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Daniel Norwood Speer⁴ (William¹, John², William³) was a college graduate and trustee, lawyer, state treasurer, Civil War Major, highly successful businessman, industrial pioneer, and family man. His business savvy and wise investments during the difficult times following the Civil War brought great fortune and by 1889 he was called "one of the fifteen wealthiest men in Atlanta".

Daniel Norwood⁴ served in the Brigade headquarters on the Georgia coast and probably elsewhere in Tennessee and the Carolinas in 1861. In 1862, this regiment served in the battles around Richmond, Virginia, the campaign of Second Manassas and Maryland, and at Fredericksburg. At the end of the war, Daniel was paroled on June 4, 1865 at Alexandria, Louisiana. See CHAPTER 19 for more records of his war service. See Figure 10-1 for a tracing of his signature from his 1862 military documents.

Daniel's time as State Treasurer was instrumental to his career. Even before leaving office in 1884, he entered business and eventually became highly successful as an industrial pioneer in the rebuilding of Atlanta.

Daniel's bold gamble revitalized Georgia's cotton industry and soon the entire state flourished. The mill itself provided thousands of jobs during it's life and was a major contributor to the rebirth of Atlanta. Daniel gained a controlling interest in the company and served as it's president for ten years. The entire production of cloth from the mill was purchased by J. P. Stevens and Company and made into clothes that were sold by J. C. Penney's mail-order catalogs throughout America^D.

Other positions held included Trustee of Georgia Institute of Technology^G (Georgia Tech or the former Georgia School of Technology).

One of Georgia's most distinguished citizens, Major Daniel Norwood Speer, for two successive terms filled with conspicuous ability the office of State Treasurer, and except for his voluntary relinquishment of the trust which his fellow citizens were only too glad to confer upon him in recognition of his excellent equipment, he might have held the office until the close of his life.

Throughout {the Civil War} Maj. Speer acquitted himself with distinguished gallantry and enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his superior officers, who were not alone in recognizing his fidelity and courage. Locating in LaGrange, GA. at the close of the war, Maj. Speer engaged in the practice of law and soon achieved an eminence in his profession which gave him a monopoly of most of the important litigation of his section of the state and placed him in the front rank of Georgia lawyers. From 1865 to 1880 Maj. Speer remained continuously at the practice of the law, giving it up reluctantly in the year last named to become the candidate of his fellow citizens of Troup County for the office of State Treasurer.

Maj. Speer was deeply touched by this token of regard on the part of his friends and neighbors, and as long as he lived he cherished the resolutions which were adopted by the mass meeting assembled at LaGrange, commending him to the voters of the state. The resolutions were couched in the following language: "Major D. N. Speer was born in this country, his life has been spent among us, his character is without spot or blemish, his superior judgment, his integrity and his financial ability are all of the very highest order; and we, his fellow citizens, who have known him from his childhood, do thus publicly commend him to the people of Georgia as one peculiarly fitted for the office of State treasurer."

The Democratic state Convention which met in August of this year nominated Maj. Speer by acclamation, and notwithstanding the fact that the incumbent of the office announced himself as an independent candidate for re-election Maj. Speer was elected by the extraordinary majority of 93,104 votes over his opponent. The best testimonial to Maj. Speer's splendid discharge of the onerous duties of State Treasurer is the unqualified praise officially rendered him by the legislative bodies of the State, during his incumbency, after thorough inspection of his books through impartial and vigilant committees. In commending Maj. Speer the legislature of 1881 used this strong language: "Hon. D. N. Speer, treasurer of the state, deserves the gratitude of the people of Georgia for his conduct in withdrawing the State's funds from the Citizens' Bank as well as for his efficiency and the good management of his office. When he entered the office he found $332,432.75 of the State's funds deposited in the Citizen's Bank.

He at once began withdrawing this money to meet all the wants of the State so that at the time of the suspension of said bank there was on deposit only $103,218.46, thus, as the committee think, saving the State a large sum of money" ($229,214.29).

The State Democratic convention which met in Atlanta on July 20th, 1882, renominated Mr. Speer by acclamation in recognition of his faithful services, and he was re-elected in the fall of the year by an immense vote. When the legislature of 1883 investigated the management of the State treasury it declared that the books of Major Speer were models of neatness and accuracy, and cordially endorsed the business methods which prevailed in the office.

At the conclusion of his second term Maj. Speer voluntarily retired from the public service to accept the presidency of the Exposition Cotton Mills. Having become strongly attached to this city during his incumbency of the State Treasury he continued to make Atlanta his home until the time of his death.

