JUDGE S. A.
RODDENBERY, of Thomasville, sitting Member of Congress from the
Second District, now filling his second term, is a young man of
forty.one, who has filled many public positions with credit, and is
continually adding to his reputation. He was born on January 12, 1870,
on his father's farm in Decatur county. His father, Dr. Seaborn
Roddenbery, was a physician, a merchant, and a farmer-and unusually
successful in these widely different lines.
Reared on the farm, young Roddenbery grew up devoted to outdoor life;
his leisure hours were spent in camp, hunting, fishing and other
outdoor pursuits, which-notwithstanding the smallness of his
stature-gave him unusual strength and vigor. His father, a wise man,
required him to do regular work upon the farm, at proper seasons, and
paid him stipulated wages, in order to teach him the value and use of
money-in this way the lad was taught frugality and prepared for a life
of self. reliance.
Dr. Roddenbery settled in Cairo, of which town he became Mayor, and
young Roddenbery had the advantages afforded by the public schools in
prosecuting his studies. From these schools he went to Mercer
University, at Macon, with a view to taking a full college course, but
owing to the failure of his father's health he withdrew from college at
the age of eighteen and began teaching in a country school.
In 1891, being then just past twenty-one, he was elected to the Lower
House of the General Assembly, and served two sessions. From 1894 to
1896 he served as United States Commissioner. He had, in the meantime,
read law, and in 1897 he was appointed by Governor Atkinson Judge of
the County Court of Thomas county. He also served as Mayor of
Thomasville for two successive terms. All these years he had been
making character; he had gained the reputation of a man of strong
convictions, who would never compromise. A strenuous believer in the
abolition of the liquor traffic, he had been one of the most active
factors in the work of securing the passage of the present Prohibition
Law of the State. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Education
of his county, for which position he was especially well qualified.
Of a social temperament, he easily made friends. At college he had
become a member of the Alpha Tau Omega college fraternity; a little
later he had been made a Mason, and had affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias, the Odd Fellows, and the Elks. He served in the Masonic
fraternity as Worshipful Master, and takes high rank in all the other
organizations of which he is a member. His philosophy of life has been,
not to see how much he can get out of the institutions with which he is
connected, but how much he can put in.
His position upon the liquor question is thoroughly logical and
consistent. Early in life he had noted the downfall of men and boys who
came under the influence of the saloon (as he himself puts it), and he
determined not only to save himself but to do his utmost to save
others. He believes that ultimately we can secure national legislation
along this line.
Upon the death of Judge James M. Griggs, who had for long years
represented the Second District in Congress, Judge Roddenbery announced
his candidacy for the vacant position. To the surprise of those who did
not know him he won easily, but it was not surprising to those who know
the man. He was reelected without difficulty, and is now serving his
second term.
Judge Roddenbery was married on November 5, 1891, when but little past
twenty.one, to Miss Johnnie Butler. They have five children.
Source: Men of Mark in Georgia
Allen,
Benjamin
Thomas,
lawyer,
public official, was born Feb. 23, 1852, near
Thomasville, Ga., where the thriving village of Metcalf is located. He
was educated at the Fletcher institute of Thomasville, Ga.; and at the
Valdosta institute of Georgia. Since 1877 he has been engaged in the
practice of law, and for one session was reading clerk in the Florida
state legislature. He now practices his profession in Pearson, Coffee
County, Ga.; and is prominently identified with the business and public
affairs of his community. His paternal ancestors came to Georgia from
North Carolina in the early nineteenth century, and were of Irish
extraction.
