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 119

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 119

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W. EDWARD PLATT, undertaker and embalmer of Augusta, Ga., was born in that city on Jan. 21, 1853. His father, Charles Adolphus Platt, was a native of New York, and his mother, Elizabeth (Platt) Platt, was a native of Con- necticut. The subject of this sketch was educated in the city of Augusta by private tutors and at the Richmond County academy. In 1870 he went into busi- ness with his father, who, up to the date of his death in 1889, had conducted a furniture business for fifty-three years. In 1872 W. E. Platt went to Stuttgart, Germany, and was engaged there in the study of his business for two years. Returning to Augusta, he again entered business with his father and remained with him until his death, since then conducting the business alone. In 1882 Mr. Platt was made chief of the old volunteer fire department of Augusta and served four years, when it was abolished. He was, also, very active in the organization of the present paid department of Augusta. He was elected a member of the common council of Augusta from the second ward in 1892 and now serves as chairman of the hospital committee, also a member of the committee on ceme- teries, arbitration, charity, engines, lamps and police. After the close of the war between the states he was elected honorary sergeant for life of the Clinch rifles, a prominent volunteer military organization of Augusta. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the grand lodge of Knights of Pythias; was district deputy for three years and is chancellor of Fountain City lodge No. 35, of Augusta. He is also connected with the Red Men and the B. P. O. Elks, and was one of the founders and the first president of the Funeral Directors' asso- ciation of Georgia. Mr. Platt is a consistent member of the Episcopal church, in whose mission work he is greatly interested. He was happily married in Septem- ber, 1876, to Miss Essie, daughter of the late Thaddeus Davids, of New York city, the oldest manufacturer of inks in the United States.

HON. CHARLES A. ROBBE, who now represents the Eighteenth district in the senate of Georgia, was born in Hancock, N. H., Nov. 10, 1833. At about twenty years of age he removed to Savannah, Ga., where he remained a short time, thence removed to Augusta and engaged as superintendent of construction

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of gas works at various points throughout Georgia and Tennessee. In the au- tumn of 1860 he entered the plumbing business in the city of Augusta, which busi- ness was continued until the beginning of the war between the states. Enlisting as a private in Company C, Forty-eighth Georgia infantry, on Feb. 28, 1862, he was rapidly promoted, being made sergeant a few weeks later, first lieutenant in March, 1863, and captain during the autumn of the next year, which rank he held at the surrender of Appomattox court house. Capt. Robbe was an active participant in the first battle of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, second Fred- ericksburg and Gettysburg, where he received a severe wound in the neck and shoulder on the second day, in the assault on Cemetery hill. About three months later, before his wound had entirely healed, he rejoined his company at Mine Run and remained with it until the surrender, being in command at the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna Ford and Gaines' Mill. In making recon- noisance in front of Petersburg, on June 22, 1864, he was shot in the left arm, but rejoined his command the following September, and was in the battles. of Petersburg and Farmville, Va. After the close of hostilities he returned to Augusta and engaged in the manufacture of artificial ice for one year, resuming the plumbing and heating business in 1866, which business he has successfully carried on since, and is now one of the best known and most extensive houses of its kind in the south. A complete equipment of modern and improved tools are available, and often the force of hands employed averages fifty work-people, inany of whom are skilled artisans. Mr. Robbe also has a drain and sewer pipe factory in Augusta and manufactures a very high grade of product. He has executed many notable contracts in steam heating and plumbing, having fur- nished the steam heating plant of the Georgia state lunatic asylum at Milledgeville, hot water heating apparatus to the Georgia Normal and Industrial college, also at Milledgeville, steam heat for the Aiken institute, South Carolina, and to the Chatham county jail, Savannah, Ga. Charles A. Robbe was also very prominent in the reorganization of the Augusta Ice company, of which he was a director and is now a stockholder. He also erected the first ice plant ever established in the city of Augusta, which is now in operation. In 1860 he became a member of the old volunteer fire department of Augusta, was made chief in 1876, and retired, on breaking his ankle, in 1884. Probably no man ever connected with the volun- teer fire department of Augusta, which was acknowledged one of the most efficient in the Union, has ever achieved more popularity than "Chug" Robbe, and he is to-day, ten years after his retirement from active service, familiarly known as "Chief." So high does he stand in public esteem that he was elected, in 1882, to the lower house of the legislature of Georgia, running some 500 ahead of the demo- cratic ticket. In 1884 he was re-elected and was made chairman of the committee on manufactures and served as second member of the committee on finance. Dur- ing that session of the house of representatives he introduced a bill to encourage direct trade and immigration. He declined to be a candidate for the next term. In 1892 he was chosen to represent the Eighteenth district in the Georgia senate, serving as chairman of the committees on public schools, sanitation and hygiene, and as a member of the committees on military, corporations, finance, lunatic asy- lum and academy for the blind. He was also chairman of the special committee of the senate which introduced and secured the passage of the bill appropriating $100,000 for the building of the new lunatic asylum at Milledgeville, Ga. Mr. Robbe is president of the board of commissioners of the Richmond county Reform- atory institute, and has evinced a very profound interest in the work of that institution. He is a Knight Templar Mason and has been for many years a member of the Sovereign grand lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and

