Newton County GaArchives News.....Uncle Alfred Livingston October 27 1899
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Phyllis Thompson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002524 December 5, 2004, 5:22 pm

The Georgia Enterprise
     Last Saturday’s Constitution contained a sketch of Uncle Alfred 
Livingston, from the pen of Wallace Putnam Reed, which is so true that we 
reproduce it this week for the careful perusal of those who are interested in 
one of the most historical characters that ever lived in Newton County.
     He is a man of wonderful vivacity, has a strong resolute face, and bright 
eyes, and is in full possession of every mental and physical faculty.
     Mr. Reed’s article is as follows:
     This grand old man is a great favorite in Covington. He lives on his farm 
about ten miles out, but, frequently ride to town, where he is always warmly 
greeted by a host of friends.
     He is loved by young and old, and is honored by his neighbors as one of 
the finest examples of a model citizen to be found any where.
     When Alfred Livingston was a boy, old enough to take an interest in what 
he saw and heard, great events were transpiring in the world. Here in Georgia 
John Milledge had just resigned the United States senator ship, and Charles 
Tait was elected to succeed him. David B. Mitchell was governor, following 
Jared Irwin, the grandfather of the late Judge Jared Irwin Whitaker, of Atlanta.
     It was a quarter of a century before railways and a few years before 
steamboats had com into general use.
     The telegraph, electric motors and lights, sewing machines, stoves, 
matches and a hundred other conveniences were unknown.
     In those days young Livingston had few opportunities, Georgia had only two 
academies when   he was eight years old, one at Mount Zion and the other at 
Powelton.
     The state had only 250,000 population then, and only two banks and two or 
three factories.
     When the lad was about nine years old, our second war with England broke 
out. In spite of the “Embargo Act” of 1807, England had tried to force a cotton 
trade with Georgia, and had sent war vessels to Savannah to open that port. Our 
people refused to sell cotton, and the British threatened to burn Savannah, but 
they left, after firing several shots at a  pilot boat. After the outrage 
Georgia advocated war, and when it was declared, Governor Mitchell called out 
10,000 soldiers for coast duty. 
     When the war was ended, Georgia protested against the treaty of peace, and 
was in favor of fighting for better terms.
     About the same time we had some of our fiercest wars with the Indians in 
the west and Northwest.
     Alfred Livingston remembers when James Madison was serving his first 
presidential term. He remembers all about our victories on sea and land when he 
was a little fellow - remembers our naval heroes, Hull, Lawrence and Perry and 
our great generals of that time, Harrison, Scott and Jackson.
     He was eleven years old when the New England states held a secession 
convention at Hartford, Conn., a convention so treasonable in the midst of war 
with a foreign country, that the delegates never dared to make the proceedings 
public.
     This wide-awake Georgia boy was twelve years old when Napoleon was 
defeated in the battle of Waterloo, and he heard people talk about it for years 
afterward.
     He was a good sized lad when Napoleon was at the height of his power.
     When he was a grown man, the Pacific Coast, the southwestern states, 
Mexico, Central and South America all belonged to Spain.
     He was about thirty years old when the Indians were removed from this part 
of Georgia.
     The brief suggestion of these points will give the reader a faint idea of 
the historical expanse covered by this old man’s span of life.
     It would be possible for a man of his age - ninety six - to be the son of 
a father who in his childhood came over with Oglethorpe’s colonist.
     Just think of this startling statement for a moment. It will do more than 
a dozen volumes of history to make you realize what a young commonwealth we 
live in.


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