Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 2831'present with General Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in January, 1815.Felix Gilbert Denman afterwards located in Bartow, then Cass County, andwas a large land and slave owner. He died in 1861. Doctor Fite and wifewere the 'parents of seven_ children, Judge Fite being the oldest; Laura,deceased, was the wife of James"W. Smalley; Dr. Richard Lafayette Fite isa graduate of the old Atlanta Medical College, and is now practicing atTahlequah, Oklahoma; Nancy is the wife of Dr. W. B. Treadwell, of Lufkin,Texas; Florence married Robert F. Bradford, a prominent merchant in Seattle, Washington; Dr. Francis Bartow Fite, a graduate of the Atlanta MedicalCollege, is in practice at Muskogee, Oklahoma, and is also prominent in politics in that state, being chairman of the State Board of Health, and hasfrequently been mentioned as a candidate for governor; Mary is the wife ofWilliam Montgomery, a resident of Missouri.Judge Fite Avas educated in the common schools at Bartow, Gordon andWhitfield counties; also has a high school education, and attended the PineLog Masonic Institute in Bartow County. After the close of his schooling,he taught school and read law in the office of Col. Abda Johnson at Cartersville,being admitted to the bar in 1874. He took up active practice, and alsotaught several terms of school. In 1880, during the memorable campaignin his district between Felton and Clemens, rival candidates for Congress,Judge Fite edited the Cartersville Express, a democratic paper and theofficial organ of Bartow County. He advocated the cause of Mr. Clemens,who was elected to Congress. Judge Fite has for thirty years or more beenquite active in democratic politics. He has served as a member of the StateExecutive Committee and as a delegate to various state conventions. He waselected to the Legislature hi 1882 and 1884. In 1882 he introduced a localoption bill, which passed the House, but lacked a constitutional majority inthe Seriate. He again advocated the same measure in 1884 and it became alaw. It was as a result of this bill that Bartow County became a "dry" territory, and has been one of the prohibition counties of Georgia ever since.Judge Fite was elected solicitor general of the Cherokee Circuit by the Legislature in 1888 and in 1892, and his record in that office gave him the prestige which was a strong point in his favor when he aspired to judicial honors.He was elected judge of the Cherokee Circuit Court by the Legislature in1896, and has received a popular majority for the same office in 1900. 1904,1908 and 1912, and at the last election had no opposition.Judge Fite is active in. Masonic Circles, a member of the lodge, the RoyalArch Chapter and the Knight Templar Commandery, is also affiliated withthe Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of the AmericanMechanics and the Woodmen of the World. For a number of years he hasbeen an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Judge Fite was rearedby a Christian father and mother, and his mother's strong mind and finecharacter were probably the chief influences in making Judge Fite what heis. His mother was born- in 1825, was married to Doctor Fite in 1850, anddied in 1898.Judge Fite was married December 22, 1880, to Miss Florida Lillian Conyers,a daughter of the late Col. William J. Conyers and a granddaughterof the late Col. Lindsay Johnson and of Bennett H. Conyers all of BartowCounty. Her grandfathers were both pioneers of Bartow, then Cass County,and large land and-slave owners and influential citizens. Mrs. Fite's motherwas Virginia Johnson. Judge Fite and wife became the parents of ten children, six of whom are now living; William Conyers Fite is the onlyone of the children married, his wife having been Miss Margaret CurryJohnson, and they have one son, William Conyers Fite; William C. Fit'eis a graduate of Emory College, was a student in the West Point MilitaryAcademy, was made an assistant paymaster in the United States navy, andis now paymaster with the rank of lieutenant-commander, and the second