iliPP!lilllillill:^i5i;i^l-i:^^^ « / ■> * ^0 -ft, <■ " ° .V ■ 0' >."r^. "^-o.^^-' v-^^ .•i>% .?: • ' A ;% o„o^* ^^•«- 4 o V^' <}> "0,0 ^*' ■^■^ ^^^ A <^> -i-^V^ 1» o ^/- -^-.^ .^^ V 1. ' • "- e> ^•^"^ .^:^4^', -r rO* ^-i'- .-Jk' *^ o M -lo* Jv^ <* v^^ -^c '"'^^ • o » o ■ ,'5'-' 3^ rV" ^o v^ "-u.9^' .^^-V. J'^^. A"^^ V ^ --> .0 . .** ■^ c ^<. ■^c ,0 > >. . » ■ -,v o a'J* A' » o ' ^'i A. o ~v,\_. , .<^'' /nH-;* '.''^^■■■s' :;?'^'^" .y* ...^ /' ^0m^ %^/ ,-^^-^. ^^ ^"^ ^^'km- ,. • ■a) 4>^x> _J. -0^ <7_* .^*^°- "-<. •^o ,0 \-.^" •V^v ^o. ^\.0^ ■^. ''%ni ^^^ * , ' . V , o "o o5q* '^ . .o' v^ "Vo .•0^ .^•^°- c°' . w^^ cf'^: •A > .''.'. /^^ O K O -;5 mltK was bom in Charleston, South Carohna, June 24, 1808. She was the only daughter of Francis Maguire, of Ireland, and Emily Barrett, whom he married in Charleston. Her father was implicated in the Irish rebellion of 1798, and fled to this country about the time of the execution of Robert Emmet, whose friend he was. Caroline had one brother, James F. Maguire, who was two years her senior. When he was nine years old and she was seven, and both were happy, being blessed with good parents who had prospered, and had a de- lightful home that overlooked the bay, there came an awful visitation of yellow fever to that city. The parents were among the earliest victims. They died the same day, and were hastily buried in the same grave. The children were hurriedly taken by good people to different homes, and a few days after were sent away under orders, the boy being placed on a vessel bound for Boston and the girl upon one bound for Savannah, but neither knowing where the other was. The boy was placed in an orphan asylum in Boston, and the girl in the Roman Catholic Asylum in Savannah. The years rolled on. In course of time a wealthy gentleman by name of Burwell. of Randolph. Massachusetts, adopted the boy, educated him and placed him in his country house, gave him an interest in his business and in due time gave him his only daughter to wife. Later on in life he was sent to the State Senate and became the personal friend of Rufus Choate and Daniel Webster. But he was not always happy. The loss of his only sister rested like a shadow over him. Twice lie had visited Charleston in search of her. but found no clew. The fatal epidemic seemed to have changed the popula- tion and the survivors knew nothing of her. The beautiful home on the bay had been sold by the public administrator, and human vampires had gotten the money. But the God of the fatherless was overlooking these children. Caro- line had been in the asylum three years, and the Mother Superior and the sisters were good to her and loved her. for she was as amiable as she was beautiful, when one day a very grand lady called in a carriage to choose a little girl for a companion. She was the mother of Rev. Dr. Goulding, a distinguished Presbyterian divine, and the grandmother of Rev. Frank Goulding who wrote that beautiful book called " The Young Marooners." This grand lady chose little Caroline and took her home with her to Liberty County. Her own children had grown up and married and gone, and so Caroline had no youthful companions, and many a night her pillow was wet with tears of grief for her parents, and for her long-lost brother — not a relative in the wide, wide world. When she was about twelve years of age she was sent to a neighboring school that was taught by a young man from Vermont, who had already acquired a most favorable reputation as a teacher and a gentleman. His name was Smith. At once he became interested in Caroline and her pathetic history. He wrote to Charleston, but it availed nothing; but his pupil grew 31 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians into beauty and became his most promising scholar. In a year or two Mrs. Goulding died — died suddenly and left no will, and made no provision for Caroline, whom she dearly loved and had frequently declared should have a liberal portion of her wealth. Caroline suddenly found herself homeless and penniless, but she was not friendless. A Mr. Allston lived not far away, and his daughters were devoted to the orphan. He at once took her to his home, and she continued to go to school with his daughters. The teacher boarded there, and was happy to have Caroline nearer to him. By and by the new country of North Georgia was opened up to settlers by reason of a treaty with the Indians, and Mr. Allston determined to remove there. Caroline was only fourteen years old when this removal took place, and with teary eyes and choking voice she bade her teacher good-by. He had not known until then how dearly he loved the sweet girl, who was just budding into womanhood. He made no demonstrations, but secretly resolved to seek his own fortune in the new country as soon as the fall session had closed. Mr. Allston's purchase was about midway between Decatur and Lawrenceville, and one night, while there was music and company in the parlor, and Caroline was sitting alone in the broad country piazza, sud- denly she gave a scream of delight and as suddenly rushed into a stranger's arms as he neared the steps. It was her teacher. But this is the old, old story. He had followed her and found her. In a short time they were married, and he established another school in the vicinity. But what of her brother? The writer of this little sketch of a very, very dear mother was eight years old. His elder brother was ten when Caroline begged her husband to advertise just one more time for her brother. He did so, and had it inserted in a Boston paper and many others. It was headed in large type, " If James Maguire, whose parents died of fever in Charleston in 1815, is still living, he can hear of his sister Caroline by ad- dressing the undersigned." That James Maguire had a good neighbor who lived across the street, and whose name was Wales. He, too, knew the sad history of the parents and children, and grieved over it. One Sunday he was not well enough to go to church, and as he reclined in gown and slippers upon his couch, and was glancing over the Boston paper, he saw and eagerly read the advertise- ment. He became intensely excited, and hurried across the street, but found his friend had just gone to church with the family. Not thinking of his apparel, he hurried to the church, and rushing in at the side door v>-hile the man of God was reading the hymn, he held up the paper and exclaimed, with crazy delight : " Maguire, I've found your sister. Bless the Lord, I have," and he almost fainted from joy. Randolph was but a village then, and the preacher and the people all knew how diligently Maguire had sought for her. The preacher stopped reading, and hurried to see the paper. Maguire read, and re-read, and sat down and wept. What a scene in a 32 The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians church! It was not long before the good man ralHed, and said " Let us pray, and thank the Lord for his mercy that endureth forever." Suffice it to say that it was not many weeks before that brother and sister were in each other's arms. There were no railroads or telegraph then, but loving letters were passed across the long way, and they visited, and ex- changed visits as long as they lived. Her last days were her best days, and oh, what a dear and precious mother she was to me. How gentle, how kind, how loving to us all. She sang the sweetest songs, and had the sweet- est voice I ever listened to. The sadness of her youth had chastened her into gratitude to God for every blessing, Her two sons and four sons-in-law were all in the Southern Army. " A mother is a mother still. The holiest thing alive." C. H. Smith. 33 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians JiUU JtolbVOOll CSowltUug, the mother of the author of " Young Marooners," and daughter of Nathan and Susannah Wadhams Holbrook, was born at Goshen, Connecticut, August i6, 1786, married to Thos. Gould- ing, in Walcott, Connecticut, November 3, 1806, and died in 1878. Her father was an inventor. He and his cousin, Ethan Allen, acted as guard on shore, during the Boston Tea Party. She was brought up and confirmed in the Episcopal Church, but left it to be with her husband, who soon after their marriage gave up the practice of law and the management of his rice plantations to become a Presbyterian clergyman. At Midway, Liberty County, Georgia, their son Francis Robert Gould- ing was born. In writing " Young Marooners " he has done for the youth of the world what DeFoe had done before him. There is a slight tinge of romance about the first meeting of Mrs. Goulding and her husband. When a brown-eyed girl of eighteen, she went to visit a friend. Boarding at the same house was a wealthy young Souther- ner, who had gone North to study law. Hearing strange sweet sounds, she followed them, and found herself standing at an open door, and before her a handsome blue-eyed stranger, who was in some way producing de- lightful music from a large black box, which she afterwards learned was a newly-invented instrument called a piano. He turned, and saw a lovely vision, one which had appeared to him so often in his dreams (day-dreams), that he seemed to need no further introduction. She grew in grace as her years advanced, and those loved her most who knew her best. She had seldom cause to repent of a "lost opportunity." Just after the Civil War, she was being driven from the depot in Atlanta, Georgia, by a strange hackman, to the home of relatives in the stiburbs. One glance at his forbidding countenance aroused grave doubts as to her safe arrival at her destination. For some time fear kept her from speaking to him on the subject always nearest her heart, but at last, with a silent prayer she broached the subject of religion. To her astonishment his surly scowl changed to an expression of wistful eagerness, as he said, " No one has ever spoken to me of that before ! " Then followed an earnest con- versation, and from the warmly, grateful manner in which he bade her farewell, there can be little doubt that just then one more star was added to her crown. The daughter who tenderly cared for her during her last illness, says, " I do not know^ much of her history, but I do know that she was one of the best women who ever lived. I never knew her to say an unkind word to or of any one." A grand-daughter in Alabama says, in answer to a letter of inquiry, " My recollections of her are all of the most pleasing and helpful character, and are among the sweetest of my memory's treasures." And in an obitu- ary notice, " May all, like her, simply 'come,' take God at his word, and so 34 fined rest for their souls." She requested her daughter, so soon as the immortal soul should have left its mortal tabernacle, to kiss her cold lips, and say, " I give thee joy, my Mother! " A few lines of a poem from the same source gives an idea of the childlike faith and perfect trust of this sainted woman. " Dear Grandma," we have often said, " Do you ne'er have a doubt That when the Book of Life is read, your name may be left out? " " My child," she would as oft reply, " I know whom I believe. And He has said that they who trust eternal life receive. No, no, my child, 'twould be a sin did I distrust my Lord, His spirit witnesseth with mine that I believe His word. " I am a sinner, saved by grace, through faith in Jesus' name. And in the last great day my hope will not be turned to shame. I do not dread the gloom of death, to me 'tis Heaven's gate. And in the calmness of the tomb, my flesh in hope shall wait." " Glory ! Glory ! Glory ! " were the last words she spoke. Then gently falling into sleep, her soul in glory woke." A singular circumstance occurred some years after her death. Two of her warmest friends were a mother and daughter in Columbus, Georgia. One night the daughter waked the mother to tell of a remarkable dream. It was, that she saw Mrs. Goulding looking radiantly happy, and evidently expecting some friend. She asked, " Mother Goulding, why are you so happy, and whom are you expecting ? " The answer was, " My daughter Lucy will be with me to-night." They looked at the clock, and early next morning were roused with the tidings that Lucy had been taken suddenly ill, and had died at that hour. Mary. The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians 35 7he Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians prances ^lOXjd gaftOlW^ mother of Gen. Francis S. Bartow. Mrs. Francis L. Bartow was born in Savannah, November 2, 1792, was a grand- daughter of Col. Thomas Lloyd, sent by the British Government to Charles- ton, at the time of the colonization of the State. After the death of her parents, Francis Stebbins and Rebecca Lloyd, she went to live with her step-brother, Judge William Davies, a partner with Judge Macpherson Berrien, of Savannah, and lived with him until the time of her marriage to Dr. Theodosius Bartow, February 26, 181 2. A miniature painting of her at this time shows her to have been a beautiful woman with oval face, high forehead encircled in soft curls of golden brown, eyes blue-grey shadowed with dark lashes and eyebrows, mouth of exquisite outHne, chin delicate in harmony, with the perfect con- tour of face, all expressive of loftiness of purpose, high resolve, and gentle- ness. This precious relic was lost in a fire of recent date. " Few women ever possessed more valiant traits of character, or elicited in a higher degree the love of all who came within the circle of her ac- quaintance. Like the mother of the Gracchi, no wonder that her gallant off- spring ' illustrated Georgia ' so nobly in the halls of legislation, in the forum and the tented field. He drew inspiration from a source too pure to admit of aught that was sordid or base in human character. '■ And the crowning excellence of this gentle being was her Christ- like piety. Her religion was a living exemplification of the graces that adorn the true followers of the Cross. Not even for the slayers of her son could she cherish hate, but died at peace with them and all the world." The closest intimacy and more than ordinary love existed between mother and son. From his earliest boyhood her gentle influence ever stimu- lated him in his high ambition, not merely for selfish or worldly aggrandize- ment, but for pure and lofty purposes of life. His first little speech as a child will exemplify this. She selected for him the hymn known so well to all : " Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve, and press with vigor on;" and this hymn made its impress on his grand and beautiful life, which only ended when brought back to his mother on his " Spartan shield." She parted with him in Savannah when on that memorable day he marched off with his gallant young company, " The Oglethorpes," with cheers and shouts, triumphal arches wreathed with laurel and palm, flowers showered about them, and every demonstration of honor and love from a people who honored him and confided their boys to him in absolute trust. Hardly two months later, in those same streets at midnight is heard the tap of the muffled drum, and the solemn tread of the silent crowd, who with saddened hearts and mournful voices echo the words along that tell the news : "Brave Bartow falls! Victory and glory mingle With our hero's name." 36 After his death Mrs. Bartow returned to her home in Floyd, now en- deared to her by many sacred memories, which threw a halo around her pathway which, for the rest of her days, lay in shadow, for the light of her life, her counsellor and friend, would no more go in and out with words of lo\e and peace. Extract from a letter written on her birthday: '■ Dear Mother: " I now take advantage of the closing hours of this day which completes your sixtieth year. It has been one of those bland, bright days, more like spring than autumn, neither warm nor cold, and I have thought of the green hills of Floyd and wished myself there, that I might walk with you through the quiet garden, and see the sun as he sets behind the mountains, light up the sky with golden radiance. How beautifully does nature present to the mind the evening of a well spent life, how few are the dark hours between the mellow twilight so full of peace and rest and the glorious re- appearance of the rosy beams of morning. " For you I cannot wish those many years on earth, which is the custom- ary greeting; I know enough of life's meridian, of its fleeting joy, and constant cares, to feel that the happiest hour is ' when the soul is freed.' But for me my prayer would be that you who first held me up to the light of day should close my eyes, a selfish prayer at least, that I may so live, that like you some golden light may be reflected in my evening days. God's will be done. May He guide you and me and all of us. My heart is with you always." Extract from Bishop Elliott's Sermon : " Mourn for such a life and death as his was ! We cannot mourn and even his widowed mother should say with Ormond, ' I would rather have my dead son, than any living son in Christendom.' " Mrs. Bartow died in 1892, aged eighty. One of four children survive her, ^^'ilhelmina Bartow Rees. The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians 37 The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians Hi'&XtAxxVX "S^ljatt ^tatllC CjOUmitU, mother of Dr. Thomas Da- vies Coleman, of Augusta, Georgia. Nearly a hundred years ago, a com- munity of spacious homes was established on the South Carolina Heights, overlooking the valley of the Savannah, near Augusta, Georgia. This group of country seats was called Summer Hill; and early in the century the name had become a synonym for the delightsome, luxurious life of the affluent Southerner. Here, amid whispering pines and carolling birds, Carolina Wyatt Starke was born August 20, 1841. She was a fitting type of a summer-time child in a world of beauty. Her eyes were the very blue of the skies, and her complexion matched the fragile, pink and white woodland flowers. Her hair was of those rich auburn tones which poets and painters have assigned to the world's famous beauties. The influences of heredity and environ- ment were alike most happy for this lovely girl. Her father. Major William Wyatt Starke, a wealthy and cultured old-school gentleman, was of the Virginia family of Starkes, who, two generations earlier, had settled near Abbeville, South Carolina. Her mother, a daughter of Captain Jones, of Beaufort, was of a family both aristocratic and opulent. Major Starke had first married Miss Jeannette Blakely, of Charleston, and Mrs. Starke's first husband was Mr. Thomas Walker Davies, of Georgia. Carolina, the only child of their union, was the cherished favorite of the two families of step- brothers and sisters. The eldest brother. Col. Pinkney Starke, a profound scholar and world-wide traveller, brought back from the Holy Land water of the river Jordan with which to baptize the baby sister. This sacred rite was performed by the Rev. Mr. Ketchuin, of the Presbyterian Church. More than twenty years later, some of this same water was used for the christening of her own baby boy — Thomas Davies Coleman. Carolina's youthful years were spent on Summer Hill, and in Savannah. Before she reached maturity, both her father and mother had died, leav- ing her to the loving care of her sister, Harriet Davies Hammond. Prosperity and pleasures are often a surer test of the quality of souls than are adversities. Through both, this tender girl passed with a sweet- ness and strength that was extraordinary. Of a singular purity of heart, she believed of others only the best. Indeed she had a fine faculty of discern- ing and calling into activity the noblest traits of those about her. The gentleness and refinement of her nature were evidenced from her earliest childhood. Highly artistic, she was yet of the calmest temperament; and was absolutely free from eccentricities and prejudices. In music, painting, and modelling she was unusually gifted. In the latter art her talents were especially marked. In belles-lettres she was thoroughly accomplished. Until she was sixteen years of age, her education was intrusted to care- fully selected governesses. Then she was sent to New York City to the famous Abbott school. After finishing there. Miss Starke returned South 38 in June, 1858, to the home of her brotlier-in-law, Gen. M. C. M. Hammond, at Athens, Georgia. Her entrance into the brilliant social life of that city of culture is a happy memory to many who knew her during those brief, bright years preceding the outbreak of the Civil War. She was a recognized leader of fashion, but no breath of frivolity or vanity dimmed the clear mirror of her soul. Because of the rare balance of her nature she was equally joyous and devout. No harsh or ungener- ous speech was ever heard from her lips. Religion was to her an animating essence of thought, speech, and deed. She worshipped God, alike through the gladness of her heart, and her goodness to every creature. In person and dress she was the embodiment of girlish daintiness and womanly elegance. There were many and distinguished suitors for her hand. To a lover of her girlhood she finally yielded her heart. As children, she and John Scott Coleman had seen much of each other; for he came often from his home across the Savannah to visit the family of his uncle. Major John Triggs, at Selwood, near Summer Hill. When about to leave for Philadelphia to begin his medical studies, John Coleman declared his love, begging Carolina to wait for him until he should return a finished doctor. She was then but fifteen, and wisely urged that they were both too young to seriously consider any such question. But, in spite of intervening years, and lands, and seas, and other love affairs for both of them, fate gave them to each other. During the war. General Hammond's family came back to the old home in South Carolina. It was here that Dr. Coleman again wooed Miss Starke, and with the happy fortune, this time, to win her. They were married from the First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, April 12, 1864. Two years later. May 22, 1866, the fair young wife was taken, leaving the one baby boy to bear her sweet life, through his own " noblest-best," to larger fulfilment. Her grandchildren now cluster about their father's knee, asking to be told ■' more of dear Grandmother Carrie Starke." For their sakes, most of all, these memories have been gathered from those who knew and loved her. Her life, so brief, was of such exquisite beauty and graciousness that still, across the long, long, silent years, it breathes a fragrance of all the finer essences of the gentle, high-bred Southern womanhood of a generation ago, A. L. C. The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians 39 The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians ^JtXtVa ^obtnSOU %OaXtS ©Otb. Few ever so beautifully illus- trated Christian womanhood as did the subject of this brief memoir. The preparation therefore of a fitting tribute to such an one is fraught with difficulties which increase as the work progresses. Her character was the finest cluster of attractive traits, whether exhibited by the varied de- mands of home, of society, or of religion; whether rejoicing in the sunshine of prosperity, or walking beneath the shadows of sorrow, for she was sus- tained by courage adequate to meet the demands of duty and with a heart full of love and sympathy — all because of childlike trust in God's Word for guidance and for strength. Her life was such as history delights to place before the world for its own excellencies, sustained by a lineage through renowned names which, passing down the centuries, have been venerated for courage and honor and truth as illustrated by statesmanship, fidelity, and heroic deeds. Laura Robinson Rootes was born September 20, 1792, and died July 2T), 1866. She was the fourth child of Thomas Reade and Sarah Battaile Rootes, whose home was known as Federal Hill, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Thomas Reade Rootes was a distinguished lawyer, several times member of the Legislature of Virginia, and within a few years of his death was possessed of great wealth. The Rootes family was for several generations prominent in Virginia, in social and professional positions. Mrs. Cobb was also descended from such Colonial men of note as Col. George Reade, who emigrated to Virginia in 1632, and was royal counsellor for many years; Captain Nicholas Martin, Captain Robert Higginson, Captain Augustine Warner, Col. Miles Cary, Edward Jacqueline, John Smith, of " Shooters Hill " — all of whom occupied at various times prominent civil and military offices in the colony. Through Col. George Reade and Col. William Bernard, Mrs. Cobb was descended from several of the barons who wrested the Magna Charta from King John at Runnymede; and by the Martian and Battaile lines she traced her ancestry to the Huguenots of France. At the age of nineteen Laura Robinson Rootes was married to Col. John Addison Cobb of Georgia, son of John Cobb of Virginia, and Mildred Lewis, daughter of Howell Lewis and Mary Willis_, of Granville County. North Carolina. They settled upon his plantations in Jefferson County, near Louisville, Georgia, where they remained until removal to Athens which became their home the remainder of their lives. On his maternal side. Colonel Cobb was descended through the Warners from Col. George Reade, who has been mentioned as an ancestor of Mrs. Cobb also. A distinguished genealogist says of the Cobb family, " It goes back to within a few years of the settlement of Virginia, and might be carried much farther back into the history of England. Indeed, the name of the Cobbs is one of the ablest and most honorable known, either in our earlier or more recent records." 40 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians They had seven children who reached maturity. The sons were Howell Cobb, the well-known statesman of Georgia. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, member of Buchanan's Cabinet, President of the First Confederate Congress, and Major-General. C. S. A.; Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, distinguished jurist and author, member of the Con- federate Congress, and Brigadier-General, C. S. A., who bravely fell at the battle of Fredericksburg; and ]\[ajor John Boswell Cobb, also an officer in the C. S. A. Mrs. Cobb was a beautiful woman with bright sparkling eyes, animated and expressive features and graceful manners. From early youth she had difficulty in hearing, but was so prepossessing it appeared not to mar her pleasure nor that of her company. She and her husband lived and died consistent members of the Baptist Church. Surely she was born pious, for she loved religion even from childhood. As a writer and conversationalist she possessed remarkable talent. Modest in religious life, there were few who equalled her in accurate Bible knowledge, and in endeavor to honor its teachings. Prayer was her con- stant resort for sustaining grace; love and duty, her guiding stars. In her intellectual endowment there was depth and logic of thought, power of reasoning, love of truth, command of concise, expressive language, which combined rendered her decisions those of wisdom and of righteousness. The impress upon the minds and hearts of her children was like engravings upon steel, imparting cast to character. It could be seen in their lives, their homes and their business. Ah, here was indeed the impress of duty, the handwriting of love, the imprint of righteousness, because after all they were the leadings and teachings of the Holy Spirit. Mrs. Cobb had many painful afflictions. A soul so refined and so sanctified could but feel and appreciate grief most acutely, and in like proportion that it felt love and joy and peace. The sudden death in battle of her son Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb carried the .sharpest pang of sorrow into her trusting soul. " Why is it," she asked on that occa- sion, "that my prayers scarcely rise above my head?" The reply was, "These are precious groanings which the Spirit sprinkles with the blood of Christ and spreads before the throne of grace." She was comforted but never recovered from the shock. The last words of Jesus — oh, how precious ! — so were the last words of this saint. " Impossible to live. I only mind parting with you all ! I see — I see," and closing her eyes she softly sank " Asleep in Jesus ! blessed sleep. From which none ever wakes to weep." Jno. C. Whitner. 41 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ^axrtlia HaCClltClinC ^OOtcS gacTiSOU, mother of Gen. Henry R. Jackson, was born at " Federal Hill," near Fredericksburg, Virginia, September 28, 1786. Her parents were Thos. Reade Rootes, a distin- guished lawyer and member of the House of Delegates, and Sarah Ryng Battaile. She was the eldest of five children, and from her earliest years must have been the beloved counsellor and helper of the others, judging from the devoted respect in which she was held by them throughout their lives. Her young womanhood shows evidence of the atTection and elevat- ing influence which surrounded her in '" that charming social fireside com- fort at ' Federal Hill' " The revulsion of religious feeling in the latter part of the last century, following the long period of coldness which had preceded it, resulted in strict ideas of religious life and rigid self-examination. Many noble char- acters were formed in those days, and such was the case in the subject of this sketch. Her ardent nature and strong intellectual traits were molded into a beautiful character, which was strong to bear the trials and sorrows of following years, and which wielded a helpful influence upon all who came in contact with her. On May 8, 1810, she was married to Howell Cobb, of Georgia, a gentle- man many years her senior. He was a captain in the United States army, with a commission signed by George Washington, and member of Congress in 181 1, when the relations between the United States and England were in an embarrassing state. Captain and Mrs. Cobb were on terms of friendship with Chief Justice Marshall, Mr. \Vm. H. Crawford, and other bright stars which studded the congressional skies in those tr3ung times. When Captain Cobb's term in Congress was over they retired to their plantation home, near Louisville, Georgia. This extract from one of her letters, written at the time of her daughter's anticipated marriage, shows the course of conduct Mrs. Cobb pursued upon reaching her new home. " I know by experience how readily a young woman can obtain the kindest in- terest from her husband's connections by accommodating herself to their habits, and treating them affectionately herself. I have in my own case found, that although I came a perfect stranger to a distant land, amongst those who had perhaps calculated that my husband never would marry, that I still could gain their best feelings, and I believe their sincere respect and afifection." Mrs. Cobb's mother having died, her sisters made their home with her in Georgia, and this resulted in the marriage of her sister Sarah to I\Ir. John A. Cobb, a younger brother of Captain Cobb. In 1818, Captain Cobb died, leaving no children. On September 2, 1819, Mrs. Cobb was married to Dr. Henry Jackson, an Englishman, professor of philosophy and chemistry in Franklin College, and youngest brother of Gen. James Jackson of Revolutionary fame. Dr. Jackson was chosen by Mr. Wm. H. Crawford secretary of legation when 42 he was sent minister to France in 1812, and remained with Mr. Crawford until his return. He then resided at the French Court as charge d'affaires until a short time before his marriage. A union of congenial tastes was the result of this marriage, and that happiness which comes from the communion of two individuals of noble character. Their only son, Henry Rootes, was their oldest child, and their hopes were centered in him from his cradle. In a letter from Dr. Jackson to a nephew in England, he thus speaks of him : " If I am weak about anything it is in relation to this boy, my own and only son. I think his natural disposi- tion is such as to justify my entertaining every hope of future gratification from his complete success." Dr. Jackson was attackedwith a strokeof paralysiswhen his son was only a boy, and he was never quite strong again. So among his earliest lessons the son was taught by his father that he must be the protector of his mother and two little sisters, and that lesson he never forgot. Throughout his poems, most of which relate to his childhood's home and early associations, runs a thread of filial affection, uniting the warm and loving hearts which clustered about the fireside at " Halscot." This is from a letter from Mrs. Jackson when her son was a colonel in the Mexican War: " We are now under much anxiety about our dear absent Colonel, for to-morrow is the day specified as the one for the attack on Vera Cruz. I endeavor to exercise the confidence that I ought in that power, without whose permission no weapon can prosper against him; but the mother's heart will tremble for the child who is about to be exposed to an imminent danger." Her strong and abiding faith in God was the ruling characteristic of her life, which sustained her in the deepest afflictions which the human heart can feel, and which was with her when the summons came to " Come up higher," when she whispered to her loved ones bending over her, '■ If this be death, then it is sweet to die." 'The Mothers u/ Some Distinguished Georgians 43 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians J>JlV r ^ f^9* '»^ ' Wj^ " -' iJU' H|^^Wg^nH|r>7VV''^^fl R l^^iME^ ? :^s h'>^UvlUC ^OlUllVd gUUUS, the mother of Augusta J. Evans Wilson, was of the aristocratic family of Howards, one of the most cultured in the State. Her father was John Howard, who married Jane Vivian. Sarah was born July 15, 1813, at Milledgeville, Georgia, the then capital of the State, the centre of learning, culture, and affluence, where gathered the brightest minds of the great Commonwealth, and where assembled the wit and beauty for which the State was noted. She was the youngest of nine children; and when her mother was widowed, and they removed to their new home in Columbus, Georgia, the little Sarah had not only the wealth of affection lavished upon the youngest of a family, but the wholesome example and precepts of the whole lovely household circle. She was sent to a boarding-school at the usual age, and there did good work, as attested by the fact that to her was due almost en- tirely the very finished education her daughter Augusta received. She married, at twenty-one. Matt Ryon Evans. The Mexican War had just ended, and everything was in a thoroughly disorganized condition when Mr. Evans removed his family to San /Vntonio. Texas. Mrs. Evans was a remarkably clever woman, very literary in her tastes. She was possessed of an unusual amount of true Southern courage, which enabled her, in the face of all obstacles, to take up the office of edu- cator to her children, with what success the whole country knows. " Augusta Evans is without doubt the most fascinating, brilliant, and satisfactory writer in the South: she has woven into her novels all that is good and great in the human race, and she has given to her heroes and heroines the imperishable virtues of beauty, morality, and Christianity. With all this she is a typical Southerner, a most lovable and winsome woman, sensitive and retiring." She said: " I hold peculiarly dear the confidence and esteem of my own sex, and I deem it a greater privilege to possess the affection of my country- women than to assist my countrymen in making national laws." To-day she is peacefully passing her days at her beautiful flower-em- bellished home in Mobile, Alabama, and from thence she writes this tribute to her mother : " She died of pneumonia, February 6, 1878. All her life, so fragrant with good deeds, she was a faithful member of the ]\Iethodist-Episcopal Church. Each year of my life I realize more vividly the wonderful clearness of her judgment, the breadth and richness of her intellectual resources, her unswerving loyalty to duty, and the purity and nobility of the lofty standards by which she patiently strove to elevate the thoughts and lives of her eight children. Her home record as devoted Christian, wife, and mother remains our most precious, imperishable heritage since she entered into blessed rest in 1878. She sowed good seed broadcast in our young hearts, and had we always heeded her counsel, no tares would be bound up in our sheaves at the final harvest." 84 The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians (CathcVinC ^athshcbU i'lcmiuCJ, ('"'^ Moragne) was born at New Bordeaux, Abbeville Counly, South Carolina, May 9, 1823. Her father, Isaac Moragne, was the youngest son of Pierre Moragne, one of the leaders of the colony of French Huguenots who arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, April 14, 1764, and soon after settled at New Bordeaux. Pierre Moragne was educated at a college in Paris. A journal of his travels and a diary kept for some years after his arrival in America are still in possession of the family. Isaac Moragne married Margaret Blanton Caine, of English ancestry, her mother being the granddaughter of Mrs. Margaret Blanton, of Virginia, and nearly related to John Randolph, of Roanoke. Of this marriage there were eleven children, six daughters (four of whom died unmarried), and five sons. Mary Elizabeth, the eldest child, early developed a literary talent. " The British Partisan," a historical romance from her pen, appeared in 1839 in the " Augusta Mirror." She was afterward married to Rev. William PI. Davis, and later in life published a volume of poems. She was also tlie author of numerous articles in prose. William C. Moragne attended the then famous school of Professor Waddell, at Willington; graduated at the South Carolina College; afterward continued his studies at Berlin and Heidelberg; practised his profession of law in Edgefield District, South Carolina ; served in the Mexican War under General Scott as first lieutenant, Company D, Palmetto Regiment; delivered in 1854, at New Bordeau.x, an address on the ninetieth anniversary of the arrival of the Huguenot colony ; died during the Civil War, holding a com- mission as colonel in the Confederate Army. He was married Miss Emmie Butler, of Edgefield, South Carolina. John Bayle Moragne received his early training at the Waddell school, and finished his education at West Point Military Academy; practised law in Asheville, North Carolina; served in the Mexican War under General Scott as first lieutenant Company E, Palmetto Regiment; was killed at the head of his company within the Garita de Belen, City of Mexico, September 13. 1847. Isaac M. Moragne graduated in medicine at the college in Augusta, Georgia, and practised his profession in Lincoln County, Georgia. He married Miss Mary Fleming. Nathaniel H. Moragne graduated in medicine in New York, and prac- tised his profession in Palatka, Florida. He married Miss Alice Mosely, daughter of ex-Governor Mosely of that State. Edward Randolph Moragne, the youngest son, died before reaching his majority. Miss Catherine B. Moragne, the subject of this sketch, received her education at home and in the neighboring schools of the State. She was married November 5, 1850, to Mr. Porter Fleming, a merchant of Augusta, 85 The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians Georgia. By this marriage there were born six sons and two daughters. The eldest son, John AL, died when just entering manhood; Frank E. is president of the Commercial Bank of Augusta ; William H. is member of Congress from the Tenth District of Georgia ; Lamar L. is manager sales department American Cotton Co., New York ; Isaac Moragne is general Southeastern agent (Norfolk, Virginia) of the Fruit Growers' Association ; Porter, Jr., is a member of the firm of Pope & Fleming, cotton factors, Augusta, Georgia ; the eldest daughter, Kate Louise, married Rev. W. S. Bean, D.D., now at Clinton, South Carolina; the youngest daughter, Mary Cecile, married Mr. Landon A. Thomas, Jr., formerly of Frankfort, Ken- tucky, now of Augusta, and vice-president of the King Manufacturing Company. Mr. Porter Fleming, Sr., died September 9, 1891, in his eighty-fourth year. Mrs. Fleming is still in the enjoyment of good health at the age of seventy-six years, blessed with the devoted love of seven children, and inter- ested in the young lives of fifteen grandchildren. She proved herself at all times a faithful wife and a loving mother, unselfishly and tenderly devoted to her husband and children. She is a true and humble Christian, reared in the simple faith of the Bible, a book that has always been her constant companion. No sorrow of heart, no reverse of fortune could shake her faith in the promises of God and his over-ruling providence. Having spent her long life in loving others, others loved her; and now, in her declining years, she enjoys the solacing companionship of many sweet remembrances. 86 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians flllUClJ C |>\lttthClUS CaiuUcV, mother of Allen D. Candler, the present Governor of Georgia, was Nancy C. Matthews, the eldest daugh- ter of Allen Matthews, a prominent lawyer of the western circuit of Georgia, who died in 1843. Allen Matthews was the oldest son of William Matthews, who, born in North Carolina, came to Georgia before the War of the Revolu- tion, was a captain in that war, and settled at its close on a bounty of land, given to him for his military services, on Sandy Creek, eight miles north of Athens, then in Franklin, now in Jackson County, Georgia. William Matthews was prominent in the public affairs of his day; was for twenty- five years, between 1805 and 1830, member of one or the other house of the Georgia legislature, elector on the presidential ticket in 1825, etc. He was an ardent Presbyterian, and was for fifty years an elder in Sandy Creek Church, of which he was one of the founders about a hundred years ago. He, about the close of the War of the Revolution, married a Miss Wakefield in South Carolina. They had a large family of sons and daughters, all of whom were brought up with that care which usually characterizes Pres- byterians in rearing their children. Allen, the father of the subject of this sketch, was the oldest child. He married, in 1814, Margaret Pickens Elton, daughter of Anthony Elton, who served in the War of the Revolution in what was called the " silk-stocking brigade " from Pennsylvania. Soon after the war Anthony Elton came from Pennsylvania to Georgia, married in South Carolina, and settled on Sandy Creek near William Matthews. Here these two heroes of the war for independence lived, reared their families, and died, the one at the extreme age of ninety-six, and the other at ninety-nine, and are buried within a few feet of each other in the old Sandy Creek church- yard. Margaret Pickens Elton, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was the second daughter of Anthony Elton, and through her mother was a cousin to John C. Calhoun, and related to the celebrated Pickens family of South Carolina, from which she got her middle name. Nancy Caroline Matthews, the subject of this sketch, and the mother of Governor Candler of Georgia, was born in Jackson County, Georgia, in 1815, and was well educated for that day. In 1832, when the gold mines of North Georgia were discovered, 'her father, Allen Matthews, who had grown financially independent at the practice of law, abandoned his pro- fession, removed to Lumpkin County, Georgia, and engaged extensively in mining for gold. At this time enterprising and adventurous young men flocked from all parts of the country to this New Eldorado in quest of fame and fortune. Among them came Daniel Gill Candler, a young lawyer, a native of Columbia County, Georgia, a grandson of Colonel \\'illiam Cand- ler, a soldier of the War of the Revolution, and a man of much prominence in his day, and a lineal descendant of Lieutenant-Colonel William Candler, of Callan Castle, Ireland, who fought in the parliamentary army under Crom- well. To this Daniel Gill Candler Nancy C. Matthews was married in 1833, 87 The Mothers (?/ Some Distinguished Georgians in Lumpkin County, Georgia, and with him she lived until her death in 1869, in Che fifty-fifth year of her age. She was the mother of twelve children, eight of whom survived her. She, like her ancestors, was a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church, to which her husband and most of her children attached themselves. Born in a new county, most of whose inhabitants were adventurers living in mining camps, and many others Cherokee Indians (for this tribe had not yet left the country), her older children had no ad- vantages of schools, for there were none in the country; but they were not untaught. To them she was at once companion, teacher, and mother, and through her untiring efforts, encouraged by her husband, who was a man of literary tastes and habits, they were well taught in the books of the Sundiy- school and the academy, and later on she saw all of them graduate from t'he best colleges in the South. She was as modest and unostentatious as she was untiring and devoted, and lived only for her husband, her children, and her church. Her life was a life consecrated to duty, and abounded in acts of charity and benevolence. She was universally beloved by the poor who lived around her. to whom she gave of her limited means with a liberal hand. To her precepts and example and her Christian admonitions her son. Governor Candler, attrib- utes whatever measure of success he has achieved in life. She was buried in Alta Vista cemetery, Gainesville, Georgia. A marble obelisk marks her grave beside that of her husband. On this obelisk is in- scribed : " A devoted wife and mother, an obliging neighbor, and an humble Christian." 88 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians I^Xavthll gcall C^aUtllclV mother of Bishop Warren Candler, was the mother of eleven children, and of one of the most remarkable families in Georgia. She was the daughter of Noble P. Beall, of Cherokee County, Georgia, and the niece of Gen. William Beall, whose name was associated with the early history of Georgia. She was descended from Scotch Presbyterian stock, from which she inherited many of the noble characteristics of her nature. She married the Hon. Samuel C. Candler, who himself was one of the most prominent men in his section of the State. He was of English extrac- tion and from illustrious ancestry, and was noted for his integrity and ex- alted ideas of truth and of right. He represented the State several limes in both House and Senate, and was an important factor in political circles, and in all important public questions his influence was felt. This couple, unlike many in these latter days, was a unit, and in the management of home and children would furnish an example worthy of imitation; the consequence is, that out of seven sons reared to manhood, not one has proven a failure, but all occupy notable positions in life — pulpit, bar, and commerce have noble representatives from the members. Mrs. Candler was left a widow in 1873, and, feeling that she must still carry out the plans which had been laid out for the children, she seemed to take on new vigor of mind; and although feeble in health and so deeply bereaved as never to have rallied, still the whole fibre of her being was aroused, and every energy was put forth in the interest of her dearest treasures, her children, and nobly did she act her part. She was reverenced by them, and her word and wish was the law of the family. All the Christian virtues were prominent in her character and conduct; dignity, love, grace, and beauty made her the personification of loveliness to her children. She aspired to the highest things on earth, and yet could stoop to do a kind act for the most obscure. Full of sympathy, she secured the confidence of her associates, and, abounding in admiration for all that was good and beau- tiful, she was appealed to by them for commendation and advice. She was a Methodist in its fullest sense; and so devoted was she to its principles and institutions, that her enthusiasm for her church almost equalled that of Jeanne d'Arc in her love for her country. She has passed from earth, leaving a void in the hearts of her children which can never be filled, and an example to the mothers of our land worthy of emulation. Her highest ideal of a woman was to be a good wife and a true mother; and in shaping the lives of her illustrious sons she has made a contribution to the world which will last forever, and her influence through them cannot be overestimated. In fine, she was a beautiful model of Chris- tian motherhood, worthy of a sculptor's hand, and of a place among the famous statues of the earth. 89 The Mothers 0/ Some Uistinguished Georgians / ||:VilVlJ ^im gCUt I^OUCJStVCCt; the mother of Gen. James Long- street, was born in Maryland, March 13, 1792. Her father, Alarshal Dent, who was positive in character and Hterary in his taste, married a ?^liss Magruder, and in the course of time emigrated to Georgia, with his wife and four children. The oldest of these, Mary Ann Dent, the subject of this sketch, was a beautiful girl of fifteen when the mother died. The duties and responsibili- ties of the home thus devolved upon her; these she assumed cheerfully and discharged faithfully. At the age of twenty she married James Longstreet, the brother of Judge Longstreet, the distinguished educator and humorist of Georgia. She was left a widow at forty, with nine children; these she labored for, educated by industry, thrift, economy, and an undaunted purpose to have her children stand before kings, and not before mean men, in the language of Scripture. She lived to see all these children grown, honorably married, and in the Church. The Bible being their text-book, they have done what they could to obey the command given to our first parents, " Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth," so that her descendants numeri- cally run up into the hundreds. One daughter, at a recent family reunion, entertained eight families, in which four generations were represented, and all counted there were forty-five or fifty who dined with her. The general had ten children, and so on in lessning numbers, till now his mother's de- scendants stand abreast, with the best in business, social, professional, and church circles. She herself was magnetic; had power to make and hold friends: her fine conversational gifts made her entertaining: and her hospi- tality, together with her large family of girls, made her home a delightful resort for young and old. This home circle had to be broken. Her youngest son, James, who was physically strong, running over with life, push, and energy, was advised to compete for the scholarship offered by the Military Academy at West Point : this he did, and secured the appointment. At the age of sixteen he bade adieu to mother and loved ones, but not without mingled prayers and tears, hopes and fears, for the boy so much beloved. He alone can tell the emo- tions that struggled in his bosom as he travelled by stage to that far-away training school, there to begin the development and discipline of his intel- lectual and physical powers. His first visit home after an absence of five years was as full of joy to his mother as the leave-taking was of sadness. The occasion was the marriage of a sister two years younger than himself. He was just twenty-one, tall, erect, handsome; his military suit added to the dignity of his appearance; he was genial; his flow of spirits carried light, sunshine, and joy wherever he went. The house was crowded with young ladies who came to the weddi ng; he entertained them with his jolly songs and lively conversation. This wedding occasion will ever be remembered, even by the youngest sister. Mother was an expert in the culinary depart- 90 ment, and she spared no pains in preparing all tTie delicacies served at an old- time wedding. She gave in marriage seven daughters and two sons; but her charming traits of character, together with her abiding faith in God and man, won the love, esteem, and respect of all these sons and daug'hters-in- law. Amid all the vicissitudes of life her charity was unfailing, and she acted upon the principle that all things work for good to those who love God. She was true in the broad meaning of that term; hopeful, cheerful, loving; and died with expressions of love upon her lips, and is now mingling with angelic throngs in the beautiful city of God. With such a mother who can wonder that her son, James, who so much resembled her in person and in disposition, is on record as a patriot, brave soldier, hero, tried and true citizen? His early military discipline and training had taught him to surrender to the inevitable. In the Lost Cause, for which the South fought so bravely, his prophetic eye looked down the vista of time and saw that it was best for us, who could no longer contend against the odds upon the battle-field, to go back into the Union as loyal citizens. The cavalier spirit of the South was not prepared for such proposals, and so alienation arose, which has brought down harsh criticisms, unjust judgment, censure, instead of the gratitude which he won when he resigned his position in the United States Army to defend home, family, and native land; and fought so bravely in order to maintain her honor and independence. But when the " mists have passed away," his character will stand out in all its truthfulness, sin- cerity, fidelity, loyalty to God and right, and the victor's wreath will adorn his brow. He has been sailing o'er the sea of life nearly eighty years: some- times the waters have been smooth, at other times the billows have almost overwhelmed him. God grant that the voyage may be a safe one and he anchor in the haven of rest 1 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians 91 T'-^f Mothers o/ Some Distinguished Georgians g^UUmiTv 2luntlotpIV gongstVCCt, mother of August Baldwin Long- street, and oldest of six children of James FitzRandolp'h and his wife, Deliverance Coward, was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey, on March 2T^, 1 761. Her father, who dropped from his name the prefix of " Fitz," was an ardent soldier of the Continental Army, and in the year 1781 died a martyr to the cause, being imprisoned by the British in what was then called " the Provost," a wretched prison in New York. He was of an old Engish family, being descended from John FitzRandolph, who held a colonel's commission in the royal army early in the reign of Henry VHL, > through Edward FitzRandolph, who immigrated to Plymouth Colony in 1630. Hannah was reared in Monmouth County; and there, between 1783 and 1785, she married William Longstreet. Shortly after her marriage the newly-wedded pair moved to Augusta, Ceorgia. Her husband was a genius, whose talents and calling were in manufactures. He invented a steam- boat, and but for want of means with which to construct his boat might have anticipated Fulton in his success. He also invented and patented the " breast-roller " of cotton-gins, which was of incalculable value to growers of the long-staple cotton. He set up two of his gins in Augusta, which were propelled by steam, and worked admirably, but were destroyed by fire within a week. About the year 1800 Mr. and Mrs. Longstreet moved to Edgefield District, South Carolina. Afterward he erected a set of steam mills near St. Mary's, Georgia, which were destroyed by the British in the War of 1812, to his great loss and discouragement. These varying fortunes were, of course, shared by his energetic and devoted wife. In the year 1814 Mr. Longstreet died, leaving his widow possessed of but moderate means. She returned to Augusta, and spent the remainder of her life in Georgia. Many of her letters to her sons and her daughters- in-law are still in existence. They show her to have been a woman of good education for that time, pious, intensely practical, industrious, affectionate, provident, shrewd, charitale — a blending of qualities constituting an un- usually strong and estimable character. For twenty-three years a widow, she passed that long period in a seemingly absolute devotion to her children and their growing families. Whenever illness or death made an inroad among them, .she went, succoring and comforting her sons and daughters, and nursing and educating the little ones — a true mother in Israel. She passed away in the year 1837. Her children were six in number: James, who was father of the distinguished Confederate general, and who died in 1833; Gilbert, who died in 1851; Rebecca, who married Abial Cam- field; Rachel; Augustus Baldwin, born on Reynolds Street, Augusta, Sep- tember 22, 1790; and William, who died in 1835. All of the children have numerous descendants except Rachel, who died unmarried. 92 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians J»llVUh l^tcClcUau 4>XcimS, mother of Alexander Means, A.M., M.D., D.D., LL.D., F.R.S. In the summer of the year of Our Lord, 1798, there was visiting in the family of an opulent farmer in Oredell County, North Carolina, a young woman of eighteen years of age, whose name was Sarah McClellan. She was a native of Pennsylvania, where her parents, who were Scotch-Irish, had lived for some time prior to the Revolution. One morning in the month of August her host and relative found it necessary to visit a turnip patch which was in process of preparation for the fall sowing hy a large, surly African slave. This slave had repeatedly of late given trouble to his master by outbreaks of temper and rebellion against authority. Mr. left the house under protest of his wife, who warned him against the half-savage African in vain. He went to his fate. The negro, dreaming of his native jungles, perhaps, and sighing for the erstwhile free- dom of his wide plains, attacked the gentleman with a large mattock, and striking him in the temple, felled him as an ox is felled in the shambles. Hastening then toward the dwelling with the instrument of murder in his hand, he found the doors and windows shut and barred. The turnip patch was in sight of the house, and the frightened women had witnessed the tragedy from the veranda. Finding, as above stated, his way blocked by strong doors and windows, he began to beat and pound at both alternately, with the prospect of soon gaining admittance. There were none in the house save the frightened hostess. Miss McClellan, and a female slave or two; the "quarters," as was customary, being near a mile distant. What was to be done? Miss C . who alone seemed capable of any coherent thought or action, calmly formed her plans and bravely executed them. Secreting her trembling hostess in some distant corner of the house, she proceeded, together with one of the female servants, to the rear door; then opening it, while the bloody murderer was working for entrance at the front, she quietly stepped out, and proceeding, unbonneted and ungloved, to the near horse lot, bridled a willing horse, and sprang upon his back without saddle or cloth. The path from the horse lot led around the corner by the front. How was she to pass the desperate slave? It must be done. Gathering the reins in one hand, and urging her horse with voice and palm, she sped like the wind, rounded the corner, and for one brief instant was face to face with the savage. He seemed to realize her purpose, for, throwing back his half naked body, and raising the bloody hoe, he hurled it with demoniac fury at the passing horsewoman. But in the excess of his murderous wrath he mis- calculated, and the missile flew wide of its mark. On sped the intrepid girl, her dishevelled tresses floating out behind like 93 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians some sable banner. On by the " quarters "' ; on to the nearest neighbors ; on and on until the entire neigliborhood was aroused and hurried to the scene of the crime. Her brave deed had prevented further crime, for the infuriated neigh- bors, hurrying to the scene, caught the ensanguined wretch even as his half nude body was half through the broken window. He was taken to Salisbury, tried at the next assize, sentenced, and hung; and, in accordance with the barbaric usage of those old days, his body was decapitated, and his head fastened upon the top of a long pole which was planted in the court-house square. Long it remained there, a grinning horror and a grizzly warning to all murderers. After the loosened wool and decayed iiesh had fallen piece by piece, and the grinning skull was alone left, the bluebirds mated, and with amorous dalliance built their modest nest in its cavernous jaw. Of course Miss McClellan became famous. Two years later she met and was married to Alexander Means, a native of the " Emerald Isle." The result of that union was one boy, born in Statesville, North Carolina. Feb- ruary, 1 80 1. Often have I heard this boy, long, long after the brave, sweet woman who gave him birth had " gone to her fathers," tell of how she encouraged, guided, and strengthened his young life. Exercising a discipline firm yet loving, she led him away from the follies and crimes of childhood and youth up into the broad highway of truth and godliness, which his patient feet successfully trod for more than three- quarters of a century. Although she " was not " after he passed his seventeenth year, yet her beneficent influence never ceased to be felt, and the habit of close and dili- gent research into the glorious realm of science and religion which char- acterized his long life had their incipiency and received their character from the firm, wise, loving, guiding tutorage of the brave, intelligent woman he called mother, and whose superior character, shining like the September setting sun, irradiated the broad expanse of the horizon of her dutiful son, Alexander Means, A.M., M.D., D.D., LL.D., F.R.S., of Oxford, Georgia. 94 CiltllCVlUC ^UbCCCa ^^IVVIJ J^tUUtOU, the nioiher of Georgia's sweetest poet, Frank L. Stanton, was born at Kewah Island, South Carolina, in 1834. She was of good English stock. In this peaceful sea-girt isle her young life was passed. The vastness of the great deep ever present with its mysteries, its sunlit waves and raging tempests, she early imbibed a pure and reverent spirit, with a fine poetical temperament. She married Valentine Stanton in 1854. Her son, Frank L. Stanton, speaking of her says: " My mother had me memorize all the Psalms, and at a very early age I knew, through her influ- ence, almost every hymn in the Methodist Hymn-book, and my first work as a boy of twelve years was the writing of hymns." Mr. \'alentine L. Stanton is another son. She passed into her rest at St. Mathews, South Carolina, in 1881, and this is the tribute her son Frank pays to her : '■ Her's was a life of gentleness, and the end thereof was peace. Her's were sweet sympathies, and sorrows sanctified by Love; that love which bears the cross — not for the crown, but for its love's sweet sake. Her's were sweet ministrations on crimson Calvaries where lives were crucified. For her the storms of life, as for us all ; but ever through the darkness streamed the light of Love and Hope, and drifting at last to the dreams, she only passed from light to light. The hand that pens these lines paid long since this imperfect tribute to her radiant memory : " Thou shalt have grace where glory is forgot. Thy star all luminous in the world's last night : Thy children's arms shall be thy necklace bright, And all Love's roses clamber to thy cot. And if a storm one steadfast star shall blot From thy clear heaven, God's angels shall re-light The lamps for thee and make the darkness white. The lilies of his love shall be thy lot. He shall give all his angels charge of thee. Thy coming and thy going shall be known; Their steps shall shine before thee radiantly. Lest thou should'st dash thy foot against a stone. The Cross still stands : Who will that Love condemn Whose mother-lips kissed Christ at Bethlehem? " The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians 95 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ^aUUall i^OX'tX Jviug. Thomas Butler King was the eighth son of Captain Daniel King, of the Revolution, and of Hannah Lord, his wife, who were married at New London, Connecticut, 1780. Hannah Lord, born 1757, was fifth in descent from Thomas and Dorothy Lord, who emigrated to New England, 1635, on ship " Elizabeth and Ann," and were among the first landed proprietors of Hartford, Con- necticut. Their eldest son, Richard, was Secretary of the Colony, Captain of the first troop of horse, 1657-60, Member of the Assembly, and a patentee of Charter of Charles H. His tombstone still stands in New London, with its cjuaint epitaph, beginning, " The flower of our Cavalry here lieth." Hannah Lord was the mother of nine sons who lived to manhood. Her beauty, dignity, and womanly grace left its impression upon her children, who always spoke of her with love and reverence. Her sister Ann, having married Col. Zebulon Butler, the families moved to Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, where, on the death of his parents, Thomas Butler was taken to the home of his cousin and guardian, John Lord Butler. Mr. King, while on a visit South, met Miss Anne Page, the only child of Major William Page, of St. Simon's Island, and their marriage, December 2, 1824, determined his after career. Mr. King henceforth identified him- self with Georgia, and devoted his life to her interests. Sound in health of body and mind, of perfectly temperate habits, and of great energy, with beauty of person and peculiar charm of manner, with un- failing kindness of heart and cheerful temper, he made the happiness of his family. He increased the plantation left by Major Page, introducing improve- ments in drainage and cultivation far in advance of the period. He was devoted to the well-being of the negroes, who loved him with touching enthusiasm, often declaring, " Ther's no gentleman like our Massa," and on his returns home, how often have I seen them crov/d around him, kissing his hands, and he with a kindly word for each one. It has been truly said, he was fifty years in advance of his time, and so failed to reap the fruit of enterprises owing their inception to his foresight. He worked enthusiastically for Brunswick, Georgia, investing large stims of money in canal and railroad. He represented Georgia sixteen years in Congress, and, as Chairman of Naval Affairs, secured appropriations which established the Collins Line, the Pacific Mail, and other beneficial legislation, for which he was publicly complimented in New York and Boston, and invited to return home on a naval cruiser. During these years he was among the foremost in the hard fight for Southern rights which preceded the War of Secession. Sent throughout California after the Mexican War with a military escort, his " Report " startled the country with statements long since become well-known facts, 96 and as first collector of the port of San Francisco, he aided materially in establishing law and order in that wild community. He was sent by Governor Brown to Europe, 1861, as Commissioner from Georgia. Had his advice been followed to ship cotton to England while yet time, there to establish a gold credit for the South, and build swift blockade run- ners, it would have been of great service. Meanwhile, during the frequent absence of the father, the brave mother remained at home, overlooking the education of her nine children, selecting their tutors, managing her large household, and directing the plantations. Personally she gave daily attention to the sick, and was ready to listen and to sympathize with those who, from childhood to age, were under her motherly care to provide with clothing, food, and religious instruction. How little is known of the active, unceasing occupation attending the Hfe of the true Southern matron, full of energy and self-devotion, teaching her children and people lessons from her own life of self-denial and honor, love and hospitality. For the home was one of joyfulness. Good hunting and riding pro- vided for the young ; the evenings bright with music ; charming books read aloud ; hospitality freely offered and returned by the pleasant neighbor- hood. The home beautiful and presided over by the gentle, loving Christian mother. Then came death, and war swiftly followed, driving the family from the island. The four remaining sons entered the Confederate .'\rmy. Of these, Captain Henry Lord King, an A. D. C. on the stafY of General McLaws, was killed at Fredericksburg. Virginia ; Col. Mallory P. King served as a staff officer to Generals Smith, Gist, Watthall, and iMcLaws : J. Floyd King became a colonel of artillery, and after the war was for eight years a member of Congress from Louisiana ; R. Cuyler King was a Captain of Sharp- shooters, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Nashville and confined at Johnson's Island. the Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians 97 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians J»aVltll ^\\\X lloUStOUU ^ndCVSOll was the only child of Robert James Houstoun and Miss AIcQueen, all born in Savannah, Georgia. Her mother dying when Sarah Ann was quite a child, she was adopted by her aunt, Mrs. Jane Woodruff, of New Jersey, and at the age of nineteen married Captain John Wayne Anderson, of Savannah, Georgia. The wedding took place at " Oakland," the beautiful country seat of Mr. and Mrs. Woodruff, on the banks of the Delaware, three miles from Trenton, October 8, 1834. Her father, Robert James Houstoun, was the youngest child of Sir George Houstoun, whose grandfather. Sir Patrick Houstoun, was induced to leave Scotland and join General Oglethorpe in 1735, two years after Georgia was settled, and was in charge of that colony whenever General Oglethorpe was absent on his visits to England. Sarah Ann Houstoun was the mother of eight children, among whom were Gen. Robert Houstoun Anderson, who was a graduate of West Point, and appointed a Brigadier-General of Cavalry in the Confederate Army. Major George Wayne Anderson, Commander of Confederate forces at Fort McAllister, Georgia; John Wayne Anderson, Captain in General Cleburne's division under Gen. Joseph E. Johnson ; Clarence Gordon Anderson, of marked executive ability ; Clifford Wallace Anderson, Mrs. Eliza Clifford Chisholm, and two children who died in infancy. She was far above the average in musical attainment, a woman of deep thought and reflection, brave and fearless in her opinions, generous and affectionate by nature, and a most brilliant conversationalist. Her faith was that of a little child, and yet most profound. Brought into contact with iier, the eye, the ear, the mind, the heart and soul were fascinated and irre- sistibly impressed. Educated under the old regime, there was in her mind a horror of " shams " of ah kinds, and a great love for " the true, beautiful, and good." In addition to these graces of mind and heart, Sarah Ann Houstoun possessed a strong individuality and great personal beauty ; she was an earnest Christian and a devoted member of the Independent Pres- byterian Church of Savannah, Georgia. She was born in Savannah in 1814, and died in that city, June 26, 1868, at the age of fifty-four. 98 SARAH ANN HOUSTOUN ANDERSON The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians l^ttllVCJUVCttC 3>XaC^''UcVS0n ^CVViCU, the mother of Judge John MacPherson Berrien, was born in Philadelphia. She was the daughter of Capt. John MacPherson, who came to Ainerica in 1746, and married Mar- garet Rogers, sister of Dr. John Rogers, the noted divine. Her father was captain in the Provincial Navy and commanded the " Britannia," was a brave soldier during the wars between England, France, and Spain, and was wounded nine times in battle. Capt. John MacPherson, Jr., Margarette's brother, aid-de-camp to General Montgomery, shared with him a sohlier's death before the walls of Quebec in 1775. Margarette's brother, William, received a major's commission from Washington, and fought under Wayne and LaFayette; he was a brave man and became a general in the United States army. The ancestry of Margarette MacPherson is traced back con- tinuously to the head of the great chief, the Clan Chattan, during the reign of David I., who, having devoted himself to the service of the church, be- came Abbot of Kingussie. The son of the Chief Ewan, the celebrated chief of the forty-five, was a first cousin of her father. In 1780, Margarette MacPherson married Major John Berrien, the son of Judge John Berrien, a justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and a friend of W'ashington. Major Berrien took his bride to his father's house, at Rocky Ford near Princeton ; this house has become historical. When the Continental Congress moved from Philadelphia to Princeton, General Wash- ington enjoyed the hospitality of his friend Judge Berrien at his home at Rocky Ford, and at this house wrote and delivered his farewell address to his army. It was at this house that John MacPherson Berrien was born on August 22,. 1781. Shortly after the evacuation of Savannah, by Gen. Alured Clark and the King's Forces, in June, 1782, Major John Berrien removed his family from New Jersey and made his home in the commercial metropolis of Georgia. The educational advantages of the South were limited, and Major Berrien sent his son to school in New York, at Nassau Hall, where he received his B.A. degree at the early age of fifteen. Returning to Georgia he entered the law office of Hon. Joseph Clay ; in his eighteenth year he was called to the bar, ten years later he became solicitor general of the eastern circuit, and before he attained his thirtieth year he was elected judge of the circuit. While upon the bench, the United States became involved in a second war with Great Britian. Judge Berrien served in a double capacity, as minister of the law and colonel of cavalry. Upon the termination of his judicial labors, Mr. Berrien was elected to the legislature from Chatham County. So commanding was the influence wielded by Judge Berrien during his short term of service in the general assembly of this Commonwealth, that he was in 1824 elected to the senate of the United States. When he took his seat in that august body, he had not attained the forty-fourth year of his age. Such, however, was the maturity of his views, such the breadth of his information, so exact his knowledge, so admirable his diction, so dignified L. cf 0. The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians his deportment, and so impressive his intellectual and social demeanor, that Chief Justice Marshall stj'led him " the honey-tongued Georgia youth." Resigning from the senate in March, 1829, he accepted the position of attorney-general of the United States in the cabinet of President Andrew- Jackson, the duties of this ofhce he discharged for more than three years. The New York " Press " in 1830, in its sketches of public characters says of him, " In the senate he was a model for chaste, free, beautiful elocution. He seems to be the only man that Webster softened his voice to when he turned from his seat to address him. The public of all parties have great confidence in him, and he stands fair for high promotion, etc." After resigning his ofhce of attorney-general. President Jackson ten- dered to Judge Berrien the mission to England. This tempting compli- ment was declined for private considerations. He returned to his home in Savannah, Georgia, and resumed the practice of his profession. On March 4, 1841, Mr. Berrien resumed his seat in the United States senate, was reelected in 1847, and in May 1852 he resigned, and in the seventy-first year of his age laid aside the public mantle which he had so long worn without a blemish. He was the companion of Calhoun, Clay, Webster, Hayne, Benton, Crittendon, Tombs, Stephens, and many others. This was a period when mighty men constituted the National Councils, great measures were fairly discussed by intellectual giants and statesman of enlightened views. As a contemporary has well said of him, " He was indeed a man whose equal in many respects the world has not produced since the days of Cicero." In November, 1784, after a painful illness of two months, death came to Margarette MacPherson Berrien, at the home of Mr. George Baillee, in Liberty County, and she left behind her a life filled to overflowing with good deeds of love and kindness. During the Revolution, Margarette Mac- Pherson, who, with an only sijter inherited a handsome property, gave her jewelry and silverware to be used in paying the Continental troops. 100 -^" '*: " J^^l 1 If Wf ^ "^^^1 ^1 L ^ ^^H ^^^^^H ^ ^ ^^H ^^^^H 1 ■ i ';^^flSH|SHIHHM3np^^<&^' ^^^^^ ^^^H y ^1 1 ^"C^^MBBaL ''w JULIA ADELAIDE ERWIN HOWELL The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians guUil JlrtcUliclc liVXUin ^OXUCU, the mother of Hon. Clark Howell, the editor-in-chief of the " Atlanta Constitution," and Mr. Albert Howell, of the general counsel of the Southern Railway Company for Georgia, was, before her marriage. Miss Julia Adelaide Erwin, of Erwinton, Barnwell District, South Carolina. She was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. William Erwin of that place, and was born there January 17, 1842. Among her lineal ancestors was Landgrave Smith, one of South Caro- lina's early governors, one of the famous Huguenot colonists of that region, whose names and deeds full so many brilliant chapters of our history. Miss Julia was one of several children, and she lived in a charming old Southern mansion, enjoying the ideal existence of those golden days when the beauty, chivalry, brains, and culture of the Palmetto State were potential influences in the society of the whole continent. In her delightful home she grew up, a recognized belle, loved and admired by all who knew her for her beauty, her bright intellect, and those winsome qualities and graces which are among the sweetest charms of womanhood. She was a girl of nineteen when her soldier lover, Evan P. Howell, a gallant young artillery officer from Georgia, who had been stationed at Pensacola, stopped for a day at Erwinton on his way to join Lee's army in Virginia, in June, 1861. The two had been engaged for some months and the Georgian urged her to marry him before he went to the front. The young lady was patriotic as well as true, and she consented. There was a hurried wedding, and Captain Howell resumed his journey to the scene of war. He obtained a brief furlough soon afterwards, and was able to carry his bride to his home in Atlanta, after which he joined his command, and fought with distinguished bravery throughout the war. Li this brief chapter it would be impossible to tell the story of Mrs. Howell's life during the four years of our great civil conflict. Like other noble Southern women of that period, her thoughts were centered upon her loved one and his comrades, who were following the banner of the Confed- eracy, and she gave her days and nights to devising and carrying out plans for their aid and comfort. She was trained in a school which made heroines, and the trials and dangers of those wartime days doubtless had much to do with llie formation of lier character and her practical methods. After the surrender, her husband entered upon a remarkably successful career at the bar, in politics, and in journalism, and soon became one of the most popular and influential men in his State. His son, Mr. Clark Howell, who succeeded him when he retired from the chief editorship of " The Constitution." is now a young man of thirty-six, who has made him- self felt as a power in journalism and in politics. He is a member of the National Democratic Executive Committee; is one of the board of directors of the Associated Press ; was speaker of the Georgia House of Represent- atives at twenty-seven years of age. and has held many other high and responsible positions. No Southerner of his age has a more promising The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians future, and no one doubts his ability to satisfactorily continue the leader- ship which he has rightfully won by sheer merit. His brother Albert, two years his junior, has been equally successful in his profession, and ranks with the first lawyers of Georgia. Only thirty-four, he is magnetic and eloquent, and it is safe to predict for him great success in his profession and also in public life. Mrs. Howell has five other children ; the youngest a son, Evan P. Howell, Jr. ; the others are girls, between the ages of Clark and Albert. Two of them are married. Of her seven children, all are living. The destroying angel has been merciful to this happy family. The handsome mansion of Captain Howell, at West End, a beautiful suburb of .Vtlanta, is one of the most hospitable and charming houses to be found anywhere, and the most famous men and women of the nation have been its guests. Mrs. Howell cares but little for society, however. She