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 72

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 72

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Edwards, and others. After reading medicine a year he attended the medical college of Georgia, at Augusta, from which he graduated with distinction. Soon afterward he located at Thomson, where he has since remained. During the war between the states he went with the Georgia Cadets from Marietta to Milledge- ville, and saw active service when only fifteen years of age. Having made a specialty of surgery, he has acquired an enviable state-wide reputation for superior skill and ability and continuous success. He is frequently sent for from distant localities for consultation and to assist in operative surgery in delicate and difficult cases. He has been sent for to go to Augusta, and the medical profession of that and other cities have importuned him to permanently settle among them, that a larger portion of the people, particularly of suffering humanity, could have the benefit of what they regard his superior scientific attainments and practical skill in surgery. But no inducements have been offered, and, seemingly, none can be, strong enough to draw him from the quiet and delightful home-life now his in his happy domestic circle. These have charms for him far outweighing the wealth and honor that might be his. Notwithstanding this, the question may yet reach his mind and conscience, as to whether he has the moral right to withhold his great abilities from suffering humanity-to "hide his light under a bushel." Dr. Har- rison was married Dec. 4, 1879, to Miss Fanny Hamilton, of Thomson, who has borne him six children-three sons and three daughters.

FLIAS W. HAWES, sheriff, Thomson, McDuffie Co., Ga., son of Dr. E. C. and Amanda (Wilson) Hawes, was born in Wrightsborough, McDuffie Co., Nov. 13, 1854. His mother was a daughter of Elias Wilson, McDuffie county. From the time he became of school age until he was fifteen years old, he attended the common schools of the county. When nineteen he commenced farming on his own account, and made it a life pursuit until 1889, when he was elected sheriff of the county. He has been continuously re-elected since, and as he has proved himself to be one of the best sheriffs in the state, he will be likely, unless he voluntarily retires, to hold the office as long as he lives. Determined and cool, courageous almost to recklessness-knowing no fear-he executes the law, and is a terror to evil-doers. But like all truly brave men, Sheriff Hawes is humane-a charac- teristic which came near costing him his life since his incumbency of the sheriffalty. In response to this sentiment, he had put all the prisoners in the county jail in one large room in the spring of 1894, where a fire could be made for their comfort. They planned an escape. Having detached a portion of a balluster rail, one of them struck him a powerful blow over the head as he was going up the steps to feed them, fracturing his skull and nearly killing him; but by his determined, obstinate courage, he baffled them in their attempt, and put down the uprising. He was very seriously injured; but, sustained by a good constitution and a strong will, he pulled through, and bids fair to live long to serve as the fearless, faithful sheriff of McDuffie county. At present he is the county's unanimous choice. Sheriff Hawes was married in Warrenton, Ga., Dec. 10, 1885, to Mrs. Adella (nee Heath) Wilder-widow of A. Wilder, and daughter of Richard Heath, Warren- ton-by whom he has had six children, two sons and four daughters, of whom two daughters have died. Sheriff Hawes is a master Mason, and commands the respect and confidence of all classes of his fellow-citizens.

JOHN L. HOLZENDORF, merchant, Thomson, McDuffie Co., Ga., was born on the plantation of Mrs. William Casey, Camden county, Ga., July 27, 1848. He went to school in St. Mary's, Ga., until he was ten years of age, when he went to his grandmother, at King's Ferry, Fla., where he remained until 1860. He then came to Thomson and went to school until 1862. In the latter part of 1864 he

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enlisted in a company organized at Augusta, Ga., a part of the Twentieth Georgia battalion, which command was assigned to Gen. Wade Hampton's corps in Virginia. While in this service he was an active participant in every battle in which his command was engaged-was never off duty or suffered a day's sickness. As evidence of the high appreciation in which this brave and meritorious young "soldier boy" was held, his commander told him that, but for the fact of his youth he would be honored by promotion; as an expression of the estimation in which he was held by his comrades, the corps presented him with a new overcoat, and an entire suit of Confederate gray. In 1865 he was sent to Georgia for a horse, and when at Augusta was pressed into service by Gen. Fry and placed under the com- mand of Kolb, at Macon, Ga. From there he was sent to Montezuma, Ga., but without arms; and the surrender occurred before he could be supplied. After that event he walked from Montezuma to his home. Engaging with his father, he clerked for him until 1869, when he went into business for himself. He has built up a large and eminently prosperous business, and is one of the most successful and popular citizens of Thomson. Mr. Holzendorf was a member of the council three years, and then, immediately succeeding that service, he was elected mayor. So satisfactory to the people, and so beneficial to the city has his administration been, that he is credited with being the best mayor Thomson ever had, and has been successively re-elected five years-with a probability of being continued. He is an enthusiastic Mason, and has been exalted to the roval arch degree. His religious views tend to Universalism.

