“STERLING A.M. WOOD was a citizen of Tuscaloosa, but a native of Lauderdale. He was born in 1823 and took a collegiate course. Later, he read law in Columbia, Tennessee, was admitted to the bar in 1845 and became the partner of his brother at Florence. In 1857 he represented Lauderdale in the legislature, and was at that session elected District Solicitor, a position he filled until 1861 when he went into the service as captain of the first company that left Lauderdale. He was elected colonel when the 7th Alabama Infantry was organized in May. STERLING remained with his regiment at Pensacola till ordered to Bowling Green, Ky., in Feb 1862. In March, he was commissioned as Brigadier General. At Shiloh, he commanded the 16th and 23rd Al, 27th and 44th Tenn., and 32nd Miss. regiments. The 44th Tenn. was afterwards taken away, as well as the 45th Al regiment. GIBSON’S ALABAMA and NEWMANS’ TENNESSEE. battalions were substituted. This splendid brigade was led by Sterling at Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga. Perryville He was struck on the head by a shell fragment at Perryville and disabled for several weeks. He resigned in 1863, and practiced law in Tuscaloosa after the War.
GENERAL WOOD was six feet two inches and one of the finest looking men in the service. As a speaker he was fluent and eloquent, and ranked well at the bar. He was Master of the Grand Lodge of the Masons of this State for two years.
“A native of Putnam County, Georgia, David Clopton was born Sept. 29, 1820 to and Miss Kendrick and Dr. R. Alford Clopton, a Virginian by birth and several times a member of the Georgia legislature. Dr. Clopton practiced medicine in Georgia many years. His parents settled in Macon County in 1843 where his father was President of the Bank and then became a planter. Dr. Clopton died Feb. 1870 in Montgomery at eighty-three years of age.
David graduated from Randolph-Macon College, read law under Hon. Absalom H. Chappell, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. After practicing a short time in Georgia, he relocated to Tuskegee in 1844. His first associate was Mr. Solomon L. Pope; his second was Hon. R. F. Ligon, a partnership that lasted nineteen years and made profitable to both. David’s name was before the legislature once or twice for Justice of the Supreme Court but he was not elected. In 1859 he was nominated by his party for Congress against his written remonstrance and was elected after one of the hottest canvasses ever witnessed in the State, defeating Hon. T. J. Judge of Montgomery 221 votes. He served till his State seceded from the Union and then retired with his delegation. Soon after his return home, David volunteered as a private in the 12th Al. Infantry, and served till the close of 1861. After his election, David took his seat in the first Confederate Congress. In 1863 he was reelected over Mr. John H. Cadenhead of Macon and remained in Congress till the downfall of the Confederacy. Afterwards, he only took a quiet interest in public affairs and practicing his profession in Montgomery since 1866.”
“In the early history of the Alabama, after the conclusion of the treaty of Fort Jackson, people poured into the state from Virginia, the two Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia. The state was so quickly populated that the State Government felt that an Immigration Board was needed. David Clopton was a Director appointed to the First Board of Immigration in 1875.”
In October 1884, Governor O’Neal appointed Judge Clopton to the Supreme Court Bench. Judge Clopton was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Sheffield, also of the Sheffield Coal and Iron Company and was director in each of the corporations.
Mr. Clopton was a frail figure. His hair was black, complexion and eyes dark. The intellectual in him was predominant. He was a close student and an indefatigable worker. All his arguments were pointed, precise and perspicuous. His oratory was chaste, scholarly and finished. The purity of his life was exceptionable even among pious persons and he was exemplary in all the walks of a Christian gentleman.
Mr. Clopton’s first wife was a sister of Gov. R. F. Ligon of Macon. She died in 1867. His second a Mrs. Chambers of Columbus, Georgia. One of his daughters married Mr. Clifford A. Lanier of Montgomery Co, author of “Thorn-Fruit” and “Two-hundred Bales,” two volumes of romance. She died in 1885. He married a third time the widow of Clement C. Clay, Nov. 29, 1887 in Huntsville.
RUFUS GREENE was Grand Master in 1848-49-50 and Grand Master of the Grand Council 1848-49-50. He was also Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter in 1850.
*He may have lived in Mobile and if so was involved in education and started the Male and Female Academy in Mobile, Alabama.
“Felix Grundy Norman , was born January 4, 1808, near Smyrna, Rutherford County, Tenn. and died August 5, 1885 at Tuscumbia, Alabama. He received an academic course and in 1828 came to this (then Franklin) County and taught school. He was afterwards a merchant, but read law under Hon. William Cooper and was licensed in 1841. The same year he entered the legislature, and served for eight successive years. From 1845 to 1847 he was Master of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons in the State. He was living in Tuscumbia in 1872. A Lawyer, a Democrat, a Presbyterian and a Mason. He was denied early educational advantages, but was taught in the rudiments by an older brother. He began life as a merchant, but later taught school for several years. He studied under William Casper, was admitted to the bar in Tuscumbia in the early thirties, and practiced at that point and the surrounding country until his death.
He was Mayor of Tuscumbia for many years, and represented Franklin County in the Legislature a number of times in the legislature for sessions of 1841, 1842, 1844, 1845 and 1847-8, inclusive. Although he supported the Confederacy with his means and influence, he was debarred from active participation on account of his age.[trifelixgrundy]
Felix Grundy Norman, grew up in the early settlement of west Tennessee and once spoke about his childhood and the difficulties his family faced each day, in the United States Senate, With eloquence, he related the following, “I was too young to participate in these dangers and difficulties, but I can remember when death was in almost every bush, and every thicket concealed an ambuscade. If I am asked to trace my memory back, and name the first indelible impression it received, it would be the sight of my eldest brother, bleeding and dying under the wounds inflicted by the tomahawk and scalping knife. Another, and another went in the same way. I have seen a widowed mother plundered of her whole property in one night; from affluence and ease reduced to poverty in a moment, and compelled to labor with her own hands to support and educate her last and favorite son-him who now addresses you. Sir, the ancient sufferings of the West were very great. I know it. I need turn to no document to tell me what they were. They are written upon my memory-a part of them on my heart. Those of us who are here are but the remnant, the wreck of large families lost in the settlement of the West.” xvii[Earlysett]
He was the son of John Norman and Margaret [Stockird or Stockard] Norman who lived at Smyrna, Rutherford county, Tenn. Married: August 17, 1848 at Dickson, to Jane Lavinia Cook. Jane, was born in Huntsville, Ala., Feb. 22, 1824, and died June 25, 1901. She was a daughter of Henry Cook and Jane [Shelton] Cook, of Spotsylvania County, Va., and a sister of Mrs. Amanda Barton. They resided for some years in Huntsville, later locating to Tuscumbia
where they spent the remaining years of their lives, in the former for some time as government agent for the disposition of Indian lands. Children: 1. John Henry Norman; 2. Felix Grundy Norman,[Jr.], m. Della Phares, Salinas, Calif.; 3. Mary Barton Norman, m. John R. Charlton, La Verge, Tenn.; 4. Kate Cook Norman, m. Hall S. Kirkpatrick; 5. Thomas Edgar Norman, m. Lee Ellis, Memphis; 6. James Beverly Norman, last residence: Tuscumbia.”
He and his wife are buried in the Oakwood Cemetery at Tuscumbia. Mrs. Norman before her marriage was Jane L. Cook, a daughter of Henry Cook and Jane Cook and Mr. and Mrs. Norman were the parents of several well-known children
“James Penn was born in Amherst County, Virginia, September 22, 1794. While still in Virginia, Brother Penn married Martha and their first two children Virginia Ann Penn and James Littleton Penn were born there. In 1825, Brother Penn and his family moved to Triana, Madison County, Alabama. His sons Fearn Penn, George Nicholas Penn, and William Penn, born in Alabama, died of scarlet fever in January 1841. Two daughters were also born in Alabama. Brother Penn entered into law practice with Thomas J. Sumner of Huntsville, but maintained his office in Triana and on June 21, 1829, ran an ad in The Democrat, a Huntsville newspaper, to announce his candidacy for the Alabama Legislature. He served as speaker of the lower house for three years. After serving his final term in the legislature he dropped his law practice and became a cashier for the Branch Bank of Alabama, where he remained employed until his removal to Memphis, Tennessee in 1848.
