Induction Year: 1990

Heman Edward Drummond

  • October 26th, 2021

In 1935, Heman Edward Drummond founded the H. E. Drummond Coal Company when he began to develop a small drift mine in an area between Empire and Sumiton, Alabama ­ called Drummond Hollow – on land homesteaded by his mother. On April 5, 1956-just twenty-one years later he died of heart failure, but he had built a strong foundation for what has become one of Alabama’s major businesses. He did not see the fulfillment of his dreams, but under the leadership of his five sons, Drummond Company, Inc. has become one of the largest privately held firms in Alabama and a prominent leader in America’s coal industry. Drummond Company, Inc. today employs 3,300 people and conducts business throughout the world.

Those who knew Heman Drummond described him as an unusual person. He was a miner, of course. But he was also an oil driller, an innovator, and a risk-taker. He was a man who dreamed hard and worked hard. He was an honest and compassionate man who inspired others to work with him.

Heman Edward Drummond was born in Walker County, Alabama (near Sipsey) on August 8, 1905, the son of Dr. Isaac Freeman Drummond (a country dentist and school teach­ er) and Ida (Phillips) Drummond. In the late twenties and early thirties, young Heman worked for the Debardelaben Coal Corporation, first as a machine cutter and then as a foreman.

In 1935, when he was thirty years old, he decided to go out on his own. He developed the small drift mine in Drummond Hollow, where daily production averaged about fifty tons. After he bought a coal-cutting machine in 1937, production increased to about 100 tons per day. The coal was loaded onto small rail cars, pulled to the mine mouth by mules, and then hand-loaded onto the two trucks he owned. Customers would come and pick up their domestic coal, which sold for $2.60 a ton, and coal was also sold to railroads.

Money was scarce in the 1930s and people de­ pended on each other to get by. (The saying was that people mined coal, but farmed for a living). Since there were practically no coal sales in the summer, Heman Drummond stockpiled coal in Drummond Hollow and depended on credit to keep the mine operating.

Testimony of these hard times is a loan note executed in 1943 by “Mr. Heman,” as he liked to be known. To secure a three-month bank loan of $300, he mortgaged three mules – described in the note by color, age, and weight, and one by name: “Tobe.” Because of his good name and reputation for honesty, Heman Drummond managed to get the help he needed. Out of respect for him banks – and even his competitors – provided needed resources.

In 1942, after acquiring land on the Sipsey River close to Burton Bend, Heman Drummond opened his first strip mine, in which he used a rented ¾ yard link-belt dragline. Making money as a small strip miner wasn’t any easier than it was as a small underground miner, but slowly E. Drummond Coal Company began to prosper. One reason was that Heman Drummond had the foresight to buy land whenever he could scrape the money together, thus enabling the company to expand operations.

Some people looked askance at the land buying Heman Drummond did because they wondered how he could support his family. He and his wife (nee Elza Eliza Stewart, whom he married in 1928) had seven children – five sons and two daughters. But those who knew him well always realized that he thought of his family first.

Mining companies have many mines in different locations today, but at that time the Drummond family surface-mined one location at a time. They mined near the Sipsey River, then in Sumiton, then went back to Drummond Hollow, then to Arkadelphia.

During World War II, Drummond and his family kept the mines operating in spite of the lack of manpower and various material shortages. The Drummonds became self-made mechanics, making parts and repairing machinery themselves. Only one tractor could be acquired during the war.

By 1948, the Drummond mining operation had graduated from the ¾ yard shovel to a 1 ¼ yard, 1928 model, Northwest and a 2½ yard, 2000 Manitowoc.

Heman Drummond was a risk-taker in many ways. In addition to his coal mining ventures, he was engaged in oil and gas exploration in North Alabama. He was successful in locating natural gas, but not in commercial quantities. During his short lifetime, Heman Drummond accomplished a great deal. He founded a company and directed its growth and progress during two decades that included part of the Great Depression, World War II, and the first post-war decade. He left his sons a rich heritage:

  • A successful business in which they had been well trained and were well equipped to operate.
  • Landholdings that would provide coal reserves for years to come.
  • Valuable lessons in perseverance, hard work, business know-how, and concern for employees and fellow citizens.

As one of “Mr. Heman’s” friends once said, “Heman was one of the finest men I have ever known and a true friend… I would give anything if he had lived to see his boys’ success… He would have been so proud.”

Heman Drummond was known throughout Walker County as a warmhearted, generous man who could always be depended on to come to the aid of individuals in need, quickly and without fanfare.