[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]
McIntosh, Henry M., editor
and
publisher
of The Albany Daily Herald, is a native Georgian, born of
sturdy Scottish parents in Old Boston, Thomas county, Ga., Jan. 19,
1852. His early years were passed in the quiet but prosperous
county of Brooks, where he laid the foundation for his useful and
honorable career as editor, by availing himself of the advantages
afforded by the excellent schools of Quitman. His honored father,
Roderick McIntosh, died in 1859, respected and lamented by all who knew
him, leaving the care of a large family of children to the beloved
mother, Bathsheba (McMillan) McIntosh, who faithfully met the
responsibilities of widowhood in the trying times of the Civil
war. At sixteen years of age Henry concluded his studies at
school and engaged in business. Taking up the printer’s trade, while
yet in his teens, he developed a taste for that vocation which has
shaped his destiny and enriched the profession with his sound judgment
and rare good sense. In January, 1873, Mr. McIntosh was united in
marriage to Miss Annie White, daughter of John and Martha (Anderson)
White, of Oxford, Ga. Their union has been blessed by one child,
Henry T. McIntosh, who was born June 17 1874. At the age of
twenty Mr. McIntosh purchased the Quitman Banner, and entered upon the
duties of its management with an ability and vigor that culminated in
lasting benefits to the community, and endeared him to the best people
by is courageous and able advocacy of the country’s highest and best
interests. In 1876 Mr. McIntosh was on the editorial staff of The
Savannah Morning News, and was selected by the management to represent
that journal in Florida, as staff correspondent, during the stirring
times when political events made that state the cynosure of all
eyes. Henry W. Grady, representing the Atlanta Constitution, was
closely associated with Mr. McIntosh and a friendship was engendered
that endured to Mr. Grady’s death. In1877 Mr. McIntosh removed to
Albany to assume the editorial and practical management of the Albany
Advertiser. After a short time he purchased the plant and
business, consolidated the same with the Albany News under the name of
the News and Advertiser, and began his career in Albany, with an ever
widening scope of wholesome influence and practical usefulness.
When elected mayor of the city of Albany in 1869, he sold his interest
in the News and Advertiser, and devoted himself to the duties of his
exalted office, which he filled with credit to himself and satisfaction
to the people. He was also called to assume the local management
of the Georgia Chautauqua, an educational and moral institution which
owes its existence largely to his enlightened encouragement and
editorial efforts. After his term of office as mayor closed, the
lure of the “Art preservative of all arts” proved too strong, as it
usually does to those who have long been its devotees, and in 1891 he
founded the Albany Daily Herald, which superseded all other local
papers and which is recognized as the leading paper in Southwest
Georgia, having a circulation throughout the state and a generous
support that is a testimony of the high appreciation in which it is
held. Through its columns in forceful style Mr. McIntosh
impresses his personality in conserving the interests of the
people. No city of Georgia has an abler exponent, and no journal
of the state is more assiduous in fostering every interest of its city
and section. The widespread influence of the campaign for “Hog,
Hominy and Hay”, that so blessed the state and south, owed its impulse
to the excellent judgment and spirited style of Henry McIntosh.
Mr. McIntosh is not a politician, but a patriot. In 1882-3 he
represented Dougherty county in the state legislature, this being the
only distinctively political office for which he has ever accepted
candidacy though he is an earnest and effective advocate for the
principles of the Democratic party. He served for years as
chairman of the Democratic committee of his county, and also as
chairman of the Democratic executive committee of the Second
Congressional district. He is a Master Mason, a member of the
Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife hold membership in the
Presbyterian church. An able editor, a loyal friend and courtly
gentleman-such is the estimate in which Henry McIntosh is held by his
contemporaries.
[Source: Georgia Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Vol 2, Publ 1906. Transcribed by Renae
Donaldson]
McIntosh, Thomas Murdoch, M. D.,
of
Thomasville,
is one of the able and honored representatives of his
profession in that section of the state, where he has made his home
during practically the entire course of his life thus far. He was
born at Glasgow, Thomas county, Ga., Nov. 21, 1853, a son of John
Anderson and Matilda Septima (Sandwich) McIntosh, the former born in
Alabama, July 27, 1819, and the latter in Lincoln county, Ga., June
20,1826. John A. McIntosh was a merchant and planter and the
following estimate of his character has been given by one who knew him
well: “He was a man of stern integrity, strong will, absolute
sobriety, great energy and unfailing kindness of heart, being also very
careful as to his personal associates and those of his children.
