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James Isbell
was the founder of the THE ISBELL NATIONAL BANK.
He was born September 12, 1806 in Wilkes County, North Carolina,
the son of Thomas and Discretion (Howard) Isbell, the former being a Revolutionary
Soldier. Major Isbell settled in Lowndesboro, Alabama, in 1831, and
removed to Talladega in 1836. He married Rutelia Houston, of
Knoville, Tennessee in 1853.
There were five children:
Robert Houston Isbell, unmarried.
Thomas Livingston Isbell, married Mattie Norris of Lowndesboro.
Margaret Discretion Isbell, married Major Joseph Hardie, of Thornhill,
Talladega, Alabama.
Frances Amelia Isbell, married William Nathan Boynton, a native
of New Haven, Vt.
Mary Alice Isbell, married William Parke Armstrong of Knoxville,
Tennessee.
Major Isbell also organized the City National Bank of Selma, Alabama, in 1870, and served as the President of the bank until his death on December 6, 1871.
The year 1848 found Talladega a hustling young town, nestling among the Blue Ridge Mountains of Alabama. She was just entering her "teens", having been incorporated in 1835. There were approximately 1250 citizens. The entire County was settled with progressive people. All were rapidly building beautiful homes and tending farms.
Already the town was overflowing with young fortune seeking aristocrats, anxious to acquire fame in this, the most beloved of the Creek Country, the Land of Plenty.
'Tis true, transportation was a problem, but the Central Plank road, from Montgomery was already under way, and the railroad was being discussed. The Stage Coach was now coming through regularly once a week, and the mail was no longer a major problem. "Flush Days" were here indeed.
Secession was frankly and heatedly discussed. Whigs and Democrats argued on every corner, and the newspapers carried columns of articles, both for and against.
The announcement
that James Isbell was opening a much needed banking business in Talladega
was joyfully received by the citizens. This action bespoke the faith
and interest Mr. Isbell had in his county and State. Banks were few and
far between in Alabama.
Talladega was yet to enter the horrible experiences of the war, the tragedy of defeat, and the depressing period of reconstruction. The Isbell Bank passed through these, and many other conflicts and depressions, but never once failed her patrons. When other banks merged, re-organized or failed, the Isbell Bank stood firm. It is today the oldest continuously operated banking business in Alabama.
The Banking Business, founded in 1848, operated for two years under the name of James Isbell, Banker. In 1850, his son Robert Houston Isbell, became actively connected with the firm, and the name was changed to that of Isbell and Son, Bankers. The business was conducted in the "Counting Room" at the Isbell's Brick Corner until 1869, when the present building was completed and equipped.
Upon the death of Major James Isbell in 1871, his son, Capt. Robert Houston Isbell became the senior partner, and the name of the bank was changed to that of Isbell & Company, Bankers. At the same time William Park Armstrong the son-in-law of James Isbell, joined the firm.
The success of the banking house continued, "due to the faithfulness to business, and popularity at home and abroad" of Capt. R.H. Isbell. On August 23, 1892 Capt. Isbell died.
Under the terms of the will and copartner ship contract the banking
business of Isbell and Company was carried on under the direction of
Capt. W.P. Armstrong, sole executor of Capt. R.H. Isbell's estate and the
surviving partner, Mr. R.L. Ivey.
ISBELLS INFLUENCE TALLADEGA'S DEVELOPMENT, Talladega, Al. Daily Home, June 10, 1983.
Although some of the information here conflicts with the above information I have decided that there is enough correct information to make it worth while to include here. It will be up to each researcher to verify which is correct.
By Stanley Johnson Talladega - "An old local family stands as a monument to that sociality." So wrote some long forgotten historian. The Quotation aptly applies to Major James Isbell's family of successful capitalists, who largely influenced the early development of Talladega and Selma, and who helped make both cities what they are today. James Isbell (1806-1871) was a slave owner and planter, known as "Major James Isbell, with the Midas Touch." after the mercantile business sideline became grew so successful he had to build two banks to hold all his money. There were the City National Bank of Sellma and the First National Bank of Talladega, Alabama's oldest bank.