Brother Penn was made a Mason as early as 1817 in Marshall Lodge No. 39 of Lynchburg, Virginia, and served as Master for several years and District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia in 1820 and 1821. He was Exalted in Richmond Chapter No. 3 R.A.M. in 1819, and soon became a member of Euclid Chapter No. 15, at Danville, Virginia, and was Grand High Priest of Virginia Royal Arch Masons in 1820-21. Brother Penn apparently received the R. & S. M. Degrees on the 16th day of February, 1820, from James Cushman, who held a patent from Jeremy L. Cross and who issued another patent authorizing Brother Penn as the first Thrice Illustrious Grand Master and others to open Washington Council No. 6 at Lynchburg, Virginia.
Brother Penn is not only distinguished as the “Father of the Alabama Ritual” but also as the “Father of Scottish Rite Masonry in Virginia” for his leadership in the movement to establish the Scottish Rite in Lynchburg and in the State of Virginia at large, thereby becoming a Charter member of Virginia Consistory in Brother Penn appears to have received the Scottish Rite Degrees, Forth to Thirty-second from James Cushman, a Deputy of the Supreme Council, at the same time he received the Cryptic Degrees. He affiliated with Triana Lodge No. 22 and served as Master from 1827 to 1834, then later with Helion Lodge No 1 in Huntsville where he served as Master from 1837 to 1842. In 1826, he was present at the Annual Communication in Tuscaloosa and served on including committees appointed to revise and amend the Constitution and another to exemplify the work. He also served as pro tem, Grand Senior Warden. He served as Grand Lecturer of the Alabama Grand Lodge from 1827 to 1833 and as Grand Master in 1843 and 1844.
Brother Penn died July 21, 1870, at age seventy-five. In a memorial written by Brother Albert Pike Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite at that time, and a personal friend of Brother Penn, he states “Our dear friend and brother was a man eminently of pure
heart and innocent life, a generous, genial, kind affectionate man, of blameless morals, in the truest sense a servant of the Cross, doing harm to none, and saying harm of none; and yet no negative man, but of firm convictions and energetic action, and resolute nature and quick decision, condemning with a lofty scorn every act unworthy of a Mason, and yet ever ready to forgive when that wrongly done had been repented of.” xvi[1979 Pro] [Grand Masters of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons The State of Alabama 1821-2008 by Donna R. Causey]
N. W. FLETCHER was a member of Triana Lodge, Madison County in 1828 and Worshipful Master of Perry Lodge No. 34 in Marion in 1838. He became Deputy Grand Master in 1841 and Grand Master in 1842. [Grand Masters of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons The State of Alabama 1821-2008 by Donna R. Causey]
“Edward Herndon, planter and merchant, was born September 17, 1799, at Spotsylvania, Va., and died February 2, 1872, at Livingston, Sumter County: son of Edward Herndon and Mary Elizabeth (Sharpe) Herndon, of Cole Hill and Spotsylvania, Va.; brother of Thomas Hord Herndon (q.v.) He was educated under private tutors, and came to Alabama when he was a youth. He became a planter and merchant; owned lands at Erie, Greene County, 1818-1838; moved to Gainesville, Sumter County, 1839; was associated with Whisett Winston and others in the mercantile business until 1844 or 1845; devoted his entire attention to planting near Sumterville, 1845-1866; was elected treasurer of Sumter County, 1868; appointed U. S. census enumerator, 1870; and was register in chancery for Sumter County, 1869-1872.
He was always called major, and was probably on the staff of one of the governors of Alabama. He is said to have been appointed and commissioned to receive and entertain GEN. Lafayette when he visited the United States. He was a Whig until 1860, was a Union man, 1860-1865, and a Republican, 1865-1872. He was a member of the Church of England until 1824, then became a Presbyterian.
He was a Mason, serving as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, 1839-1841, Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge, 1844-1846, Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter, 1840-1842, and Grand Treasurer of the Grand Chapter, 1845.
