Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEOKGIA AND GEORGIANS 3135On December 19, 1867, Captain Cunningham married Miss Virginia WaldburgWayne; a daughter of Dr. Richard Wayne, who represented one of theoldest and most distinguished families of Savannah. Mrs. Cunningham wassurvived by four children and the three now living are Thomas Mayhew Cunningham, Mrs. Virginia C. Cleveland and C. Wayne Cunningham. CaptainCunningham married for his second wife Miss Nora Lawton, daughter of Gen.A. R. Lawton. Their one daughter is Miss Sarah A.JAMES DE LAMAR, M. D. On the list of the leading physicians of CoffeeCounty is found the name of Dr. James De Lamar, who has fairly won theright to such distinction. Starting his career i». humble circumstances, hisambition and determination have led him constantly forward and onward toa position of prestige and to the esteem of his fellow men. Well informedconcerning the new ideas advanced by the medfcal fraternity, in touch withthe progress that characterizes his profession, he is today a most capable andskilled physician, his large patronage being an indication of the confidencereposed in him by the people of his home community of Douglas.Doctor De Lamar was born January 3, 1881, at Hamilton, Harris County,Georgia, and is a son of A. C. and Sarah Elizabeth (Blonton) De Lamar, whowere married in that county. His father fought as a soldier of the Confederacy for four years during the war between the South and the North, havingenlisted in a Georgia volunteer infantry regiment, and at the close of thatstruggle returned to Harris County and resumed his operations as a farmer.In addition to being actively engaged as an agriculturist, he was a localpreacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was widely known throughout his part of the state. He died, honored and respected, November 6, 1914,at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. Mrs. De Lamar, who was bornSeptember 12, 1848, still survives her husband and makes her home at the oldfarm in Harris County. There were six children in the family, of whomthree sons and one daughter still survive, namely: Sarah, who became the wifeof B. M. Poer, of Braxtoii; William Andrew, who lives at Atlanta, Georgia;Walter Franklin, who makes his home in the State of Virginia; and James.The deceased are: Dr. Wiley Coke, born August 12, 1873, who was a practicing physician of Hamilton, Georgia, and died August 30, 1906; and ThomasWhite, born April 18, 1875, a leading business man of West Point, Georgia,where he died in November, 1909.The youngest of his parents' children, James De Lamar passed his boyhoodon the home farm and secured the foundation for his education in the publicschools of his native county. He had early ambitions for a medical career,but it seemed that his wish could not be gratified, for the family was only inmoderate circumstances and there was not the money to spare for a collegetraining. However, the youth did not despair, but pursued his studies withvigor, and while working on the home farm, where he remained until seventeenyears of age, managed to save a little money. With this he betook himselfto Emory College, which he attended until the junior year, then joining themedical class at the University of Georgia. In the meantime his meager fundshad given out, but he was not to be deprived of his cherished diploma, andlooked about him until he found a position in a sawmill, where he could workoutside of class hours and thus earn the means wherewith to complete hiseducation. His determination and perseverance won in the end, for he wasfound graduated with the class of 1906, University of Georgia, with his degreeof Doctor of Medicine. When Doctor De Lamar began his practice at Hamilton, he met with the discouragements that usually come to the young physicianwho is attempting to gain a foothold upon the ladder of professional success,but the spirit that had carried him through the period of training again stoodhim in good stead. He studied continually, worked steadily, and saw his practice grow slowly but surely, while the experience which he was gaining was a