Hugh Moss Comer (1842 – February 26, 1900) was an American businessman. He was a president of the

Central of Georgia Railway The Central of Georgia Railway started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833. As a way to better attract investment capital, the railroad changed its name to Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. This railroad was cons ...

and co-founder of

Bibb Manufacturing Company Bibb Manufacturing Company was a textile company founded in Macon, Georgia, in 1876 and was sold to Dan River in 1998. Bibb Manufacturing Company, also known as "The Bibb Company" produced cotton products such as sheets, comforters, towels, curtai ...

, in addition to having several directorships and self-owned companies. One of his former residences, located at 2 East Taylor Street, in

Monterey Square Monterey Square is one of the Squares of Savannah, Georgia, 22 squares of Savannah, Georgia, United States. It is located in the southernmost row of the city's five rows of squares, on Bull Street and Wayne Street, and was laid out in 1847. It is ...

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, is known as the Comer House today. It was built in 1880.

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

, president of the Confederacy, was a guest at the house in 1886.Comer House: Jefferson Davis
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Georgia Historical Society The Georgia Historical Society (GHS) is a statewide historical society in Georgia. Headquartered in Savannah, Georgia, GHS is one of the oldest historical organizations in the United States. Since 1839, the society has collected, examined, and ta ...

Early life

Comer was born in 1842 to John Fletcher Comer (1811–1858) and Catharine Lucinda Drewry (d. 1898). He had five brothers: John Wallace Comer (1845–1919), St. George Legare Comer (1847–1870), U.S. senator and Alabama governor Braxton Bragg Comer (1848–1919), John Fletcher Comer, Jr. (1854–1927) and Edward Trippe Comer (1856–1927). There was also at least one daughter in the family.Comer Family Papers, 1860-1864
- UNC Libraries Comer's father was a cotton planter who also owned a lumberyard and a corn mill. He married Catharine Drewry in 1841, but left her a widow with six children when he died in 1858. She was assisted by Laura Beech Comer (1817–1900).

Career

In addition to his presidency of the

, Comer co-founded

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

, was a director of Banking Company of Georgia and president of Savannah Cotton Exchange and Ocean Steamship Company. He was also partner in the fertilizer firm Comer, Hull & Co.

Personal life

Comer married Mary E. Bates in or before 1868, the year they moved to Savannah, Georgia, where he quickly became a prominent businessman."Hugh Moss Comer family papers"
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One of their children was Annie Comer, who married

Clark Howell Clark Howell (September 21, 1863 – November 14, 1936) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American newspaper man and politician from the state of Georgia. For fifty-three years, he was editorial executive and owner of ''The Atlanta Constitution ...

five months after her father's death."CLARK HOWELL MARRIED.; Wedded to a Daughter of the Late President Comer of the Georgia Central."
- ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', July 13, 1900 They also had a son, Hugh M. Comer, Jr. Mary died in 1875, a couple of weeks after their five-month-old second daughter, Mary Emma, died, and Comer married Lilla Hall, a Connecticut native, around 1880. They had three children: John, Mary and Lilla. Daughter Lilla married Dr. John Kirk Train, a Savannah physician, in 1909. In 1896, Comer purchased Old Town Plantation from Atlanta businessman James L. Dickey. Comer passed the property to his son, Hugh.''An Examination of an Ice House at Old Town Plantation''
- Elizabeth A. Gillispie,

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hine ...

(2012)

Death

Comer died on February 26, 1900, aged 58, after a long illness.Death List of A Day
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'', February 27, 1900 He is interred in Savannah's

Bonaventure Cemetery Bonaventure Cemetery is a rural cemetery located on a scenic bluff of the Wilmington River, east of Savannah, Georgia. The cemetery became famous when it was featured in the 1994 novel ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' by John Berendt, ...

.''Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends''
Lucian Lamar Knight (The Byrd Printing Company, 1914)

References

External links

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Estate of Hugh M. Comer
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The Atlanta Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'', May 26, 1900 {{DEFAULTSORT:Comer, Hugh 1842 births 1900 deaths People from Savannah, Georgia People from Barbour County, Alabama 19th-century American businesspeople