Stephens-Franklin-Forsyth County GaArchives News.....Biographical Sketches--Mr. J. L. Pendley October 15, 1908 ************************************************ 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: June McNew http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00030.html#0007420 January 23, 2012, 8:42 pm The Toccoa Record, Toccoa, Stephens County, Georgia October 15, 1908 The Toccoa Record, 15 Oct 1908, p. 1. Biographical Sketches—A feature of THE RECORD for the next few months will be a series of biographical sketches of prominent citizens of Stephens County. In most cases a portrait will accompany the sketch. We inaugurate this department this week with biographies of Dr. J. L. Pendley, the well known jeweler and optometrist, and Col. W. A. Bailey, Clerk of the Superior Court of Stephens County. Mr. J. L. Pendley. Mr. J. L. Pendley, the subject of this sketch, was born in Forsyth county, Georgia, April 22, 1876. He received a common school education in that county and at the age of 19 completed a course in penmanship and drawing. The next three years of his life were spent in teaching these arts to the boys and girls in the surrounding counties. Mr. Pendley’s next work was in a jewelry shop, where he learned watch making and repairing. He then opened a store of his own, and after conducting . . . services of a watch maker to conduct his business so he might have an opportunity to learn the optical profession. He took a course in the Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology and Otology, of Chicago. He received a diploma from that college and one from another college in that city. Next he took a course in the South Bend Optical College, South Bend, Ind. In recent years Mr. Pendley has visited many of the manufacturing plants of watches and jewelry in northern and eastern cities, such as the Elgin and Hamilton watch plants, and the Keystone Case Factory, of Philadelphia, and many other plants of their kind. On these investigating tours he visited J. R. Wood & Sons, the largest diamond cutters in the world. He spent considerable time at these places, posting himself on everything pertaining to his line of business, learning many invaluable and practical points from the manufacturer’s viewpoint. He can fill any orders for plain wedding rings, 18 carat gold. He conducted a successful jewelry business in Buford, Ga., for five years. Two years ago he located in Toccoa. He has been and is now the proprietor of the handsomest and most complete jewelry establishment in this section of the State. Directly after coming here he was appointed watch inspector for the Southern Railway. Upstairs of the Toccoa Banking Co. he has one of the most expensive and well equipped optical parlors in the State. As a side line he conducts a real estate and renting agency, and it will be well for prospective purchasers and renters to confer with him before making any deals in that line. Last year Mr. Pendley purchased the property opposite the Episcopal church and has remodeled it to a considerable extent. As it appears today it is one of the most beautiful residences in Toccoa. Mr. Pendey is an ambitious young man, full of energy and vigor. He believes in Toccoa and her future, and is ever ready to join in any movement pertaining to the welfare of his home town. Mr. Pendley is a conscientious advocate of the use of printers’ ink as a stimulus to business, and attributes a goodly portion of his business success to liberal advertising. [The other biography on this date was of Col. W. A. Bailey. Photos of both men appeared at the top of this article.] Transcribed by June Coker McNew, January 2011. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/stephens/newspapers/biograph3182nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb