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 120

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 120

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CAPT. JEREMIAH T. SMITH, of the firm of Baker & Smith, cotton factors and commission merchants, Augusta, Ga., was born in Columbia Co., Ga., March 12, 1850. He received his primary education in the county of his birth, attended Mercer university, then located at Penfield, Ga., and was graduated from that institution in 1870, also graduating the same year from the Eastman Business college, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Returning to his home in Columbia county, he taught school at Appling, the county seat, for one year; was elected county school commissioner of that county, and held that office twenty-one consecutive years. He resigned his office in 1893 in order to engage in the cotton business in Augusta. Capt. Smith has never, however, given up his agricultural interests, and still culti- vates the family homestead in Columbia county, Ga. He still has in his employ

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RICHMOND COUNTY SKETCHES.

the old slaves and their children owned by his father in ante-bellum days. Capt. Smith is a consistent and a prominent member of the Baptist church. He was happily married in Augusta, Ga., Sept. II, 1872, to Miss Moragne, and this union has been blessed by the birth of five children, viz .: Louise Moragne, Ruth Blan- ton, Ella Butler, Roberta Fleming, and Cecil. Mrs. Smith is a niece of Col. John Moragne, who was killed in the Mexican war, and a niece, also, of Gen. William Moragne, a gallant soldier in that war. The father of Capt. Jeremiah T. Smith was born in Savannah, Ga., in 1789. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and died in 1874 at the ripe age of eighty-five years. He was a farmer throughout his long and useful life.

DR. JOSEPH HENRY SPEARS, one of the leading cotton factors of Augusta,

Ga., was born in the county of Washington, this state, on Aug. 10, 1833, being the second son and child born to Francis and Mary (Malpass) Spears. Francis Spears, a native of France, migrated to America when a youth, was merchant all his long and active life, lived in the city of Augusta for many years, and died there in 1850. Mary (Malpass) Spear was a native of Washington county, Ga. On her marriage there were born to her several sons and daughters, all of whom are now living, viz .: Madison L., William E., Frank, and Catharine E., and Savan- nah, relict of the late A. A. Beall, of Augusta, Ga. Mary (Malpass) Spears de- parted this life in the city of Augusta in 1875, aged sixty years, loved and respected by all who knew her. Both husband and wife died in St. John's church, of which they had been consistent members for many years. Dr. Joseph Henry Spears, the subject of this sketch, resided in the county of his birth until ten years of age, when he removed to Augusta and attended the old Richmond county academy, thence entering the employ of the general merchandise firm of Spears & Beaufort, where he remained until the death of his father, who was the senior member of that firm, in 1850, and one year thereafter with the firm of Beaufort, Beall & Co., suc- cessors to the business. He then began the study of medicine under the tutorage of Dr. A. C. Hart, of Augusta, afterward attending one session at the medical department at the university of Georgia, located at Augusta, and the old Jefferson Medical college, Philadelphia, Penn., from which latter institution he was graduated in 1852. Returning to Philadelphia the following year, he was made resident physician of St. Joseph's hospital in that city, and served in that capacity about twelve months. He then returned to Augusta, and entered actively upon the prac- tice of medicine, but not being satisfied with the outlook, he entered in a co-partner- ship for the sale of drugs in Augusta, under the firm name of Clark, Wells & Spears. This firm continued in the drug business in Augusta until the outbreak o fthe civil war, Clark and Wells disposing of their interests to Spears & Height, and Spears finally selling to Height. In the spring of 1864 Dr. Spears entered the service of the Confederate states as a member of the Georgia state troops, and proved a very gallant soldier. Prior to the war, however, he had been a lieutenant of militia, and had been extensively engaged in the manufacture of salt by evapora- tion, which business was continued under detail by Gen. Cobb for the state troops until the close of hostilities. Dr. Spears is one of the oldest cotton men in the city of Augusta, and his experience during a business career of twenty-eight years is second to none in all matters relating to the fleecy staple. He is a master Mason and is a steward of St. John's Methodist Episcopal church, south, of Augusta. He was happily married in 1863 to Mary G., daughter of the late Robert Warren, a native of the city of Augusta, and that union has been blessed by the birth of three daughters, two of whom are now in life, viz .: Harriet T., the wife of C. Winston Pilcher, of Augusta, and Mary C., the wife of John Oscar Wicker, of Augusta. The third child, Ophelia Joseph, died in infancy, about three months old.

