Jefferson County, Alabama Biographies

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A. J. TARRANT was born June17, 1832, five miles from the present city of Birmingham. The only early educational advantages he enjoyed were such as the common schools of his immediate locality afforded, and were very good for that day and time. As honesty of motive and purpose has ever characterized his course in life he made the most of these opportunities, and it is not surprising-that he has achieved that degree of worth among his fellow men which ever falls to the lot of those who act from such conceptions of duty. His father, Benjamin Tarrant, was one of the pioneers of the county, and came from South arolina, near Greenville, and settled in Jefferson County, in the year 1819. His mother, Morning Richardson, also came from the same State as his father. They were man and wife for fifty years, and lived together to see their golden wedding celebrated, an event which rarely ever occurs in the lives of any couple. There were seven children in the family, six girls and one boy, of whom the boy was the youngest. Peace and plenty characterized the condition of the people in those early days.
During the time that young Tarrant was going to school he assisted his father on the farm. At the age of sixteen he left school, and gave his service to the farm. Right, here it may not be amiss to make a statement in reference to his father which will be of interest to many of the old settlers now living in Jefferson County. When his father had attained the age of fifty he became a Methodist minister—a local preacher, not a circuit rider. He was a local preacher of the gospel for thirty years. At the date of his death he had attained the advanced age of eighty-two, and died with the benediction of his neighbors and friends resting upon him. The companion of his life died at the age of seventy.

Young Tarrant, on leaving school, as already stated, went to the farm, and provided the means of sustenance to his aged parents. He lived in the same house with them until he was near thirty years old. In 1860 he was married to Mrs. Martha J. Massey, and then moved a short distance from the parental abode and engaged in farming on his own account, but still looked after his father's and mother's wants. He was very successful as a farmer, and still owns the particular farm which he then purchased, situated about eight miles from Birmingham.

As a singular coincidence, it maybe stated that his father filled the same office which the son is at present filling. The former was tax assessor, and also collector, filling one term in each office, prior to 1837, and in that year represented his county in the State Legislature. The son, as will be seen further on, was made assessor, which office he .has held for some years.

Life with young Tarrant passed on smoothly until the breaking out of the war. He enlisted in Company C, Twentieth Alabama Regiment. The company was raised by Colonel Porter, now judge of the probate court of Jefferson County. He was orderly sergeant of his company, and came out of the war as its captain. It was on September 15, 1861, that he went out as a soldier, and remained until almost the very last battle. He was in some of the fiercest engagements of the bloody drama. Among these may be mentioned the battle of Port Gibson, Baker's Creek, the siege of Vicksburg, the battle at Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and was in the campaigns through Tennessee and Georgia, and also at the fall of Atlanta. He recollects with vivid memory the horrible sufferings of those terrible days of carnage. His last battle was fought in North Carolina under General D. H. Hill. His immediate brigade commander was General E. W. Pettus. He was selected by him, when near Atlanta, and placed in charge of a reconnoitering party of fifty picked men, and made a special reconnoissance. He captured a surgeon, with his wagon and driver, and also thirty German soldiers, who could not pronounce a word of English. He was then, for a short time, in command of the battalion at the same place. After the battle under General Hill he was detailed by General Pettus, and sent on special service to Macon, Georgia, and from there to Montgomery, Alabama, and then to Selma, and .passed through the latter place on the morning of the day when it fell. The doom of the Confederacy was then sealed, and he walked through the country most of the way from that place to his home, as well as most of the distance from Macon, Georgia, to Selma. He was wounded once in all these battles, and the same bullet which struck him also wounded a companion of his by the name of Dock Robertson, a member of the same company, and a native of Jefferson County.

He arrived at his home April 6, 1865, and found it literally swept of everything, and, though it was late in the year, he set to work with a brave heart and determined will, made a fine crop that year, and continued to farm successfully up to August, 1880, when he was elected tax assessor of Jefferson County, and has filled the office ever since, by re-election. In this position he has made a faithful, efficient officer, and, .judging his term of service by the good will of his fellow citizens, he will enjoy many .more re-elections at their hands.

Captain Tarrant is yet hale and hearty, and the years of his life rest lightly upon him. He is one of those of whom it can he said that the world is better for his having lived in it, and his particular community can appreciate the fact, also, as he has been a life-long resident within its limits.

