Terrell-Whitfield County GaArchives Biographies.....Locke, William Forest 1865 - 1910
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 27, 2004, 4:47 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 976-977

   WILLIAM FOREST LOCKE. One of Terrell county's best known citizens and
business men was the late W. F. Locke, who died at his home in Dawson, in 1910.
He had been a merchant, farmer, warehouseman for a number of years, and with
material success also won high personal esteem. Mrs. Locke, who survives him,
belongs to one of the oldest and most prominent families of southwestern Georgia.

   William Forest Locke was born in Eufaula, Alabama, June 13, 1865. His father
was William H. Locke, who for many years was engaged in business at Eufaula
where he kept a clothing store and had a large trade. He was also a large land
owner and farmer, his lands being located near Eufaula. When the Civil war broke
out, he entered the Confederate service as a member of the Eufaula Rifles. Being
a man of unusual education and a fluent writer and frequent correspondent of
newspaper, while in the army he often wrote his wife accounts of his
experiences, and these letters were published by the press, and the little
volume of them is now highly treasured by the descendants of this worthy man.
His home remained in Eufaula until his death. His wife, before her marriage, was
Ann Judson Sylvester, who was a native of Georgia, and a daughter of DeMarquis
Sylvester. The latter removed from Georgia to Alabama and bought land five miles
from Eufaula, which he operated with slave labor and continued a resident in
that community until his death. Mr. Sylvester married a Miss Rembert, a native
of South Carolina. Mrs. William H. Locke survived her husband for many years and
died at the age of seventy-five. She was the mother of ten children, all of whom
grew to maturity, namely: Ella Estelle, Lula, Clifford A., Nettie L., William
F., Charles C., Pearl D., Judson S., Mattie B., and Leslie Roscoe.

   The late Mr. Locke of Terrell county was reared and educated at Eufaula, and
at an early age began his independent career as a clerk in a wholesale grocery
store in that city. After a few years as clerk he moved to Montgomery, where he
was clerk in a hotel for a few months, after which he returned to Eufaula and
opened a fancy grocery store and conducted it for one year. At the end of that
time he came to Dawson, where he established a men's furnishing store, and also
became interested in farming on land which was his wife's inheritance, located
two and a half miles from Dawson. As a merchant and farmer he prospered during
all the remaining years of his life. As a farmer he raised large quantities of
cotton and corn, and for several years was engaged in the warehouse business at
Dawson, handling large quantities of cotton. The late Mr. Locke had unusual
business talent, and succeeded in almost every venture to which he put his hand.

   On October 10, 1888, he married Miss Lillie Belle Rogers. The Rogers family
have long been prominent in this state. Her father, Harrison Rogers, was
formerly a resident near Dalton before the war, and was a large planter and
operated his plantation with slave labor. When the slaves were freed, as a
result of the war, the bulk of his wealth was swept away, but he did not lose
the courage and enterprise which were the essential features of his character,
and moving to Dawson when it was but a village he bought land nearby and began
once more as a farmer to build up his prosperity. He became one of the most
successful men in this region, and as his means increased, he invested in land
until he became a very large holder of Dawson property, where he resided until
his death at the age of eighty-two. The maiden name of Harrison Rogers' wife was
Lucy Hood, of Meriwether county, Georgia, daughter of Bynum Hood, of the same
county and the cousin of Bynum Hood of Dalton, a sketch of whom appears
elsewhere in this work. The five children in the Rogers family were named
William, who died at the age of thirteen; John C.; Lee H.; Ella Elizabeth and
Lillie Belle.

   Mr. and Mrs. Locke were both members of the Baptist church. The five children
in their family were William Harrison, Mamie Ailene, Ruth, Lillie and Rogers.
William H. married Olive Thornton, and they have a son named William Forest.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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