loves her home, and is devoted to the Christian church, of which she has been a devout member for many years. Next to ministering to the wants of her husband and children, her chief pleasure consists in those sweet and necessary works of religion and charity, which gladden the hearts of the sick, the sad, and the suffering. Still youthful looking, with the light of her radiant soul illumining her bright eyes, Mrs. Howell is generally beloved in every circle where she is known, and the loving friend or neighbor who would point to her as his ideal of a wife and mother would make no mistake, but would simi^ly pay her a deserved tribute. The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians G^itthcViUC gaUCnpOVt goHustOU, the mother of Ricliard Mal- cohn Johnston, was born in Charlotte County, Virginia, February 4, 1780. Her father, John Davenport, was descended from the Connecticut family of that name, though his branch of the family had long been resident in Virginia. He was killed at the battle of Guilford Court House, when a very young man, being then not beyond his early twenties. Before going into the battle he had premonition that he would be killed, and with this thought in his mind, asked and received promise from his friend, Henry Burney, that in such e\'ent, he would give messages to his widow and chil- dren, and keep friendly interest in them. He was killed in the early begin- ning of battle, dropping" by the side of his friend, who not only did last offices for him, and fulfilled all promises, but, in about two years, married his widow, and was a most beloved stepfather to his children. There were chil- dren born of this second marriage, and Mrs. Johnston was ever fond of relating to her children many incidents that attested the happy and affec- tionate relations that had existed in her mother's household. Her family emigrated to Georgia within a few years of the time at which the Johnstons also emigrated from Virginia, and while both families, Johnstons and Daven- ports, came from Charlotte County, they had not lived near together, and had not been at all acquainted in their mother State. Catherine Davenport had first married Mr. Byrom, and was a widow with several children when she married Malcolm Johnston. Of this happy marriage with Mr. Johnston there were eight children born, four sons and four daughters, Richard Mal- colm being next youngest of all the children, and youngest of the sons. In appearance Mrs. Johnston was of attractive, refined presence, being a little above medium height, of slender figure and quiet, graceful move- ment : her skin was very fair, her hair silky, soft, and dark, and her eyes dark l^lue, " a wonderful dark blue," as her son always spoke of them. In ap- jiearance and character she was much in contrast with her husband, who, though greatly beloved, and noted for his just judgment in all matters, was bold and positive in speech and full of almost aggressive energy. He never weighed less than two hundred pounds after reaching manhood, and was six feet tall in his stockings, with the Scotch high cheekbones and florid color- ing; she, on the other hand, was of a most retiring disposition, and within recollection of her youngest children, often melancholy. Her eldest son, Albon Johnston, who was a young man of fine physique and much promise in character, died at the age of twenty-one years from an attack of typhoid fever, when Richard Malcolm was only a few years old. It was said that her smile was never again merry, but only gentle, full of sympathy and ofttimes pathetic. Her home life and duties were her absorbing interests, except in instances of sickness or sorrow among neighbors, when she was ever among the first to respond with kindness and sympathy. She was especially cares- sing and tender with Richard Malcolm, who was considered a delicate child by her, though he had become robust and tall when he entered Mercer Uni- 103 The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians versity at the age of sixteen. It was during this college life that, though a diligent student, he seldom failed to ride home on horseback, a distance of sixteen miles, on Saturday afternoon, to be with his mother, then an invalid, until the next afternoon ; and at such times he would sit often upon the stool, now always at her feet, and, laying his hands upon her knees, have her stroke his hair as she talked — a caressing w'ay she had ever had with him. He has been known to say that he had never heard her voice raised in anger, though she had warned him often and earnestly against temptations of all kinds as he was approaching manhood, and had punished him, when a child, in the old-fashioned way with lively switchings. in:mediately after which he would feel entirely repentant for whatever small sin he may have committed, and never left her presence after such occurrence without her kissing him, and his feeling sure of her love and justice. She died September 24, 1S42, at " Oak Grove." the old plantation home- stead in Hancock County, and was buried in the family burying-ground there, to which legal rights were reserved when the plantation was sold many years after her death. Richard Malcolm visited this spot every year of his life that circitmstances made possible. This beloved mother's memory was as fresh and dear to him in his old age as it had been in his )"outh, and among his aspirations was the one that he might attain unto the ineffable sweetness of heart that made her a blessing to all who came within touch of her life. 104 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ^Xarttta ^OSSC ^ilUJton, the mother of Gen. Alexander Robert Lavvton, of Georgia, was Alartha Mosse, daughter of Dr. George Mosse and his wife, who was a Miss Norton. She was born on St. Helena Island, Buford District, South Carolina, on September 5, 1788. About the middle of the eighteenth century Dr. George Mosse, an Irish physician, and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, with his wife emigrated to America and settled in South Carolina, in Beauford District, on the fertile sea island of St. Helena. At the same time the Norton family came from England and settled at the same place. Shortly after their arrival the wife of Dr. Mosse died, and in the course of time he married Miss Nor- ton, the daughter of his fellow emigrant. Seven daughters came of this second marriage, all of whom were married and settled in life before the death of their father. Of these daughters the sixth was Martha. But little is known, by the third generation, of the early life of Martha Mosse. That those early adventurous spirits whom fortune led to the lu.x- urious climate of the Southern seaboard were spared the rigors and priva- tions which attended those in the Eastern States we well know ; lapped in soft, semi-tropical surroundings, with the ever-changing panorama of the sea, life was a thing to enjoy. We have no record how Martha Mosse passed her girlhood days, but that she made good use of her time we know. For soon she is the wife of a distinguished man, ruling his house and slaves with grace and ability. On November 15, 1809, she was married to Col. Alexander James Lawton, of St. Peter's parish, Beauford District, South Carolina. Of this marriage came twelve children, Alexander Robert being the fourth, born November 4, 1818. In 1835, at the age of sixteen, he was entered at West Point Mili- tary Academ3^ He never saw his mother again after this appointment, for before his furlough came his mother had died, July 26, 1836. That Mrs. Lawton was a woman of strong character, of culture and refinement, clearly appears from the influence she naturally exercised upon the lives of her children. She was of deeply religious nature, steadfast in her belief in the faith of the Baptist Church, and a constant member of it, whence all her children followed her guiding steps, and by their lives attest her Christian influence. In 1839 Alexander Robert Lawton graduated as second lieutenant of artillery, but resigned, and attended Harvard Law School. In 1843 he established his home in Savannah, Georgia, and lived there until the Civil War made it possible for him to achieve the renown he did in several depart- ments as brigadier-general of the Confederate Army, in command of the military district of Georgia. He also served with distinction in \'irginia under Stonewall Jackson, and in command of Lawton's Brigade was wounded at battle of Sharpsburg. He was Presidential Elector when member of the convention which nominated Hancock, and later a Cleveland elector. In 1885 he was nomin- 105 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ated by President Cleveland as Minister to Russia, but was ineligible accord- ing to the fourteenth amendment. Tlie first private act of the next Con- gress was the removing of General Lawton's political disabilities, and in 1887 President Cleveland conferred on him the mission to Austria-Hungary, where he conducted himself and maintained diplomatic relations with marked acceptability. 106 ANNE H. DUNHAM The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians J^nUC Jt. ^IVUham, the mother of Bradford Dunham, departed this Hfe I\Iay 14, 1854, at the early age of thirty-five years, leaving her husband and four children to mourn their irreparable loss. She was a faithful and loving wife, and hers was a brave and loyal nature. Despite her fluctuating health she was always doing for her family; she loved them and loved her home. Her husband's people loved her, and were never happier than when visiting at her home. The first few years of her married life were spent near Sunbury, on a large plantation; my father was a planter; she often told me of those deligiit- ful years. She had attended school in that town during her girlhood, and formed friendships among the people. Three or four years after this time she married and went near there to live. The many pleasant visitors at her home were very delightful to her social nature. The utmost good feeling prevailed between the inhabitants of Sunbury ; doubtless many of these social as well as spiritual blessings, which were also added to them, were direct consequences of the true amiability and sincere piety of Rev. Charles O. Scriven, in whom they had perfect confidence. From my earliest recollections her health was feeble, being predisposed to consumption, which baleful disease finally caused her death. She was loyal to God also; early in life she sought her dear Saviour, making a public profession of faith. She was a consistent Christian, and a praying Christian ; she not only prayed for us, but she prayed with us. Chil- dren never forget the mother who kneels beside them, and ofifers prayers to God for them, though those children may live to be old people, and be drifted far apart from each other, and far away from the old home, by the years which roll between childhood and old age. In the still quiet hours which must some time come to all, memory goes back to the childhood's home, the dear father, the gentle, loving mother, and the other children who played with us around their hearthstone : and we remember her prayers for us, and lift up our hearts in silent supplication to our mother's God, that He will teach us to pray for ourselves. All time could not efface the picture of that death-bed scene, when she called her four children to her bedside and gave them her parting wishes and her last goodby. x^fter she had ceased talking with us. Rev. A. S. Morrall stood beside her and repeated the twenty-third Psalm, and we all knew she " was passing through the valley of the shadow of death." She spoke no more after that, and in a few short hours she had gone from us. Mrs. Anne H. Dunham was the daughter of Capt. John Harris, the granddaughter of Capt. William Harris. She was born March 19, 181 5, and was married to Mr. Thomas J. Dunham, of Liberty County, Georgia, January 19, 1834, at Eagle Neck Church, in Mcintosh County, Georgia, by Rev. Mr. McDonald, an Irishman, who had been a Roman Catholic priest, 107 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians but seceded from that faith and became a poor Baptist preacher, with nought of this world's goods except a preacher's pay. She was the mother of four children, one daughter and three sons. Her youngest son, Jacob, died in childhood. Her second son, Thomas, had but just reached the years of manhood in the stormy days of 1861 ; he was a member of the Georgia Hussars, of Savannah, and with that cavalry he went to the front in Virginia as orderly sergeant of that company. Doubtless there are some living at this time who remember the " midnight ambus- cade " near Burke's Station, in Virginia, on the old Braddock Road, by the Third New Jersey Volunteers, which surprised a squad of twenty-four Con- federates, December 5, 1861, where Sergeant Dunham, after a desperate sabre fight, w'as wounded and taken prisoner. He received the bullet in his head that night which caused his death, though he lived until after the close of the war. Her oldest son, Mr. Bradford Dunham, general manager of the Plant system of railways, is the only one of this dear mother's sons now living. Father and mother and brothers all lie toegther, " where gravestone shadows mark the circling hours." 108 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians CyntUla ^UmUCV i>lcU^ the wife of Major Benjamin Mell, of Liberty County, Georgia, was a woman of strong and beautiful character. Not only was she deeply loved and honored by her family and immediate friends, but she made a lasting impression upon all who knew her. The late Dr. John Jones, an eminent Presbyterian minister of Georgia, was a play- mate and schoolfellow of her children. More than fifty years after her death in writing to a friend, he said : " Dr. Alell's mother was a woman of marked individuality of character, intellectual, and a truly godly woman, brought up in the strictest mode of old Congregationalism and, no doubt, perfectly familiar with the West- minster Shorter Catechism, which was thoroughly taught in old Midway Church in ancient and in modern times. Dr. Mell was all Sumner, a perfect reproduction of his mother in form, in features, in character, and in mind, proving the old saying ' that men of mark are chiefly indebted to their mothers for their superiority.' " Cynthia Sumner was the daughter of Capt. Thomas Sunmer and Anna Baker. Her parents belonged to the famous Midway Church settlement of Liberty County. From the time the first Puritan colony was sent forth from Dorchester, England, to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630; from thence, in 1696, to Dorchester, South Carolina, " to encourage religion in the Southern plantations"; and lastly, in 1752, when they settled in Dor- chester, Georgia, the history of this people has shown that they were remark- able for piety, intelligence, and patriotisiu. Bishop Stevens in his " History of Georgia " says, " The accession of such a people was an honor to Georgia, and has ever proved one of its rich- est blessings. The sons of that colony have shown themselves worthy of their sires ; their sires were the moral and intellectual nobility of the province." '■ Capt. Thomas Sumner was a son of Edward Sumner, one of the foiuid- ers of Midway Church, and a descendant of William Sumner, of Bicester, Oxford County, England, who came to New England in 1636, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Two of his sons, Samuel and Increase, joined the colony which came to South Carolina in 1696: three sons remained in Massachusetts and founded the Sumner family of New England and the Northern States." — Appleton's Sunnier Genealogy. Anna Baker was the daughter of Richard Baker, another pioneer colo- nist, and Elizabeth Andrew, who was a sister of Hon. Benjamin Andrew, and a descendant of Daniel Andrew, mentioned in Upham's " History of the Salem Witchcraft," as a man of culture and high standing, who protested vigorously against the cruel folly of the persecutions. Elizabeth Andrew- Baker w-as left a widow before the Revolution ; forced to fly from home dur- ing that period, she found a refuge among friends in South Carolina, and many stories are told of her fearless patriotism and devoted piety. The diary of her daughter, Anna Baker Sumner, is still in existence, a precious posses- 109 I'he Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ^W sion, yellow with age, but a glorious testimony to the deep piety and un- wavering faith of herself and her kindred. She describes the triumphant Christian death of her mother, and chronicles her own marriage and the notable events of her life. Cynthia Sumner was born March 25, 1790, upon her father's plantation, near Midway Church. She was left an orphan before she was two years of age, and hved with her oldest sister, Sarah, the wife of Dr. Lathrop Holmes. This gentleman was from Boston, and was an uncle of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Dr. Holmes was a man of rare intelligence and education, and a kind brother to the four little orphan sisters of his wife. This home was broken up in April, 1801, when Dr. and Mrs. Holmes, with her two sisters, Mary and Anne, sailed for New York upon their annual summer trip and " were never heard of more." Only one dearly loved sister now remained, the wife of Thomas Bacon (the grandfather of Senator A. O. Bacon). The little girl was most kindly and tenderly cared for by them, and Mr. Bacon, after the death of his wife, continued to be a true friend to Cynthia and her family during his whole lifetime. On February 9. 1807, at the age of seven- teen, she was married from her sister's home to Benjamin Mell, of South Carolina, a handsome, lovable, genial young man of good circumstances, who settled in Liberty County. Two years after this marriage Mrs. Bacon died, leaving her the last of her family. About this time she made public profession of the faith which had always been her strength and consolation, and united with the church of her fathers at Midway. She was the mother of nine children, three of whom died young. Her son, Patrick Hues Mell, was born July 19, 1814. From his birth he was the subject of her daily prayers that he might become a minister of God, and give his entire life to the Master's service. In 18 16, her cousin, the Rev. Thomas Sumner Winn, took charge of the Baptist Church at Sunbury. His brief ministry covered only three years, but is described as " grand and glorious " : he exerted the strongest influence while he lived, and left the deepest and most lasting impression when he died, of any man who ever lived in that community. Under his powerful preaching Mrs. Mell left the Congregational Church and joined the Baptists. She writes in her diary, " Most blessed Lord, may it be that as I have fol- lowed Thy example in baptism, that I may be enabled to follow more of Thy precepts and example in every other respect." Her life from this period was one of entire consecration. " She walked in all the commandments of the Lord blameless." It was said of her that she was a saintly woman, rich in all Christian virtues, purity, patience, kindness, charity, faith, devotion. In cases of severe illness Mrs. Mell was always sent for to pray with the sick, " her prayers were so strengthening and comforting." Twenty years after her death one of her sons lay very ill at the house of a friend, and it was said by the community, " We must give James our tenderest care and most earnest prayers for his recovery, for his mother, Mrs. Mell, was such a good and lovely woman." Heavy trials cast their shadows over her last days, but she bore them with patience and resignation, cheering and comforting her husband and children in the domestic difficulties caused by financial losses. Major Ben- jamin Mell was a man sympathetic and generous to a fault. In an evil hour he went security for a friend in trouble: the result was that the greater part of his estate was swept away, and his family placed in very reduced circum- stances. Friends offered help, but Major Mell refused assistance with an independence that was almost too sensitive and proud. His losses preyed upon his health, and he died in 1828, two years after his misfortunes. His devoted wife followed him a few months later, leaving six young orphans to struggle with poverty ; her comfort in dying as in living lay in the promises of Scripture ; and the saying, " I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread " was verified, for the young family had many friends who advised and sympathized with them, and enabled them to successfully solve the problems of their life. Shortly before her death she wrote two letters to her son Patrick, a lad of fifteen, who was away at school. These letters show the tenderest mater- nal affection and the deepest anxiety for the welfare of his soul. Space for- bids the publication of these beautiful letters, but they were carefully pre- served, together with her diary, by her son during the whole of his long life. The anxiety and love so strongly shown in these letters go to prove how potent are the prayers, the earnest solicitations, and Christian influence of a mother's life over the future well-being and good fortunes of a loved son. The mother did not live to see the fruits of her work on the young life, but the long years of usefulness given Dr. Mell show how great was the harvest that came from the seed his mother so carefully planted in the rich soil. God answered her prayers by giving to the country a noble life, whose influence was felt for more than fifty years through the length and breadth of this Southern land. The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians III The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ^IVVCllC lloxuavd COOPCV I^tXcU, wife of Dr. p. H. Mali, of Athens, Georgia, was born in Montgomery County, Georgia, February 15, 1819. Slie was the daughter of George Cooper and Nancy Conner, and granddaughter of the Rev. Wilson Conner, a noted Baptist minister in the early days of this century. Her grandfather, Richard Cooper, moved from North Carolina soon after the Revolution and settled in Southern Georgia. Mr. George Cooper was a man of means and influence in his section, and gave all of his children fine advantages in education. Young Patrick Mell taught school in Montgomery County, and Lurene Cooper was one of his pupils. She was a beautiful, graceful girl with a sweet sunshiny nature, fond of music and merriment, yet brim full of good comon sense, with a character of sterling worth. The friendship between teacher and scholar soon ripened into strong affection, and they were married on June 29, 1840, while Mr. Mell was principal of the Preparatory School connected with Emory College, at Oxford, Georgia. In 1841 he was elected Professor of Ancient Languages in Mercer University, and they lived for fifteen years in Penfield, and then came to Athens in 1856, when Dr. Mell accepted a chair in the University of Georgia. This companion of his young man- hood's days lived for twenty-one years as his devoted wife, who deeply sympathized with him in all the adversities and successes that lined his path- way, and who was able to intelligently aid him in all his plans, because she possessed a mind filled with fertile resources and well stored with useful knowledge. This union was blessed with eight children. She was a queen in her household, governing her servants with kindness and justice; exacting from her children the strictest obedience, yet giving them every innocent pleasure; she taught them herself, and gave each character special study and prayerful, w'atchful guidance. She was an old-fashioned mother, demand- ing the greatest respect and deference from her children, and leading them in giving their father the deepest reverence and affection. Plospitality was a pleasure and a duty with her ; friends and relatives were ever in the house, and all who knew her pay tribute to this day to her lovely character and firm, wise guidance of her household. Her servants obeyed her commands with pleasure; her children gave her unquestioning submission ; her husband looked upon her as a helpmate indeed, worthy of the deepest affection ; peace, order, and happiness reigned within the walls of her home, a blissful haven for both husband and children. She died suddenly on July 6, 1861, and there was a gloom cast over the home that time only was able to soften. The following tribute to her memory was written by Dr. A. A. Lipscomb, Chancellor of the Lhiiversity : " A beautiful character in early girlhood, fond of such pursuits as elevate and refine the opening heart, and cherishing those tastes that impart a genial glow to youthful affections, she grew up in the quiet of home with a steadiness of purpose, a serene thoughtfulness, a dignity of spirit, above her years. On reaching womanhood her mind expanded with those views 112 and feelings that experience and responsibility never fail to bring to a dis- ciplined nature. She entered on life's duties as aims and aspirations to cultivate her inward being no less than as obligations to be conscientiously discharged, accepting her sphere as a divine gift, and daily finding the smile of God and the peace of Christ in all its anxieties and tasks. For her clear- ness and force of intellect, for the gentle charms that add such grace to the intercourse of ordinary life, for the inbred sympathy that gives to manners the rank of a virtue and sheds such a welcome light over human fellowships: for these we admired her. But we loved her for qualities higher and nobler. She was a woman of lofty principles; possessing a sense of truth and right that was a law to her thoughts as well as actions, abiding firmly in her con- victions, and tenacious of them as fixed rules of action, and unselfishly striv- ing to make her existence a benediction and a joy to all around her. Such were the qualities of character that bound our hearts to her while living, and drew from them this humble tribute now that she is dead. " For some twenty-live years she was a consistent and faithful member of the Baptist Church, appreciating in the fulness of her heart its institu- tions, prizing its communion, and devoted to its interests. Her religious experience was uniform and progressive. Marked by no violent transitions, by no abrupt impulses, it was singularly equable and harmonious, rising as life advanced into higher views, deepening into an intenser trust, swelling into a richer joy, but always characterized by those traits that give stability and growth to Christian culture. Few persons have had less warning of approaching death, but she was found ready. The summons came at mid- night, but her lamp was burning and in its light she trod the dark valley." 