T. G. McGowan, born in 1832 in Ireland, became a respected planter and county commissioner in Baldwin County, Alabama. He served in the Fifteenth Alabama cavalry during the Civil War and later became a successful farmer and stock grower. He also served as a local preacher in the Methodist church.
This 1893 article details the life of Francis Earle, an Alabama farmer and slave owner who inherited his father’s plantation and stock farm in 1836. Despite suffering significant losses during the Civil War, he rebuilt his wealth and continued to contribute to his community. Earle married Mary McDonald and they had two children, Frank and Mary.
William D. Smith, a prominent business man and planter of Autauga county, Alabama, was born in Jones county, Georgia, January 26, 1809. His parents, John Scott and Sarah (Bush) Smith, were also natives of Georgia, where they were married, and whence they came in 1818 to Alabama, and located in Autauga county, being among the pioneer settlers, and improved a farm on Nolan’s creek. The family subsequently removed to Talladega county, and later to Jefferson county, where Mr. Smith ended his days. Mrs. Smith passed away in Autauga county, a member of the Baptist church. Levi Bush, the maternal grandfather
Col. Thomas W. Sadler, the well-known attorney-at-law of Prattville, Alabama, is a native of the state, having been born in Franklin county in 1831. His father, Allious Sadler, was born in North Carolina in 1801, and when a child was brought to Alabama by his parents, who settled near Jonesborough, Jefferson county, where he married Miss Caroline Owen. He then moved to Franklin county, where he resided a few years, and in 1833 returned to Jefferson county. He was a farmer, but active in politics, being a stanch democrat, and died in 1845, a member of the Methodist church. He
Daniel Pratt, the younger, was born in Prattville in 1866, graduated from the state university, and succeeded his father, Merrill E. Pratt as manager of the Pratt Gin company, and is also treasurer of the Prattville cotton mill and banking company, and treasurer of the Worthington-Munger-Pratt company of Birmingham. He was married, in 1889, to Miss Ellen, daughter of Leonard and Sallie Sims, natives, respectively of Georgia and Autauga county, Alabama. Mrs. Sims is a daughter of Judge Graham and is still living; Mr. Sims died in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are consistent members of the Methodist church, while
Hon. Daniel Pratt (deceased), the founder of the Pratt Gin factory at Prattville, Alabama, was born at Temple, New Hampshire, July 20, 1799. His father, Edward Pratt, was a son of Daniel Pratt, a native of Reading, Massachusetts, whose wife was Asenith, daughter of Ebenezer Flint, of Wilton, New Hampshire. Hon. Daniel Pratt was educated at the common schools of his section, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to learn the carpenter’s trade. At the end of his apprenticeship of three years, in 1819, he went to Savannah, Georgia, thence to Milledgeville, and worked at his trade in
William T. Northington, president of the Prattville Cotton Mill & Banking company, Autauga county, and also president of the Northington-Mungen-Pratt company, of Birmingham, Alabama, is a native of Prattville, Alabama, and was born in 1851. His parents, William H. and Rachel M. (Gholson) Northington, were born in Mecklenburg county, Virginia., and in Autauga county, Alabama, about the years 1818 and 1828 respectively. William H. Northington was a ripe scholar, came to Alabama about the year 1840, and settled in Prattville, where he married, and practiced his profession, that of the law, until his death, September 10, 1880. He took an
Josiah H. Marbury, the head of the Marbury Lumber company at Bozeman, Alabama, was born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in 1841. His parents, L. W. and Mary (Kidd) Marbury, were also natives of Tennessee, where they passed their entire existence, the former expiring in 1863 and the latter about 1875. L. W. Marbury was a Primitive Baptist minister and merchant, was a soldier in the Mexican war, and at one time was a member of the Tennessee legislature. He was a self-made man, possessed of great industry and renowned for his uprightness in all the walks of life. His father was
Washington L. Ellis, contractor, etc., for the Pratt Gin company, was born near Prattville, Alabama, October 22. 1834, the son of Elisha and Mary (Blackwell) Ellis, born, respectively, in North Carolina in 1803 and in South Carolina in 1812. Elisha Ellis came to Alabama in 1827, a single man, the Blackwell family having preceded him by many years. Mrs. Mary Ellis was a Methodist in her religious belief, and died in 1885. Elisha Ellis still survives, is a Baptist, and was a farmer until after the close of the late war. Barney Ellis, a brother of Elisha, died in Autauga
Dr. John W. Davis, a retired physician and surgeon of Autauga county, Alabama, was born here in 1838, the son of Benjamin, born in Brunswick county, Virginia, in 1789, and Martha (Taylor) Davis, born in Oglethorpe county, Georgia, in 1797. Maj. Benjamin Davis was a soldier of the war of 1812 and was one of the pioneer settlers of Autauga county, having come here in the year 1818 or 1819; here he married, and became quite popular — at one time representing Autauga county in the state legislature and at another time serving as tax collector. He was a well-to-do