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Julius Caesar ALFORD
(1799—1863)
ALFORD, Julius Caesar, a
Representative from Georgia; born in Greensboro, Ga., May 10, 1799;
attended the common schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar and
commenced practice in Lagrange, Ga.; also engaged in planting; member
of the State house of representatives; commanded a company in the Creek
War of 1836; elected as an Anti-Jacksonian candidate to the
Twenty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
George W. B. Towns and served from January 2 to March 3, 1837;
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth
Congress; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh
Congresses and served from March 4, 1839, to October 1, 1841, when he
resigned; moved to Tuskegee, Ala., and subsequently settled near
Montgomery, Ala.; delegate to the Union convention at Montgomery in
1852; resumed the practice of law; unsuccessful candidate for election
in 1855 to the Thirty-fourth Congress; member of the secession
convention in 1861; died on his plantation near Montgomery, Ala.,
January 1, 1863; interment in the family cemetery on his estate near
Montgomery.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,
1771-Present - Contributed by A. Newell
Pierce,
George Foster, clergyman and
educator, was born in Green county, Ga., Feb. 3, 1811. He was a son of
the celebrated Dr. Lovick Pierce; graduated at Franklin college (now
the University of Georgia) in 1829; began the study of law in the
office of his uncle, but abandoned it for the ministry and was licensed
to preach in 1830. From that time until 1839 he served as pastor of
various chuches and as presiding elder, and then took charge of the
Georgia (now the Wesleyan) female college at Macon. He was a delegate
to the general conference in 1844 at New York, and while in that city
delivered an address to the American Bible Society, which it is said
Lord Macaulay pronounced "the best specimen of English diction that the
American continent has produced." Dr. Pierce was a delegate to the
convention which met at Louisville and organized the Methodist
Episcopal church South, and in 1848 was elected president of Emory
college, where he served with great ef-ficiency for six years. In May,
1854, he was elected one of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal
church South, in which exalted position he continued until his death.
In recognition of his distinguished labors in the cause of education
and the church, Transylvania university honored him with the degree of
D. D., and Randolph-Macon college conferred on him the degree of LL. D.
Such men as Judge Lamar, Governor Colquitt, Robert Toombs and Richard
Malcolm Johnston paid him high tributes as a man of great strength of
character, genius, eloquence and probity. He died on Sept. 3, 1884.
Source: Cyclopedia of Georgia Transcribed by Friends for Free Genealogy
Pierce, Lovick, clergyman, was born
in Halifax county, N. C, March 17,1785. While still in his childhood
his parents removed to Barnwell district, S. C, where he received his
education, consisting of six months in an "old field school." He
continued to study, how-ever, and in 1804 was licensed to preach by the
Methodist Episcopal conference. In 1809 he located in Greene county,
Ga.; was a chaplain in the War of 1812, after which he practiced
medicine and preached for several years at Greensboro. He then gave up
medicine and devoted himself to the ministry, being several times
elected a delegate to the general conference and was one of the
organizers of the Methodist Episcopal church South. In 1843 he was
honored by the degree of LL. D. from Randolph-Macon college, of which
institution he was one of the trustees from 1835 to 1879. He continued
to preach until he had passed his ninety-fourth birthday, which was but
a few months before his death. He died at the home of his son, George
Foster Pierce, near Sparta, Nov. 9, 1879.
Source: Cyclopedia of Georgia Transcribed by Friends for Free Genealogy
Foster,
Nathaniel, G., was born in Greene county in 189?. He was
educated at Franklin college, graduating in 1829. In 1831 he was
admitted to the bar and began to practice in Madison. He was
elected to both branches of the state legislature, served for three
years as solicitor-general of the Ocmulgee circuit, and in 1859 was
chosen representative in Congress on the American ticket.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and
Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by
Renae Donaldson)
Foster, Thomas F.,
was born in Greene county in 1790. At the age of twenty-two years
he graduated at Princeton college, after which he studied law at the
Litchfield law school and began practice at Greensboro. In 1828
he was elected as a Democrat on a general ticket to represent his
district in the lower house of Congress, having previously served as a
member of the state legislature. At the close of his first term
he was reelected, was again chosen in 1832 and in 1840 was elected for
a fourth time. He died at Columbus in 1847.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and
Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by
Renae Donaldson)
Holden, William F.,
has been a man of distinctive influence in public affairs in Georgia
and has filled various offices of trust and responsibility. He
maintains his home in Crawfordville and is a scion of one of the
sterling pioneer families of Taliaferro county. His father, Thomas
Holden, was born Jan. 10, 1811, at Greensboro, Ga., and was an infant
at the time of his father’s death, being carefully reared and educated
by his devoted mother. He passed the greater portion of his life in
Taliaferro and Warren counties. Of him it has been written that “He was
a plain farmer, reasonably successful; a man of strong common sense,
eminently pious but a member of no church.” He died on Oct. 27, 1875.
