Talladega iXountu Historical association lallaucga, 21a. wio fffflW&&£* t-Tsr-t^g. •*•£• NEWSLETTER AnrnalDu« EXFCUTJVE BOARD ImlivwiuW or JAMES E. BURT, PRES' Fatn|^ ELIZABETH MILLER, 1ST.V.P. « — BMJrat * .. *~« MARY ELIZABETH WALLIS SN $7,50 Issue No. 154 «M*?CBS roar** IRD rJ-. AUgUSt 1985 BTHELYNMILTON WALLIS,SIMPSON. SECRETARY TREASURER ^___^____ Marry Nelson. Corresponding No Meeting Is Scheduled For Our Society Secretary, P.O.Box 79 During The Month of August, 1985 Talladega Aim. 36160 1 VERS SCOTT, EDITOR We welcome the following new, or renewal, members

[Catherine Gay Roberts Jim Shack Gay Tyler, Texas Ashland, Hugh and Clara Paraell Munford, Alabama

Researchers of genealogy might be aware that any reference to a person being born in Virginia as early as 1728 or as late as 1863, could indicate that the person was born in:

Any part of Illinois from 1781 to Statehood in 1818, Any part of Indiana from 1787 to Statehood in 1816 Any part of Kentucky from 1775 to statehood in 1792 Any part of Maryland from 1775 to statehood in 1792 Any part of North Carolina from 1728 to 1779 Any part of Ohio from 1778 to statehood in 1803 Any part of from 1760 to 1803 Any part of Pennsylvania from 1752 to 1786 All of West Virginia from 1769 to 1863.

Tte above taken from Southern Kentucky Genealogical Society as run in Limestone Legacy, April 1984 We welcome:

A.J.Power Mr.Ira Freeman Sylacauga, Alabama Talladega, Alabama Dr. and Mrs.Jerry L.Jones £j, Ellensburg, Washington to our membership

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'J .. , • Attorney, Osie H.Gay,Jr.,2871 River Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454 needs any information on M.Green Rhodes and wife Mary Ann who lived in Talladega from its early days until after the Civil War. Could you help Mr. Gay?

E.Grace Jemison's second edition Available at "HISTORIC TALES OF TALLAIEGAP BRANNONS in Sylacauga §18.00 tax included 10a\, and $19.95 postpaid BRANNONS 4 Ordersmay be mailed to and «fl Mrs.Billy Bliss HERITAGE HALL Route 2, Old Sylacauga Road in Talladega, Alabama T~ Talladega •

James S.Farrior, 1755 Riviera Drive, Merritt Island, Florida 32952 seeks information on the parents-and descendants of Alfred Thompson, b.1807, and is listed in the 1840 Talladega County census, with wife and four children, Could you help Mr.Farrier?

In a recent issue the editor erred by stating that Frank Lockwood was the architect who designed the First Methodist Church of Talladega. We stand corrected since we learn the architect was R.H.Hunt.

1985 is the 40th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. At the start we were asured the U.N. would never interfere in the internal affirs of nations. For years it has done just that. We were told it would end wars. Since its founding there has been 150 wars with ten million people killed. For a few years the United States seemed to control the U.N. and we still pay the biggest slice of its huge cost. But now the U.N. seems to be controlled by nations that hate us. We still pay. ...editor mi 0tA When lettering on stone, such as tombstones, is so eroded that it is hard to read, some archaeologists touch the edge of a mirror against the upright stone and shine bright sunlight across tte lettering. Enough shadow is cast in the letter to make it readable, most times. But Joe and Frances Upchurch have checked thousands of tombstones as they compile a list of burials in Talladega County and they think best results is obtained by wiping the face of the stone with chalk.

- Remember when bakery cakes were coated with firm icing? i.o smear on your fingers and on the kids faces and all over things where It shouldn't? Wonder why that seems to be a lost art with bakers?I avoid bakery cakes because I think they're 5 messy We've got a local baker who does wonders at making all kinds of small cakes. After I've griped, maybe they'll taste batter editor

We would welcome your family genealogy, like the one in this issue of the Newsletter, on Charles Patterson Samuel, which was contributed by Mrs.Edwin C Carter. This puts the article on permanent rooord and aval labia to others. Mrs.Grace Samuel Foree Carter, 4758 Calumet Drive Knoxville, Tennessee 37919, favors us with the following genealogical material on C.P.Samuel

CHARLES PATTERSON SAMUEL John and Fielden Samuel came to America from England prior to 1764. Giles Samuel married Jane Sullinger of Carolina County, Virginia, on July 17,1746. Reuben Samuel, their son married Mary Letcher in 1794 or 1795. She was born April 23, 1776. They moved from Virginia to Kentucky about 1800, near Frankfort. Their son Charles Patterson Samuel was born near Elkhorn River December 6,1806. Elizabeth Blackerby, born October 5, 1801, was the daughter of William Stamps Shackelford and Mary Sabina Metcalf, at Elizaville, Kentucky. They were married December 18, 1828. Governor Thomas Metcalf,of Kentucky, was a second cousin of Mary Sabina Metcalf Shackelford. -

Charles P.Samuel was a learned man, a gentlemanly scholar, an honor graduate of Centre College in Kentucky. His wife was a highly bred, cultured lady, a sister of a former Governor of Kentucky.

He accepted a position as Principal of Forrest Hills Academy near Athens, Tennessee. Near the 1830's, the family with two children moved to Tennessee. Indian bands roamed the country and as the year 1837 approached, little Indian children began ignoring morning classes. (Ed.note: The time was near when the Cherokees would be forced to move to what would become Oklahoma.) The Godly mother gathered the small children to her knee and prayed God to protect them from the murderers.

For a short time the family returned to Kentucky. Through the efforts of Hon. John Tyler Morgan a position as president of the East Alabama Masonic Female Institute (Ed.note: Presently Manning Hall, the administration building for the Alabama School for the Deaf and Blind) at Talladega was accepted by Professor Samuel in 1856.