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is connected with the Benevolent Order of Elks. He was for two years chancellor commander of Vigilant lodge No. 2, Knights of Pythias, and organized the endow- ment rank of that order in the city of Augusta, was elected deputy grand chan- cellor for the state of Georgia, but declined to serve. He is also prominently connected with the local chapter of the Knights of Honor, and is an attendant of St. Paul's Episcopal church of Augusta. Mr. Robbe was married in 1867 to Miss Mary A., daughter of the late John Reaney, a prominent citizen of Augusta, and that union has been blessed by the birth of two bright sons, viz .: Frank A. and Charles A., Jr.

HENRY C. RONEY, judge of the superior court, Augusta circuit, was born in Warren county, Ga., Dec. 31, 1845. His father, Thomas Roney, was a native of Georgia, a planter all his long and useful life, and died in 1860. The son, Henry C., was reared and educated in the county of his birth, and in 1861 enlisted in Company H of the Seventy-second Georgia regiment, Gen. A. R. Wright's brigade, Anderson division, A. P. Hill's corps, army of northern Vir- ginia. He served as a private in the ranks until the battle of Petersburg, Va., June 23, 1864, when he received a wound so severe that he was rendered incapable of service during the remaining portion of the war. Judge Roney was, however, an active participant in the following battles: Second Manassas, Chancellors- ville, Gettysburg, Spottsylvania court house, the battles around Richmond and in many minor skirmishes. After the close of hostilities, Judge Roney, finding all his property swept away, taught school in Warren and Columbia counties for about eighteen months; then entered the university of Georgia, at Athens, from which institution he was graduated with the degree B. A., in 1870. Immediately after his graduation he began the practice of law at Thompson, McDuffie Co., Ga., having been admitted to the bar at Sparta, Hancock Co., in the fall of 1870. He sedulously pursued his profession at Thompson until 1882, when he was elected judge of the superior court of the Augusta circuit, and has retained that seat to the present time. Judge Roney was elected a member of the state house of representatives in 1878 from Richmond county, and re-elected to the same position in 1880, serving ably on the committees of general judiciary and cor- porations. He is a consistent member of the Baptist church and was married Dec. 16, 1873, to Miss Bettie V., daughter of Obadiah Florence, a prominent citizen of Glennville, Ala.

JUDGE JOHN T. SHEWMAKE was born in Burke county, Ga., at the old family plantation, on Jan. 22, 1826. He studied at home until he became eighteen years of age and then entered the college of New Jersey, at Princeton, where he remained one year. Returning to his home in Burke county, Ga., he entered the law school of Judge William T. Gould, at Augusta, and after a law course of one year, he was admitted to the bar at Augusta, Judge W. W. Holt, presiding. Immediately after his admission he located at Waynesboro, county seat of Burke, and entered actively and successfully upon the practice of his chosen profession, but desiring a wider field for the exercise of his talents, he removed to the city of Augusta and continued in the practice there until the commencement of the civil war, when he was elected a member of the Confederate states' congress and served in that capacity until 1865. After the close of the war he resumed the practice of law in Augusta, which he continued until his retirement in 1865. In 1874 Judge Shewmake was made the president of the board of education of Augusta, then newly created, and held that office five years, when he was elected a member of the Georgia senate and served two terms, declining further re-election. In 1851 Judge Shewmake was married to