HERCULES JOHNSON, lawyer, Thomson, McDuffie Co., Ga., son of William H. and Priscilla (Finch) Johnson, was born in Columbia county, Ga. (in that part set off to McDuffie), Sept. 22, 1861. He attended school in the county, teaching a portion of the time until he was eighteen years of age. After clerking in Thomson one winter he went to work on his father's farm, and continued there until 1884, when he returned to Thomson and entered upon the study of law under his brother. After one year's reading he was admitted to the bar. When admitted Mr. Johnson had just twenty-five cents in his pocket; obtained his license on a credit, and was already considerably in debt. He immediately opened an office in Thomson and entered upon the practice of his profession. He has worked up a large and remunerative clientage, attained to marked prominence, and, although young, is regarded as one of the leaders of the Thomson bar. He affords another and a strong and encouraging illustration of what can be accomplished under the adverse circumstances of a meager education, and the absence of money and influence. That Mr. Johnson has a brilliant future before him cannot be doubted. He is a member and secretary of Thomson council, Royal Arcunum, No. 1161.

ROBERT H. PEARCE, county treasurer, Thomson, McDuffie Co., Ga., son of James H. and Ann M. (Saunders) Pearce, was born in Marion, S. C., July 23, 1834. His mother was the daughter of John Saunders, Darlington, S. C. Until he was seventeen years of age he attended the old-time, "old-field" schools, and then went to a preparatory school in Spartanburg, S. C. Ater that he attended Furman's university at Greenville, S. C., where he remained three and one-half years and graduated with the degree of A. B. He then took a two-years' literary course and received certificates of proficiency entitling him to the degree of A. M. Thus equipped he taught school in Darlington, S. C., five months. After that he traveled for a time, taught school in Florida a year, and in December, 1856, returned to South Carolina. He then taught school at Horn's Creek, Edgefield district, S. C., awhile, when he was appointed railway and express agent at Marion, S. C., and in 1859 he was transferred to Marr's Bluff, where he was

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railway and express agent and postmaster. In addition to the above he was elected principal of the Jeffries Creek, S. C., school. In 1861, when the war between the states began, he enlisted in Company H, Eighth South Carolina regiment, was ordered at once to Richmond, Va., and went from there to Manassas Junction, when the regiment became a part of the First brigade, First division, army of northern Virginia. Detailed as regiment commissary sergeant, he was under fire two hours at the battle of First Manassas. Going from there to the peninsula he participated in the battle of Seven Pines and then in the seven days' fight around Richmond. He had now become so broken down in health that he was discharged, and returned home. As soon as he was well enough he began teaching again, but it was not long before he was called into the state service and sent with a body of troops to guard Cambahee river bridge in South Carolina. But when Gen. Sherman's army approached, not being strong enough to attack, they followed him through the northern part of the state until Spartanburg was reached, where they were stationed. Just before the surrender the command was ordered to disperse, return home, and await further orders. On reaching home, and hearing of Potter's raiders (a roaming negro regiment on a round of devasta- tion), Mr. Pearce joined a mounted company of disorganized and furloughed soldiers and pursued the marauders. When they overtook them they engaged them in a skirmish and drove them out of that part of the state. Returning to Marr's Bluff, he taught school there until the latter part of 1866, when he removed to Thomson, then in Columbia county, and taught school there and in the sur- rounding country in 1867-68. In 1870 he was chosen principal of the Columbia institute, Thomson. In 1871, the county of McDuffie having been organized, he was elected clerk of the superior court and county treasurer, one of which he has continuously held until the present time. In 1875 Mr. Pearce was elected county school commissioner, which he held until 1890, when a law was passed forbidding the holding of two county offices at the same time. Such are his peculiar qualifications he is elected secretary and treasurer, or both, of every society or club or other organization in McDuffie county. Mr. Pearce was married in Columbia county Dec. 18, 1872, to Miss Mary H., daughter of Virgil M. Barnes, of that county, who has borne him six children, four boys and two girls, all of whom are living. The oldest daughter, Lulu M., is secretary and treasurer of the people's (or populist) party paper, the "Daily Press," Atlanta, and though not so in name is actually business manager. Mr. Pearce is a Knight of Honor, and an active, exemplary member of the Baptist church. He is certainly a very useful, and it would seem, an indispensable member of the com- munity he so admirably serves.

