Today in History for Jan. 21, 2019

Jan. 21, 1812-ca. – Joseph Tarpley Peacock, the first son of Levi and Martha Peacock and the father of Lewis Lavon Peacock, was born in Wilkinson County, Ga.

  

Jan. 21, 1815 - Alabama author Joseph Glover Baldwin was born in Friendly Grove Factory, Va.

Jan. 21, 1846 – Confederate veteran Robert Baxter Platt Jr. was born in Evergreen, Ala. During the Civil War, he served in Co. H of the 1st Mississippi Cavalry and was awarded the Southern Cross of Honor. He enlisted in February 1863 at Quitman, Miss. and fought at Holly Springs and Tupelo. He was paroled at Meridian, Miss. on May 13, 1865. After the war, he was a Methodist minister, cotton broker and cross-tie contractor for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. He moved to Chattanooga in 1916, but had previously lived in Evergreen; Collierville and Memphis, Tenn. He passed away on March 29, 1934 and is buried in the Confederate Cemetery in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tenn.

Jan. 21, 1846 – The Alabama legislature selected Montgomery as the state’s new capital and later began its first session there on Dec. 6, 1847.

Jan. 21, 1861 – James Adams Stallworth of Evergreen, Ala., who began serving in the U.S. Congress in March 1857, withdrew with the rest of the Alabama delegation when Alabama seceded from the Union at the start of the Civil War.

Jan. 21, 1895 – A man and a woman were killed by lightning near Suggsville, Ala. on this Monday. They were among 10 people who had “taken shelter from the rain in a small house, and it was said that “electricity came down the chimney and passed out at the door knocking” all of them down and killing two.

Jan. 21, 1907 - Senator O.O. Bayles returned to Montgomery on this Monday to resume his legislative duties after spending a few days with his family, according to The Monroe Journal.

Jan. 21, 1915 – The Monroe Journal carried a story about Judge T.L. Sowell’s gold watch, which the judge’s father bought in New York City in 1847. During Wilson’s raid through Alabama in 1865, Judge Sowell’s father hid the watch in a glass jar with other valuables and buried them in the woods near his home in Monroe County, where they remained safe for three months. Judge Sowell received the watch, which was made in Liverpool, England, for his 21st birthday.

Jan. 21, 1918 - “The Eyes of Mystery,” a movie version of Alabama author Octavus Roy Cohen's book “The House in the Mist,” was released.

Jan. 21, 1918 – The Milt Tolbert Tent Theater Company, commencing on this Monday night, was “to begin a week’s engagement in Evergreen under canvas, opening… in the beautiful four-act pastoral” comedy, “The Village Parson.” On Friday night, Bertha M. Clay’s masterpiece, ‘Beyond Pardon,’ was to be presented. “Mr. Tolbert has a new and novel heating system, and the big tent will be comfortably heated at all times, no matter how cold it is outside, and the tent is positively waterproof, so one takes no chances with the elements. While the Tolbert Co. is new to Evergreen, several familiar faces will be seen, among whom are H.I. Hale, leading man; Sam Hunter, the well-known comedian; Miss Cora Lee and Miss Beatrice Gibson, as well as Hi Washburn, the eccentric dancer.”

Jan. 21, 1936 - The pouring of the concrete on the Monroeville, Ala. square paving project started on this Tuesday afternoon. Although the gaps to be filled were prepared for the concrete several weeks before, work had been held up because of the weather and also the lack of some of the necessary materials.

Jan. 21, 1936 - Work began on this Tuesday on the foundation of the new Eastern Star Hall to be erected in the southern part of Monroeville, Ala. It was hoped to be ready for use within 60 days.

Jan. 21, 1937 – The Monroe Journal reported that Judge F.W. Hare had presided over Circuit Court in Mobile, Ala. during the past week. He was spending the week of Jan. 21 in Brewton where he was holding a non-jury term of court in Escambia County.

