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 155

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 155

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DR. DUNCAN F. M'CRIMMON, physician and surgeon, Rochelle, Wilcox Co., Ga. The grandparents of this gentleman were of Scotch descent, an earlier member of the family having migrated from Scotland to North Carolina. Braving the ills and discomforts attendant on pioneer life, they emigrated to Georgia, being among the earliest settlers of the state. These members of the family were marked by that strong individuality so often found in pioneer settlers of the states of America. The father of Dr. McCrimmon was a farmer by occupa- tion, and was held in high regard by the people of his county, who honored him by several terms in both branches of the legislature, where he performed the duties devolving upon him most faithfully. Dr. Duncan F. McCrimmon is a native of Montgomery county, Ga., and was born May 15, 1837. After receiving a common English education in 1859 he entered the Atlanta Medical college as a student of medicine. He finished one course and then spent a year at the Oglethorpe Medical college at Savannah, where he was graduated in 1860. After leaving school he located on House creek in Wilcox county. In 1862, entering the Forty-ninth Georgia regiment, he was detailed as physician for the counties of Wilcox and Irwin. In this capacity he served during the war, and remained at House Creek, where he had a very large practice, until 1890, when he removed to Rochelle. He was married in 1864 to Miss Rebecca Wilcox, a daughter of Capt. T. L. Wilcox. To them have been born the following children: Charles L., railroad contractor, in Florida; Louis B., farmer; Hattie, wife of E. L. Revere, Rochelle; Duncan, Julia and Sallie, at home. Dr. McCrimmon was a member

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of the constitutional convention of 1877. In 1892 he was chosen by the people of his county to represent them in the general assembly, and while serving in that body was a member of the following committees: Agriculture, hygiene and sanitary, lunatic asylum and penitentiary. He is a member of Rochelle lodge, F. and A. M., No. 270, and of the Hawkinsville chapter. Prominent in politics, and a most successful physician, he stands among the foremost people of the place in which he lives.

HON. THOMAS L. HOLTON, judge of the county court of Wilcox county, Abbeville, Ga., and a lawyer of excellent practice and ability, graduated from the state university of Georgia, law department, in 1889, since which time he has been actively engaged at Abbeville. His father, John R. Holton, was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1874. Thomas L. Holton was born Jan. 9, 1867, in Appling county, Ga. Like many of our leading professional men, he passed his boyhood on the farm, receiving the ordinary common school education. He entered the university in 1888 and graduated with honor the following year as stated above. Six years of faithful and painstaking service at the bar have placed Judge Holton in the front rank of his profession. He was appointed judge of the county court Oct. 1, 1893, and holds the office acceptably to both clients and attorneys. Judge Holton took something better than a diploma from Athens, Ga., having carried away one of her fairest daughters, Miss Ida Haudrup. Their nuptials were celebrated in October following his graduation, since which time two lovely children have come to brighten their home: Winnie was born Dec. 22, 1891, and William Cecil, born Nov. 13, 1893. Judge Holton is a stanch democrat.

DR. JOSEPH D. MAYNARD, physician and surgeon, Abbeville, Wilcox Co., Ga., was born in Jones county, Ga., Dec. 26, 1856. He is the son of Sanford B. Maynard, who was a native of Edgefield district, S. C., whence he moved to Georgia. By occupation a planter, and a most successful one, highly esteemed and kindly regarded in the county where he lived, he died in 1868. Dr. Maynard was educated at Tremble institute, Winchester, Tenn. In 1882 he matriculated at Atlanta Medical college and was graduated in 1883. He was enabled to do this by reason of having read medicine for several years previously under a pre- ceptor. He then supplemented his course in the Atlanta college with a short one at Vanderbilt university, Nashville, Tenn., and then entered actively on the practice of his profession at Tallapoosa, Ga. After one year he removed to Abbeville, where he has since resided. When he removed to Wilcox county there were only three physicians within its limits, making a large territory to be covered by each. On April II, 1883, he was united in marriage to Miss Lillie May, daughter of William M. Shephard, at that time a resident of Atlanta, subsequently moved to Savannah. Dr. and Mrs. Maynard are the parents of two very bright and beautiful little girls, the elder of whom, Lillie May, is eight, and the younger, Jessie Myrtle, six years of age. Dr. Maynard is a blue lodge Mason, and exemplifies in his life the teachings of that noble fraternity. He is promi- nently identified with the railroad interests of his section, being surgeon for the Savannah, Americus & Montgomery railway, of which he is a director; and projector and president of the Waycross & Abbeville railway.