He was married to Malvina Ann Cammack, daughter of Robert Cammack and Elizabeth (Chew) Cammack, who lived at Cole Hill, VA. Her ancestors were Scotch, the Chew family having a crest and coat of arms. Their children: 1. Robert Edward Herndon, b. January 25, 1829, d. November 1859, unmarried, was a merchant at Hall’s Bluff, Tex.; 2. Thomas C. Herndon, d. 1906, m. Jane Krumbhaar, Pass Christian, Miss.: 3. Christiana C. Herndon., d. 1878 m. Anthony Winston Dillard 4. Emma J. Herndon., d. 1908, m. Thomas Rufus Underwood; 5. Addison C. Herndon., d. 1897, m. Mary Prades, 6. Lucy Bird Herndon, d. 1840; 7. Samuel C. Herndon. d. 1840. His last residence was Livingston, Alabama.”
“JOHN C. HICKS was born near Richmond, Virginia in 1792 and at the age of about 18 years located in Davidson County, Tennessee. He was an aide, with the rank of major, to GENERAL JACKSON, and had command of the post of Mobile while Jackson was at New Orleans.”
He married MARIA WATERS and after his marriage he studied medicine. In 1830 he moved to Lawrence County, Alabama and lived there nine years then moved to Sumter County, Alabama. In 1833 he was a resident of St. Clair County, as he was enrolled on April 15, 1833, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832 to receive an annual allowance $26.66; for his service. transferred from Georgia. Pension Book, State Branch Bank, Mobile.
In 1836, JOHN C. HICKS was Worshipful Master of Davis Lodge No. 28 in LaGrange. He was a member of a committee to form a new Grand Lodge and was elected Grand Master in 1836. Later, he moved to Carroll County, Mississippi where he lived until his death on August 1865 at the age of 73 years. “He was a planter, and accumulated considerable property while in Mississippi. He was Grand Master of Freemasons for many years while in Alabama and was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church” JOHN and MARIA raised a family of six children: SARAH HICKS( Mrs. JUDGE JAS.. J. CHEWNING, of Mississippi); B. M. HICKS, a physician; David W. HICKS of Tuscumbia, Alabama; MARIANNE W. HICKS (Mrs. A. J. TIDWELL, of Mississippi); JOHN W. HICKS. of Memphis; and ROBERT H. HICKS. Of Mississippi.
His son DAVID W. HICKS was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, July 31, 1830 and received his education at Eureka College, Richland, Mississippi. In 1853, David went to Gonzales, Texas where he was engaged in the dry goods business for seven years. In 1860, he went to Tuscumbia and married Miss SARAH A. HOBGOOD, daughter of JOHN HOBGOOD and MARTHA A. (ALSOBROOK} HOBGOOD of Tuscumbia.
After his marriage, he engaged in planting and in 1862 entered CAPTAIN KUMPIE’S Company for six months. The Company was re-organized and known as Company K, Eleventh Alabama Regiment and DAVID was elected second lieutenant. He participated in the first fight at Decatur, the battles of Fishing Creek, Sulphur Trestle, Tennessee, Moulton and Selma and was in Forrest’s command at the time of the surrender. After the war he resumed farmed and owned a large plantation near Tuscumbia. He and his wife had eight children viz: JOHN C. HICKS; MARTHA A. HICKS., wife of W. T. ELAM, of Mississippi; DAVID B. HICKS, ANN M. HICKS. LOTTIE H HICKS, SARAH B. HICKS, MCREYNOLDS HICKS, and EDGAR W. HICKS
The HICKS family came originally from England, and the Waters are descendants of Scotch ancestry.
[Grand Masters of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons The State of Alabama 1821-2008 by Donna R. Causey]
“WILLIAM LEIGH was born in Amelia County, Virginia, October 4th 1790; died in Florence, Alabama July 31st, 1873; aged 82 years, 9 months, and 27 days. He connected himself with the Baptist church at Sandy Creek, Amelia County, Virginia, Aug. 1807. He was licensed to preach Aug 5th, 1810, and was regularly ordained to the Gospel ministry June 16th 1821. He continued to preach until his death, 63 years from the date of his license, and 52 years from the date of his ordination. As early as 1823 he advocated in the Muscle Shoals Association, the missionary doctrine, and although unsuccessful at first, mainly through his perseverance and great zeal the Association finally adopted it.
Your committee cannot find, after careful inquiry, when, or where he was made a Mason; but find that he was elected Junior Grand Warden in 1828, Grand Master in 1833 and 1834. In 1851 he published his book—“The Ladies Masonry or Hieroglyphic Monitor.” He was a member of the order up to his death, being a member of Florence Lodge No. 14 when he died.
