Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

3284 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSchildren of the first marriage the eldest was John A., who died in 1902, atNashville, Tennessee, where he was the owner and operator of planing mills;the subject of this review was the next in order of birth; William R. is engaged,in the book and news business in the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee; andArthur W. maintains his home at Dalton. By her second marriage the motherof Mr. Rudolph likewise had four children: Charles G. Wheeler, the eldestof the number, is a merchant in the City of Atlanta; Mary T. is an expertstenographer and as such is employed in her home City of Dalton; andEunice and Mat-tie remain with their widowed mother in this city.James M. Rudolph was but six years of age at the time of his father'sdeath, and when a mere boy he began to contribute to the support of thefamily. At the age of fifteen years, after having availed himself of theadvantages of the public schools, he determined to acquire the art of stenography, and he accomplished this by studying without an instructor duringhis otherwise leisure hours. As a youth he learned the trade of miller,and worked steadily in the Dalton Flour Mills for a period of fouryears. The inhalation of the flour dust seriously affected his health, andhe therefore sought some other means of making a living. Removing, in1893, to Cedartown, Polk County, he there became a public stenographer andin the meanwhile devoted every possible moment to the study of law, withoutthe aid of a preceptor. His close application and receptive mind enabledhim to make substantial progress, and in 1897 he was admitted to the bar byJudge Charles N. Janes, presiding on the bench of the Superior Court. Heinitiated the .practice of his profession at Cedartown, but in 1899 he returnedto Dalton, where he has continued in successful practice to the present time,and where he now controls a large and representative law business. He wasappointed official court reporter of the Superior Court of the Cherokee Judicial District by Judge A. W. Fite, retained this position some time and waspronounced by Judge Fite to be the most accurate court reporter and stenographer the latter had ever known.Mr. Rudolph is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the democratic party and as a member of the Board of Aldermen of Dalton he took aleading part in furthering the municipal improvements that have proved ofgreat benefit to the city, especially in street paving, the construction of a newwaterworks system and the bringing of the city schools up to high standard.To achieve these ends he worked earnestly to promote the issuing of themunicipal bonds in the amount of $125,000. For eleven years Mr. Rudolph"was local attorney for the Southern Railroad, a position which he resigned in1912. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows andWoodmen of the World. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Mr. Rudolph passed the year 1911 inColorado, in company with his wife, who was afflicted with pulmonary disease and who was compelled to pass the greater part of her time in thatstate, where she died early in 1915 in Canyon City. Mr. Rudolph owns afine farm three miles distant from Dalton and is specially successful as ahorticulturist, his farm showing fine varieties of fruit, especially apples,pears and peaches.June 1, 1899, recorded the marriage of Mr. Rudolph to Miss Edna Morrisof Cedartown, a daughter of James M. Morris. Edna E., the elder of thetwo children, died in October, 1913, at the age of eleven years; -and MorrisMonroe was born September 15, 1904, he being with his father in Dalton,Georgia,February 16, 1916, Mr. Rudolph married Miss Kate Brooker, a youngerdaughter of John W. Brooker, a member of one of the most prominent families of the county and a gallant Confederate veteran who participated inthe battle of Chickamauga and in Johnson's army during the one hundreddays retreat to Atlanta, being a member of Company B, Thirty-ninthGeorgia Regiment.