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 89

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 89

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CAPT. THOS. JEFFERSON BATES, a prominent mechanic of Muscogee county, Ga., was born in Columbus, Ga., in 1836 of Scotch-Irish parentage. His father, Asa Bates, was a native of Springfield, Mass., who came south as a captain in the First regiment of United States infantry during the Seminole war and settled in Columbus, Ga., where he was engaged in contracting and building. During the Creek war he was a colonel of volunteers and removed to Russell county, Ala., soon after the close of that war, dying there in 1880. As a citizen he was prominent and popular and was elected sheriff of Muscogee county in 1836. His father, Eli Bates, was a lieutenant-colonel of Massachusetts volunteers in the war of 1812, and was in command of his regiment at Lundy's Lane under Gen. Scott. His grandfather, Edwin Bates, was a soldier in the French war and was at the storming of Quebec under Gen. Wolf. When the revolutionary war commenced he was sixty-five years old and a farmer living near Deerfield, Mass. There he raised a company of rifles, his own relations mostly, and old frontier men who had fought through the French war with him, and joining Gen. Starke marched to Boston and was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and out of forty men in the company all were kinsmen but fifteen. He followed the fortunes of the patriot army until its close at Yorktown, a captain of New England continentals -seventy-three years old-in his last battle. This grand old soldier is justly the pride of the Bates family. He was an honest patriot who would not accept pro- motion that would keep him from his children as he called his men. At the age of seven years Thomas J. Bates removed with his parents to Russell county, Ala., and lived there until 1876, when he moved to Muscogee county, near

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Columbus, Ga., where he now resides. He received his primary education in Columbus, and was for a time a student at the Georgia Military institute, at Marietta, leaving there in 1855 and going with his father into the bridge building business, remaining with him until March 15, 1861. He was mustered into the service of the Confederacy at Montgomery, Ala., in the Sixth Alabama regiment commanded by Col., now United States Senator, John B. Gordon. Mr. Bates entered as a private and in a week was made line sergeant. In October, 1861, while he was in prison at Washington, having been captured at First Manassas and held five months, he was made brevet second lieutenant of the provisional army, receiving an informal parole in December, 1861, and was regularly exchanged later. He reported for duty at Richmond, Va., in December, 1861, and served there until after the battle of Malvern Hill, thence being ordered to Columbus, Ga., to report to Capt. J. F. Waddell in command of Waddell's bat- tery. Arriving in Columbus, Ga., the company was reorganized and sent to Ken- tucky under Gen. E. Kirby Smith. After the battle of Murfreesboro the battery was sent to Vicksburg and thence to Champion Hills or Baker's Creek, where Mr. Bates was made first lieutenant. He served as first lieutenant until after the battle of New Hope church, when he was brevetted captain, and, on July 22, 1864, in front of Atlanta, he was made full captain and sent to Macon and thence to Columbus, Ga., where his last fight was with Wilson's raiders. He was captured at Champion Hills, Miss., afterward at Vicksburg, but escaped in a few minutes. After the war Capt. Bates returned to Russell county, Ala., and com- menced to farm, and in 1867-8 began contracting. In 1869 he built 206 bridges on the Mobile & Girard railroad. In 1876 he was chief master carpenter in the construction of the great Eagle & Phoenix mills, of Columbus, Ga., which took five years, working under Engineer-in-Chief John Hill of Columbus, Ga. Then in 1881 Capt. Bates and A. C. Young started a brickyard near Columbus, Ga., and four years later Capt. Bates bought his partner's interest and carried it on alone until 1891, when he sold out, and has since devoted his attention to agri- culture. Capt. Bates is an Odd Fellow and a Knight Templar Mason. He was married in 1855 to Miss Nettie L., daughter of the late Isaac McGehee of Russell county, Ala., and this union has been blessed by the birth of five children, viz .: Eugenia, wife of Thos. L. Tate of Columbus, Ga .; Thomas Weems Bates, and George C. Bates, both in the Merchants' and Mechanics' bank of Columbus, Ga .; Mattie Bridget; and Belle Cleburne, the wife of George H. Smith of Macon, Ga.

