Sheriffs of Pickens County

"The first sheriff of Pickens County was Mr. Adeno Griffin, who had come to this county from Abbeville District, South Carolina, and was elected to office in eighteen twenty, the year the county was formed. The second sheriff was Mr. David Taggard, and he came from the little town of Yorkville, which is now Ethelsville. The third sheriff was Thomas Davis. He, too, had come from Abbeville District, South Carolina, first to Kentucky, then to Marengo County, and on to Pickens about eighteen nineteen. He was followed in office by Mr. Henry White, the fourth sheriff. He, too, came from Abbeville District, South Carolina, as early as eighteen twenty-three, with his father's family, Robert White. Everyone called him by his first name, Henry, and he was very fond of fishing, and it was said that he was very successful at this hobby. He was a good-hearted man and everyone said he had a heart of gold in his chest, and never had an enemy. The next sheriff after him was Mr. Benjamin F. Roper. Now Mr. Roper left Virginia with his family in eighteen twenty-six for this county, and on the way had the misfortune to lose his first wife. So he came to this county and married Miss Caroline Montgomery. Now we remember Mr. Roper as being the man who ran the Phoenix Hotel, and it was known as the Roper House. He sold the hotel in eighteen fifty-three to Mrs. Candice Bostick, widow of General F. W. Bostick, and it was later sold to more people on down the line. The next sheriff was Mr. George W. Chiles. He had come to Pickens County from one of the New England states about eighteen and twenty-eight, and gone into business at Pickensville before he was elected sheriff. Then, Mr. Roper was elected sheriff, becoming the eighth sheriff of the county, and he served out his second term. Then he was followed by Mr. William H. Davis, who was elected in eighteen forty-four. Mr. Davis had been born in York District, South Carolina, in eighteen fourteen, and came to this county in eighteen and thirty-three. He was engaged in the occupation in which George McGuffy, McGuffy readers were very popular back then, during this period. In fact the first and second readers.

Now Peter McGee, was the great, great, great-grandfather of Mr. Prude McGee here in town, and he came to this county and got a land grant out on the Speed's Mill Road about two and a half miles from town.

After Mr. Duncan went out of office, he died is the reason he went out of office, and then the sheriff was appointed, and they appointed James B. Sherrod to become the sheriff. Then the next sheriff was Benjamin West. The next one after that was W. H. Davis. He had been the sheriff once before and again he was elected. Uh, there were unsuccessful candidates in this election were Thomas L. Bennett, Jason Wilson, William O. Daniel, Mitchell Blackengain, and James W. Dew. In the officers election that year Mr. James P. Gates was the choice of the people for the office of sheriff. We have never been able to find out too much about this family although he has so many descendents in this county. All the Gates around, spread here, Bonnie Windle, Lafayette Gates, all of those descended from this man. We do know that Mr. Gates operated a mill, a corn flour, a mill that ground corn and wheat, and ran a sawmill near Carrollton, prior to his election, and also ran the mill after the War Between the States. Mr. Gates passed away on January the twelfth, eighteen eighty-six, and left many relatives in this county. He is buried in the Old Jackson Cemetery. In eighteen and sixty-five William Lynne Lipsey became the sheriff, and he had the problems of going through Reconstruction in this county. He was born in Pickens County in eighteen thirty-two, with his home located about one and one-half mile south of Carrollton on the old Bridgeville Road. He was married to Sarah Cunningham the daughter of Joseph Cunningham. He was married by Dr. S. F. Hill. In eighteen and sixty-six sheriff Lipsey submitted his resignation to the governor of the state, and there were two major regions, reasons for this action. First, he was having so much trouble with the Radicals, carpetbaggers they were called, scalawags, and the other was that there was so little money to pay the sheriff. The county had given so generously during this War and had no money at all left, and suffering was everywhere. Captain Bella Austin Hudgins filled out the unexpired term of Mr. Lipsey. Sheriff Hudgins was born in Pickens County in eighteen thirty-six, the son of Austin and Nancy Mangum Hudgins, and his father was from South Carolina, coming to Pickens County while a youth, while the county was in its young days. His death occurred just before the War, February the seventeenth, eighteen sixty-one. Sheriff Hudgens answered the call of the, I am talking about the father, now, that died, because Sheriff Hudgens himself was a member of the Forty-first Alabama Regiment, under Colonel M. L. Stancel. He was engaged in the merchantile business in Carrollton when he received his appointment as sheriff. Uh, most of his family moved on to Hale County, Texas, and he still has ancestors, descendents living in that county. In eighteen seventy, Mr. Lipsey was elected to the sheriff's office again, for a four year term, and again he had trying times. In the history of Pickens County everyone should know that this county was under martial law four times, and each case, Sheriff Lipsey was in the office of the sheriff. In eighteen sixty-five martial law came after the surrender at Appomattox. In eighteen sixty-eight, eighteen seventy, eighteen seventy-two, and eighteen seventy-four, Federal troops were sent to the county for the duration of an election. In each case of the troops coming to Carrollton, they usually stayed on the lot where Mrs. Ward's house is now built. Sheriff Lipsey was not a candidate for re-election in eighteen seventy-four, and it is no wonder since he had served four years under constant harassment of the Northern Radicals. It was during all this fury of the election that Pickens chose Mr. J. N. Blanton to succeed Mr. Lipsey. And he was born in the State of Tennessee, had fought as a soldier in the War, from, uh, Tennessee. Uh, he came to this county and lived out where Mrs. Stewart now lives on the Pickensville Road. Colonel Blanton served out his term and did not seek re-election in eighteen seventy-seven. In that year Mr. James P. Gates was again elected to the office of Pickens County. The candidates opposing Mr. Gates were Mr. T. P. Chapman and Thomas S. Jones. It was during this time that Henry Welles burned the courthouse, while Mr. Gates was the sheriff. Uh, Mr. Owings, Mr. William Patiller Owings received the appointment to fill out the unexpired term of Mr. James P. Gates after poor health forced him to retire. Mr. Owings was born in Laurens District, South Carolina, on March the twenty-first, eighteen forty-five. His family first moved to Tennessee, and then down to Lauderdale County, Alabama. He served in the Confederate army, and, uh, in eighteen sixty-five he came to Carrollton, to Pickens, to Carrollton in Pickens County, and served as a clerk in the office of Judge of Probate Z. L. Neighbors, who was his uncle.