[ EWIS F. NANCE, a county commissioner and prominent citizen of Rochelle, Wilcox Co., Ga., was born in Robeson county, N. C., Dec. 29, 1846, the son of Joshua Nance, deceased in 1873. The latter was a man of fine influence in his

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county, a member of the legislature, and county commissioner for years prior to his death. Lewis F. Nance was hardly of proper age to do much service in the late war, but he gave all he had, and that was himself. While a member of the Seventh battalion of junior reserves, stationed at Fort Fisher, he was captured by the enemy on Christmas day, 1864, and spent the remaining days of the war in a Yankee prison. Agriculture had been his occupation in North Carolina until 1882, and since in Wilcox county, Ga. He has a good six-horse farm, and also operates a two-still turpentine farm. Mr. Nance is a gentleman who has always commanded the respect of his fellow-citizens, and does his duty patriotically in filling important offices, which, while the pay is only the consciousness of duty well-done, must be held by men of standing and integrity to insure good local government. He married in North Carolina Miss Rebecca, daughter of Henry and Matilda Howell, and has reared a family of six children, of whom he is justly proud, as follows: William O., aged twenty-four, married to Miss Claudia Jack- son of Dooly county, Ga .; Ella E., aged twenty; Julius A., aged eighteen; Almon J., aged fifteen; Mary A., aged twelve; and James F., aged ten years.

HON. DAVID B. NICHOLSON, solicitor of the county court of Wilcox county, postoffice Rochelle, Ga., and a lawyer of superior ability, is a native of North Carolina, in which state, Duplin county, he was born Sept. 19, 1853. His father was the late Rev. David B. Nicholson of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, who was for years one of the most gifted divines in the North Carolina conference. Mr. Nicholson is a college-bred man, having graduated at that justly celebrated school, Trinity college, N. C., in 1875. The early part of his career was spent in the school rooms of his native state, where he occupied good positions, for two years being a teacher in the academic department in the Clinton Female institute. Concluding to enter the legal profession he began reading in 1880 under the preceptorship of Col. William A. Allen of Kenansville, N. C., and was there admitted to the bar. He remained at Clinton until March of 1893, when he concluded to become a Georgian, and is now, as stated, a member of the bar of Wilcox county, where he expects to pass the remainder of his days. Mr. Nicholson was a man of considerable prominence in North Carolina, where he was esteemed for his rare qualities of head and heart. In 1881 he represented Duplin county in the lower house of the legislature, and in 1887-88-89 was reading clerk of the senate. In 1891-92-93 he was assistant chief clerk of the house. Soon after coming to Georgia he was appointed solicitor of the county by Gov. Northen and at the next session of the general assembly the appointment was confirmed. He is a fine judge of law and formidable opponent before a jury. The thorough manner in which he has taken up his work in the home of his adoption augurs well for his future success. Mr. Nicholson was happily married in Sampson county, N. C., in 1876, to Miss Katie Powell, and is the father of five sons and one daughter: Luke P., Justin L., Edwin F., Mary Z. and David B., Jr., and James M. Nicholson.

JOHN F. POWELL, physician and surgeon, Kramer, Wilcox Co., Ga., is one of the younger physicians of the county, and is a native of one of the most beauti- ful cities of the south, having been born in Atlanta, Ga., April 14, 1859. His father, Frank E. Powell, was a very skillful mechanic of that city, a machinist. He was a master of his trade, a kind and indulgent father, and an intelligent gentle- man. He died in 1864. Dr. Powell received a good grammar school education in the excellent schools of his native city, sufficient for him to enter one of the professions. He chose that of medicine, and with that end in view he entered

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the Southern Medical college in 1884. Two years later he graduated from this institution with honor. He then spent a short period in Atlanta, after which he went to Gresston, and took charge of the medical department of the Gress Lumber company's camps. For nearly four years he remained here, until the camps were removed to Kramer, when he began practice there. He was appointed physician to the state wards here, and fills the position most faithfully at all times. Dr. Powell was the first physician to separate the white convicts from the black, and his camp had them separated long before the law prohibiting their con- finement together was enacted. In 1887, at Eastman, Miss Lula F. Sapp became his wife. She is the granddaughter of Dr. David Sapp of that place, and a niece of Dr. Buchan, late representative of Dodge county. To this marriage have been born two children-both boys, and of the sturdiest kind-the elder born in 1891 and the younger a child of seven months, named respectively John and Charles F. A member of the Medical association, and a physician of much sound sense and practical knowledge, he is one of the few to merit the good will and kind regard of friends, neighbors and patrons. He ranks high as a surgeon and enjoys a large practice in both branches in the country surrounding Kramer.