Long hours and hard work at the helm of a small but growing business occupied Heman Drummond’s days fully. His business skills were the product of inborn abilities and broad experience. With great foresight and honest effort, he forged his dreams into the beginnings of today’s Drummond Company.

Sources of biographical information: Contour, Drummond Company employee publication, Vol.2, No.4, Winter1978-79; Wayne Flynt. Mine, Mill, and Microchip: A Chronicle of Alabama Enterprise. Northridge, California: Windsor Publications, Inc., 1987.

William Hansell Hulsey

  • October 26th, 2021

William Hansell Hulsey, the son of John Balus and Gabriella Celestia (Hansell) Hulsey, was born in Carbon Hill, Alabama, in Walker County, on May 2, 1901. After graduating from Carbon Hill High School, he moved to Birmingham where he became one of the city’s leading investment bankers and real estate developers, as well as one of the city’s most dedicated citizens, known for his civic and philanthropic activities.

Even as a youth, William Hulsey (most often called “Bill” or “Bubba”) was a budding entrepreneur. For example, he would buy raw peanuts, have his mother parch them, and then sell them on the streets of Carbon Hill.

To satisfy his insatiable curiosity and interest in the financial world and his burning desire to succeed in his own business, he left Carbon Hill the day after graduation from high school to go to Birmingham to pursue his dream. He immediately obtained a job receiving and distributing water meters for the Birmingham Water Works. His astuteness, hard work, and winning personality earned him rapid promotions as well as the attention of several businessmen whose offices were near the Water Works.

In the late 1920s, Bill Hulsey was offered and took a position with Alabama Home Building and Loan Association, a company that was suffering in the throes of the depression. Subsequently, he became vice president and chief executive officer and was able to stabilize Alabama Home and then arrange for the sale of the assets. He became part-owner of the purchasing company, Garber and Cook, which became Garber, Cook, & Hulsey, Inc. in 1937, with Bill Hulsey as sole owner.

Shortly after embarking on what would prove to be a long and successful career, Bill Hulsey put aside his business aspirations to serve as a major in the Army Air Force during World War II. After his discharge, he returned to Birmingham where his unending ambition and desire to excel led him to almost unparalleled success in the Birmingham corporate community.

Bill Hulsey served as president of Garber, Cook, & Hulsey, Inc. until 1978 when he became Chairman of the Board and his nephew, William C. Hulsey, assumed the presidency.

Garber, Cook, & Hulsey, Inc. was primarily involved in the mortgage loan business. In 1947, Realty Mortgage Company, another loan servicing business, was purchased. Under Bill Hulsey’s direction, the two companies developed one of the largest loan servicing portfolios in the Southeast, also being active in residential and commercial property development throughout Alabama and northwest Florida. The loan servicing was sold in 1969 with Realty Mortgage Company. Garber, Cook, & Hulsey, Inc. became a holding company involved in various real estate development and other financial interests in the Birmingham area.

In 1946, Bill Hulsey was elected to the Board of Directors of the Bank for Savings and Trusts, which was merged with Birmingham Trust National Bank in 1963. He continued to serve on the Board of BTNB and its successor, SouthTrust Corporation, until his retirement in 1979, at which time he was elected to Director Emeritus status.

Bill Hulsey’s executive leadership extended beyond the real estate and financial worlds. He served as chairman of the board and was active in the operation of various firms, including Ingalls Iron Works Company, Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation, Utopia Cleaners and Dryers, Southern Carpet, Beaver Construction Company, and Computer Services Corporation. He was also a director of Master Packaging and Equipment and Allied Products Company.

Bill Hulsey’s accomplishments in the business world were matched by his contributions to the civic and cultural activities in the community. He gave generously of his time, means, and talents in keeping with his belief that one should not always be on the receiving end of society, but should give equally.

In fulfilling his self-perceived obligations, he was an active member of the Birmingham Rotary Club, serving a year as its president and subsequently as chairman. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Community Chest (United Way) from 1948 to 1965, serving a term as chairman of the annual fund drive. He served as chairman of the Capital Fund Drive for the Birmingham YWCA in 1948 and continued on the YWCA Board of Trustees until 1981.

Bill Hulsey was one of the organizers of the Eye Foundation Hospital and served on the Board of Trustees for many years. He made numerous contributions to local hospitals and educational institutions for buildings and equipment. He was a lifetime trustee of Birmingham Southern College and a member of the President’s Advisory Council at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

An avid support of the arts and humanities in the Birmingham area, Bill Hulsey was active in the formation of the Birmingham Symphony Association and served on the Board of Trustees of that Association for many years.

