USA > Georgia > Colquitt County > History of Colquitt County > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
History of COLQUITT COUNTY
1900
Class -292
Book
Copyright Nº
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
Errata
On page XII the title for the picture should be Wright Lanier, County Commissioner, elected January 1st, 1937.
On page 234, at bottom of the page, the name W. H. Barber, Jr., Moultrie, Ga., should be added.
On pages 252 and 253 the name Hires should be Hiers. On page 70 and elsewhere the name should be N. N. Marchant.
History of COLQUITT COUNTY
History of COLQUITT COUNTY
e
By W. A. COVINGTON
1937
FOOTE AND DAVIES COMPANY, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
070L
Copyright 1
9 3 7 W. A. COVINGTON
-
OCIA 119917 In
JUL 2% 1938
THIS HISTORY is dedicated to the children and descend- ants of the Colquitt pioneers, generally; and especially to Hon. John Harris Smithwick, a descendant of North Georgia pioneers, who married Miss Jessie Vereen, a child of a pio- neer family of Colquitt County. -By The Author Moultrie, Ga., April 11, 1937.
Author's Note
IT SEEMS PROPER to say here that while this History has been written entirely by the County Historian, it could not have been written but for assistance coming from many sources, some of which will be now and here set forth:
First, assistance in the way of documents and oral legends has been rendered by I. McD. Turner, Isaac Turner, Spencer Norman, Hon. G. W. Newton, Jack Strickland, Lewis Perry, J. O. Gibson, A. Huber, W. E. Aycock, T. E. Lewis, S. M. DuPree, John A. Owens, N. N. Marchant, Harry Halpert, and others. Thanks are extended to the Moultrie Rotary Club and the Moultrie Kiwanis Club for initial action of a highly helpful character; to Judge Wm. E. Thomas and the October, 1935, Grand Jury, for energetic aid rendered at that term of Colquitt Superior court; to the Board of Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Colquitt County; and to the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Moultrie for indispensable finan- cial assistance in the enterprise.
MRS. MATTIE OGLESBY COYLE'S "History of Colquitt County" has been drawn on for essential facts, as has IRWIN MCINTYRE'S "History of Thomas County."
Finally, much use has been made of the unwearied and cheerful courtesy of Miss Ruth Blair, until recently Geor- gia's State Historian and Director of the Department of Archives, in answering some fifty letters of inquiry as to pertinent facts of record in her department. This service has been invaluable.
The chapter containing biographical sketches has more than paid its own way, since nearly all such sketches have been paid for at prices that have left available a surplus which has contributed greatly to rendering the publication of the History possible. At all that, too, it will not escape at-
VII
tention that general and loving attention has been paid to the common run of the county's pioneers, which includes a com- plete copy of the U. S. Census of the county four years after its creation.
Finally, the assurance is cordially extended to the present generation of descendants of the pioneer men and women that the pioneers are good people to be kin to, and a source of proper pride on the part of the present and all succeeding generations.
W. A. COVINGTON, County Historian.
February 5, 1937. Moultrie, Ga.,
VIII
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
De Soto's Expedition
CHAPTER II
The First Georgians 4-9
CHAPTER III ..
10-16
General Jackson Causes Trouble-The Seminoles
CHAPTER IV. 17-20
Colquitt Land Titles
CHAPTER V. 21-29
Slavery and Secession
CHAPTER VI
30-38
The Civil War
CHAPTER VII
Reconstruction 39-45
CHAPTER VIII 46-52
The County Site
CHAPTER IX. 53-57
First White Settlers
CHAPTER X 58-61 The Pioneer Family
CHAPTER XI 62-66
Diversions in the Pastoral Era
CHAPTER XII 67-69
Education in the Pastoral Era
CHAPTER XIII 70-74
Women in the Pastoral Era
CHAPTER XIV. 75-80
A Friendly Custom
CHAPTER XV.
Early Occupations
CHAPTER XVI.
85-88
A Notable Wedding
CHAPTER XVII ..
89-94
Colquitt Courts
CHAPTER XVIII 95-101
Colquitt's Early Bench and Bar
CHAPTER XIX
102-107
The Moultrie Bar in the Nineties
CHAPTER XX 108-149
The Census of 1860
Colquitt's Slaves in 1860
CHAPTER XXII 153-157
The Georgia-Northern Railway
CHAPTER XXIII 157-162
Moultrie Speaks 163-168
CHAPTER XXIV.