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Miss Lizzie P., daughter of Henry P. Jones of Burke county, Ga., and that union was blessed by the birth of eight children, all of whom, save one, survive. Burke, the eldest son, was married to Miss Alice, the second daughter of John M. Clarke of Augusta. Of the two daughters of John T. and Lizzie P. (Jones) Shewmake, the elder married James Whitehead of Warrentown, Ga., and they have at this time six children. The younger daughter married P. P. Johnson of Waynesboro, Ga., and they have four children. Judge John T. Shewmake was decidedly a man of much prominence in Georgia politics and an acknowledged leader at the bar. His children have, in a great measure, inherited that strength of character and force of soul which made their father illustrious, and they command the respect and earn the esteem of all with whom they are thrown in contact.

BURKE SHEWMAKE, eldest son of Judge John T. and Lizzie P. (Jones) Shewmake, was born in the city of Augusta, Ga., June 16, 1859. He studied at home until twelve years of age and then attended the private school of Prof. J. Alma Petot, in the city of Augusta, two years later becoming a student at the old Richmond academy, at Augusta, from which he was graduated, in 1876, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then attended the Virginia Military institute, at which institution he made a most remarkable record, never receiving a mark of discredit as a cadet, and was graduated, with rank of adjutant, in the course of Bachelor of Arts. Returning to Augusta, Ga., he immediately entered the employ of Z. McCord, the largest grocery house in that city, as chief clerk and occasion- ally acted as traveling salesman. He remained in the employ of Mr. McCord for five years, resigning at the end of that time in order to organize the firm of Beane, Shewmake & Savage. Three years later he withdrew from that firm and organized the firm of Moore & Shewmake, which continued until the organization of the present firm of Shewmakc Bros., three years later. The present firm conducts quite an extensive business and commands a generous patronage among the citizens of Augusta and vicinity. Burke Shewmake, senior member of the firm, is major of the Sixth Georgia regiment, volunteers, and has received the third degree of masonry.

HON. GEORGE ROYAL SIBLEY, deceased. As a citizen and public man, the record of the late Hon. George R. Sibley of Augusta, Ga., is worthy of all the praise and honor which man can bestow on man. His ability was universally acknowledged, and he was known and loved by all. Born and reared in Augusta, he made that city his home for nearly fifty years, and in business matters and public affairs he was ever regarded as a leader and a sound adviser. Successful in private affairs, he was even more successful in the public trusts which he was often called to administer. Full of public spirit and enterprise, the friend of the struggling young man and of the children, George R. Sibley easily took rank as the foremost citizen of Augusta. In the home circle, in the great world of business, he was esteemed and beloved for his grandcur of character and the spotless purity of his life. The most touching incident, probably, in the entire life of this nobleman of God was his connection, as president, of the Augusta Orphan asylum. His visits, almost daily, to that charity were hailed with en- thusiasm by the childish inmates, and the great love and charity he there dispensed were as lavish and substantial as they were beautiful. He treated the young orphans as he would his own little ones and completely won their love and respect. His beloved wife and children idolized him as husband and father, his own brothers and sisters regarded him as a leader and counselor, and his aged and honored father rejoiced in the achievements of so noble a son. George R.

