ANDREW JACKSON COBB, for eleven years Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, and now one of the most distinguished members of the Athens bar, was born in Athens, Ga., April 12, 1857. He came of distinguished ancestors, many of whom won national reputations. His father was Gen. Howell Cobb, one of the most illustrious of all Georgians, who was Governor of Georgia, Speaker of the National House of Representatives, Secretary of the Treasury in the cabinet of President Buchanan, President of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, and a Major-General in the Confederate Army. His mother was Miss Mary Ann Lamar, daughter of Colonel Zachariah Lamar, a successful merchant and planter of Milledgeville, Ga. She was a member of the Lamar family which has representatives in nearly all the Southern States. Mirabeau B. Lamar, President of the Republic of Texas, and Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, were cousins of Judge Andrew Jackson Cobb.

Endowed with a mind of great strength, the subject of this sketch entered the University of Georgia in the early '70's, and in 1876 was graduated with the degree of A.B. In 1877 he graduated from the law school of the University of Georgia with the degree of B.L., and at once entered upon the active practice of his profession, having been admitted to the bar during the session of the court at Athens, August 12, 1877.

He formed a partnership with Capt. Alexander S. Erwin, who was the husband of his eldest sister. This partnership was dissolved by the election of Captain Erwin to the judgeship of the Western Circuit in 1879. After this he practiced alone until 1891, when he and Judge Erwin formed a partnership a second time.

Judge Cobb has been a most prominent factor in public life. He has always been much interested in the cause of education. From 1886 to 1889 he was a member of the Board of Education of the city of Athens, serving one term as president of that body and giving most efficient service in building up the city system of public schools, which has no superior in the State. He is at present a member of the board of trustees of Lucy Cobb Institute, a college for girls founded by his uncle, Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb.

From 1887 to 1891 he was City Attorney of Athens, during which time quite a number of important questions were up for settlement, embracing constitutional points. In this office Judge Cobb made a most gratifying record, his work being of the highest order of legal merit.

In 1890 Judge Cobb was a candidate for Representative in the General Assembly of Georgia. In the Democratic primary he was defeated by a plurality of nineteen votes. His defeat was due to his refusal to advocate local legislation, which would have had the effect of authorizing the licensing of barrooms in Clarke county. This issue was renewed the following year, and in order to prevent the re-establishment of barrooms, he advocated the sale of liquor under the dispensary plan. The dispensary advocates carried the election.

Judge Cobb is the author of the '"Athens Dispensary Law," which went into effect in 1891. This law, which served well for a number of years the purpose for which it was enacted, has been supplanted by the State prohibition law, with which Judge Cobb is in hearty accord.

Judge Cobb has always been closely identified with the University of Georgia. From 1891 to 1893 he was a trustee of the University, and from 1884 to 1893 was a member of the law faculty of that institution. During all his useful life he never did better work than he accomplished in teaching the large number of young men who attended the University Law School.

In 1893 he moved to Atlanta, being called by his duties as counsel for the Seaboard Air Line Railway Company.

From 1893 to 1897 he was Dean of the Atlanta Law School, in which position he achieved much distinction.

In 1896 a constitutional amendment was ratified by the people of Georgia, increasing the number of Supreme Court judges from three to six. The members of the Athens bar, with full knowledge of the great ability of Judge Cobb, solicited him to make the race for one of the new positions thus created. In answer to this petition, which came with unanimity from his old friends and associates in Athens, he entered the contest and was successful. The elevation of Judge Cobb to the Supreme Bench was a tribute to his ability as a lawyer. With the exception of Judge Linton Stephens, who was elected when but thirty-six years of age, and Judge Beverly D. Evans, who was thirty-eight at the time of his election, Judge Cobb is the youngest man ever elected to that position in Georgia.

Upon the death of Chief Justice Simmons it became necessary for Governor Terrell to name his successor. Associate Justices William H. Fish and Andrew J. Cobb had originally been elected to the Supreme Bench at the same time and both held commissions of equal date. Judge Cobb declined to oppose Judge Fish, who was his senior in years, and the question of seniority in service was settled on that basis. Judge Cobb was named by Chief Justice Fish as Presiding Judge of the Second Division of the court, which position he held until he resigned, October 12, 1907, to resume the active practice of law with his nephew, Howell C. Erwin, under the firm name of Cobb &  Kevin.

In politics Judge Cobb is a Democrat. During his life he has never voted for an independent or a bolter. His Democracy is of the Jeffersonian kind, and has known no change under the varied conditions that have confronted the party in recent years, threatening at times to efface the old landmarks.

Judge Cobb is a man of strict religious views. In 1878 he united with the Athen-Baptist church. He is still a member of that church and is one of its deacons.

In March, 1880, he married Miss Starkie Campbell, of Griffin, a daughter of Jesse M. Campbell, a prominent lawyer of that place, and a granddaughter of Judge James H. Stark, former judge of the Flint Circuit. Five children are living as the result of that union, two having died in infancy. Mrs. Cobb died February 25, 1901.

