Congressional Record, House of Representatives, May 23, 1919
In 1919, U.S. Representative from Georgia William C. Lankford introduced a bill authorizing the Secretary of War to donate a captured German cannon to the city of Ray City, GA. To be fair, by the end of World War I, the German Artillery had 11,000 field guns and American legislators like Representative Lankford thought every town in their district deserved a captured field piece as a monument to the war effort. Berrien county paid a terrible toll in the loss of her young men when the ill-fated Otranto troopship went down off the coast of Scotland on October 6, 1918.
William Chester Lankford (December 7, 1877 – December 10, 1964) was an American politician, judge and lawyer. Lankford was born in the Camp Creek Community of Clinch County, Georgia on December 7, 1877. He attended the public schools in Clinch County and later taught school there. He graduated from the Jasper Normal Institute in Jasper, Florida, in 1897 and the Georgia Normal College and Business Institute in Abbeville, Georgia, in 1900. He then studied law at the University of Georgia School of Law and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree in 1901. After moving to Douglas, Georgia, in 1901, Lankford began the practice of law. He went into partnership with Marcus David Dickerson to form the law firm of Lankford & Dickerson. Lankford and Dickerson had been friends since childhood and over the next decade they “built up a magnificent practice.”
Lankford became a prominent citizen of Coffee County. In 1902 W.C. Lankford was elected Secretary of the Democratic Party of Coffee County. That summer he gave the welcome address at the Teachers Institute workshop in Douglas. He was a Mason and was elected Senior Warden of the Douglas Lodge No. 386 on December 19, 1902, and soon elevated to Worshipful Master. The following year he was a founding officer in the organization of the Douglas chapter of the Royal Arch Masons. Later he also joined the Douglas lodge of the Odd Fellows and the Alee Temple Shriners.
He was active in opposition to the Sweat Dispensary Act proposed by Frank L. Sweat and passed by the Georgia Legislature authorizing the establishment of liquor dispensaries in Coffee County, GA.
In 1906, W. C. Lankford was elected Mayor of Douglas and gave an address at the Coffee County Sunday School Convention. As mayor, his speeches were characteristically “full of enthusiasm and warm congratulations.” He became a member of the city Board of Education the following year; He remained on the Board of Education until 1918.
On October 17, 1906 William Chester Lankford married Mattie Lott in Coffee County, GA.
He was a founding member of the Progressive Union of Douglas, which sought to form a library for the city and generally build up the section. He was a member of the Literary Union and on June 1, 1907 he delivered the literary address at the Broxton Institute. That year he made a significant investment in city lots in the Purse subdivision of Douglas. He served on the Board of Directors of the Douglas Board of Trade. The Lankford family made a three-week excursion to the 1907 Jamestown Exposition at Norfolk, VA.
W. C. Lankford was a Methodist and a member of the Epworth League. He was active in the Methodist Camp Meetings at Douglas, which were held at the campground near Gaskins Spring.
On January 1, 1908, Lankford became a judge of the city court. The judge and Mrs. Lankford had a home on Ward Street. They owned a restaurant in Douglas called the Royal Cafe. In the state elections of 1908 he was a supporter of Hoke Smith. In the presidential election he supported William Jennings Bryan. That year, Lankford and the other members of the Board of Education of the City of Douglas petitioned for a charter to form the Georgia Normal College and Business Institute at Douglas. Originally established at nearby Abbeville, GA in 1897, The Georgia Normal College and Business Institute was Judge Lankford’s alma mater. In 1908 it was moved to Douglas, Ga. Lankford served on the Board of Trustees of the Institute.
In 1909 he was one of the investors in the Douglas Chatauqua.
The Lankfords took the month of July 1909 for an excursion by train to Seattle, WA for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
In 1910, Mrs. Lankford was injured in trainwreck on the Georgia & Florida Railroad, at Bemiss, GA ten miles south of the G & F depot at Rays Mill (now Ray City), GA. Mrs. Lankford, wife of Judge Lankford, of the county court of Douglas, was slightly bruised and Mr. C. A. Taylor, of Rays Mill, had his lip cut. In October, 1910 the Judge gave the address at the Broxton gathering of the United Confederate Veterans, Camp Spivey No. 1539.
In Judge Lankford’s 1910 term on the bench of the City Court of Douglas, GA he took a tough stance on “blind tigers” producing moonshine whiskey in Coffee County. “He announced to the public that so long as he was judge of the city court, all violators of the prohibition law convicted in his court, would receive the same punishment, whether white or black, rich or poor, old or young, friend or foe, he would sentence each to a term of twelve months on the chain-gang without the privilege of paying a fine.” On occasion, Judge Lankford would preside at the city court of Nashville, GA in cases where Judge William Douglas Buie, of Nashville, was disqualified; Judge Buie reciprocated, presiding in Douglas when necessary.
The judge owned one of the early automobiles of Coffee County.
In January 1911 Judge W. C. Lankford bought the old Rudolph homestead on the corner of Ward and Pearl Street in Douglas for $5,500. The judge acquired several other properties in that area, assembling some of the most valuable business property in the city.
The year 1913 saw the creation of the Federal Reserve and the creation of the income tax, but it was also wracked by a recession that caused a significant decline in real incomes. The Recession of 1913-1914 lasted until the outbreak of World War I. Incidentally, the Federal Reserve Act was signed during this recession, creating the Federal Reserve System. Like other South Georgia families, the Lankfords were hit hard by the recession. Their home, restaurant and other real estate in Douglas were seized in 1915 sold at auction to pay back taxes.
W.C. Lankford resigned his post as judge of the Douglas City Court on May 1, 1916, to run an unsuccessful campaign that year for the United States House of Representatives.
Lankford ran again for the 66th United States Congress in 1918 and was elected as a Democrat to represent Georgia’s 11th congressional district. He won reelection to that seat six additional terms before losing in 1932.
Following his congressional service, Lankford returned to practicing law. He worked in the General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C. from January 1935 through October 1942. He died on December 10, 1964, and was buried in Douglas Cemetery in the city of Douglas, GA.
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