In a newspaper clipping from Louisville and Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1853, it quoted: "Before the school passed into the hands of the Talladega Conference, we had occasion while in Talladega to visit the school of Mr.Samuel's. We found him a most agreeable and pleasant old gentleman, devotedly attached to his school.

He is a native of Kentucky, and has been teaching for near forty years of his life; it's second nature with him. His residence is situated immediately on a high elevation (said to be the place where the fort of the friendly Indians was at the time of the memorable battle took place between Andrew Jackson and the Creek warriors), (Ed.note: Fort Leslie-La shley) it is surrounded by native oaks. In front of it is a large and delightful flower garden, and near the dwelling is a large confortable building used for the school rooms (Ed.note: east side of Isbell Branch on north side of South Street) The building is capable of accomodating about 100 ladies.

We were informed there were some 70 to 80 young ladles now in attendance at the Seminary, (Ed.note: Jemison's Historic Tales of Talladega, page 270,says Forest Hill Seminary for girls only, established 1846, Prof.C.P.Samuel, principal, on branch at west end of South St.) and a large number whom Mr.Samuel boards at his residence.Judging from what we saw, and could learn, Mr.Samuel has the most flourishing school in Talladega, and we can asure all who have daughters or wards to educate if they will send them to Mr.Samuel all will be right. •ill

• CHARU3S PATTERSON SAMUEL, continued 2 If nature has done anything at all for a young lady "old man Samuel" will do the balance, if: she is placed under his direction. He is assisted by a number of teachers, among them his excellent lady "who all the girls love" according to a young lady who has been going to that institution for some time." In an Alabama Historical Quarterly of Talladega, in the Alabama State Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, page 132, "Forest Hill Female Seminary is on the branch at the west end of South Street, and was chartered by the Legislature of 1856, had a large attendance with C.P.Samuel as principal. Miss Annie Chapman, Instructress In music, Miss Bettie Samuel, Assistant in music, Miss Martha Lawson, Ornamental Department. "Evidently Professor Samuel taught several years at the Masonic school before be opened his own Forest Hill School in 1858."

Children of Charles P.Samuel and Elizabeth Blackerby Samuel were: 1829 William Reuben 1831 Robert James

1833 Charles Grandison : 1835 Benjamin Franklin _ 1838 Patterson Mills 1843 Thomas Letcher 1847 Elizabeth Blackerby 1851 Mary Sabina Sabina died and is buried in Talladega. Charles P.Samuel and wife were buried at Flemingsburg, Kentucky. He died August 31. 1878 and his wife died October 8,1873. .*.( • Mrs.Carter also writes: M'„ grandfather was William Reuben who married Rosa Elizabeth Penick; he was tte eldest son of Charles P.Samuel and Elizabeth Blackerby Samuel. My great uncle, Charles G.Samuel, came to live in Athens, Tennessee with my family consisting of three boys and two girls.toy father was Dr.James Oliver Foree. I was twelve years old at that time and was raised on Indian tales and Civil War stories. Bettie Samuel was his sister and lived at Chattanooga,Tennessee. He was a dear man and very much beloved by my family. He died at the age of 95 and is buried at Cleveland. Tennessee.

Some years ago while visiting in Montgomery, Alabama, I visited the State Department of Archives and History, toy mother's friend, Mrs.Marie Bankhead Owens, pointed out to me some articles written by Great Uncle Charlie and also a book written by him, which was on the second floor of the museum.

I am a member of the Tennessee Historical Association of Tennessee. All of Charles Patterson Samuel's sons were in the Civil War. Most of the quoting in the attached article were taken from the Daily Post Athenian Sesqui Centennial issue

We hope Mrs.Carter will send us some of those Indian tales and Civil War legends sometime editor Congressman Bill Nichols sent us excerpts from Alabama Historical Review on TRANSPORTATION IN THE EARLY DAYS : ' March 4th, 1850, the court granted the Plank Road Company the rightto use the public roads or such parts as were needed, conditioned that the company would make a good road by the side of the plank road, where they were so used, for the benefit of the -public who might not wish to use the plank road. This road began at Montgomery, keeping mainly along the upper Wetumpka or Judkin's 7erry Road, crossing the Tallapoosa River at that ferry.

After crossing the river and reaching the hills, it kept near the flat river lands at the foot of the hills, coming into the public road again near Harruwgate Springs, and thence to Wetumpka. After passing through the business part, instead of going as the old road over the spurs of the hills, it kept round the edges of them, making the road now used as a public road, and ran in front of the Penitentiary, and left the Turnpike Road so as to strike the Corn Creek flats crossing Jhe Sockapatoy Road at the Thrasher place, and intersecting it again at the Pogue place. It is now the public road . It soon left the Sockapatoy Road and made out through the more level lands to Central, intersecting the old road again near the Mark E.Moore place, continuing through Brookville and Bozeman's. From there it passed to the right, leaving Nixburg west, because in some way the citizens of Nixburg had incurred the displeasure of its president. It came Into Sockapatoy Road again at Boling Hall or Graham place about three miles above Nixburg. From there it followed mainly the Sockapatoy Road, passing Bradford's Factory, and from thence to Mt.Olive, and from there to Sylacauga, sometimes using part of the Chapman Road, and thence, to Talladega, a I distance of nearly ninety miles. Since the Plank Road was abandoned as such, . most of its bed has been used as the public road, because its grading made it preferable to the old routes.

This road had for its president and manager, John G.Winter, a capitalist and banker of Columbus, Georgia. The road was in construction from about 1850 to 1854. A large number of hands were employed, and sawmills were erected along the route, and moved from time to time as neccessity required for cutting lumber for the road. The road was graded to a comparative level, about twenty-five feet broad.