Finding his property swept away at the close of the Civil war and being
involved in debt besides, he yet refused to go into bankruptcy, though
urged by his friends to do so, and by the aid of his son he succeeded
in discharging every obligation.” He was a son of Murdoch
McIntosh, who removed from North Carolina to Alabama, where he remained
for a short interval, within which he married Miss Katherine McMillan,
of that state. Shortly afterward, about the year 1833, they came
to Georgia and located in Thomas county, where h and his wife passed
the remainder of their lives. The name is a familiar one in North
Carolina, whither the original representatives of the family came
direct from Scotland, in the colonial days. On the maternal side
Doctor McIntosh clearly traces is lineage to the nobility of
England. His mother was a woman of culture and gracious presence,
being widely read and having a distinctive individuality. She was
a daughter of Dr. Thomas Sandwich, whose Georgia home was at
Lincolnton, Lincoln county. He was born, however, near Windsor
Castle, England, in 1785, and his parents came from England to America
in 1791, first settling in Augusta, Ga. The family was one of
great wealth and of high standing in England, and the Sandwich
coat-of-arms is preserved by Doctor McIntosh, the device bearing the
image of an eagle. It is retained on heirlooms still held by
various branches of the family, and has been utilized as a private
seal. In his boyhood Doctor McIntosh was small of stature but of
athletic frame. Among his early predilections were developed a
fondness for books and a love for horses and neither of these has he
outgrown in later years. His appreciation of good books has also
led him into broader fields of history, philosophy and general
literature. His love for horses still finds expression in his
raising of the high-grade trotters which he utilizes in his
professional work. Until he was thirteen years of age his time
was divided between the country schools and the work and pleasures of
the homestead plantation, during and after the stirring days of the war
between the states. In 1866 he entered Jefferson academy, at
Monticello, Fla., where he continued his studies until 1869,
inclusive. The failure of his father’s health and the consequent
decline in the latter’s business interests, deprived the youth of the
college course which his father had planned for him. Doctor
McIntosh’s maternal grandfather and one of his father’s brothers were
physicians. His father also had another brother, who was not a
professional man but who possessed a scientific and medical trend of
mind. This uncle was very fond of the subject of this sketch and
his influence and persuasion, together with his own natural
inclination, led the doctor to adopt the medical profession as his life
work, though he fully realized its exactions and the self-abnegating
toil involved. Accordingly he was matriculated in the Atlanta
medical college, in which he was graduated in 1875 at the head of his
class. He was invited by Doctor Westmoreland, a prominent
physician of Atlanta, to remain in the latter’s office, but this
overture he declined and, returning to Thomasville, began the practice
of medicine among his own people. He was successful from the
beginning. At the inception of his professional career he said to
a friend: “I am going to establish a reputation as a physician if
I do not make a cent in ten years.” The faithful, determined
effort thus suggested has brought to him both reputation and
remuneration. Not a little of his early work was gratuitous, but
even this is bearing fruit, in the grateful patronage of those whose
parents he attended thirty years ago. From time to time he has
availed himself of special means of amplifying his knowledge and skill,
by attending such well know institutions as the New York post-graduate
medical school and the Philadelphia polyclinic, and the year 1891 he
passed in Europe, largely in special study and work in the hospitals of
Berlin and Vienna. He is frequently called into consultation by
other leading physicians of Georgia, as well as those of Florida,
especially in difficult surgical operations, in which he excels.
He has made frequent contributions to medical literature-more
particularly on surgical subjects. He was identified with the
Medical Association of Georgia from the time of his graduation until
1906, when that body, of which he had served as vice-president, made in
its constitution radical changes of which he did not approve, and he
accordingly withdrew from membership. Apart from his professional
work his interest in the progress and well being of his own community
has been insistent and helpful. He has served for a number of
years as a member of the board of education of Thomasville, and is
president of that body at the present time. He is a trustee of
the Atlanta school of medicine and vice-president of the board of
trustees of Young’s Female college, of Thomasville, which dates its
foundation back to 1873. Of his connection with this institution,
which is now in a flourishing condition, the Thomasville Daily
Times-Enterprise spoke as follows, under date of Oct. 18, 1902:
“Every citizen will be glad to learn that Young’s female college will
be reopened. This has been effected largely through the
persistent efforts of Dr. T. M. McIntosh, one of the trustees. He
has worked in season and out of season and is to be congratulated that
his offer to the Macon Presbytery, in behalf of the trustees, has been
accepted.” Doctor McIntosh is vice-president of the Citizens’
Banking and Trust Company, of Thomasville. He ahs also been
president of the Thomasville library association, and during his
administration he relieved that institution of a considerable debt,
contracted in the construction of the library building. In 1899
he established, at his own expense, a private surgical hospital in
Thomasville, which institution is still in operation and exercising
beneficent functions. Within the administration of Governor
Atkinson that executive appointed Doctor McIntosh physician to the
state penitentiary, but, finding the duties uncongenial, he resigned
after an incumbency of four months and resumed his practice at
Thomasville. Later he was tendered the position of surgeon in
chief of the First Georgia regiment of volunteers in the
Spanish-American war. This he declined. Governor Atkinson
was accustomed to confer freely with the doctor relative to matters in
his part of the state. At the time when the convict-lease system
was engaging the attention of the people of the state, Doctor McIntosh
took as strong stand, in the local and state press, n favor of the
lease system. His fraternal affiliations are with the Masons and
Elks. He is broad and tolerant in his views, having the deepest
reverence for the spiritual verities but not being connected with any
church. He has never married. It is his intention to leave
his property to a prominent Georgia institution for orphan children,
first giving a life interest to his only sister and only brother, both
of whom have never married, of enough of his estate to provide for them
during their lifetimes. Doctor McIntosh attributes his success in
life to the literary tastes of his mother; to the personal example of
his father; to the strong love and ambition of both for their children;
to the high standards they erected for the guidance of their children
and up to which they themselves ever lived. To the young he
says: “Erect lofty ideals; find the truth and stand by it; never
compromise a principle; don’t drink, smoke or chew; work hard all the
time.” The advice denotes the man as he stands today among his
fellow men. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Democratic
party, but he has never sought or held political office.
