From collection Member List
Colonel, 3rd Georgia Infantry; second in command. Had been a state senator and representative, and gubernatorial candidate. His previous military experience was as a 2nd lieutenant in the Quitman Guards of the Second Regiment of Georgia Volunteers.
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State Representative, Georgia (1884-1892); State Senate President, Georgia (1896-98); State gubernatorial candidate for nomination, Georgia (1892, 1898); US Congress candidate for nomination, Georgia (1892).
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It is believed that his father was William Robert Berner, a school teacher and native of Germany.
EDUCATION: At the University of Georgia, Berner was a member of the Phi Kappa literary society. As a senior, he was one of the Five Founders of the Kappa Deuteron chapter in 1871 and the first president of the chapter. He graduated on August 2, 1871, just four months after the charter for Kappa Deuteron Chapter was received.
CAREER: Bob Berner was a prominent attorney in Georgia, handling numerous and many well-publicized criminal and civil matters. He was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1873. Berner became one of best-known and influential political leaders of his time.
He was elected five times to the Georgia General Assembly, serving in the Georgia House of Representatives for four terms and one term in the state Senate. In 1890, Berner was nominated as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives but declined.
In 1892, Berner ran for the Democratic nomination for Sixth Congressional District of Georgia, which then included all or parts of Baldwin, Bibb, Butts, Fayette, Henry, Jones, Monroe, Pike, Spalding, and Upson counties, but lost the nomination by one vote.
In 1893, Berner served as a Special Agent in U.S. Department of the Interior during the administration of President Grover Cleveland and under former Georgia governor and then-Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith, a former publisher of The Atlanta Journal and later a law partner of Brother Berner.
In 1896, Berner ran and was elected to the 22nd Senatorial District of Georgia, during which campaign Prohibition became a significant issue (viz: The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia, Thursday, August 13, 1896, p. 1.)
He won and was soon thereafter elected President of the Georgia state Senate, unanimously - and as a freshman member of that body over Harry Dunwoody, a cousin of Spencer Atkinson [see below.] That year, he was also considered a possible candidate for Governor.
Two years later, on February 17, 1898, Brother Berner announced his candidacy for Governor. His was a campaign largely built on populist themes, specifically running against the excesses of the railroads and against tax exemptions the legislature had enacted for “big” corporations.
Berner finished second to Allen Daniel Candler in the Democratic primary held on June 7, 1898 [Candler - once U. S. Congressman and just prior to the race Georgia’s Secretary of State - lost an eye in battle during The Civil War, and was sometimes called “One Eye” Daniel - jtf.] In third place was Supreme Court Judge Spencer Roane Atkinson, of Brunswick Georgia.
Two weeks after the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Berner was appointed by Gov. William Yates Atkinson [no relation to his gubernatorial competitor that I know - jtf] as Lieutenant Colonel of the Third Regiment, U.S. Volunteers, Georgia, Spanish-American War, and, in that position, he served until April 1899. The Third Regiment was a part of the post-War occupation force of Cuba. Berner had been an enthusiastic supporter of Gov. Atkinson’s 1894 successful gubernatorial campaign.
For his years of faithful public service, the town of Frankville in Monroe County was renamed Berner, Georgia (33°9’17”N, 83°49’43”W, U.S. Highway 23 and Georgia Highway 83.) He was a 32nd Degree Mason, a member of St. Omer Commandery of the Knights Templar, and the Shriners.
In 1914, Col. Berner was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to be the President’s nominee for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, but Berner’s nomination was blocked by his own home state U.S. Senator, William Stanley West, because the Senator felt his input on the nomination had not been accepted.
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State Representative, Georgia (1884-1892); State Senate President, Georgia (1896-98); State gubernatorial candidate for nomination, Georgia (1892, 1898); US Congress candidate for nomination, Georgia (1892).
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It is believed that his father was William Robert Berner, a school teacher and native of Germany.
EDUCATION: At the University of Georgia, Berner was a member of the Phi Kappa literary society. As a senior, he was one of the Five Founders of the Kappa Deuteron chapter in 1871 and the first president of the chapter. He graduated on August 2, 1871, just four months after the charter for Kappa Deuteron Chapter was received.
CAREER: Bob Berner was a prominent attorney in Georgia, handling numerous and many well-publicized criminal and civil matters. He was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1873. Berner became one of best-known and influential political leaders of his time.
He was elected five times to the Georgia General Assembly, serving in the Georgia House of Representatives for four terms and one term in the state Senate. In 1890, Berner was nominated as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives but declined.
In 1892, Berner ran for the Democratic nomination for Sixth Congressional District of Georgia, which then included all or parts of Baldwin, Bibb, Butts, Fayette, Henry, Jones, Monroe, Pike, Spalding, and Upson counties, but lost the nomination by one vote.
In 1893, Berner served as a Special Agent in U.S. Department of the Interior during the administration of President Grover Cleveland and under former Georgia governor and then-Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith, a former publisher of The Atlanta Journal and later a law partner of Brother Berner.
In 1896, Berner ran and was elected to the 22nd Senatorial District of Georgia, during which campaign Prohibition became a significant issue (viz: The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia, Thursday, August 13, 1896, p. 1.)
He won and was soon thereafter elected President of the Georgia state Senate, unanimously - and as a freshman member of that body over Harry Dunwoody, a cousin of Spencer Atkinson [see below.] That year, he was also considered a possible candidate for Governor.
Two years later, on February 17, 1898, Brother Berner announced his candidacy for Governor. His was a campaign largely built on populist themes, specifically running against the excesses of the railroads and against tax exemptions the legislature had enacted for “big” corporations.
Berner finished second to Allen Daniel Candler in the Democratic primary held on June 7, 1898 [Candler - once U. S. Congressman and just prior to the race Georgia’s Secretary of State - lost an eye in battle during The Civil War, and was sometimes called “One Eye” Daniel - jtf.] In third place was Supreme Court Judge Spencer Roane Atkinson, of Brunswick Georgia.
Two weeks after the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Berner was appointed by Gov. William Yates Atkinson [no relation to his gubernatorial competitor that I know - jtf] as Lieutenant Colonel of the Third Regiment, U.S. Volunteers, Georgia, Spanish-American War, and, in that position, he served until April 1899. The Third Regiment was a part of the post-War occupation force of Cuba. Berner had been an enthusiastic supporter of Gov. Atkinson’s 1894 successful gubernatorial campaign.
For his years of faithful public service, the town of Frankville in Monroe County was renamed Berner, Georgia (33°9’17”N, 83°49’43”W, U.S. Highway 23 and Georgia Highway 83.) He was a 32nd Degree Mason, a member of St. Omer Commandery of the Knights Templar, and the Shriners.
In 1914, Col. Berner was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to be the President’s nominee for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, but Berner’s nomination was blocked by his own home state U.S. Senator, William Stanley West, because the Senator felt his input on the nomination had not been accepted.