Isbell was the son of Thomas Isbell and Discretion Howard Isbell and the grandson of James Isbell (1720-1780) and Frances Tompkins Levingston, who was of Scotch-Irish descent. Her Ancestor was Aodh O'Neill, King of Scotland in 1036. The Howards of Virginia as they appeared in an old Hollywood movie, were descendants of the Duke of Norfolk, Sir Thomas Howard, uncle of Catherine Howard was her first cousin, Anne Boleyn both were wives of Herny Vlll and where beheaded.
According to "Tennessee Cousins" by Worth S. Ray. James Isbell was the son of the famous Capt. Zachariah Isbell, who helped found the state of Tennessee, and who was a prominent figure in the Virginia and Carolina history books. But according to Ray Isbell of Opelika, early records indicate they were brothers and mother father and son. Zachariah however is the ancestor of many other Alabama Isbells, including some in the Talladega County area.
The family was of Medieval Norman-French origin, taking their surname from a royal female ancestor. Sir William Isbell went to England with William the Conqueror in 1066 A.D, and there the family lived until three brothers came to Virginia about 1630.
This family intermarried often with cousins and with the Callaways, Knoxes, Saters, Wears, Reynolds, and Pendletons. Descendants of both brothers James and Zachariah Isbell married Houston's, Armstrong's, Parkes, Wears, and Macmillan's. Many of these and other related families came with the Isbell's to Talladega County where descendants still live.
Major James Isbell was born September 12, 1806 in Buncombe County North Carolina, according to Brant and Fuller's "Memorial Records of Alabama, 1893." All other references say Wilkes County, N.C.
Owen's "History of Alabama" say s he left North Carolina at the age of 25, settling in 1831 in Lowndesborough to begin his mercantile career. He started with little, but built a solid business reputation- as important as capital. And besides that, he was a friend of such men as Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston. One of the Isbell's famous cousins, Col. Littleton Randolph Isbell, on his legendary horse, Butterfly, once saved the life of the boy, Andrew Jackson, when a troop of Tories surrounded his family home to burn it. This is a story Jackson himself was fond of telling.
On March 19, 1833, Isbell married Rutelia Houston of Knoxville, a first
cousin to Sam Houston, and a descendant of the Armstrongs and the Calhouns.
The couple began buying property in Talladega, extending their interest
here, and according to "Northern Alabama" by Smith and DeLand (1888),
they moved to Talladega in the spring of 1836, they settled near town on
a farm close to what was called Isbell Mountain, and on Andrew Jackson's
old battleground.
In fact , 18 of Jackson's soldiers were buried within 300 feet of the
plantation house. According to Talladega historian Randolph
Blackford, Jackson's soldiers were resumed from the Isbell plantation and
moved to a common grave under the Battle of Talladega Commemorative Monument.
This was at the instigation of a group of history-minded citizens spearheaded
by Rutelia Isbell, who complained of hearing whooping warriors and soldier
ghosts and believed this move might remedy the situation. Whether
the measure laid the noisy spirits to rest records do not indicate, but
the Isbell's did not live on this plantation long.
It was an era of prosperity in Talladega County, a time when land, slaves,
and money were plentiful. The Indians had been driven out in 1832,
and by 1839 land was selling for $39 per acre. Major James Isbell's
stores flourished, and he soon owned several thousand acres and a couple
hundred slaves. According to 'Historic Tales of Talladega" by Grace
Jemison, he also became manager of the Alabama and Tennessee Rivers Railroad
in 1850, making another fortune in iron and steel.
Leaving
the plantation to his son Thomas, he began building his Greek Revival mansion
on Isbell Hill, a rise above Isbell Creek, then on the edge of town. It
was a long, elaborate process; a labor of love that took over a decade
and was not completely finished until two years after the Civil War.
With business booming and money so abundant, Isbell had no place to hold it all. The Banking House of James Isbell later called Isbell and Son was established to handle his own money, earned from his stores, plantations and railroad. His business abilities were so admired by friends and neighbors they began asking him to hold their money as well.
Gradually the banking firm grew to suppressed his other interests. It was officially opened to the public in 1848, and the Isbell National Bank has been in continuous operation from that day until this. It is now the oldest bank in the state. In 1871 the name changed to James Isbell and Co. but it never closed it's down, not even during the depression of 1893, or 1929, nor during the Civil War, when so many Southern Banks were robbed.
