Way Back Wednesday in Calhoun County---June 27-July 3

Originally, Anniston was to be named Woodstock after the Woodstock Iron Company. When the founding fathers wanted to open their company town to the public they realized there was already a Woodstock, Alabama, so a new name was sought for the public town. Daniel Tyler’s daughter-in-law Annie Scott Tyler loved her hometown of Macon. It was rumored that the Tyler’s enticed her to live in the new town by promising to name it after her so Annie’s Town was born. A corruption of the name led to the new city being labeled Anniston. But who was Annie Scott Tyler?

Annie Scott was born to Isaac and Caroline Paul Scott in Bibb County, Ga on August 15, 1838. Isaac had married Caroline in Jones County, GA, the neighboring county to Bibb, in late May 1830. Shortly after the marriage, the couple established a home in Macon where Isaac was a prosperous merchant. Isaac had an active career in banking and railroads. By 1846, Isaac had purchased a six-bedroom Greek Revival mansion on Georgia Avenue in downtown Macon. This was the home where Annie Scott grew up.

Isaac was involved in numerous business ventures in Macon and became president of the Macon and Western Railroad and later the Upson County Railroad. Throughout the 1850s, Isaac traveled for business associated with the railroad. He kept a diary starting around 1859 and throughout much of the Civil War. In a May 25th, 1859 entry, Isaac noted that his daughter Ann Eliza married A. L. Tyler in Connecticut that evening at 8:00 PM in the local Episcopal Church. The newlyweds departed for New York two hours later.

Isaac brought his new son-in-law into the railroad business and named him the superintendent of the Macon and Western Railroad. Ann and Alfred moved to Macon and lived in the Greek Revival mansion with the rest of the Scott family. The Civil War was difficult for the family. Both Isaac Scott and Alfred Tyler had a sizable amount of property seized during the war. After the war, life was different for everyone. In 1865, Scott sold his Greek Revival home and moved to New York. The war had taken both his riches and his health. He declined to be a reconstruction-era governor for Georgia because of poor health. Two years after moving to New York, Isaac Scott died. His body was returned to be buried in Georgia.

Alfred Tyler continued his career in the railroad business after the war with the Pennsylvania Railroad. By 1870, he was named the Vice-President of the South Carolina Railroad. It was in this position with the railroad that the Tyler and Noble families met and developed the plans for their utopian Model City in the foothills of Alabama. The Tyler family moved to Anniston in the mid-1870s.

While Alfred furthered his career with various Anniston industries, Annie had four children, three survived to adulthood. The children grew up in the Tyler family home on Leighton Avenue in Anniston. Caroline, the eldest daughter, married the son of William D. Kelley, a prominent Pennsylvania Republican congressman. Carrie, as she was called by the family, moved with her husband to Chattanooga for his business interests. Son Alfred Tyler, Jr. married Harriet Bonds and they raised their family in Anniston. Their youngest daughter, Emily, remained with her parents.

In June 1907, Annie mourned the loss of her husband when he passed away from Bright’s disease. Alfred and Annie were at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City when he passed away. The body was returned to Anniston and Alfred Tyler was interned at Hillside Cemetery in the Tyler family plot. Annie continued living in her home in Anniston until she passed away in May 1914, four days after her 55th wedding anniversary. She was buried next to her husband Alfred in the family plot at Hillside.

Some of the Tyler descendants still reside in Anniston. The Tyler family home is now the site of Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center. Grace Episcopal Church, where the Tyler family worshiped, is one of the few buildings that remains from earliest days of the new city.

To learn more about the history of Calhoun County pick up a copy of Images of America: Calhoun County (ISBN 978-0738589985), Anniston (ISBN 978-0738506012), or Anniston Revisited (ISBN 978-1467114752) by Kimberly O’Dell.