DR. M'DUFFIE BLANCHARD, a prominent physician of Columbus, Ga., was born in Lincoln county, Ga., Jan. 7, 1836. When at the age of two years his parents removed to Harris county, Ga., and it was in that section of the state that he received his earlier training and education. At the age of nineteen Mr. Blanchard began the study of medicine in the university of Nashville, Tenn., and two years later, in 1857, he was graduated as a doctor of medicine from the university. After his graduation Dr. Blanchard entered actively upon the prac- tice of his profession and was located at intervals in several of the southern states, finally making his home at Wharton, Wharton Co., Texas, and resided in that town during the war between the states. He served as a member of the Texas state militia six months and was then transferred to the regular army as an assistant surgeon, serving as such for less than a year. He took part in a num- ber of battles, and is said to have been a good soldier. After the close of hostili- ties, Dr. Blanchard practiced his profession at Wharton until 1868, at which time he removed to eastern Alabama and resided at Society Hill for two years. In 1871 he became a citizen of Georgia and practiced his profession at Green Hill, Stewart Co., until January, 1880, when he removed to his present residence

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at Columbus. In 1885 Dr. Blanchard was elected city physician of Colum- bus. He is a consistent member of the Baptist church and is not a mem- ber of any secret fraternity. He was joined in the holy bonds of matrimony in July, 1860, to Miss Sarah J. Whitby, a most estimable lady of Russell county, Ala., and this union has been blessed by the birth of three sons and two daugh- ters, Burton L., who is a prosperous farmer and planter of Russell county, Ala., being the only surviving child.

WILLIAM C. BRADLEY, cotton factor and commission merchant, Colum-

bus, Ga., was born in Russell county, Ala., June 28, 1863, and is the youngest of seven living children born to Forbes and Theresa (Clark) Bradley, viz .: Mrs. Emma J. Nuckolls; Mrs. Alice B. Nuckolls; Edmund; Forbes, Jr .; Dan; Fannie B .; Orr, and William C. Forbes Bradley was born in Connecticut, Dec. 1, 1809, moved to Georgia in 1828, settled in Milledgeville, Baldwin Co., where he remained until 1832, removed thence to Columbus, Ga., where he engaged in merchandising until 1840, and then removed to Russell county, Ala., where he has since resided. He was a large slave-holder and has always been considered a very successful planter. . His father was Dan Bradley, a native of Connecticut, and of Scotch extraction. Theresa (Clark) Bradley was a daughter of William Clark, who was of Welsh extraction. The gentleman whose name heads this article lived with. his parents in Russell county, Ala., until he had arrived at the age of eleven years. He received his primary education in Colum- bus, and later attended the agricultural and mechanical college, at Auburn, Ala. Leaving that institution in his sophomore year he returned home and managed his father's plantation until he was nineteen years of age. He then came to Columbus, and entered the office of Bussey, Goldsmith & Co., cotton factors, as a clerk, and remained with that firm two seasons, when in 1885 he and Mr. S. A. Carter succeeded to the firm, and the business was carried on under the style of Carter & Bradley. A flattering patronage was enjoyed by the firm until its dissolution, Jan. 1, 1895, when S. A. Carter sold his interest to W. C. Bradley, who continued the business the same as heretofore, giving his entire personal attention to its management. The aptitude of his resources and facilities is such that the establishment is of that class which commands the respect, confi- dence, and consideration of the citizens of Columbus, and of the people at large. Though yet a young man, Mr. Bradley is possessed of rare talent and business experience. He is a member of the board of directors of the Third National bank of Columbus, of the Columbus Savings bank, and vice-president of the Rose Hill Improvement company. He has devoted much time to agricultural pursuits and is probably one of the largest cotton planters in Georgia-marketing about 750 bales of the fleecy staple annually. In politics Mr. Bradley is a firm demo- crat, is a pay member of the Columbus guards, and a member of the benevolent and protective Order of Elks. On April 27, 1887, he was married to Miss Sarah M. Hall of Columbus, an estimable lady of culture and refinement, and a daughter of Harry T. and E. J. (Howard) Hall. Harry T. Hall was a native of Boston, Mass., and his wife, E. J. Howard, was born and reared in Columbus. Both Mr. Hall and his wife are dead.

REV. W. A. CARTER, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Columbus, Ga., was born in Mobile, Ala., May 13, 1836, and is the son of Dr. Jesse and Mary L. (Kennedy) Carter. Dr. Jesse Carter was born in North Carolina in 1807 and was graduated from the university of North Carolina, then from the university of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and in 1830 settled in Mobile, where he was engaged in the practice of medicine until his health failed. He was for fifty years an