ADOLPHUS A. F. REID, Abbeville, Wilcox Co., Ga., is the son of Jesse Reid, and is a native of Brunswick county, Va., where he was born June 16, 1816. Jesse Reid was a soldier in the war of 1812, and also held various civil offices of trust; was a member of the Virginia legislature for twenty-two consecutive years. He moved to Oglethorpe, Ga., in 1839, where he died in 1861, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. His son, Maj. Reid, was educated under Henry A. Dwight, a nephew of the celebrated divine of that name. He engaged in farming and milling on attaining manhood and was instrumental in founding the now flourish- ing town of Abbeville. Maj. Reid entered the army as captain of a company of state troops, and was afterward promoted to the rank of major, in which capacity he served during the siege of Atlanta. As a personal friend of the president of the Confederacy, he was honored by being in a position to aid Mr. Davis and his party in their attempted escape through this section of the state. Since the war he has been engaged in merchandising and farming at Abbeville. Of his mar- riage in 1863 to Miss Mary A. Stubbs, of Bibb county, Ga., a cousin of Col. Stubbs, who attained prominence in the late war, five of the children born are living. One of them married Dr. Royal, of Abbeville, and another is the wife of Edward Williams, a prominent lawyer of the same place. Maj. Reid holds a warm place in the hearts of the citizens of Wilcox county.

ALFRED R. ROYAL, Abbeville, Wilcox Co., Ga. The gentleman who is here mentioned is one of Abbeville's most trusted physicians. He comes from Worth county, where he was born Jan. II, 1856, and where his parents still reside, his father, John P. Royal, being a planter in that county. Dr. Royal located in Abbeville in 1888, where he immediately fell into popular favor. Previous to his coming he had spent six years at Crisp, Irwin Co., Ga., where he had a large practice and an influential following. The year prior to his location in Irwin county he had spent in Dooly county, where he made his initial effort, having graduated in 1883, after a two years' course in the medical school of Atlanta. Dr. Royal is also a graduate of that celebrated post-graduate school, the New York Polyclinic, having taken a course there in 1887. At this time he gave especial attention to surgery, and now enjoys the reputation of being the leader in that branch of medical jurisprudence in Wilcox county. Besides en- gaging actively in the practice, Dr. Royal for several years carried on a drug

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business, but the outside demands on his time became so urgent he found it necessary in 1893 to dispose of it. As a physician Dr. Royal is peculiarly skilled in his diagnosis of cases, seldom failing to locate the seat of the disease. He is frequently in demand as consulting physician, evidencing the confidence reposed in him by his fellow craftsmen. Twice has Dr. Royal entered the matrimonial state. A niece of Gen. Eli Warren, Miss Martha R. Shinholser, became his first wife, Nov. 16, 1882. Her death occurred Jan. 24, 1885, leaving one son, Warren, born Jan. 7, 1885. Miss Anna Reid, a daughter of Maj. A. A. F. Reid, of Abbe- ville, became his second wife, Jan. 6, 1887. A daughter, Rebecca, was born to her April 1, 1888; Alfred R., Jr., and Edward H., born Sept. 30, 1892. Death again removed the wife and mother in October, 1892. Dr. Royal is a Free and Accepted Mason, Abbeville lodge No. 272, and a chapter Mason. He is also a Knight of Honor, being past dictator of that order.

F. H. WILLIAMS, attorney-at-law, Abbeville, Wilcox Co., Ga., is the eldest of six children born to Dr. Charles Williams, who was a physician of George- town, S. C., and who died in 1863. Edward Herbert was born April 19, 1854. Although the school period of his life was interrupted by the war and the dis- turbed condition of affairs immediately following that event, he succeeded in securing an academic education. Choosing the law for a profession he began its study under Richard Dozier, Esq., and subsequently with Joseph H. Earl, attorney-general of the state. He was admitted to the bar in his native state, and practiced at Lake City and Kingstreet until 1887, when he located at Abbeville. Prior to and since his admission to the bar Mr. Williams taught school in several different states. Since his coming to Abbeville he has made an earnest and patriotic citizen, serving as mayor of the town, and increasing the membership of the Abbeville guards, of which excellent military organization he is now captain. In 1892 Mr. Williams became a member by marriage of an influential Abbeville family, being happily wedded to Miss Laura, daughter of Maj. A. A. F. Reid. Two beautiful children are inmates of their home: Belle Reid and Martha Lovel. The character of Mr. Williams' citizenship has been such since his location in Abbeville as to cause the inhabitants of that bailiwick to feel indebted to his native state. Georgia needs such timber.