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MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

PATRICK J. SULLIVAN, attorney-at-law, Augusta, Ga., was born in County Kerry, Ireland, Nov. 2, 1859, and is a son of John and Helen C. (Daly) Sullivan. John Sullivan was born in 1830 in Tralee, Ireland, came to the United States, was naturalized, and then returned to the old country for a year or so, and during his visit the subject of this sketch was born, but born an American citizen through the act of his father in having become naturalized. When the state of Louisiana seceded from the Union the father left his wife and infant son with the family in Ireland, and returned to America to cast his lot with the Confederacy. He was in active service during the entire war, with the exception of a short period spent in the hospital suffering with two gunshot wounds received in the battle of Gettysburg. After the surrender of Lee's army he embarked for Ireland, and accompanied by his wife and child returned to his adopted home in the latter part of the summer of 1866. Up to the age of ten the subject of this sketch knew no teacher save his mother, and the succeeding seven years he spent at the private school of the Rev. James T. Easterday, a Presbyterian minister. He began the study of law in 1878 with J. C. C. Black, of Augusta, now congressman from the Tenth district of Georgia, and was admitted to the bar April 21, 1880. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in all its branches, rising at once to high rank as attorney, being secretary of the judiciary committee of the legislature of 1882, and was the court reporter for the Augusta circuit, retiring from that position in 1889. He is a lawyer by nature, an original thinker and a good speaker, and with a heart full of noble and generous impulses, wins friends wherever he goes. His genial nature renders him a favorite in the circle in which he moves, and being still young and in vigorous health, there is before him a prospective career of usefulness and distinction which may well be envied. He is an enthusiastic member of the masonic fraternity and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

DR. NEWTON A. TEAGUE, a well-known dentist and a prominent figure in the military circles of Augusta, Ga., was born in the city of Charleston, S. C., Oct. 4, 1861. His father, Isaac N. Teague, was a native of South Carolina, and his uncle, Benjamin H., was a soldier in Wade Hampton's legion during the civil war. Early in infancy the subject of this sketch was removed by his parents to Edgefield, S. C., where he remained until ten years of age, when his family removed to Barnwell, S. C., and soon thereafter again removed to the Porter Military aca- demy, Charleston, where he remained for four years. In 1882 he was graduated from the university of Maryland in the medical and dental departments, and imme- diately after his graduation he came to Augusta, Ga., and entered actively and suc- cessfully upon the practice of dentistry, in which profession he has continued to this time. In 1877 Dr. Teague joined the Palmetto rifles, of Aiken, S. C., and was a member of that company for four years, rising to the rank of sergeant. In 1884 he became a member of Company C, Clinch rifles, Augusta, Ga., and one year later joined the Oglethorpe infantry, of that city, as first sergeant, Company D, Sixth regiment Georgia volunteers, and rose later to the rank of captain. In August, 1894, Capt. Teague was made junior major of the Sixth regiment of Georgia volunteer forces, which commission he now holds. In 1889 Dr. Teague was happily joined in marriage to Miss Bessie Nesbitt Dawson, a daughter of the late Capt. E. J. Dawson, of Charleston, S. C., and that union, which has proven an ideally happy one, has been blessed by the birth of a son and daughter. Dr. Teague is a prominent and consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal church.

F A. TIMBERLAKE, leading commission merchant of Augusta, Ga., was born in Smith county, Tenn., Nov. 20, 1836, and was reared in the county of his birth. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company B, Seventh Tennessee regi-

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RICHMOND COUNTY SKETCHES.

ment of infantry, and in the reorganization of the Confederate forces in 1862, was elected first lieutenant of his company and served as such until the battle of Fredericksburg, when he was temporarily assigned for duty on the staff of Gen. Archer, with the rank of captain. Returning to his own company, Lieut. Tim- berlake was for some time in the same command. He was an active participant in the battles of Seven Pines, where he was twice wounded; the seven days' battles around Richmond, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Harper's Ferry and Gettys- burg, where he was captured after being very severely wounded in the lungs and hip. He was confined at Johnson's island as a prisoner of war for ten months and was then regularly exchanged. He was then made adjutant-general at Att- gusta, Ga., and was serving in that capacity at the close of hostilities. In the fall of 1865 Mr. Timberlake entered the grocery and commission business at Augusta, and has continued in that business ever since. He sustains a most desirable rank among the business men of Augusta and is interested in several local enterprises, being a member of the board of directors of the National Exchange bank. He is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church south, at Augusta.'

DR. AUSTIN S. TINSLEY, a leading specialist of Augusta, Ga., was born in Morgan county, Ga., March 28, 1868. His father, A. J. Tinsley, was a native of Georgia and served in the Confederate states army during the civil war. Austin S. Tinsley was educated in Galveston, Tex., where he attended the Lyon academy from 1881 to 1885, and was graduated. Returning to Augusta, Ga., the same year he was graduated from the Augusta Business college and was immediately appointed deputy United States revenue collector under Thomas C. Crenshaw, marshal of Georgia, and held that position fifteen months. He then began the study of medicine under Dr. Joseph Eve Allen, of Augusta, Ga., and was grad- uated from the medical department of the university of Georgia, located at Au- gusta, in 1888, standing first in a class of forty-eight members. As a reward for his meritorious record as a student he was awarded a prize in the practice of medi- cine by the faculty of that institution and also appointed resident physician of the city hospital of Augusta and dispensary clerk for one year. Entering the New York polyclinic, Dr. Tinsley took a post-graduate course, and later a course on diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat under Prof. Herman Knapp, at the New York Ophthalmic and Aural institute. Returning to Augusta, he entered imme- diately upon the practice of his specialties, and has continued actively and success- fully in that practice to this time. Together with Prof. George W. Raines, M. D., LL. D., Dr. Tinsley was, from 1891-93, assistant to the department of chem- istry in the medical department of the university of Georgia. Dating from 188S he was also assistant demonstrator of anatomy at the same institution for three years, and chief demonstrator for three years from 1891. He has been, since August, 1891, secretary of the Alumni association of the medical department of the university of Georgia, is a member of the Augusta Academy of Medicine and surgeon of the Sixth regiment, Georgia volunteers, is a member of the Associa- tion of Military Surgeons of the United States, the Georgia State Medical society, and is president of the examining board of military surgeons stationed at the city of Augusta, Ga. In 1895 Dr. Tinsley opened the Augusta Ophthalmic and Aural institute for the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, at 812 Broadway. Socially Dr. Tinsley occupies a most exalted position and he is a member of several fraternal and benevolent orders, notably of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Golden Chain. He is also a consistent member of St. Paul's Episcopal church, of Augusta, and is unmarried.

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MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

JAMES PAUL VERDERY, president of the Enterprise Manufacturing com- pany, of Augusta, Ga., was born in Richmond county, six miles from the city of Augusta, and was reared at his rural home, but received his education at the Richmond academy of Augusta. In May, 1863, he left school and enlisted in Company I, of the Forty-eighth Georgia regiment as a private, serving as such until the close of hostilities. He was an active participant in the battles around Petersburg, June 22 and 23, 1864; the battle of the Crater, July 30, 1864, and the battle of Hatch's Run, Feb. 5 and 6, 1865. He was slightly wounded at Peters- burg. After the surrender Mr. Verdery returned to Augusta and kept books for four years for the late M. P. Stovall, cotton factor. He then began the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He was for fifteen years sedulously engaged in the practice of his profession until his election as president of the Enterprise Manufacturing company, retaining that position at the present time. Mr. Verdery takes no part in politics, preferring to devote his time to his extensive business interests. He was for some years lieutenant in the Georgia hussars, of Augusta, but resigned. He is a consistent member of the Baptist church. Mr. Verdery was happily married, in 1888, to Miss Cumming, daughter of Maj. Joseph Bryan Cumming, of Augusta, and that union has been blessed by the birth of two lovely daughters.