Colquitt in 1898
CHAPTER XXV
169-171
Old Greenfield
CHAPTER XXVI 172-177
Some Important Visitors to Colquitt County
CHAPTER XXVII 178-184
Being More About the Women
CHAPTER XXVIII. 185-189
Christian Churches in Colquitt
CHAPTER XXIX 190-193
The Moultrie Methodist Church
IX
1-3
81-84
CHAPTER XXI
150-152
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER XXX 194-198
Moultrie's Missionary Baptist Church
CHAPTER XXXI 199-204
Moultrie Presbyterian Church
CHAPTER XXXII
205-209
Colquitt's Educational Facilities
CHAPTER XXXIII
210-211
Women's Clubs
CHAPTER XXXIV 212-215
The Moultrie Banking Company
CHAPTER XXXV 216-218
Moultrie National Bank
CHAPTER XXXVI
219-221
Moultrie Cotton Mills
CHAPTER XXXVII 222-225
The Moultrie Packing Company
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Crime in Colquitt
CHAPTER XXXIX
229-231
BIOGRAPHIES
PAGE
PAGE
Barber, William Henry 233
Matthews, William Jefferson 267
Bivins, Frank Jarvis. 237
Millsap, Zachary Thomas 269
Blasingame, Wesley Futrell 238
Moore, Lammie Lamar. 270
Coleman, James William 240
Newton, George William 272
Covington, William Alonzo 242
Norman Jeremiah Bryant, Sr. 274
DeLoache, Waldo 244
Norman, Jeremiah Bryant, Jr. 276
Folsom. Montgomery M. 246
Potts, Lindsey Monterville. 280
Free, Richard Lewis. 250
Rhoden, Emanuel William- 281
Hires, Jacob Hunter 252
Rhodes, William Henry. 283
Hunt, George B
254
Shavers, George Alexander 285
Jenkins, Cliff. 255
Suber, John. 286
Johnson, Chas. H. 256
Tillman, William 287
King, W. W. 256
Tucker, W. R 290
Ladson, John Elzie .. 257
Turnbull, Samuel P. 291
Lee, Matthew Lawrence 260
Vereen, William Coachman 292
Leverett. Paul DeWitt. 261
Vereen, Eugene Michael .. 298
Lewis, Richard Jonathan 262
Vereen, William Jerome. 301
McCall, William Frank 264
Vick, Aaron. Jr .- 303
Mcclendon, Claude Early 265
Weeks, Family The .. 305
MISCELLANEOUS
Colquitt County Board of Edu- cation 308
Colquitt County-
Justices of the Inferior Courts .. 319
Ordinaries 320
Sheriffs 320
Surveyors 322
Tax Collectors 323
Tax Receivers 324
Treasurers 325
Mayors and Clerks of the City of Moultrie, 1893-1937 326
Congressional Representation of Colquitt County 312
County School Commissioners .... 311
Final Word of Historian- 358
Heads of Families, Lowndes County Georgia 359
Heads of Families, 8th District,
Thomas County-now Colquitt
County 363
Professional Men of Colquitt
County 327
Attorneys 327
Dentists
327
Physicians 327
Justices of the Peace- 328-334
State Senators-Colquitt County .... 315 World War Veterans 335-357
X
226-228
Colquitt Weather
-
XXI
Board of Colquitt County Commissioners. Picture taken in May, 1936. Left to right: VAN T. CROSBY, JOHN F. SUBER, WIL- LIAM TILLMAN, Chairman, T. B. MOUNT, Clerk. MRS. JOHN T. COYLE, Assistant Welfare Worker, W. W. KING, CLIFF JENKINS.
Extract from the General Presentments of the int Grand Jury of Colquitt County, October, 1935, Term
"We hereby nominate Judge W. A. Covington as Historian of Colquitt County, and give him the right to secure the serv- ices of anyone to help in this undertaking; and urge the Board of County Commissioners of Colquitt County, to co- operate with him."
T. A. DEKLE, Foreman, J. F. TRICE, Clerk.
J. H. Brady, J. T. Sharpe, A. H. Gregory, N. D. Norman, B. D. Gay, R. H. Perry, W. S. McMullen, C. C. Freeman, J. H. Burroughs, M. J. Sorrell, Henry Clark, W. F. Walters, J. H. Dooley, Byrd Powell, James D. Edmundson, John T. Barlow, Grand Jurors.
