Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 2975excellent educational training, early displaying an inclination for theologicalstudies and beginning the preaching of the gospel when only twenty years ofage. When still a young man he went to Edgefield, South Carolina, wherehe was married to Elizabeth Smith, a native of that place, and they subsequently removed to Forsyth County, Georgia, where Reverend Tribble had acharge at Cumming. From Forsyth County they went to Pickens Countyand then to De Kalb County, where they were residing at the outbreak of thewar between the states. Reverend Tribble, who was engaged in the manufacture of harness and owned a tannery, held an officer's commission in thequartermaster's department of the Confederacy, and was engaged in supplying the army of the Southland with harness and saddles. During the marchof General Sherman and his Federal troops "to the Sea," Reverend Tribble'sproperty was destroyed by fire, his stock of leather and harness confiscated,his horses and mules taken, and even the family silver stolen by Sherman's'' bummers,'' who left ruin and desolation in their wake. All that were leftthe family were an old mule, an old horse and a broken-down wagon, withwhich the former prosperous manufacturer was forced to begin life anew.Going to Walton County, the family resided there until 1869; Reverend Tribble being engaged in preaching for several years, at the end of which periodhe returned to De Kalb County with his family and here continued his ministerial labors until his death, which occurred in 1886, when he was seventytwoyears of age. For many years a Mason, he attained one of the highestranks in Georgia in that order. In every walk of life he was honored and respected, and by his congregations was greatly beloved. Mrs. Tribble died in1884, at the age of sixty-seven years, and both she and her husband were laidto rest in the cemtery at Decatur. There were the following children in thefamily: Susan, who became the wife of Elam Coffee, and died in 1888;Margaret, who is the wife of James Webb, formerly of De Kalb County, andnow resides at Atlanta; Henry, who served in the Confederate army andwas wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, and is now mayor of Tocum,Texas; Judson, who served nearly two years in the army of the Confederacyduring the Civil war, and is now a resident of Tyler, Texas; William, whowas a live stock dealer of Rome, Georgia, where he died in 1911; Mary, who isthe widow of R. P. Rogers, of Atlanta; Spurgeon, who died in 1896, in Mississippi ; Lydia, who died as the wife of M. A. Ponder, January 2, 1911, atBirmingham, Alabama; Robert H., who is successfully engaged in merchandising at Lithonia; and Dr. Joseph M., of this review.Joseph Mell Tribble received his early education in the public schools ofDecatur and Lithonia, following which he attended Decatur Academy. Whenhe started his career it was as a clerk in the dry goods store of D. -H. Doherty,of Atlanta, in whose employ he remained for three years. During this timehe had cherished an ambition to enter the medical profession, and in 1891after some preparation entered the old Atlanta College of Medicine. In 1891he attended Atlanta College of Medicine and Surgery and was graduatedfrom the Georgia Eclectic College, in 1895. In that same year he began thepractice of his profession at Lithonia, where he has since continued to labor.There is hardly a farm in De Kalb County that has not been visited in a professional way by Doctor Tribble, and his kindly skill, devotion and sympathyhave made him greatly beloved in many households. His practice is broadand general in character, he being a skilled medical practitioner and a carefuland steady-handed surgeon, and in the latter branch is representative atLithonia for the several granite and stone companies located here and isdivision surgeon for the Georgia Railroad. He is also the mayor of Lithonia.He holds membership in the American Medical Association and the stateand county medical societies, and is well known and popular in fraternalcircles, being connected with the Masons, the Improved Order of Red Menand the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having founded the lodge of the