Amos Tappan Akerman was born in Portsmouth, N H., February 23, 1821. His father was a land surveyor. In a letter to his wife, written on his fiftieth birthday, he thus refers to his early life : "My father and mother were in plain condition, with enough of education to know its value, and deeply interested in religion. They tried to bring up their children well. Our childhood was a hard one from necessity. The girls generally did the housework and the boys the outdoor work. I sawed and split and carried in the wood, took care of the cows, drove to pasture, made the garden, did the errands, and with all that, was a tolerably good scholar. My parents were careful in religious culture. They held us to a strict practice and to an orthodox creed, and in this they were right."

He fitted for college at Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Dartmouth in 1842.

Immediately upon graduation he went South. For several years he was principally employed in teaching school. During this period the following entry was made in his diary which reveals his honest and grateful nature. The reference is to a debt which he contracted to complete his college course, and which he had just paid : "The fear that I might never pay this debt was a constant source of anxiety until it was fully paid. I could not bear the thought that he should be the loser through kindness to me. As schoolfellows at Exeter he conceived a good will for me, which showed itself in a substantial way. I am thankful he was made whole in a pecuniary sense. For his voluntary beneficence to his poor friend, may God reward him."

In 1846 he entered the household of Senator John M. Berrien of Savannah, Georgia, as tutor of Mr. Berrien's children, with part of his time at his disposal for the study of law. In 1853 he moved to Habersham county, where he practiced law. A little later he entered into partnership with Judge Hester in Elberton. His diary notes : "In a short time the business of the firm became enough to employ all my time and I have ever since led the life of a busy country lawyer."

This diary was not resumed until 1874, when Mr. Akerman summarized the story of his part in 'the Civil War. He was a Union man until after the outbreak of hostilities, as were many others in Georgia at that time. He says: "Reluctantly I adhered to the Confederate cause. I was a Union man until the North seemed to have deserted us. In January, 1861, the United States steamer Star of the West, on her way to relieve Fort Sumter, was fired on by the secessionists of Fort Moultrie and compelled to return to the North, and the militia of Georgia, under orders from Governor Brown, seized Fort Pulaski and the arsenal near Augusta, and these acts were not resented by the government at Washington. Not caring to stand up for a government which would not stand up for itself, and viewing the Confederate government as practically established in the South, I gave it my allegiance, though with great distrust of its peculiar principles," It is not easy at this day, when the pains and struggles of those years come to us in fading echoes, to realize fully the stress of spirit under which a man labored who was placed as was this Northerner, with national principles, but linked with a Southern State by strong ties of friendship and by years of active association. His papers and letters show that he chose his course conscientiously, as he did everything, but reluctantly. Having chosen his path he followed it with the faithfulness characteristic of him in every relation.

In 1863 he became ordnance officer in Colonel Toombs' regiment of the State Guard for home defense. The regiment served near Athens, Atlanta and Savannah until February, 1864, and was called out again in May, when Sherman approached Atlanta. Before joining the colors Mr. Akerman was married in Athens, on the 28th of May, to Martha Rebecca Galloway. The next day he went to Atlanta and was made assistant quartermaster of the militia division under General Gustavus Smith. Atlanta was evacuated on the first of September and the command was in gradual retreat for the next few months through Georgia and South Carolina and back again into Georgia, until in April, 1865, they were furloughed indefinitely by Governor Brown, "for the Confederacy was falling."

Mr. Akerman returned to Elberton, and as soon as the courts were opened, resumed the practice of law.

He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1867-8, and his work in that body marked him as one of the leaders of his State in ability and character. He was practically the author of the judicial system in the new Constitution, a system considered by some of the ablest lawyers in Georgia the best the State had ever enjoyed. But there was a strong movement in the convention to insert clauses in the Constitution which would permit the repudiation of all previous private indebtedness, and as he was unable to defeat the movement and did not wish to become a part of it, he resigned and went home. His letters to his wife, while the convention was sitting, give a full account of his motives. On February 6th, 1868, he wrote: "I have serious thoughts of resigning. The convention has passed a villainy under the name of 'relief which disgusts me to the point of quitting. A motion is pending to reconsider and I ought not to decide until that is determined. Friends urge me to stay, saying I am useful here." On February 9th he wrote: "The signs are now that I will have to oppose the Constitution. Certainly I shall if certain things that have been passed are not reconsidered. It is disagreeable to be in a body whose work I expect to oppose. On the other hand, men say that I am useful here. Sometimes I aid in inserting a good provision, but oftener in defeating a bad one. While this is the case, they argue, I do good to the State by staying."

