Morgan County AlArchives Biographies.....Oden, Edward J. 1840 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 3, 2011, 7:03 pm

Source: See below
Author: Smith & De Land, publishers

    EDWARD J. ODEN, editor Hartselle Index, was born in Morgan county, Ala., in
1840, and grew to manhood and received his education there. He responded to the
first call to arms in the recent civil strife, and became a member of Company E,
Fourth Alabama Cavalry, of which company he was made captain in regular order of
promotion from the ranks. He was with Forrest in his campaigns in Alabama, the
Valley of the Tennessee, and Georgia; in the pursuit and capture of General
Streight, when, by their pluck and well-devised strategem. Forrest succeeded in
capturing a Federal force of more than five times the nuinber of his own. The
audacity of Forrest's scheme, and the chagrin of the prisoners when, too late,
they discovered the ruse, will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

    Captain Oden was in battle at Decatur, Ala., Athens, Sulphur Trestle, Tenn.,
Pulaski, Tenn., Corinth, Tupelo, Miss., and many others.

    He was with Johnson's army at Dalton, Ga., and in the running fight from
Dalton to Atlanta. From the battle of Peach Tree creek he returned to the Valley
of the Tennessee, and saw his last fight at Selma, Ala., where his regiment, and
in fact, nearly the whole army, were captured, but Captain Oden, accompanied by
General Forrest and about one hundred others, cut their way out through the
lines and escaped. They proceeded soon afterwards to Wheeler's Station, near
Decatur, and surrendered in May, 1865. After the war Captain Oden farmed in
Franklin county, Ala., and taught school one year. Since 1868 he has had an
interest in a store at Falkville, and another at Coal Hill, Ark. He has been
county superintendent of education for ten years consecutively. In 1884 he
became interested in a bank in Decatur, in connection with C. C. Harris and W.
W. Littlejohn. and is now a director in the First National Bank, of Decatur,
into which the Bank of Decatur was merged.

    In 1886, Captain Oden bought a half interest in the Hartselle Index from E.
H. Rolfe, with whom his brother. A. A. Oden, had previously been associated, and
since that time has edited that paper. He was married, in 1862, to Miss Carrie
E. Sherrill. They have two sons, Arthur L. and Walter L. The Captain is a member
of the Christian church, a Free Mason, Knight of Pythias and Knight of Honor.

    Edward J. Oden is a son of Elias Oden, and grandson of Hezekiah Oden, of
East Tennessee, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary War: brought his family
to Alabama in 1819, and died in 1848.

    Elias Oden was born in 1812, spent his life in agricultural pursuits, was a
Baptist, and made his religion the prominent feature of his life. He was
married, in 1834, to Miss Mary E. Stringer, of Kentucky, and raised three sons
and five daughters.

  The oldest, W. H. Oden, is a merchant of Bangor. The third son, A. A. Oden is
agent of L. & N. R. R., at Hartselle, and has held that position ever since it
was opened. He is also editor and proprietor of the Hartselle Index, the oldest
paper in the county except the Decatur News.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART III.
HISTORICAL RESUME OF THE VARIOUS COUNTIES IN THE STATE.
CEREAL BELT.


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