ROSSER ADAMS WILSON, saw-mill proprietor, Reidsfield, Wilcox Co., Ga., was born at Eatonton, one of the most beautiful and aristocratic towns of central Georgia, Aug. 3, 1859. His father, William A. Wilson, is an eminently successful teacher, having had charge of the Eatonton high school for a number of years, and from there was called to the presidency of Furlow Female college at Americus, Ga. He was a soldier of the late war and was captain of a company in a Georgia regiment. The people of Sumter county have honored him with their suffrages at several different times as their representative and he is now president pro tem. of the state senate. Mr. Wilson received a good academic education and has made practical use of it in the mercantile and saw-milling business. Prior to 1891 he was located at Leslie, Ga., whence he moved to Reidsfield, on the A. & W., in Wilcox county, where he is at present engaged in business. As a business man he has been very successful; his methods being such as to keep him entirely unencumbered-something somewhat unique among country merchants. In June, 1878, Mr. Wilson consummated a marriage with Miss Cora B., daughter of J. W. Bailey, a successful and prosperous planter of Sumter county. His talent for business and his decision of character have given him a position of influence in the county of his adoption, which he uses with rare judgment.

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WILKINSON COUNTY.

FRANKLIN A. CANNON, Stephensville, Wilkinson Co., Ga., son of James and Leah West (nee Stanley) Cannon, was born in Wilkinson county, Sept. 16, 1842. His paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Cannon, was born in South Carolina in 1760, was a farmer, and married Miss Frances Sumner. The latter part of the last century he came to Georgia with his family and settled in what is now Wilkinson county, where himself and his children acquired a great deal of land, became very prominent, and were classed among the most solid and best citizens in the community. He died April 8, 1844, aged eighty-four years, and his widow died Jan. 1, 1850. Mr. Cannon's father was born March 5, 1809, in Wilkinson county, and followed farming all his life. By his marriage with Mrs. West he had the following children: Hardy; William, Company F, Third Georgia regiment, killed at Manassas; Mary F., widow of H. M. Green; Benjamin F., Company F, Third Georgia regiment, killed near Richmond, July 18, 1862; Nancy A., deceased; Edward B., Company F, Third Georgia regiment, killed at Gettysburg; Winniford, widow of James A. Sheffield; Franklin Allen, the subject of this sketch; Leah M .; Rachel A., deceased; Lucretia J., wife of R. J. Stuckey; Joseph M., deceased; Elsie, wife of N. Perry, and George W. Mrs. Cannon was twice married, and by her first marriage to Joshua West she had two children: James Stanley, born in 1827, and Frances E., widow of James Helton, born March 15, 1830. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon were both very devoted members of the Primitive Baptist church. Mr. Cannon died June 13, 1857; Mrs. Cannon, who was born Feb. 25, 1810, in Jones county, N. C., died July 20, 1874. Mr. Franklin A. Cannon was reared on the farm, and received a fairly good education. In June, 1862, he enlisted in Company F, Third Georgia regiment, and at the battle of Malvern Hill received a gun-shot wound from which he was disabled, and was discharged at Orange Court House, Aug. 12, 1863. On his return from the army he taught school, then attended Emory college, Oxford, a year, and also Oglethorpe university a year. He taught first in 1866, and has taught school more or less ever since. He taught in Twiggs county and adjoining counties nine or ten years. Himself and his youngest brother, George W., born Oct. 3, 1853, own about 1,400 acres of excellent land, where they with three sisters and a niece are living, enjoying the fruits of their labor and the soil, unembittered by any jealousies. Nathaniel Cannon, soon after settling in Wilkinson county, donated the land where "Old Sandy church" was built. Of this congregation he remained a member until the year 1836, when the church separated into two factions known as Missionary and Primitive Baptists. He went with the Primi- tives and donated the land that Mount Olive church was built on, and remained a devoted member of that church until his death. 1. He was interred in the ceme- tery at "Old Sandy," where all of the deceased of the Cannon family have been buried, except those who sleep beneath Virginia's soil. Nathaniel and Frances Cannon had four sons: Miles, Allen, Wiley and James. Miles married Miss Isler and had seven sons and one daughter. Four of these sons were killed in the late war: Nathaniel, Nathan, Wiley and David. John G. and Miles J. are yet living in Wilkinson and Laurens counties, are engaged in farming, and each has a family. William married and moved to Louisiana about the year 1858, and the only daughter, Nancy J., widow of Wiley Bender, resides in Laurens county. Allen married Mrs. Rigbee and had two sons and four daughters: Iverson, William F., Lucretia, Fannie, Phoebe and Jane. Iverson was tax collector of