[Source: Georgia Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Vol 2, Publ 1906. Transcribed by Renae
Donaldson]
Merrill, Joseph Hansel,
a prominent lawyer and representative citizen of Thomasville, Thomas
county, was born in that city, Oct. 12, 1862. He is a son of Joseph S.
and Anna (Hall) Merrill, the former of whom was born in Meriwether
county, Ga., Sept. 11, 1826, and the latter in Milledgeville, Ga.,
March 26, 1825. Joseph S. Merrill, who was graduated in Oglethorpe
college, at Milledgeville, was a farmer and accountant by vocation. He
died Oct. 1, 1896, at Thomasville. His father, Lemuel Merrill, was
graduated in the law department of Dartmouth college, Vt, and
immediately afterward removed to Meriwether county, Ga., where he
engaged in the practice of his profession. Thomas Hartley,
great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, on the maternal
side, was a resident of Berks county, Pa., and served three years as a
colonel in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution, at
the close of which he was raised to the rank of general. He was a
member of Congress for twelve years, then declining renomination. In
1896 a tablet to his memory was erected at York, Pa., by the Daughters
of the American Revolution. Mrs. Anna (Hall) Merrill is a niece of
Iverson L. Harris, who was a member of the supreme court of Georgia
from 1866 to 1870, inclusive. Joseph Hansel Merrill was graduated in
the University of Georgia as a member of the class of 1880, receiving
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He entered the university in 1878, in
the junior year, and during both years of his student work in the
institution he was awarded speaker's place in his class, on the
strength of his standing. His preparatory discipline was secured in the
Fletcher institute, in Thomasville. After leaving the university he was
employed one year by a cotton buyer, and then did three years of very
successful work as an instructor in a branch of the state university in
Thomasville. In the meanwhile he had taken up the study of law, making
rapid advancement in his technical reading and securing admission to
the bar July 9, 1884, in Thomasville, which city has remained his home
from the time of his birth. He has built up an excellent practice and
is recognized as an able attorney and counselor at law. In October,
1902, he was appointed referee in bankruptcy for the southwestern
division of the southern district of Georgia. He has been president of
the Thomasville Real Estate & Improvement Company from the time of
its organization, in 1888. He is a stanch supporter of the Democratic
principles as represented in the doctrines of Jefferson and Jackson,
but has never sought or held political office of any sort, except that
he was a member of the national Sound Money Democratic convention of
1896 that nominated Palmer and Buckner. He became a member of the
Presbyterian church in 1878, and has been a deacon in the same since
1898. He is identified with the American bar association and the
Georgia bar association, and is affiliated with the Kappa Alpha college
fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. For fifteen years he was president of the Thomasville
public library association, which now has 6,000 volumes and owns a real
estate valued at $8,000. He has been president of the local branch of
the Young Men's Christian Association from the time of its
organization, which institution now has a handsome building and large
membership; and is a member of the state executive committee at the
present time. In 1902 he was the alumni orator at the commencement
observances of his alma mater, the University of Georgia. On Dec. 30,
1885, Mr. Merrill was united in marriage to Miss Mattie C Pittman, who
died on July 19, 1888, leaving one child, Martha E., born Dec. 25,
1886, and who was graduated with first honors of her class in the Agnes
Scott institute, in 1905. On Nov. 12, 1890, Mr. Merrill married Miss
Blanche Tarwater, daughter of Hiram and Sallie (Lewis) Tarwater, the
former of whom was born in Louisville, Ky., and the latter in
Clarksville, Tenn. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill became the parents of two
children: Katherine, born May 4, 1892, and Elisabeth, born June 30,
1894, and died Dec. 2, 1898. A memorial to her was established by Mrs.