Heavy scantling stringers were laid lengthwise in a few feet of each other, for sills, and upon them was laid a floor of heavy plank. The limit of a load was about what a wagon would hold up. The speed was the capacity of the team. When the road had been completed to Sylacauga, a distance of seventy miles, a large barbecue was given at Sylacauga, and everybody was invited

It was desired to show what could be done on the improved road. On the day of the Barbecue, William L.Yancy was to make the address of the occasion.Relays of horses and buggies had been provided, the horses every six or seven miles, kept harnessed and ready for immediate change. Col.Yancy started with the driver from Montgomery just at sun-up, reached Sylacauga, stayed two hours for speaking and dinner, and returned to Montgomery at sunset, making the one-hundred and forty miles, with a stop of two hours between suns. TRANSPORTATION IN THE EARLY DAYS, continued 2 Al There was also built about the same time a plank road from Wetumpka to Q] Tallassee, a distance of twenty-one miles. These roads were very popular, and ai were well patronized, but the expense of construction and keeping in repair made S] it unprofitable, and in a few years they were abandoned. c< Tl During the successful running of the plank road, Wetumpka did something t< that offended Mr.Winter, and to punish the offence he opened just in front of the Penitentiary a very large department store, stocked it heavily, and put prices down, to divert the trade from Wetumpka. It was more than a mile out of ig the city on the route whence nearly all trade came. For a while large quantities * xi of goods were sold there. But eventuall; Winter's Bank of the St.Marys failed, & and with it came the failure of the store and road, and the end of the revenge. The failure of the bank was severely felt in all this part of the State, and especially Coosa County, as the St.Mary's money was the leading mediu;. of of circulation for some years, and a quantity was afloat at the time of the failure. la Al Other roads were opened later, and changes were made in existing roads, but cc these were the main thoroughfares for the convenience of the people, and tl development of the country. Roads are an important factor in the well-being of oi a country, and there is but little development and progress where these arteries tl of travel do not exist. The better the roads of a country, better schools J« ohurches, and homes are found. The facts in regard to the roads have been thus Ap extensively noticed, and the names of the parties In charge of the work given thei. hoth may be rememberedby those who have enjoyed the tte advantages in later years of the labors of these pioneer toilers who made the wilderness to be the si habitation of happy families , and prosperous communities. mi we Transportation in the early days is associated in the minds of Wetumpka 6M people with the days of the steamboats, the stage coaches, and the trips over the Plank Roads; often too, with Planters, with their families riding in carriages, young men riding spirited horses, and the families of the farmers riding in I N« wagons drawn by mules. The steamboat days, especially here, seemed to be tc surrounded by an air of romance. ci Wetumpka is classified in the U.S.Engineers Office as the "Head of Navigation on The Alabama River, even though it is some four or five miles upstream from wc the present souree of the Alabama and was during the days of the old steamboats £ nearly ten miles above the head of the Alabama River." Thus writes Peter Brannon Tl in a newspaper article entitled "Wetumpka as a River Port." Is i For a number of years flat boats were constructed along the river shoals, and when the water rose sufficiently, skillful pilots would float them to Wetumpka, bringing them heavily loaded with marketable products. On reaching e the market, and after dispencing with their cargo, the pilots would sell tte b boats, and the crews would make their way back home. \- In 1821 the "Harriet", the first steamboat to reach Montgomery? was greeted m with delight. The old Indian canoes were giving away to the steamboats. The s steamboat period, as it was commonly called, was during the first forty years of t Wetumpka; Wetumpka was very dependent during that time upon the steamboats for c both business and pleasure. The merchants and the farmers depended upon them t for transportation of their goods coming in to them, and their cotton going out a to markets. r.

1

- TRANSPORTATION IN THE EARLY DAYS, continued 3 At this time the merchants ware owners of large and prosperous mercantile establishments and the planters had large cotton crops. The boats from New Orleans and Mobile were constantly arriving and departing with full cargos, Farmers from Shelby, Coosa, St.Clair, Jefferson, and other northern counties were bringing their cotton and other marketable products to be shipped to New Orleans and Mobile. They were carrying home coffee, sugar, flour, and dry goods which they had shipped to the merchants here or directly to them.

The "John Duncan" was a very fine packet steamboat and was advertised as leaving Mobile every Tuesday evening at five o'clock and arriving at Wetumpka Thursday evening; it would leave Wetumpka every Friday morning and arrive at Mobile Sunday morning. These boats carried both freight and passengers.

There is an entry in a local diary, owned by the McMorris family, telling of the arrival in Wetumpka of a boat bringing thirty Irishmen, who came here as laborers. In a week's time these thirty Irishmen had all died of Asiatic cholera. Also, there are stories told of the personnel • . of some of these boats, of their contributing in a very large measure to any disorder of the town happening during the stay of the boats here. The character of these laborers, as a rule, was not of the best, and they were often in,trouble. In the same diary there is given the following accountof the heaviest traffic during the year: January — 33 boats. February ~ 27 boats, March — 23 boats April — 23 boats May — 21 boats September October ~ No arrivals.

In The Wetumpka Argus, May 15, 1838, there was an advertisement of the steamboat "Columbus," a regular packet between Wetumpka and Mobile: "All cotton must be on the "Landing" by the time she arrives oa"h Thursday night." Many warehouses were advertised at that time, and much can be learned of these steamboat days from the odd files of the Wetumpka Argus.

One planter's order for goods and fine groceries, which were to come from New Orleans, was for 3,500 bacon sides and five barrels of molasses, the goods to be landed at his own plantation. On February 25th, the steamboat " Formosa" carried four hundred bales of cotton.

The steamboats contributed much of the social life of Wetumpka, as the people would gather to await the coming of the steamboat. Dr.A.B.Moore in his History of Alabama writes that often people here would wait all night for the boat's coming. These boats, which carried passengers, as well as freight, upon their arrival here, would be looked over carefully by the waiting people, the captains often generously giving the towns people free rides.

The arrival of the boats was a great event, but when they began to have some equipped with calliopes, playing gaily as they arrived, the arrival of the boats became even 8 greater event.

