One day
about six years ago I was sitting in the Douglas County Public Library on
Selman Drive looking through various books dealing with Georgia history. I was trying to find some interesting bits
of history I could bring to my readers at my Georgia history blog…..Georgia on My Mind.
One of the images that intrigued me was of a man who was reclining in a
wheel chair type of contraption. The
caption told me the man’s name was William D. “Earnest Willie” Upshaw and he
was a Congressman from Georgia. Here’s
the image:
 |
| William D. Upshaw....from the Georgia Archives. Taken September 13, 1891 |
I added
Earnest Willie to a list of items titled “further research” and then……promptly
forgot him until just recently.
As I
research the early days of our county the same names keep coming up – Vansant,
James, Selman, Upshaw – and many others.
Have you ever noticed THIS street name as you move about Douglasville?
Recently, I
discovered the man in the wheelchair had family that lived in Douglasville, he
may have even lived here for a time, and not only was he a U.S. Congressman for
the Fifth District he ran for President in 1932.
Yes….he was
a U.S. presidential candidate.
William D.
Upshaw (pronounced “Upsure”) was born in Coweta County in 1861. During the 1870s his father, Isaac D. Upshaw
ran a grocery business and also had some sort of hotel in Atlanta. At some point he decided to move his family
out to the county in Cobb County, Georgia.
"My father," Upshaw once said, "became afraid
that his boys might fall prey to the gilded temptations of city life.
Because he loved his boys better than he loved money, he moved us away
from Atlanta to grow up amid the beauties, glories, and wholesome inspirations
of rural life.”
The family
lived on a plot of land close to where the Macland community is today near Powder
Springs, but while the Upshaw family lived there the community was known as Upshaw
since Isaac was the postmaster as well as a store owner, blacksmith, teacher
and farmer.
In 1884,
William D. Upshaw’s life changed tragically when he was injured during a
farming accident. He slipped and fell
across a wagon crosspiece fracturing his spine and leaving him paralyzed. His injury meant he had to endure a body
cast, brace, a wheelchair and crutches for all but the last few months of his
life.
For the next
six to seven years he was immobile, but William kept himself busy. The picture I posted above was taken after
the accident. Apparently a note on the
back of the photograph is written in Upshaw’s own hand stating, “Yours Earnestly, William Upshaw. September 13, 1891. Sunday afternoon. My heart’s motto: Looking unto Jesus, Hebrews 12:2, My heart’s
message: Remember, without a new heart
in Christ all else is vain.”
The “Yours
Earnestly” is important. During his
confinement William began to write. He
contributed poems and inspirational letters to Cobb County’s weekly newspaper
and an Atlanta magazine called The Sunny South. He signed his writing and letters “Yours in
Earnest” resulting in the nickname “Earnest Willie”. His writings became very popular and he
began to lecture. He also wrote a book
titled Earnest Willie, or, Echoes from a
Recluse where he stated, “I do
believe in being deeply in earnest. It
is the very passion of my soul.
Earnestness is the secret of nearly every man’s success, and it is the
lever that persistently pushes to completion nearly every movement for reform,
whether it be great or small…”
The book was
so popular it went into eleven editions.
Eventually, Upshaw managed to substitute a steel jacket for
his body cast, and he moved from his bed into a wheelchair. An apparatus was
devised which allowed him to ride in carriages, and he began traveling about,
lecturing. The money he earned eventually gave
him enough money to enroll at Mercer University in 1895.
By the turn
of the last century Upshaw was vice-president of Georgia’s Anti-Saloon League where he fought hard for Prohibition by lobbying for the passage of the
Volstead Act. He lectured for the Women's
Christian Temperance Union and made many speeches at Bessie Tift College in Tifton, Georgia. You’ve probably passed the campus on your way
to Florida along Interstate 75.