JOHN F. SHIELDS, merchant, Thomson, McDuffie Co., Ga., son of E. A. and Susan (Brinckley) Shields, was born in Columbia county, July 23, 1854. His parents were natives respectively of Columbia and Warren counties, and had five children born to them, four boys and one girl, of whom our subject was the second child. He began going to school when ten years old, and when seventeen left school and engaged in clerking for Shields & Coldwell, Thomson. He remained in the store for two years, and then farmed two years, after which he opened a general merchandise store in Thomson, which he has continued ever since. Mr. Shields is one of the original settlers and business men of Thomson, and by his enterprise and energy has not only built up a large and prosperous business for himself, but has been largely instrumental in bringing Thomson to its present commercial prominence. When he began business here the entire country around traded in Augusta, but now Thomson not only controls the business of McDuffie county but largely that of adjoining counties. He is a wide-awake, pushing

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merchant, and a public-spirited and valuable citizen. Mr. Shields was married Sept. 24, 1879, to Miss Eppie M., daughter of William A. Shields, of Morgan county, Ga., who has borne him seven children, five boys and two girls, of which two boys and two girls are living. Mr. Shields is a royal arch Mason, also a R. A., a member of the I. O. O. F., and an influential member of the Methodist church.

JOHN T. WEST, lawyer, Thomson, McDuffie Co., Ga., son of Rev. Thomas B. and Mildred (West) West, daughter of Maj. George W. West, Cedartown, Ga., was born in Columbia (in what is now part of McDuffie) county, Feb. 28, 1859. His early education was obtained in the common country schools; later he went to school in Thomson to Prof. E. A. Stead (afterward a professor at Mercer university, Macon, Ga.) and T. M. Stead. After they resigned he continued his studies under Rev. J. W. Ellington. For two or three years of the latter part of the time he attended this school he worked on the farm during the summer and attended the school in the fall. Completing there his preparatory studies, he entered the sophomore class at Mercer university in 1878, and was graduated the latter part of 1881. In the spring of this year his father was taken seriously ill, and he left college and returned home to nurse him and superintend the farm. But he continued his studies at home, and in a short time returned to college, stood his examination, and received the degree of A. B. The next three years he managed the farm, in the incantime reading law under the direction of Maj. Joseph A. Blance. In January, 1884, he went to Cedartown, Ga., and studied directly under Maj. Blance, and the following March was admitted to the bar. Returning to Thomson he located and immediately entered upon the practice. Mr. West has been eminently successful, and has built up a practice valuable as to amount and extent. He ranks high with the profession, and is regarded as one of the soundest and ablest lawyers at the McDuffie bar. He is popular with the people, has their confidence, and is considered as one of the solidest men in the county in business and finance. He has accumulated a nice property, and was one of the original incorporators of the bank of Thomson, and is now a director in said bank and the attorney for the same. Some years ago he assumed the manage- ment of the McDuffie "Enterprise" newspaper, then nearing suspension, and not only restored it to life, but made it onc of the best county papers in the state. Mr. West was happily married May 13, 1884, to Miss Laura F. Hawes, daughter of Dr. E. C. Hawes, of McDuffie county, who has born him two children, a son, now nine, and a daughter six years of age. Mr. West is a royal arch Mason, and a past master of the blue lodge. Being a comparatively young man, and having accomplished so much already, it may be safely assumed that a brilliant future awaits him. He has never been a candidate for any political office, but has devoted himself closely to the calls of his profession.

M'INTOSH COUNTY.

ATWOOD. This is the name of a pioneer family of McIntosh county, Ga., distinguished by reason of its aristocratic lineage, the pre-eminently valuable services rendered by its members in the cause of freedom during the revolutionary war, and by the high standing of its living representatives. It belongs to a II-32