When the Constitution was submitted to Congress for approval, Mr. Akerman's stand was vindicated, because Congress struck out the repudiating clauses.

Mr. Akerman's political convictions made him a Republican during the political readjustments of the Reconstruction period and he remained a firm and consistent adherent of that party to his death, although he and his family often had to suffer slights and insults as a consequence of his course. From his espousal of it to his death he was recognized by friends and enemies as the leader of the party in the State. This was not an easy position in a Southern State in the sixties and seventies, but Mr. Akerman adhered to the stand he had taken with cheerful endurance of obloquy and attack, with kindly forbearance toward his opponents, but with that Puritan determination which he had brought with him from his early home.

He unconsciously described his own course in politics in a letter written to one of his sons in 1813: "Love your country. Be a true patriot. Understand public questions. Ask what is right, not what is popular. When you have ascertained the right, try to make it popular ; but cleave to it, popular or not."

He was a member of the convention that nominated General Grant for President in 1868 and was on the Republican electoral ticket in Georgia. President Grant appointed him District Attorney for Georgia and the Senate confirmed the appointment; but Mr. Akerman would not take the test oath and his disabilities had to be removed by Congress, when it met in December, 1869, before he would assume the office.

In June, 1870, when Rockwood Hoar of Massachusetts retired from the Attorney-Generalship of the United States, the President sought for a Southern Republican to fill the vacancy, and appointed Mr. Akerman, much to the latter's surprise. He assumed office in July and served until January 10, 1872. At this time he changed his Georgia home to Cartersville, the county seat of Bartow county, where the remainder of his life was passed. Some time afterward he summed up in his diary his experience in Washington: "My course in the Attorney- General's office was satisfactory to my conscience. I believe it was satisfactory to the President ; but it was not satisfactory to certain powerful interests, and a public opinion unfavorable to me was created in the country. I resigned the office and came home."

Thus simply and uncomplainingly was dismissed an experience that must have been most trying to a man of Mr. Akerman's unapproachable integrity and strict ideas of civic and personal honor. As the chief law officer of the government he was brought into collision with the corrupt Pacific railroads promoters. The railroads were seeking immense subsidies of public lands, under an unwarrantable construction of their charters. Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior, referred the case to the Attorney-General. Akerman's opinion denied the validity of the claims and advised their rejection, "Because the bounty tendered by Congress was qualified in both acts (1862 and 1864) with a reservation to Congress of a right to amend, alter and repeal at any time. The head of a department should not dispose of public lands, or issue the bonds 'of the nation in aid of any enterprise without an unequivocal direction from the Legislature." In this case the Attorney-General found no such direction. Delano asked for a reconsideration and finally notified the Attorney-General that he had decided to grant the request of the railroads. S. C. Pomeroy, of later Kansas notoriety, urged upon Akerman an alteration of his opinion, but without effect. A representative of the railroad ring approached a friend of Akerman to sound him as to the possibility of the Attorney-General being induced to reconsider for fifty thousand dollars, but he was advised that such an attempt would be worse than useless. Delano was owner of the Baltimore American and its guns were turned upon the Attorney-General and echoed by the subservient press throughout the country. In Georgia politics were at boiling heat and Mr. Akerman's opponents were quite ready to join with the corruptionists at Washington in the chorus of abuse. Finally, 011 December 13, 1871, the following autograph letter from President Grant, marked confidential, was sent to the Attorney-General :

EXECUTIVE MANSION,
HON. A. T. AKEKMAN, WASHINGTON, D. C.

MY DEAR, SIR :

Circumstances convince me that a change in the office you hold is desirable, consulting the best interests of the government, and I therefore ask your resignation. In doing so, however, I wish to express my appreciation of the zeal, integrity and industry you have shown in the performance of all your duties, and the confidence I feel personally, by tendering to you the Florida Judgeship now vacant, or that of Texas. Should any foreign mission at my disposal, without a removal for the express purpose of making a vacancy, better suit your taste, I would gladly testify my appreciation in that way.

My personal regard for you is such that I could not bring myself to saying what I here say any other way than through the medium of a letter. Nothing but a consideration for public sentiment could induce me to indite this.

With great respect,
Your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT.

This strange letter throws light upon the influences at work about the President at that time and shows his chief weakness as executive head of the nation. But for his known courage this letter would suggest moral cowardice in not bearing the displeasure of the "powerful interests," which might be able to influence "public sentiment." The only explanation of Grant's course in this matter is that the interested parties were subtle enough to becloud the issue laid before the direct, simple minded soldier to decide.

