Hon. Charles Gordon Edwards.
Now in his fifth consecutive term as a Georgia representative in Congress, Charles G. Edwards is one of the brilliant and resourceful public men of Georgia, and has shown real ability as a leader and successful worker in the domain of national politics. A lawyer by profession, he comes of one of the finest families of Tattnall County, where the name is one of the most respected in that section of Georgia. Congressman Edwards himself is a resident of Savannah, where he began his law practice fifteen years ago.

Born in Tattnall County July 2, 1878, he was one of a family of nine children, seven boys and two girls. One son, Robert H. Edwards, died two years ago leaving six sons. The brothers and sisters of Congressman Edwards are: J. C., Dr. T. M., Robert H., W. L., Dr. S. 0., and Grover Cleveland Edwards; and Mrs. Jennie Hendricks and Mrs. Dr. B. E. Miller. All his brothers are highly respected citizens and are all living in the county of their birth, engaged in farming and other business and professional pursuits.

The first American ancestor of Congressman Edwards was Willis F. Edwards, who came from England to Virginia, moved from that state to North Carolina, and was one of the substantial farmers and planters in those states during colonial and early statehood times. The distinguishing part of his record was his service as a soldier in the Continental line during the Revolutionary war. He enlisted from North Carolina. The old powder gourd which he carried in the war is now in the National Museum at Washington, D. C. This patriot and first settler of the Edwards family married Sarah O'Neal. Her family first settled in Virginia, later moving to North Carolina, and her father, John O'Neal, was likewise a soldier in the Revolution, and as the name indicates came originally from Scotland. One of the sons of the Revolutionary soldier was also named Willis F. Edwards, and lived in North Carolina. In the next generation was Dr. William H. Edwards, grandfather of the Georgia congressman. He came to Georgia as a mere boy, settling in Tattnall County, where he earned the distinction of casting the first democratic vote in that county. He was a prominent physician and also a citizen and served as member of two constitutional "conventions in this state. He was a member of the Methodist Church. He owned large tracts of land in Tattnall, Bryan and adjoining counties. Doctor Edwards married Miss Sands of Tattnall County. She was of Irish extraction, with some Scotch admixture. They reared a large family, only two of whom are now living: Hon. Willis F. Edwards, third, and Hon. Thomas J. Edwards of Tattnall County.

Hon. Thomas Jefferson Edwards, father of Charles G., was born in Tattnall County and in business lines has followed farming and merchandising. His early education was limited because of the fact that the war broke out in his early manhood and he was one of the boy soldiers of the Confederacy, He served throughout the war from 1861 until the close as a private in the ranks, and for a time was a courier with Gen. Bob Anderson. He and five brothers entered the war, one of them was killed on the battlefield and two wounded. Thomas J. Edwards represented Tattnall County two terms in the House of Representatives, and is an active democrat and Methodist. He married Miss Ann Conley, who died two years ago, and is buried in the Brenton Cemetery in Tattnall County (now Evans County). Her father was the late Rev. William Fletcher Conley, while her mother was a Miss Boring, who came from the vicinity of Ringgold, Georgia. Rev. William F. Conley was one of the ablest ministers of the Methodist Church in Tattnall County, and he likewise served as a member of the constitutional convention many years ago. The Conleys were also among the earliest American settlers and some of them saw service in the Revolutionary war.

With the example of so many courageous and worthy ancestors before him and around him, Charles Gordon Edwards may be said to have been fortunate from his very birth. As a boy he attended the common schools of Tattnall and Bryan counties, the Gordon Institute at Barnesville, the Florida Agricultural College at Lake City, Florida, and in 1898 took his degree LL. B. from the law department of the University of Georgia. He was a member of a graduating class in law school of forty men, and a number of others in the same class have since risen to distinction. Among them might be mentioned Richard M. Lester, prominent at the bar and in state politics, now a partner in the law practice with Mr. Edwards under the firm name of Edwards & Lester; Congressman J. R. Walker; Railroad Commissioner J. A. Perry; Representatives Fowler of Bibb County, J. F. Mitchell of Thomas County, J. 0. Adams of Gainesville, Georgia, and Assistant United States Attorney Charles Akerman.

When only twenty years of age Mr. Edwards began practice at Reidsville in Tattnall County, but from there moved to Savannah and has been a member of the bar of that city since January, 1900. In these fifteen years he has had three partnerships. While at Reidsville he was with Judge J. V.. Kelley under the firm name of Kelley & Edwards; at Savannah was with Col. Robert J. Travis, under the firm name of Travis & Edwards; and then was associated with Mr. A. L. Alexander, of Savannah, under the firm name of Alexander & Edwards until their relationship was dissolved when Mr. Edwards went to Congress. Mr. Edwards has recently formed a co-partnership with Hon. Richard M. Lester. All the firms and the individuals named have been very successful as lawyers in Georgia. Mr. Edwards has, after ten years of congressional service, declined a re-election to Congress in order to resume his law practice at Savannah, with his old schoolmate and friend, Richard M. Lester. Mr. Edwards was the youngest man in the Sixtieth and Sixty-first congresses ever elected from Georgia.