HON. PATRICK WALSH. No man has more at heart the welfare of Georgia than the Hon. Patrick Walsh, of Augusta, and no man of the present genera- tion has done more for the advancement of the interests of the city of his adop- tion. For years, alike in state and local matters, Mr. Walsh has proven a safe adviser and a steadfast friend. He was born in Ballingary, County Limerick, Ireland, Jan. 1, 1840. When he was eight years of age his father and two brothers emigrated to the United States and settled in Charleston, S. C., where, in 1852, Mr. Walsh joined them in company with his mother and sisters. Here the future great editor at once began his life-work, being apprenticed to the Charleston "Evening News" to learn the printer's trade. At the age of eighteen he had become a master of the typographic art and his own man as a journeyman printer. Having decided to adopt journalism as a profession, with that foresight and pru- dence so characteristic of his conservative nature, he at once devoted himself to a studious preparation for the manifold requirements of that exacting calling. Not unlike many other men who have made an indelible impress upon the times in which they lived, and whose blazoned Celtic names shine like stars in our political firmament, Mr. Walsh was confronted at the outset of his now brilliant career with that true saying: "Slow rises worth by poverty oppressed." The yearnings of the lad for an education, which should fit him for the career his ambition had depicted were chilled by the hard necessity of daily toil, but difficulty is only a spur to one of the right mettle, and Mr. Walsh fought the battle of life and engaged in the struggle for knowledge simultaneously, emerging front that unequal contest twice a conqueror and doubly a hero. Just as that other honored and beloved east Georgian, Alexander H. Stephens, taught school by day and studied law by the feeble and flickering glare of the light-wood knots, while the stars their silent vigils kept; just as Hugh Miller used mallet and chisel from dawn to dusk and then, far into the weary watches of the night, wrought out the geological secrets of the earth; so, during the academical hours of the day, Mr. Walsh was a most diligent student at the Charleston high school, and in the afternoon, and at night, worked also as a compositor in the newspaper offices of the city. By this untiring double industry he soon found himself prepared to enter college, with a modest fund in hand to sustain him while further pursuing his studies. In 1859 he became

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RICHMOND COUNTY SKETCHES.

a student at that venerable and renowned Catholic seat of learning, Georgetown college, in the District of Columbia. His progress here was rapid, and but for the gathering war clouds which then began to overshadow the country, he would have been graduated in due course with distinguished honors. But, in Decem- ber, 1860, South Carolina seceded; in April, 1861, the sullen boom of the opening gun reverberated through Charleston harbor, and forthwith closing his books, the student returned home and joined the Meagher guards, one of the companies. of the First South Carolina Rifle regiment, then on duty on Sullivan's island. On the reorganization of the South Carolina forces the Meagher guards became the Emerald Light infantry, and Mr. Walsh was commissioned as one of its lieuten- ants and stationed at Castle Pinckney. His two brothers also entered the Con- federate service. Then, the blockade becoming established, the pinch of want became felt throughout the unfortunate beleaguered Confederacy. An aged father and mother and two sisters demanded assistance, and on Patrick, as the youngest son, devolved the sacred duty. In August, 1862, he came to Augusta in search of employment and became a printer on the "Constitutionalist." In January, 1863, he was promoted to be local and night editor, the latter a very responsible position in those times, when each night the wires were freighted with news of life and death. In 1864 Mr. Walsh, in connection with Mr. T. L. Blome, then an Au- gusta journalist, and afterward for a quarter of a century the valued and efficient clerk of the city council, began the publication of the "Pacificator," a weekly paper which obtained an extended circulation throughout the south, which was continued until June, 1865. In founding this journal Mr. Walsh foresaw the approaching end of the struggle-so glorious yet so disastrous-and with his usual sagacity sought to outline a policy which might secure the south honorable terms. For months he was so far in advance of public sentiment that his efforts failed to meet a response, and when finally the Confederate government alligned itself upon his idea and sent Vice-President Stephens to the Hampton Roads confer- ence the golden time had passed and nothing remained but to await the silent heroism of the bitter end. Mr. Walsh's presence in public affairs has been often signally manifest, but this early exhibition of the soundness of his judgment is almost unexampled. Had his views been acted upon promptly, as they were ulti- mately, by the Confederate government, precious blood in all probability would have been spared, and years of agony, poverty and retardation averted. In 1866 he was appointed southern agent of the New York Associated Press. Severing his connection with the "Constitutionalist," he became one of the editorial staff of the "Chronicle and Sentinel," then run by Henry Moore, and edited by Gen. A. R. Wright. After the death of Gen. Wright Mr. Moore sold his interest in the paper to Mr. Walsh and H. Gregg Wright, son of the general. Mr. Wright edited the paper and Mr. Walsh managed its affairs so wisely and so well that in 1877 it absorbed the "Constitutionalist," its rival for nearly half a century, Messrs. Walsh & Wright continuing as sole managers and editors. Upon the consolida- tion the name of the paper was changed to the "Chronicle and Constitutionalist," but in 1885, the centennial of the "Chronicle," the latter portion of the name was dropped, thereby resuming the original style under which the journal first appeared in 1785. The career of the "Chronicle" from 1866 to the present time is well known. Though one of the oldest established journals in America, it may to-day be quoted as one of the most progressive and enterprising. In its opinions it is honest, fearless and fair. In politics it is democratic, but devoid of the slight- est trace of sectional animus or prejudice. Laboring steadily for the public good, the "Chronicle" is recognized as the leading organ and authority of public senti- ment in eastern Georgia and that part of South Carolina tributary to Augusta.

