Albon Chase
American
Albon Chase was born in New Hampshire and came to Athens in the 1830's. He bought and edited an Athens newspaper, renamed the Southern Banner, ancestor of the present Athens Banner-Herald. Reflecting the views of the editor and of Howell Cobb of Athens, leading lawyer and politician, the paper supported the Union Democrat faction led by Andrew Jackson, as opposed to the Southern Rights Democrat faction led by John Calhoun. However, after 1850, Cobb and the paper were secessionis With Dr. John Linton, Chase established one of the South's early paper mills, the Pioneer Paper Mill on the Middle Oconee River near Athens, for which he was agent or manager. Chase was also general agent and secretary for the Southern Mutual Insurance Company, a leading Athens business. - NRHP, 19 August 1974