Thomas-Baldwin-Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Hansell, Charles Paine 1844 - 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 20, 2004, 8:38 pm Author: William Harden p. 872-874 CHARLES PAINE HANSELL. For nearly half a century a member of the Georgia bar and prominent in the civic life of Thomasville, Charles P. Hansell has himself been a successful lawyer and represents a name and family which have been notable in the law and public affairs of Georgia for fully a century. Mr. Hansell was born at Milledgeville on the 14th of September, 1844. A brief outline of his family antecedents is as follows: South Carolina was the home of the Hansells previous to their removal to Georgia, and the great-grandparents were, so far as can be ascertained, lifelong residents of the Greenville district in that colony. The grandfather of Charles P. Hansell was William Young Hansell, a native of the Greenville district. When he was a child he lost his father, and at the age of twelve came to Georgia to make his home with his uncle, William Young. Making the best of his opportunities he acquired a common school education and then studied law in Milledgeville, and after admission to the bar engaged in practice there. He was one of the eminent attorneys of his time, and his name appears in the Georgia supreme court reports. His active practice continued until 1860, and he then lived retired until his death in 1867. The maiden name of his wife was Susan Byne Harris, representing another prominent family of this state. She was born on a plantation about two miles from Milledgeville, and her father, Augustin Harris, a native of Burke county, was directly descended from one of four brothers who came to America during early colonial times and settled in Virginia. Augustin Harris was a Baldwin county planter, having numerous slaves and being one of the prosperous men of his section. Susan (Harris) Hansell survived her husband until 1874, and she reared two sons, Andrew J. and Augustin H., and five daughters. Augustin Harris Hansell, father of Charles P., was born at Milledgeville, August 17, 1817, and being reared in one of the prosperous homes of Georgia, was given excellent advantages. Prof. Carlisle Beaman was one of his tutors in general subjects, and he studied law under R. K. Hines and Iverson L. Harris. After admission to the bar he began practice at Milledgeville, and for a time served as private secretary for Governor Gilmer. In 1847 he was elected solicitor general, and two years later judge of the southern circuit, then embracing the greater part of south Georgia. Railroads had not yet penetrated to this region, and he journeyed from court to court in his private carriage. He resigned as judge in 1853 but was again elected to the same office in 1859. For some years, until 1850, he was a resident of Hawkinsville, then in Scottsboro two years, and in 1852 came to Thomasville, being one of the most prominent among the early settlers of this locality. During the war he served on the relief committee, and in 1864 spent three months distributing supplies to the soldiers around Atlanta and Marietta. In 1868 he left the bench, resuming private practice for four years, but in 1872 was again appointed judge of the southern circuit and continued in this office until 1903. For more than forty years he honored the bench with his character and ability, and his is one of the foremost names in the Georgia judiciary during the last half of the nineteenth century. On retiring from the bench he lived retired until his death in 1907. Judge Hansell married Miss Mary Ann Baillie Paine, who was born in Milledgeville. Her father was Charles J. Paine, a native of Petersburg, Virginia, and a physician. As a young man he came to Georgia and was engaged in practice at Milledgeville until his death in 1857. Dr. Paine married Ann Baillie Davies, the daughter of William Davies, a native of Savannah, and granddaughter of Edward Davies, a native of Wales, who was one of the early settlers of Georgia. William Davies also conferred honor upon the legal profession of Georgia, and served as judge of the superior court and was mayor of the city of Savannah during the War of 1812. William Davies married Mary Ann Baillie, the maiden name of whose mother was Ann McIntosh, a daughter of John Mohr Mclntosh, the immigrant ancestor of the noted McIntosh family. Judge Hansell's wife died in 1906, and her five children were as follows: Susan V., Charles Paine, Mary H., Frances B., and Sally H. As a descendant of these conspicuous citizens and families of Georgians, Charles P. Hansell has himself borne a not inconspicuous part as a man and citizen. His early education was obtained in the common schools and in Fletcher Institute, and later in the Georgia Military Institute at Marietta. He was a young man of about eighteen when the Civil war came on, and on the 15th of May, 1862, he enlisted in Company B of the Twentieth Georgia Battalion of Cavalry. After two years engaged in the coast defense of Georgia and South Carolina, his command joined Lee's army in northern Virginia and served with Young's Brigade in Wade Hampton's division. He saw arduous service in the campaigns, marches and battles until the close of the war, and was paroled at Greensboro and returned home. In 1865 he was admitted to the bar, and has been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession from that time to the present, having won many honors in this long career. He has served as judge of both the county and city courts, and for two terms was mayor of the city of Thomasville. In politics he is a. Democrat, and he and his family are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Hansell was married in 1869 to Miss Margaret Charlton, who died October 5, 1889. She was born in Savannah, a daughter of Robert and Margaret Charlton (see sketch of Walter G. Charlton elsewhere in this work). Mr. Hansel’s present wife is Mary (Glover) Hansell, who was born in Marietta, a daughter of John H. and Sarah E. (Brumby) Glover. Mr. Hansell has two daughters, Mary H., by his first wife, and Sarah G., by the second marriage. 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 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/thomas/bios/gbs379hansell.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 6.7 Kb