As a citizen Judge Cobb measures up to the highest standard. Pure in life, of absolute integrity, devoted to his family and his people, he is a Georgian in whom the citizens have implicit confidence. As a teacher of law he has few equals and no superiors in this section of the country. The results of his labors as professor of law are being made manifest year by year in the success of the young men whom he taught. As a lawyer his ability is recognized by all. Especially in the department of constitutional law is his ability of a pronounced type. He is regarded as one of the most careful, thorough and able constitutional lawyers of the State. As a judge on the Supreme Bench he established a most enviable reputation. His decisions are regarded by eminent lawyers as models of logical reasoning, clear and concise expression and a comprehensive grasp of the legal points involved.

Judge Cobb has left as proof of his magnificent work on the Supreme Bench a number of decisions that take rank among the most comprehensive and learned legal decisions of the Republic. The Dawson Waterworks case, involving the right of municipalities and counties to incur debt, cleared away many doubts and blazed an open path along which the cities and counties of Georgia can proceed without fear of legal entanglement. The opinion in the case of Kelly vs. Strouse settled numerous questions of practice in the courts of Georgia that had for years remained in a perplexing and unsettled state. In the case of Park vs. Candler, involving the right of the State to use the public property fund for payment of salaries of the teachers in the common schools of the State, Judge Cobb, delivering the opinion of the court, held that that fund could not be used for any purpose other than that for which it was specifically provided. In the second case of Park vs. Gaudier, involving the right to use the public property fund to pay interest on the public debt, the majority of the court held that the fund could be used for that purpose, but Judge Cobb gave a dissenting opinion, which is perhaps the ablest of all his opinions while a member of the Supreme Bench.

The case that gave to Judge Cobb a reputation throughout the entire country was that of Pavesich vs. The New England Mutual Insurance Company. The company, without the consent of Pavesich, had used his picture on its advertising matter, and he sued for damages. Judge Alton B. Parker, of New York, as chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, in a similar case, had denied the plaintiff a right of action and had held that the company had the right to use the picture. Judge Cobb's opinion was exactly opposite, holding that the plaintiff had a right of action against the company. It was a learned and exhaustive treatment of the question at issue and stands to-day as a classic among the judicial opinions of America.
T. W. REED.
Source: Men of Mark in Georgia Volume 5 Edited by William Northen, A.B. Caldwell Publisher

Lipscomb, Andrew Agate, clergyman, author and educator, was born at Georgetown, Dec 16, 1816.  He was educated at the Georgetown military academy, and a classical school in Washington, and at the age of eighteen years entered the Methodist ministry, soon becoming widely known as the “Boy Preacher.” After several years in the ministry he turned his attention to school work; founded the Metropolitan institute for young ladies at Montgomery, Ala., but the buildings were destroyed by fire; became president of the female college at Tuskegee, Ala., but resigned on account of failing health, and was preparing to go abroad when he was offered and accepted the chancellorship of the University of Georgia.  This position he ably filled for fourteen years, the institution making great progress under his management.  He next became the professor of art and criticism in Vanderbilt university, where he remained until his health again gave way, and he returned to his home in Athens, Ga.  He wrote much for religious publications and magazines, and was considered one of the best Shakesperian critics in the country. He died Nov. 23, 1890.  

(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Joanne Morgan)