The passenger lists were very large until the railroad began to take away many of the passengers, who had formerly ridden many miles to get aboard the steamboats leaving Wetumpka. Many people, however, continued to enjoy the steamboat trips, as they were looked upon, with their elegance and conveniences, as sources of great pleasure. The food served was of a superior quality, rivaling that of the fine hotels of the day; those who wanted fine wines and liquors could get them, as the boats had their bars with with brown jugs or with cut glass decanters.Card playing and gambling were favorite passtimes.lt is said that many of the men would get on board with their pockets full of money, but would be stripped of it all before reaching their destinations. TRANSPORTATION IN THE EARLY DAYS, conti»^d 4 A trip to Mobile and back was planned by many, ae a pleasure t*i*/. ** orchestra was often taken along, and after the meals, the tables and chairs would be deaAt~ and the orchestra would be ready with the music for those who wished to dance, and they usually danced until late into the night. In 1860, the •Southern Republic" was built with two decks and a cabin; a fine calliope was frequently played betweer landings for tte passengers. Competition became so keep that often the fare would get as low as one or two dollars for the whole trip. Wetumpka began to want a steamboat of its own. In The Wetumpka Spectator, Jjnuary 15,1856, tte following account is given of the Coosa Belle. • A few of our own enterprising citizens seeing the necessity of a boat, which should c6nsider Wetumpka the head of navigation and make her trips accordingly, have united and built the "Coosa Belles Previous to the running of this new vessel, boats were like angels, few and far between." We hope now thay our citizens have too much good sense to suffer any combination to run her off or let her become unprofitable stock.n Wetumpka business bouses owned interests in half a dozen steamboats at that time.

Mr.Brannon reminds us that even until today it is written into the records that the dredge boats shall, at least once-a year, proceed to the head of navigation and clear the stream to take care of transportation. However, no areoge boat has been near Wetumpka in many years. On January 13, 1836, the Wetumpka and Coosa Railroad Company was incorporated with a view of furnishing transportation around the Soosa Shoals. Tte cfP1^1 stock was not to exceed^20,000 . The company was authorized to cross tte river between Wetumpka and the Ten islands and to extend through Talladega and Benton (Calhoun) counties to the stateline between Georgia and Alabama. The work on it was begun and the roadbed was graded for twenty miles. The crash, which came in 1837, put an end to the "Flush Times" in Alabama, discouraged the stockholders of < the railroad company and the work was discontinued. Many believe if thos road had been finished Daniel Pratt would have located his gin factory here and the capitol would have been moved to Wetumpka instead of being moved to Montgomery.

The roads that early settlers here knew were hardly more than trails through the forests and usually followed the old Indian trails. This expression is often now heard in Wetumpka. "It is the old Trace Road." This refers to the "Jackson Trace" and is the road Andrew Jacksonopened in 1814 for the march with his soldier from near Fayetteville and Talladega to Fort Jackson. The Chapman road was opened by him earlier. The old Georgia Road was a road evidently made by the people were moving rapidly from Georgia into Alabama. It became a public road before the commissioners had really begun to build roads. James Lindsey, Joseph B.Cleveland, and Robert Cleveland were authorized by an act of the legislature, approved Janaary 9, 1833, to open a road from the lower end of the Wetumpka Falls to the store of Joseph B.Cleveland in Sylacauga. mis was a toll road and the proprietors were R.H.Reptoe and Richard Stewart. They were allowed to charge the following toll: for 4-wheel carriage - 75£, 2-wheels 50$- man and horse 12^-, loose or pack horse 6^, hogs, sheep or goats 3# per head. The proprietors of the "Turn Pike" were to forfeit the right to collect toll if 4-hey did not keep the road in good order. Their franchaise was to last 15 years In 1838 the road was reported by the proprietors to be in such good order as to authorize continued collecting of tolls. In February, the proprietors of the "Tun Pike" surrendered their rights to that part of it from Rockford to Wetumpka, as ai act had been passed at the last session of the T-eglslaturev making it a public rot

to be continued THERE" S A LOT TO CHEWING by Vern Scott I suppose, other than the heart, the human mouyh might work more than any otter bodily organ. Somebody said,"What's in the heart comes out of the mouth." But I'm thinking of the act of chewing with the mouth.

Wonder why we like to be chewing on something? Is it a hangover from the days when nearly everybody went hungry, sometimes,, and, maybe, they habitually chewed a little in anxious contemplation? : : . Until a few decades ago nearly all men chewed tobacco and they spit. Some women chewed it too and they spit. We still like to chew on something but classical spitting is a lost art.

Old men (they looked old by the age of 25,) used to congregate around the blacksmith's shop or they'd sit on the window sills of the small town grocery store, or maybe around the courthouse to spin yarns, chew and spit.

Flies didn't bother these gatherings too much. This was one place a fly had no business. If one did carelessly alight on a hitching post, within ten or fifteen feet of one of these philosophical dissertation sessions, it was asking for it. Catooie I And a big blob of brown, nicotined, saliva plastered him.

One of the most fashionable spitting styles was used by women and a few men when they adoritly pressed "V for victory like fingers against both lips, then spewed forth a stream with remarkable range and unerring accuracy. And, if they tried, most old men could hit the spitoon or any other target while employing only a simple lip pucker.

Of course, tobacco chewing and snuff dipping were in vogue long before cigarrettes. Parents found it relative easy to keep the kids from taking up these bad habits. But I think nearly every kid slipped and tried it once anyway. That was enough 1 If you've never been sick for the first time on - snuff or chewing tobacco, you just haven't ever been sick.

After just one try at these things, the kids were content to chew sweetgum like their parents had recommended. u .1 Sweetgum was plentiful. All one had to do was find a sweetgum tree, cut a slit in the bark so the sap would run out. When that juice dried, they could scrape it off and it wasn't much different to chevin^ gum. Once the habit was cultivated, animosities might be aroused when somebody found the addicts hiding place, underneath a chair or on the well shed post, then snitched and chewed his gum.

