Today in History for Jan. 23, 2019

First Battle of Manassas in 1861

Jan. 23, 1845 – Conecuh County attorney George Robert Farnham was born near Belleville, Ala. He joined the Monroe Guards at the age of 16, enlisting at Pineville on March 15, 1861. Brigaded as Co. D under Capt. Giles Goode with the 5th Ala. Inf. Sent to northern Virginia. Farnham was sick at Manassas and hospitalized and did not participate in the 1st Battle of Manassas (Bull Run to the Federals). Farnham was discharged on Dec. 23, 1861. He later served as Evergreen Baptist Church’s Sunday School Superintendent. He was President of the 1880 State Sunday School Convention and also served as a state senator.

Jan. 23, 1864 - A six-day Federal operation began in North Alabama and a skirmish occurred at Woodville, Ala.

Jan. 23, 1866 – English author and poet Thomas Love Peacock died at the age of 80 from injuries sustained in a fire in which he had attempted to save his library in Lower Halliford, Shepperton, Surrey, England.

Jan. 23, 1882 – Brewton was made the county seat of Escambia County, Ala. Previously, the county seat had been located at Pollard.

Jan. 23, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported that The Evergreen Record had reported that there was “a movement on foot to construct a telephone line from Evergreen to Perdue Hill, via Belleville and Monroeville.”

Jan. 23, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported that it had received word from W.J. Newberry, informing the paper that his mill at Mexia, which had been shut down for a number of weeks for repairs, would be back in operation within a few days.

Jan. 23, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Wild Fork and Excel communities, that three schools were open in the Wild Fork area, but that Prof. Nash planned to close his school at Excel in two weeks.

Jan. 23, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported that the “approaching February term of the Commissioners Court promises more than usual interest. The settlement of the stock law question in Precincts 3 and 5, to which considerable opposition has developed in the former, will be the principal subject of consideration.”

Jan. 23, 1908 – The Conecuh Record reported that Dr. Adam Alexander McKittrick had died. Born on May 26, 1833, McKittrick passed away at the age of 74 on Jan. 18, 1908 and was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Evergreen, Ala.

Jan. 23, 1914 – The Rev. William Allen Parker, a native of Choctaw County, Ala., passed away at the age of 65 at Mt. Enterprise in Rusk County, Texas. He left Alabama about two years prior to his death and prior to that he was a Baptist minister in Washington, Clarke, Perry and Marengo counties for about 40 years. He was licensed to preach in October 1877 and was ordained a minister in May 1878 at Nannafalla Church in Yantley, Ala. He preached at Faunsdale and Dayton in 1897.

Jan. 23, 1918 – The Evergreen Courant reported that “there is said to be an epidemic of measles at the Orphans Home though all the patients are getting along nicely under the direction of Dr. Stallworth.”

Jan. 23, 1918 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Clyde Williams was spending time with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John T. Williams, before entering upon his duties in the aviation service of the war department.

Jan. 23, 1918 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Mrs. Dean, the mother of Judge Dean, was in a hospital in Montgomery where she was taken the previous week for a serious operation – the removal of one of her eyes. The operation was said to have been “entirely successful and that the aged patient will soon be able to return home.”

Jan. 23, 1918 - Miss Emma Lewis died at 10 p.m. at the home of Judge and Mrs. B.M. Miller in Wilcox County. Lewis was born in Clarke County, Ala. in June 1844. Her father and mother died when she was quite young and she was reared by her uncle and grandfather, who was Dr. Whitfield of the University of Alabama. She moved to Mobile and made her home with Mrs. M.J. Duggan, mother of Mrs. B.M. Miller, for 15 or 16 years, and for the previous 25 years she had made her home with Judge and Mrs. B.M. Miller. The funeral was conducted from the home on Fri., Jan. 25. Messrs. F.L. Moore, P.M. Dannelly, John Miller, W.J. Bonner, J.D. Caldwell and D.H. Turner were pallbearers. Lewis was a member of the Methodist church. The pastor of that church was absent and the funeral services were conducted by Rev. B.H. Grier of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian church.

Jan. 23, 1929 – Evergreen High School’s boys basketball team beat Georgiana, 19-10.

Jan. 23, 1936 – Advertising began for bids for the construction of the overhead bridge in Evergreen, Ala.

Jan. 23, 1936 – The Monroe Journal reported that Aaron Finklea was being held in the Monroe County Jail in Monroeville, Ala. on murder charges in connection with the death of Fred McCants on the afternoon of Sun., Jan. 19. The two men were alleged to have become involved in a disagreement over a small amount of money, when the Finklea man struck the other over the head with such force as to produce almost instant death.

Jan. 23, 1936 – The Monroe Journal reported that the cash receipts on which the rating of a post office was based were $8,858.52 at the Monroeville Post Office during the year ending Dec. 30, 1935, according to Miss Emma E. Yarbrough, postmistress. Those receipts exceeded by several hundreds of dollars those recorded for the year ending Dec. 30, 1934, when a total of $8,397.99 was received in the local office.

Jan. 23, 1951 – T.R. Miller High School’s boys basketball team beat Frisco City, 74-30, in Brewton, Ala.

Jan. 23, 1951 - Two Biloxi, Miss. teenage boys were returned to their parents on this Tuesday after being picked up by county highway patrolmen near Frisco City early that week. The two youths, Paul Lewis, 14, and Billy Moran, 13, left their homes in Biloxi on the night of Fri., Jan. 19, without telling their parents where they were going. They traveled the greater part of the distance from Mississippi to Frisco City on a small motor “scooter” bike. County officers said the youths decided to leave home on Friday night, hitchhiked to Ocean Springs, Miss., where they picked up the “scooter” and road on into Mobile on Friday night. On the night of Sat., Jan. 20, they came on up to the home of Bennie Whatley of Frisco City Route, an uncle of the Lewis youth. They were picked up there by patrolmen.

Jan. 23, 1982 - Allison Wright, who played the bassoon, Al Brewton, trumpet, and Debbie Johnson, flute, were Monroe County High School band students selected on this Saturday in Mobile for the all-state band clinic and concert which was to be held March 4-6 in Tuscaloosa. Wright, a band member for six years, was chosen as an alternate, and Brewton and Johnson had been band members for five years. John Bradley was the MCHS band director.

Jan. 23, 1986 – The Evergreen Courant reported that Barry Stuart had killed an eight-point buck that weighed 210 pounds and had a 20-1/2 inch antler spread, measuring 133.5 on the Boone-Crockett Scale.

Jan. 23, 1996 – During a meeting on this Tuesday morning, the Monroe County Commission hoped to increase tourist dollars by appointing a tourism board. The commission made the move on advice from a representative of the Ala-Tom Resource Conservation and Development Council during its regular meeting on this Tuesday morning. Probate Judge Otha Lee Biggs nominated Kathy McCoy, director of the Monroe County Heritage Museums, as chairwoman of the board.

Jan. 23, 1998 – The Jackson Historic District in Jackson, Ala., which is spread over 180 acres and includes 140 buildings, was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The district is roughly bounded by College Avenue, Forest Avenue, Carroll Avenue, Cedar Street, Florida Street, Commerce Street, Clinton Street, and Spruce Street.

Jan. 23, 2006 – Gardendale, Alabama’s historical society was formally established.

Jan. 23, 2009 – Sparta Academy’s varsity girls basketball team, ranked No. 2 in the state, beat Sumter Academy, 61-20, in Evergreen. Sparta’s varsity boys beat Sumter, 48-33.

Jan. 23, 2013 – The Brushey Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Butler County, Ala. was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register.