BRYANT LANIER, County Commissioner, elected January 1st, 1937
WRIGHT LANIER, County Commissioner, elected January 1st. 1937 XII
Walter T. Colquitt
Walter T. Colquitt, for whom Colquitt County was named, was born in Halifax County, Virginia, in 1799, and while still a child moved with his parents to Hancock County, Georgia. He studied at Princeton, read law at Milledgeville, Georgia, was called to the bar in 1820, and commenced the practice of law, at Sparta. He was a member of the Georgia State Senate, in 1835-37. He was in the National House of Representatives, in 1839 and in 1840, till the date of his resignation. In 1842-43, he was again in the National House of Representatives. From 1843 to his resignation in 1848, he was a Senator of the United States. Originally, he was a States-Rights Whig, he came to be a Van Buren Democrat. He opposed the Wilmot Proviso, limiting slavery. He was a local Methodist preacher.
Miller, in his "Bench and Bar of Georgia," says of Walter T. Colquitt :
"It made no difference how many speakers of note were assembled on the platform of a mass-meeting, whether Governors of States or members of Cabinets, he towered above them all. He had an eye that could look any man or any peril in the face. He imitated no model. He grasped the hand of a poor man as cordially and treated him with as much respect as if he had the richest in the land; and, if his attentions to either varied, it was only to show more kindness to the humble poor, to take care of his feelings, and avoid any appearance of neglect or slight. As a lawyer he stood not only above Georgia, but the whole South. In Criminal cases, he swept everything before him, and stirred the souls of jurors to their very depths."
We have heard it said that Walter Colquitt would some- times procure an acquittal of a client charged with murder,
XIII
in the morning; make a political speech, at the noon recess of court; and preach at revival services, at night.
This remarkable man died a few weeks before Colquitt County was created; and this perhaps is the reason our great County bears his name. He lies buried on the Jeter Lot, in Linwood cemetery, at Columbus; but his grave is unmarked; although his descendants are still social and financial leaders in Georgia.
XIV
CHAPTER I De Soto's Expedition
THE FIRST WHITE PEOPLE ever in Georgia were members of De Soto's expedition.
Fernando De Soto, a companion of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, obtained from the King of Spain, in 1537, permis- sion to conquer Florida, which was claimed by Spain in vir- tue of the discoveries of Columbus. While this design was in agitation, one Cabeca DeVaca, returned to Spain from a voyage of discovery in the New World; and, for purposes of his own, spread abroad the report that Florida, in gold, silver, and gems, was the richest country yet discovered in the New World-richer than Mexico and Peru, for instance; all this resulting in the boosting of De Soto's enterprise. Nobles and gentlemen vied with each other for the privilege of being enrolled under De Soto's standard; and so he set sail for what is now known as Tampa Bay, with six hundred and twenty chosen young men and 200 horses-a band as gallant and well-appointed, as eager in purpose, and as audacious in hope as ever trod the shores of the Western Hemisphere.
For month after month, and year after year, this proces- sion of priests and cavaliers, crossbowmen, arquebusiers, and Indian captives, laden with baggage, still wandered on, through wild and boundless wastes, lured hither and thither by the ignis fatuus of the hopes of discovering gold.
De Soto and his people passed through at least the southern part of Georgia, forty-five years before Sir Walter Raleigh sailed the western seas; sixty-five years before Captain John Smith's adventures at Jamestown; seventy-eight years before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock; and one hundred and ninety-two years before Oglethorpe settled at Savannah.
2
HISTORY OF COLQUITT COUNTY
There were four members of the De Soto expedition who kept diaries, as follows: Ranjel, nephew and secretary of De Soto; Bedenia, the treasurer of the expedition; "The Inca"; and "a certain gentleman of Elvas." These diaries are the first authentic written documents which undertake to give information regarding human life in south Georgia, and the Gulf section. Geographic features are described, mounds and rivers are noted, and villages are described by their In- dian names.
Notwithstanding these diaries, there is considerable dis- cussion as to the situs of the route of the expedition in Geor- gia. It is known definitely that the expedition went north for some hundreds of miles-possibly to a point near the present site of Augusta; and then crossed Georgia to the northwest, and proceeding in that direction, finally reached the Missis- sippi, probably near what is now Memphis; then, proceed- ing two or three hundred miles northwest of this point, be- fore they practically abandoned their search for gold, and turned southeast, striking the Mississippi again near the mouth of the Red River. Here De Soto died, his cruel, haughty spirit broken by disappointments and disease; and the remnant of his followers, wrapping his corpse in gunny-sack- ing, dropped it, under cover of night into the middle of the mighty stream, to remain there till the "sea, as well as the Great River, shall give up their dead."