Some say we chew because we're nervous. I don't know about that. Once,while crossing a pasture, a contrary bull resented my intrusion and gave chase.I was awfully nervous for a couple of minutes and later, I found I'd swallowed my gum. I didn't chew; I yelled!

: Probably nobody has ever caused so much chewing as has General Santa Anna who became best remembered for assaulting the Alamo. Santa Anna lost out in Mexico but he believed he could regain power if he had enough money. He knew that rubber was selling at one dollar per pound while he could buy the sap of the Sapodilla

. THERE'S A LOT TO CHEWING, continued 2 tree at five cents a pound and it made a mighty stretchy stuff. Could this stuff be processed in some way to compete with, or replace, rubber ? If so, te'd make an awful lot of money. *. •>:i. He collected a lot of this dried Sapodilla sap and brought it to tte United States where he hoped to find a chemist to work on his project. But nobody seemed to be interested.

So he finally left 500 pounds of this dried Sapodilla sap with a photographer named Thomas Adams who was a jack of all trades , to see what he could do with it. Santa Anna didn't have enough confidence in it to hang around and wait.

Adams never learned how to make rubber of it but the stuff was stretchy. He remembered seeing Santa Anna chewing some of it. That gave him a bright idea!

He stirred in a little flavoring and offered it for sale in little bars in Hoboken, New Jersey, as he labled it Chewing Gum. The sales were tremendous. Soon every toom, Dick and Harry were making it and selling it and several of them reaped fortunes. Before too long people were buying over three hundred million dollars worth of the stuff and that's a lot of chewing. » Maybe we should take a lesson from old Santa Anna. When you're down and out, don't chew the fat; dream a little. You just might dream up a simple trillion dollar innovation. fl-W-H-1+H-HI »t-t-H \ \ \ l-H-H-K-H- 1 1-H-M-HH-l+H- •H^h^*H^-+*H-M+-MH-t-H--H- HI I •-» + TCHA member Jane Garing, of Garing Business ^chines, semi us the following: SENATOR JOHN TYLER MORGAN The John T.Morgan bridge, 1 mile west of Childersburg, Talladega County, Alabama, across the Coosa River, connecting Shelby and Talladega £Punties, will be officially dedicated on Thursday, morning, June 12, 1930, by the Alabama State Bridge Corporation. JOHN TYLER MORGAN John Tyler Morgan was born in Athens, McMirm County, Tenn., on June 20th, 1824. He entered a pioneer school under Charles P.Samuel, a Kentuckian, at the age of six years. With his father & mother he moved to Alabama 1833, settling at Jenkins Springs in Talladega County. Jenkins Springs is now known as Clairmont Springs and is in Clay County, just across the Talladega County line. As a youth he continued his studies under his mother's guidance and with his Latin books added a deep study of the Bible and English Classics, memorizing many of the Classics, he developed a memory that astonished his associates In after life.Later John T.Morgan's family moved to Talladega,(610 East Street S.), where he attended school as a barefooted lame boy. He studied law in the office of Judge William :.* P.Chilton at Talladega, being admitted to the bar in 1345. He commenced the practios of law in Talladega, removing to Dallas County in 1855 at the age of thirty-one, practicing law at Cahaba and Selma.

He WSB Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket of Breckenridge and Line in 1860. Morgan was elected as a delegate from Dallas County to the State Convention in 1861, which passed the Ordinance of Secession. v JOHN T.MORGAN, continued During The War Between The States he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a Private in Company 1, Cahaba Rifles, in May 1861, and when the Company was assigned to the Fifth Alabama Regiment under General Robert E.Rhodes was elected and later lieutenant of that Regiment; commissioned in 1862 as Colonel and raised the Fifty-First Alabama Cavalry; appointed Brigadier-General in 1863 and assigned to a Brigade in Virginia but resigned to join his Regiment whose Colonel had been killed in battle. During the Reconstruction Period General Morgan was a vigorous champion of and all the principles of self government for which he had fought. After the war he resumed his practice of law in Selma. He was a Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket of Tilden and Hendricks in 1876; was elected as a Democrat to the in 1876, re-e}ected in 1882-1888-1894-1900-1906. Senator Morgan reflected credit and distinction upon the state of Alabama from the day of his entrance into the Senate to the close of his career thirty years later. By his courage, legal knowledge, ability in debate, and splendid frankness and honesty he commanded the respect and confidence of his own and the opposing party. Early in his service in Washington he began a campaign for the Isthmian Canal, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and- never abated until Congress authorized the completion by the United States cf the Panama Canal. Senator Morgan drew to himself the hearts of all Southern people and fought for their rights above everything else. He acted upon his own judgment in defiance of the views of his Constituents; conscience and judgment were his masters; Senator Morgan died at 83 years; his great mind was brilliant and incisive to the end. He was always able to enlighten his colleagues and the world. It was said of him that he touched no subject that he did not shed shed some new light on. He was master of the art of speech, using it as a painter does his brush, or the sculptor his chissel; his gestures were graceful and appropirate;his face suffused with smiles and his eyes beamed with the light of inspiration. He could see the near side of far things and the far side of near things. THE DEDICATION OF THIS BRIDGE ACROSS THE COOSA IS A MOSY FITTING TRIBUTE TO SENATOR MORGAN WHOSE EARLY MANHOOD DAYS WERE SPENT IN TALLADEGA COUNTY. INDICATION OF JOHN TYLER MORGAN BRIDGE CHILDERSBURG, ALABAMA THURSDAY, JUNE 12,1930 PROGRAM Hon.E.A.Hammett, Judge of Probate,Talladega,County, Presiding Music Song - " America " Invocation .. Rev.Frank Willis Barnett Presentation of Bridge. .Mr.F.R.Sargent ,VIce President Alabama State Bridge Corp. Music Formal Naming of Bridge .. Governor Bibb Graves Memorial Address on Life of Senator Morgan Dr.D.A.McNeill,Supt.Alabama State School for the Deaf, Talladega, Alabama Music .. Mignon Band Reading Mrs.E.O.Batson of Sylacauga,Alabama Unveiling of the Name Tablets Mrs.Margaret Fulmer Screws,Opelika,Ala.,and Miss Cornelia Morgan,Wa3hington,D.C. Placing Wreath of ImmorteJles.. Mrs.Marie Bqnkhead,Director of DGpt. of Archives and History. Dedication of Bridge. .Hon. John Morgan Burns, Selma, Ala. Music • 12:30 Adjournment for Barbecue Music furnished by the Presbyterian Orphans Home Band of Talladega and the Mignon B nd of Avondale Mills, Sylacauga, Alabama There will be no tolls from 10 A.M. until conclusion of the dedication ceremonies. By order of the Alabama State Bridge Corporation. WHO WAS THE FIRST TO FLY ? 1 For years, the question of who invented the airplane has been studied. It seems that many people have contributed to the airplane's development over a few centuries. But not the least of these was tte little known Dr.Lewis Archer Boswell of Eastaboga, Talladega County, Alabama, who lived from 1834 to 19<#. Many people have attested that be flew before the Wrights flew in 1903.

