Dr. Reuben Clark Shorter

Reuben Clark Shorter was born on February 13, 1787 in Culpepper County, Virginia. He was left an orphan at an early age. He educated himself and went on the graduate from the Medical University of Pennsylvania.

As a young man he moved south to Twiggs County, Georgia where in 1812 he married the lovely Martha Gill, the fifteen year old daughter of John and Martha Gill. After their marriage they moved to Monticello in Jasper County, Georgia where over the next 25 years Martha became the mother of thirteen children.

Alfred Hurt Shorter, the 16 year old orphan son of Reuben’s uncle, Jacob Shorter, moved to Monticello, Georgia in 1819 where Reuben took him in and helped him find a job. Jacob went to work in the store of John Baldwin and eventually became a partner in the business. After the death of John Baldwin, Alfred married his widow, Martha Harper Baldwin. Martha was quite wealthy as she had inherited $40,000 upon her husband’s death. By wise investments and good business sense Jacob multiplied his original capital many times over especially after he and Martha moved to Rome, Georgia in 1837. In Rome Jacob became a cotton broker, real estate developer, merchant and the owner of two toll bridges over the rivers in Rome. He was known as Rome’s “leading financier and business man”. Alfred lasting place in history was established in 1873 when he and Reverend Luther Gwaltney founded Shorter College in Rome. According to the Trustees of Shorter College: “by the time of his death in 1882 Alfred Shorter had donated stupendous amounts of money to Shorter College”.

As soon as Reuben was established in his medical practice, he sent to Virginia for his younger brother, Eli Sims Shorter. Eli was a lawyer and was married to Sophia Watkins.

The two brother’s lives took similar paths. Reuben ranked among the successful doctors of the time and Eli rose to the front ranks of lawyers and became a judge. Both accumulated large fortunes and bought multiple plantations in Georgia overlooking the Chattahoochee River. In 1837 Reuben moved to Eufaula, Alabama where he settled on the bluff overlooking the Chattahoochee River and Eli built his manor in Columbus where his thousands of acres spread out in fertile fields and great terraces reached to the river.

Reuben Shorter did not have a military background. His rank of General was given to him during the uprisings by the Native American when he helped to organize and financed local militia companies. He liked the title of General and from then until he died was referred to as General Shorter.

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