Bulloch
County, Georgia
Biographies
ARCHIBALD
BULLOCH
ARCHIBALD
BULLOCH, one of the most distinguished of Georgia's Revolutionary
patriots, was born in Charles Town, South Carolina, in 1730. His
father was the Rev. James Bulloch, of Wilton, Colleton Parish, South
Carolina, a well known clergyman and planter, who came from Scotland to
Carolina about 1729. His mother, who was also of Scotch descent,
was Jean Stobo, daughter of the Rev. Archibald Stobo, of South Carolina,
Much care was bestowed upon his early education, and in youth he chose
the legal profession, for which he was carefully prepared.
In I750 the family moved to Georgia and settled upon a plantation on
the Savannah River, where he lived till about the beginning of the
Revolution, when he moved to Savannah, Georgia. Here he applied
himself with energy and success to the practice of law.
Mr. Bulloch married Miss Mary DeVeaux, a daughter of Judge James
DeVeaux, of Savannah. Of this union there were four
children—James, Archibald Stobo, Jane, and William Bellinger.
Among his descendants many distinguished men have appeared, of whom
President Theodore Roosevelt is one, being descended in a direct line
through James, the eldest son of Archibald Bulloch.
In 1768 Mr. Bulloch became a member of the Commons House of Assembly in
the Province of Georgia, and in that body he served with much ability
and success. bHe was appointed on a committee to correspond with Dr.
Benjamin Franklin, Georgia's Provincial agent at the time, and to give
him such instruction as might be necessary in transacting the affairs
of Georgia in Great Brittain.
When the Commons House of Assembly met in Savannah in April, 1772, the
name of Dr. Noble Wymberley Jones, who was regarded as very jealous in
maintaining the rights of the colonists, was twice presented to acting
Governor Habersham for his approval, and twice was the Governor's
negative put upon it. Dr. Jones was chosen the third time by the
House, but he declined under the circumstances to serve.
Whereupon Archibald Bulloch was chosen Speaker, and the entry on the
minutes of the House stated that Mr. Bulloch's election was only in
consequence of Dr. Jones' declining the chair. Governor Habersham
then addressed a communication to the House stating that if this minute
was to stand upon the journals he would have no other choice than to
dissolve the Assembly. The House declined to change the minutes,
and Governor Habersham, having summoned the members before him in the
Council Chamber, peremptorily dissolved the Assembly.
In 1773 Mr. Bulloch was appointed commissioner of "Public Roads," and
in many of the patriotic movements of those stirring times he took a
prominent part. His name was signed to a call made in the Georgia
Gazette of July 14, 1774, to the inhabitants of Savannah to take into
consideration the propriety of resisting the oppressions of Great
Brittain, and he was placed upon a committee to confer with a committee
from the other parishes.
In July, 1775, Archibald Bulloch was unanimously chosen President of
the Provincial Congress, called at that time to take into their own
hands the reins of power which were rapidly slipping from the grasp of
England.
The deliberations of this Congress, which was one of
the most important ever convened in Georgia, were conducted with marked
ability, at a time when the crisis of revolution hung on every act.
It was by this Congress that Mr. Bulloch, John Houstoun, the Rev. Dr.
Zubly, Noble W. Jones and Dr. Lyman Hall were selected and commissioned
as representatives from Georgia to the Continental Congress.
Mr. Bulloch, together with Mr. Houstoun and
Dr. Zubly, in response to the trust imposed in them, attended an
adjourned session of the Continental Congress, held in Philadelphia on
the 13th of September, 1775, and took part in its deliberations.
When the Provincial Congress assembled in
Savannah, January 20, 1776, it elected Archibald Bulloch again as
"President and Commander-in-Chief of Georgia." John Glen was
elected Chief Justice, William Stephens Attorney-General, and James
Jackson Clerk of Court .
January, 1776, Archibald Bulloch, John
Houstoun, Dr. Lyman Hall, Button Gwinnett and George Walton were
delegates to the Continental Congress. Bulloch, being President
of Georgia, could not leave; and Houstoun, being detained at home, they
thus lost the honor of being among the signers of the Declaration of
Independence.