Wilbur Wright was born in 1867, which was the year Dr.Boswell became obcessed with the idea of building a heavier than air ship. Orvil Wright was born in 1871 just 3 years before Dr.Boswell patented his "propeller wheel."

At Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, December 17, 1903, the Wrights made their first four flights. The first stayed aloft about 12 seconds and traveled about 120 feet. The fourth flew a distance of 852 feet in 59 seconds. In the following Installments on Dr,Boswell tte reader may see how tte flights at Kitty Hawk compared with the flights by Dr.Boswell as described by eye witnesses. Most of Boswell'3 experiments and flights were carried out on his plantation which is now a part of tte Alabama International Speedway at Eastaboga.

In 1926, Dr.Landon C.Bell came to Alabama to continue his research of Boswell'a work at creating the heavier than air plane. Bell's account of Boswell was published in the Lunenburg County, Virginia school book in 1927, called The Old Free State and was entitled "Dr.Boswell Invents An Airplane" The story follows:

Lewis Archer Boswell was born May 9, 1834, at" Aspen Hill" as the old Boswell home at Wattsboro In Lunenburg County, Virginia, was called. This old residence was later occupied by the late W.W. Boswell while he conducted a very thriving mercantile establishment at Wattsboro, some quarter of a mile from the residence, '•Aspen Hill."

Lewis Archer Bosvell was the youngest child of John Iverson Boswell,Jr., and Nancy D.Coleman, and was the grandson of John Iverson Boswell,Sr. (b Apr.5,1751, in Glouctester Co., Va.), and Mary Coleman. For his further ancestry see the Boswell Genealogy herein. His mother died just twenty days after bis birth. He was nursed by a black "mammy*' and raised by his sister Sallie. His father died December 15, 1846, when he was twelve years old. Upon the death of his father a Mr.Winn became his guardian; and as he was left sufficient means he was well educated at the University of Virginia, Ihe Jefferson Medical School at Philadelphia and at Johns Hopkins University where he pursued a special course of study.

Dr.Boswell was not only a highly educated physician, but his educational attainments in other fields were of an extraordinary character. He wes a profound student of the classics of literature; and was said to be able to repeat from memory several of the Shakespereah dramas, i Upon his graduation in Medecine he returned to Lunenburg and resided for a brief time with his aunt, Mrs.Ragsdale (sister of his father); and then removed to Mississippi, locating at Greenwood where he practiced his profession until tte beginning of the Civil War. At the beginning of tte Civil War he came back to Virginia and entered the Military Service of the C.S.A. as a private in Major Scott's Battalion, but he was very soon promoted and sent to Richmond as Surgeon of the Wynder Hospital. He continued in the Military Service until the end of the war.

_ DR.BOSWELL INVENTS AN AIRPLANE 2 After tte surrender he returned to Greenwood, Mississippi, and resumed the practice of medecine; in 1868 married Miss Bettie Liddell of Carroll County, Mississippi. It was while he was residing in Greenwood, Miss., after the War that he became interested in Aeronautics. His ideas first took definite form upon reading an article upon Bird Flight in Tte Edinburgh Review by the Duke of Argyle. He was boarding with Col.Roades at tte time. When he had read the article, he remarked In tte Colonel's presence, "It can be done," Whereupon the Coloasl inquired, "What can be done?* and Dr.Boswell replied, 'Why people can fly through the air, with proper adjustments, like birds." Thereupon tte Colonel laughedand pronounced Dr.Boswell crazy. But tie doctor inmediately began to construct a machine embodying his ideas of the principles which should control the flight of a heavier than air mechanism. He succeeded in making a rough model, whloh demonstrated tte feasibility of his idea. This was completed In 1868.

There seems to be some doubt as to the reason why he destroyed this model. At any rate he Junked the model, put it in a sack and sank it in the Yazoo River. Some have asumed that he did this provoked by the ridicule heaped upon him in the Community because of his idea that he could make a machine that would enable men to fly. Some have thought that the impelling motive was the determination to prevent anyone else from getting possession of his idea.

It was shortly after the construction of tte original model that he married. In 1869 he moved to Alabama (Eastaboga In Talladega county) to reside on a plantation inherited by his wife from her mother. It is altogether possible that the destruction of his model made at Greenwood, Mississippi, was due to tte fact that it was inconvenient to transport; furthermore, in all liklihood, it was crude and imperfect, as compared with what he felt capable of producing with the proper facilities for construction, and no doubt his ideas were developing so that he felt the need of a new and more perfect model to give expx-easion to his more mature conception of The Machine that would fly.

