History of Oglethorpe County Georgia United States of America

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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

Joseph Beckham Cobb, author, was born in Oglethorpe county, Ga., April 11, 1819; son of Thomas W. Cobb, U.S. senator; grandson of John Cobb, and great-grandson of Thomas Cobb, who migrated from Virginia and settled in Georgia about 1764. Joseph attended the University of Georgia, but was not graduated. He removed to Noxubee county, Miss., in 1838, and devoted himself to literature. In 1851 he was a member of the Whig state convention and was elected to the state senate for several terms. In 1853 he was nominated by the American party as a candidate for representative in the 33rd congress but failed of election. His published works include The Creole, or the Siege of New Orleans (1850); Mississippi Scenes (1850); and Leisure Labors (1858). He died in Columbus, Ga., Sept. 15, 1858.

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

Nathaniel Macon Crawford, educator, was born in Ogletborpe county, Ga., March 22, 1811; son of the Hon. William Harris and ?? (Gardine) Crawford. He was graduated at the University of Georgia with highest honors in 1829, and became first a Presbyterian and subsequently a Baptist minister. In 1836 he was a professor in Oglethorpe college, Ga., and in 1846 he accepted the chair of theology in Mercer university, becoming president of that institution in 1854 to succeed President Dagg. In 1856 he resigned that position to accept the chair of metaphysics and ethics in the University of Mississippi. He was professor of theology in Georgetown college, Ky., 1857-58 and in 1858 returned to Mercer as its president continuing as such until the institution closed in 1865, when he accepted the presidency of Georgetown college, Ky., where he served, 1865-71. He received the degree of D.D. from the University of Georgia in 1854. He died in Walker county, Ga., Oct. 22, 1871.

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

History of Oglethorpe County Georgia

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