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Sibley was born in the city of Augusta, Ga., on June 19, 1839, and passed the full term of his useful life in that community. At an early age he gave decided evidence of that strong will and resolute determination to succeed which, in after years, was so abundantly illustrated by the places of honor and trust he filled to the entire satisfaction of his constituency. Beginning his manhood with the benefits of the liberal education he had received from the old Richmond academy and Yale college, New Haven. Conn., where he secured second honor, he chose mercantile affairs in preference to any of the professions, and became in all that characterizes such a calling, a model of wisdom, sound judgment and commercial honor. Mr. Sibley was happily married during his twenty-second year, on Jan. 21, 1862, to Miss Emma, the lovely and highly accomplished daughter of Judge Daniel R. Tucker, a leading and prominent citizen of Baldwin county, Ga. Soon after he began his business career in Augusta, Mr. Sibley attracted the attention of the business talent of that municipality. His thorough knowledge of men, his firm, yet courteous demeanor, his cxtended information in reference to improved business methods, his industry and close attention, soon attracted not only the endorsement of his associates, but marked him in the eyes of the public as a citizen upon whom distinction as well as wealth could be worthily bestowed. The natural results of such a disposition, combined with such talents and qualities of head and heart, were soon witnessed by his friends and neighbors in the rapidity with which wealth and public duties came to him. Many years ago, when the enterprise of Augusta's merchants found a substantial exhibition in the organiza- tion of the exchange, he willingly became a charter member and was several times called to the presidency of that body, in whose prosperity he felt a profound interest, manifested by judicious counsel and pecuniary aid whenever either was required. It may be declared without reflection upon the living, that the memory of the dead holds high place in the history and progress of what to-day is a fitting monument of the liberal and public spirit which actuated his life and conduct. When the war between the states called for defenders of the south, Mr. Sibley entered the Confederate army as a private, in 1862, and was subsequently made quartermaster-sergeant, serving until the war closed. In 1877, when the people of Georgia called to their assistance the intelligence and manhood of the state, to prepare a fundamental law in keeping with the needs of the hour, he went into the deliberations of the constitutional convention as one of the delegates from his district, fully armed to meet all the necessities of the occasion; and the record of its labors will demonstrate that his practical sense, firm judgment and progressive spirit found expression in many of its provisions. And when the constitution received the endorsement of the people he was called to the halls of the general assembly as a representative from Richmond county to enforce its requirements by appropriate legislation. In the matter of public education hc was fully abreast of the most advanced thought on that important subject, and he placed himself in sympathy with the cause, exhibiting a vigor and zeal which tired not, even to the moment of his sudden taking off. He was for several terms the distinguished president of the board, and gave, as the system needed it, the amplest proof of how near to his large and generous heart was the education of the masses. Nor did his restless purpose to serve his day and generation cease with these important offices of public service. The homeless and the orphan found ready sympathy and substantial help at his hands, and when he accepted a call, unanimously made, to the presidency of the Augusta Orphan asylum, he entered upon a work most congenial, and to which he brought a liberal mind, coupled with a tender heart. The orphans miss his regular visits, in which he was ever the bearer of kind words and attractive gifts that made gladness come to the little ones whose pleasures follow from footsteps of the good and charitable. In

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municipal affairs he ever felt a deep concern and interested himself in all matters which tended to promote the advance of the city's welfare. As chairman of the finance committee of the council he rendered valuable service in promoting the credit of the municipality at a time when the utmost care was needed to protect its good name and credit, and enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing its bonds become a much-sought for security in the markets of the country at a price that indicated a financial strength most desirable. In the membership of the Presbyterian church, and as one of the most constant contributors to all the good works in which it is engaged, he came up to the full stature of a Christian man, and while the charities of his right hand were carefully concealed from the knowledge of his left, the blessings which follow them rise up to-day in eloquent commendation of the generous giver, who sought not applause so much as he did the relief of suffering and want. He was a valued counselor in the board of directors of the Augusta factory and National Exchange bank and filled most acceptably the high and responsible position of president of the First National bank, whose interests inder his care and guidance were well protected, while at the same time the accommo- dations afforded the public were constantly enlarged. His administration of the duties of this and other offices, though well and faithfully performed, did not prevent proper attention to a large private business, the successful management of which commanded the best of care and talent. In the very meridian of his mental and physical manhood, on July 15, 1887, he died in the faith of his fathers and entered into the rest promised the faithful. The death of George R. Sibley was felt throughout the city of Augusta, and his late associates in business commemorated his death in a most fitting manner. The Augusta exchange passing the following resolutions unanimously: "Resolved, By the Augusta exchange, that in the death of Hon. George R. Sibley, this organization has sus- tained the loss of one of its most valucd members, and the people of Augusta and of Georgia a citizen whose record of official and private worth should, and will be held in grateful remembrance. Resolved second, That in common with all our people who hold in loving recognition the many evidences of public spirit, generous nature and business qualities he possessed, we tender to his bereaved family our profound condolence. Resolved third, That this memorial be entered upon the minutes of the exchange, a copy framed and hung upon its walls, a copy furnished to the family of the deceased and published in the news- papers of the city." The directors of the National Exchange bank also offered this tribute of respect: "In commemoration of the many virtues of the lamented president of this bank, whose sudden and untimely death removes from this board a wise counselor, upright man and trusted executive, Resolved, That this board, as a tribute of respect, expresses its profound sorrow upon the demise of Mr. George R. Sibley, the honored and faithful president of this institution. Resolved further, That the board tenders its sympathies to the grief-stricken family who mourn the death of father, son and husband. Resolved further, That a page in the minute book be inscribed with thesc resolutions and a copy be furnished to his family; also, that the same be published in each of our daily papers."