1'he Mothers uUlJ ^VOIUU, the subject of this sketch, and the mother of Senator Joseph Emerson Brown, was born on Duck River, in Middle Tennessee, February 12, 1797. She was the daughter of Dangerfieid and Margaret Rice. Her mother's maiden name was Margaret Loone}-. When quite a smah girl her parents moved to Sinking Creek, Bedford County, Tennessee. When she was about six years old her mother died ; four years afterward her father married Nancy Brown. On February 22, 1816, she married Mackey Brown, who was reared on Tugalo River, in Habersham County, Georgia. He had gone out to Middle Tennessee about the time the troops were starting to the battle of New Orleans, vol- unteered, and went with them, and was in the thickest of the fight. He re- turned to Tennessee, met Sally Rice, and they were married soon afterward. They began life very poor, but soon accumulated enough to purchase a good tract of land and a likely negro, when the husband went security for a large sum of money, and had it to pay, which necessitated the sale of both land and negro, leaving them again without means. The wife's health becoming impaired, they found it necessarj- to leave Tennessee, and in the winter of 182 1 they moved into Pickens District, South Carolina. They had thirteen children born to them ; seven daughters and six sons. The two eldest were daughters and died in infancy. Senator Brown was the third child, and was born April 15, 1821, and the people of Georgia are familiar with his history. The next two were daughters, Mary Elizabeth, who married Joseph Watkins, and Edna Eliza, who married Beriman H. Turner. The sixth child was James R. Brown. He is a lawyer ; has served two terms in the State Senate, was a member of the State Constitutional Con- vention of 1877, ^''^s served two terms as Judge of the Blue Ridge Circuit, and is the only surviving son. The next child was William Carroll. He served two terms in the South Carolina Legislature and was a prominent physician in that State, and ac- cumulated a large estate. The next child was Nancy H. She married Freeman Lay. The next was Jemima Ann, Vvho died in her young ladyhood. The next child was Sally M. She married John H. Boston. The next child was John M. He was a student at law when the war began. His teacher said of him that, in an experience of thirty years, he was the brightest scholar he ever taught. He entered the service in one of the regiments of State troops and was promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy. He was killed while gallantly leading his regiment in a charge upon the Federal lines in the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864. The youngest child was George Washington Marion. He was study- mg medicine when the war began, volunteered, and went with Hampton's Legion : was wounded in the first battle of Manassas ; afterward died in Rich- mond, Virginia, while in service. 13s The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians From the time that Senator Brown was a small boy, he was required to take a hand in the field, and when the weather was too wet for him to work out of doors, his mother required him to spin on the old-fashioned spinning- wheel. He became quite an expert at it, and used to race with young ladies, but few of them could beat him. Sally Rice joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church when quite young, but soon after her removal to South Carolina she and her husband joined the Baptist Church, of which she was a consistent member to the day of her death. She was a little under medium height, a brunette, weighed from 105 to no pounds, with strong nerves and unusual endurance, and did about the work of three women all through life. She was remarkable for her sound judgment, and her coolness amid great danger. It was impossible to excite her so as to throw her off her balance. As an illustration of her coolness, her husband had cleared a large field and had deadened the timber, and on a dry. windy day. the sap having deca}ed, fire broke out in it, and came roaring down the valley, toward the buildings, like thunder. The neighbors hearing it for a mile or two around came to their aid. Four or five hundred panels of fence were soon on fire ; men had to be kept on the roofs of the buildings to prevent their burning. Her husband became excited, and undertook to run across the creek on a small log. She remarked. " I wish he would fall in. and maybe it would cool him off"; and, sure enough, into the creek he went. She laughed heartily, and went to giving directions as coolly as though nothing unusual had occurred. She was unusually popular among the neighbors. She died on May 1 1, 1874. The last words she uttered were, " How bright, how bright! Oh. how bright ! " and soon her immortal spirit winged its way up to glory and to God. 136 The Mothers \llVtiu (^llun) V^QSXtX was born in Augusta, Georgia, March 24, 1814, and received her education in the schools of this city. Her father, Henry Zinn, was of Dutch descent ; his ancestry having settled in Beech Island, South Carolina, after reaching America. He was a man of wealth and a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and at his death was buried with military honors. Her mother was Jane Dourbon Brown, of Newberry, South Carolina. The incidents of her childhood and girlhood may be passed with mention of the fact that she was raised in a home of dignity, refinement, and piety, and thus early impressed with the character- istics of her father and mother, they abided with her throughout life. At eighteen years of age she was married to John Foster, a highly respected citizen of Augusta, who for twenty-five years was an alderman, and subse- quently mayor of the city. Her married Hfe was full of happiness. She loved, highly respected, and ever looked to her husband as her guide and counsellor. She was the mother of fifteen children, and literally spent her life in ministering to the comfort and welfare of her family. While by no means wanting in appreciation of the social amenities of life, she seemed ever impressed with the fact that her fireside was the one place above all on earth for her. She was deeply impressed with the conviction that "the bearing and the raising of a child is woman's wisdom." She was ever mindful of the necessity for educating her children mentally, but appreciated the fact that mere intellectual development of the school-room is but a fraction of education; that the higher, better part of education of children is imparted to them in the home life; that home training includes not only mental develop- ment but the formation of character. Therefore, she presided over her home in such manner that the spirit of love and duty pervaded the household, in governing her children her demeanor toward them and before them was circumspect, sensible, kind, affectionate, yet firm. She knew the immense power of example of the mother in the eyes of children; that they followed her example, not her precepts; that in the home school children daily learn lessons of patience, self-control, cheerfulness, helpfulness, and duty through fhe mother's example. Through her long life she daily evidenced the fact that in her estima- tion life was but a cheap toy unless consecrated by duty. With her duty was not a mere sentiment, but the all-pervading principle of life, and she illustrated it in her daily conduct. She impressed the fact upon her children that life is centered in the discharge of common, every-day duties. She found her greatest happiness in fulfilling her every-day duties, guided and inspired by the conviction that the life on earth is but that of a training school, intended to fit and qualify us for the higher life to come. She was a pious woman, and ever remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and taught her children to do likewise. Every Sabbath she personally took them to Sabbath-school. She loved her church, and at each service was in her pew unless detained by sickness. She was one of the most energetic of women, 149 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians mind and hands ever occupied. Her life was characterized by sustained work. No hour passed but found her doing something. " She organized the hours and gave them a soul. Her days, months, and years were as the stops and punctual marks in the record of duty performed." No one of her chil- dren can recall one day spent by her in idleness. She was a patriotic woman. In the Civil War she sent four sons to do battle for the South. While her sons were in camps and on the battle-fields, her mother-heart busied itself in nursing and feeding sick and wounded Confederate soldiers in the way- side homes in Augusta. Soon after the war closed her husband became an invalid. During the three years of his painful illness she was his devoted, self-sacrificing companion and nurse, never having suffered anyone to take her place in the sick-room for one hour. She lived twenty-one years after the death of her husband, and though her health was shattered by her heroic services to him and her spirit crushed by his death, yet with patience and un- faltering perseverance she filled out the measure of her days in self-sacrificing services to her children. Old age sat upon her like a crown of glory, and her last days were characterized by that contentment and peacefulness which attends upon a life of righteousness. Like all true mothers she was proud of her sons, inspired them with lofty purposes in life, and encouraged them to the performance of duty, and rejoiced in their successes. She was the mother of five distinguished men. The oldest son, John P. Foster, devoted his life to commercial and agri- cultural pursuits, and although he died at the age of years, he was one of the most successful business men in Augusta. He was one of the tenderest-hearted and most benevolent of men. Her second son, W. H. Foster, is one of the most learned physicians in the State, and a man of rare literary attainments. The third son, H. Clay Foster, died at forty-six years of age, but for many years prior to his death he was regarded as one of the foremost lawyers in Georgia. At the request of the bar, his portrait hangs upon the walls of the court-room of his native county, Rich- mond, as an exemplar of the great lawyer, the upright citizen, the Chris- tian gentleman; the fourth son, Marcellus P. Foster, who died at years of age, was also a distinguished lawyer, and a man noted in his com- munity for his benevolence and inflexible adherence to duty; the youngest son, Eugene Foster, is, and for many years has been, one of the most prominent physicians in this State. The positions with which he has been honored by the medical profession and citizens of his native State mark him as a man of exceptional ability. He is a member and ex-president of the Medical Association of Georgia; member of the American Medical Associa- tion; American Public Health Association; the New York Medico-Legal Society; the American Academy of Political and Social Science; President of the Board of Trustees of the Lunatic Asylum of the State of Georgia; President of the Board of Health of Augusta; President of the Governing Board of the Hospitals of Augusta; Professor of Principles and Practice 150 of Medicine and State Medicine ; and Dean of the Faculty of the Medical Department of the University of Georgia. By reason of his long experience and s])ecial studies, he is one of the highest authorities in the South on sani- tation and its collateral branches. He has written much and ably upon the leading lines of his profession, and his writings have obtained a llattering reception. He is the writer of several of the leading chapters of " Buck's Reference Hand-Book of Medical Science," and author of the article on " Vaccination " in Vol. IX. Transactions of the American Public Health Association. He was one of three physicians in America selected to read papers before the American Medical Association at the Centennial Celebra- tion of Vaccination. He is, also the writer of a medical history of Georgia. He writes after most careful preparation, and his wide, general reading adds life and clearness to what would otherwise neccssraily be very technical and abstract discussion. He is a great student, and possesses a private library which is one of the finest in the South. He is a prominent Mason, and occu- pies a prominent position in the council of his cliurch. All of the five broth- ers were and are noted for diligence in business affairs, devotion to duty, inllexible integrity, and benevolence. Thus the mother lives again in her sons. The Mothers 5/ Some Distinguished Georgians iSi The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ^'tXXlX |lltttC JflvblJ l^ttcCClcndOtt was the mother of Mrs. Loulie M. Gordon, and the daughter of Judge Kirby, who moved to Georgia when she was a young child. His ancestors, the Kirbys, Molders, Tahiaferros, and Smiths were of gentle birth, and came to America before the Revolution. They lived in Virginia and South Carolina. For many years Judge Kirby was a leading member of the Legislature in Georgia; he was a man of influ- ence and wealth, and the subject of this sketch was his only daughter, a belle and beauty, and presided with her mother as a charming young hostess in the old colonial home, surrounded by a magnificent estate and many slaves. Here magnates of Church and State were royally entertained by a hospitable father and mother, herself and two brothers, and it was here that she married before she was sixteen years of age ; and, in this old manor house, with its fluted columns and long verandas, her children were born. Her mother was Miss Theresa Elizabeth Wilkins, whose father was an in- fluential man, and married Miss Sara Lipscomb, the first cousin of Chancellor Andrew Lipscomb. She was of the Pickens family of South Carolina. Her grandfather, William Wilkins, moved from Culpeper County, Virginia, to North Carolina, where he was a member of the House of Commons. He married Miss Elizabeth Terrell, of Virginia. Sara Jane Kirby married Jonathan Jackson McClendon, of Scotch an- cestry, who was a planter in Coweta County, Georgia. He refused a for- tune offered him by an uncle if he would change his politics. He was, as his war comrade. Governor Candler, of Georgia, says, one of the bravest sol- diers he ever knew. He served in the Confederate army the entire time of the war as adjutant of the Thirty-fourth Georgia Regiment, and, later, as Major of the Consolidated Forty-second Georgia Regiment. He served several terms in the Legislature, and was one of the most beloved men in Coweta County. After the war, when his fortune was broken, he moved from his plantation to Newnam, Georgia, to educate his children, and from there he moved to Atlanta, where he and his wife, with beautiful Christian spirits, were leading lights in their church, and made many friends in their consecrated lives of usefulness and unselfishness to church and society. The father of Jonathan Jackson McClendon was Joseph McClendon. who was a soldier with General Jackson in the last British war, and who was such a just man that matters of justice were frequently left to his decision by his neighbors, both sides believing so in his justice and judgment as to be perfectly satisfied with his decision, instead of taking their affairs of dis- agreement to law. Joseph McClendon's father was Thomas McClendon, of Georgia, who was severely wounded as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and his mother was Miss Sara Cooper. Joseph McClendon's wife was Miss Olive Blake, whose father, \Mlliam Blake (who married Lucy Allen), and whose grandfather, Thomas Blake (who came from Wales), were both soldiers in the Revolutionary W'ar. Sara Jane Kirby McClendon, the beautiful woman who is the subject •52 SARA JANE KIRBY McCLENDON The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians of this sketch, with tlie gentlest of blood as an inheritance, married to the man of her choice, with his sturdy Scotch and Welsh characteristics inherited from soldier ancestors, was the devoted mother of five children. The j'oung- est child died when very young, and her first born, Judge Orlando McClen- don, of Newnam, who bore the blended characteristics of both father and mother, was honored in his county, and was one of the highest Masons in the State, died last year. Her other children are, Mrs. John S. Bigby, of At- lanta; Mrs. Loulie M. Gordon, of Atlanta; and Mr. John T. McClendon, of Jackson County, Alabama. Her grandchildren are, Mrs. Mae Allen iMarsh (who was Miss Louise Bigby), Mr. Hammel Bigby, Miss Mary Katherine Bigby, Miss Nellie Randolph Bigby, Miss Mabel Bigby, and Miss Berine Bigby, who are the children of Judge and Mrs. John S. Bigby; Mr. John Leslie McClendon, Miss Marie McClendon, ALister Terrell McClendon, and Master Orlando McClendon, the children of Judge and Mrs. Orlando McClendon; Mrs. Walter Smith Thompson (who was Miss Lute Gordon), of Bremen, Germany, and Miss Linda Lipscomb Gordon, the children of Mrs. Loulie M. Gordon and the beloved and lamented Captain Walter S. Gordon, who was the youngest captain in the Confederacy — at fifteen years of age. He was the youngest brother of Gen. John B. Gordon. The only great-grandchild of the subject of our sketch is little Miss Rebecca Gordon Thompson, who was born on Robert E. Lee's birthday, in far away Germany, in 1900; she is the granddaughter of Mrs. Loulie M. Gordon. From the home of her father Mrs. McClendon went to her own new home, "a gift from her father, where she was a devoted wife and mother, a gracious hostess, and a conscientious mistress to the slaves she and her husband owned. All of the four long years, while her husband defended his home and his property, she remained with her small children, and managed the plantation under the protection of the slaves. What an eloquent proof of her bravery and sense of duty and practical strength of character, and what a striking picture of contentment and devotion and loyalty on the part of the faithfid slaves that they protected the beautiful mistress and her little ones while their master was in the war ! Mrs. McClendon was filled with patriotism during the war, and sent many boxes of clothing and socks made by her own graceful fingers to the soldiers. She was always a friend to girls and young men who were strug- gling to secure positions to make their own livelihood; many of these girls and young men tell her children how she unostentatiously helped them on their way. At her funeral in the Second Baptist Church, in Atlanta, where her husband was chairman of deacons, and she a beloved and useful mem- ber. Dr. Henry McDonald, who was her pastor, said that " in her charm of refined friendliness to friend and stranger, and ever present helpfulness and beautiful cordiality, no one could take her place in the church." Her husband and children rise up and call her blessed, and they revere with sacred tenderness and pride her strong and gentle personality and noble life. 153 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians gi-aUCrj IlilVViS ^tatOU, wife of John Slaton, of Kentucky, was born in Hancock County, Georgia, on November 2, 1807, and died near Pratt- ville, Alabama, August 16, 1882. Her seventy-five years of Hfe were adorned by no adventurous heroism, but were thickly studded with the brighter virtues of feminine endurance, uncomplaining self-sacrifice, and calmness under trials, of which civil war is so fruitful. Her father, Henry Harris, was the son of Absalom Harris, who came down from Greenville, Virginia, and located in Hancock County. Her mother, Elizabeth Harris, was a daughter of Samuel Harris, of ]\Iary- land, also one of the pioneer settlers. Both the Virginia and Maryland Harrises were of Revolutionary blood, and foremost in Church and State at a time when on!}- men of high character and worth held these positions. Their friends and intimates, with some of wdiom they married, were the Crawfords, Terrells, Abercrombies, Stephenses, and many others w'hose names have added lustre to Georgia. Educated at Mt. Zion, Georgia, under that noted teacher from a family of teachers, Nathan S. S. Beman, it is small wonder that she should have sent her son, William F. Slaton, at the age of fifteen, to school to his brother, Carlyle P. Beman, vA\o has taught so many of Georgia's distinguished sons, and from whom Maj. William F. Slaton learned so well the art of discipline. Nancy Harris's father moved to jNIeriwether County, and with them Mr. and Mrs. Slaton, for she had married at the age of fifteen. In 1835 they moved to Alabama, when their son William was only four years old, and located in Autauga County, near Prattville. Here John Slaton died, leaving considerable property, and a widow in the bloom of youth, with seven chil- dren. Nothing daunted, she managed her plantations without an overseer, riding over them on horseback, for she was a superb horsewoman. It is said of her by one of her sons-in-law, " Although the cares of the plantations were hers, she was of such ne\'er-flagging energy that she did not forget to culti- vate her more gentle nature. She delighted in the beauties of her vegetable garden, flower garden as well, and it was a real joy in springtime to meet the odors of her rarest flowers, so artisticallydisplayed, so carefully cultivated. By her superior sagacity, energy, and good management she was in a few years the owner in ' fee simple ' of more than double her real estate; at the same time a liberal giver to children, church, and neighbors." In appearance she was quite tall, very erect, even to the day of her death, with hair as black as a raven's wing, wavy and beautiful, and a voice said to have been remarkable for its sweetness and carrying power. She was gentle, but firm, and believed in the old rule of hope of reward and fear of punishment. To illustrate : when she sent her son, W. F. Slaton, off by the lumbering old coach of those ante-railway days, she said, " My son, take first honor, and I'll give you a handsome watch; fail to take it, and I'll give you a whipping." And so between these two alternatives he chose the watch. And from his mother to-day he inherits the noble qualities and firm IS4 character she has bequeathed him. For many years he has been the able superintendent of Atlanta's public schools, having laid the foundations for the college at Auburn, Alabama, and prominent in every undertaking per- taining to educational work. And for his success he gives due credit to his mother's training. George Washington attributed everything to his mother, as did Lord Bacon; and who will deny that .\lexander believed he owed more to the lofty ambition of Olympia than to the wisdom or cunning of Philip? What she suffered while this son was in fhe army, wounded, or in prison at Johnson's Island was borne with Spartan heroism, for she had in her veins the blood of soldiers. She was essentially of the old South, which, as Thomas Nelson Page has so beautifully said, '' made women tender and brave and true; it made domestic virtues as common as light and air, and filled homes with purity and peace. It has passed from the earth, but it has left its benignant influences to sweeten and sustain its children." The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians 15s The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ^amitna gviCjgS |latl, the mother of Major Wilburn Briggs Hall, was born in Fairfield County, South Carolina, December 3, 1819, in the " White House,'' a name given the family mansion in those early days be- cause of its magnitude and color. Her father. Dr. Thomas Briggs, was one of the wealthiest men in the South of his day, owning vast estates and many hundred slaves. Her mother was the daughter of Darling Jones, an English gentleman of affluence. Her family were staunch Whigs in the Revolution, except a granduncle, who was an English peer. Her grandfather. Major Briggs, of the Colonial Army, was, with a number of other patriots, captured by the British and sentenced to death. His comrades were shot, but at the last moment he seized an English of^cer's horse and dashed away, while volleys were being poured upon him. His faithful slave Caesar, who was held as a cook by the English officers in charge, helped him to make good his escape. Dr. Briggs sent his daughter to a celebrated school in Columbia, and she was one of the most splendidly educated women of her time. Having been a great reader from girlhood, her culture was broad and compre- hensive, combining erudition with great strength and depth of character ; she was a fluent reader of the Latin classics, and deeply read in English literature. She was married, December 2, 1837, to James Gregg Hall, a young lawyer of fine attainments and family. He was a first honor graduate of South Carolina College, a nephew of Gen. Maxey Gregg, who was killed at Chancellorsville, and a near relative of the late Bishop Gregg, of Texas. The Bishop said Mrs. Hall was the most beautiful and brilliant bride ever brought to Columbia. After four years of wedded happiness, her husband died, triumphant in the Christian faith. His beautiful young widow with her two children returned to her girlhood home. She subsequently married Col. J. J. McMullen, of Lancaster County, South Carolina, a distinguished lawyer, and author of valuable legal literature. His wife was soon widowed again, and from tlien her life was clouded by financial reverses. She came to Alacon in 1847 ^""^ established a private school for girls, having the patronage of many of the best families in the city. In 1851 she became the wife of Dr. J. T. Cox, a successful physician, and professor in a medical college then located in Macon. Major Hall says of his mother, " Her belief in duty was next to her belief in God. God impressed Himself on her great spirit by impressing her life with the stamp of duty." I will relate just here an incident showing that duty was her ruling principle. Being the youngest and favorite daughter, her father bequeathed her half of his large estate, the other half to be shared by her brother and sister. She disregarded the will and insisted that the property be equally divided among the three heirs. With a spirit of wonderful cheerfulness she bore the reverses that came to her in the evening of her days. While faithful in all the relations of life, it was as a mother that her virtues were most resplendent. Her distin- 156 guished son remembers her tenderly as the " best, noblest, gentlest, bravest, and most self-sacrificing of mothers." At the tender age of nine years she sent him from home to school. She bade him good-by in the early morn- ing, and pointing to the morning star, counselling that his purpose be as fixed as that Ijeautiful luminary, she said, " My son, remember the prayers learned al your mother's knees; borrow no money, contract no debts." He gave the promise, and its strict observance was the basis of liis fine moral and religious character. One of the most beautiful features of her life was her devotion to the " Lost Cause." She spent much valuable time visiting and ministering to the inmates of the hospitals. Many a dying soldier owes the transmission of his last message to her kind heart and willing hand. In her later years a sad fate cast her lot among people uncongenial with her refined nature. Instead of repining, she