Elbert County Georgia Biographies

DR. WILLIAM BARNETT was a son of Nat Barnett, who came from Amherst county, Va., to Georgia in the Revolutionary period, and he was kin to the Crawford family which cut such a large figure in Georgia history. William Barnett and his brother Joel were both gallant soldiers of the Revolutionary struggle, both being then young men. He married Mary Meriwether, a daughter of Frank Meriwether, also Virginians, and located first in Columbia county, but later settled in Elbert. The opening of a new country is always a cause of much sickness, and when that is combined with a mild climate, the sickness is increased. There was in that early time a great demand for doctors, and with some natural aptitude for the profession, Dr. Barnett took up the practice of medicine. He was of kindly temperament, very agreeable in his manners, and plausible in speech. Of limited education, he was yet a close observer and quick of perception. Though there was much need for doctors, there were many in that pioneer day unable to pay for their services, and Dr. Barnett gave his services freely to the poor, without regard as to whether they were able to pay him or not. He became, as a result of his personal popularity, sheriff of his county. He was then sent to the General Assembly for a number of years and became president of the Senate. In 1812, when the elder Howell Cobb, then a member of the Twelfth Congress, resigned to take up active service in the army, Dr. Barnett was a candidate to fill out Mr. Cobb's unexpired term. His opponent was the celebrated John Forsyth, one of the great men of Georgia history, and whose reputation was afterwards national and international. Dr. Barnett ran as a States-rights Democrat, and an evidence of his popularity is to be found in the fact that he beat Forsyth in that campaign. He was reelected to the Thirteenth Congress, which carried his service up to March 2, 1815, and immediately after the close of the session he was appointed by President Madison a member of the commission to establish the boundaries of the Creek Indian reservation.

This was his last appearance in the public life of the nation, though he may have later served his constituents in positions of a local character. His wife, who bore him six children, was profoundly devoted to him, and her death was brought on by that devotion. The doctor was desperately ill of a fever and his life despaired of. She became so wrought up and despairing of his condition that she fell ill and died, while he recovered. Years later he married Mrs. Bibb, a widow and the mother of William Wyatt Bibb, United States Senator and Governor of Alabama. Both were then somewhat advanced in life, with grown children, and their interest being mainly in their children, with much time spent in visiting them, eventually they drifted apart, and Dr. Barnett moved to Alabama, where, after a residence of few years he died.
[Source: "Men of Mark in Georgia: a complete and elaborate history...", Volume 2 By William J. Northen - Transcribed by Barb Ziegenmeyer]

Jones, W. O., president of the Bank of Elberton, Elbert county, and also of the Elberton Cotton and Compress Company, is one of the representative business men of northeastern Georgia. The Bank of Elberton was organized in 1893 and is incorporated for $25,000. while its surplus fund now amounts to $25,000, and its undivided profits to $6,000. The bank occupies its own building, a substantial and attractive two-story brick structure, at the corner of the public square and Mcintosh street. The officers of the institution are all resident of Elberton and are as follows: W. O. Jones, president; T. O. Tabor, vice-president; J. H. Blackwell, cashier; and H. P. Hunter, assistant cashier. The Elberton Cotton and Compress Company was established in 1888. A reorganization occurred in 1890, when Mr. Jones purchased the interests of the other stockholders and has since been the sole proprietor, though the company is formally organized with the following executive corps: W. O. Jones, president; W. F. Anderson, vice-president; and J. E. Asbury, superintendent. The concern handles from 20,000 to 40,000 bales of cotton annually, having a capacity of five hundred bales a day, and employment is given to an average force of fifty workmen. In addition to this twelve cotton buyers are retained and the concern does the leading business of the sort in northeastern Georgia.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Tracy McAllister)

Bell, Addison A., physician, surgeon, was born Jan. 26, 1823, in Elbert county, Ga. He received a thorough education in the public schools of his native state; he graduated in medicine from Jefferson medical college of Pennsylvania; and subsequently attended the New York medical university. He is widely known as an eminent and successful physician and surgeon throughout the state of Georgia; and still practices his profession at Madison, Ga. He is a member of the leading medical associations; and has contributed valuable articles to medical literature. Bell, Agrippa Nelson, physician, sanitarian, journalist, author, was born Aug. 3, 1820, in Northampton, Va. In 1842 he graduated from Jefferson medical college with the degree of M.D.; and subsequently received the degree of A.M. from Trinity college. In 1842 he began the practice of medicine in Franktown, Va. In 1847 he entered the naval service as assistant surgeon; served in the Mexican war; was promoted and resigned in 1863; and since 1855 has practiced medicine in Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1861-62 he was superintendent of the floating hospital for yellow fever on New York lower bay; was the author of the New York quarantine law of 1863; and in 1870-73 was New York supervising commissioner of quarantine. In 1873 he founded The Sanitarian, and edited fifty-two volumes until 1904, when it was consolidated with the Popular Science Monthly. He was one of the founders of the American public health association; and for twenty-one years was visiting physician to the Brooklyn city hospital. He is the author of Knowledge of Living Things; Climatology and Mineral Waters of the United States; and Records of Daily Practice.
[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]

Baldwin, Abel Seymour, physician, state senator, railroad president, was born March 19, 1811, in Fulton, N.Y. He was the first president of the Florida, Atlantic and gulf railroad. In 1852 he was elected to the Florida state legislature; in 1859 he was a state senator; and in 1863 was made medical director of Florida and Georgia. He died about 1905 in Jacksonville, Fla.
[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]

Ackerman, Amos T., lawyer, public official, was born in 1819 in New Hampshire. In 1850 he moved to Georgia and settled in Elberton, where he practiced his profession. In 1866-70 he was United States attorney for the district of Georgia; and in 1870-72 was attorney-general of the United States. He died in Elberton, 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]

Akerman, Amos Tappan, lawyer, cabinet officer, was born 1823 in New Hampshire. In 1850 he settled in Elberton, Ga.; and served the confederate government in the quartermaster's department; but after the war he was a republican and reconstructionist. He was appointed district attorney for Georgia in 1866; and was attorney-general of the United States in 1870-72.
[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]