History of Athens, (Clarke County) Georgia United States of America

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Biographies:

Joseph Henry Lumpkin, jurist, was born in Oglethorpe county, Ga., Dec. 23, 1799; son of John and Lucy (Hopson) Lumpkin, natives of Virginia, who settled in Oglethorpe when the country was a wilderness; and a descendant of English settlers in Virginia. He entered the junior class at Nassau Hall, College of New Jersey, in 1817, and was graduated in 1819. He studied law at Athens, Ga., under Judge Cobb, was admitted to the bar in October, 1820, and practised at Lexington, Ga., for nearly twenty-four years. He represented Oglethorpe county in the Georgia legislature in 1824 and 1825. He visited Europe, 1844-45, and in 1845, during his absence, he was elected chief justice of the newly organized supreme court for the correction of errors, which office he held until his death. He organized the Phi Kappa society at the University of Georgia about 1819-20, declined the professorship of rhetoric and oratory there in 1846, and by his exertions and those of Gen. T. R. R. Cobb, and W. H. Hull, established the Lumpkin law school as the law department of the University of Georgia in 1859, the school being named in his honor. He was the first to occupy the chair of law at the University of Georgia, 1859-61. The civil war closed the school, 1861-65, and he resumed the chair in 1865. He declined a seat on the bench of the U.S. court of claims offered him by President Pierce in 1855, and the chancellorship of the University of Georgia in 1860. He was an advocate of temperance and worked zealously for the reform. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from the University of Georgia in 1823, and that of LL.D. from the College of New Jersey in 1851, and was a trustee of the University of Georgia, 1854-67. He was one of the compilers of the penal code of Georgia in 1833. He married Calender Grieve, a Scotch lady, who survived him with the following children: Willoughby W., James, Frank, Joseph Henry, Lucy, who married Dr. Gerdine, Marion McHenry, who married Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb ; Calender, who married the Hon. Porter King, of Alabama, and became the mother of the Hon. Porter King, a prominent citizen of Atlanta, Ga. Judge Lumpkin died in Athens, Ga., June 4, 1867.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Williams Rutherford, educator, was born at Midway, near Milledgeville, Ga., Sept. 3, 1818; son of Williams and Eliza (Boykin) Rutherford; grandson of Col. John and Mary (Hubert) Rutherford and of Maj. Franck Boykin; great-grandson of Benjamin Hubert, a Huguenot, who immigrated to the United States in 1746 and married Mrs. Mary Williams, and a descendant of Robert Rutherford, who settled on the Nottaway river, Va., and married Dorothy Ann Brooks. Williams Rutherford attended a preparatory school at Milledgeville, and was graduated from Franklin college (University of Georgia), Athens, Ga., A.B., 1838, A.M., 1841. He engaged as a planter on Flint river and in teaching school until 1856; was professor of mathematics in Franklin college, 1856?86, and upon his resignation in the latter year was made professor emeritus. He was married, March 23, 1841, to Laura Battaile, daughter of John and Sarah Robinson (Rootes) Cobb, and sister of Gens. Howell and Thomas R. R. Cobb. Of their children: John C. Rutherford was a lawyer, and Mary Ann (Rutherford, Lipscomb and Mildred Rutherford were prominent educators. Professor Rutherford is the author of: Church Members' Guide for Baptist Churches; Family Government, in manuscript, and many articles for church papers. He died at Athens, Ga., Aug. 21, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Philip Clayton, statesman, was born in Athens, Ga., March 19, 1815; fourth son of Augustin Smith and Julia (Carnes) Clayton; grandson of Major Philip and Mildred (Dixon), great-grandson of Samuel and Ann (Coleman), great-great grandson of Major Philip and Ann (Coleman), great-great-great grandson of John Clayton of Williamsburg, Va., attorney-general and friend of Governor Spotswood, great-great-great-great grandson of the Rev. David Clayton, a minister in New Kent county, Va., and great-great-great-great-great grandson of the Rev. John Clayton, rector of Crofton in Yorkshire, England, who settled in Virginia and while serving the church in the new colony also engaged in agricultural pursuits and reported to the Royal society of England "Several Observables" in which he discussed the soil, climate, etc., in Virginia. Philip was graduated at Franklin college with the honors of the class of 1833. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1836. The same year he was married to Leonora, daughter of Holcombe Gaines and Martha (Semons) Harper, of Greensboro, Ga. Her father was a lineal descendant of Robert Goodloe Harper. Philip soon after relinquished the practice of the law to take charge of his father's plantation in Mississippi. On the death of his father in 1839 he returned to Athens, Ga., where he was editor of the Southern Banner. In 1849 he was appointed by President Taylor second auditor of the U.S. treasury and held the office through the administrations of Presidents Fillmore and Pierce. On the accession of President Buchanan, when Howell Cobb was made secretary of the treasury, Auditor Clayton was made assistant secretary, which position he resigned on the secession of Georgia in 1861. On the formation of the Confederacy Mr. Clayton was made assistant secretary of the Confederate states treasury and held the office during the existence of that government. After the restoration of the Union he acted with the Republican party and in 1874 President Grant appointed him U.S. consul at Callao, Peru, S. A. At his death he was succeeded in office by his son Robert, who was at the time his secretary. Mr. Clayton died at Callao, Peru, S. A., March 22, 1877.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Rootes Jackson, diplomatist, was born in Athens, Ga., June 24, 1820; son of Prof. Henry Jackson. He was a student at Franklin college and the College of New Jersey; was graduated at Yale in 1839; was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1840, and practised in Savannah. He was U.S. district-attorney for Georgia, appointed by President Tyler in 1843. He recruited the 1st Georgia volunteers for service in the Mexican war and commanded the regiment throughout the campaign. On his return to Savannah he purchased the Georgian, which he edited, 1848-49. He was judge of the superior court of the eastern circuit of Georgia, 1850-53; U.S. charg? d'affaires at Vienna, Austria, 1853-54, and minister resident, 1854-58. He resigned in July, 1858, and was selected by the government to assist the U.S. district-attorney in prosecuting the owners of the Wanderer and other slave traders, which occupied his time for two years. His part in these trials secured for him the disfavor of the people of Georgia and considerably affected his law practice. He was offered the chancellorship of the University of Georgia in 1859 on the resignation of President Alonzo Church, but declined the position. He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention which met at Charleston, S.C., April 23, and Richmond, Va., June 21, 1860; and was an elector-at-large for Georgia on the Breckinridge and Lane ticket. In 1861, when Georgia seceded from the Union, he commanded the state forces, having been commissioned major-general by Governor Brown. He was appointed a judge of the Confederate courts and served in this capacity from March till July, 1861. He joined the Confederate army in July, 1861, and was assigned to the army operating against McClellan in western Virginia. He succeeded Gen. Robert Selden Garnett, killed at Carrick's Ford, July 13, 1861, to the command of the army, and made strenuous efforts with his small force of less than 3000 men to overcome the victorious army of General McClellan, but was obliged to fall back. He commanded the Georgia state troops on the coast the latter part of 1861; having accepted the commission of major-general of state troops, and in 1862 he joined the Confederate army under Hood and succeeded Gen. C. H. Stevens in the command of his brigade in Walker's division, Hardie's corps, Johnston's army of Tennessee in the Atlanta campaign, May to September, 1864. He commanded a brigade in Bate's division, Hood's Army of Tennessee in the battles of Franklin, Tenn. Nov. 30, 1864, and Nashville, Dec. 15-16, 1864. At Nashville he was taken prisoner with his entire command and was prisoner of war till the close of the war, when he resumed the practice of law at Savannah, Ga. He was appointed U.S. minister to Mexico by President Cleveland, March 23, 1885, but resigned a few months later as he could not sustain the administration in the matter of the seizure of the American vessel Rebecca. He was a trustee of the Peabody Education fund, 1875-88; president of the Georgia Historical society, 1875-98; trustee of the University of Georgia, 1863-72; president of the Tel-fair Art academy, Savannah, and director of the Central Railroad and Banking company, 1894-98. He received the honorary degrees of A.M. in 1848 and LL.D. in 1893 from the University of Georgia. He is the author of: Talulah and other Poems (1850) and of several separate poems, including The Old Red Hills of Georgia, which he wrote while serving in the Mexican war, 1846-47. He died in Savannah, Ga., May 23, 1898.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor