Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Hilton, Joseph 1842 - 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 15, 2004, 1:44 pm Author: William Harden p. 715-716 JOSEPH HILTON. Standing in the front rank among the more prominent and more successful representatives of the lumber interests of Georgia is Joseph Hilton, of Savannah, president of the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, which has become a dominant force in the industrial and commercial life of the South. Starting in life for himself without capital, and without the assistance of influential friends, or the advantages that wealth can bring, he has steadily worked his way upward from the ranks, through his own ability and efforts building up this splendid business, which stands as a monument to his years of persistent and systematic application to his work. Born in England, October 19, 1842, Mr. Hilton, in 1853, came to America with his parents, Thomas and Jane (Lachison) Hilton, who located in Darien, Georgia. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Mclntosh Guards, of which he was made captain, and which, as Company B, Twenty-sixth Georgia Infantry, became a part of Stonewall Jackson's corps in the Army of Northern Virginia. Serving during almost the entire period of the conflict in Virginia, he received several promotions, at the time of the surrender, at Appomattox, being adjutant general of Gordon's old division, then under command of Gen. Clement Evans. After the close of the war, in 1865, Mr. Hilton and his brother, Thomas Hilton, Jr., embarked in the lumber business with their father, in Darien, Georgia, under the firm name of Thomas Hilton & Sons, continuing the sawmill business established by the senior member of the firm before the war. Thomas Hilton, Sr., subsequently retiring from active pursuits, James L. Foster succeeded to his interests, and the firm name was changed to Hilton & Foster. Later this enterprising firm acquired the sawmill business of both Joseph P. Gilson and R. Lachlison & Son, and continued business under the name of the Hilton Timber & Lumber Company, operating four mills. In 1889 the business was again enlarged by being merged with the interests of Norman W. Dodge, which consisted of two mills on Saint Simon's island, the firm name then becoming the Hilton & Dodge Lumber Company, a name which it retained even after, in 1900, Mr. Dodge disposed of his interests, and retired from business. In 1901 this corporation purchased the mill of the Vale Royal Manufacturing Company, in Savannah, and in 1906 acquired the Mill Haven lumber mill in Screven county, and in addition to those two plants the company also owned and operated a large three-band mill at Belfast; a mill at Darien; one near Brunswick; and another on the Satilla river. In the autumn of 1911 the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, of which Mr. Hilton is president, was reorganized and reincorporated with a capital stock of seven and one-half million dollars. Under the previous organization this company had control of the following named plants: the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company of Darien; the Mill .Haven Lumber Company of Screven county; the Vale Royal Manufacturing Company of Savannah; the Savannah Mercantile Company; and the Southern Export Company of Savannah. The new corporation, with its greatly enhanced capitalization, was organized for the special purpose of bringing all of the business of these subsidiary companies under one head, and to build and operate additional plants, thus enlarging the scope and value of its business. The new charter of the corporation enables it to handle timber lands on a gigantic scale; to acquire and handle agricultural land and town property, and improve the same; to engage in the naval stores industry in all of its branches; to carry on agricultural and live stock business, and other enterprises that are naturally auxiliary to a great lumber industry. In 1913 they added a fleet of barges to their equipment at a cost of half a million dollars. Mr. Hilton married Miss Ida Naylor, who belongs to a prominent and influential family of Savannah, and they have four children, a son, Thomas Hilton, a member of the Hilton-Dodge Lumber Company, and three daughters, namely: Ida, wife of J. Barton Seymour; Ruth, wife of Edmond B. Walker, and Miss Lucy G. Hilton. Additional Comments: 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/chatham/bios/gbs244hilton.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 4.9 Kb