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pioneer family of New England, which early in the present century became con- nected with that of one of the most illustrious of the pioneer families of Georgia. The following Attwood family genealogy is from Cothren's History of Ancient Woodbury, Conn .: "This has been a name of some consequence on the other side of the water. Sixteen different families have entered their coats of arms in the herald's office. It has been a numerous family on both sides of the Atlantic. Ten of the name have graduated at different colleges prior to 1853. The name of Attwood appears in Massachusetts, then in Connecticut. John Attwood, gentleman, from London, brought over a large estate; was made a freeman in 1636, and was assistant in the Plymouth colony in 1636, and died in 1644. Capt. Thomas Attwood, of Weathersfield, Conn., tradition says, was a captain of a com- pany under Oliver Cromwell. He was a physician of some note, and died in 1682. He married Abigail and had four children. His son, Dr. Jonathan, emigrated to Woodbury, and was one of the early settlers." Dr. Jonathan Attwood, Wood- bury, Conn., married Sarah Terrell, Nov. 5, 1701; his son, Oliver, married Lois Wheeler, Nov. 2, 1740; his son, Elisha, married Mary, daughter of Dr. Henry Skilton; his son, Henry Skilton Attwood, of Watertown, Conn., married Ruth Guernsey. His son, Henry Skilton Atwood (he dropped one of the t's), was born in Watertown, Conn., and came to Savannah, Ga., when a lad of fourteen, where he began his career as a clerk in the establishment of an uncle. He was married in 1825 to Miss Ann M., daughter of John Lachlan McIntosh, a descendant of the clans McCoy, Mckenzie and McIntosh, those noble bands of Highlanders who settled that portion of Georgia now known as McIntosh county. They passed their married life at Cedar Point plantation, and reared the following family: Ruth Ann; Jane Margaret; Sarah Alice, deceased; William Henry; James Alfred; Matilda Alethia, deceased; George Elliott, John McIntosh. Henry S. Atwood lived to a good old age, and became one of the wealthiest planters in eastern Georgia. Capt. W. H. Atwood was born Oct. 11, 1836, on Cedar Point plantation, and was married Aug. 15, 1867, to Miss Catharine G., daughter of James R. and Mary L. (Polhill) Butts. One child blessed this union, the mother dying in 1870. Capt. Atwood, Oct. 17, 1871, married her sister, Tallulah E., who is the mother of six children: Henry G., Maud A., James R., Jane C., Elliott Mc., and Sibyl J. These children are the sixth generation who have lived at Cedar Point, and Capt. Atwood still holds the original grant to his ancestors from King George III. of England. Mr. and Mrs. Butts were natives, respectively, of Canterbury, Conn., and Georgia. The latter's father, John G. Polhill, was a judge of the superior court of Georgia, and died at Scottsboro, near Milledgeville. James R. Butts, who became surgeon-general of the state of Georgia, was the great-grandson of Josiah and Elizabeth Butts, who were the parents of fourteen children. At one period of the revolutionary war they had seven sons and eight grandsons in the patriot army. Capt. Atwood is a man of great popularity, and is very public-spirited as will be seen by a brief statement of his public work and positions. He represented his county in the lower house of the legislature in 1876-77, and in the senate in 1886-87; is now serving his second term as county commissioner; is a member of the democratic executive committee of the county; has for twenty years been a trustee of McIntosh county asylum; is president of a camp of Confederate veterans, and of the county agricultural society; is a member of the county board of education, and is chairman of the Union church society, which has built at Crescent one of the prettiest churches to be found in a country district. Capt. Atwood entered the army in 1861 as a private. After six months the company was reorganized and he was elected first lieutenant, and a year later was promoted to the captaincy for efficiency and gallant conduct as a soldier.

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He served with his command in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, and was mustered out at Hillsboro, N. C., under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Capt. Atwood and his estimable wife live in a beautiful country residence at Cedar Point plantation, where friends and strangers are always regally entertained. The residence fronts a harbor, which, according to the United States coast survey, can be entered by boats drawing twenty-eight feet of water, a fact which will no doubt be utilized some day in the establishment of a port of entry.

J.A. ATWOOD, farmer, Darien, McIntosh Co., Ga., is a brother of Capt. W. H. Atwood, and was born in McIntosh county, Jan. 29, 1840. He was married in 1867 to Miss Ann Livingston, a daughter of Nicholas and Eliza Bayard. This is the same family to which ex-Secretary of State Bayard belongs. Her father was a resident of New York city in his earlier days, and served on the board of aldermen. To Mr. and Mrs. Atwood have been born Elise Barrington, Alfred Livingston, Bayard McIntosh, Isabella Quintard, Ruth Marguerite, Annie Rosalee, Sarah Alice, James Kennith, and Mabelle. Mrs. Atwood and the children are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Atwood enlisted in 1861 in the McIntosh dragoons, and served in the ranks until 1863, when he was detailed for special service by the secretary of war. He was paroled in Green county, Ga. He began life in mod- erate circumstances, but later inherited a share of his father's estate-$150,000. Mr. Atwood, like his brother, is one of the leading men of his county, he and his family being in social touch with the best citizens.