When Union Troops raided Talladega, Isbell had buried so much of the banks money in so many different hiding places there was little to be confiscated. After the invasion, he reclaimed his deposits, from a hollow column in his unfinished mansion, from a secret compartment in the First Methodist Church pillar, and from holes in the ground. Then he replaced it all back in the bank.
The Isbell Bank is the longest continually operated bank in Alabama
history. In 1978, on it's 139th anniversary it became Isbell's First
National Bank of Talladega. The original bank building however is
still standing, with ISBELL in raised letters over the dome. It is
on the same street as the new bank building.
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ISBELL ALMOST FRANKLIN COUNTY SEAT: Franklin County Times Sunday, February 27, 1983
Editors Note: The following article was submitted by Andrew Morrison for our Progress 1983 edition.
The name Isbell would be more important than that of Russellvile in Franklin County history, had it been for 42, needed votes in the county seat election of 1891. Of course, Russelville--named for pioneer settler Col. William Russell--edged out.
Ellis Isbell settled the town bearing his name in 1818, arriving here from Bowling Green, Virginia, where his ancestors had settled almost 200 years earlier.
The son of George Isbell and Susanna Eubanks Smith, he was ancient Norman-French family to England with William the Conqueror in A.D. 1066. From there, three English brothers sailed to America in the 1630's
The family genealogy is givin in such books as Historical Southern Families by John Bennet Boddie and Notable Southern Families by Zella Armstrong, as well as in a number of seperate family histories.
Ellis Isbell (1797-1888) came to Franklin County with Jackson's men in 1818 and with the Fossick family founded the town of Isbell. For a time, it was called Darlington, after the hometown of the Fossicks in England.
But even while under the name of Darlington, the fledgling village's newspaper, called The Isbell Progress, was one of the earliest newspapers in the state, and probably the very first from the northwest section. Few copoes of it exist today, but those remaining are said to be proof that keen intellect did exist in this sparsely settled hill land.
Ellis Isbell built the first multi-room log house in the country, which was later extended into a large, rambling white plantation-styled home. He owned vast acres of land and is buried with his mother and other relatives in the family cemetery near his old home.
His second wife Louisa Ann White was the daughter of Nancy Blanton and Robert Marley White who was the second husband of Mrs. George Isbell Jr.
Col. John Ellis Isbell, son of Isbell's founder, "laid out" the town and aided its growth. When the Tennessee-Sheffield Railroad was being laid in the country, Isbell hired surveyors to cut a grade threw Isbell Mountain and even did much of the work himself.
This made a practical route through his town, rather that through Tuscumbia as earlier planned, and the rail was bought through Isbell, uniting it with the outside world.
Isbell also owned one of the early manufacturing establishments in Franklin County. It was the Ceder Creek Bucket Factory, and his products included "cedar buckets, churns, pigins, foot tubs and brass bound water kegs."
The only remaining evidences of this factory are a few iron cables in the creek that were used to operate the water wheels and to support a short suspension bridge.
Many Franklin County citizens of tod descend from the large Isbell family, or are related to them by marriage. Some of these are the Walden, Thompson, Bates, Valentine, Sa Williams, Malone, and Weaver families.
The family of Miller Isbell, his brother James Isbell and his wife Elizabeth Birdwell also moved to Franklin County about the time of the Civil War or later. There were grandsons of George Isbell, cousin, Zachariah Isbell Jr. who was one of the founders of Tennessee.
George was also said to be cousin of Godfrey Isbell, for whom Godfrey Methodist College and the town of Godfrey, in Winston County were named.
The town of Isbell probably lost its greatest chance for progress in 1891 when it was the major contender for the county seat against Russellville.
The two cities, then of about equal size, waged bitter campaign before the election was held. The people of Isbell and Russellville threw lavish parties and picnics and entertained other residents from elsewhere in the county to the extent of great barbeques, opened house balls that lasted for weeks, and wells filled with pink lemonade and crushed ice.
Fights between the men of the two towns were not uncommon, nor were
"smears" against the virtues of the womanhood of the rival town.
In the last accounting, Russellvilles won buy just 42 votes and became
the seat of Franklin County.
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