From early youth Mr. Edwards has taken a studious and practical interest in politics, and after his admission to the bar and before his removal to Savannah he was nominated by the democrats for representative of Tattnall County. He declined the nomination, though there was no opposition and the nomination practically assured an election, for the reason that he was preparing to move to Savannah. His natural leadership among men, and an inheritance of political talent derived from his ancestors on both sides, kept Mr. Edwards in the center of things political at Savannah, even while he was busy in establishing his reputation as a lawyer. On October 11, 1906, at Savannah he was nominated for Congress by the democrats, and was elected in the general election of November, 1906. He took his seat in the Sixtieth Congress, and has since been re-elected to the Sixty-first, Sixty-second, Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth congresses, serving continuously from March, 1907, with his present term expiring in March, 1917. Those who are best informed on the subject of individual values in the current congresses at Washington place a high estimate upon the influence and leadership of Charles G. Edwards in the House of Representatives. He is a member of some of the most important committees, including the committee on rivers and harbors, and has studied to make of himself a valuable representative not only of his home state but of the country at large in the solution of all national problems. It will be recalled that it was Congressman Edwards who secured the appropriation with which the handsome monument to Generals Screven and Stewart were erected at Midway Cemetery in Liberty County, Georgia. He is also a member of the National Good Roads Congress. There are many organizations and movements which have claimed his attention and which are the stronger by his membership. He belongs to the Georgia Bar Association, the Savannah Bar Association, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the various fraternal and benevolent orders, and shows a keen interest in all charitable work, was a member of the Sigma Nu college fraternity of the University of Georgia Chapter, is affiliated with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Mystic Shrine, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, etc. He served in the Savannah Volunteer Guards of the Georgia Militia as a private, as corporal and as sergeant, and was later a lieutenant in the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, First Georgia Regiment.

On December 17, 1902, Congressman Edwards married at Waycross, Georgia, Miss Ora Beach. Mrs. Edwards gained her education in the high school of Waycross, in Cox College at College Park, Georgia, and is a graduate from the latter institution. She is a daughter of the late Hon. W. W. and Mrs. Margie (Hinson) Beach of Waycross. The Hinsons are one of the oldest and best known families of Coffee and Jeff Davis counties, Georgia. Her father, Hon. W. W. Beach, represented his native County of Appling in the Georgia Legislature, and subsequently removed to Ware County, Georgia. He was a popular and progressive citizen, and at the time of his death was a man of considerable wealth and a large land owner. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have one son, Master Charles Beach Edwards, born October 30, 1904.

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Judge J. L. Sweat.
For a little more than forty-five years Judge Sweat has had a secure and substantial position as a member of the Georgia bar. During the greater part of this time his home has been at Waycross in Ware County. His career has not only been one of unusual length but of variety of experience. He was a Confederate soldier and has served his country and state in many ways aside from his work as a lawyer.

Born September 21, 1847, in the Northeastern portion of Ware, afterwards included in the formation of the County of Pierce, he was still a youth when his parents died, and he lived with his Grandmother Strickland on the old plantation immediately north of where the Town of Blackshear was built up and which became the county seat of the new County of Pierce. He attended the Blackshear Academy until April, 1862, when at the age of about 14 1/2 years he enlisted in the Confederate army. He served three years, until the surrender in April, 1865, a portion of the time with Wheeler's Cavalry. Since the war Judge Sweat has taken a deep interest in the United Confederate Veterans Association", having organized a camp at Waycross of which he has frequently been commander, and for several years was commander of the South Georgia Brigade.

After the war he located at Homerville, in Clinch County, where he followed different pursuits until the April term, 1869, of the Clinch Superior Court, when he was admitted to the bar, and for about twenty years engaged in the practice of law with an office in Homerville.

Just a short time before he was admitted to the bar, in January, 1869, Judge Sweat married Miss Maggie M. Hitch. There were two children: Lee L. and Lulu M., the latter dying in her early womanhood. The son, after graduating from the State University, became his law partner under the firm name of J. L. Sweat & Son, although never taking an active part in the practice. Judge Sweat removed with his family from Homerville to Waycross, Georgia, in the early part of 1887, where he has since lived. Mrs. Sweat died in January, 1914.

With the exception of the time he was on the bench, Judge Sweat has from his admission to the bar been actively engaged in the practice of law throughout South Georgia, and is regarded as one of the most competent and successful members of the legal profession. He has also been very successful in business affairs. At present he is a director and the attorney for the First National Bank of Waycross and the Waycross Savings & Trust Company, and also an attorney for the Waycross Street & Suburban Railway Company and attorney at Waycross for the A. B. and A. Railway Company. In addition he is connected in a business way or as an attorney with other important enterprises.