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MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA.

In 1870-71 Mr. Walsh was elected a member of the city council of Augusta, and in 1872 was sent from Richmond county to the general assembly of Georgia, and was re-elected in 1874 and 1876, serving in the meantime on many important committees. He was a delegate from his county to the state democratic convention in 1880, a delegate to the national convention which nominated Gen. Hancock for president the same year, and in 1884 was one of the delegates-at-large to the Chicago convention which nominated Grover Cleveland for president. He was also for four years the Georgia member of the national democratic executive committee. Mr. Walsh made a notable success as president of the Augusta Ex- position company, and by the strength of his own personal resources and influ- ence made Augusta the most talked about city in the country next to Chicago in the year of the world's fair. In a time of national depression, and following immediately upon the heels of the world's fair, the Augusta exposition of 1893 attracted national attention to this city and section. He brought here Vice-Presi- dent Stevenson, members of the cabinet, and speaker of the house of representa- tives, governors of states and the legislatures of Georgia and the Carolinas, and kept the enterprise constantly before the eyes of the nation. So great was the triumph over adverse circumstances that there was unanimous desire on the part of the community to make him some practical testimonial of the public apprecia- tion of his services, and the idea had about crystallized into a movement to tender him unanimously the mayoralty of the city when he was unexpectedly called upon to accept a much greater honor. United States Senator Alfred H. Colquitt having died toward the close of March, 1894, Gov. W. J. Northen appointed Mr. Walsh United States senator for the unexpired term. Before his appointment as United States senator was an hour old, and while friends were pouring in congrat- ulations upon him in person and by telegraph, he took from his desk an article he had just prepared for a syndicate on the Development of the South, and declared with ingenuous satisfaction: "I reckon this will be worth more to the south, coming from a United States senator, than from plain Patrick Walsh." This is illustrative of his ever-wakeful interest in this section, and the thought that as United States senator he may be more able to exert more influence in building up the south and advancing the interests of his people, is a much dearer con- sideration to him than the distinction of the office itself. His ambition by day and his dream by night is to see the south the most popular and progressive sec- tion of this great country; to see Georgia the recognized center of southern development, and Augusta the leading city of the southeast. To live to see this come about, and to feel that he had been instrumental in accomplishing it, would be to him a dearer honor than the highest office in the gift of the people. As to Mr. Walsh's mental endowments, his unimpeachable character, and his unswerving rectitude of purpose, no testimony is needed. These are known of all men. No man ever entered battle with more patriotic love of country than that with which he entered the highest legislative councils of the nation, and no man ever conse- crated his life to the service of his people more unreservedly than did Patrick Walsh. Mr. Walsh's brief service in the senate has been marked by unusual ability for advancing the interests of his section. He has proven himself a man of liberal ideas, a stanch party man, and an untiring advocate of southern develop- ment, and unremitting in setting forth its great possibilities. No man has ever attracted more attention and more favorable comment during so short a service. Mr. Walsh was married in August, 1866, to Miss Ann Isabella, daughter of Mr. John E. McDonald, of Edgefield district, S. C., and that union has been one of uninterrupted happiness.

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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 120

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