Mr. Akerman at once tendered his resignation to take effect January 10, 1872. Few men more clearly distinguished the rights and duties of individuals as related to public funds ; and he was an uncompromising foe of graft in every form. The railroad lobby exulted in the removal from their path of an
incorruptible official. The exposure in the Senate of the methods of the Pacific railroads ring in later years and the struggle to protect the nation from complete loss amply vindicated the honest official, who for a time suffered such bitter attacks in the house of his friends.

Mr. Akerman declined the proffered appointments and retired to private life and the practice of his profession. He went without bitterness or recrimination. He appreciated and understood Grant, knew the President's weakness of overconfidence in men, and in his personal esteem and regard for his former chief continued to the end of his life. He continued as a private citizen to be a loyal and active supporter of the Republican party. But he sometimes became very tired of the tricks that were then played in Republican politics in Georgia, and be is said to have once remarked to a friend: "I wish I had a decent party here to invite my friends in other parties to join."

When he died, December 21, 1880, Mr. Akerman was the recognized head of the North Georgia bar. President Hayes had just decided to appoint him to the Judgeship of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, made vacant by the advancement of Judge "Woods to the Supreme Court.

The life of Amos T. Akerman was unique. He was a New Englander by birth, early training, and education. He was a Southerner by choice, long residence, and active life among the people of the South. From one section he brought the sterner virtues, and in the other he acquired those characteristics which mark the Southern gentleman. These two elements in our national life were blended in the life of this one individual and the result was a character of unusual strength and grace. During the Reconstruction days one of his most formidable political opponents, when about to die, said to his wife:
"If you get in trouble about your property or the children's, put your business in Akerman's hands. He is just, able and honest." There could be no higher tribute in those days of misunderstanding and political and social estrangement.
Source: Men of Mark in Geogia

    After this well known Jefferson lawyer had completed his high school education, he was obliged to rely upon his own efforts to promote him further in the world, and qualifying for a state license as a teacher he spent several years in that vocation and used the earnings to pay his way through law school. Mr. Ayers has for many years been a lawyer with rising reputation and influence in Jackson County, and is a man of considerable landed property and city real estate.
    He was born in Habersham County, Georgia, March 23, 1870, a son of R. W. and Mary (Guest) Ayers. In the maternal line the great-grand-father was Sanford Guest, who served as a captain of cavalry in the Revolutionary war, lived in South Carolina for a number of years and finally removed to Franklin County, Georgia, where he died. The grandfather was also Sanford Guest, a lifelong farmer of Franklin County, who married Elizabeth Addison. The paternal grandfather,. Nathaniel Ayers, was born in Virginia and early in life removed to Georgia. He married Mackann Walters, and both died in Franklin County. R. W. Ayers was born in Habersham County and his wife in Franklin County. The father is now living in the Town of Cornelia at the age of eighty-five years. During the Civil war he enlisted from Habersham County, served as a private with the Thirty-seventh Georgia Regiment, and was wounded on the field of Manassas, and still carries the bullet in his shoulder blade. For many years he lived and prospered as a farmer at Ayersville Station. His wife is also living at the age of eighty-four. The nine children born to their union were: Joseph B. Ayers; Robert Pleasant Ayers; Mrs. Lucy Garrard; William J. Ayers; Mrs. Eliza King; Mrs. Cynthia Hughes; Jeremiah S.; George Ayers, deceased; and Mrs. Beulah Loudermilk.   All are still living except George.
    Jeremiah S. Ayers acquired his early education in Habersham County, and also attended school at Toccoa and Carnesville. Then came the interval during which he taught school and earned the money necessary to put him through the law department of the University of Georgia, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1895. After his admission to the bar he moved to Jefferson in Jackson County, and has been identified with the local bar for twenty years. During 1911-12 Mr. Ayers was honored by the people of Jefferson with the office of mayor, to which his administration lent dignity. He has recently been elected a member of the General Assembly of Georgia by the largest majority over his opponent and leading the ticket in the county over his associate elected at the same time.
    Mr. Ayers is a member of the County Bar Association, and for many years has been prominent in fraternal circles. He is past master of the Blue Lodge, a member of the Royal Arch Chapter, is a past master of the Knights of Pythias, a past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a past sachem of the Improved Order of Red Men.  His church is the Baptist.
    On December 12, 1905, he married Miss Eva McNeill, of a well known Henry County, Tennessee, family.  Her father was N. W. McNeill, who served with the rank of captain in the Confederate army. Her mother is still living. At their home in Jefferson three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ayers: Sanford, born in September, 1906, and attending school; Nathan, born in 1908, and also in school; and Richard Winston, born in November, 1910.
A Standard History Of Georgia and Georgians by Lucian Lamar Knight Volume 3