Because of his interest in art, he built, along with his wife, Susan Mabry Hulsey, a sizeable personal art collection. He served many years on the Board of Trustees of the Birmingham Museum of Art. In 1974, he was named chairman of a fundraising drive to obtain funding for the Birmingham Museum of Art Foundation. He served as chairman of the foundation until his death. He also served as vice-president and director of the Birmingham Art Association.

For his abundant contributions to the city and community, Bill Hulsey received many honors.

He received national recognition in 1964 when he was listed in Who’s Who in America as an outstanding investment executive and art collector. In 1965, he was named King of the Beaux Arts Krewe Ball.

In 1973, he was presented the Silver Bowl Award by the Festival of Arts. In 1978, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree by the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 9180, he was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor. In 1985, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Birmingham-Southern College.

The Cathedral Church of the Advent, of which he and his wife were active supporters, named its newly refurbished education and office building “Hulsey Hall.” The University of Alabama at Birmingham named its humanities building – its construction made possible by a million dollar contribution from the Hulseys – “The William Hansell and Susan Mabry Hulsey Building for Arts and Humanities,” and the Birmingham Museum of Art auditorium is named for Susan Mabry Hulsey.

William Hansell Hulsey died on November 17, 1985, having reached his dream of success. Because he had been equally generous with his time, talent, and money, Birmingham had become a considerably better place in which to live and through his leadership and support, many spiring young businessmen had also reached a plateau of success.

Bibliographical information provided by Garber, Cook, & Hulsey, Inc.

John Snow Jemison, Jr.

  • October 26th, 2021

John Snow Jemison, Jr., who founded Jemison Investment Co., Inc., in 1949, was known in Birmingham business circles as a “deal maker”- in the best sense of the term. He was admired by associates for getting to the essence of a question or problem quickly. He had the unique ability to develop a high trust and confidence level with all parties in a transaction, and no one’s trust or confidence was ever misplaced.

He was also known as a compassionate, loving, and caring person who expended much of his time and resources in improving the quality of life in the Birmingham area.

John Snow Jemison, Jr., was born in Birmingham on March 5, 1908. As the son of John and Margaret (Pockman) Jemison, he grew up in a family that had long been active in the business and civic life of the city and state.

After completing his primary and secondary education in the Birmingham public schools and the Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, he earned a degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina. After his graduation in 1931, he obtained a position with the Bank of Manhattan (now Chase Manhattan Bank) in New York. At night he continued his education by taking courses in advanced accounting, securities analysis, and economics at the New York University Graduate School of Business Administration.

In 1940, he left the Bank of Manhattan (where he had become Assistant Cashier in charge of the bank’s Southeastern business) to join Goldman, Sachs & Co., New York, one of the nation’s largest underwriters of industrial securities. During World War II, he served with the Navy in the South Pacific for three years. After his discharge with the rank of Commander in 1945, he resumed his association with Goldman, Sachs & Co., New York.

John Jemison returned to his hometown in 1947 as a resident partner of Marx & Co. (investment bankers) of Birmingham and New York City. The partner­ ship was dissolved in 1955 when his partner was invited to become president of Paribas Corporation in New York. At that time, John Jemison activated Jemison Investment Co., Inc., which he had organized as a small side investment firm in 1949.

John Jemison could be described as Birmingham’s first venture capitalist. He has been called a financial wizard because he knew how to handle money, how to handle debt, and how to handle investments.

Jemison Investment Co., Inc., became a diversified holding company with interests in nested steel drums, lumber products, building material, slurry and dredge pump manufacturing, magazine publishing, and real estate. John Jemison described this privately owned firm as a “small conglomerate.” Jemison Investment Co., Inc. acquired a number of subsidiaries and became affiliated with several other companies. John Jemison became chairman of the board of each of the acquired companies, but all day-to­ day operations were handled by the management of the companies.

John Jemison served as President and Treasurer of Jemison Investment Co., Inc. from 1955 to 1983 when he became Chairman, Treasurer, and Director – positions he held until his death.

“Work hard and have fun doing it,” seems to have been his motto. He served as an officer and/or director of numerous public and private companies throughout the United States. These included: General Housewares Corp. of Stam­ ford, CT; P. M. Holding Corp. of San Diego, CA; L. Farber Company of Worcester, Mass.; American Heritage Life Insurance of Jacksonville, FL; Kershaw Manufacturing of Montgomery, AL; Birmingham Cable Communications, Inc., EBSCO Industries, Inc., Golden Enterprises, Inc., and Allied Products Company of Birmingham, to name a few.