Lochrane, Osborne A., was one of the most genial and magnetic of men, as well as one of the most learned and accomplished of legal scholars, and it may be gravely doubted if his superior as an advocate before the jury has ever appeared in this state. Such was his happy faculty for weaving poetic sentiment and Irish humor into the fabric of his arguments that he easily made his hearers captive to the mesmeric charm of his eloquence.  But he was equally at home in any public arena which brought his wonderful oratory and rare powers of mind into full play, and some of his occasional speeches and addresses have been preserved as models of exquisite English.  Judge Lochrane exemplified his Irish lineage in his impassioned appeals as well as in his racy anecdotes and lightning like displays of repartee, and the combination of qualities which he possessed made him the idol of his fellow citizens.  Had he chosen the arena of public life for the exercise of his brilliant gifts there is no telling to what heights of distinction he might have reached.  He preferred the congenial labors of the law to the most tempting seductions which the forum of politics could offer him and he remained in the professional harness throughout his entire career. Judge Lochrane was born in County Armagh, Ireland, Aug. 22, 1829, the son of Dr. Edward Lochrane, an eminent physician, from whom he derived many of his distinguishing mental traits.  Equipped with the best educational outfit which the university life of his native country could give him, the ambitious young Irish lad, feeling that his oppressed birthland offered him no prospects commensurate with his cravings for usefulness and distinction, came over to America at the age of eighteen and finally, after many buffetings and adventures, located in Athens, Ga., where he became a clerk in a drug store.  This kind of work was not in the least suited to the tastes of the future jurist, nor was it at all in accord with the rosy anticipations which filled his mind when he sailed from the shores of Ireland, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances and it enabled him to keep body and soul together until he could find better employment.  While still engaged at his post behind the counter, he managed to make the acquaintance of the best people of the cultured town and to improve his opportunities for showing the outside world what was really in him.  Many of the college students became strongly attached to the young drug clerk and as an evidence of the esteem in which he was held on the campus he was elected an honorary member of the Phi Kappa society.  Every moment which he could spare from his work was devoted to his mental culture and many were the compositions both in prose and verse which he produced in the solitude of his room, when the inspiration to write seized him.  Being chosen on one occasion as an anniversary temperance orator he acquitted himself with such marked success in this initial effort that he was encouraged to take up the study of law.  After duly equipping himself at odd intervals he was admitted to the bar at Watkinsville, Ga., at the spring term of the court of 1850.  Chief-justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin was one of the number of entranced listeners who enjoyed Judge Lochrane’s  temperance speech and he strongly urged the young orator to turn his attention to the law, assuring him that success awaited him in this direction.  How completely his prediction was verified may be noticed from the fact that Judge Lochrane was eventually elevated to the same high judicial bench on which the chief justice then sat.  Judge Lochrane’s first achievement as an orator before the temperance society in Athens was soon followed by another as orator of St. Patrick’s Day in Savannah, and with the prestige gained from this second success, he located in Macon, Ga., for the practice of his profession, and soon became distinguished as one of the foremost young lawyers of the state.  At the beginning of the war Judge Lochrane was elevated to the superior court bench and was given the first appointment made under the Confederate government.  On the bench he developed marked judicial powers, showing an equipoise of mind and an acumen for penetrating to the marrow of every issue in dispute, wholly unsuspected by those who had witnessed his triumphs as an advocate, and in this capacity also was shown his uncompromising courage and his robust strength of character, traits which were always manifest in his dealings with men, but never more strikingly apparent than when he assumed the ermine to sit in judgment upon his fellows.  Shortly after the war he resigned his judicial office and took an active part in reorganizing civil government.  Though an ardent friend of the South, he took the course which was the least popular at the time, but which seemed to him the wisest in the end, and by making use of his influence at Washington he succeeded in softening many of the hardships of  reconstruction.  When the state capital was located in Atlanta Judge Lochrane transferred his place of residence to that city and was shortly afterward made judge of the Atlanta circuit, but soon resigned the place and accepted an appointment from Governor Bullock to the bench of the supreme court.  Though his career as associate justice in this august tribunal was comparatively short, it was conspicuously able and some of the clearest decisions handed down during this period came from his scholarly pen.  Chief Justice Logan E. Bleckley is quoted as saying that he never knew a mind in which fancy and logic were more happily yoked together than in the mind of this brilliantly gifted jurist.  On retiring from the bench, Judge Lochrane resumed the active practice of his profession in Atlanta, and until the time of his death was constantly engaged in the courts, devoting himself exclusively to civil business and figuring in many important cases.  The following extract from his commencement address which he delivered at the University of Georgia in 1879, and which evoked the warmest encomiums from such competent authorities as Alexander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs, is an example of his style of oratory: “The most unhappy men on this continent are those who have sacrificed most to fill conspicuous positions.  The heart burnings and envies of public life are too often the results of ambition.  What a sorrowful lesson of the instability of human grandeur and ambition may be found at the feet of the weeping Empress of Chiselhurst.  Just as the star of the prince imperial was rising to the zenith, like a flash from Heaven, it falls to the ground; just as he was gathering round him the hopes of empire the assegai of the savage hurls him to the dust.  Born on the steps of a throne, amid the blazing of bonfires and congratulations of kinds, he fell in the jungles of an African wilderness without a friend to close his eyes; born to rule over thirty millions of people, he was deserted by all and went into the chill of death without the pressure of a friendly hand.  Although royalty carried flowers to deck his bier, and princes were his pallbearers, and marshalls knelt by his coffin, and cabinet makers bowed their heads, and his empress mother clung over him in an agony of grief, alas, the glory of his life had passed, and out of the mass of sorrowing friends, his spirit floated away, leaving to earth but a crimson memory.  Life’s teachings admonish that the pathway of ambition has many thorns, and the purist happiness oftenest springs from the efforts of those who sow for the harvesting of peace and joy at home.  And this lies at your feet in your own state, although she has suffered by desolation, although millions of her property has been swept into ruin and thousands of her bravest been hurried to their graves; although Georgia has been weakened and bled at every pore; although she has been impoverished and dismantled; although she has been ridden through and trampled over by armies; although she has seen in folded sleep her most gallant sons, and spirit arms reach to her from the mound of battle fields, she still has the softest skies and the most genial climate, and the richest lands and the most inviting hopes to give to her children.  And this is not the hour to forget her.  The Roman who bought the land Hannibal’s tent was spread upon when his legions were encamped before the very gates of Rome, exhibited the spirit of confidence and pride of country which distinguishes the great patriot.  Although disaster stared him in the face, and the bravest hearts were trembling at the future destiny of their country and from the Pincian hill, the enemy, like clouds could be seen piled around, charged with the thunder of death and desolation, and the earth was reeling with the roll and tramp of armies, his heart was untouched with fear of her future.  He knew that Rome would survive the tempest of the hour, and her future would be radiant with the splendid triumphs of an august prosperity, and confident of that future whose dawn he felt would soon redden the east, he never dreamed of abandoning her fortunes or abandoning her destiny.  This was more than patriotism.  It was the heroism of glory.  It was sowing a rich heritage of example on the banks of the Tiber for the emulation of the world.  One of the mistakes men make is their leaning on too sanguine expectations without labor, waiting for the honors to pursue them, scarcely reaching out their hands to gather the fortunes that cluster at their feet.  Well did one of the old poets of Salamanca express the thought

