and personal friends urged him not to do anything that would injure his own prospects; but mindful of the fact that his action was to be that of the Governor of the people, he laid aside ambition, submerged self and wired the appointment to Hon. Charles F. Crisp and pledged him his support in the regular election. Mr. Crisp felt that party exigencies forbade his acceptance of the desired honor and declined. Thereupon Mr. Patrick Walsh of Augusta was appointed and the Governor's support pledged to Crisp for the long term in the event Walsh did not offer.

Governor Northen's first known ancestor in America waa John Northen, who seems to have come from London. He settled in eastern Virginia as early as 1635. His son, Edmund, and Edmund's son, William, remained in Virginia, but in the fourth generation William Northen, the grandfather of our subject, settled in eastern North Carolina, presumably in what is now Edgecombe county. He married Margaret Dicken of that State, who was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Their son, Peter, was born April 7, 1794. About the year 1800, they moved to Powellton, which was then on the frontier of Georgia. Here Peter grew to manhood. His educational advantages were limited, but being of vigorous mentality and fond of study, by his own efforts, he acquired a thorough education.

On Jan. 16, 1817, he married Miss Louisa Maria Davis. They reared a family of eleven children of whom William J. was the ninth. They resided in Jones county until 1840 when they removed to Penfield, Mr. Northen becoming superintendent of the Manual Labor Department of Mercer Institute, later Mercer University. Through all the succeeding years he gave hearty support to Mercer, contributing largely of both his time and his means. Uniting with the Baptist church in 1821, he was always active in Christian work and was for many years treasurer of the Georgia Baptist Convention. He served two

terms in the Georgia Legislature in 1828 and 1830, but retired from politics because it interfered with his Christian life. He was a veteran of two wars, that of 1812, in which he was a private, and in 1861 he raised a company of infantry, Stocks Volunteers, of which he was Captain, until his death in 1863.

William Jonathan Northen was born on his father's plantation in Jones county, July 9, 1835. When five years old his father moved to Penfield, in Greene county, and from his early childhood until eighteen years old, when he was graduated from Mercer University, he was a regular attendant at school or college. Impaired health compelled six months rest after his graduation, but in December, 1854, he went to Mt. Zion, then an educational center and surrounded by a population of wealth and culture. Here he opened a school and entered upon a trying struggle in which he won both experience and reputation, so that in less than two years he was offered and accepted the position of assistant to Dr. Carlisle P. Beman in the latter's noted High School. Dr. Beman retired a year later, and Governor Northen succeeded to the management of the school, and under his administration the standard of efficiency was further raised and the reputation of the school extended until students came not only from all over Georgia, but from every Southern State. In the meantime Governor Northen was married December 19, 1860, to Martha Moss Neel, daughter of Thomas Neel with whom he had boarded during his early struggles as a teacher. A consecrated Christian woman of rare culture, a refreshing humor and withal a large fund of prac tical common sense, she has been always and everywhere a true helpmeet. Their home, whether crowded by students, or on the farm, or at the executive mansion or the hotel, has always been a center of gentle Christian influence. Two children were born to them, Thomas H. and Annie Belle. The son, a substantial business man, died in 1904; the daughter resides with her parents in Atlanta.

Governor Northen's career as a teacher was interrupted by the war, as he enlisted as a private in a company organized and commanded by his father, Peter Northen, who, at the time, was nearly seventy years of age. Governor Northen served untiI early in 1862, when he was exempted on account of being a teacher. In the winter of 1863, however, he re-enlisted, but his health was such that surgeons pronounced him unfit for field service, and until the end of the war most of his time was devoted to hospital service in Atlanta and Milledgeville.

When the war ended he resumed his work at Mount Zion and made his school famous through his success in preparing boys for college or university. His methods and results were far-reaching and his influence on mind and morals is attested by the lives of many prominent and influential men who had the advantage of his early training.