He was also a Director of the Bank for Savings and Trusts from 1956 until its merger with the predecessor of SouthTrust Corporation in 1963. He served on the Board of Directors of SouthTrust until 1980 when he was elected a Director Emeritus.

While working as a financial executive, John Jemison was also working for the community. He was deeply involved in community affairs. He was a member of the Rotary Club and served as its president for one term. He served as a director of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce and the Metropolitan Development Board. He served as chairman of the Trade Mart Committee.

He was a Trustee of the Birmingham Symphony Association and the Eye Foundation Hospital. He was on the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Birmingham Opera Association.

Always a supporter of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he was an honorary member of the President’s Council. He was one of the major donors of the first UAB Capital Campaign, and in 1986 he endowed a Visiting Professorship of Humanities chair through his $500,000 contribution. He was also a board member of the Medical and Education Foundation and of the Health Services Foundation at UAB.

A founding member of both the advisory board and the foundation board of St. Vincent’s Hospital, he was a major contributor to the hospital’s Main and West Wings.

John Jemison’s many-faceted contributions to community life were recognized when he was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees by the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1981 and by Birmingham-Southern College in 1987. On May 16, 1988, eighty-year-old John S.

Jemison, Jr. was killed when his car struck a bridge abutment in Birmingham.

As stated in the May 18, 1988, Birmingham News, “John S. Jemison, Jr., was a builder and benefactor of Birmingham. His tragic death… leaves us a little poorer… In so many ways, Mr. Jemison was a  leading citizen. He will be mourned and missed throughout the community.”

Biographical information provided by Jemison Investment Co., Inc.

Samuel Paul Noble

  • October 26th, 2021

Samuel Noble was the founder of Anniston, Alabama, which he envisioned as “the model city of the South.” He was an iron­ master and entrepreneur who helped Alabama’s recovery after the War Between the States by building this industrial base in Northeast Alabama.

The son of James and Jennifer (Ward) Noble, he was born in Cornwall, England, on November 22, 1834, but grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, where his family had settled after emigrating in 1837. His father, an ironmaster, worked for a railroad until he could build a foundry.

Samuel Noble and his brother grew up in an atmosphere of furnace and forge. Young Samuel began learning his father’s craft at an early age by working in the foundry during school vacations. According to reports, he was always energetic. As a teenager, he was “full of both fun and work.” He belonged to the Reading Hose Fire Company, to a literary and debating group called the “Washington Club,” and a social dancing club. He also read law books and was interested in politics. During his years in Reading, Samuel Noble made many friends and contacts which proved useful to the family’s business in later years.

In 1855, when Samuel Noble was 21, the Nobles moved to Rome, Georgia, where they established James Noble and Sons. The Noble Ironworks soon became the largest of its kind south of the Tredegar Works in Richmond, Virginia. The enterprise included a foundry, rolling mill, nail factory, and stove and hollow wire factory, capable of making a variety of products

– from steam engines to boilers to iron bridges to mine equipment. One of the most famous products was the first railroad locomotive manufactured South of Richmond.

When the War Between the States began, the company obtained government contracts to produce iron products – such as cannons, cannon carriers, and caissons for the Confederate Army. The company experienced a setback when the uninsured carriage house and rifle factory in Rome were destroyed by fire, but about the same time obtained another government con­tract to build a new furnace. The result was Cornwall Furnace in Cherokee County, Alabama.

Samuel Noble took an active part in the Cornwall project, first as an overseer of the construction of the furnace and then as superintendent of its operation. He frequently made the 48-mile journey from the furnace site and back in one day – a strenuous trip in the 1860s.

Both the ironworks in Rome and the Cornwall Furnace were destroyed by Federal forces in 1864.

Samuel Noble had early emerged as the leader and spokesman of the family, perhaps because he was gifted with a hard, keen sense and practical energy. After the war, he secured capital from the North not only to rebuild the ironworks in Rome but also to buy extensive brownore properties and a large acreage of yellow pine for charcoal in Calhoun County, Alabama.

Samuel Noble traveled a great deal – raising capital or marketing the products of the Noble Iron Works. On a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, he met General Daniel Tyler, a capitalist from New York. Samuel Noble’s enthusiasm about the potential of the Alabama ore fields impressed General Tyler so much that he went with Noble to explore them. The result of this exploration was the formation of the Woodstock Iron Company in 1872, with General Tyler’s son Alfred as president and Samuel Noble as general manager.

By April 1873, the company had built and lit a forty-ton blast furnace (called No. 1 Furnace), and thus a new Alabama industry was born. The town of Anniston – named for General Tyler’s wife Annie – was established that same year.

