Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-03-25
COMES To
EX-GOVERNOR
NORTHERN
Noted Georgia Legislator, Ed
uCator and ChurChman Dies
After Long Illness.

Ex- Governor William J. Northen, ed
ucator, churchman and statesman, died
this forenoon at 11:l5 o'clock. His con-
dition had been regarded as critical for
some time and hope Of his recovery
was abandoned Sunday.
Funeral services for the former gov
ernor will be conducted tomorrow
forenoon at II o'clock in the Ponce
DeLeon Avenue Baptist church, OF
which he was a member. Rev. A. II.
Gordon, the pastor. will conduct the
services, assisted by Rev. John F..
White, Of the Second Baptist church.
The last rites Of the distinguished
Georgian will be simple. The body Will
not lie in state at the capitol under the
honorary military guard accorded the
dead of the states former executives,
but will be conveyed directly from the
church after the services to the Oak
land cemetery, where the interment will
take place.
The deacons of the church will act
as pallbearers They are j. w. Wills,
George w. McCarty, Rutherford Lips
comb, George NJ. Brown, Fred B. Law,
A. B. Caldwell and E. c. Galloway.
The escort Of honorary pallbearers
will include the deacons of the First
and Second Baptist churches Governor
Joseph NJ. Brown, Governor-elect John
NJ. Slaton and state house officials.
The death Of Ex-Governor Northen
leaves olny two former governors sur
viving-Senator Hoke Smith and H. d.
Mcdaniel.
Known in Church Circles.
Governor Northen was scarcely
less prominent in the educational life OF
the state than he was in the purely
political and his name was known
throughout. the country in religious cir
ces
He was the ninth of eleven children
and was born on his fathers planta-
ton in Jones county July 8, 1885. When
the boy was five, his father Peter
Northen, moved to Penfield, Greene
county. From early childhood until he
was graduated from Mercer university
at the age of eighteen, he was con-
slant and studious attendant at school.
He went TO Mount Zion in 1854 and
founded a school of his own, entering
upon a trying struggle in which he Won
both experience and reputation.
In less than two years he went as
assistant to Dr. Carlisle P. Beman in
the latters celebrated high school and
in a short time succeeded TO the man
agement. He married December 10,
1860 Martha Moss Neel, daughter Of
Thomas Neel son, Thomas H. North
en-. died in 1904, and a daughter. Annie
Belle Northen the only other child, still
is living.
Left School For Farm.
War interrupted his teaching, but
after the close of hostilities he returned
to Mount Zion. His first experience in
politics came when he was chosen a
delegate to the Democratic state con-
ventlon Of 1867, the first political con-
vention in Georgia after the war. He
moved his school to Kirkwood in 1871.
but broken health soon compelled him
to abandon the school for the farm,
where he became an authority on agri-
cultural subjects. He formed county
and state farmers organizations and
was president of the State Agricultural
Society and later of the Young Farmers
Club of the Southern States.
His first public service was in the
legislature of 1877 and 1878. He was
reelected for the term of 1880 and 1881
and was a member of the committee
which Investigated the bonds of the
Northeastern Railroad. He was a mem
Der of the state senate in 1884 and 1885
and was chairman of the educational
committee. An ardent prohibitionist,
he was the author of the local option
law that enabled III counties out of 1877
to prohibit the sale of whisky.
Became Governor Twice.
He was elected governor in 1890 and
in 1892 was renominated and elected by
a majority of 71,SO9 over W. L. Peek
Populist. As the chief executive OF the
state he firmly opposed mob violence
encouraged every form of industry and
manufacturing, advocated a state board
of health with plenty of power, worked
for road betterment. the Improvement
of the common and normal schools and
the reorganization of the state military
He. united with the Baptist church Al
Penfleld in 1853 and within short time
became prominent in religious work He
was president of the National Baptist
Congress at the Augusta session of 1895
and president of the Baptist Educa e.
| tional Society when it met in Washing
| ton in 1894 For more than 40 years he
was a trustee of Mercer University. He
also was a charter member and chair
man of the board of deacons and a
! teacher in the adult Bible class of the
! Ponce DeLeon Avenue Baptist church
/ since its founding in 1904.
Death GrieVes Governor
Expressions Of sorrow were genera
at the capitol when the news of the
| death reached there this afternoon
| Governor Brown had kept constantly
informed of the condition of ex-Gov-
ernor Northep and when the tntelli-
! gence arrived that the end had come he
.