Governor Northen's first appearance in politics was as a delegate to the State Democratic convention of 1867, the first political convention held in Georgia after the war. In 1871 he moved his school to Kirkwood, four miles from Atlanta, and here, with the assistance of his wife's brother, Prof. Chas. M. Neel, the high standard and success of the school was maintained. After two years, however, broken health compelled a change from the confining duties of the school and Governor Northen sought recuperation on the farm.

There is not in all Georgia a higher authority on questions concerning the farm than Governor Northen, and he owes his experience in agriculture to the fact that failing health in 1874 drove him from the school-room. Retiring to his plantation in Hancock county he gave the same intelligent effort to the farm that distinguished his career as an educator. He turned his attention largely to improving the methods of butter-making and the breeding of fine cattle. Thoroughness and intelligence led to success and he became one of the most prosperous and

advanced farmers in the South. Studying the nature of the soil, the best methods of agriculture and other farm conditions, he was soon recognized as an authority in every branch of agriculture. The leaven of the teacher was not dormant, however, and he was influential in organizing the Hancock County Farmers' Club and was its president from its origin. He was elected vice-president of the State Agricultural Society, and then president of that body, serving in the latter position in 1886-'7 and '8. He has ever been ready to lend his services to the improvement and progress of the agricultural classes and his labors have had a wide and beneficial effect, extending throughout the State and even the South, his work and influence having been recognized in his election to the presidency of the Young Farmers' Club of the Southern States. Governor Northen has for many years advocated a policy which in recent years has been largely followed, the attraction of the desirable class of immigrants. He has been actively engaged in this work since 1894 and largely through his efforts was the colony located in Wilcox county, which in 1895 founded the town of Fitzgerald, which now has something over 8,000 inhabitants.

In

Governor Northen's first public service was in the Legislature in 1877-78. He was re-elected for the term of 1880-81. 1880 he was a member of the committee which investigated the bonds of the Northeastern Railroad. In 1884-85 he was a member of the State Senate and as chairman of the educational committee was enabled to render splendid service to the cause of education.

Governor Northen is an ardent prohibitionist. He is the author of the local option law that enabled 117 counties out of 137 to prohibit the sale of whiskey. This led, finally, to statutory prohibition for the State—enacted in 1907.

In 1890 the people of Georgia honored Governor Northen by calling him to the highest office within their gift, and not until

it was apparent that the call did come from the people did be consent to make the race. His final announcement was followed by the manifestation of such an overwhelming sentiment in his favor that he had no opponent before the nominating convention. He was re-nominated in 1892 and re-elected for i second term by a majority of 71,809 over Mr. W. L. Peek, his Populist opponent. Governor Northen's two terms as Governor embraced the period between November 8, 1890, and October 27, 1894. His administration was marked by enterprise and progress. He took the initiative in all movements advocated, and his State papers are sincere, straightforward and wbollj lacking in equivocation, evasion and temporizing. He was in all suggestions practical and to the point. Opposing the burdening of the statutes with unnecessary laws, he at the same time urged the enacting of such laws as tended to ameliorate the condition of the people. One sentiment expressed was that:

"Whatever encourages general industry in the State marks the State's progress in power and wealth. Whatever makes fertile its fields, prosperous its manufactories, thrifty its business and secure its capital, advances the enlightenment of it* people and makes the stability of their institutions."

Under Governor Northen's administration the betterment claim of the lessees of the State railroad for $711,890 was compromised for $99,664. He realized the importance of the geological survey and his strong advocacy of that work led to the completion of the survey and the permanence of the bureau. His efforts to establish a State Board of Health, for road betterment, for a reform school, etc., were without immediate result in legislation, but set in motion forces which in subsequent years resulted in the enactment of many of the measures he advocated. In prison management he secured the separation of the sexes, and better food for and treatment of prisoners. The penitentiary was visited in person and the law with reference to escap ing convicts rigidly enforced. Governor Northen was strenuous