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elder in the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Mary Carter was also a native of Mobile and was a daughter of Dr. William E. Kennedy. The gentleman whose name heads this article was the eldest of seven children born of their union, the others being Susan V., Mary E., Cecil, Jessie, Florence D. and Braxton. Rev. William A. Carter received a part of his education at Oglethorpe university, Midway, Ga., near Milledgeville. He was also a student at the university of Virginia, and subsequently attended the Union Theological seminary at Columbus, S. C. In the spring of 1861 he entered the Confederate service as a member of the Twenty- first Alabama volunteers, Mobile rifles, and was appointed chaplain. He was made a prisoner of war at Port Morgan, taken to New Orleans, La., and incar- cerated three weeks, when he was exchanged. He was soon after ordered to report to Gen. Robert E. Lee for duty in the army of Northern Virginia, and was detailed as chaplain of the Twelfth South Carolina regiment, but was after- ward sent to the department of the gulf, with headquarters at Mobile, Ala. After the close of the war he returned to Mobile and preached for four months in the Government Street Presbyterian church, and was soon thereafter employed by the American Seaman's Aid society to work among the sailors at that port, which duty he performed about one year, going thence to Pensacola, Fla., where he was pastor of the Presbyterian church for fifteen years. He has had charge of the First Presbyterian church of Columbus since 1881. He was happily married on March 21, 1864, to Miss Agnes L. Quigley, a most estimable lady of Columbia, S. C., whom he had met while a student of the theological seminary, and this union has been blessed by the birth of five children, three of whom survive: William Alonzo, Braxton Curtiss and Edith Lee. In July, 1891, Mr. Carter was called upon to mourn the sad death of his eldest daughter, Mary A., who was a devout Christian and noted for her tenderness and charity, and love of her parents, the comfort and joy of her aged father, whose loss is almost irreparable.

WILLIAM L. CLARK, now retired from business and residing at Columbus, Ga., was born in Savannah, Ga., Oct. 15, 1827, and is a son of John L. and Harriet F. (Poullen) Clark. John L. Clark was born in the state of New York in 1801 and was a son of John G. Clark, who was a sea captain for many years and also a cotton manufacturer of New York state and of English extraction. John L. was a cabinet-maker by trade and was also a dealer in furniture. His death took place in 1859. Mrs. Harriet F. Clark was a native of Savannah, Ga., and a daughter of John P. Poullen, who was born in France. William L. Clark is the eldest of the four children born to his parents, the remaining three being Sarah L., Maria H. and Laura B. He learned the trade of machinist in the shops of the Central Railroad & Banking company of Georgia, and in 1851 became master of the machine department. In 1853 he removed to Columbus, Ga., having accepted the position of master mechanic of the Muscogee railroad, also of the Mobile & Girard railroad, and subsequently became superintendent of the latter road. In 1867 he was appointed general agent in Columbus for the Central Railroad & Banking company. In 1868 the Mobile & Girard railroad was consolidated with the Southwestern railroad and Mr. Clark was appointed general agent of the new corporation. In 1871 he was elected superintendent of the Mobile & Girard Railroad company, and held that position until 1887. He was also general manager of the Columbus & Rome Railroad company from 1882 until 1887, with headquarters at Columbus. Although now retired from active business, Mr. Clark is a director in the Merchants' and Mechanics' bank, and for many years has been a director of the Columbus & Western Railroad com- pany. He has also served as a member of the city council of Columbus. In

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1858 he married Miss Pauline, daughter of John I. Ridgeway, of Columbus, and became the father of nine children, seven of whom are now in life, viz: Frederick A., William L., Paul, Ira P., John G., Harry M. and Robin. Mr. Clark is a member of the masonic fraternity and is exceedingly well posted in the rites of that most ancient order.

