before the British lines around Savannah during the assault by the allied forces of D'Estaing and Lincoln on Oct. 9, 1779. On that memorable occasion he acted in the capacity of aide-de-camp to Brig .- Gen. Lach- lan McIntosh. Rev. Charles C. Jones, D. D., father of the historian, a distinguished Presbyterian divine, was, at the time of his son's birth, pastor of the First Presby- terian church in the city of Savannah. Resigning his charge in November, 1832, he removed with his family to his plantation in Liberty county, Ga., where he devoted his energies to the religious instruction of the negroes. He was the apostle to that benighted people, and freely gave his time, talents and money to their evangelization and to the improvement of their moral and religious condition. Dr. Jones was a gentleman of liberal education, a wealthy planter, an eloquent pulpit orator, at one time professor of ecclesiastical history in the Theological seminary at Columbia, S. C., and for some years occupied the position at Phila- delphia of secretary of the Presbyterian board of domestic missions. He was the author of several works on the religious instruction of the negroes, of a catechism specially prepared for their spiritual enlightenment, and of a history of the Church of God. Col. Jones' boyhood was spent at the paternal homes-Montevideo and Maybank plantations in Liberty county, Ga. At the former-which was a rice and sea-island cotton plantation on the North Newport river-the winter residence was fixed, while the latter-a sea-island cotton plantation-located on Colonel's island, lying between the island of St. Catharine and the mainland, was the sum- incr retreat. The region abounded in game and fish. An indulgent father gen- erously supplied his sons with guns, dogs, horses, row-boats and sail-boats and fishing tackle. As a natural consequence Col. Jones at an early age became an adept with the fowling-piece, the rifle, the rod and the line. This out-door exer- cise and these field sports laid the foundations for a fine constitution, and encour- aged an ambition to excel in shooting, riding, swimming, fishing and sailing. The opportunity thus afforded for enjoyment and manly diversions was exceptional, and the training then experienced produced a lasting impression. The civiliza- tion of the Georgia coast under the patriarchal system then existent was refined, liberal and generous. The school was excellent for the development of manly traits. The early studies of Col. Jones were pursued at home, generally under private tutors; occasionally under the immediate supervision of his father. In 1848 he repaired to South Carolina college at Columbia, where his freshman and sophomore years were passed. That institution was then in the zenith of its prosperity, being presided over by the Hon. William C. Preston, who was assisted by such professors as Dr. Francis Lieber and Dr. Thornwell. Subsequently matriculating at Nassau hall, Princeton, N. J., in the junior class in 1850, Col. Jones at once took high rank among his fellows, and, graduating with distinction, received his A. B. diploma from this college in June, 1852. Selecting the law as his profession he went to Philadelphia and, as a student, entered the office of

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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 116

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