Johnston, Joseph Forney, 1843-1913

Two Greene County, Alabama families involved in state-level politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The principal figures in the Baltzell family, as relates to this collection, are: Thomas Baltzell (ca. 1813-?), who was born in Waynesboro, Greene County, Pennsylvania. He moved from Wheeling, Virginia to Greene County, Alabama in1835, when he was 22 years old. He earned a degree at Louisville Medical Institute in 1841, then returned to Forkland, in Greene County, to practice medicine. He practiced medicine in Sumter County, Alabama in his later years. He ran for Congress in 1840, but was not elected. Panthea Mary Bullock Baltzell (7 June, 1827-19 October 1885) was born in Granville County, North Carolina, the daughter of William Henley Bullock and Panthea Coleman Burchett Bullock. She married Thomas Baltzell in 1846. They had five children: Lucie Ann, William Bullock, Mary Robb, Richard Henley, and Panthea E. Panthea Bullock Baltzell died at her home in Greene County, Alabama. Lucie Ann Baltzell Deloach (d. 9 July 1922) was born in Greene County, Alabama. Her husband Thomas Deloach (7 September 1850-10 July 1922) was born in Choctaw County, Alabama. They were married on 13 May 1874. Thomas Deloach graduated from Mobile Medical College and, like his father-in-law, established a practice in Forkland, Alabama. In later life he gave up medicine and ran a hardware and furniture business in Demopolis, Marengo County, Alabama, where his family moved in 1895. Richard Henley Baltzell (d. June 1880) attended the University of Alabama 1875-1879 and graduated with honors at age 22. The following year he went to Louisiana to teach school and died there of appendicitis. He is buried near Clinton, La. William (Willie) Bullock Baltzell (6 August1849-13 November 1921) was born at Union, Greene County, Alabama. He was a merchant and farmer and a member of Methodist Church and the Knights of Pythias. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives as a Democrat from Greene County in 1907. Panthea (Pannie) E. Baltzell (d. 28 June 1884) graduated from Alabama Central Female College in Tuscaloosa, in March, 1879. The principal figures in the Bullock family, as pertains to this collection, are: William Henley Bullock, husband of Panthea Coleman Burchett Bullock and father of Panthea Mary Bullock Baltzell, James Madison Bullock, and Lucy Ann Bullock. He was evidently from Granville County, North Carolina by way of Petersburg, Virginia. He subsequently moved to Alabama with his family and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church in Greene Co. Panthea Coleman Burchett Bullock (22 September 1799-6 October 1860), wife of William Henley Bullock and mother of Panthea Mary Bullock Baltzell, James Madison Bullock, and Lucy Ann Bullock, was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, but subsequently moved to Petersburg, Virginia. She married William Henry Bullock in December 1822. She died at Burton Hill, Greene County, Alabama. James Madison Bullock (1835-5 November 1888), who was born in Henderson County, North Carolina, the son of William Henley Bullock and Panthea Coleman Burchett and the brother of Panthea Mary Bullock Baltzell. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1853 and soon afterwards moved to Pickensville, Pickens County, Alabama where he established a law practice. He served in the 2nd Alabama Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War. After the war he returned to Alabama and became a cotton farmer. Bullock was a Whig nominee for the Alabama legislature when a young man. He was subsequently nominated and elected three times to the Alabama House of Representatives as a Democrat from Greene County. He was married in 1874 to Anna Mary Garrow (?), the daughter of a Mobile, Alabama judge. They had one daughter. Lucy Ann Bullock (ca. 1826-12 July 1855) was the daughter of William Henley and Panthea Coleman Burchett Bullock and the sister of Panthea Mary Bullock Baltzell and James Madison Bullock. She moved to Alabama from Granville County, North Carolina when she was nine but later moved back to North Carolina for reasons of health.

From the guide to the Baltzell and Bullock families papers MSS. 0105., 1839-1921, (W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama)

Johnston, Alabama financier and industrialist, was born in North Carolina in 1843. He served as Governor of Alabama, 1896-1900, and as U.S. Senator from 1907 until his death in 1913.

From the description of Letter, 1913. (Auburn University). WorldCat record id: 37607503

Joseph Forney Johnston, Alabama lawyer, State governor, and U.S. Senator, was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina. He was the son of Dr. William and Nancy (Forney) Johnston and attended public schools. His family moved to Talladega, Ala. when he was seventeen. While he was attending Talladega High School the Civil War began.

Johnston enlisted as a private in the 11th Alabama Regiment. At the end of the war he was a company captain in the 12th North Carolina. He was wounded in the Battles of Chickamauga, Spottsylvania, New Market, and Petersburg.

Johnston began studying law in the office of General W.H. Forney at Jacksonville, Ala., passed the bar in 1866, and began practicing in Selma, Ala. In 1869 Johnston married Teresa Virginia Hooper and they had three sons, including Edward Douglas and Forney.

After 17 years as a lawyer Johnston was president of the Alabama State Bank (1884-1894) and also was the first president of the Sloss Iron and Steel Company.

Johnston served in politics in a variety of ways: Chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee, Governor of Alabama (1896-1900), and as a U.S. Senator (1906-1913), and Chairman on the Committee for Military Affairs.

From the description of Papers, 1847-1926. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145409352