The author takes pleasure in acknowledging his indebtedness to many of the Southern Express and “Plant System” officials for their prompt and valuable assistance in the preparation of a biography of their able and esteemed President. Chief among those to whom thanks are due may be mentioned Messrs. A. P. C. Ryan, M. J. O’ Brien, D. F. Jack, B. W. Wrenn, and G. H. Tilley. The last named furnished not only much material in manuscript and print, but many valuable suggestions as to their use. The letter of Ex-Governor Bullock of Georgia, published in the volume reveals the noble nature which penned it, far more eloquently than any words which can be written here, and is alike honorable to its distinguished subject and its eminent author. Acknowledgment is due also to the papers from which extracts have been taken. [Illustration: text decoration] THE LIFE OF HENRY BRADLEY PLANT. CHAPTER I. The Plant Family--Birth of Henry Bradley Plant--Mr. Plant’s Parents--Ancestors Came from England in 1639--David Plant Occupied Many Positions of Honor and Trust--A. P. Plant’s Successful Business Career--H. B. Plant on his Mother’s Side is Descended from Joseph Frisbee, a Major in Washington’s Army--Reverend Levi Frisbee, Father of Professor Levi Frisbee of Harvard College--Connection with Sir William Pepperell, Bart.--The Historian of the Frisbee Family--Richard of the Second Generation Went from Virginia to Connecticut, and Settled at Branford, 1644--Sketch of Oliver Libby Frisbee, Historian of his Family--Senator Hoar’s Relations to the Frisbee Family--Frisbee Patriotism and Services to their Country--They Were Good Church-Going People, Mostly of the Puritan Belief--Probability that the Frisbees Came from Wales. Henry Bradley Plant was born October 27, 1819, at Branford, Connecticut. His paternal great-grandfather was attached to Washington’s army as a private, when Washington was at Newburg, and he was one of the guard of the unfortunate Major André at the time of his execution. His great-grandfather on his grandmother Plant’s side was a major in General Washington’s army at the same time. Mr. Plant’s father was Anderson Plant and his mother was Betsey Bradley. They were married December 23, 1818, and were of good old Puritan ancestry who came from England about two hundred and sixty years ago. According to a genealogical table at the end of this volume, it will be seen that John Plant was in Hartford, Connecticut, in the year 1639,--some give the date three years earlier,--and his son, John Plant, is granted a tract of land at Branford in 1667. These people possessed the characteristics that distinguished their race. They loved freedom, were thrifty, energetic, self-reliant, patriotic, and devoutly religious. Many of them were officers, and most of them members in the Congregational Church, which was the only church in the town for the first hundred years of its history.