However all of this may betba model was destroyed, hs and his wife removed to Alabama in 1869, they settled on their plantation "Red Hill" at Eastaboga, in the county of Talladega, in Alabama, where he continued his inventive reflections, with what results, we shall see. On April 4, 1874, he filed an application in the United States Patent Office for Improvement In Aerial Propeller Wheels. The patent, including specifications and drawings, was as follows:

The United States of America.

To All to whom these presents shall come: Whereas: Lewis A.Boswell, of Talladega, Alabama, has presented to the Commissioner of Patents a petition praying for the grant of Letters Patent for an alleged new and useful Improvement in Aerial-Propeller Wheels, a description of which a copy is here-unto annexed and made a part hereof and has complied with tte various requirements of Law in such casesmade and provided, and

Whereas, upon due examination made the said claimant is adjudged to be justly entitled to a patent under the Law. 5

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• • pjiSlihii!! ii Uli I .!! i 111 ii I i 3

'

S DR.BOSWELL INVENTS AN AIRPLANE 3 Now therefore these letters Patent are to grant unto the said Lewis A.Boswell his heirs or assigns, for the term of seventeen years from the Twenty-second day of September one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, The exclusive right to make, use and vend the said invention throughout the United States and the Territories thereof.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Patent Office to be Affixed at the City of Washington, the twenty-second day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-ninth. C.Delano Secretary of The Interior (Seal) Countersigned: J.M.Thacher, Acting Commissioner of Patents.

Dr.Boswell had submitted his plans to Munn & Co., patent solicitors sometime prior to February 7, 1874. This we know, because while the doctor retained no copies of his letters, we find among his papers (which are meagre), which have survived the ravages of time, their report of their preliminary examination upon, as they term it, improvement in "wind wheels", dated February 7, 1874, No.34,416. This was a very reputable firm of its day, but their report does them no great credit. They thought that a patent might be obtained, but seemed not to grasp the signififence of Dr.Boswell's Idea, and to think his mechanism but little different from a windmill invention of one Frazee of St.Louis, Mo.

However, the authorities of the Patent Office had no misgivings whatever about the matter and without hesitation granted the patent No. 155,218, on September 22, 1874-

Prior to submitting his application for a patent Dr.Boswell had actually demonstrated that a craft heavier than air, propelled by his "Aerial propeller wheels" would fly through the air. The model submitted with his application was built according to his plans and under his directions, by a jeweler in Talladega, Ala., by the name of Lowry. The model was about twelve inches long, and its power was furnished by a clock spring mechanism, Mrs,Boswell and her sons John and Frank (all now—1926—living) remember well this model, and all saw it in operation. Dr.Boswell would place it on a table and start it, and it would sail across the room.

"The evolution of this little aerial boat," writes Mrs.Boswell to the writer, " was witnessed by Col.Boynton, J.A.Savery and Bernard Smidt" and others. This model was similar to but an improvement on that built by Dr.Boswell in 1868-9, and sunk in the Yazoo River.

After obtaining a patent of September 22,1874, on "Aerial propeller wheels" the doctor continued his reflections and researches. Unfortunately he retained no copies of the letters he wrote, and those he received, have in the main, not been preserved. Feeling that ho had in theory mastered the problem of propulsion through the air, by his aerial propeller wheels, he turned his attention to the matter of controlling the direction of the craft. He shipped a model of some description to the Patent office authorities in the early nineties, but he never heard from it.It was claimed that it was never received. Slowly he "builded anew" and his patent covering that feature, the steering mechanism, was obtained May 26, 1903, but the fact that he had perfected his ideas respecting th« mntter long before that date there is abundant evidence. to be continued MAYFAIR GALLERY — Men of the Day Maroh 14,1912 LaFayette Hoyt DeFrise The ever increasing disposition to assimilate international disputes to dis­ putes between individuals and to settle them by arbitration instead of by tte primitive methods bequeathed by barbarism, is symptomatic of a wonderful moral evolution. Incidents which within comparatively recent years, must have infallibly proved tte prelude to sanguinary wars, have bad no consequences more dangerous than a discharge of verbal artillery within tte dignified precincts of a court of justice.

One of tte chief causes which has hastened tte acceptance of tte principle, is undoubtedly, tte intricate interdependence of interests which has evolved a new type of lawyer, men whose purview embraces tte whole habitable globe and who can estimate the conflicting claims of nations as dispassionately as the ordinary legal expert does tUfse of private litigants. Of the little band of private lawyers none is better known in tte Anglo Saxon world than LaFayette Hoyt DeFrise.

Centuries ago his forebears, prominent French Huguenots, fled from tte tyranny of Europe to tte freer life of the new world across tte Atlantic. From the three brothers de Frise, who reached New York, then a Dutch colony known as New Amsterdam, have sprung all of the de Frises and the de Forrests in the United States, and on the female side,numerous other families, tte Huttons, tte Lowries, tte Harris, tte Evans, and a score more.

Prior to tte War of Independence the de Frises were as loyal subjects of the farmer King as were to be found in any part of the British dominions. One of them, James de Frise, tte great grandfather of LaFayette Hoyt deFrise, joined the English forces as a drummer boy, and fought bravely against tte French in Canada. Later, he became an intimate friend of of Count LaFayette, a connection he marked by naming his son after the famous French General and the name has come down from fatter to son ever since.

In the Civil War the members of the family fought in about equal proportions on tte Northern and Southern sides; Hiram LaFayette deFrise, tte son of James, who had married Miss Margaret Lowrey, of Virginia, having moved from Tennessee to Alabama. It was there his grands on, LaFayette Hoyt, was born in 1852, and it is signlficent that just when the lad was passing out of boyhood, the first great international arbitration case, that of tte Alabama, inaugurated the dawn of a new ere. After graduating at Harvard in 1876—he had previously passed with distinction two years in tte University of California—young deFrisewas appointed Botanist to tte state geological survey of Kentucky, a post he held for five years, in which he did much original work and gained invaluable experience.