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Wilkinson county at the time of his death, about 1858, and left a widow but no children. William F., Company F, Third Georgia regiment, received a gun-shot wound while engaged on the battlefield at the Wilderness, which caused his right arm to be amputated. He married before the war closed, and engaged in farming and merchandising near Toombsboro, Ga. He was successful and accumulated a large property, was elected sheriff, then ordinary of Wilkinson county, and these offices he filled with efficiency and honor. He then engaged in a wholesale mercantile business in Macon, Ga., where himself and family enjoy the fruits of his large farm near Toombsboro. Lucretia became the wife of Wiley Fordham, deceased; Phoebe, wife of James Pierce, deceased; Fannie, widow of Thomas Dixon, resides in Wilkinson county, and Jane, wife of Joel Lofton, lives in Florida. Wiley Cannon settled in Wilkinson county, remained a few years, then moved to Sumter county. Nathaniel and Frances Cannon had four daughters: Didema, Keziah, Joicie and Lizzie. By Didema's marriage with Nathaniel Mason she had three sons: James A., captain Company F, Third Georgia regiment; Nathaniel E. (both are substantial farmers residing in Wilkinson county); John, deceased. She also has six daughters by that marriage. By Didema's second marriage with Geo. Brack there were born three sons: Miles, Eli and Franklin, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Dorinda. These settled in Wilkinson county. Keziah married a Mr. Turner, who moved to Randolph county; Joicie married George Harrison and had one child, Elizabeth, and is deceased; Lizzie married Nathan Bowen, had one child, William, and is now deceased. James Stanley West, son of Mrs. James Cannon, married Elizabeth J. Harrison, whose mother was Joicie Cannon, in the year 1850. He moved to Appling county, Ga., where he lived until 1859; in the latter part of that year he settled in Texas, where he has reared a large and very interesting family

WILLIAM DICKSON, deceased, once a much-respected and prominent citizen of Wilkinson county, was born in Hancock county, Ga., in 1814. His father, Thomas Dickson, came to Wilkinson county when he was a small boy, and died soon after attaining to manhood and his marriage. Mr. Dickson re- ceived as good an education as the schools of the time and locality afforded, and when grown engaged in farming. He was married in 1844 to Miss Frances, born in Georgia, daughter of Joseph and Sennia (Mitchell) Paine. The two families- the Paines and the Mitchells-came nearly the same time, about 1800, from North Carolina to Georgia, and settled in Hancock and what is now Wilkinson county, where both accumulated property and became prominent. There were no oak trees, the growth being pine and wild oats. After his marriage Mr. Dickson settled down to quiet farm life, and was content with his employment and its profits, his family are esteemed and loved for their unostentatious neighborly kindness and piety. They raised two children: Mollie, wife of Hansford A. Hall, and John Allen, sketches of both of whom will be found in these Memoirs. Mr. Dickson was an ardent master Mason, and died in 1874. His venerable widow, a devout and devoted member of the Methodist church, is yet living, a benediction to the little family circle of which she is a member.

JOHN ALLEN DICKSON, farmer, Toombsboro, Wilkinson Co., Ga., son of William and Frances (Paine) Dickson, was born in Wilkinson county Jan. I, 1847. His boyhood was spent at the homestead, and he received a fairly good edu- cation at the common schools of the county. Early in 1863, when only sixteen years old, he enlisted in Company F, Second regiment of state troops-familiarly called "Joe Brown's pets"-faithfully performing such service as was assigned to him. On June 22, 1864, Stephens' brigade, of which his command was a part,

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was sent to the front, and in an engagement on the Powder Springs road near Marietta he was shot through the hip. Soon afterward his father came for him and took him home. Twenty-three pieces of bone were taken from the wound, from the effects of which he was confined to his bed and lay on his back four months. He did not re-enter the service; but as soon as he was able he went to school for a year, and then engaged in farming, which he has since followed with exception- ally favorable results. He owns nearly 2,000 acres of very fine land, on which he has a large and well improved plantation, running fourteen plows. He is a model farmer and manager, and is one of the really solid and substantial citizens of Wilkinson county. Mr. Dickson was married March 2, 1869, to Sarah M., daughter of James and Elizabeth (Sutton) Wright. Mr. Wright was a native of Wilkinson county, and was a thrifty, money-making man, acquired considerable property, and became quite prominent. The Suttons were from North Carolina, coming to Georgia early in life. Mr. Wright died in October, 1852, and his widow died Jan. 26, 1894, aged eighty-one years. Both of them were consistent mem- bers of the Baptist church. To Mr. and Mrs. Dickson eight children have been born: Elizabeth, wife of B. J. Brown; William I., James R., John David, Grover C., Mary C., and Leonard A. Mr. and Mrs. Dickson worship at the Baptist 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 155

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