The Democratic State Convention which met on August 13th, 1884, acted upon the refusal of Maj. Speer to make the race again and passed the following resolution, which was adopted under a suspension of the rules of the body: "Resolved, That in the retirement of Hon. D. N. Speer from office the State loses an able and vigilant State Treasurer who well deserves the confidence of the people of Georgia."

During Maj. Speer's two terms as State Treasurer he handled the vast amount of $6,418,961 of the public money without the loss of one dollar to the Treasury. Within this period the public debt was diminished to the extent of $1,246,865.

Prior to entering the public service Maj. Speer had expected to devote himself exclusively to the practice of the law, but on retiring from office he gave his entire time to business pursuits, exemplifying as president of the Exposition Cotton Mills and in other important capacities the same thorough-going qualifications which had characterized him as State Treasurer, and which enabled him as the result of skillful financial management to accumulate an immense property.

Nearly every newspaper in the State contained editorial expressions of regret over the retirement of Maj. Speer from office, feeling that the State had lost an efficient public servant whom it could ill afford to spare. The Milledgeville Union and Recorder spoke of his withdrawal from the public service as an exceptional instance of "how a man can take up and lay down office with honor." The Cartersville Free Press said: "Mr Speer's record was so clean, even of the remotest suspicion, that it was only necessary to have hinted that he desired re-election in order to have secured it without opposition." No public officer ever retired from public life with such gratifying assurances of the good will and appreciation of the people of the State.

The Exposition Cotton Mills, of which Maj. Speer became president, was organized shortly after the close of the International Cotton Exposition which was held in Atlanta in 1881, and the buildings in which the exhibit had been housed were fitted up for factory purposes. The promoters of the enterprise, including some of Atlanta's leading capitalists and business men ....purchased the grounds and buildings, equipped the plant with the latest machinery and started the Exposition Cotton Mills, which has since developed into one of the largest establishments in the South. Maj. Speer presided over the affairs of the Exposition Cotton Mills for ten consecutive years, his election each year being always unanimous and accompanied with gratifying expressions of approval.

Straightforward business methods characterized Maj. Speer in all of his dealings with men, and some additional idea of his skill in handling delicate financial matters as well as his wonderful ease in adapting himself to the various phases of business life may be obtained from the following inventory of important positions which he held from time to time, viz.:

Vice-president and Director of the LaGrange Banking and Trust Co.

Vice-president and Director of the Atlanta Banking Co.

President and Director of the Exposition Cotton Mills

Director of the First National Bank of Newman

Director of the Newman National Bank

Director of the Carrollton Bank

Director of the Atlanta National Bank

Director of the Bank of Monroe

Director of the Atlanta and West Point Railroad

Director of the Georgia Railroad and Banking Co.

Director of the Georgia Railroad Bank

Director of the Union Compress and Warehousing Co.

Director of the Georgia School of Technology

besides owning stock in various other banks and corporations of the State of Georgia.

Maj. Speer's beautiful Peachtree home reflected the culture and refinement which always marked his mental tastes, and nothing gave him more sincere pleasure than to dispense open-handed hospitality to his guests. Genial in his manners at all time and considerate of the poor and humble, as well as of the rich and powerful, he endeared himself to every one with whom he came in contact, and his death, which occurred at his home in Atlanta on April 18th, 1893, was deplored with universal regret. On the heights of Westview Cemetery the ashes of this lamented Georgian rest under an imposing shaft of granite.

Born Died

1) William Alexander Speer, II⁵ 1866 After 1893

2) Aurelia Moreland Speer⁵ (twin) Oct 1869 29 Aug 1870

3) Pearl Amoss Speer⁵ (twin) Oct 1869 20 Aug 1870

4) John Moreland Speer⁵ 1 Oct 1873 6 Jan 1923

5) Robert Spalding Speer⁵ 1877 1942

6) Annie Baird Speer⁵ 1879 1968

1) William Alexander Speer, II⁵ (William¹, John², William³, Daniel⁴) was a student at the University of Georgia in 1884. In 1890, he married Kate Silvey. They had one child, Silvey Speer⁶ (William¹, John², William³, Daniel⁴, William⁵) who was born August 7, 1891 and died September 25, 1989. Silvey married Marshall C. McKenzie and is buried beside her grandparents in Westview Cemetery, Atlanta, GA. (Figure 10-3).

2) and 3) Aurelia Moreland Speer⁵ and Pearl Amoss Speer⁵ (William¹, John², William³, Daniel⁴) were twins that died within nine days of each other before reaching their first year. They died in LaGrange before the family moved to Atlanta.

APRIL 25,1842-FEB. 7, 1905