In 1879 te was admitted to tte New York Bar, and eventually, to tte Supreme Court of the United States. Since then his record has been one of continuous success. He came to England first in 1883, and for tte last fifteen years has devoted himself exclusively to international law in London where he is as well known as in New York.

Among other questions of international importance in which Mr,deFrise has been called upon to act for banks and banking houses, as well as for private clients throughout the world, may be mentioned tte consolidation of the Mexican Railroad the status of tte Hawaiian Islands after the revolution and the annexation to the United States; tte status of tte Philippine Islands, Porto Sico, and Cuba after the Spanish-American War; and tte status of Korea,its private enterprises after its annexation by Japan.

(Hoyt DeFrise was born in Talladega and lived several ye^rs in Clay County.) r Page 50 EARLY TIMES IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE, continued by Capt. John Carr The next time that I saw Parson Hodge I told him that I reconed that it would not be advisable for me to act as elder. I did not tell him what Page had said, because I believe that they loved each other as Brothers should in Christ.

• Rev.Hodge preached two years to his congregation at Union, and then told them that he would have to leave them. He strongly recommended them to attend closely to the preaching of the Methodists, and if he could, he would send them another preacher. They were close attendants on our preaching; and after the lapse of six or nine months, several families made application to me to know if they could join our church as Presbyterians — and they were willing to conform to all tte rules and regulations of tte Methodist church; and if they ever had it in their power, and wished to do so, they could go back to their own church.

I told them that I would talk to Brother Page, our presiding elder. I saw Brother Page and named it to him; ha told me to take them all into the church that wished to join. Old Brother David Henry, one of the elders, and his family, Brother John Tronsdale, another elder, and his family; two families of the Stevensons, and several of the Cathey family, and several others, came forward and joined the Methodist church; and not one of them ever returned to tte Presbyterian church. Two or three of the Catheys, and about the same number of the Stevensons, afterwards joined the Schismatics. There could not have been less than twenty-five or thirty that continued in tte Methodist chxmch, and they were most excellent members. Old Brother Henry has a son yet living on Goosa Creek, who is the father of Col.John Henry, one of the most popular local preachers we have in Sumner county. John Trousdale's oldest son, William, became a Methodist preacher. I just mention these circumstances to show you how we got along fifty-odd years ago. About that time camp-meeting commenced in this country. We built a large encampment where the tribes of God's people came up to worship.

Our expectations were fully realized when we laid tte foundation of our house, for it became tte spiritual birthplace of hundreds of precious souls. We had a set of excellent men of God who labored faithfully in that day. There was John and William Magee—one a Presbyterian and the other a Methodist—who stood shoulder to shoulder together and warned the 'kicked to flee the wrath to come. There was Alexander Anderson, whose name could never be forgotten — a man of the first order of talent: he was a Presbyterian preacher.

He and John Page were two great instruments in carrying on tte work at Union camp-ground. Ledbetter and Hubbard Saunders, who used to lsbor faithfully with us, at our camp meeting. Brother Ledbetter had two sons that became itinerant preachers; I believe that their names were Rufus and Willie; If I am not mistaken; they both professed at Union Camp Ground. Camp meetings were kept up annually there for years.

William McKendree, who was afterward Bishop McKendrea, was our presiding elder, if I mistake not, in 1806-07. It would be useless for me to say anything about his talents or his preachings. He was then in tte prime of life.His gentlemanly deportment and Christian humility drew the attention of thousands, and his sweet, shrill voice, attended by the Ueaaing of the Spirit .pierced the hearts of many that beard him.

I i Page 51 EARLY TIMES IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE, continued by Capt. John Carr I well recollect upon one occasion^ at a camp-meeting at old Union, where there was an immense concourse of people, he took the 11th Psalm for his text. He proceeded on with his discourse; the congregation was greatly interested. When he came to that part of the Psalm that said,"Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup," the mighty power of God came down upon the congregation, and the excitement became so great, and the cries of the distressed so loud, that he could not be heard, and the old elder sat down in his seat with heaven pictured in his face, giving glory to God.

It will never be known in time the amount of good that was produced from that faithful preaching, or the number that professed religeon on that canp- meeting occasion.

We were favored with the labors of Learner Blackman, that excellent man of God, of whom I have spoken in a former chapter. He was instrumental in turning many from darkness to light.

Perhaps I have tired your patience in dwelling upon old Union, but I asure you it is a green spot in the history of my former days. I love to write about old Union and to talk about it. CHAPTER XVIII I will now endeavor to give you the great contrast between our former and our later preachers. Our former preachers were itinerants in reality. Their entire time was wholy devoted to the work of God. They did not consider their work more than half done when they preached. Under no circumstances did they neglect class-meeting. I will endeavor to show you how class-meetings were then arranged• The names of all the members were set down upon the class-paper, with the class-leader's name at the head.After preaching, and the doors were closed, the class leader handed the paper over to the preacher. The preacher then commenced his examination, called each name out, and the person either arose or sat,as the case might be, and spoke out so loud that he could be heard by the preacher and all in the house. Very often, before they would get through examination a divine influence would descend among the people, and if you had been present, you would almost have thought that heaven had come down to earth.

The class paper was strictly marked, P for present, and A for absent, and S for sick, against each one's name. The class paper was then returned to the leader.

As our circuits were then at least four weeks circuits, the class leader was strictly charged by the preacher to hold class-meeting once a week, and to be particular to mark his class-paper as before described. If any person absented himself three times from preaching, or class-meeting, it then became the duty of the class-leader, by the direction of the preacher, to visit him and know the cause; and very often the preacher went along himself.

Another very important duty of itinerant preachers in early times was to pay pastoral visits, which they never failed to do. No member of the church was too poor for those Holy men of God to visit.They went to their houses and and partook of their coarse fare, such as bear meat or venison, or milk and bread, and they stayed all night with us. to be continued