In his general intercourse and character in the community, he was esteemed as energetic, charitable, and humane, illustrating in his life the principles of our order, universal charity and benevolence; being ever ready according to his ability to aid and assist the needy and distressed.
No man in the State was more devotedly attached to our order, or more active in his zealous discharge of Masonic duty. He was ever ready to aid, assist, and work. Your committee in the facts and preparation of this history are indebted to Past Grand Master Felix G. Norman for all the details, and would recommend the adoption of the following: Resolved, That a memorial tablet be erected in the printed proceedings, with the name and date of his death, and that a copy be furnished the family of our deceased Brother and Past Grand Master.”
William J. Mason was a representative to the Alabama Legislature in 1832 from Limestone County, Alabama. Ix
“Member Of Athens Lodge No. 16, Limestone County, Alabama and was a large landowner He died in 1834.” X [1834 Pro] *Current research indicates that William Mason may have been the son of William Mason and Mary Gilliam of Limestone County, Alabama. He was born about 1775 and died Dec. 24, 1835 in Limestone County, Alabama. He married (1) Tabitha Wynne Tuell May 16, 1799; married (2) Rebecca Richardson August 14, 1800 in Greensville, VA.
“Thomas Bivin Creagh, farmer, was born at Donerail, County Cork, Ireland, son of John and Sarah O. (Moore) Creagh, of Donerail, County Cork, Ireland. He died Feb., 1842 at Boiling Springs, Wilcox County, Alabama. The founder of the name was a son of King O’Neil, of Ulster, who commanded a body of troops in the Castle of Limerick at the time the Danes invaded Ireland. He defeated the Danes with great slaughter, and when he returned to the castle, the population turned out to greet him, placing laurel in the horses’ bridles. Laurel in Irish is known as “creagh,” and he was known from that time on as Creagh O’Neil, until O’Neil was dropped and Creagh alone used. The street in Ireland leading from that castle to the river is known as Creagh Lane to this day.
Mr. Creagh came to America as an English officer with Gen. Braddock before the Revolution. He was an educated man who later held office under the British government, but he did not return to Europe. There is a tradition that it was to Capt. Creagh that George Washington spoke, when he said that Braddock could not fight the Indians by the method he was then pursuing. He settled in Lynchburg, Va., after retiring from the army, and was married there. He moved to North Carolina for a short time, then located in South Carolina, near the Georgia line. He was a farmer and a large slave owner. He lived in Abbeville, S.C. until after his wife died, then broke up his home and followed his son, George Creagh, to Alabama, settling near Suggsville. His home was made of lumber sawed with a whip saw by hand before there was a mill. He was a Master Mason, and was high priest of his chapter and a Democrat.
He married (1) at Lynchburg, Va., Rebecca Walthall, daughter of Gerard Walthall and Eliza Ann (Davis} Walthall, who lived on a plantation at Lynchburg, Va., a descendant of the Davis family of Salisbury, N.C., of Scotch-Irish ancestry, who emigrated to America, settling first at Salisbury and later moving to Lower Peach Tree; (2) Winifred Davis, of Clarke County. Children from the first marriage; (1) John G. Creagh. b. 1787, in South Carolina, was educated in Dr. Waddell’s academy, was an early settler in Alabama, a lawyer and farmer, who was elected to the State legislature five times from Clarke County, and served one term as probate judge, d. in 1830, married Clara Howze who later married Judge A. B. Cooper, had one child, Clara who died in childhood;(2) Richard P. Creagh, attorney general of Mississippi, who was killed in a rencontre in 1823 while occupying that position; (3) Gerard Walthall Creagh (q.v.); (4) Edward A. Creagh., who came from South Carolina to Alabama, d. unmarried; (5) Lorenzo Creagh; (6) Memorable Walker Creagh (q.v.); (7) Milton Alexander Creagh, m. (1) Ann Howze, deceased, child John Wesley Creagh, m. Lizzie Simmons, of North Carolina. (2) Willie H,. Glover, daughter of Ben Glover, who lived near Dayton, children, Clara Creagh, Hughes Creagh, Sallie Creagh and Willie Creagh. Thomas Bivin Creagh’s last residence was Boiling Springs, Wilcox County, Alabama.”