Eventually, Upshaw succeeded in getting a building on the campus named
for his mother. Completed in 1904, the
building was named Addie Upshaw Hall.
 |
| Addie Upshaw Hall on the campus of Bessie Tift College....Georgia Archives |
Upshaw was
encouraged to run for Congress. In 1918
he won the seat for Georgia’s Fifth District defeating six seasoned political
veterans in the process. He ran again in
1922 receiving 95% of the vote, and in 1924, he was unopposed. He
ended up serving four terms.
While in
Washington D.C. Upshaw became known as the “driest dry” in Congress. This website states he startled folks by holding
evangelistic meetings, in addition to fulfilling his duties as a Congressman,
because as he said, “all the laws made on Capitol Hill will fall like chaff to
the ground unless they are planted in character.”
This image
is interesting. It looks as if Upshaw is
holding an umbrella over the U.S. Capitol.
The same website I linked to above states…..His first important vote was for the 19th
Amendment, providing for national women's suffrage; he was the only member of
the Georgia delegation to support suffrage. He espoused a "square
deal" for both capital and labor, but he clearly favored "the man in overalls
and the man behind the plow." He supported a Constitutional amendment
to restrict child labor. He helped defeat the anti-strike clause in the
Railroad Transportation Act. He urged Congress to provide pensions for
Confederate veterans, as well as for Union veterans. He wished to provide
Jewish chaplains in the Armed Forces, as well as Christian chaplains.
Colliers Magazine said of him, in 1924: In a materialistic age, given over to
thought and discussion of gross profits, net income, public debts, and
taxation, Upshaw is an incurable romantic. He is a sentimentalist, an
idealist, a dreamer, an exhorter, an evangelist, but with all these impractical
qualities and attributes, he has and this is our final test the ability to
put his stuff across; to do things. Upshaw would be intolerable if he
were not so absolutely sincere and genuine. He has had an amazing career,
because he believes in all the copy book maxims. He is one of the old
Sunday school storybooks come to life.
In an article published in The Heritage of Douglas County:
1870-2002, Cameron Fincher discusses how he found a copy of William
D. Upshaw’s book Clarion Calls from
Capitol Hill (1926) in a bookstore specializing in out of print books. Fincher connected to the book because he had
grown up on Bowden Street where Upshaw’s brother, Herschel, owned a house. Fincher had heard stories about his
neighbor’s famous brother, and how he had been involved in Washington
politics….even running for President.
During the 1932 presidential election William D. Upshaw ran
against Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Prohibition Party. A vigorous campaign across 20 states was
held.
I ran across this poll card on file at Emory University from
the 1932 election. This wasn’t an
official ballot….just a poll prior to the election readers of a certain
magazine could take part in. You can
click on the image to isolate it and make it larger. Notice William D. Upshaw’s name is listed on
the right side of the card.
Cameron Fincher states, “Some [folks who live in Douglas
County] still do not know whether to be proud of a ‘local’ candidate for
president or astounded at the number of Americans who voted against alcohol
instead of FOR Franklin D. Roosevelt.”
I’m in that number!
Upshaw received almost 82,000 votes nationwide and for the
remainder of his life, he fought an increasingly lonely battle to revive the
Prohibition Cause. He tried again in
1942 running on the Democratic ticket, and was unsuccessful and another stab to
return to Congress. The Prohibition
cause was dead at that point.
Following his election defeats Upshaw returned to lecturing. Later, he moved to California and joined the
faculty of Linda Vista Bible College in San Diego. He also became an ordained minister at the
age of 72 and traveled across the United States for the National Christian
Citizenship Foundation preaching against liquor and Communism.
On May 2, 1951 William D. Upshaw walked! He was healed by a Christian minister by the
name of William Branham who was purported to be a Christian healer.
This
website recounts the event and how Upshaw stood
and walked at the meeting and walked every day afterward for the rest of his
life. The site also has a recording of
Upshaw talking about the event you can listen to. Though it was later in his life you can hear
the emotion in his voice, and can see why audiences were often swayed to his
views.
William D. Upshaw passed away November 21, 1952 and is
buried in California at Forest Lawn in Glendale.
Next week I’ll share with you more about the Upshaw family
and their impact on Douglasville!
No comments:
Post a Comment