Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3219and a great believer in printer's ink. His fearlessness and the forcefulnessof his pen were exemplified in his bold and uncompromising attack in 1912,on the then presiding judge of the United States District Court of the SouthernDistrict of Georgia, which'brought forth a federal investigation.His greatly lamented death occurred April 24, 1916.THOMAS F. FLEMING. Engaged in the successful practice of his professionat Sparta, the judicial center of Hancock County, Mr. Fleming has gainedprecedence as one of the most resourceful and most thoroughly representativemembers of the bar of this section of the state and his practice has grown tovery appreciable and importan-t proportions. He is a scion, in both paternaland maternal lines, of sterling pioneer families of Georgia and is himself anative of the fine old City of Augusta, Richmond County, where he was bornon the 6th of February, 1885. He is a son of Thomas F. and Julia (Baker)Fleming, both of whom were born and reared in Georgia, and he was a child ofbut three years at the time of his father's death, in 1888, at the age of forty-,nine years, his widowed mother being now a resident of Sparta, where she isthe popular incumbent in the office of postmistress of this thriving little city.Thomas F. Fleming, Sr., was a resident of Augusta during the major partof his life and there his death occurred. He was one of the prominent andhonored business men of the city, where he was engaged in the drug trade,and where he was known as a loyal and public-spirited citizen; During thecritical period of the Civil war he gave effective service to the Confederacythrough his connection with the surgical department of the armies in the field.Of the four children the subject of this review is the youngest; Henry B. isa soldier in the United States Army and is now stationed on the Mexicanborder; and Carl and Julia remain with their widowed mother in the pleasanthome at Sparta.Thomas F. Fleming, the' immediate subject of this sketch, acquired hisearlier educational discipline in the public schools and then entered EmoryCollege, at Oxford, in which institution he was graduated in 1905, with thedegree of Bachelor of Arts.. Thereafter he attended the law school of the University of Georgia for one term and then entered the law department of MercerUniversity, in which admirable Georgia institution he was graduated as amember of the class of 1908 and from which he received his degree of Bachelorof Laws. He was duly admitted to the bar and forthwith engaged in the activework of his profession at Sparta, where his ability, close application and sterling character soon enabled him to make splendid advancement, with the resultthat within (a comparatively short interval he has become known as one of theessentially successful and representative lawyers of this section of the state.He is associated in practice with W. H. Burwell, under the firm name ofBurwell & Fleming, and they control a large and important law business whichextends into the various State and Federal courts of Georgia.Mr. Fleming is a stalwart and effective advocate of the cause of the democratic party and is influential in its Georgia ranks, as shown by the fact thatfrom 1910 to 1912 he served as a valued member of the state executive committee of the party. He is a member of the Georgia State Bar Association andis affiliated with the Chi Phi Fraternity of the University of Georgia.On the 6th of November, 1912, Mr. Fleming wedded Miss Ava Butler West,of Thomson, McDuffie County, she being a daughter of John T. and Laura(Hawes) West, who still reside at Thomson, where the father is one of theforemost members of the bar of McDuffie County. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming haveone son, Thomas Farrar Fleming, Jr.JAMES FREDERICK KELLY. A lawyer of high standing in Rome, JamesFrederick Kelly is now serving as judge of the Police Court of that city,and is a young man who when a boy determined that his career should be