No. 1 Furnace produced a high quality of carwheel iron which found a ready market in the North. The steady demand for this iron enabled the Woodstock Iron Company to survive the panic and depression of the 1870s. By 1879 the company was able to construct Furnace No. 2 and by 1880 to enlarge No. 1.

Anniston started in 1873 as a “company town” in a clearing in the woods – but not an ordinary one. Samuel Noble set out to make a model city. He laid out streets and parks. He provided lots for churches. He erected schools. The careful planning attracted wide attention.

In the 1880s Anniston grew by leaps and bounds, especially after 1883 when the Woodstock Company (which had retained possession of all property) formally opened the town to the public and encouraged new industries. Within fifteen years, Anniston had attracted over $11 million in capital investments.

Samuel Noble played a large part in the economic development of Anniston. He and his associates organized the Clifton Iron Company at Ironaton and built two 40-ton charcoal furnaces and also enlarged an older one called Jenifer. He acquired coal companies and constructed two 200-ton coke furnaces to make pig iron for the manufacture of cast iron pipe – a pioneer enterprise embodied in the Anniston Pipe Works Company organized in 1887. He was also instrumental in the construction of a cotton mill with 12,000 spindles.

Besides providing employment through industrial expansion, Samuel Noble enhanced community life by opening the Anniston Inn, which became a gathering place for both residents and visitors. He also launched the town’s first newspaper, The Hot Blast. He and General Tyler built the Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston.

Samuel Noble was known in the city he founded as a man who gave generously to every cause, race, and sect, and as one who earned the loyalty of his friends and employees. He was once described as a man who “put as much labor on his mental and physical forces in one hour as most men do in a year.”

Samuel Noble died suddenly on August 14, 1888, at age 53. This industrial pioneer had served Alabama well. He had established the foundations of a modern city and an industrial base in Northeast Alabama during the most difficult economic periods in the state’s history.

Source of biographical information: Grace Hooten Gates, The Model City of the New South: Anniston, Alabama, 1872 – 1900, Huntsville, AL: The Strode Publishers, Inc., 1978.

William D. Sellers, Jr.

  • October 26th, 2021

The late William D. Sellers, Jr. – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Baggett Transportation Company, of Birmingham – has been described as the type of citizen whose work behind the scenes makes a big difference in the quality of life in the community and/or state.

This distinguished transportation executive and benefactor of higher education was born in Anniston, Alabama, on Friday, June 13, 1913. Because his father established a medical practice in Birmingham four years later, William, Jr. grew up in Birmingham. After graduating from high school in 1931, he obtained a football scholarship at The University of Alabama. (He played on the same freshman team as Paul “Bear” Bryant and in later years was instrumental in persuading his friend and former teammate to return to the University as coach).

To help finance his education during those lean years of the Great Depression, William Sellers used his ingenuity to find or create jobs for himself. He received free room by taking care of   Gorgas Hall-stoking the furnace and checking the hot and cold water supply. He persuaded the Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, a local florist, and a furniture store to hire him as a campus representative who would convince fraternity, sorority, and boarding houses to patronize their businesses.

After receiving his pre-med degree in 1934, William Sellers completed one year of medical school at the University. He continued to use his ingenuity to finance his education. For example, when the Rose Bowl Special rolled out of Tuscaloosa in December 1934, it was William Sellers who had the advertising contract to give away free Coca Colas.

In September 1935, he transferred to the medical school at Tulane. After a short time, he realized he could not work, earn a living, and go to school at the same time. He left medical school to take a job selling trucks and buses for White Motors of New Orleans. This decision set the stage for what would ultimately lead to a distinguished career as a transportation executive.

The sales job with White Motors took him back to his hometown and home state for a two-year stint. When he was to be transferred to Houston, he chose to stay in Alabama. He signed on with Pan American Petroleum, a division of Standard Oil of Indiana. He called on cities, counties, education boards, and companies throughout the state, selling a host of petroleum products.

In 1941, William Sellers called on one of his customers, Baggett Transportation Company. This sales call changed his life because he was offered a job and part interest in the company. On December 1, 1941, William Sellers’ name was added to the payroll.

Five years later, William Sellers bought full control of the company, which under his leadership became one of the most successful transportation companies in the nation.

In 1941, Baggett Transportation Company had only about 19 trailers and 15 or 20 power units – doing business only in Alabama. Under William Sellers’ leadership, Baggett became one of the major motor freight carriers of ammunition for the Department of Defense and for commercial manufacturers. Operating in 48 states, the company also became a major hauler, of general commodities, using more than 900 trailers with an equivalent number of power units.

