Col. William Willis Garth (1826)
From FindaGrave |
| Born: | October 28, 1826, Morgan County, AL |
| Died: | February 25, 1912, Huntsville, AL |
| Buried: | Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, AL |
| Son of: | General Jesse Winston Garth |
| Husband of: | Maria Eliza Fearn Garth |
| Father of: | Winston Fearn Garth |
Notes:
• Son of Gen. Jesse Winston and Unity Spottswood (Dandridge) Garth; grandson of Thomas and Susanna (Dourette) Garth, who lived near Charlottesville, Va., and of Nathaniel West and Sarah (Watson) Dandridge, Jr., who lived in Hanover County, Va.; great grandson of Thomas and Judith (Bowcock) Garth, of Richard and Elizabeth (Davis) Dourette, III, and of Gov. Spottswood of Virginia. Col. Garth's mother died when he was very young, and the greater part of his boyhood was spent in Virginia at school. - Owen
• He was graduated from Emory and Henry college with honors in 1843, and enlisted as a volunteer in the Mexican War. He entered the law department of the University of Virginia and was graduated with distinction. - Owen
• Married: June 21, 1855, at Huntsville, Maria Eliza Fearn, daughter of Dr. Thomas and Sarah Shelbey, who lived at Nashville, Tenn.; granddaughter of David and Sarah (Bledsoe) Shelbey, the former of whom won honors at King's Mountain when he was nineteen years old; great-granddaughter of Col. Anthony Bledsoe, a distinguished fighter in the Indian wars. - Owen
• He practiced law in Decatur until 1855, and then moved to Huntsville, where he continued his practice until the beginning of war in 1861. He entered the C. S. Army, and served as lieutenant colonel on Gen. Longstreet's staff throughout the war. After peace was established, he resumed his law practice at Huntsville. In 1876, he was nominated and elected for congress from the eighth district; was the nominee of his party again in 1878, but was defeated by Col. William M. Lowe, independent Greenback Labor Democrat, who was supported by the Republicans of the district. He was a director in the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and a director in the First National Bank of Huntsville. He was a Democrat, and served as vestryman and senior warden in the Episcopal church. - Owen
• "Willis W. Garth was educated at the University of Virginia and studied law. Previous to the war he practiced his profession in Morgan County, and during the political excitement preceding the war, he canvassed and spoke on the issues so vital to the Southern people with power and effect. He married Miss Maria Fearn, a daughter of Dr. Thomas Fearn, of Huntsville. During the war he was an ardent Confederate. After the war he moved to Huntsville and occupied the old Fearn homestead, where he still resides. At the Convention of the Democratic party, held at Decatur in 1876, he was nominated for Congress from the Eighth District, was elected and served most acceptably, making an unexceptionable record. In 1878, however, although the nominee of the Party, he was defeated by Col. Wm. M. Lowe, Independent Greenback Labor Democrat, supported by the Republicans of the District.
Colonel Garth has been a student of history, and is deeply versed in the fundamental principles upon which have hinged the politics of the country, no less than in the careers of its leading men from the formation of the Federal Government. Thus accurately informed, with argumentative ability, and natural gifts of oratory, he is one of the strongest and most effective public speakers in Alabama. And his rigid adherence to principle renders his views a standard of true Democracy.
Colonel Garth, as executor of his father's large estate and trustee of the portions of his sisters, has had his hands full of business since 1867; and he is recognized by the courts of equity and by all who have dealings with him, as a thorough man of business, scrupulous and just, and, so far as he is concerned, generous and free from greed - a man of judgment, sagacious, safe and wholly reliable. A believer in country life and farming, he has never been a speculator in cotton, railroad stocks or lands, although he has dealt largely in each and was long a director of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad.
Colonel Garth has a son and two grandchildren, to whom he is devoted. He and his family are members of the Protestant Episcopal church." - Deland & Smith
• "Served as a Colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Elected to represent Alabama's 8th District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1877 to 1879. He was also an attorney. (Bio by: K)" - FindaGrave
• Married Dr. Thomas Fearn's daughter, Maria Eliza Fearn, but this might not be the Dr. Fearn from Huntsville(?) It sounds like Maria Eliza came from Tennessee. Maria Eliza Fearn Garth (1832 - 1917) - History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama biography
• He had a son also named William Willlis Garth born in 1884. - Editor's Note
• In 1881 he bought the Drake farm. In 1939 the farm was sold to the Jones family (Jones Valley). - Nilsson
• "Born October 28, 1826 near Decatur, Morgan C o ., Ala. Entered service as a Lieutenant Colonel on June 22, 1861 at Manassas in Longstreet's staff and continued until discharged for being near-sighted and having typhoid fever." - 1907 Confederate Census
• Nov. 7, 1878 - "Col. William M. Lowe defeated W. W. Garth for the Eighth district Congressional Seat. Lowe was a member of the Greenback - Labor Party." - Eden
• Governor's Delegate to National Conservation Congress, 1911. - Record 1
• Deliegate to Cotton Growers Convention, Calveston, 1897. - Record 2
• W. W. Garth wrote a letter to Governor Patton expressing prejudice against the placement of a normal school for freed African Americans. That letter can be read with this link. - Shapiro
• February 28, 1912: "Colonel William Winston Garth died at age 86. He practiced law with the firm of Cabaniss, Garth and Ward. A Confederate veteran, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. He was elected to Congress as a representative from the 8th Alabama district. He was survived by his widow, Maria Fearn Garth, and a son, Winston F. Garth." - Eden
Related Links:
• 1907 Confederate Census - 1907 Confederate Census: Limestone, Morgan, & Madison Counties, Alabama, by Johnson Historical Publications, 1981, page 9.
• Ancestry.com - Page owned by MargaretFrancis86 and can be viewed only with an Ancestry.com paid subscription. (Originally found at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16690020/person/20475675287.)
• Armstrong & French - Notable Southern Families, Volume 2 by Zella Armstrong, Janie Presto Collup French, 1922, page 328.
• Deland & Smith - Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical, by T. A. DeLand and A. Davis Smith, 1888, pages 770 & 771.
• Eden - Eden of the South: A Chronology of Huntsville, Alabama, 1805-2005, by Raneé G. Pruitt, Editor, 2005, pages 73, 129.
• FindaGrave - Credit given to: History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 3 by Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen
• History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama biography - Volume 3, by Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, p. 643
• Nilsson - Why Is It Named That?, by Dex Nilsson, 2005, page 58.
• Owen - History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Volume 3 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, 1921, p. 643.
• Record 1 - A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Volume I, by James Record, 1970, page 343.
• Record 2 - A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Volume II, by James Record, 1970, page 673.
• Shapiro - John Benton Callis: Madison County's Republican Congressman by Norman M. Shapiro, Huntsville Historical Review, Volume 29, #2, Spring-Summer 2004, Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, page 25+.
• Steele - Cease Not To Think of Me: The Steele Family Letters, by Edited by Patricia H. Ryan, 1979, pages 3, 100, 102,103,104,171.
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Deland & Smith
• Eden
• General Jesse Winston Garth
• History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama biography
• Maria Eliza Fearn Garth
• Nilsson
• Owen
• Record 1
• Record 2
• Shapiro
• Steele
• Winston Fearn Garth