began at once to inaug- urate plans for the elevation and enlightenment of her neighbors. Her mission Sunday-school formed the nucleus of a Presbyterian church, erected later. She said she hoped her epitaph would be those memorable words of the Saviour, " She hath done what she could." Her eventful life, so filled with lights and shadows, closed in Macon, January 25, 1886. " If she had been a man," writes her illustrious son, " history would have sung with the praises of her heroic soul ; but as she was a woman, she ranks now with the angels who stand nearest God's throne." The subject of this sketch was the mother of Major Wilburn Gregg Hall, a first honor graduate of Annapolis Naval Academy, and an officer in the United States Navy. He cast his fortunes with the South in the Civil War, and served with bravery and distinction in the Confederate Navy. After the war he spent several years in Egypt in the service of the Kedive. He was four years Consul at Nice under Cleveland's administration. He is now engaged in literary pursuits. Like most of our distinguished men, he lays his honors at his mother's feet. The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians '57 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians plavgCVlJ J>paldiU0 ^ailUc JvcU, the mother of Capt. John Mcintosh Keh, was born at " Laurel Grove," Mcintosh County, Georgia, on July 14, 1794. Her mother, Hester Mcintosh, was the daughter of William Mcintosh, who was the eldest son of John Mohr Mcintosh, who came over with Oglethorpe, bringing with him a hundred Highlanders of his own clan to found a colony in Georgia. Hester Mcintosh married Alexander Baillie, and died very soon after the birth of her infant daughter Margery. The babe was reared by her aunt, for whom she was named, Mrs. Margery Mcintosh Spalding. Her distinguished uncle. Gen. John Mcintosh, was the guardian of Jtlargery, and she grew up to woman- hood in an atmosphere of love and refinement calculated to bring out all the noblest qualities of a truly noble nature, made so by heredity and assisted by environment. Margery and Hester Mcintosh were the sisters of Generals John and Lachlan, the latter the aid and friend of Washington. Margery Baillie was educated at what was then the fashionable school of the South, ■' Madame Julie Datte's," a French school at Charleston, South Carolina. She painted beautifully, was quite a musician, and a very culti- vated woman. In 1816 she was married to John Kell, of Sunbury, Georgia, a lawyer of distinction. Six children blessed this happy union. One died in infancy ; the rest lived to fill their places in life, worthy representatives of their parentage. The father of this family died in the very prime of his life, leaving a desolate, broken-hearted widow, and five little children, the eldest eleven years old. After the frantic grief of the loss subsided, the mother consecrated her life to God and her children, and living for and in them only, reared them in His faith and fear ; teaching tliem that duty was more holy and more to be desired than happiness. Besides the care of her children, the care of her servants was very great upon her ; but no mistress was ever more beloved and reverenced, and being of very strong will and character, a woman of heroic mould of mind, though fragile in body, she held the hearts of all within her grasp, and her word was law in her household, where truth and honor reigned supreme, where duty was the watchword, and the example of mother and mistress was faithfulness and loyalty, unselfishness and devotion to others. The Civil War desolated most of the coast, and swept away her property, for though many of her old people clung to her, she had no means with which to care for them. She came to the up-country home of her son and passed the evening of her useful life in Spalding Co., Ga. Feeling that her de- parture was at hand, after some weeks of sickness and suffering, she sum- moned her children about her, and gave them sweet words of motherlv coun- sel, and bade them " never to do anything in life that they could not ask God to prosper." She died Oct. 17, 1871, honored and beloved by all who knew her, and in her children do not " her own works praise her in the gates "? Blessed indeed is the man who has had such a mother, " a woman who opened her mouth with wisdom, and her tongue was the law of kindness." 158 gUailbctll 3^lc=eantlCV ^Slinehip was bom in Hayneville, Ala- bama, March 3, 1838. She is of distinguished ancestry, being the daugliter of WiUiam and Mary Blanton Alexander, the former a descendant of Lord Sterling, the latter of a noted Southern family. Her parents were in affluent circumstances and the future promised fair; but tiie sweet young life, so auspiciously begun, was shadowed by orphanage at the tender age of two years, when she lost one parent. In four more years her father died, leav- ing her, with four other children, to the care of a guardian. She is the only survivor of the little group. At the age of twelve years she became an inmate of one of the most elegant and hospitable homes in Georgia, Judge John Reid's, of Griffin, whose wife was her maternal aunt. Here evervthin> The Mothers o/ Some Distinguished Georgians The sphere of her magical influence was the family circle. Here, over the hearts and wills of her children, seemingly unconsciously to herself, she held undisputed sway. Her deep love and veneration for the God of the Bible, her reverence for His house, the meek submissiveness with which she bowed to His will, and owned Him as her Lord and Master, beamed forth in her countenance, spoke in her words, and found expression in all her conduct. In this silent, quiet, and imperceptible way were woven the strong meshes of that abiding affection by which her children were bound to their mother. They could not fail to see that, lying back of that gentleness of spirit, that amiableness of temper, that untold wealth of fond maternal affection, there was the humble truthfulness and the purity of heart that belong to the child of God. For over half a century she was a faithful member of the Methodist Church, and when the summons came that morning of October 28, 1882, she was ready to enter into that rest that remaineth for the people of God. At Greenville, Georgia, on a bright Sabbath afternoon, she was laid to rest in the village cemetery beside her husband. Six stalwart sons and two sons-in-law acted as pall-bearers. Tenderly and reverently the body was lowered by the children, whose hearts from earliest childhood to mature manhood, and even part of life's meridian, had ever, with filial love and gratitude, honored and respected the mother who had discharged her whole duty towards them. 163 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians Louisa ilopclCt; I^XXCUS i^tOUaU, the mother of Gen. M. A. Sto- vall, and the daughter of John and Mary Lucas, was born in Sparta, Georgia, December 13. 1800. John Lucas was a captain in tlie Revohitionary War, and was present at tlie siege of Yorktown, when CornwaUis surrendered to Washington. His home was in Surry County, Virginia, and there lived also Mary Ropeler, whom he married in 1796, emigrating to Georgia the same year, and settling in the then village of Sparta. John Lucas and his wife were devoted Methodists, and at their house the first Methodist Conference of Georgia was held, and their spacious and hospitable home gave entertainment to all the ministers and delegates, and their well-stored barns yielded of their plenty to the beasts. He gave of his possessions twelve acres of ground for the site of a Methodist church and parsonage and burying ground, and it is in this resting place that their bodies lie this day, marked by handsome monuments. In this God-fearing Methodist home Louisa Lucas first saw the light, December 13, 1800, and her youthful days were spent amid its pure in- fluences. The social life of this section of Georgia was as cultivated as that of the older settlements on the seaboard, and of stronger characteristics. Edu- cation was considered of vital importance; most of the planters had ample means, and every efifort was made to employ the best teachers, and many of the most successful men of Georgia derived their power from that rigid training received in her field schools. The Misses Lucas were renowned over the State for their wit and brilliancy, and were very popular in society. Very. soon Louisa met and loved Pleasant Stovall, of Augusta, Georgia, and they were married in Sparta, January 6, 18 18. They made their home in the lovely border city of .Augusta, and there were born unto them nine children, Marcellus .\. (General Stovall), Thomas P., Elizabeth Dearing. Louisa, Ce- cilia Shellman. John Lucas, Boiling .\nthony,and Anna Pleasant, who died in infancy. During the brief years of wedded life Mrs. Stovall made a lasting impression of Christian gentleness on all who knew her. then she passed into the great Choir Invisible, leaving her husband and motherless children. A daughter writing of her says, " It was our father's greatest pleasure to talk to us of her gentleness, her goodness, and the love she elicited from every one." She died August 23, 1827. and was laid in the family burying ground at Sparta besides her parents. '63 T"/^^ Mothers o/ Some Distinguished Georgians I^XattiC "SStHsOU ^tOWaH, the mother of Pleasant Alexander Stovall, was the only child of Rev. Alexander Erwin Wilson, M.D., of Catarrus County, North Carolina, and Mary Jane Smithey, of Richmond, Virginia. Her father was the son of Rev. Dr. John Makennie Wilson, one of the pioneers of North Carolina, and of Presbyterianism in that State. Her mother was descended from the Virginia Cloptons and an old English family from Staffordshire, England. Early in their lives these two consecrated young people met, plighted their troth, and went as the first missionaries to Africa, sent by the " Ameri- can Board Commissioners for Foreign Missions." Their destination was Mosika, in Matabeleland, South Africa, a few miles west of Pre- toria of modern fame. It was at Kuruman that Mattie Smithey Wilson was born. The first white baby that had ever been seen in that dark part of the land, she was regarded as a great curiosity by the natives, and was the daily pet of one of the warrior chiefs. Before reaching their destina- tion, the journey of these missionaries for three hundred miles lay through desert and sand. They travelled in covered wagons drawn by teams of eighteen to twenty oxen; the heat of the burning sand at times was so great that the very dogs howled with pain. Often when camped out at night, after the long day's travel, their lullaby was the roar of the lions in the neighboring " bush." Such privation and exposure was too great for the delicately reared young mother, and a few months later she died of African fever, leaving her little babe only eight months old. To avoid the horrors of the war breaking out at this time between the natives and the Boers, Dr. Wilson thought it best to send his little daughter to America to her relatives. A returning missionary took charge of her, and with her Hottentot nurse and his own motherless girl they started for the homeland. After sailing from port, a terrible storm wrecked their vessel, and they had to put back for repairs. Again sailing, they touched at St. Helena and Liverpool, and after four months' voyage reached New York, and from there by packet to Richmond, Virginia. There loving hearts and open arms of grandmother and aunt received the little missionary child. The continued war soon broke up the station at Mosika, Southeast Africa, and Dr. Wilson was sent to Western Africa, where he died near Cape Palnias, when his little daughter was five years old. Both of Mrs. Stovall's parents lie buried beneath " Afric's sun," but a thousand miles apart. In Richmond, Virginia, she was reared and educated at Dr. Moses D. Hoges' Presbyterian school for young ladies. She is devotedly attached to the Presbyterian Church and very proud of her Presbyterian ancestry. Miss Wilson married Mr. Boiling Anthony Stovall, of Augusta, Georgia, in 1856, having met him tlie year previous, while there visiting relatives. Pleasant A. Stovall, her eldest child, was born in this place, and 164 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians fitted for college. Then the family moved to Athens, Georgia, for educational advantages. Mrs. Stovall still resides in Athens, a viridow, surrounded by all her children, except one. Her life has been an eventful one ; checkered scenes of sunshine and shadow ha\'e followed her, but a strong faith in the " God of her fathers " brings the promise that " at the eventide it shall be light." i6S The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians JmgitSta C5COV0C ^mm |ClvllllXnrt %\\\t.% born February 12, 1812, in Barnwell District, South Carolina, was only child of William Kirk- land and Elizabeth Robison. Richard Kirkland, her father's father, received land from the crown ; in the Revolution was an American ofificer. George Stewart Robison, maternal grandfather, was of Virginia parent- age; was an early settler in Barnwell; owned large interests in cattle and land ; operated a noted line of " pole-boats " on the Savannah. Soon orphaned, George-Anna came under the indulgent care of her grandfather Robison. A piano given her was the first in all that country, attracting many curious visitors. Miss Kirkland grew to be a large, handsome woman, brunette in type, open of countenance, features regular. March 20, 1832, she married Edward J. Black, of Georgia, planter, lawyer, statesman. Mr. Black was a versatile, sociable Southern gentle- man of fine presence. He was in Congress six years. Miller's " Bench and Bar of Georgia " contains an appreciative memoir of him. Mrs. Black shared in her husband's popularity. A clipping from a Washington paper speaks pleasantly of her charm of person and manner. Mr. Black died 1849, aged forty-three. His widow returned to her Carolinian home. Possessing strong com- mon-sense and self-reliance, she successfully managed the affairs of a large plantation. From the broad piazza of her home, embosomed in cotton fields, she would herself watch and direct the dusky laborers. Business, however, did not preclude social pleasures. Neighborhood dinner parties — all-day affairs they usually w^ere — have always met with favor in the South. In penurious " Reconstruction " days they scarcely abated. Mrs. Black contributed abundantly to this interchange of hospitality. In- deed, she peculiarly excelled as housekeeper and hostess. W'hether to the guest of a day or a month she fulfilled the Apostolic maxim, as one " given to hospitality." Her conversation was sprightly, humorous, original. " She was like no other woman I ever knew," says a correspondent. Her sayings were often quoted ; her ways thought unusual. Though vivacious, none accused her of unkindly speech. Beneficent and benevolent, she held the affection of black and white. In the Civil War, from pure patriotism, she exchanged a fine carriage horse for a distressed trooper's broken-down jade. She was totally undemonstrative ; objected to being kissed, yet chil- dren and grandchildren were confident of her love. Candor, outspoken speech, hatred of deceit and hypocrisy, were points in her composition. Her simplicity was democratic. She threw to the winds many figments of con- ventionality. Perhaps this boldness — this democracy — was her most strik- ing trait. But in all she was the sane and respected woman. Possessed of 166 an even, sunny disposition, she had, writes one, " a certain quaint philos- ophy which tided her over many of the ills of life." Whatever her faults — and who has them not ? — they were counter- balanced by qualities which won her many warm friends. It is difficult to draw a flesh-and-blood picture of the dead ; but that Mrs. Black had an individuality vigorous and genial there are living wit- nesses to certify. She died June 26, 1880. Only one of Mrs. Black's seven children, George Robison, spent his career in Georgia. He was born, 1835, in Screven County. Some of his mother's qualities lived again in him, and he had his father's aptitude for public life. Like both parents, he loved the soil. For years he was a vice- president in the Georgia Agricultural Society. He was educated at two State universities. Beginning lieutenant, he wore at twenty-seven the Con- federacy's stars of lieutenant-colonel. As a lawyer, he attained an exten- sive practice. In politics, by integrity and ability he advanced to the National Congress. Towards the close of his first term paralysis laid its heavy hand upon him, and in 1886, after a patient illness, he passed to the fuller life. .\ modest slab in a country graveyard near IMillettville, South Carolina, and an upright granite in the little cemetery of Sylvania, Georgia, mark the dust of a mother and son who lived somewhat in the public eye. That pub- lic is no worse for their examples, and it may be that it has been enriched by two influences which were altogether on the side of goodness, integrity, generosity. " Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood." R. M. W. B. The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians 167 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians J^daUuC glUabetlt S^ViQht, the subject of this sketch, is the wife of Hon. Augustus R. Wright, deceased, and is the mother of Hon. Seaborn Wright, two of Georgia's most distinguished men. Shewasborn near Asheville, North CaroHna,in 1828, the home of her par- ents, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Allenian. Her father was a prominent and weahhy planter. Early in her youth tlie parents of Miss Alleman moved to the mountain regions of North Georgia, and in the Empire State of the South the daughter was reared and received her education. From the days of her college life Miss Alleman was famed for her beauty and manifold attractions. Among her many admirers was the Hon. Augustus R. Wright, whom she married in 1846, and who later achieved a national reputation as statesman and orator in the iialis of both Federal and Confederate Congress. Soon after marriage her husband was elected Judge of the Cherokee Circuit, then extending over a large part of North Georgia. He was often away from home, " riding the circuit " of this frontier judicial circuit, for many weeks. During his long absences the management of the large estates were left in the hands of the young wife, whose skill and discretion rose to the emer- eencv. In 1858, when her brilliant son, Hon. Seaborn Wright, was an infant, her husband was elected to the Federal Congress. The young wife and mother was thus transferred from the almost frontier farm life, with its simple duties, to the brilliant social functions of the national capital. The beauty and gentleness of Mrs. Wright early won the friendship of Miss Lane, the mistress of the White House during the administration of President Buchanan, and fliis friendship of the " first lady of the land " she treasures among the happy memories of the past. When the war came her husband, though steadfastly opposed to seces- sion, cast his lot with the people of his State, and during the years of that bloody struggle served his country on the field and in tlie halls of the Con- federate Congress. Again the responsibilities of home government devolved upon the wife. Loved and almost worshipped by her slaves, she rested safe with her chil- dren in their unfaltering devotion. No war-wrecked stranger was ever turned empty handed from her door, but her gentle and full benevolence fell like a benediction upon her unhappy countrymen. Since then her life has been but the life of ten thousand Southern women, given unreservedlv to her husband, lier children, and her friends. She is the mother of ten children. Her sons, Seaborn and Moses, have risen to more than State prominence. Her youngest child, Adaline Wright, has inherited the wonderful beauty of her mother and is universally loved. At the writing of this sketdh Mrs. Wright is seventy-two years old, but her loved ones think the white, hair as beautiful as the raven tresses of yore, the light of her gentle face sweet as in the sunny days of youth, and the tender grace of her dear form untouched by time. 168 ADALINE ELIZABETH WRIGHT The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ^OUU ^HfoVtl BtcFatUtcn ("SastOtt -was born October 15, 1805. in Chester District, South Carolina. Her parents were James Evving McFad- clen and Susanna Buford, who were married Dec. 27, iX. gloXlQlltOU gtUuuVtls, tlie mother of Mrs. Mary E. Bryan, was, before her marriage. Miss Louisa M. Houghton, a beautiful, well-born, and accomplished young woman, whose birthplace and home, until she married, was Athens, Georgia. Her ancestors came from England, and both her grandfathers fought for freedom in the Revolutionary War. The Houglitons who came to North Carolina were a branch of a titled Eng- lish family of which Lord Richard Houghton, poet and philanthropist, was a distinguished member. Joshua Houghton, the grandfather of Louisa, came to Green County, Georgia, about the last of the eighteenth century, and purchased a large tract of land, on which he settled around him his seven sons and two daugh- ters. The place was known as Houghtonville. Joshua Houghton was noted for his strength and independence of char- acter and his devotion to his friends. He had as a neighbor John Crutch- field, who had moved to Georgia from Virginia, and was soon well known throughout the section in which he settled for his wealth, his hospitality, and his sturdy uprightness. He was a noted Methodist, and his home and that of Joshua Houghton were the headquarters of the Methodist divines in that day, as is noted in Smith's " History of Methodism in Georgia," and " Life of Bishop Pierce." His daughter EHzabeCh married William Houghton, the son of Joshua. These were the parents of LouLsa Houghton Edwards, the mother of Mrs. Mary E. Bryan. William Houghton removed to Athens, Georgia, to educate his chil- dren, and died there two months before the birth of Louisa, whose mother a woman of noble character and sincere piety, reared and educated her five children, dying when the youngest was fourteen years old. Louisa was left to the guardianship of her uncle by marriage, Daniel Grant, who had married her motlier's sister. Lucy Crutchfield. Julia, the eldest daughter of William Houg'hton, had married Judge James McBride, and moved with her husband to Florida, where she became one of the best known and most widely useful women pioneers of that then sparsely settled territorv, being as active in its social and religious development as was Judge McBride in his political evolution. It was \A\\\(t on a visit to this sister that Louisa met Maj. John D. Edwards. w*lio had won his military title while a mere youth in the war with the Seminoles, and was then a member of the Florida Legislative Assembly. They were shortly afterward married in Athens, Georgia, at the home of Mr. Daniel Grant. Mrs. Luther Glenn, who as " Milly Cobb " attended the large wedding, has said. " Louisa Houghton was the most beautiful bride I ever saw." Major Edwards took his young wife to his stately plantation home in JefTerson County. Florida, known as " The Castle," and in excellent pres- ervation until recently, when it was burned. The plantation was large, there were few near neighbors, and no good schools. Mrs. Edwards instructed 171 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians lier three little girls at home, with the aid of a good library, until Mary was eleven years old, when Major Edwards removed temporarily to Thomasville, Georgia, that he might send his daughters to an academy there. The home in the suburbs of Thomasville was known as " Wood- lawn," and became noted, as the more imposing one in Florida had been, for its beautiful grounds, its vine-covered pavilions, hedges of cape jessamine, and variety of flowers, which owed their blossomy abundance and tasteful arrangement to Mrs. Edwards' industry and love of flower culture. Many visitors enjoyed the beauty of " Woodlawn." Tlie hospitality for which her family was noted historically was seen in the warm and graceful welcome Mrs. Edwards gave her friends. She was loved for her sincere and charitable spirit and her sweetness of temper. This latter was her distinguishing trait. " I can truly say," attests her daughter, Mrs. Bryan, " that I never saw my mother angry, never heard a harsh or an uncharitable word from her lips. She was cheerful and brave- hearted, comforting and sustaining my father in the reverses of fortune that came to us when I was quite young. She was almost worshipped by her slaves, whom she nursed in their sickness and consoled in their troubles. She taught her house servants to read, and instructed all the negroes on the plantation in religion. Her manner was often praised. It was the expression of her inner nature — the flowering of its simplicity, gentleness, dignity, and good will to all. I have never known any being so pure in heart, so wholly devoid of suspicion or ill thought of others." Her old age was beautiful. The wealth that had been hers so abund- antly in her early married life had flown ; the husband who had loved her devotedly was dead; but her deep trust in God remained to her, and true friends came to her in her cottage home, and she welcomed them with her old unselfish cheerfulness and sweet dignity. She still gave all she could to the poor, and followed the teachings of Christ, in whose footsteps she had walked through 'her beautiful, blameless life, which ended peacefully in the spring of 1891. Of her it was truly said, " None knew her without being better for it; she had not an enemy in the world." 172 The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians J»llVUlV goyCC goopCV 3^lCifllU(Xcr was born June 6, 1836, in Pontotoc, Mississippi. She was the daughter of John Wood Hooper and his wife, Sarah Joyce Wood, tlirough both of wliom she was descended from an ancestry whose patriotism since colonial days had been frequently illus- trated in field and forum. Her father was the first judge of the Cherokee Circuit, embracing the larger part of Northwest Georgia, and resided in Cassville, then the metropolis and intellectual centre of that section. The e.\tent of his circuit requiring protracted absences from home, rendered it necessary, after the early death of his wife, for Judge Hooper to place liis children at school. Little Sarah Joyce was at first entrusted, with her older sisters, to the care of that distinguished educator. Rev. Charles Wallace Howard. Soon thereafter, however, Mrs. H. V. M. Miller, the niece and former ward of Judge Hooper, lost her only child, and she and Dr. Miller united in such an earnest plea for the charge of Sarah Joyce that her father consented, and so devoted did Dr. and Mrs. Miller become to their little charge that, thereafter, she was ever claimed by them as a daughter. Fol- lowing the completion of her education, first under the direction of that notable instructor, Mrs. J. M. M. Caldw-ell, and later in the Cassville College, of which she was the first graduate, she spent most of her time as a young lady with Dr. and Mrs. Miller, at Coligni, their beautiful home near Rome. In this hospitable home, where the brightest minds were wont to congregate, she first met her future husband, Thomas Williamson Alexander, a member of the honored Scotch-Irish family of that name in Carolina. Also, at Coligni she was married, November 25, 1857. Near by, the young husband built a new home, " Casino," where they resided until his election to the legislature, in the troubled days just prior to the War, necessitated a short residence in Milledgeville, followed by the establishment of a home in Rome, where the young wife could be assured of better protection when her hus- band entered the army, as he did soon after, at the head of a gallant company, organized by his efforts. Mrs. Alexander's history, during the next four years was that of many noble women of the South. The responsibilities and privations incident to war were borne bravely. Time, substance, and tender care were given to the soldiers in camp and hospital. Cheer and comfort to the bereaved and necessitous at home. Upon the approach of Sherman's army in 1864 her husband, now Colonel Alexander, securing a short fur- lough, hurried home and removed his family to a place of safety below Atlanta, then returned to his post of duty in the army. After Johnston's surrender, in North Carolina, he made his way on foot to the South Georgia plantation owned by Judge Hooper, where Mrs. Alexander, with her house- hold, had taken refuge. From this retreat the little family returned to the devastated home in Rome, there to resume life under new and hard con- ditions. Despite these conditions, however, Mrs. Alexander forgot not her duty to the heroic dead. Uniting with other noble women of Rome, a Ladies' Memorial Association was soon formed, in which she was an active 173 The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians member from organization. Elected president soon after, she served in this capacity until her death. Under her administration, and largely by her efforts, were erected the Confederate Monument, on Alyrtle Hill Cemetery, and the marble headstones which there mark the graves of several hundred Confed- erate dead. By executive appointment she served on the Board of Lady Visitors to the State Normal and Industrial College from its establishment until her death, at which time she was also the president of the Floyd County Industrial Aid Association, and vice-regent of Xavier Chapter, D. i\. R. Her death occurred December 7, 1895. The universal esteem and regard in which she was held was attested b}- the attendance at her funeral of such organizations as the Bar Association of Rome, the Confederate Veterans Association, the Ladies' Memorial Association, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Besides her husband, she left four children. Hooper Alexander, her only son, is a successful attorney in Atlanta, where he is honored for his integrity and intellectual attainments. The two older daughters, Martha Lamar, wife of Samuel F. Pegues, and Hallie Miller, wife of James A. Rounsaville, married representatives of old French Huguenot families. The youngest daughter, her mother's namesake, is the wife of Chas. Wm. King, of the time-honored Savannah family of that name. Through both father and mother they have inherited sterling and admirable qualities of mind and heart, but unite in attributing all that is best in their lives to their mother's ever faithful efforts, by precept and example, to bring these qualities to their highest development. " Verily, her children arise up and call her blessed." 174 AUGUSTA DOROTHEA WENTZ The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians AUQWStil goVOthCil (DelcuhciUi ^eiCUU, the mother of Madam Sophia Sosnowski, was born at Pforzhein, Grand Duchy of Baden. She was remarkably beautiful and of lovely characteristics, highly educated and cultured. Because of 'her many attractions and the high standing of her family, she had many suitors for her hand, and while in the first bloom of young womanhood she was married to the already very distinguished court phy- sician, Christian Frederick Wentz. Their married life was very happy and brilliant, the husband's exalted position giving them entree to the highest circles, and there is an historical incident handed down to the grandclaugliter, that, at a large court ball at Baden, Frau Wentz danced with the Duke d'Eng- hein a night or two before his arrest by order of Napoleon. The dress worn by Frau Wentz on this occasion was of finest linen lawn, embroidered profusely with gold, which has not tarnished in all these years. Dr. Wentz survived his wife, and at his funeral, which was set for three P.M.; the crowd was so great and so persistent in their effort to see their beloved physician, that the last ceremonies did not occur until three o'clock in the morning. Madam ^^'entz, surrounded by wealth and elegance, still had leisure for the training of little Sophia, and embodied in her young mind all those lofty attributes which distinguished her through life. After the Polish Revolution in 1833, she was married to Joseph Sos- nowski, an officer in the Polish army, albeit an exile. Joseph Sosnowski was the grandson of that Joseph Sosnowski, Governor of Lithuania, who refused, by reason of a difference in rank, to give his daughter, afterward Princess Lubomirski, in marriage to Kosciusko, because of which the Polish patriot never married. Joseph Sosnowski was decorated with the cross of the Polish Legion of Honor, was born at Kleszezel, Lithuania ; he was the son of Frangois Sos- nowski and of Lady Antonia Borowska. Joseph Sosnowski and wife, with ample means, came to the United States early in their married life, bringing with them letters of introduction from General La Fayette, Fenimore Cooper, Bancroft, and Lilewell, the Dictator of Poland. Unfortunately Captain Sosnowski's health was impaired from the effect of wounds received at ^^■arsaw. and after a few years of suffering he died, leaving his wife Sophia with three children. Madam Sosnowski from this moment took an energetic interest in the support of her children. A beautiful musician and a highly cultured woman, her services were eagerly sought by the first institutions of the land. She chose a home in Columbia, South Carolina, and opened a school for young ladies; with what success, hundreds of cultured women of the South can attest. During the Confederate struggle, this noble lady took an active part in 17s T/ie Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians relieving the sick and wounded soldiers, and during her summer recess went as a voluntary nurse, to give her services to the hospitals of Virginia. After the disastrous results of the war, Madam accepted an invitation to establish her home in Athens, and there in the home school she and her daughter Callie have aided in the development of beautiful characteristics in the 3'oung women of the land. In the refined and cultured atmosphere of Athens, after the gentle days of peace returned, this noble German lady and her family lived, and in July, 1899, she passed into her rest, and the words of a distinguished friend writing to her daughter Caroline says, " I have just read the announcement of the death of your mother. In the great grief which you so naturally feel, it must be joy unspeakable to you to recall what her life has meant to so many people — an inspiration to so many to love the right, to despise the false and hollow. For such a one to have lived a long and active life is an incalculable benefit to any country and community under its influence. My sympathy for you is almost dwarfed by my admiration of her life work. An ideal old age, full of honors, in keen and loving toudh with the world, and yet ready, like the ripe corn, for the sickle. A long life well spent, a life work well done — finished. We cannot wish her back. There must indeed be joy in the presence of the angels of God when such a one enters their glorious realm." 176 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians glUlXbcth (L'llVOUuC ^OUCS-iloUUg was born at Laurens, South Carolina, November 28, 1808. She was educated in the best schools the country afforded, graduating in Dr. Johnson's Seminary at Greenville, South Carolina. She was married October 12, 1826, in her eighteenth year, to Dr. Robert Maxwell Young, an eminent physician of Spartanburgh, South Caro- lina. They resided in Spartanburgh twelve years, when they moved to Cass County, now Bartow, and settled on a fine plantation on the Etowah River. Mrs. Young was a lady of fine appearance and of marked character- istics, cultured and refined. She was always distinguished for her good sense, her pride, ambition, and courage, and for her sterling virtues as a daughter, sister, wife, and mother. She was a noble type of South Carolina's oldest families, and ever inspired those around her with respect and love, and with veneration in her old age. Hers was a home of generous hos- pitality, after the old times of Southern entertainment, without ostentation, yet elegant and refined. Dr. and Mrs. Young reared and educated four chil- dren, three sons and a daughter. When the war came they gave their sons to the Southland cause. The eldest son, Dr. George William Young, surgeon of Fourteenth Regiment, Georgia Volunteers, died in service in Virginia, September 20, 1861. Col. Robert Butler Young fell at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, while gallantly leading his regiment to the charge. Pierce Manning Butler Young was born in Spartanburgh, South Caro- lina, November 15, 1836. At an early age he evinced a taste for military life, and at the age of fourteen entered the Georgia Military Institute at Marietta: at fifteen he was appointed captain. Graduating at seventeen, he entered West Point, and remained until the war began, when he entered service, and fought to the end. He rose to the rank of major-general. After the war he was elected to Congress, and served in the Fortieth, Forty- first, Forty-second, and Forty-third Congress. In 1878 he was appointed one of the commissioners to the Paris Ex- position. In 1885 he was appointed by President Cleveland, United States Consul General to St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1893 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary, Minister Plenipotentiary of United States to Guate- mala and Honduras, Central America. He died in New York City, July 6, 1896. Dr. Young died at his beautiful home, " Walnut Grove." on the Etowah, January 13, 1880, respected, admired, and loved by all who knew him. Mrs. Y^oung died at the same place, May 26, 1884. Husband and wife lie buried in Oak Hill Cemetery at Cartersville, Georgia, The daughter, Louisa Jones Young, survives. In i860 she was married to Dr. Thomas F. Jones, a prominent physician of Georgia, and she, with her five children, resides at the old homestead. .2 177 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians ©ItVOlinC Rebecca gaVVlSS, the mother of Sarah Berrien Casey Morgan first saw the hght of life on Dec. 30, 1822, in Cohimbia Co., Ga. Her father, the Rev. Juriah Harriss, was born in Northumberland County, Virginia, and was of Welsh stock. In physique, brain, heart, and estate he was a splendid type of the Southern planter of ante-bellum days. Her mother, n(c Elizabeth Thorn, through her English parentage, had the English talent for moderation, its love for order, its delight in a wise reticence — a self-respect — that many called hauteur, but which was only a well-proportioned reserve, that melted quite away in the charmed circle of her friends. Caroline was one of eiglit children, and was the fairest of four daugh- ters, all of whom were fair. Born and reared in the old ancestral home; shut away from the dusty highways of life; knowing little of the struggles perpetually waged there for money, place, recognition; nothing of its tragedies, its failures, its heartaches; she budded into life and girlhood, and blossomed into maiden- hood, wifehood, and motherhood, a sweet, fair embodiment of that grace, esprit, purity, and nobility of sentiment and unselfish devotion to duty which made the " dainty darlings of the Southland " the acknowledged " patterns of excelling nature." With none of the swarms of annoyances that now so much afflict the home-keeper in the South — and which mean more than a load of sorrow — to cloud the sunshine and blue sky of her serene life, her days and nights were given to promoting the happiness of home, the interest of husband, children, and friends, and the care of her slaves. Far removed from the scandals, the social agitations — if it may be so expressed, the ptiblicitics of private life — and never even dreaming of the speculations and doubts that seem to have crept into the hearts of churchmen and laymen alike, her too short life was spent with a song of joy on her lips and the peace of God in the depths of her hazel eyes. Her small, well-shaped head was covered by clustering curls of a rich Titian red, " golden in the sunshine and brown in the shade," and gracefully poised on her slender neck; her complexion was very fair, with a color that came and went as a reflex to every thought and emotion. She married in 1841 Dr. Henry Rosier Casey. Dr. Casey was the lineal descendant, on his father's side, of Sir John Edgeworth, of Long- worth, Ireland; on his mother's side, of Sir Thomas More. England's Chan- cellor; of the Berriens. of Bremen. Finisterre. France; of the Stryckers, of Holland, and later of " Nieu Amsterdam"; of Thomas Mayhew, of Mar- tha's Vineyard; and of Macduff, Thane of Fife. Dr. Casey was an acknowl- edged factor in the social and political life of the State. During the " war between the States " he was made Surgeon-General of the State, and when the war was over and " a people's hopes lay dead," he used wisely Tiis in- fluence to help uplift their down-trodden liberties, and to infuse new life where life seemed wrecked beyond resurrection. 178 At the home of Dr. and Mrs. Casey, Alexander II. Stephens was ever an intimate and welcome friend ; Robert Toombs, Ludovic Stephens, Her- schel V. Johnston, Benjamin Hill — those Titans of the '60' s — often gathered around the hospitable board of Waverly Hall. Mrs. Casey's life was a short one; when she was most needed, when the demands upon her love and judgment were most incessant, death came and " kissed iier eyelids down." So ends the brief sketch of a brief but beautiful life. Shut in by trees and flowers, educated in all the customs, traditions, and exclusiveness of the old life of the South, enveloped in the tenderest love and protection, there is little to record to make brilliant the lines that tell of her; her mem- ory were more fittingly left to the " sweet lavender of recollection." The nation or individual that has made history must have written many a line in blood or tears; the life of this good woman knew little of pain or sorrow or heartache. She fell asleep, having met life's gentle ques- tions, fulfilled its loving duties, knowing its sweetest happiness. Alas ! the days are ever past when the women of the South, like the subject of this sketch, lived walled away by love and plenty from contact and contest. They must now. in ever-increasing numbers, go forth in the broad fields of experiment and win for themselves, and often for others, a home and the means to live. Then, in the name of humanity and the higher civilization ; in the cause of justice and right; for the betterment of the race; for the sake of the individual, the home, and the State, Georgia should provide for her daughters every educational advantage, that they may meet worthily the changed condition and environment, ttiereby bringing greater success and happiness to these women in their enlarged sphere of action and usefulness in the present, and strengthening the State in the future, by the uplift of its citizenship through the wise use of this educational lever that compels the onward movement of civilization. The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians 179 The Moth&ts of Some Distinguished Georgians ^TtCOtljOVa gflCtptS glthluSCill; the mother of Gov. WilHam Yates Atkinson, was born in Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia, July 22, 1820. Her parents were Dr. Iddo ElHs, a man eminent in his profession, and whose character exempHfied every manly virtue, and Mrs. Lucy Phelps Ellis, the latter the descendant of a long line of ancestors, whose origin is traceable to a period far back of the Elizabethan age. This fact, however, although interesting in itself, could add nothing to individual merit, excepting through the entailment of virtue and refinement. In 1849, Miss Ellis, living at the time in Columbus, Georgia, was wooed and won by Mr. John Pepper Atkinson, of Brunswick County, Virginia, a man whose fine intelligence and sterling moral character rendered him worthy of her confidence and affection. Through her marriage, there devolved upon Mrs. Atkinson the delicate and responsible duties of stepmother to three interesting children, the off- spring of her husband's former marriage. To say that her faithfulness and tenderness in this relation are attested by the devoted affection of those children is but a just testimonial to a character amiable in itself, but relying for strength and wisdom upon the great Counselor. About six years after their marriage Mr. Atkinson purchased lands in Meriwether County, Georgia, to which he removed with his family, and where he conducted large farming operations. Here, in their Oakland home, was born, November, 1854, their bright, beautiful boy, William Yates, their third chlid— a daughter, now Mrs. D. P. Ellis, and son, Theo. E. Atkin- son, of Newnan, Georgia, having been given them in their Virginia home. Afterwards, two other sons, Thos. A. Atkinson, now of La Grange, Georgia, and R. J. Atkinson, now of Greenville, Georgia, were sent as claimants on their parents' loving care. Living a retired life in the country, Mrs. Atkinson devoted herself to the training of her children and to the arduous duties pertaining to the manage of a large Southern household before and during the war. In the meantime, the vicissitudes to which families are subject had in- vaded the home of Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson, each making its demand upon the mother's love and sympathy. The older daughters had married happily and settled in Virginia homes. The oldest son, John P. Atkinson, Jr., a noble youth of twenty years, fell a victim to his ardent patriotism in the first battle of Manassas, and was laid by his mother's side in the soil of his native State. In this crushing bereavement a second mother's heart in Georgia mourned the handsome, loving boy who held a son's place in her warm heart. In 1873, Mr. Atkinson, for the benefit of his younger children, moved his family to Senoia, a village in an adjoining county affording excellent edu- cational facilities. Soon after their removal to that place the hand of death deprived the family of the guiding, protecting hand of husband and father — a man whose life had been so regulated, as concerns both the present and the future, that he was able to say. when the summons for an exchange of worlds 180 THEODORA PHELPS ATKINSON was imminent : " I am prepared for any emergency." Had he left to his family no other legacy, the example of his consistent life and noble char- acter had been a rich bequest. Thus, to the mother was left the responsibility of the further training of the three sons whose characters and consequent destinies were yet to be determined. As years in their courses sped, the mother's tender solicitude, faith- ful counsel, and fervent prayers were rewarded by realizing in their char- acters some of the high aspirations of her heart for them, and as each attained to manhood, she rejoiced to sec him fill a place of honor and usefulness. In witnessing the elevation of her second son to the gubernatorial chair of his native State, who can say that her heart did not swell with maternal pride? for she felt that the faithful discharge of the duties of his position meant service to the commonwealth and the consequent apprecia- tion of her citizens. But the cup of her happiness was dashed with bitter dregs, for she dreaded lest his physical strength should prove unequal to the demands made upon it. And when, soon after the completion of his second term, she saw his manly form stricken by a disease that refused to yield to medical skill ; when she was called to look her last upon the noble face that had ever lighted, for her, with reverent tenderness, only God's grace could have bestowed the beautiful resignation that tempered the bitter- ness of her grief. Mrs. Atkinson is now in her eighty-first year, not robust, but in good health, and enjoying the full use of her faculties, mental and physical. Her presence is the light of her children's homes, and her companionship a joy to all who are privileged to associate with her. May she long be spared to those who love her; a gentle, pure exemplar of Christian womanhood, living, as she does, for the good and happiness of others ! The Mothers &/ Some Distinguished Georgians i8i "The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians J>llVa ^tvitUS, the wife of Lazarus Straus, was born in Otterberg, Rhenisch Bavaria, on January 14, 1823. She died in the City of New York on July 21, 1876. She was the cousin of her husband, and comes from a family whose Hneage runs back to the beginning of the middle ages, many members of which were distinguished as scholars and in professional walks. Her grandfather, Jacob Lazare, was a member of the Sanhedrin, or Con- gress of seventy notables among the Jews, tliat was convoked by Napoleon, in 1806, at Versailles, when the emporer granted full civil rights to the Jews within the then extended limits of the French Empire. Rhenisch Bavaria was at that time a department of France, and sent as its delegate to this Sanhedrin, or Congress, Jacob Lazare, who took a prominent part in this notable gathering, and was a member of the leading committees which conferred with the commissioners of the French Empire, and which resulted in the full liberation of the Jews. The father of Sara Straus was Solomon Straus, of Otterberg, a man of moderate wealth consisting of landed estates. He was a farmer and a grain merchant. In 1844, when Sara Straus was twenty-one years of age, she married Lazarus Straus, and from this union there were five children born, four of whom are still living, namely, Isidor, one of the leading merchants of the City of New York, head of the firm of L. Straus & Sons and of R. H. Macy & Co., and who during the second Cleveland administration was a member of Congress from New York City; Hermine, who, in 1864, married Lazarus Kohns; Nathan, who is known throughout the country for his philanthropic work in supplying the poor with cheap coal, and who for a number of years has maintained sterilized milk depots in the City of New York, which have so materially reduced the death rate among the poor children in the crowded districts of New York. His milk laboratories have been copied in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and in several other cities in this country and in Europe. Oscar S.. the youngest of the three brothers, is the President of the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, and was Minister to Turkey from 1887 to 1889, and again from 1897 to December, 1900, having served in that capacity under three different administrations. He is also the author of several historical works, namely, the " Origin of Republican Form of Government in the United States," and " Roger Williams, the Pioneer of Religious Liberty." In 1849, during the revolutions on the Continent of Europe for liberal and parliamentary form of government, Lazarus Straus took an active part, and when this movement failed he, together with many others who after- wards attained distinction in the country of their adoption, became a political refugee, and emigrated to the United States to begin life anew. In 1852 he came to Georgia, and in 1854, as soon as he was able to ensure a modest support for his family, he sent for his wife and children and established his home in Talbotton. As the sons arrived at a school age they were sent to school to Collingsworth Institute. The youngest son, Oscar, was sent 182 to a primary school kept by Miss Anna Jackson, and afterward to Miss Cottingham's school. Sara Straus was a refined woman of great natural ability. She devoted her time and attention to the bringing up of her children, her recreation being her garden. As the daughter of a farmer she had acquired consider- able knowledge in the cultivation of vegetables and of fine flowers. She had a beautiful, expressive face, with a graceful figure, a little over medium height, black hair, and ruddy complexion, and large brown eyes. When twenty-six years of age she suffered a paralytic stroke, from which she never completely regained the use of her right limb and arm, but being a woman of extraordinary energy this did not materially lessen her activities. She superintended the cultivation of her garden, and took the greatest pleasure in teaching her friends and neighbors in the cultivation of vgetables and flowers that had not been grown in that part of the country. She sent to Europe for seeds that were not then obtainable in Georgia, and in that way, in her limited sphere, encouraged her friends and neighbors to add new ])lants and flowers to their gardens. Her garden was one of the show places in Talbotton, and from it she derived both pleasure and satisfaction. The formative period in the lives of her children was passed in Tal- botton. In 1862 the family moved to Columbus, where they resided until after the civil war, when the Straus family went North and located in New York City. While in Talbotton, Sara Straus formed warm attachments with many of the ladies of her adopted home, with whom she continued to keep up a pleasant relationship after the family had removed to New York City and until her death in 1876. She was kind and generous. Her insight into character was extraordinary and her sympathies were acute. She was always engaged in being helpful to her friends and neighbors, especially in sickness or in sorrow. " Love thy neighbor " was a natural impulse of her svmpathetic heart, and the cordial friendship she extended to others equally attracted to her their love and affection. She had such an attachment for Talbotton and for her friends there that it took her many years to feel at home after the family removed to New York City. She was a kind and help- ful neighbor, a devoted friend, and a self-sacrificing mother and wife. Her children were her jewels; she took the greatest pride in their education and advancement; she entered into