If a man come not to gather

The roses where they stand,

They fade away among the foliage--

They cannot seek his hand.

And if you do not come to the honors of life they cannot go to you; if you don’t come to gather the roses they will fade upon their stems and their leaves be scattered to the ground.  The rose of fortune Georgia holds out to you is rich with hope and sentiment, and in its folded leaves are more honors for her sons than there is in the rose of England, the lily of France or the nettle leaf of Holstein.  Then come together in close and solemn resolve to stand by her destiny and soon the tide will run rich and riotous through the jeweled arches of hope, flushed with her prosperity; soon will come into her borders newer and stronger elements of wealth; manufactories will spring from her bosom and the hum of industry resound throughout her borders; the glorious names of her present statesmen will take the place of those who have gone up higher into glory, and will soon behold her banner waving to the sky.  Come spirit of our Empire State, come from your rivers that seek the sea, from the waves that wash your shores and run up to kiss your sands, come from the air that floats over your mountain tops; come from

Lakes where the pearls lie hid

And caves where the gems are sleeping;

come, spirit of glorious ancestry, from beyond the cedars and the stars; come from the history that wraps you in its robes of light, and let me invoke the memories that hang around you like the mantle of Elijah and will be the ascension robes of your new destiny.  Touch the chords in these young hearts, these proud representatives of your future fame, that they may rise in the majesty of their love and clasp you with a stronger and holier faith, and raise monuments to your glory higher than the towers of Baalbec.  Let them warm to the fires of an intenser love, and brighten with the light of a more splendid glory; let them swear around the altar to be still fonder and still prouder that they were Georgians.  As an adopted son who has felt the sunshine of your skies, who has been honored with your citizenship and with positions far beyond his merits, I bow to the majesty of your glory, here in the temple of your fame, and to your spirit I would breathe out the fondest affection and pour prayers upon your pathway; I would clothe you with light, and bathe you in a rain of summer meteors; I would crown your head with laurels, and place the palm of victory in your hands; I would lift every shadow from your heart and make rejoicing go through your valleys like a song.  Land of my adoption, where the loved sleep folded in the embraces of your flowers, would that today it were my destiny to increase the flood tide of your glory, as it will be mine to share your fortunes; for when my few more years tremble to their close I would sleep beneath your soil where the drip of April tears might fall upon my grave and the sunshine of your skies would warm Southern flowers to blossom upon my breast.”

Judge Lochrane was married twice.  His first wife was Miss Victoria Lamar, daughter of Henry G. Lamar, of Macon, Ga., and though several children were born to them none of them reached maturity.  His second wife was Miss Josephine Freeman, daughter of Maj. James Freeman, and seven children were the result of their union, of whom four survive.  Judge Lochrane died at his home in Atlanta, June 17, 1887, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, and the following editorial, which appeared in the Constitution the morning after his death, shows the sense of loss which was felt in the community over the untimely taking of the great jurist:  “Judge Lochrane gave a national reputation to the Georgia bar.  As chief-justice of the supreme court, his decisions were marked by profound erudition and commanding mastery of the subjects involved, and in style they were singularly lucid and instructive.  All yesterday Judge Lochrane’s death was the talk of every hour.  It was not confined to mansion or justice seat, but it was talked of in busy workshop, in the rooms where the spindle and looms never cease, for everyone knew the genial, lovable, companionable gentleman.  All had words of kindness for the dead, sorrow for those bereaved; and the many who had in their trouble and tribulation felt the soft hand of  the kind judge went out yesterday to his late home and stood for a moment silently by his coffin.  ‘When you can weep over a man,’ said an old citizen, ‘you can put it down that a good man has fallen.’  Many a man shed tears yesterday when he read of Judge Lochrane’s death; and so it is all over.  Forty years have swung by since the young Irishman landed at New York and looked out on a new world where he had but few acquaintances and tonight the great man full of honors lies with eyes closed and hands folded, dead.  Forty years of rich and full life, forty years of strugglings and loving and winning and losing, of work that furrowed the brow, of pleasures that lightened the heart, of strenuous endeavor, of princely bonne homie; forty years of the fever called living, and at last, rest.  Forty years of such joyous and brimming life as it is given few men to live.  All that remains of the forty years of conflict and pleasure, all worth counting in this night through which the morning breaks, is that he found in them the peace that passeth understanding, and the faith that can make pleasant even the valley and the shadow of death.”