    Thirty-eight years of continuous connection with the bench and bar of Jefferson County have made Hon. William Little Phillips, judge of the City Court of Louisville, one of the best known figures of the Middle Circuit and the dean of the legists still in active practice. A minister's son, he experienced the usual privileges accorded one with such family connections in being reared in a home of refinement, but, as is also usually the case, was compelled from the start to make his own way in the world. What success he has attained, and it is not inconsiderable, is therefore the result of his own efforts.
    Judge Phillips, who has never left his native city, was born at Louisville, C, Georgia, June 3, 1857, and is a son of the Rev. David Gardner and Julia (Little) Phillips. His father was born at a place known as The Rocks near Raleigh, Rowan County, North Carolina, February 1, 1817, and was graduated from Erskine College of Due West, South Carolina, subsequently completing a course in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at the same place. He entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Church and began preaching at Louisville, Georgia, later filling various pastorates in Jefferson County. He was the organizer of the first church of the Presbyterian faith at Louisville, and his entire life was devotedly given to the work of his Master. For forty-two years he labored unselfishly in Jefferson and other counties of Southern Georgia, not alone as a minister but as a promoter of the cause of education, he for many years being county school commissioner for Jefferson County. He was not a success in the way that the world views material prosperity and never accumulated large means, but the work which he accomplished as pastor and educator cannot be over-estimated, while the love and veneration in which he was held by his people furnished a reward far more sweet to him than worldly accumulations. He was successful in rearing eight children, who idolized him, and who have since grown to be credits to the communities in which their lives have been passed, and to the training of their revered parents. When he died in 1899, rounding out a life of eighty-three years, the whole community mourned. Like her husband, Mrs. Phillips led an ideal Christian life, and also like him she was held in the warmest affection by all who came in contact with her lovely character. She died in 1883. The children born to Reverend and Mrs. Phillips were as follows: Judge William Little, of this review; Eloise, who is the wife of J. W. White, editor of the News Farmer, the only paper published in Jefferson County; Martha, who is the wife of Thomas Hardeman; Rev. David Gardner, D. D., pastor of the A R Presbyterian Church of Chester, South Carolina; Julia, who is the wife of W. W. Abbott, president of the First National Bank and of the Abbott Manufacturing Company, of Louisville, Georgia; John R., who is an attorney at law of Louisville; Lois, who is the wife of J. B. Polhill, architect, builder and merchant of Louisville; and Enoch Both well, a merchant of Bartow, Florida.
    William Little Phillips was educated at Erskine College, a Presbyterian institution of Due West, South Carolina, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His legal studies were pursued under the preceptorship of Cain & Polhill, of Louisville, following which he was admitted to the bar by Hon. H. V. Johnson, then judge of the Superior Court and formerly governor of Georgia. In 1878 Judge Phillips began the practice of his calling at Louisville, and here he has continued through thirty-seven years of faithful devotion to the best tenets and ethics of his honored calling, being the dean in active practice of the Middle Circuit.   He is attorney for the Bank of Louisville, of which he was a founder, and is now vice president and a member of the board of directors. His professional connection is with the Georgia Bar Association. In 1911 he was given recognition of his abilities when he was appointed by Governor Joseph M. Brown to fill out the unexpired term of Judge R. L. Gamble, as city judge, to which office he was reappointed by Governor Slayton in 1912. At the present time he is filling his second term, one of the most dignified, impartial and learned jurists of the bench of the Middle Circuit. While his profession and his judicial position occupy his time to a large extent, he has also been interested in the cultivation of land, and at this time owns some 2,000 acres. During a period of a .quarter of a century, Judge Phillips has been an elder of the Presbyterian Church.
    In 1881, at Louisville, Judge Phillips was married to Miss Ella Skinner, who died in 1889, leaving one son: James Gardner, who is now successfully engaged in farming in Jefferson County. Judge Phillips was again married in 1891, when united with Miss Lena Everitt, daughter of John B. and M. Everitt, of Thomas County, Georgia, and they are the parents of two children : Mary, who is a graduate of the Due West Women's College; and Mildred, who is completing her education.
A Standard History Of Georgia and Georgians by Lucian Lamar Knight Volume 3

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