The Council of Safety, organized in these
critical times from the best men in the Province, trusted Mr. Bulloch
implicitly, and the minutes of this body show that he sat with its
members in their important deliberations. He was indeed a tower
of strength at this time. The high personal character of the man
himself, his official integrity and ability, and his lofty conceptions
of patriotic duty powerfully contributed to the force and direction of
public sentiment in all matters affecting the welfare of the
people. The simplicity of his character and his confidence in the
people are illustrated by the following incident: When Mr. Bulloch was
elected President, Colonel McIntosh, commanding the Provincial troops
in Savannah, in accordance with previous custom, caused a sentinel to
be posted at the door of his residence. To this Mr. Bulloch
objected with the remark: "I act for a free people in whom I have the
most entire confidence, and I wish to avoid on all occasions the
appearance of ostentation."
Mr. Bulloch was a man of courage as well as a
wise counsellor. When the British took possession of Tybee Island, he
led an expedition against them, and in the face of great danger he
succeeded in burning every house on the island except one in which a
sick woman and several children were lying.
By reason of the slow communication in that day the news of the
Declaration of Independence, sanctioned in Philadelphia July 4, 1776,
did not reach Savannah till August 10th. A copy of the
declaration and a letter from John Hancock were delivered to Mr.
Bulloch, who at once assembled the Provincial Congress, and read aloud
to them the famous document. He then repaired to the public
square, where the Declaration of Independence was again read to the
assembled people. Twice again during the same day it was publicly
read, amid the applause of the people and the booming of cannon.
At a public dinner under the cedar trees, President Bulloch, the
members of Council, Colonel McIntosh, many gentlemen and the militia,
cordially drank to the "prosperity and perpetuity of the United, Free,
and Independent States of America."
At night the town was illuminated and with solemn ceremonies George the
Third was buried in effigy.
With the swelling tide of the Revolution, the
dramatic events of this critical period followed so precipitately that
the Council of Safety, unable itself to convene at all times with
sufficient promptness for the dispatch of urgent business, requested
President Bulloch "to take upon himself the whole executive powers of
government, calling to his assistance not less than five persons of his
own choosing to consult and advise with him on every occasion when a
sufficient number of councilors could not be convened to make a board."
The delegation of this unusual power shows how
much he was trusted by the people. But this patriotic man did not
live to see the issue of the struggle for liberty, for on February 22,
1777, he died suddenly at his home in Savannah. His remains were
interred in the family vault in the Old Colonial cemetery in that city,
where they still repose.
Mr. Bulloch was a man of commanding presence,
and of great firmness and force of character. His good name and
brave deeds are indissolubly associated with the proudest triumphs of
the early history of the State, and his memory should be an inspiration
to the generations to come. Of him it may be truly said:
"His life was gentle; and the elements So mixed in him that
Nature might stand up, And say to all the world, This was a man."
Otis Ashmore.
Transcribed by Jan S.
Dentley
W. Brannen.
A recent addition to the legal fraternity of
Swainsboro, Dentley W. Brannen has already displayed the possession of
resource and talent that bid fair to gain him an honored and
distinguished place at the Emanuel County bar. He was born in Bulloch
County, Georgia, February 14, 1890, near the Town of Statesboro, and is
a son of James I. and Julia Rebecca (Olliff) Brannen.
The Brannen family traces its ancestry to three brothers, William and
Hugh Brannen and another whose name is forgotten, who emigrated to
America from Ireland in 1765. In 1800 William and Hugh Brannen came to
Georgia, while the third brother went to Mississippi and was lost sight
of. William Brannen was the great-great-great-grandfather of Dentley W.
Brannen. His first settlement was in North Carolina, from whence he
came to Screven County, Georgia, later moved to Bulloch County and had
a large family, and like all of the name became a prominent and wealthy
planter and large slave holder. William Brannen, the grandfather of
Dentley W., was born in Bulloch County, where he became a leader in
politics and public life, and served in various official capacities,
being county treasurer for some years. He had nine children, of whom
the second in order of birth was James I. Bulloch, who was born in
1860, in Bulloch County, where he received a common school education.
