My Genealogy Hound

Eugene N. Formby, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Newton County, Ga., in 1833, and is a son of Aaron and Elizabeth (Harvell) Formby, natives of Virginia, who went to Georgia when young and there passed their lives. The grandfather of our subject, Nathan, and his brother, Aaron, were the only ancestors who ever came to America. They came to fight in the Revolution under Gen. LaFayette, in which war Nathan was an officer. From these two men have descended the many families by the name of Formby which are now scattered over the United States. Both men were well-to-do planters and stock dealers and reared large families. Our subject lost his father when but seven years old, and his mother died in 1874. The maternal grandfather, Jackson Harvell, was of Irish descent and a native of Virginia. Eugene is the third of a family of six children, and having lost his father when so young his educational advantages were necessarily limited. His brother James enlisted in the Confederate army, and after a year’s service died at Richmond, Va. Eugene served three years in the “Chatham Artillery,” the first artillery company organized in the United States, which operated on the coast from Florida to North Carolina. During his entire service he never missed a roll-call, and the last year and a half served as wagon master. He was with Gen. Johnson at the time of the surrender at Greensboro, N. C. In 1855 he married Phoebe Ann, daughter of Jesse Birch, a native of North Carolina, and a soldier in the War of 1812. He removed to Georgia in 1836, and died during the late war. Mrs. Formby was born in Georgia in 1837, and is the mother of eleven children, all of whom reside near home. After his marriage Mr. Formby lived near Rome, Ga., until 1870, and then rented land in this county until 1872. He then began to clear his present farm in the wilderness, and he now has 500 acres of well-improved bottom land. He is one of the best farmers in the county and has a good steam cotton-gin. He had $600 when he came here and paid $1,200 for the home farm. The remainder of his property he has accumulated since. He is a Democrat, and in 1874 was elected justice of the peace, continuing to hold that office eight years. His first presidential vote was cast for Buchanan. He is a member of the Pleasant Hill Masonic Lodge No. 233, and himself and wife are Methodists.