CHARLES H. HOPKINS, farmer, Darien, McIntosh Co., Ga., son of Charles H. and May (Givens) Hopkins, and was born Oct. 24, 1842, at Belleville, McIntosh Co., Ga., in the same room in which his father before him first saw the light. The mother was a native of Beaufort, S. C. The Hopkins family is an old and much-respected one of English descent. Stephen Hopkins, the great- grandfather of the above-named gentleman, was a rear admiral in the British navy, his wife being a Miss Angelo, of Charleston, S. C., and of Italian lineage. Her father, Fillippo Martino Angelo, was a native of Italy, and her mother was a Miss Rurledge, of South Carolina. Their son, Gen. Francis Hopkins, was born near Bluffton, S. C., in 1772. His wife was Rebecca Sayre, of Hilton Head, S. C. He was a man of some prominence in his time, having served six terms in the general assembly from McIntosh county. Mr. C. H. Hopkins, the subject of this sketch, was elected to the legislature in 1892, and was chairman of the com- mittee on military affairs, his father having served in that body in 1838, and in the senate the following year. It will be noticed that each of the three generations has had a representative in the legislature, a fact which shows the very high appreciation in which the members of this family have been held by the citizens of the county. The plantation on which they now live has been in possession of the Hopkins family for three generations, since 1805. At the opening of the war, in 1861, Mr. Hopkins enlisted as lieutenant, and served to the close of the war. He was appointed by Gov. A. H. Stephens a member of his personal staff, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He has occupied numerous positions of public trust in his county, having served ten years as county ordinary, and as city marshal of Darien for eleven years. He was also jailer of McIntosh county for eleven years, during which time he never had an escape, something exceedingly unusual for such a length of time. He was married Dec. 4, 1867, to Miss Matilda A., daughter of Henry Atwood, of Putnam county. Mrs. Hopkins died in March, 1869, and her remains are interred in Laurel Grove cemetery, Savannah, Ga. A member of the masonic fraternity, he is past master of that organization at Darien, and represented

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his lodge in the Grand lodge of 1883 and 1884. He is also past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, of Inverness lodge, No. 29. He was made captain of the McIntosh Light Dragoons, and accompanied them to Griffin in 1892. These few brief facts will set forth some of the interesting points in the history of one of the most prominent families of old McIntosh county, and will serve to show to succeeding generations the high regard in which its earlier members were held in their day.

DR. SPALDING KENAN, a physician of fine ability and large practice at Darien, McIntosh Co., Ga., is a native of that old historic city, Milledgeville, where he was born in 1836. The principal part of his education was received at the Georgia Military institute, at Marietta. For a year he clerked in a cotton warehouse at Savannah, and then went to Philadelphia, where he took a course of lectures in Jefferson Medical college, graduating from that institution in 1859. His first practice was at Eufaula, Ala. After a year he removed to Darien, and was shortly afterward appointed assistant physician of the State Insane asylum. Here he served two years, then entered the army as assistant surgeon, Forty-fifth Georgia regiment. Returning home at the end of six months, he was appointed assistant surgeon of the conscript department, where he served till the close of the war. In 1866 he returned to Darien, where he has since lived. He has held the office of acting assistant surgeon, United States marine hospital service for a number of years at this point. He is now mayor of Darien, and has served a num- ber of terms in that capacity. Dr. Kenan was united in marriage to Miss Evelyn E., daughter of Louis and Elizabeth (Bass) Livingston, of Columbus, Ga., and to them were born eight children: M. J., L. L., Randolph S., Spalding, Evey, Elizabeth, Kate, and Aurie. Dr. Kenan is the son of Michael J. and Catharine (Spalding) Kenan, the mother being a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Leake) Spalding. Mr. Spalding was a man of much prominence in Darien, and well- known throughout the state. He was in congress from his district in 1805-06, was president of the Darien bank for years, served in the legislature, and was chairman of the gubernatorial convention that nominated Howell Cobb. He was awarded by the English Mercantile association a solid silver cup for the first Sea Island cotton raised in Georgia. The Kenans came from Duplin, county Antrim, Ireland, and settled originally in North Carolina, Kenansville, of that state, taking its name from the family. Dr. Kenan is distantly related to the McIntosh family, prominent in Georgia, in early days. He is a type of the old respected family physician, and wears his fifty-nine years with dignity and honor.

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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 72

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