After Mr. Owings went out of the sheriff's office, Mr. Tim P. Chapman, uh, was the next sheriff. He had come to this county when he was a young man, and he lived here until a few years prior to his death, and he had accumulated quite a fortune. Uh, he had one of the finest homes in the county, but the home was burned a year or two before his election to the office of sheriff, believed at that time to have been set by arsonists. After Sheriff Chapman took office as sheriff he built another home, this time in Carrollton, but of logs and was located on a hill directly behind the jail. Sheriff Chapman did seek the office of sheriff after this term, so he died in nineteen oh seven, and Mr. L. C. Hudgins became the sheriff, again. His opponent for the office was J.N. Blanton and Mr. W. C. Owings.

On August the sixth the office of sheriff was won by Mr. John Tyler Hamiter, and this Mr. Hamilton is the uh, ancestor of Elizabeth Colvin. Sheriff Hamilton was the son of John William Hamiter, who came to Pickens from Richland District, South Carolina, and he had been born and reared in this county, having been born in eighteen forty-one. Uh, Sheriff Hamiter, uh, came through the War in good health, and he was never convinced that the South lost the struggle. It would make him mad and he would fight with his walking stick if anybody even said so. He made this county a good law officer, and served out his entire term without any serious incidents. R. C. Long was elected next, and when he went out of office, uh, he was followed by Mr. Burle Boykin Salmond. It was during Sheriff Long's term that Pickens County had it first legal hanging, the hanging of a black named Bud Beard. Mr. Salmond had to give up the office because of poor health, and Mr. R. B. Burgin received the appointment on November the fifteenth, nineteen and four.

The next sheriff came from the northern end of the county, Mr. Benjamin W. Gunter, of Palmetto. Sheriff Gunter was born in Bail's Beat, Pickens County. He was the son of M. G. Gunter, and the grandson of Dr. Peter Gunter, one of the early settlers of north Pickens. He as a straightforward man, courteous, and when he left office he accepted a position with the United States government as a United States Deputy Marshall. In nineteen fourteen Mr. A. B. Coleman, better known to the people of Pickens County as AGus, was elected to the sheriff of the county, and he had defeated Mr. A. B. Gibson by a majority of eighty-five in the Democratic primary, assuring him the election. Sheriff Coleman held several positions in this county prior to his election. He had operated the Poor House, he was county jailer, and he had served as deputy sheriff. He was well liked, but he could not resist the goods that was doled out by the saloons. When he resigned from office Mr. W. F. Kilpatrick, of Stateline, Alabama, became, was appointed to fill the unexpired term. After his term of office, Mr. Hyde Scott, H. I. Scott, was the next man elected to the office of sheriff. This was in nineteen and eighteen. Mr. Scott was born in Pickens County, and was a descendent of the early settlers of Pickens. The Scott family settled upon Bear Creek between Carrollton and Speed's Mill."