(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Joanne Morgan)

   Lumpkin, Joseph Henry. There was marked consistency in the elevation of Judge Lumpkin to the bench of the Supreme court of the State of Georgia, in April 1905, not alone on account of his high standing as a lawyer and as judge of the Superior court of the Atlanta circuit, but also by reason of the fact that his grandfather, Judge Joseph Henry Lumpkin, in whose honor he was named, had the distinction of being the first chief justice of the supreme court of the state, while his cousin, Samuel Lumpkin, also served with marked ability on the supreme bench, the family name being one of the oldest and most illustrious in the annals of Georgia.

Judge Lumpkins was born in Athens, the seat of the University of Georgia.  He was graduated in the university, with high honors, as a member of the class of 1875, and was admitted to the bar in 1876, having prosecuted his legal studies under effective preceptorship, in the city of Atlanta, whither he removed immediately after his graduation.  “It was not long before he won recognition by his alertness, depth and thoroughness as a lawyer. He showed that he was not only master of the principles of the law, but also clearly understood how to apply them.  His firm grasp of these principles and his precision and impressiveness in presenting them marked him in early young manhood as a winner of lofty honors in the profession.”  In 1877 he was appointed assistant reporter of the supreme court of the state, and upon the resignation of the late, Hon. Henry Jackson, he was appointed reporter of the supreme court, Jan. 14, 1882.  Six years later, April 30, 1888, he resigned this office and resumed the active practice of his profession, building up a large and important practice, in both the state and Federal courts.  A reviewer has thus spoken of his career at the bar: “His familiarity with the judicial rulings of the supreme court made him a favorite oracle with the members of the bar throughout the state, and he was frequently called into consultation where important and far-reaching issues were involved.  Among the noted cases in which he figured after returning to general practice was that of the Southern Mutual Insurance Company, involving hundreds of thousands of dollars and bringing in question the determination of important legal issues affecting the rights of policy holders and the distribution of accrued profits.  He was also employed as counsel in the Cotton States Life Insurance case, one of the most intricate issues ever tried in Georgia.  In a number of criminal proceedings he has represented the attorney-general of the state and given aid to the solicitors in the prosecution of criminals.  In one volume alone of the supreme-court decisions, are reported twenty cases in which he figured.”  In Sept. 1893, upon the resignation of the late Hon. Marshall J. Clarke from the position of judge of the superior court of the Atlanta circuit, Judge Lumpkin was appointed to fill the vacancy, and when the legislature assembled he was elected to fill the unexpired term, while in 1896 he was chosen by the legislature for the full term of four years.   In 1900, the mode of election of judges of the superior court having been made by constitutional amendment, he was elected by the people for a term of four years from Jan. 1, 1901; and was again elected for a term of four years beginning Jan. 1, 1905.  Before the expiration of his term on the circuit bench he was honored with appointment to the exalted office of associate justice of the supreme court, to fill the unexpired term caused by the resignation of Judge Joseph R. Lamar, and entered upon the discharge of his duties on April 10, 1905.  His record as a jurist has been marked with most unremitting devotion to the duties devolving upon him and his usefulness has been enhanced by his broad scholarship and culture, his thorough technical training, his keen grasp of the essentials of the science of jurisprudence and his powers of application and assimilation.  Judge Lumpkin is arrayed as a stalwart supporter of the principles of the Democratic party.  He remains a bachelor.

(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Joanne Morgan)

