Bio: Levi G. Brantley, M.D., s/o Joshua Brantley & Temperance Radford
L.G. BRANTLEY, M. D. The subject of this sketch was born in Walton County, Ga., in the year 1819. He is a son of Joshua and Temperance (Radford) Brantley.
Joshua Brantley was a native of North Carolina. He moved to Georgia in the year 1800 and settled first in Morgan County and afterwards in Walton. He was, in his day, one of the representative planters of his county and on different occasions somewhat prominent in local affairs. He was a sober, moral and industrious man and well esteemed by all who knew him. He died in 1854.
Temperance Radford was a daughter of James Radford, one of the first settlers of Morgan County, Ga.
The fact is worthy of preservation that both of the grandfathers of the subject of this sketch were soldiers in the Revolutionary war and did noble service in behalf of the freedom of the struggling colonies.
Joshua and Temperance Brantley had twelve children, whose names in the order of their ages are as follows: James M., William R, Thomas R, Henry T., Levi G., Reuben W., John M., Joshua E., Piety, Mary A., Elizabeth and Temperance A.
Levi G. Brantley was reared in Walton County where he was born. After receiving a fair common school education he attended lectures at the Southern Botanic College of Macon, Ga., and after graduating from that institution he located in Walton County in 1842 and began the practice of medicine. For fifteen years he done a large and lucrative practice in his native county. In 1858 he moved to Henry County, where he continued in the practice, remaining there through the war, having been appointed physician of the county which prevented his going into the army as a regular surgeon. After the war closed he moved to Alabama where he lived three years, returning to Georgia and locating at Conyers, living there eight years. He then moved to Social Circle in Walton County, where he has since lived.
In 1841 Dr. Brantley married Martha W., daughter of Williamson Sturtevant, of Walton County, one of the old settlers of that county. By this marriage he has had seven children, namely: Warren H., John W., James K., William A., Quincy L., Missouri A. and Mary T. These he has reared, educated and settled off in life and they are now repaying his care and solicitude in their behalf with the promise of useful and honorable careers. The two oldest sons were in the Confederate army and did valiant duty on many a battle field. Dr. Brantley himself was one of the most loyal supporters of the lost cause, and though denied an opportunity to render active service in the field his heart was always in the cause and he gave it invaluable aid in other ways. He was a large planter and had on hand at all times an abundance of provisions, a great deal of which he managed by a little foresight and strategy to preserve even from the wreck of war, and all his stores of whatever nature he dispensed of freely among the needy. He also did a large gratuitous practice, never failing or refusing to administer to the wants of the afflicted, whatever their condition. He has now been in the practice more than forty-six years, and he is widely known and universally esteemed. His life carries with it a good lesson. It shows what a reasonable amount of energy, coupled with fair talent and a strong desire to do good, may accomplish.
Source: Biographical Souvenir, Of the States of Georgia and Florida, published by F.A. Battey & Co., Chicago, 1889; Pg. 92(This volume was reproduced from an 1889 Edition, Southern Historical Press, % The Rev. S. Emmett Lucas, Jr., P.O. Box 738, Easley, South Carolina).