In young manhood he was engaged in merchandising, but subsequently
turned his attention to agricultural affairs and at present is one of
the substantial citizens and prosperous farmers of his county. He is an
active member of the Baptist Church, as is also his wife. She is the
daughter of Franklin Olliff, the granddaughter of Joseph Olliff, and
the great-granddaughter of Joseph Olliff, a native of North Carolina
and the founder of the family in Georgia, where those bearing the name
have been prominent planters and substantial citizens in other walks of
life. Franklin Olliff served as a soldier of the Confederacy during the
Civil war. Mrs. Brannen was born in Bulloch County, in 1860, and has
been the mother of eight children, namely: Lula, who is the wife of
Carlos Carson, a farmer of Bulloch County; Rayford, who is engaged in
farming in that county; Dentley W., of this review; Susie, who is the
wife of Henry Shurling, a farmer of that county; Alena, the wife of
Martin Howard, also carrying on agricultural operations in Bulloch
County; Annie, who is the wife of Hoyt Tyson, a farmer of that
community; and Julia and Dudley, who reside at the home of their
parents.
Dentley W. Brannen received his early education in the public schools
of Bulloch County, following which he took a course of one year in the
normal school at Athens. The next three years were passed in taking a
literary course at Gordon Institute, and at the end of that time he
entered upon his legal studies at Cumberland University, Lebanon,
Tennessee, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws
in the class of 1915. With this thorough preparation, he immediately
upon graduation settled at Swainsboro, where he is nicely situated and
has already made a good beginning. He is a keen, alert,
modernly-trained young man, full of enthusiasm and devotion to the best
professional ethics, and at present is the Emanuel County
representative for the Empire Loan and Trust Company. He is the owner
of a valuable farm in Bulloch County which is being operated by tenants.
A standard history of Georgia and
Georgians, Volume 6 By Lucian Lamar
Knight
Hon.
Henry Bascom Strange.
In the annals of the judiciary of Bulloch County there is found no name
that is held in higher honor, esteem and confidence than that of Hon.
Henry Bascom Strange, jurist, legist, public spirited citizen and
self-made man, whose record in public and private life alike is one on
which there is not the slightest stain or blemish. Few men have gained
more honestly or completely the admiration of their fellow citizens,
and the honor that has come to him has been gained without animosity.
Judge Strange was born in Effingham County, Georgia, November 13, 1863,
the family home being located at Mount Pleasant Landing, on the
Savannah River. His father, the Rev. L. L. Strange, was born near
Spartansburg, South Carolina, and as a boy of twelve years was brought
to Georgia, where he spent the rest of his life, his mature years as.a
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Conference and as a preacher of
wide renown. He died at the age of forty-five years. He was married in
Effingham County to Florence 'Wilson, a native of that county, who is
now living at Statesboro, at the age of seventy-two years, and they
became the parents of six children, of whom five are still living: Dr.
George P., a practicing physician of Effingham County; Henry Bascom;
Berry L., a practicing attorney of Houston, Texas; Mrs. Lizzie Graham,
of Effingham County; and Mrs. Susie Ann Rackley, who is a resident of
Statesboro.
Henry Bascom Strange was but twelve years of age when his father died,
and at that time he became the sole support of his mother, this
naturally precluding the idea of any extensive educational training at
that time. However, he had attended the public schools, and when
twenty-one years of age began earnestly the study of his chosen
profession, and when twenty-two entered the office of J. G. and D. H.
Clark, of Tusculum, Georgia, spending two years under the preceptorship
of these gentlemen. He was admitted to the bar May 14, 1888. under
Judge A. P. Adams, of the Eastern Circuit, and at once began practice
at Guy ton, where he remained four years. He came to Statesboro August
9. 1892, and almost immediately took his place among the strong and
thorough attorneys of the Bulloch County seat. As the years passed he
established himself more and more thoroughly in the confidence of the
people and began to give attention to public affairs. In 1905 he was
elected to the Georgia Legislature from the Seventeenth Senatorial
District, serving in that and the following year, and in 1908 and 1909
was mayor of Statesboro and gave the people of this city one of the
best administrations they have ever known. By this time it was
recognized that here was judicial timber, and in 1910 he was elected
judge of the City Court, an office which he held for four years. In
1915 he met defeat as a candidate for judge of the Superior Court,
Middle Circuit, by 100 votes. He is a member of the Bulloch County Bar
Association and the Georgia State Bar Association, is fraternally a
Mason, and with his family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Judge Strange was married November 4, 1891, at Guyton, Georgia, to Miss
Laura Gertrude Fruetrell, daughter of A. J. Fruetrell, a well known
merchant still in business at Guyton. They have no children.