JUDGE ABRAM WHITENACK COZART, judge of the recorder's court of Columbus, Ga., was born on June 14, 1870, in Loudon county, East Tenn. His early childhood was spent in the beautiful Sweetwater valley. Col. A. W. Cozart, his father, was a wealthy merchant and one of the most highly respected citizens of that entire section. Abram was the youngest child, on which account his father was particularly attached to him. Before he was old enough to go to school he traveled with his parents extensively throughout the north and south and thereby had excellent opportunities to learn by observation. When he was fifteen years old he was sent to Hiwassee college, Monroe county, Tenn. Hi- wassee is the alma mater of ex-Postmaster-General D. M. Key, Judge C. J. Wellborn, Hon. L. N. Trammell, Judge John L. Hopkins and Hon. A. S. Clay. Young Cozart remained at college for three years and was graduated in the A. B. course May 15, 1888. During his entire stay at college he was absent only two days. He was the youngest member of his class, but notwithstanding that fact stood first. On commencement day he delivered an oration on Unity of Purpose, which he wrote in less than a day. While he was at college his parents moved to Columbus, and he came here shortly after he completed his studies. Desiring to perfect his education, he wanted to teach. President J. Harris Chappell and Supt. W. H. Woodall, of Columbus, Ga., gave him great assistance in this, his first work. He was elected principal of the high school at Waverly Hall, Ga., during the year 1889 and was wonderfully successful. In 1890 he was elected principal of the Cusseta high school, Cusseta, Ga., and there he met with the same success. At the beginning of the year 1891 he entered the law office of Goetchius & Chappell to read law. These gentlemen took great interest in the young student and instructed him thoroughly in the elementary principles of law. He was admitted to the bar before Judge Roger L. Gamble, Jr. After finishing the prescribed three years' course subsequent to taking the A. B. degree, his alma mater conferred upon him the A. M. degree. At the beginning of the session of the general assembly of Georgia of 1892 he was appointed to a clerk- ship in the house of representatives. On account of his strong and clear voice he was made the reading clerk. This was very fortunate for Cozart, for there is no one in the entire legislature who has as good an opportunity to learn parliamentary law as the reading clerk. In addition to his appointment as reading clerk he was appointed clerk of the general judiciary committee. Here he had an opportunity to get intimately acquainted with thirty learned lawyers and also to learn the minutiae of law-making. His services were so satisfactory during this session that many of the members voluntarily asked that he be reappointed for the session of 1893, and in compliance with their wishes he was reappointed. During the session of the legislature of 1893 the city council of Columbus created the office of recorder and Mr. Cozart was elected to fill the office over one of the best and most prominent young men of the state, and he has since enjoyed the distinction of being re-elected twice without opposition. The young judge is a polished scholar and has already gained prominence in his profession, the practice of law. He is an entertaining speaker and is invited to deliver addresses on numerous occasions. He is in demand at every political gathering which he may attend, and during the last state campaign did good work for his party.

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Judge Cozart is one of the rising young men of the state and his friends predict an honored and useful career for him.

DANIEL PRESTON DOZIER was born in Muscogee county, Ga., twelve miles east of the city of Columbus, April 26, 1848. His father was John Beall Dozier, a native of Warren county, Ga., born in 1807. He was a farmer all his life, and died in Muscogee county in 1873. His grandfather was Rev. Richard Dozier, a Methodist Episcopal minister, a native of Georgia, who died in 1855 at the age of seventy years. John Beall Dozier married Emily Huff, a native of Edgefield district, S. C., who died in 1884. Of this union were born eight children, of whom seven now survive: Antoinette, wife of Joseph F. Pou, of Columbus, Ga .; James L., who was a private in the Forty-sixth Georgia regiment, and served throughout the war; Virginia, wife of W. A. Little, of Columbus, Ga .; Homer W., Atlanta; John Edger, who died in January, 1882; Lula, wife of George S. Loundes, of Columbus; Albert S. Dozier, of Columbus; and Daniel Preston. Daniel Preston Dozier was brought up and primarily educated in Muscogee county, and in 1869 entered the university of Georgia, Athens, but was compelled to leave college a year before graduation on account of illness. In April, 1864, he entered the Con- federate service as a private in Company A, Third Georgia regiment, and served as such until the war closed. He participated in the battles of Atlanta, Griswold- ville, and Columbus. After the close of the war Mr. Dozier entered the dry goods house of John McGough & Co., and was with that firm twelve years. He then bought an interest in the hardware business of J. A. Frazer & Co. and the firm became Frazer & Dozier, which continued until Oct. 10, 1894, when Mr. Dozier sold his interest. In 1882 he was elected a member of the city council from the Third ward of Columbus, and then was elected mayor for two years. Mr. Dozier is a director in the North Highlands Land and Investment company, and in the North Highlands Electric Railroad company, of Columbus. He is a member of the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Red Men, and of the Elks. Mr. Dozier was married in 1877 to Miss Havanna P. Beach, a daughter of William Beach, one of the most prominent citizens of Columbus. This union has been blessed by the birth of four children, all of whom are living: William B., Helen, Daniel Preston, and Edwina.