His wife, whose maiden name was Susan Akins, was a daughter of William
Akins, of Taliaferro county. They became the parents of four children,
all of whom are now deceased except the subject of this sketch. William
F. Holden was born in Taliaferro county, Ga., Sept. 15, 1830, and his
youth was passed principally on the homestead farm. He received a fair
academic education and as a young man he taught school for a time. In
1857 he was elected to the state legislature and was chosen as his own
successor in 1859. He was in the general assembly when the state was
passing through the fiery ordeal just preceding the dissolution of the
Union, and was a prominent actor in the scenes that marked the
strenuous deliberations in the capital of the state. He shared the
views of Mr. Stephens and when the state was being urged to pass the
ordinance of secession, was bitterly opposed to the action and was a
zealous worker in the attempt to defeat the measure. When his
state finally seceded, however, he determined to give the Confederate
cause the benefit of his services in the field, and accordingly raised
a company of volunteers in Taliaferro county, of which he was made
captain. The company was mustered into the Forty-ninth Georgia infantry
and ordered to Virginia. Captain Holden was in service only a short
time, physical disabilities compelling him to resign his commission and
return home. President Davis afterward appointed him to a position in
the quartermaster’s department, in which he served until the close of
the war. In 1868 he was again elected to the legislature. It was at
this session, it will be remembered, that the twenty years’ lease of
the state road was made. Mr. Holden was one of the prime movers in that
connection. He introduced a bill to dispose of the state road, Aug. 30,
1868, and the final result was that the road was leased for twenty
years, at $300,000 annually, half of the amount to be applied to
educational purposes. Another measure which Mr. Holden introduced and
was instrumental in bringing to enactment was the bill allowing
defendants arraigned on criminal charges to testify not under oath on
their own behalf. He introduced this bill on Sept. 5, 1868. Of this law
the late and honored Gov. A.H. Stephen spoke in the following words,
written in a personal letter to Captain Holden: “In my opinion this law
will never be repealed or modified, and will therefore be far-reaching
in its consequences to the poor and defenseless. Prisoners arraigned
for crime will ever have the comforting assurance that, in conspiracies
against them, they will have a chance to speak in their own behalf,
and, perchance, many innocent persons may escape the penalty of the
guilty. By this law the poor and defenseless have a guarantee of the
dearest rights of the citizen.” Again, when the legislature was in a
turmoil and the people of the state were threatened with the domination
of a general assembly composed of negroes, backed by carpet-baggers and
Federal soldiers, Mr. Holden was a member of the important commission
which was sent to Washington to ask Congress not to interfere with
their state affairs and to leave them to peaceful solution. On April
21, 1882, Mr. Holden was appointed postmaster at Augusta, by President
Arthur, this being one of the largest and most important offices in the
state. He held the position three years, at the expiration of which he
returned to Crawfordville, where he has since resided, giving his time
and attention to the supervision of his extensive planting interests
and resting secure in the confidence and esteem of the community. On
Sept. 1, 1853, he was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Moore, daughter
of William B. Moore, a planter of Taliaferro county, and of this union
were born five children, all of whom are living: William Oscar, Claude,
John, Horace M. and Stella.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and
Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Kim
Mohler)
Merritt, George Alexander, one of the representative members of the bar
of Greene county, is established in practice in the city of Greensboro,
of which he was formerly mayor. He was born in this county, Nov. 27,
1862, and is a son of John C and Louisa F. (Burke) Merritt, both of
whom were likewise born and reared in Greene county, from which the
former went forth to do gallant service as a soldier of the Confederacy
during the Civil war, while he was a well known and honored citizen of
the county, and prominent in local affairs of a public nature. After
availing himself of the advantages of the schools of his native county
George A. Merritt was matriculated in the law department of the
University of Georgia, in which he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1892, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was
admitted to the bar of the state in the same year and since that time
has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Greensboro,
having been identified with much of the important litigation in the
county and Federal courts, and being known as a man of high
professional attainments and a citizen of progressive and
public-spirited ideas. He is a stalwart in the camp of the Democracy;
served one year as mayor of Greensboro; two years as a member of the
city council; and for a number of years has been secretary of the
Democratic county committee. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church South. In 1892 Mr. Merritt was united in marriage to Miss Lila
Boswell, daughter of W. J. Boswell, of Penfield, Greene county, and she
died in the following year.
[Source: Georgia Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Vol 2, Publ 1906. Transcribed by Tracy
McAllister]
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