“It takes good supervision and good teamwork to get the job done,” William Sellers once said. But he provided even more incentives to excellence. He not only made sure that everyone was

well trained but also encouraged safety in every phase of the business through bonuses for safe operations. He provided profit-sharing programs and good retirement programs for employees. Because the employees respected “Mr. William” (as they called him) and his goals, they rarely left Baggett; and under his leadership, Baggett Transportation Company established an enviable nationwide record in sales and service.

While leading Baggett Transportation Company to new heights, William Sellers also found time to encourage the development of the transportation industry through active participation in the Alabama Trucking Association. He served three terms as the association’s president and also as a director. He also served as a chairman and director of the Alabama Motorists Association. This “pretty good trucker,” as he once described himself, was also what he called “a part-time banker”-that is, he was a member of the board of directors of First Alabama Bank of Birmingham (now First Alabama Bancshares) and served as chairman of the board from 1977 to 1986.

He was also on the board of directors of Multimedia (parent company of the Montgomery Advertiser-Alabama Journal Newspapers) and of American Heritage Life Insurance Company of Jacksonville, Florida, and he served as a director of Alabama State Docks.

This busy, but well-organized, executive also gave his time and financial support to enhance the quality of higher education in Alabama, particularly at his alma mater, The University of Alabama. He was one of the founders of the Chair of Transportation in the College of Commerce and Business Administration. He served as a member of the C&BA Board of Visitors and as chairman of the Commerce Executives Society-both groups dedicated to providing private support for the enrichment of the College’s programs and services to students. Also a member of the University’s President’s Cabinet, he led the University’s successful sesquicentennial campaign for capital funding. With a goal of $38.4 million, the campaign pledges reached $61.8 million from alumni and friends of the University. William Sellers said the success was due to the staff and alumni scattered throughout0the country. But both Drs. Roger Sayers, President of the University, and John L. Blackburn, former Vice President of Development, have attributed much of the success to William Sellers, a great friend of the University who worked every day to inspire others to support the enrichment of education at the Capstone.

In his hometown, William Sellers lent his time, talent, and financial support to help provide needed services to citizens. As a president and trustee of the Crippled Children’s Clinic and Foundation and the Eye Foundation Hospital, he was instrumental in raising funds for needed treatment centers. He helped establish the Charley Boswell Golf Classic to benefit the handicapped. He was also a member of the Birmingham Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. For his contributions to the business community and by efforts on behalf of higher education and the community service, William Sellers, Jr. received the following recognitions:

In 1974, the H. Chester Webb Award for distinguished service from the Alabama Trucking Association; in 1981, an honorary doctor of laws degree from The University of Alabama; in 1984, the Outstanding Civic Leader Award from the Alabama Chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives; The University of Alabama National Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award; and a certificate of appreciation from the State of Alabama for outstanding and dedicated service in the area of education; in 1985 induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor for accomplishments and service benefitting or reflecting great credit on the state.

William Sellers was a man who always strove for excellence and who always enjoyed what he was doing-whether at work or play. (An avid golfer, he was proud that he had achieved six holes in-one-the last hole-in-one being made in 1985.)

While still doing the work he loved to do, William Sellers, Jr. died following a heart attack in his office, on Friday, July 27, 1990.

Born on a Friday in 1913, he left this world on a Friday in 1990, leaving behind a legacy of good work, good service, and goodwill. He will be missed.

William Sellers, Jr. is survived by his wife, Virginia Forsyth Sellers (whom he married in 1937) and two daughters: Forsyth (Mrs. Joseph M. Donald, Jr.) and Mary (Mrs. Henry Crommelin) of Birmingham.

Samuel Noble

  • September 9th, 2021

Samuel Noble was the founder of Anniston, Alabama, which he envisioned as “the model city of the South.”

He was an iron­ master and entrepreneur who helped Alabama’s recovery after the War Between the States by building this industrial base in Northeast Alabama.

The son of James and Jennifer (Ward) Noble, he was born in Cornwall, England, on November 22, 1834, but grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, where his family had settled after emigrating in 1837. His father, an ironmaster, worked for a railroad until he could build a foundry.

Samuel Noble and his brother grew up in an atmosphere of furnace and forge. Young Samuel began learning his father’s craft at an early age by working in the foundry during school vacations. According to reports, he was always energetic. As a teenager, he was “full of both fun and work.” He belonged to the Reading Hose Fire Company, to a literary and debating group called the “Washington Club,” and a social dancing club. He also read law books and was interested in politics. During his years in Reading, Samuel Noble made many friends and contacts which proved useful to the family’s business in later years.

In 1855, when Samuel Noble was 21, the Nobles moved to Rome, Georgia, where they established James Noble and Sons. The Noble Ironworks soon became the largest of its kind south of the Tredegar Works in Richmond, Virginia. The enterprise included a foundry, rolling mill, nail factory, and stove and hollow wire factory, capable of making a variety of products

– from steam engines to boilers to iron bridges to mine equipment. One of the most famous products was the first railroad locomotive manufactured South of Richmond.

When the War Between the States began, the company obtained government contracts to produce iron products – such as cannons, cannon carriers, and caissons for the Confederate Army. The company experienced a setback when the uninsured carriage house and rifle factory in Rome were destroyed by fire, but about the same time obtained another government con­tract to build a new furnace. The result was Cornwall Furnace in Cherokee County, Alabama.

Samuel Noble took an active part in the Cornwall project, first as an overseer of the construction of the furnace and then as superintendent of its operation. He frequently made the 48-mile journey from the furnace site and back in one day – a strenuous trip in the 1860s.

Both the ironworks in Rome and the Cornwall Furnace were destroyed by Federal forces in 1864.

Samuel Noble had early emerged as the leader and spokesman of the family, perhaps because he was gifted with a hard, keen sense and practical energy. After the war, he secured capital from the North not only to rebuild the ironworks in Rome but also to buy extensive brownore properties and a large acreage of yellow pine for charcoal in Calhoun County, Alabama.

Samuel Noble traveled a great deal – raising capital or marketing the products of the Noble Iron Works. On a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, he met General Daniel Tyler, a capitalist from New York. Samuel Noble’s enthusiasm about the potential of the Alabama ore fields impressed General Tyler so much that he went with Noble to explore them. The result of this exploration was the formation of the Woodstock Iron Company in 1872, with General Tyler’s son Alfred as president and Samuel Noble as general manager.

By April 1873, the company had built and lit a forty-ton blast furnace (called No. 1 Furnace), and thus a new Alabama industry was born. The town of Anniston – named for General Tyler’s wife Annie – was established that same year.

No. 1 Furnace produced a high quality of carwheel iron which found a ready market in the North. The steady demand for this iron enabled the Woodstock Iron Company to survive the panic and depression of the 1870s. By 1879 the company was able to construct Furnace No. 2 and by 1880 to enlarge No. 1.

Anniston started in 1873 as a “company town” in a clearing in the woods – but not an ordinary one. Samuel Noble set out to make a model city. He laid out streets and parks. He provided lots for churches. He erected schools. The careful planning attracted wide attention.

In the 1880s Anniston grew by leaps and bounds, especially after 1883 when the Woodstock Company (which had retained possession of all property) formally opened the town to the public and encouraged new industries. Within fifteen years, Anniston had attracted over $11 million in capital investments.

Samuel Noble played a large part in the economic development of Anniston. He and his associates organized the Clifton Iron Company at Ironaton and built two 40-ton charcoal furnaces and also enlarged an older one called Jenifer. He acquired coal companies and constructed two 200-ton coke furnaces to make pig iron for the manufacture of cast iron pipe – a pioneer enterprise embodied in the Anniston Pipe Works Company organized in 1887. He was also instrumental in the construction of a cotton mill with 12,000 spindles.

Besides providing employment through industrial expansion, Samuel Noble enhanced community life by opening the Anniston Inn, which became a gathering place for both residents and visitors. He also launched the town’s first newspaper, The Hot Blast. He and General Tyler built the Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston.

Samuel Noble was known in the city he founded as a man who gave generously to every cause, race, and sect, and as one who earned the loyalty of his friends and employees. He was once described as a man who “put as much labor on his mental and physical forces in one hour as most men do in a year.”

Samuel Noble died suddenly on August 14, 1888, at age 53. This industrial pioneer had served Alabama well. He had established the foundations of a modern city and an industrial base in Northeast Alabama during the most difficult economic periods in the state’s history.

Source of biographical information: Grace Hooten Gates, The Model City of the New South: Anniston, Alabama, 1872 – 1900, Huntsville, AL: The Strode Publishers, Inc., 1978.

Heman E. Drummond

  • August 24th, 2021

Those who knew Heman Drummond described him as an unusual person. He was a miner, of course. But he was also an oil driller, an innovator, and a risk-taker. He was a man who dreamed hard and worked hard. He was an honest and compassionate man who inspired others to work with him.