Merrill in a building for the primary department, and a perpetual
scholarship in Young's college, at Thomasville.
[Source: Georgia Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Vol 2, Publ 1906. Transcribed by Tracy
McAllister]
Hayes, Samuel L., of
Thomasville, Ga., who died in Atlanta, Sept. 29, 1902 was one of the
prominent and honored citizens of Thomas county. He was a loyal soldier
of the Confederacy in the war between the states and in all the
relations of life his integrity was impregnable. He attained to marked
success in temporal affairs, but ever showed a high appreciation of his
stewardship and of the responsibilities such success entails, so that
selfishness and intolerance were never evidenced in his makeup. Mr.
Hayes was born in Charleston, S. C., Oct. 23, 1841, a son of John
Richard and Sarah Ann (Wiley) Hayes, the former born in Clarke county,
Ga., Nov. 4, 1808. Representatives of both families were soldiers in
the Indian wars and also the war of the Revolution. The maiden name of
his maternal grandmother was Ann Jack and she was resident of
Mecklenburg county, N. C. She was a near relative of James Jack, who
had the distinction of bearing to Philadelphia and presenting to the
Continental Congress the Mecklenburg declaration of independence. John
Richard Hayes acted as assistant secretary of state under his maternal
uncle, Edward Hamilton, who was secretary of state in Georgia during
the administrations of Governors Troup, Forsyth and Gilmer. Mr. Hayes
was a student in the University of Georgia at Athens, when the Civil
war was precipitated and he promptly tendered his aid in defense of the
cause of the Confederacy. In April, 1861, at the age of nineteen years,
he enlisted as a private in Company K, Third Georgia infantry, which
became a part of Wright’s brigade. The regiment was first assigned to
service on the “Merrimac,” at Portsmouth, Va., whence it was sent to
Roanoke island and then to the Dismal swamp, after which it joined the
Army of Northern Virginia, with which it served to the end of the war.
Mr. Hayes was promoted to the office of sergeant, was with his command
in the battles around Richmond, and took part in the battles of Seven
Pines, Chickahominy, Malvern Hill, second Manassas, where he was
wounded in the shoulder, then at Harper’s Ferry and the engagement at
Sharpsburg, where he was twice wounded. He was on picket duty at
Fredericksburg and gave the alarm when the enemy attempted to lay the
first pontoon; was severely wounded at Chancellorsville; participated
in the battle of Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Culpepper
Court House and Petersburg; surrendered with his command at Appomattox,
and it may consistently be said that no braver or truer son of the
south wore the gray during the four long years of the great conflict
between the states. After the war Mr. Hayes engaged in the general
merchandise business and later became a successful cotton factor. He
retired from these lines of enterprise to organize the Thomasville
National bank. As president of that institution he brought the same to
a status as one of the most solid and successful banking houses in the
state,---strong financially and helpful to thousands. He continued
president of the bank until his death. In politics he was a stanch
supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and
was called upon to serve in various offices of public trust and
responsibility. For many years he served continuously as a member of
the board of aldermen of Thomasville; was chairman of its finance
committee and was also long in service as a chairman of the board of
county commissioners, where he ever manifested marked liberality and
public spirit. He was a devoted churchman and took a prominent part in
the work of the local organization of the Methodist Episcopal church
South, having been chairman of its board of stewards for many years. He
was identified with the Masonic fraternity, the United Confederate
Veterans, the Royal Arcanum and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. On
June 28, 1871, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hayes to Miss Sallie
Louise Wright, daughter of William C. and Evelina Elizabeth Ross
(Abercrombie) Wright, of Montgomery, Ala., and she still maintains her
home in Thomasville. Of this marriage were born six children namely:
John Richard, Marion Wiley, Mary Evelina, Sara Louise, Samuel LeRoy and
Ross Hamilton. All are living except John R. and Mary E., both of whom
died in infancy. Mr. Hayes was known as a philanthropist and
benefactor. He was a man of distinctive culture, courteous and kindly,
and extremely modest. He was a stanch friend to young men, many of whom
he assisted in a business way as well as by personal encouragement and
advice. He was a man of firm convictions and of few words. He was
courtly and patrician in appearance and his character was symmetrical
and beautiful. He was indeed one of nature’s noblemen.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions,
and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ. 1906.
