Terrell-Webster-Jackson County GaArchives Biographies.....Cheatham, Walter B. 1853 - living in 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 31, 2004, 11:45 pm Author: William Harden p. 1035-1037 WALTER B. CHEATHAM, M. D. Of a Georgia family resident in this state since the beginning of the nineteenth century, Dr. Cheatham is one of the ablest representatives of the four generations which have lived and furnished their honorable activities to the civic and economic welfare of Georgia. Walter B. Cheatham was born August 25, 1853, in Webster county, Georgia. His early life was surrounded by good home influences and he was trained in the public schools. For his career he prepared at the Louisville Medical College, from which he was graduated M. D. with the class of 1877. His first two years in practice were spent in Macon, Georgia, after which he returned to Dawson, and in the subsequent thirty-four years has built up an extensive patronage among the best families of Terrell county. He was in active practice as a physician until 1906. In that year he was elected judge of the Terrell county Court of Ordinary. To this office he brought not only the ability and experience which belonged to every capable physican, but also a competent knowledge and interest in public affairs and a common sense efficiency which have done much to promote the fiscal welfare of this county. For many years Dr. Cheatham was an influential member of both the Terrell County and the State Medical Association. He has taken a leading part in municipal affairs, having served as mayor of Dawson and as member of the Dawson board of education. He is now president of the Dawson Telephone Company. Dr. Cheatham married in 1878 Miss Sallie G. Farrar. Mrs. Cheatham was born in Jackson county, Georgia, in June, 1856, a daughter of G. W. and Fanny (Day) Farrar. Their two children are Lillian G. Cheatham and Walter B. Cheatham, Jr. Dr. Cheatham takes much interest in social and fraternal work. He is affiliated with P. Schley Lodge No. 229 A. F. & A. M., with Lawrence Chapter No. 96 R. A. M., with Cuthbert Counsel R. & F. M., with the De Molay Commandery No. 5 Knights Templar, with Yaraab Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and also with the Dawson Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. If wholesome character and mental and moral endowment in ancestry count for anything in the lives of descendants, as science asserts, Dr. Cheatham owes much of what he is and what he has accomplished to forebears of whom any one might be proud. Virginia was the original family seat in America of the Cheathams. Dr. Cheatham's great-grandfather was Arthur Cheatham, who spent his earlier years in Charlotte county, Virginia, then moved to Pittsylvania county, and in 1800 came southward to Georgia, and in the pioneer days located with his family in Jefferson county. The head of the next generation in descent was grandfather Obadiah P. Cheatham, who was born in Charlotte county, Virginia, in 1794. He was a child when his parents migrated to Georgia, and he grew to manhood in Jefferson county, where he learned the trade of a millwright. Public spirited and patriotic he served in the War of 1812 and in the Indian wars of 1836 and 1837. He participated in the battle of Echa-way Nochaway. For some time his residence was in Butts county, Georgia, then in Stewart county, where he followed his trade, and also engaged in farming until his death in 1850. Obadiah C. Cheatham married Charity Bryan, who was born in Mecklenberg county, North Carolina. The Bryan family thus introduced to the Cheatham relationship was distinguished for soldierly qualities and solid civic worth. Clement Bryan, the father of Mrs. Cheatham, was a native of North Carolina, and her grandfather was Col. Needham Bryan, who was a Revolutionary soldier arid while serving in the colonial army fought in the battle of Allemance. Col. Bryan subsequently settled in Smithfield, North Carolina, where he spent his last days. Clement Bryan from North Carolina became a pioneer of Randolph county, Georgia, and until his death was identified with the advancement of that county's agricultural and industrial interests. He married Edith Smith, a daughter of Col. David Smith, who was a soldier of the Revolution. Colonel Smith's wife was Charity Whitfield. The founder of the Smith family in America was John Smith, father of Colonel David, who was born in England in 1700, and came to America after reaching manhood, finally in 1742 locating in North Carolina at what is now the town of Smithfield, which was named in his honor. John Smith married Elizabeth Whit-field, also a native of England, and they both died in Smithfield, where their bodies were laid to rest in the churchyard. The third generation of the Cheatham family in Georgia is represented by Clement A. Cheatham, father of Dr. Cheatham. Clement A. Cheatham was born in 1822 in Butts county, Georgia, acquired his elementary education in the public schools, finished preparation for his profession in the Charleston Medical College and immediately on leaving college located in Stewart county, Georgia. He next moved to Weston in Webster county, where he practiced and lived until the organization of Terrell county in 1856, in which year he took up his residence in Dawson, and was actively identified with the practice of medicine until his death at the age of sixty-six years. Dr. Clement A. Cheatham married Elizabeth Irwin, a daughter of Jared Irwin, the third, and the descendant of a pioneer family of Georgia. Concerning the Irwin family the following authentic information was written by Jared I. Irwin of Sandersville:—“The founder of the Irwin family in America was Hugh Irwin, a native of Ireland who came to this county in colonial days, and settled in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, where he lived several years. He then removed to Burke county, Georgia, accompanied by his family, being an early settler of that locality. His three sons, John, William and Jared removed to Washington county, Georgia, and secured large tracts of land a few miles southwest of Sandersville. The son Jared, who became prominent in public affairs, was brigadier general of militia, and represented Washington county in the state legislature for several years, being president of the Senate. He was a member of the Constitutional Conventions of 1789 and 1798, serving as president of the latter body, and was governor of Georgia from 1796 to 1798, and from 1806 to 1809. He also had the honor of signing the act rescinding the Yazoo Law, and had the infamous Land Law, that was an imposition upon the people, burned in the public square at Louisville, which was then the capital of the state." Gov. Hugh Irwin died March 1, 1818, and his remains are buried at his old home in Union Hill, Washington county, where the state has erected a monument to his memory. Jared Irwin, the third, father of Elizabeth Irwin, was born and reared in Washington county, where he lived until after his marriage with Ann Williams. When the country lying between the Oconee and Chattahoochee rivers was surrendered to the settlers he removed to Stewart county, and there met his untimely death during the battle of Shepards Plantation after the massacre at the Battle of Roanoke. Mrs. Clement A Cheatham survived her husband several years, passing away at the age of seventy-six years. She reared eight children as follows: Loverd Bryan, Thomas A., Walter B., Annie I., Isabella, Katie, Fanny E., and Charlie V. Additional Comments: From: A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA BY WILLIAM HARDEN VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/terrell/bios/gbs503cheatham.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.1 Kb