Captain Tarrant is the father of two children, one of whom, a son now grown, is his father's assistant in the office he holds, and the other, a daughter, also grown, who is married and living at Pratt Mines. Both himself and Mrs. Tarrant and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

MAURICE B. THROCKMORTON was born inLouisville, Kentucky, October 17, 1856. At the time of his birth it was and always has been the Queen City, in point of refinement, culture, and progress of its people, of the State of Kentucky.

Colonel C. S Throckmorton, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Bourbon County, Kentucky, and belonged to its best families. His mother, Miss. Vine Ward, was a native of Louisville, and a daughter of Robert J. Ward, one of the most noted Kentuckians of his time.

His parents moved to Owensboro, Kentucky, in his early childhood, and it was here that he was reared and received a part of his education. When he had made sufficient progress he entered the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Lexington, Kentucky. This was the home for many years of two of the most distinguished citizens in American history, Henry Clay and Thomas Marshall. Young Throckmorton graduated in the year 1874, and in the fall of the same year accepted a position with the Southern Express Company, and rose rapidly to sustain important relations to the company. He remained with them continuously to October 15, 1882, and was agent at Birmingham from May 20, 1880, to October 15, 1882. He then became ticket agent for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad at this point, and discharged its duties with great satisfaction both to the public and to the company, until his resignation, December 28, 1885. He then engaged in the insurance and real estate business. He realized the great opportunity that these fields presented for the amassing of a large fortune, and saw that they paved the way to the highest business distinction. He was not slow in grasping the advantages of the situation, and has very rapidly come to the front among the wealthiest men of Birmingham. During the last year and a half he has made, from the rapid rise in values of real estate, what would be considered a splendid fortune as the reward of a lifetime of most uninterrupted success. He has always had the most implicit faith in Birmingham, and was ready to invest and take chances on this belief, while many others would hesitate, and lend a ready ear to the voice of over caution. He has lived to see his hopes realized far sooner than he had expected. To such truly active and wide-awake young men as Mr. Throckmorton it is not all surprising that the Magic City of the New South should be so lavish of her favors. He has achieved that standing, socially and financially, which places him among the leading men of this progressive center, and his career is encouragement alike to those younger and older than himself. He is yet in the heyday of young manhood, and the future holds out to him the brightest promises, and it is needless to predict that greater triumphs await him in the near future.

Mr. Throckmorton was married November 16, 1882, to Miss Florence E., daughter of Colonel Alburto Martin, of Elyton, who was for many years one of the truest and most distinguished citizens of Jefferson County.

Mr. Throckmorton's home is one of the most beautifully situated in Birmingham, and is the crowning prize of his greatest happiness. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
S. R. TRUSS, is a native of Jefferson County, and was born in Trussville in 1848. He is a son of John and Margaret Worthington Truss. Some years after his birth his father emigrated to Texas, and died there in 1867. His mother died in 1862.

Mr. Truss was reared in Jefferson County, and educated in its common schools. He was in the Confederate Army, and was a member of a company raised by Captain J. K. Truss. Four months after the close of the war he started, with a colony organized by Hastings, of New Orleans, to South America, and was shipwrecked, with the rest, on the island of Cuba. After this disastrous voyage he returned to South Alabama, and engaged in farming one year in Hale County, and then went to Ladonia, Texas, and farmed near that place, and stayed there until 1869, when he, with his brother Thomas and two sisters, returned to Jefferson County. He farmed for some time near New Castle, and was engaged, in 1873, in teh charcoal trade at Anniston. In the following year he returned to near New Castle. In the year 1884 occurred the most important event of his career. He was elected sheriff of Jefferson County by the largest majority ever given any man for sheriff in the county, for a term of four years. In the administration of this office his course has been marked by capacity, prompt and courageous discharge of duty. He has, therefore, made an acceptable officer to the public in a very trying position. There is no more responsible office in the State than that of sheriff of Jefferson County. With its rapid growth, many turbulent elements arise to be dealt with and brought under the restrictions of law and order, and it not unfrequently happens that the sheriff is called upon to act in emergencies requiring judgment, tact, and courage. In all of these requisites Mr. Truss has proved himself entirely equal to the occasion. Personally he is possessed of those qualities that recommend him to the courteous attention of all with whom he comes in contact, and as a friend he is sincere and warm-hearted.

Mr. Truss was married in October, 1885, to Miss Mattie Burwell, a daughter of Mr. O. S. Burwell, a native of Connecticut, but an early settler of Jefferson County. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Fortune has been lavish of her favors on him, and, amid all the progress that has characterized her history since his return, he has been, like many others, a direct beneficiary. He has a handsome residence in North Birmingham, and is surrounded by all those relations which render domestic life pleasant.