Transcribed by Angelia Carpenter)
HALL, John Hudson; business man, was
born in New York city Oct. 15, 1828. He came of ancestors whose lives
were closely connected with the early history of his native city. On
his mother's side, Mr. Hall sprang from an old Dutch family, the Van
Wycks of Long Island. His paternal great-grandfather was an Englishman
from Kent, and his great-grandmother was from Inverness. Scotland. It
is a peculiarity of the American people that the blood of several races
is often commingled in each family. The Hall family forms no exception
to this rule, and the Dutch, English and Scotch ancestors all combined
to endow John Hudson Hall with the sturdy qualities for which he was
distinguished. The frugality of the Hollander, the courage of the
Anglo-Saxon and the conscientiousness of the Scot were all his. Mr.
Hall in 1842 began his business life as a clerk in the office of Mr.
Allen, a banker, an old family friend. He subsequently entered the
store of Elliott, Burnap & Babeock, paper manufacturers and
dealers, and in 1851 became a partner of the firm, which was styled
Babeock, Dubuisson & Hall. In 1854 this firm was dissolved by the
death of the senior partner. Mr. Babeock, who with his family were lost
on the ill-fated Arctic. Mr. Hall then formed a partnership with John
Campbell & Co., the style of the firm becoming Campbell, Hall &
Co. The house was soon recognized as a power in the trade, and occupied
an important position in the city of New York as paper manufacturers
and dealers. In 18(H) Mr. John Campbell retired and Mr. Hall took the
position as head of the house, which he retained until he retired from
the paper business in 1881. Mr. Hall, having invested largely in
railroad stocks, gave his attention to their development. He first
became interested in railroad stocks in 1866, when he placed his name
to the articles of association of the West Side and Yonkers Patent
Railroad Co., which built in 1868 a half-mile as an experiment in
Greenwich street. Its methods of propulsion proved inadequate to the
needs of the metropolis, and the elevated road was conceived. The
perfecting of the system was Mr. Hall's constant thought from its
inception. He felt sure of its ultimate success, and at his death was
the last acting member of the original board of directors of the first
elevated railroad in New York city. He was a director of the Oregon
Railway and Navigation Co., of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co.. of
the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad; the Richmond and
Danville, the West Point and Richmond Terminal and Warehouse Co.;
president of the Georgia Company, and vice-president of the Georgia
Central Railroad and Banking Co. Mr. Hall was one of the earliest
members of the Union League Club, and was one of a sub-committee on
building when its present club-house was erected. He served on the
executive committee for eight rears, was its chairman in 1886 and twice
elected one of the vice-presidents of the club. He also became a member
of the Chamber of Commerce in 1871, and the republican county committee
of New York; a member in perpetuity of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
and a member of the Museum of Natural History in Central Park. He was a
liberal patron of art and possessed a valuable art collection. In 1872
Mr. Hall married Cornelia G. Ward, third daughter of Augustus H. Ward.
The union was a particularly happy one, and was blessed with four
children. J. Hudson, Charles Ward, Cornelia Katharine and Martha J.
Hall. From the start Mr. Hall's career was marked by energy,
perseverance, cool judgment and unerring sagacity. He was not afraid to
assume responsibility when he felt he was in the right, and, once he
had shaped his course, never faltered in the execution of his plans.
Honesty was a law of his life, and he scorned all inducements to
benefit himself by methods which endangered those universal principles
of action which are the foundations of a strong and effective life,
whose chief end is not the mere getting of money. Mr. Hall was for
seven years a vestryman of the Church of the Incarnation, from which
his funeral took place. He died at Thomasville, Ga., March 3, 1891.
{Source: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 2;
Publ. 1906, by James T. White, George Derby; Pgs. 140-193; Transcribed
and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.}
