J. W. Culpepper (1869-1954)
The Fayette Fox

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Excerpted from a 1996 column by Jim Minter

To get a new constitution, Gov. Ellis Arnall had to have the support of Col. J. W. Culpepper, the Fayette Fox, a power in the House of Representatives, boss of all the important committees, floor leader for Gene Talmadge.

'They say Tom Murphy holds the House in the palm of his hand,' (Peachtree City resident) Floy Farr chuckles. 'He's not close to the way Mr. Culpepper dominated it.'

Knowing he couldn't get a new constitution over Mr. Culpepper 's opposition, Gov. Arnall drove to Fayetteville. At the time, Fayette County had only 7 1/2 miles of paved road, from the Courthouse Square to Jonesboro.

Mr. Culpepper proposed a compromise. If the governor would pave Ga. 85, he would support a new constitution. Arnall agreed. However, The Atlanta Constitution, as is its habit, began to sniff around the deal.

Gov. Arnall, Mr. Culpepper and Mr. Charlie Redwine, fearing the Constitution was about to make the agreement public, paid a visit to Clark Howell, the newspaper's owner and publisher. The Constitution got on somebody else's case. We got a paved road, which we needed; the people of Georgia got a new constitution, which they needed; and the publisher of the Constitution got a road named for him, which he deserved.

James Wesley Culpepper

James Wesley Culpepper was born August 12, 1870, in Meriwether County, Georgia. He was the son of Simeon Fletcher Culpepper and Ellen Nall Culpepper. His father was a Confederate veteran and had served as a teacher in the common schools of Meriwether County, as tax collector of that county, and for twenty-five years as Clerk of the Superior Court of that county. Both parents were pioneer Georgia stock.

Mr. Culpepper was educated in the Meriwether County schools and attended high school at Grantville, Georgia, and at Rockford, Alabama. He also attended the University of Nashville, now Peabody College, at Nashville, Tennessee.

For about fifteen years Mr. Culpepper taught school, first at Concord in Pike County, then at Inman and Woolsey in Fayette County. Many of the most prominent citizens of Fayette County were in his classes.

He studied law in the offices of Judge Walter Daly and Aldine Chambers in Atlanta, took the bar examination, and was admitted to practice in 1905.

He was married December 3, 1892, to Sarah Pickens Taylor, the daughter of Dr. Joel Pickens Taylor and Rebecca Hodnett Taylor, of Coweta County. Mrs. Culpepper died in 1948. They had four daughters, Mrs. B. D. Murphy, Miss Mae Culpepper, Mrs. W. E. Greer, and Mrs. A. M. Bowen.

Mr. Culpepper was a member of the Lutheran Church and a staunch Democrat. He was a Mason, a Knight Templar and an Odd Fellow.

Shortly before his admission to the bar, Mr., Culpepper moved from Inman to Fayetteville. He was elected Mayor of Fayetteville and served in that capacity in 1906 and 1907. He became Solicitor of the City Court of Fayetteville almost immediately after his admission to the bar, and served in that capacity until December 20, 1906.

He was elected to the House of Representatives from Fayette County in 1918 and served as Fayette County's Representative in the General Assembly for fourteen consecutive terms--a total of twenty-eight years. His record of continuous service exceeded that of any other member of the Georgia legislature. Mr. Culpepper served in the House of Representatives during the administrations of Governor Hugh M. Dorsey, Governor Thomas W. Hardwick, Governor Clifford Walker, Governor L. G. Hardman, Governor Richard B. Russell, Jr., Governor Eugene Talmadge, Governor E. D. Rivers, and Governor Ellis Arnall.

During his service in the General Assembly, Mr. Culpepper filled every important committee assignment available to a member. He served several terms as Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, several times as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and as Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, and the important Judiciary Committees.

During the last administration of Governor Eugene Talmadge, he was administration floor leader of the House of Representatives. He served as a member of the Commission provided for by resolution of the General Assembly to revise the Constitution of Georgia of 1877, which later became the Constitution of Georgia of 1945.

Mr. Culpepper's service as a member of the House of Representatives was noteworthy. During his entire service of twenty-eight consecutive years, he introduced only one local bill. He introduced a great many bills of statewide import, mostly administration measures, for which his support was sought by the Governor in office. It has many times been said that for many years he was the most influential member of the General Assembly. This influence resulted from his wide knowledge of the affairs of the State of Georgia and from the knowledge of his colleagues that he sought always for the accomplishment of those things which were best for all of the people of the State.

Governors, constitutional officers, judges and legislators uniformly had and expressed complete confidence in his ability, his knowledge, and his beneficent measures--for during his service no major piece of legislation was entered upon the statute books without in some way bearing the imprint of his thinking--but he was also instrumental in
preventing the enactment of many unwise measures. It was often said that Culpepper of Fayette killed more bad bills than all of the other members of the House combined.

Mr. Culpepper was the author of the first cigar and cigarette tax measure, which was designed originally to provide funds to pay Confederate pensions. He was instrumental in enacting the legislation now of force under which Georgia's system of State Highways has been constructed, and he brought about almost single handedly the enactment of the laws relating to the State budget. One of the measures of which he was proudest was the so-called "grandfather clause," which brings about an automatic annual balancing of the State budget. It was originally a part of a general appropriations act, but the framers of the Constitution of 1945 made it a part of that document.

Mr. Culpepper's career at the bar was outstanding. Soon after his admission to the bar he became one of the leading lawyers in this section of the State. He practiced not only in Fayette County, but in all of the surrounding counties and throughout the State of Georgia, both in State and Federal Courts. For many years he was in every case of importance on the docket of Fayette Superior Court. Notwithstanding the fact that he was one of the most successful trial lawyers in the State, he was even more useful to his clients and to the people generally in counsel and conference. Just as he prevented the passage of many bad bills in the Georgia legislature, by his fine judgment and good counsel he prevented the institution of many bad law suits in court. He was respected by judges and jurors. He was beloved by his fellow members of the bar, by his clients and a host of Georgians.

Mr. James Wesley Culpepper died October 10, 1954. His death leaves a vacancy in our number which cannot be filled. We join with the court and the people of Fayette County, as well as the people of the entire State, in mourning his passing. We recommend that this memorial be filed with the court and that the court, by appropriate order, direct that it be spread upon the minutes of the court.

/s/Lester Dickson
/s/F. A. Somer
/s/Howard Handley

(Prepared as a memorial by a Bar committee of the Court.)

Source: The History of Fayette Co, GA

Culpepper Ancestry: James Wesley Culpepper, the Fayette Fox, was the son of Simeon Fletcher Culpepper, son of George Washington Culpepper, son of John (and Nancy Gillespie) Culpepper, son of John Culpepper, son of Benjamin Culpepper, son of Benjamin Culpepper, son of Robert Culpepper, son of Henry Culpepper, son of John Culpepper, the merchant who immigrated from England.