Jan. 21, 1937 – The Monroe Journal reported that at a regular annual meeting of the stockholders of the Peoples Bank of Frisco City, held the previous week, the following officers and directors were elected for 1937: President, J.B. Barnett; vice-president, J.J. McWilliams; cashier, W.A. Giddens; assistant cashier, J.A. Hayles; directors, J.B. Barnett, J.J. McWilliams, O. McNeil, W.M. Williams, John T. Lee, C.A. Florey, W.A. Giddens and Q. Salter.

Jan. 21, 1938 - Alabama author Julia Fields was born in Perry County, Ala.

Jan. 21, 1940 – The Gloria Colita (Colite?), a 125-foot schooner, sailed from Mobile on this day, loaded with a cargo of lumber bound for Guantanamo, Cuba. On Sun., Feb. 4, 1940, the Coast Guard cutter Cartigan found the Gloria Colita “adrift, crippled and unmanned” with everything in order about 150 to 200 miles south of Mobile in the Gulf of Mexico.

Jan. 21, 1957 - David Anthony Stewart, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Stewart, was born in the Monroeville Hospital.

Jan. 21, 1965 – The Evergreen Courant reported that The Birmingham News had named Repton High School as the 1964 Division 1-A football champions after the Bulldogs finished the season with a 5-1-3 overall record. Repton’s head coach during the 1964 season was Gene Madison, and players on that game included Capt. Jimmy Bradley, Nicky Thompson, Robert Lowery, Dwight Jerkins and Glenn Baggett. The results of Repton’s games in 1964 included, Baker (Fla.), won, 7-0; Excel, won, 14-6; Lyeffion, 0-0; Coffeeville, 0-0; Red Level, 12-12; McKenzie, lost, 13-6; Dozier, won, 31-0; Coffee Springs, won, 49-0; and Zion Chapel, won, 49-0.

Jan. 21, 1965 – Conecuh County’s 1965 Junior Miss, Sally Oswald, was to participate in the State Junior Miss Finals in Birmingham, Ala. on this Thursday.

Jan. 21, 1968 – The Battle of Khe Sanh, one of the most publicized and controversial battles of the Vietnam War, began, 14 miles below the DMZ and six miles from the Laotian border. Luther Upton was there with the U.S. Marine Corps.

  

Jan. 21, 1983 – The Evergreen Chamber of Commerce held its annual “Promotion Banquet” at 7 p.m. at the Old L&N Depot on this Friday night in Evergreen. Escambia County native Dr. Stanley Wilson, Vice President for Agriculture, Home Economics and Veterinary Science at Auburn University, was the guest speaker. At that time, the depot was owned by the Murder Creek Historical Society.

Jan. 21-22, 1983 – Missy Price, Conecuh County’s Junior Miss, represented Conecuh County in the 1983 Alabama Junior Miss Pageant at Lee High School in Montgomery, Ala.

Jan. 21, 1994 – The New Evergreen (Ala.) Commercial Historic District was placed on National Register of Historic Places.

Jan. 21, 1994 – Sparta Academy’s varsity boys basketball team beat Catherine Academy, 72-69, in Evergreen. Britt Ward, a senior, led Sparta with 27 points, and James Johnson followed with 16 points.

Jan. 21, 1998 – Betty Lou Dougherty, 57, of Asheville, N.C. was last seen after visiting Montgomery, Gulf Shores, Tuscaloosa and Hamilton. Her rental car was found in the Range, Ala. community in February 1998, and her family hired a private investigator to find the woman in March 1998.

Jan. 21, 2006 – Conecuh County Attorney Richard Nix told the Conecuh County Commission on this Monday that records from the Merit Board supported a change in classification for Payroll Clerk Ann Sullivan. Nix researched the issue, which had been in the headlines of the Mobile Register for two weeks, and found the Jan. 23, 2003 minutes of the Merit Board recommended that her pay be changed to a grade equal currently of $10.66 per hour. She was raised to a scale of $10.71 in October.

Jan. 21, 2010 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Reid State Technical College in Evergreen, Ala. was to be featured in a segment of “On the Job,” a Montgomery-produced television program airing weekly on Alabama Public Television and WSFA-TV 12.2.