Ira O. McDaniel.
An Old Citizen of Bartow Passes Over to the Great Majority.

Our people were shocked Tuesday to learn that Mr. I. O. McDaniel, father of ex-Gov. McDaniel, had died the preceding night at his home in Allatoona, in this county.

The deceased had reached a ripe old age, full of honors, noted for his fidelity to religion, his integrity as a business man, and his sterling worth as a friend.  He was born on the 19th of January, 1807, in Pendleton district, S. C., where several generations of his family had resided.  In those early days schooling was difficult to obtain, but the boy, with a vim which bespoke the incipient manhood within him, struggled over adverse circumstances, often traveling as far as seven miles to attend a recitation, paying the fifty cent fee therefore at the close of the lesson.  Such fortitude secured for him a good education, so good, indeed, that teaching became his vocation, and for several years he taught school in his native district.

In 1832 Penfield institute was established by a number of Georgia Baptists, and among the preceptors employed by them was the young Carolinian, who had applied for one of the professorships, which he retained with distinguished ability until the institute grew into a college.  He also filled the same position in the college for some time.

During this time Mr. McDaniel met and subsequently married Miss Rebecca Walker, daughter of Major Daniel Walker, of Walton county.  When he retired from the professor’s chair it was to join his father’s business, who had removed from South Carolina to Flat Rock, in Henry county.  From Flat Rock he removed to Atlanta in 1847, when he established business under the firm name of I. O. & P. E. McDaniel.  Mr. A. W. Mitchell and Eli Hulsey were admitted to the firm. He continued in business in Atlanta, in one way or another, until two years after the close of the war, when his iron interests at Allatoona necessitated his removal thither.  As a citizen of Atlanta Mr. McDaniel took a front rank.  While he was successful in business, yet he did not allow that to monopolize his time. He felt that there were duties which he owed to his fellow citizens, both as individuals and in community.  This made him a public spirited man, one who took hold in every new movement, whether of social, religious or political character.  He was an honored member of the city council, and was chairman of the street committee which cleared the principal central streets of the stumps which still disfigured them.  He was also the chairman of the committee on public buildings, and in this capacity located the city hall square, and built the city hall, which afterwards his son, Henry D., as governor, had torn down in order to make way for the new state capitol.  The first brick building ever erected in Atlanta Keely’s corner, was erected by Mr. McDaniel, in conjunction with his business partners.  The old brick building in the rear of John Keely’s present store, was built by Mr. McDaniel several years later.  As a churchman he was equally prominent and vigorous.  He joined the First Baptist Church in 1847, and when the Second Baptist was organized in 1853 he was one of the nineteen original members.  The finest church structure of the time was designed by this small congregation, which they had the satisfaction of seeing completed in a short time.  Thus it may be seen that during business hours, during leisure hours, and on Sundays Mr. McDaniel’s engagements always marked him as a busy man, as one who had to work in order that others might move.

Mr. McDaniel’s Family.

In 1863, Mr. McDaniel’s wife died.  The family consisted of Henry D., who afterwards became governor of Georgia; Ira Oliver, who lives on the farm at Allatoona; Sanders, who was killed during the war at the battle of Monocacy, in Maryland, and Egbert Baldwin, who lives in Montgomery, Ala., where he holds the place of car accountant on the Atlanta and Montgomery railroad.  Some years after the death of his wife, he paid a visit to his old home in Pendleton district, South Carolina, where he met a lady whom he remembered since his boyhood.  She had married Colonel Samuel M. Wilkes, who was killed at the battle of Manassas, and was thus a widow when Mr. McDaniel met her again.  The couple were married and settled on the farm near Allatoona, while Mrs. McDaniel’s only son, S. W. Wilkes, settled in Atlanta.

His remains were interred in Atlanta Tuesday with imposing ceremonies, a large crowd of his old neighbors and friends going down to the funeral.

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The Cartersville News
February 7, 1907, Page 5

Letters of Administration.

J. J. Northcutt on the estate of Ira O. McDaniel, late of Bartow county.