JOHN FRANCIS FLOURNOY, one of the progressive, active and wide-awake business men of Columbus, Ga., was born in the village of Wynnton, a suburb of that city, on March 13, 1847. His father was John Manley Flournoy, a native of Eatonton, Putnam Co., Ga. He was a farmer all his active life, and died in Columbus, Ga., in September, 1859, at the age of forty-five years. He was a soldier in the Creek war of 1836. Josiah Flournoy, grandfather of John F. Flournoy, was born in Chesterfield county, Va., in 1789, and came to Georgia in 1797, locating in Eatonton, Ga., and died June 14, 1832. John Francis Flournoy was reared and received his earlier education in Columbus, Ga., spending one year at the university of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, and leaving there about July 1, 1864. Soon afterward he went to Mobile, Ala., with the Alabama corps of cadets, where he went into active service, remaining there about two months. He then returned to Columbus, Ga., and joined Nelson's Georgia rangers at Florence, Ala., as a private. This company was an independent cavalry company and acted as escort to Gen. Stephen D. Lee throughout the Tennessee campaign, coming through with the army to Greensboro, N. C., where the company surrendered. Mr. Flour- noy was in the battle of Chehaw, Ala., July, 1864, with Rousseau and his raiders, who were destroying the Western railway of Alabama; also the battles of Franklin, Tenn., Columbia, Tenn., and Nashville, Tenn. He had two brothers in the Con-

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federate service, viz .: Charles Gordon Flournoy, who entered the service as a private in Nelson's rangers in 1862. He was captured at Mechanicsville, Miss., in 1863 and held until the war closed. Josiah, who enlisted in Nelson's rangers in 1864, at the age of fourteen, was sent home on account of his youth. After the surrender of Johnston's army at Greensboro, N. C., John F. Flournoy, with one dollar in silver in his pocket, started to his home in Columbus, Ga., reaching there two weeks later. Soon afterward he went to a plantation belonging to his mother in Russell county, Ala., and raised cotton there until 1873 with fair success. He managed the farm for his mother, and bought it a few years thereafter. In 1873 Mr. Flournoy returned to Columbus, Ga., and together with C. C. McGehee, H. H. Epping, Sr., and Joseph Hanserd went into the cotton warehouse and commis- sion business. This firm (Flournoy, McGehee & Co.) was dissolved about a year later, Epping and Hanserd retiring, and Mr. B. T. Hatcher was taken in, the name being retained. The firm continued four years, when H. H. Epping, Jr., and J. F. Flournoy formed their present partnership in the warehouse business under the name of Flournoy & Epping. They handle about 20,000 bales of cotton annually. In August, 1893, Mr. Flournoy, who had for several years been - a director in the Chattahoochee National bank of Columbus, Ga., was made vice-president of that institution. In 1889 Mr. Flournoy and others, for the purpose of aiding the upbuilding and development of Columbus, organized the Columbus Investment company, with a capital stock of $200,000, of which he was made president. In October, 1887, he and L. F. Garrard, of Columbus, Ga., and several others organ- ized the Muscogee Real Estate company, with a capital stock of $300,000, which company bought 750 acres of suburban territory east of the city, calling it East Highlands. Mr. Flournoy was made president of the company at its organization, and has remained so since. How well this company succeeded a brief paragraph from the "Enquirer-Sun," a Columbus daily paper of Aug. 31, 1890, tells: "The development of East Highlands within the past year is simply wonderful. The originators of the enterprise gave the signal for the breaking of the old routine improvement plan and opened a world of progression and rapid growth, and kindled that fire and enthusiasm which has marked every successful enterprise in the recent wonderful growth of Columbus. Here, where but three years ago stood less than half a dozen old houses, are hundreds of handsome dwellings, occupied by a contented, happy and prosperous people," etc. This company also bought a controlling interest in the Columbus Railroad company, which at that time covered only about three miles of track, sixteen-pound rail on stringers, five small cars and about twenty small mules. To-day Columbus has twenty miles of the best-built and best-equipped electric street railway in the south. This is the first and the only electric street railway plant operated by electricity generated by water-power in Georgia. In 1888 Mr. Flournoy was made president of the Columbus Railroad company, and to him is Columbus indebted more than all others combined for the development of her street railway system. His pluck and energy caused to be developed at Columbus the finest electric plant south, generating electricity by water-power for the purpose of operating its street rail- ways and for furnishing cheap power to manufacturing plants. To him also is Columbus indebted for the opening and development of the first pleasure park the citizens of that city have enjoyed. Wildwood park, near the center of the East Highlands, one of the prettiest parks in the country, stands to-day a monument to the endeavors of one who believed in providing innocent pleasure and amusement for the people. He was chairman of the committee of citizens which, in two weeks' time in 1886, raised $150,000 for the building of the Georgia Midland road. He was made vice-president of that road in 1889. He is also a director of the Columbus Water Works company. Mr. Flournoy was lieutenant in the City Light

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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 89

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