Henry County AlArchives Biographies.....Espy, Joseph S. January 18 1844 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 26, 2004, 10:25 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
    JOSEPH S. ESPY, principal of the southeast Alabama Agricultural school and
Experiment station, was born January 18, 1844. He was the eighth in a family of
nine children born to Robert M. and Elizabeth (Watts) Espy. The former was a
native of Georgia, and came to Alabama while a boy, remained with his parents in
Cherokee county for some time, and then moved to Tallapoosa county, where he
grew to manhood and married there. His education was of the most limited
character. Subsequently he moved to Barbour county, and purchased a plantation
there, in which he remained till his death, which occurred in 1858. His wife was
born in Cherokee county, Ala., grew to womanhood there, having but limited
educational advantages, schools being very scarce there, at that time. She was
married at about the age of seventeen, and died in 1859. Joseph S. Espy was
reared on his father's farm, attended school a short time, and, at the age of
ten years, moved with his parents to Barbour county. Here also he attended
school, while working on his father's plantation. He subsequently attended what
was known as the old Field academy, then located on the Chattahoochie river, but
now defunct. In 1861, he attended school at Cotton Hill, Ga. In 1862, he started
a school at Eufaula, Barbour county, but the Civil war being in progress at that
time, he enlisted in the light artillery, commanded by Capt. Clark at Eufaula,
and served until the final surrender. He then settled at Lawrenceville, and
attended school for a short time. In 1866, he taught a country school for a few
months, and in the fall of that year, began attendance at the Emory and Henry
college, graduating from there in 1870. He then returned to Lawrenceville, Henry
county. and taught the village school for eighteen consecutive years. In 1889,
he accepted the principalship of the southeast Alabama Agricultural school and
Experiment station located at Abbeville, and has retained the position ever
since. This school is now in a healthful condition, and employs four teachers.
It opened with an enrollment of 250 students, and since has had an average of
200. The school is of a literary and scientific character, and under Prof.
Espy's careful supervision is fast becoming noted throughout the south, as one
of the best schools of that region. In 1870, Prof. Espy was married to Miss S.
E. Dorkins, daughter of Mr. Robert Dorkins, who was at one time a large planter
of Henry county. Mrs. Espy was born in this county, and received an excellent
education. She is a member of the Missionary Baptist church. Prof. and Mrs. Espy
are the parents of eight children, viz.: Buhrman, attending Howard college,
Westlake, Ala.; Walter A., now a merchant of Lawrenceville; Carlyle, merchant at
Abbeville; Clara, now attending the high school at Abbeville; Joseph, Daisy,
Mary and the baby. Politically Prof. Espy is a democrat, and religiously a
member of the Baptist church. He is a public-spirited man, and gives general
satisfaction in the position he holds, in which he commands a salary of $1,500 a
year. He owns some 850 acres of land, and is thus a solid and substantial citizen.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 1086-1087
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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