Hillyer, Eben, M.D., a retired physician and honored citizen of Rome, is a representative of one of the old and influential families of Georgia, which state has ever been his home. He was born in Athens, Clarke county, Ga., Aug. 12, 1832, a son of Junius and Jane Selina (Watkins) Hillyer, the former born in Wilkes county, Ga., April 23, 1807, and the latter in Greene county, May 17, 1807. All four great-grandfathers of Doctor Hillyer were patriot soldiers in the war of the Revolution, namely: Dr. Asa Hillyer, Thomas Watkins, Joel Early and Capt. John Freeman. George Walton, a great-uncle of the doctor, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Indpendence, and Peter Early, governor of Georgia during the war of 1812, was also a great-uncle, as was Robert Watkins, one of the prime factors in formulating the state government of Georgia and in the writing of its final constitution. Junius Hillyer was a man of distinction in his day and generation and honored the state of Georgia by his life and service. He served on the bench of the superior court, was a member of Congress two terms and was solicitor of the United States treasury in Buchanan’s Administration. He was a man of spotless integrity and gracious personality, retaining the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact. Dr. Eben Hillyer secured his preliminary or literary education in Athens and Penfield, Ga., and was graduated in the famous old Jefferson medical college, of Philadelphia, as a member of the class of 1854. When the Civil war was precipitated n a divided nation, Doctor Hillyer promptly entered the service of the Confederacy, becoming surgeon with the rank of Major. He was assigned to duty as surgeon of the Eight and Thirty-second Mississippi regiments, Lowery’s brigade, Cleburne’s division, and was present at the battles of Resaca, Cass Station, New Hope Church, Dallas, the siege of Atlanta, the battles of July 21 and 22, 1864, at that point, and also the engagements at Jonesboro and Dalton, Ga., Decatur and Selma, Ala., and Spring Hill and Franklin, Tenn. He was made president of the army medical board in the Tennessee campaign of the Western Army, and retired from the service only when the cause of the Confederacy was finally lost. He remained in service until after the last of the wounded from the battle of Selma, Ala., had received proper attention, and was thus on active duty until June, 1865. After the close of the war, Doctor Hillyer resumed the active practice of his profession in the city of Atlanta, where for a number of years he served as professor of institutes of medicine in the old Atlanta medical college. In 1867 he returned to Rome, where he engaged in the practice of his profession and also identified himself with agricultural interests, giving his attention to the same until 1875, when he was made president of the Rome railroad, which position he retained for thirteen years, in connection with which he was identified with the executive control of other railroad systems to which the Rome line was attached. For a number of years past he has lived retired from active professional and business associations. He is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, but has never permitted his name to be used in connection with a candidacy for political office of any description. He became a member of the Baptist church in June, 1855, and has ever since been zealous in its work and support. On July 29, 1857, Doctor Hillyer was united in marriage to Miss Georgia E. Cooley, a great beauty and belle in her section, a most lovely and religious character, daughter of Hollis Cooley, of Rome, concerning whom individual mention is made in this publication. Doctor and Mrs. Hillyer have two daughters: Ethel is the widow of Col. Thomas W. H. Harris, son of James Watkins Harris. Mabel first married Warren Palmer Willcox, of Savannah, after whose death she married Col. William A. Hemphill. Dr. Hillyer’s grand-children are: Catherine Maud, and Ethel Hillyer Harris, daughters of T.W.H. and Ethel Harris; and Ellenor Churchill Willcox, daughter of W.P. and Mabel Hillyer Willcox. Doctor Hillyer in his present home, The Hill City, is respected by all for his justice and probity. He is considered one of the greatest students in Rome, and is a noted geologist. Charles Dana, Weir Mitchell, Prof. Agassiz and men of such character being his constant friends and authority. Men often come to consult with him on points of scientific discussion. His evenings for years have been spent in his library among his books. His fad though is his Sunday school class and many are the happy hours spent in study of the Bible, and though a man of scholarly attainments, his faith is as pure, strong and simple as that of a little child. He is a member of the Georgia Historical society, and of the Veterans of the Confederate war. When the reunion met in his town he threw wide the portals of his home and prepared for fifteen old soldiers. His home has always been open to the poor, the sick, the afflicted and all conventions, no matter whether Woman’s club or preachers, regardless of denomination, find sup at his bounteous board. Perhaps after all has been summed up, the lovliest things to be said of him is that he never turned a tramp away hungry, and never refused to forgive an injury. As an example of his integrity, he has been made executor of four large estates. In conclusion, it must be said that Doctor hillier is a picturesque and magnetic character. Born of cavalier stock, and ante-bellum luxury, he went through a turgid period of blood and hardship, and came out a man, undaunted and true as did thousands of his day. His motto has always been to do his Duty –That word he impresses on children and grand-children. Though “He slay me yet will I trust in Him,” and “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” have been his watchwords in sorrow. The public gets a man down right and in the beautiful little town of Rome, Doctor Hillyer’s word is as good as his bond. In all the relations and duties of life, Doctor Hillyer has been distinguished for unequivocal fidelity and integrity, and absolute devotion to truth and honor have been dominating forces in his makeup, so that he has ever commanded the trust and unqualified regard of his fellow men.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Kim Mohler)