He was twice elected representative from Clinch County, serving as a member of the Legislature in 1880-1-2-3. In 1912 he was elected senator from the Fifth District, serving in the Georgia Senate during 1913 and 1914. During all his legislative career he took a leading part as a lawmaker. Having previously been connected with the clerical department of the Legislature and for a part of the year 1871 a clerk in the executive department under Governor James M. Smith, he was elected and served as chief clerk of the House of Representatives in 1875 and 1876. In April, 1892, he was appointed judge of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, then composed of nine counties, including Ware, in which his home town of Waycross is located. He succeeded in that office Judge Spencer R. Atkinson, who had resigned. After having been twice elected by the General Assembly and serving altogether about seven years on the bench, Judge Sweat retired, his administration of public justice having met with strong approval by the bar and people.

Always a democrat, Judge Sweat has taken a prominent part in political affairs, being a member of the Georgia delegation to the National Democratic Convention that first nominated Grover Cleveland for President at Chicago, and afterwards at St. Louis, and was frequently a member of congressional and state conventions and a leader in their work and deliberations. Judge Sweat is a member of the Methodist Church and of the Masonic Order.

Throughout his residence at Waycross no one perhaps has done more than Judge Sweat towards the upbuilding of his city, county and section, along all material and civic lines. While now advanced in years, he has a prospect of long continued usefulness for himself and country.

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Hon. Harry Manassas Wilson.
The career of Hon. Harry Manassas Wilson, justice of the Waycross Circuit, is strongly entrenched in the judicial history of Ware County. The City of Waycross, which witnessed the beginning of his professional career in 1907, offered a promising field for the young man of twenty-two, and the citizens who have watched his advancement have had no cause to regret the faith they placed in his energy, enthusiasm and ability. In his career he has reflected dignity, genuine worth and sincerity upon a profession for which he is singularly equipped.

Judge Wilson was born at Waycross, Ware County, Georgia, October 31, 1885, and is a son of William Manassas and Sarah (Pinkney) Wilson, the latter of whom is a daughter of Eustace Pinkney, a native of Cheraw, Chesterfield County, South Carolina. William M. Wilson was born at Waresboro, Ware County, Georgia, a son of William Wilson, who emigrated from his native Germany as a young unmarried man and located at Columbus, Georgia. At the outbreak of the Civil war William Wilson turned over his mercantile interests to other hands and offered his services to the Confederacy, fighting throughout the entire period of the struggle and taking part in many important battles. When peace was once more declared he located at Waresboro, at that time the county seat of Ware County, but when it was changed to Waycross he went to the latter place and there continued to be engaged in successful general merchandising operations until his death at the age of eighty-six years. William Wilson married Miss Martha J. Smith, who was born in 1835, in Ware County, and who has always lived here.

William Manassas Wilson, who was born in Ware County in 1861, is the active head of one of the leading mercantile establishments of Waycross, and president of the William M. Wilson Grocery Company. He served as clerk of the Superior courts of Ware County for ten years and has always taken an active part in those movements which have served to advance the welfare of his community, moral, educational and commercial. He is a steward of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is fraternally identified with the Knights of Pythias. William and Sarah (Pinkney) Wilson have been the parents of five children, as follows: Harry Manassas; Marie, deceased, who was the wife of Charles E. Harper; Julia, who is the wife of Charles J. Colcock, of Columbia, South Carolina; William B., a resident of Waycross; and Miss Sarah.

After attending the graded and high schools of Waycross, Harry M. Wilson took up the study of law in the legal department of the University of Georgia, from which he was graduated with his degree in 1907. At that time he formed a partnership with his cousin, Herbert Wilson, forming the firm of Wilson & Wilson, but after about two years the concern was dissolved and Mr. Wilson practiced alone until his election to the office of justice of the Waycross Circuit, in 1909. This position he has retained to the present time, and in the discharge of the important trusts committed to him by the people has manifested eminent legal ability, unswerving integrity and absolute impartiality. He holds membership in the Georgia State Bar Association. A stanch democrat, he has taken an active interest in county politics, and as a stump speaker his dignified presence and earnest and convincing utterances have always commanded respect. Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Like his brother and sisters, he was reared in the faith of his parents, that of the Roman Catholic Church, and has lived up to the teachings of Catholicism.

On December 25, 1909, Judge Wilson was married at Athens, Georgia, to Miss Lena Hinton Brightwell, daughter of Joseph W. Brightwell, a leading citizen of Athens. Judge and Mrs. Wilson have one child, J. Brightwell, who was born at Waycross, October 15, 1915. Mrs. Wilson is widely known in church circles, and takes an active and helpful part in the work of missionary societies.

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