Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2860 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSage of seventy-six. His entire active life was devoted to the ministry of theMethodist Church. Only two years before his death he retired from regularpastorate, and from the year 1843 had devoted his time and energies andresources unselfishly and with the highest Christian zeal to the needs ofvarious communities and churches in Southeastern Georgia. For fully halfa century he was a member of the Methodist Conference and was loved andhonored both for his qualities as a preacher and as a man. His wife died in1892, and both are now at rest in the Mount Maria Cemetery at Reidsvillein Toombs County. Of their nine children three died in infancy. James M.was for a number of years in the drug business at Portland, Oregon, anddied in that city. Robert was a lumber manufacturer and planter and diedin Toombs County. Mattie married J. J. Easterling and died at Reidsvillein 1882. Henry-B. now lives in Jacksonville, Florida.It is almost invariably true that a minister, particularly a Methodist,never acquires a fortune or even a competence, and consequently the home inwhich Enoch J. Giles grew up was one frequently of limited comforts andwith little surplus money to expend on the training and education of thechildren. Therefore Mr. Giles had to accept such restricted advantages ascame in the schools of Tattnall County and at Taylor's Creek in LibertyCounty, and when still a boy he was fully earning his own way. For severalyears he was connected with the lumber industry in Tattnall County, but atthe age of twenty-four began reading law under Henry J. McGee at Reidsville. He was admitted to practice in 1888 by Hon. J. K. Hines, who subsequently gained distinction as attorney for the railroad commission in Georgia,Mr. Giles began his career as a lawyer at Reidsville, built up a large andsuccessful practice there, and might still have been identified with thatcommunity had it not been for the creation of the new County of Toombs.He was one of the first lawyers to locate at the county seat of Lyons in 1905,and in the past ten years his influence has been exerted in many ways for theupbuilding and advancement of the town. He has some valuable real estateinvestments in Lyons, and in December, 1905, he organized the ToombsCounty Bank with a capital of $30,000, and has ever since been its activehead. His chief reputation, however, is based upon his attainments as alawyer. He is more frequently engaged in cases of importance in the middlecircuit than any other local attorney, and he is a familiar figure among theattorneys who carry cases to the higher courts at Atlanta. His real hobbyis diversified farming and in this direction he has set a valuable example tothe agricultural population of Toombs County, where he owns one of thelargest plantations, the size and equipment of which are indicated by thefact that in the busy season thirty-seven plows are kept in operation. Heraises big crops of cotton and corn and practices himself and advocates forothers the diversified plan.He has been an active factor in democratic politics, and is steward anddistrict leader of McRea's District in the Methodist Church. On March 1,1881 he married Miss Rosa Harley, who died in November, 1881. She was.born in Tattnall County, the daughter of William J. Harley. In 1892Mr. Giles married Miss Queen J. Rogers, daughter of Joseph B. Rogers. Shedied in October, 1893, leaving one child, Vivian, who died when four monthsof age. In 1903 he married a sister of his first wife, Allie A. Harley, butwho at the time was the widow of J. S. Talley. Mrs. Giles is an active workerin- the Methodist Church.ROBERT WELLS MILNER. Among the more prominent and successful members of the legal fraternity in Newton County, Georgia, is Robert WellsMilner, of Covington, who has risen to his present position by dint of inherent ability and hard and conscientious work. He was born in Paoli, MadisonCounty, Georgia, July 21, 1861, the son of Rev. Robert William and Sarah