Hillyer, George, was born at Athens, Clarke county, Ga., March 17, 1835. He graduated at Mercer university in 1854 and in 1857 received the degree of Master of Arts. He was admitted to the bar in February, 1855. In 1857 he was elected to the Georgia legislature, served two years, and then became clerk of the Georgia house of representatives (1859-1860). In 1860 he was a delegate to the Democratic national convention at Charleston. He was also a delegate to the Democratic national conventions in 1884 and 1892. In the Civil war he became captain of a company of Confederate troops, which formed part of the Ninth Georgia infantry and served with the Army of Northern Virginia in its various campaigns and battles. He commanded his regiment at the battle of Fredericksburg, also at the battle of Gettysburg, all officers above him having fallen. In November, 1863, he resigned from the army to become auditor of the Western & Atlantic (State) railway, and at the same time was major in command of a battalion of state troops in active service, which position he held until the close of the war. He was a member of the commission to wind up the affairs of the State railroad, which during the Reconstruction period had fallen into confusion. In 1870 he was elected to the Georgia state senate, served four years, and introduced a new charter for Atlanta. In 1873-76 he was Centennial commissioner for Georgia, and in 1877-83 judge of the circuit court for the Atlanta district, serving with much satisfaction to the bar and public. He was mayor of Atlanta, 1885-86, and after that, until recently, a member of the city board of water commissioners, most of the time its president, and has always been an active and liberal supporter of public enterprises in Atlanta. Judge Hillyer has made a close study of water systems for cities, and is the author of articles on the subject in many technical journals which have been widely copied and often quoted. In his profession, in his business, and in office, his career has been one of marked success. He retired from active practice in 1897, but occasionally acts as counsel in important cases. He has written much for the press on legal and economic questions. For many years he has been a member of the Southern Baptists home mission board and a trustee of various asylums and institutions of learning – among them being the following: Mercer university, Atlanta medical college, Atlanta college of Physicians and Surgeons, Spellman seminary, and Atlanta university, the two last named for negroes. He has often been a delegate to the conventions of the Southern Baptists, and to the Baptist convention of Georgia. He was married, June 25, 1867, to Ellen Emily Cooley of Rome, Ga., and has four daughters and one son: Mrs. Elizabeth Coker, Mrs. Minnie Cassin, Mrs. Marian Wolff, George Hillyer, Jr., and Mrs. Ellen Hillyer Newell. Judge Hillyer is the second son of Judge Junius Hillyer and Jane Selina (Watkins) Hillyer. Judge Junius Hillyer was a member of the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses and was solicitor of the treasury during the administration of President James Buchanan. His mother was the grand-daughter of Thomas Watkins and Sally Walton, sister of George Walton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence. On his paternal side he is descended from, in the eighth generation, John and Ann Hillyer, who came to Windsor, Conn., in 1640. His great-grandfather, Dr. Asa Hillyer, was a surgeon in the Revolutionary war. The father of Dr. Asa Hillyer was Capt. James Hillyer, who married Mary Humphrey, a lineal descendant of Michael Humphrey and Priscilla Grant, daughter of Matthew Grant of Windsor. Another ancestor was Rev.  Henry Smith, the Puritan clergyman of Wethersfield, Conn. He is also descended from Lieut. Samuel Smith of Hadley, deputy of general court of Colony of Massachusetts Bay and commissioner to negotiate with the Mohawks.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Kim Mohler)

Hillyer, Henry, is one of the well known and honored citizens of Atlanta, where he was for many years engaged in the practice of law, as one of the leading representatives of his profession in the capital city, and he is now virtually retired from practice, giving his attention to his various capitalistic interests. He was born at Athens, this state, June 1, 1846, and was there reared and educated, having been a sophomore in the University of Georgia when his loyalty to the Confederacy caused him to lay aside his studies and tender his services in its defense. In September, 1863, he enlisted as a private in Company H, Ninth infantry, Georgia State Guard, with which he served several months, when he was assigned to duty in the quartermaster’s department, in which he served until the close of the war at Selma, Ala., and Griffin, Ga. He then returned to his home in Athens, there read law in the office of his honored father, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1866, at Watkinsville. In the following December he took up his residence in Atlanta, where he entered the law office of his elder brother, George H., with whom he formed a partnership in 1868, under the firm name of Hillyer & Bro. This alliance continued until 1892, save for the interim from 1877 to 1883, during which his brother served on the circuit bench, and the firm built up a large and representative practice. In 1892 Mr. Hillyer discontinued the work of his profession to devote his attention to other interests. He is a conservative Democrat, has taken an active part in the councils of his party, and served two terms as a representative of Fulton county in the state legislature, 1876-80. For many years he was active in the work of the Young Men’s Christian association and the Young Men’s library association, of Atlanta, having served as president of the latter, which was finally merged in the Carnegie library. He is a deacon in the Second Baptist church. In 1879 Mr. Hillyer was united in marriage to Mrs. Eleanor Hurd Talcott, of Hartford, Conn. She was a daughter of William S. Hurd, who was a native of Oxford, Mass., and who was for many years a leading merchant of Monticello, Ga., where his daughter Eleanor was born.  Mrs. Hillyer was summoned to the life eternal on Oct. 19, 1902, and is survived by one son, William Hurd Hillyer, who is a well known journalist and writer.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Kim Mohler)

Church, Alonzo, educator, clergyman, college president, was born April 9, 1793, in Brattleboro, Vt. In 1829-59 he was president of the University of Georgia. He never held a pastoral charge, but gave his services to the poorer churches near Athens, Ga. He died May 18, 1862, near Athens, Ga.
[Herringshaw’s National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States, by William Herringshaw, 1909 – Transcribed by Therman Kellar]

