John M. Sims - Conspicuous among the leading business men of
Georgiana is John M. Sims, who, for a number of years, has been at
the head of the mercantile trade in Butler county.  His father, M. R.
Sims, was a native of Georgia, born about the year 1827, and was by
occupation a mechanic and also carried on merchandising for a
considerable period.  He served for a number of years as clerk of the
court of Dale county, Ala., and was a man prominent in local affairs,
of liberal education and excellent private character. His wife,
Frances E. Bottoms, whom he married in Barbour County, Ala., about the
year 1842, bore him five children, namely: James M. Sims, Georgiana,
Ala.; Mark W. Sims, died at Selma during the war; Mary Ann Sims, wife
of Thomas E. Atkinson; John M. and one that died in infancy, unnamed.
The mother of these children died at Midway, Barbour County, in 1852,
and the father followed her to the grave, dying in 1867.

John M. Sims was born on the first day of February, 1850, at the town
of Midway, Ala., and received his educational training in the common
schools, which he attended at intervals until his twenty-first year.
On attaining his majority, he embarked in merchandising at the town of
Georgiana, in partnership with U. C. Vinson, and the firm thus formed
continued with very flattering success for a period of four years,
when it was dissolved, Mr. Vinson retiring, and Mr. Sims engaging in
business alone.  He conducted his second store from the fall of 1875
until 1879, at which time he became associated in the trade with U. C.
Vinson and James Sims, under the firm name of Sims Bros. & Vinson, and
was thus identified about one year, when he sold out his interests and
retired from the partnership.  

In 1880, he again embarked in the
mercantile trade, but a little over a year afterward, owing to the
poor crops of 1881, was forced to dispose of his stock at a sacrifice
and retire from commercial pursuits for a season. From that time until
1886, he was not engaged in any kind of active business, but the
latter year again embarked in merchandising and has since continued
the same with a most encouraging success, being now one of the most
extensive dealers in Georgiana, and having much more than a local
reputation in commercial circles outside of Butler county, and beyond
the limits of his state.  His stock, which consists of all articles
demanded by the general trade, is very carefully selected and
represents a capital of over $10,000, and the annual business, which
is constantly increasing, aggregates in the neighborhood of $110,000(?). 

Mr. Sims is also interested in agricultural pursuits, and owns a fine
plantation of 300 acres four miles south of Georgiana upon which are
some of the finest improvements to be found in this part of the state.
Mr. Sims and Miss Mary Adams, daughter of James Adams, were married in
Georgiana, September 17, 1872, and to their union have been born three
children:  Louis J. Sims, Exa Sims, and John M. Sims, aged fourteen,
four and two years, respectively.  Mr. Sims is one of the progressive
and enterprising citizens of Butler county, fully alive to all
movements having for their object the public welfare, and possesses,
in a marked degree, the confidence ofthe people of his community.
Politically a democrat, he is not a partisan in the sense of seeking
office, although frequently importuned by his fellow citizens to
present his name for political preferment.  He is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, belonging to Georgiana lodge, No. 285, in which he
holds the office of junior warden, and also belongs to lodge No. 2844,
K. of H.  He and wife are members of the Baptist church.