In 1935, Heman Edward Drummond founded the H. E. Drummond Coal Company when he began to develop a small drift mine in an area between Empire and Sumiton, Alabama ­ called Drummond Hollow – on land homesteaded by his mother. On April 5, 1956 – just twenty-one years later – he died of heart failure, but he had built a strong foundation for what has become one of Alabama’s major businesses. He did not see the fulfillment of his dreams, but under the leadership of his five sons, Drummond Company, Inc. has become one of the largest privately held firms in Alabama and a prominent leader in America’s coal industry. Drummond Company, Inc. today employs 3,300 people and conducts business throughout the world.

Heman Edward Drummond was born in Walker County, Alabama (near Sipsey) on August 8, 1905, the son of Dr. Isaac Freeman Drummond (a country dentist and school teach­ er) and Ida (Phillips) Drummond. In the late twenties and early thirties, young Heman worked for the Debardelaben Coal Corporation, first as a machine cutter and then as a foreman.

In 1935, when he was thirty years old, he decided to go out on his own. He developed the small drift mine in Drummond Hollow, where daily production averaged about fifty tons. After he bought a coal-cutting machine in 1937, production increased to about 100 tons per day. The coal was loaded onto small rail cars, pulled to the mine mouth by mules, and then hand-loaded onto the two trucks he owned. Customers would come and pick up their domestic coal, which sold for $2.60 a ton, and coal was also sold to railroads.

Money was scarce in the 1930s and people de­ pended on each other to get by. (The saying was that people mined coal, but farmed for a living). Since there were practically no coal sales in the summer, Heman Drummond stockpiled coal in Drummond Hollow and depended on credit to keep the mine operating.

Testimony of these hard times is a loan note executed in 1943 by “Mr. Heman,” as he liked to be known. To secure a three-month bank loan of $300, he mortgaged three mules – described in the note by color, age, and weight, and one by name: “Tobe.” Because of his good name and reputation for honesty, Heman Drummond managed to get the help he needed. Out of respect for him banks – and even his competitors – provided needed resources.

In 1942, after acquiring land on the Sipsey River close to Burton Bend, Heman Drummond opened his first strip mine, in which he used a rented ¾ yard link-belt dragline. Making money as a small strip miner wasn’t any easier than it was as a small underground miner, but slowly

  1. E. Drummond Coal Company began to prosper. One reason was that Heman Drummond had the foresight to buy land whenever he could scrape the money together, thus enabling the company to expand operations.

Some people looked askance at the land buying Heman Drummond did because they wondered how he could support his family. He and his wife (nee Elza Eliza Stewart, whom he married in 1928) had seven children – five sons and two daughters. But those who knew him well always realized that he thought of his family first.

Mining companies have many mines in different locations today, but at that time the Drummond family surface-mined one location at a time. They mined near the Sipsey River, then in Sumiton, then went back to Drummond Hollow, then to Arkadelphia.

During World War II, Drummond and his family kept the mines operating in spite of the lack of manpower and various material shortages. The Drummonds became self-made mechanics, making parts and repairing machinery themselves. Only one tractor could be acquired during the war.

By 1948, the Drummond mining operation had graduated from the ¾ yard shovel to a 1 ¼ yard, 1928 model, Northwest and a 2½ yard, 2000 Manitowoc.

Heman Drummond was a risk-taker in many ways. In addition to his coal mining ventures, he was engaged in oil and gas exploration in North Alabama. He was successful in locating natural gas, but not in commercial quantities. During his short lifetime, Heman Drummond accomplished a great deal. He founded a company and directed its growth and progress during two decades that included part of the Great Depression, World War II, and the first post-war decade. He left his sons a rich heritage:

  • A successful business in which they had been well trained and were well equipped to operate.
  • Land holdings that would provide coal reserves for years to come.
  • Valuable lessons in perseverance, hard work, business know-how, and concern for employees and fellow citizens.

As one of “Mr. Heman’s” friends once said, “Heman was one of the finest men I have ever known, and a true friend… I would give anything if he had lived to see his boys’ success… He would have been so proud.”

Heman Drummond was known throughout Walker County as a warmhearted, generous man who could always be depended on to come to the aid of individuals in need, quickly and without fanfare.

Long hours and hard work at the helm of a small but growing business occupied Heman Drummond’s days fully. His business skills were the product of inborn abilities and broad experience. With great foresight and honest effort, he forged his dreams into the beginnings of today’s Drummond Company.

Sources of biographical information: Contour, Drummond Company employee publication, Vol.2, No.4, Winter1978-79; Wayne Flynt. Mine, Mill, and Microchip: A Chronicle of Alabama Enterprise. Northridge, California: Windsor Publications, Inc., 1987.

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