Michael, Moses G., one of the prominent and representative citizens and business men of Athens, is a native Georgian, having been born in Jefferson, Jackson county, Aug. 15, 1862, in the very midst of "wars and rumors of war." After a preparatory course in the public schools he entered the University of Georgia, being only thirteen years of age at the time of his matriculation, and three years later he was graduated in that distinguished institution, with the degree of Bachelor of Engineering. In 1882 he engaged in business in Athens, in company with his brother Simon, under the firm name of Michael Bros. These two able coadjutors have since been continuously engaged in promoting the interests of the prosperous enterprise thus established. Year by year their acumen, sagacity and business foresight have been rewarded with ever growing success, until the concern is now regarded as among the strongest and most stable houses in this section of the state. Mr. Michael has a high order of business talent, and in the commercial world he ranks as a man of mature judgment, wisdom and prudence. His energies, however, are by no means confined to the interests of the business mentioned, but are extended with equal success into other fields and enterprises. He is president of the Athens chamber of commerce and vicepresident of the Athens Savings bank, one of the substantial and ably conducted financial institutions of the state. It is not alone in the business world that Moses G. Michael has made his impress. Recognized by all as a man of force and integrity, he has often been called upon by his fellow citizens to serve them in public labors requiring judgment, executive ability and strong intelligence, and involving responsibility and decisive action. Always a close student of public questions, his aid has been frequently asked in determining party policies and in furthering plans for the economic and political welfare of his state. He is a man of earnest convictions; bold and outspoken on every public issue; has never been a negative or uncertain element in party action, nor ever shirked a public or political duty. The positions of honor and responsibility of which he has been incumbent indicate in no equivocal way the estimate in which he is held as a political factor. He was lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp on the staff of Gov. Allen D. Candler; was presidential elector for his district in 1904; is now chairman of the senatorial executive committee of the twenty-seventh district and a member of the Democratic executive committee of Clarke county. Broad in his mental grasp, safe in judgment, liberal in his views, Mr. Michael has rendered eminent service in the cause of the Democracy and has exhibited a patriotism as lofty and unselfish as it is modest and self-abnegating. In all matters pertaining to the moral and social development of the community he has at all times indicated a lively interest and taken an active part. Devoted in religion to the faith of his fathers, he is afflicted neither with bigotry nor intolerance but exercises a charity that is both benignant and kindly. For seventeen consecutive years he has been superintendent of the Sabbath-school of the Congregation of Israel at Athens, and has seen that work prosper from year to year. No public enterprise or worthy charity has ever been ignored by him, but his deeds in such connection have never been ostentatious or a factor for parade. Mr. Michael is a past worshipful master of Mount Vernon Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, a past high priest of Keystone Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and he has been a representative of these bodies in the grand lodge and the grand chapter of the state. For two terms he was exalted ruler of Athens Lodge, No. 790, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he is an enthusiastic member, having done much to bring the lodge to its present high plane. He has recently been appointed district deputy grand exalted ruler for the state, and is bending his energies to the promotion of the interests of that beneficent order. In private life, in business, in church work or in philanthropy his course has been characterized by urbanity, enthusiasm and resourcefulness, and he has merited and received the approbation of his fellow citizens. Not yet in the prime of life, the best years of his productive energy lie before him.
 [Source: Georgia Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons,  Vol 2, Publ 1906. Transcribed by Tracy McAllister]

Grady, Henry Woodfin, journalist and orator, was born in Athens, May 24, 1850.  His father was a colonel in the Confederate army and was killed at Petersburg, Va.  Henry graduated at the University of Georgia in 1868, after which he took a post-graduate course in the University of Virginia.  While attending that institution he wrote a letter to the Atlanta Constitution, which was of such merit that Colonel Hurlburt, invited the young man to represent the paper on a projected press excursion.  He accepted and the favorable reception of his letters by the press and public led him to adopt journalism as a profession.  For some time he edited the Courier and Commercial, two papers published at Rome, and while in that city became widely and favorable known as a scholarly and forcible writer.  At the Georgia press convention in 1870, in which he was the youngest member, he made a speech that gave him almost a national reputation.  The following year he located in Atlanta as the Georgia representative of the New York Herald.  About the same time he became part owner and editor of the Atlanta Herald, which suspended publication in 1876.  In 1880 Mr. Grady acquired an interest in the Constitution and became a writer on that paper.  His power as an orator was equally as great as his influence as a writer, his speeches at Boston and New York a short time before his death being regarded as masterpieces of eloquence and logic.  His death occurred on Dec. 23, 1889, and was sincerely mourned, not only by the people of his own state, but also by thousands outside her borders.  The Grady monument, which stands in Marietta street, Atlanta, in front of the post office, was erected by contributions from all parts of the country, to commemorate his unselfish and patriotic efforts in restoring good feelings between the North and the South.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Marilyn Clore)