At the time of his retirement as judge of the City Court, Judge Strange
was presented with a gold-headed cane by the members of the Bulloch
County Bar Association, which body adopted the following resolutions:
"Upon the convening of the City Court, being the first retiring
officers of Statesboro, the following resolutions of appreciation were
presented and unanimously adopted and ordered- to be spread upon the
minutes of the court. Judge Strange. Whereas, with the close of the
year 1914, at the hour of midnight, Hon. Henry Bascom Strange's term of
office as judge of the City Court of Statesboro expired, after
extending over the period of four years; and, Whereas, his
administration of that office was marked by a controlling spirit of
fairness and impartiality to all, rich and poor alike, without favor or
affection to any, no obligations save to discharge faithfully and
fearlessly every duty of the office and, Whereas, during his term of
four years he has made for himself by his strict adherence to the
principles of right and justice a name and a reputation as a judge of
unusual ability and has demonstrated that he possesses a peculiar
fitness for the judicial office, a fact recognized by bar and laity
alike; and, Whereas, he has uniformly sought to administer the
functions of his court with impartiality, tempering justice with mercy,
shielding the weak from the oppression of the strong, exercising
patience with the shortcomings and the inexperience of many of us who
have been practitioners in his court, placing his own experience and
knowledge of the law in the aid of the cause of justice, and in all his
conduct of that responsible office has shown an earnest desire and
purpose; Whereas, despite the great volume of business—over 1,000
cases—set before him in the four years, only sixteen cases have been
appealed from his court to the Court of Appeals, and of that number a
reversal of his decision has only been made in three cases, a record of
appeals and reversals perhaps not excelled by any other judge in the
state; Be It Now Resolved by the Bar of Bulloch County, that we thus
formally express to Judge Strange our regrets at his retirement from
office and express to him our cordial personal appreciation of his
excellent services as a judge, his splendid character as a man and
citizen, and his recognized ability as a fellow-member of the Bar. and
that we tender to him our sincerest wishes for a long and prosperous
career at the bar, and that the future may hold in store for him a
judicial place of higher station; and be it further resolved that these
resolutions be entered on the minutes of the court and a copy furnished
Judge Strange."
A standard history of Georgia
and Georgians, Volume 5 By Lucian Lamar Knight Submitted by Friends For
Free Genealogy
Hendricks, J. Walter, is
principal of that valued institution, the Southern normal institute, at
Douglas, and is recognized as one of the able and popular factors in
the educational circles of Georgia. He is a native of Bulloch county,
Ga., where he was born Oct. 21, 1873, a son of Marida and Mary (Durden)
Hendricks, the former born Feb. 26, 1851, and the latter Sept. 23,
1847. The paternal grandfather, John Hendricks, was born Dec. 9, 1804,
died in July, 1890, and was laid to rest in the family cemetery in
Bulloch county, beside that of his wife, Elizabeth, who died in 1878.
The maternal grandparents of Professor Hendricks were Eleazer and Roxie
(Rountree) Durden, and both passed their whole lives in Emanuel county,
Ga. John Hendricks was a soldier in the Seminole and Creek Indian wars,
and Eleazer Durden was a valiant soldier of the Confederacy in the
Civil war, having taken part in the various and sanguinary engagements
in which the Army of Northern Virginia was involved. The subject of
this review secured his preliminary education in the common schools of
Bulloch county and also attended the high school at Millen. In
September, 1893, he was matriculated in the University of Georgia, in
which he was graduated in June, 1897, receiving the degree of Bachelor
of Arts and standing third in a class of forty-five members. In
September of the same year he took a position in the Millen high
school, where he taught one year, after which he was engaged in
successful pedagogic work in the state of Tennessee until 1900, when he
went to Douglas, Ga., as first assistant in the Southern normal
institute, being elected principal of that institution two years later
and having since served in this capacity, giving a most admirable
administration both in an academic and executive sense. In politics
Professor Hendricks is a stanch supporter of the principles of the
Democratic party; is a member of the Primitive Baptist church and his
wife is a Methodist. On June 5, 1901, was solemnized his marriage to
Miss Nina V. Lively, daughter of Dr. M. M. Lively, of Statesboro, Ga.,
and they have three children—J. Walter, Jr., born Aug. 14, 1902;
Charles Ellison, born July 4, 1904; and Martha Marguerite, born Feb.
11, 1906.
Source Georgia: comprising sketches of
counties, towns,
events, institutions, and ... edited by Allen Daniel Candler, Clement
Anselm Evans
©2007
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