WILLIAM CRAPON SIBLEY, president of the Sibley Manufacturing com- pany of Augusta, Ga., was born in that city May 3, 1832. He is the ninth in lineal descent from John Sibley of St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, who in 1629 settled in Salem, and later in Charlestown, Mass. His father, Josiah Sibley, of Uxbridge, Mass., removed to Augusta, Ga., in 1821, and died there in 1888. His mother was Sarah Ann, daughter of William Crapon of Providence, R. I.

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Although prepared for college at the age of sixteen, he clerked in the general store of his father, at Hamburg, S. C., continuing in that capacity for five years, when he was made a partner. In 1856 the cotton and commission house of J. Sibley & Son was formed in Augusta, Ga .; his brother, Samuel H., being added two years later, the style of the firm was changed to Josiah Sibley & Sons. He was elected a member of the city council of Augusta in 1859, and served two years. In November, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company B, Oglethorpe infantry, Georgia state troops, and served for six months on the coast; the regiment of which he was a member was discharged, the term of enlistment having expired. Then joining the Oglethorpe artillery, he was made quarter- master-sergeant, and six weeks later commissary, with the rank of captain, of Gen. John K. Jackson's brigade. Joining Bragg's army at Tupelo, Miss., he served throughout the Kentucky campaign, remaining with that branch of the army until the retreat to Dalton, when he was retired on account of broken health. In November, 1865, at New Orleans, La., he formed the shipping and commission firm of Sibley, Guion & Co., which was dissolved in 1867, Mr. Sibley doing business there alone until the spring of 1870, when he returned to Augusta, Ga., to accept the presidency of the Langley Cotton Manufacturing company of South Carolina, with its main office in Augusta, Ga .; also forming the cotton firm of Dunbar & Sibley of Augusta, Ga., which was dissolved in 1877. In 1880 he was made president of the Sibley Manufacturing company of Augusta, manufacturing colored and other goods, which now has in operation 40,256 spindles, and 1,109 looms. In 1889 he resigned the presidency of the Langley Manufacturing company in order to devote his entire attention to the Sibley mills. Among the cotton-mill presidents of the south none surpass him in successful administra- tion. His great factories are patterns of successful management, and are among the best in the land. He has, however, other extensive business interests that claim a portion of his time, being president of the Coaldale Brick & Tile company of Alabama, of the Warrior Coal & Coke company, also of Alabama; the Round Mountain Coal & Iron company of Alabama, and is a director of the Commercial bank of Augusta. In all personal and social excel- lencies, Mr. Sibley is a model citizen. He was happily married, in November, 1860, to Jane E., daughter of the late Judge Grigsby E. Thomas of Columbus, Ga. This union, which has proven an ideally happy one, has been blessed by the birth of six sons and three daughter, seven of whom are still living, who nobly uphold the family name in the several communities in which they reside. Jane E. (Thomas) Sibley, his wife, is the foremost among the temperance crusaders of Georgia, having been president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of her state for many years, and by her noble traits and Christian influence has led ber devoted husband to become an active elder in 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. II, Part 119

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