their lives, studying the individuality of each, and encouraging them in their several spheres, always holding up the highest ideals for their attainment. Such qualities as these, glowing with the charm of simplicity and affection, have made their impress upon our generation, and garlanded the memories of Georgia mothers of bygone years with reverence and devotion. The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians 183 'The Mothers 0/ Some Distinguished Georgians IfVitUCCB ^atocUa e»avtCVClJ filvqxihavt ClJavravd (born, Sep- tember 14, 1818; died, August 13, 1890), spent the early part of her life between her father's home in Augusta and his country place on the Savan- nah River, called " Hilton," after one of the ancestral homes of the Urquharts in Scotland. This life she varied by the usual visits of a South- ern " belle " to neighboring States and to the North. Her father, David Urquhart, was a Scottish gentleman of intense aristocratic prejudices, who led the customary life of a wealthy planter. He cared jiothing for the ordinary inhabitants of the State, and when they came to his house made them go to the back door. He loved all beautiful things. With the Highlander's fondness for music, he was a fine violinist, played the flute, and possessed a good voice. From his inherited standard of a gentleman he never swerved. " Un chevalier, n'en doutez pas, Doit ferir haut et parler bas." David Urquhart came to Charleston from Cromarty, Scotland, 1796, on a visit which changed to permanent residence in this country. Chancing to accompany a friend, a young Virginia gentleman, Mr. MacGehee, to his father's home, for Sunday, and arriving too late for church, the two voung men were ushered by mistake into a room where were gathered a crowd of negro children. These children were listening spellbound to " Dr. Dodd's Sermon," as recited by a young girl who stood upon a large linen chest, and who threw into her peroration a fiery eloquence generally lack- ing from the good doctor's words. This girl was Katherine Brooke Gar- terey MacGehee, the future Mrs. David Urquhart. She was the repre- sentative of Highland clans as old and as distinguished as that of the Ur- quharts, the MacGregors, and MacDonalds ; a lineal descendant of King Robert H., and a woman noted for her beauty and for her gracious, winning manner. Reared in this atmosphere, my grandmother, while of lovely character, intensely charitable and unselfish, absolutely refused to allow anybody to approach her socially, unless she considered them her equals in birth and standing. It gave her no pleasure to mingle with people at large. On October 11, 1843, she was married to William Waters Garrard, of an ancient Huguenot family of England. Their early married life was spent in Columbus, Georgia, and Savannah ; Columbus being finally selected for their permanent home. In the suburbs they built a palatial mansion, the third " Hilton," where my grandfather died in October, 1866. This home, its elegance, and its liberal hospitality, became a byword in that section of the South. It was the seat of refinement, at which all strangers of any consequence visiting Columbus were entertained. During the war, commanding officers of that department, with their staffs, and the 7'-4(f Mothers o/ Some Distinguished Georgians officers generally on duty in and around Columbus, treated it as an " open "^^ house." After the war, my grandmother could never conform to the new order of things. She saw people becoming prominent through the agency of money whom in her day she never recognized as her equals. She could not keep abreast of the times. Still, her life, beyond her constant amaze- ment at the shifting kaleidoscope of society, was a happy one. A woman of her high intellectuality could never lack resources. She was an omnivor- ous reader, and few books, on any line, escaped her notice. She had the cultured taste in literature by which the Urquharts for many centuries — since old Sir Thomas Urquhart translated Rabelais — had been noted. Up to the last year of her life she was a most imposing old lady. One could not say that she had the remains of great beauty, because the beauty still existed, in the shape of handsome hazel eyes, a marvellously regular profile, a hutnorous mouth, a well-preserved figure, and such a straight back that we were sure she must, when young, have spent several hours of each morning strapped to a board, like the little girls of Colonial days. That she had had some such rigid training we judged from the maxims she preached to her grandchildren — maxims original and otherwise, of which this one struck most terror to my soul : " If you play too roughly with your hands they will become so large and brawny that you cannot wear rings and bracelets when you are young ladies." And when her grandchildren were unusually noisy she silenced them with this trite bit of Goldsmith: " A loud laugh bespeaks the vacant mind." We had a great awe and rever- ence of her, and decided that she had never laughed loudly in her life ; in which jiremise we were quite correct. She had an exquisite taste in dress, which took the form of perfection in details and fineness of inaterials rather than iavishness of display; in which she more nearly approached the French standard of the Faubourg St. Ger- main than is the case with most Americans. Her old-fashioned horror of publicity prevented her understanding the new type of woman who allowed her picture in the papers, and short paragraphs in her praise in the ten cent magazines. She was the ideal Southern gentlewoman, of low voice, and perfect modesty. And from her parents she had inherited a stately grace and bearing never seen in these latter days. Col. William Urquhart Garrard, a prominent lawyer of Savannah ; married Mary Robert Lawton of same city; lieutenant-colonel of Second Georgia Regiinent in Spanish-American War; colonel of Savannah Vol- unteer Guards since 1882, up to their disbanding in 1900. During Civil War was promoted for bra\ery at \^icksburg by Gen. Stephen D. Lee : was assistant adjutant-general to Brigadier-General Peltus, but never left the fighting line until the end of the war. Served with the Thirty-first and Thirty-third Alabama Regiments; educated at Tuscaloosa Military Acad- emy, and Lexington, Kentucky. «8s The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians Eva Garrard, married Humphreys Castleman, of Kentucky. Hon. Louis Ford Garrard, lawyer, of Columbus, Georgia. Married Anna Foster Leonard ; served through Civil War with Nelson Rangers, and was commended for bravery at Franklin, Tennessee, and at Nashville, Ten- nessee, by Gen. Stephen D. Lee; educated at Tuscaloosa Military Academy, Alabama, and at the University of Kentucky, Lexington ; took the law course at Harvard; sent to the Legislature in 1878; speaker of the House, 1882-1883; delegate to Chicago Democratic Convention, 1892. Helen Augusta Garrard married John Thomas Glenn (son of Luther Judson Glenn and Mildred Lewis Rootes Cobb, his wife), April 26, 1873. Gertrude Kate Garrard married James Walton Harris, of Columbia, Mississippi. Ada Frances Garrard died in infancy. 1 86 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians %\X\\\\ JJVcS'ltCrSOU ^CVVlCU ^IhitcUcad was a daughter of Maj. Jo'hn Berrien of the Continental army, also a member of the order of the Cincinnati, at one time secretary for Georgia, for that society. Major Ber- rien was only seventeen years old when appointed brigade-major. Her mother was Williamira Sarah Eliza Moore, daughter of Dr. James W. Moore of Charleston, South Carolina. Julia M. Berrien was born in Savannah, Georgia, but when a small child, her mother having been left a widow, moved to Jefferson County, Georgia, and they lived on a planta- tion called " Oakland," near Louisville. She was said to be one of the most beautiful ladies of Georgia, and of brilliant intellect, she was quick at rep- artee, but never did her wit at any time embarrass those who were thrown in her society. She was indeed a womanly woman, so gentle, unselfish, and thoughtful, not only of her immediate family but of all who came in contact with her, she was truly loved by the rich and poor. She was descended from an old Huguenot family of Berriens, who lived at Berrien, Finisterre, France; her ancestor, Charles Jansen Berrien, fled to Holland in 1685, at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, he came to Newtown, Long Lsland, in i66g. Where he married Jannettie Stryker, daugh- ter of Jan Stryker. The Stryker or Van Stryker family have been noted for more than eight hundred years at The Hague. On her mother's side, her progenitor was Sir John Moore, of Farley, Berk.shire, England, who was knighted by Charles L, on May 21, 1627. he lost his life and fortune in the cause of the martyr king. When Julia AL Berrien was fifteen years of age she was sought in mar- riage by the Hon. John Whitehead, of Burke County, Georgia. Judge White- head was an intimate friend of her brother, the Hon. John McPherson Ber- rien, and eig*hteen 3'ears older than Julia. She could remember when a tiny child he would visit at Oakland, and would make a great pet of her, taking her on his knee and calling her his little sweetheart; his love savored too much of a fatherly affection and she discarded him. .\t sixteen she was married to Dr. Lloyd Belt, a handsome young physician w'ho had come to Georgia from Maryland. There were three children from this marriage, a daughter, the late Mrs. General Frederick Henningsen; and two sons. Dr. Richard Berrien Belt, and Dr. Lloyd Carleton Belt. They were prominent physicians. Dr. Carleton Belt lo.st his life in the Confederate \\'ar. When Dr. Belt died his widow was about twenty-two years old. Judge WMiitehead had also married, and he had lost his wife. These two were again thrown together, and the love that had always been brig-ht in his heart was offered again to the young widow. He was accepted, and it was his greatest pleasure to lavi.sh every lu.xury that could be gotten in this country and England upon his beautiful young bride, whom he positively adored. There were eight children from this marriage. Two died in infancy. The six who lived to be grown were: Maj. John Randolph Whitehead and Maj. Charles Lowndes Whitehead. They were both in the war between the States, and .87 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians both wounded. The others were: Mrs. J. Gordon Howard, Mrs. Thomas W. Neely, Mrs. Charles Colcock Jones, wife of the historian for Georgia, and Mrs. Augustus Ramon Salas. Mrs. Salas was the first regent for Georgia, for the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was also one of three who founded the United States Daughters, 1812; she was regent general in charge of organization for the United States Daughters, 1812; she worked faithfully and arduously for both societies, and her work speaks for itself; Mrs. Salas' health became much impaired, and in 1895 she resigned. Mrs. Julia M. Berrien Whitehead, from early womanhood, was a de- voted Christian. Her family were Episcopalian, but when she married Judge Whitehead she united with the Presbyterian Church. The Whiteheads were Scotch Presbyterians, and were the founders of the Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia, and at Bath, Richmond County. Georgia. Mrs. Whitehead was the favorite sister of her brother, Hon. Jolui McPherson Berrien, and her cousin and adopted brother, the late Governor Charles J. Jenkins, was devoted to her. Mrs. Whitehead died very suddenly, in the fifty-sixth year of her life, of heart disease; she was beautiful even then, her lovely dark-blue eyes had lost none of their lustre, and her complexion was still beautiful and scarcely a gray hair to be seen in her soft chestnut- brown hair. She was certainly a woman of whom it could be said, " Her children arise up and call her blessed." 188 The Mothers (?/ Some Distinguished Georgians J»USllU ^\\\\ JtolUllvrt J»mltll. She sprung from a long line of dis- tinguished ancestors on her father's side as well as that of her mother. My mother's maiden name was Susan Ann (Susannah) Howard. Her father was John Howard, a Methodist preacher. Mr. Howard belonged to that family of Howards whose first American progenitor was John Hey- ward, of York River. He came to America as early as 1620, and was a member of the House of Burgesses during the time when Cromwell was the Protector. I think he was a Puritan, but not a Nonconformist. He died in 1661, and left two sons, John and William; from one of these my mother descended. Her grandfather was Thomas Howard, who married Mary Bayless. He certainly was not a Puritan, but his wife was one of the first JMethodists in Virginia. He was a rollicksome blade, and her estate, for she was an heiress, except one plantation and forty negroes, went for his debts. When my great-grandmother was thrown upon her own resources she bought a home in Wilmington, North Carolina, and opened a boarding-house. My grandfather was a clerk in his brother's store when he was converted and be- came a Methodist. When he was of age he was licensed to exercise in public. He was not a preacher, but, as we Methodists call them, an exhorter. He married as soon as he was of age, Susannah Paythuss Hall. His wife, too, sprang from a family of English gentry, and was connected with the Pleasants and Paythuss families, and was named for Susannah Pleasants, a Quakeress, who preached. Her mother was Selina I-ackey, who was named in honor of Selina, Countess of Huntington, the famous Methodist of the eighteenth century. My grandfather was not a preacher till 181 7. He had a good house, servants, and a good income when a call came to him to enter the travelling connection of the Methodist Church. He yielded to the call and went to Georgetown. In my little book, " William Hall and His Friends," I have told the story of his first years as a travelling preacher. He was very popular and had the best stations, but his salary was small and his family growing, and he located and taught school in Charleston. A friend, who was a widow, died and left him a handsome be- quest, and as he had been trained to trade, he went into business in Charles- ton. Here mj^ mother received her first schooling, and in the little girl's story, of which I have told, the account of her sad experience is told as she told it. Mr. Howard was not at ease as a merchant, so he sold his property and moved to Georgia, and buying a town house in Greensboro and a plantation, he entered again on his work as a travelling preacher. My good mother had now an excellent teacher in Mrs. Scott, and went at twelve years of age to the best female academy in the State, the one at Sparta, taught by Mrs. Warner. Here she finished her education. The new city of Macon was laid out, and Mr. Howard bouglit a house in it. Before this, at old Hastings camp ground, my mother was happily converted, and joined the Methodist Church; she was then eleven years old. \\'hen the family moved to Macon she was only fourteen, but she taught in the first Sunday- 189 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians school in the city. My father, a talented young physician, was in Macon practising medicine. She had a long attack of illness. He attended her. She recovered, and her attending physician won her love, and they were married — he thirty-eight, she seventeen. Up to this time life had been all sunshine, and the day grew brighter still. Her husband was pious, accomplished as a physician, and had a good practice. They had a home of their own, and a good family servant, and life was brightened by tlie coming of their first born. Then the shadows fell, the little boy died, her father died, the husband fell ill. An unwise en- trance into mercantile life, an unwise removal to a new land, and disaster coming to ventures, for it was in 1837, wben nearly all merchants failed, brought her into the deepest depths. It was then when I remember her first. The sweetness, the tenderness, the pra}'erful care of my mother in those earliest hours has gone with me to the present hour. We were in Oxford. Judge Longstreet, Bishop Andrew, Dr. Lane, Mrs. Judge Lamar, and people of that kind were her friends. There was no real want, but it was a life of trial. My father's practice was small, his income limited, and she had privations and cares that even now make my heart bleed, but she bravely struggled on. She taught her children ; she taught the village school. My father thought he saw an opening for a better practice, and went to Atlanta. Thither we moved. She taught the first select French school in the young city. She had the best girls under her tuition, and the aid she gave my father enabled him to pay all men their dues. Then there came what might have been a brighter day, and she left the schoolroom, but her work was done, and in full sight of Heaven she passed from our sight when she was thirty-nine years old. The best people in Georgia knew her and loved her, but only her children knew her. I have known many women, and some have been very dear to me, but my mother stands higher in my estimate than any woman I ever knew. She never saw the results of her work, but it abides. Geo. G. S.mith. 190 (CatHltVinC JluUng ^'OOmbs, tlie mother of Robert Toombs, was born in Virginia, January 15, 1789, and died in Wilkes County, Georgia, May II, 1848. Robert Toombs was a widower with one son five years of age when Catharine Huhng, at the age of nineteen, became his wife. She was devoted to her stepson Lawrence Catictt Toombs, and he loved her as an own mother. Catharine Toombs became the mother of four sons and one daughter. They lived on their plantation, on Beaverdam Creek, five miles from Washington. Robert Toombs, with his younger brother (iabriel. rode into Washington to school when they were little fellows, Gabriel riding back of his brother and holding on to his coat. Mr. Toombs every day after breakfast had his children brought to liim, and he played with them and talked with and learned to know them, and saw nothing more of them for the rest of the day. They ate at the nur.scry table. Necessarily these chil- dren fell more to the care and attention of their mother, who was untiring in love and affection. I imagine she had very little mirth or gladness in her nature. But her husband had enough of these traits for them both. The old daguerreotype of her represents a sweet-looking old lady, with black silk dress and lace collar; hands folded quietly in her lap; spectacles on her eyes (which were large and gray), that looked wide open and with a kind of firm patience in t'heir expression — it is not a sad look, but rather brave, with fortitude. She was a woman to whom people in trouble intuiti\cly turned, knowing they would find comfort, and she was a law unto herself. Being early left a widow, and not wishing to be separated from her boys during college life, she moved to Athens, Georgia, and stayed there while they were being educated. She idolized her daughter Sara Ann, who married Mr. Henry Pope, a gentleman of great charm of personality. .After the marriage of her boys Robert and Gabriel, she lived with Gabriel. Her son James accidentally shot himself while hunting in the woods near his plantation home. He was engaged to be married to a relative of his half-brother Lawrence, a Miss Catlett, of Virginia. Catharine Toombs was noted for refinement, godliness, and charity. She gave annually half of her income toward the maintenance and educa- tion of poor and orphan children. She was a woman of such spirituality that her influence always, even after death, was potently felt by her sons. Their pride was to deserve her approval. As late as 1899 Dr. Francis Willis of Richmond, Virginia, while on a visit to Washington, called to see the writer of this little sketch, and in the course of conversation he said: " I called on Mr. Gabriel Toombs this morning, and he told me a remarkable thing. Mr. Toombs said that he had never been in doubt as to the right course to pursue on any question of importance that he did not first pause, and ask himself, 'What would my mother advise? ' and invariably he followed the course he thought she would approve, even though it might not be his preference. Mr. Toombs," said Dr. Willis, " is eighty-six years of age, and T consider that he told me a remarkable and beautiful experience." 191 The Mothers «/■ Some Distinguished Georgians The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians What a wonderful influence that mother possessed ! A woman who died at the age of fifty-nine, yet was the guiding influence of a son of eighty-six. This son, Gabriel Toombs, hved to be eig*hty-nine years of age, but his mother was always with him. Robert Toombs' chiefest aim was to have his mother's approbation, and with what pride her loving heart must have glowed when she looked upon this brilliant, beautiful, and devoted son ! Her death was the immediate result of a broken heart. She could not live after the death of her idolized daughter, and without any apparent cause slie died — her doctors said " of a broken heart." The writer drove out to her grave yesterday, November 9th. She is buried near the old homestead, in a beautiful oak grove on a gentle slope. Rock walls enclose the ground, and ivy covers the ravages of time. The leaves were in their autumn hue, the air was balmy and sweet, and the repose that lies on every height lingered lovingly there where Catharine Toombs lies sleeping. K. T. C. 193 The Mothers of Some Distinguished Georgians J»itVaVilU 21. ^CVVCU, mother of Gov. Joseph M. Terrell. " The Mother in her office holds the key Of the soul; and she it is who stamps the coin Of character, and makes the being who would be a savage, But for her gentle care, a noble man." The influence exerted by the mother in moulding the character, and fixing the destiny of the son, can neVer be fully, accurately estimated. It was the training of Hannah, the peerless mother of Israel, that gave to the Hebrews their wisest judge and most conservative leader, in the prophet Samuel. But for the early lessons instilled in the mind of the youthful Moses, by his mother, Jocabed, he might have preferred the learning and riches of Egypt to the dangerous task of braving Pharaoh's wrath, and becoming the leader of God's chosen people through the Ked Sea, and the wilderness and deserts of Arabia, to the promised Canaan. Coriolanus, when all efforts had failed, was persuaded by his mother to withdraw his victorious legions from the gates of Rome, and lost his life at the hands of his infuriated soldiers. " Oh, wondrous power ! how little understood, Entrusted to the mother's hand alone. To fashion genius, form the soul for good, Inspire a West, or train a Washington." Such a mother was Mrs. Sarah R. Terrell, the mother of Gov. Joseph M. Terrell. Like Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, she regarded her five manly boys, and her lovely daughter, as her most precious jewels, and cherished them accordingly. Her father, Dr. J. W. Anthony, was a skilled and well-beloved physician, prominent in his church, and leader among his fellow men. He belonged to the family of that name in Eastern Georgia, distinguished in medical annals and successful practice. Her mother, Mar- tha Render, was descended from the best people in Wilkes Co. A good neighbor and devoted Christian, her daughter enjoyed the finest training possible to fit her for the high duties of wife and mother. To this training was added the highest culture and education oljtainable from the best schools of the day. She was a graduate of the Southern Female College, at La Grange, when the gifted Bacon was at its head. Leaving college a beautiful, accomplished, and amiable young lady, she became the light and life of every social circle, so that when Dr. J. E. G. Terell won her heart and hand he was the envy of many a gallant suitor. She was well fitted to adorn the happy home which she and her noble husband combined to make the abode of love, of joy, of peace, and plenty. The duties of an active and extensive practice calling the father from home much of the time, to Mrs. Terrell was left the task of training the young »95 7*,^^ Mothers (?/ Some Distinguished Georgians minds of her sprightly, handsome boys. Though full of life, and in every- day contact with the boys, good and bad, in a small country village, her sons were never charged with any of the youthful, thoughtless improprieties that occurred in the town. At school they were neatly attired, most exem- plary in deportment, and first in all their classes. At church and Sunday- school their places were never vacant, and they never showed by irreverent conduct a forgetfulness that they were in God's house. She made home so pleasant, so attractive, that to her children it was the most delightful place on earth; and her boys were not to be seen on the streets at unseemly hours. Mrs. Terrell was .gifted with the rare talent of impressing her own individuality and admirable traits of character upon the children that blessed her home. Her firmness was devoid of harshness, and her rebukes always given in love. Good books were put in the hands of her loved ones and bad ones kept away. It is no wonder that with such care and training all her sons have grown to be men conspicuous for ability and usefulness. In the ranks of medicine and law — two are physicians and two are members of the legal pro- fession — and active business life, they achieved notable success. Her only daughter, Mrs. Hines Holt, of Columbus, is a most admirable, accomplished and Christian lady. It was once said that the mother of Washington lived anew in the noble life and deeds of her illustrious son. So are the rare virtues and graces of Mrs. Terrell reproduced in the attainments and records of her children. Perhaps the most fitting tribute that could be paid this good mother is the epitaph that Governor Terrell liad placed upon the beautiful shaft erected by the children over the remains of the precious mother in the village cemetery at Greenville. It reads as follows : " Sarah Rebecca Terrell, eldest daughter of Dr. Joseph W. and Martha Render Anthony, Born in Wilkes County, Georgia, August 13, 1832, Joined Baptist Church in Greenville in 1853. Married Dr. J. E. G. Terrell, April 2, 1856. Died December 9, 1895." " In memory of our devoted mother. She lived the life of the righteous, and died,in the full triumphs of the Christian's faith. She ruled wisely and well in her household; moulding and shaping the characters of her loved ones so as to render them useful here, and the recipients of everlasting happiness in the world to come. Adorned witli the graces of a true believer, she possessed the virtues that the wise man valued as beyond the price of rubies. " Her love blessed her children while she lived and will ever remain a precious legacy." ^ fiD-274: ■" UBJe?8 3-/ O, -o . . • ..^. "V. "-?■ ""-^, °o .-^^ >*^°-*- "*bv^ -^^ V • ;t,-' .♦'^-^ ' r. ^ ■^ .4> >!l°. >^^. \.<^- ^r r-. 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