Some three hundred survivors of the expedition constructed a rude raft, or boat, and a month or two later, drifted down to a Spanish settlement.
According to Jones' History of Georgia, De Soto spent the winter of 1539-1540 at Anhayca, near the present City of Tallahassee, where Spanish armor and other relics have been exhumed.
On Wednesday, March 3, 1540, De Soto launched his land expedition by marching north from Anhayca, and on
3
DE SOTO'S EXPEDITION
the 4th day of the march, crossed the "Ochlockny" River, near Hadley's Ferry, in Grady County, formerly Thomas County, having passed between Lake Iammonia and Lake Jackson. On March 21st, he had reached a point which Jones fixed as being in Irwin County, having gone northward on the right side of the Ochlochnee River.
Since the Ochlochnee runs from north to south, practically through the center of what is now Col- quitt County, it is a fair conclusion that De Soto and his mailed and plumed warriors passed through the county three hundred and ninety-six years ago. Since people, whether In- dians or white explorers, always traveled along watercourses in those early days; and since the Och- lochnee River was always full at the beginning of Spring, it is practically certain that De Soto's expedition passed near Moultrie, along the Ochlochnee, near or across the farm of Joe N. Horne, sweeping upward along the course of the stream, always as close to the run of the stream as possible.
CHAPTER II The First Georgians
THE DIARIES AND CHRONICLES of the De Soto expedition all speak of fairly constant contacts with the Indians. At that time, Georgia seems to have been occupied largely by the Creeks and the Cherokees. The northern part of the State then, and for two hundred years afterwards, constituted a part of an extensive Cherokee Empire; while the Creeks, dur- ing this period of time, occupied the southern portion of the State. The Seminoles, a smaller tribe, resided for the most part in northern Florida. By the beginning of the American Revolution, the Cherokees, by their contacts with the Amer- ican colonists, had made considerable strides in civilization; but having sided with the British in that struggle, they were penalized by the loss of over half of their territory. Their holdings in what is now the State of Georgia, however, re- mained the same.
The Creeks and Seminoles had made less advances in what were called civilized ways. In 1763, England acquired the whole of Florida by treaty with Spain; but re-ceded it to Spain at the Treaty of Paris, in 1783. During the succeed- ing thirty-five years, clashes were frequent between the pioneer settlers of Georgia and Alabama and the Creeks and Seminoles, whose holdings in Georgia and Alabama had not been extinguished by treaty or otherwise. This friction was especially troublesome along the Chattahoochee River. While the land hunger of the whites, and the greed of the white purveyors of intoxicants, who always and everywhere were found on the ragged edge of the frontiers of America, ex- plained some of these clashes; the fact is, that the main cause is to be found in the fact that there was a constant stream of
5
THE FIRST GEORGIANS
runaway Negro slaves from the plantations of Georgia, Ala- bama and South Carolina into the territory occupied by these Indian tribes. Arriving into such territory, these fugitives were sheltered by the Indians, who frequently intermarried with them. In this respect, the policy of the Creeks and Seminoles differed from that of the Cherokees to the north, who reduced such fugitives, as a rule, to slavery to them- selves.
The attitude of the Creeks and Seminoles toward runaway slaves led to forays by the white owners to recover their slaves; and along with this, there arose a system of just plain hunting among the Indians, by unprincipled whites, for any Negroes they could lay their hands on, and driving off the catch "regardless of right or title." As the whites had all the means of publicity, and practically all political power; and as human nature was what it was, and what it is, the struggle could have only one ending-namely, the practical destruction of the rights of the Indians. But from the first, the ordinary rules of civilized warfare went into the discard, and atrocities on both sides were justly complained of. The Federal Government was called on by Georgia and Alabama to help out against the Creeks, whose holdings in land and pasturage lay on both sides of the Chattahoochee River; and in response to these demands, General Andrew Jackson, in 1812, was sent into the troubled territory, commissioned to discipline the troublesome Indians. His campaign seems to have been considerably like that of Mussolini in Ethiopia. There was a lot written and published about the scalping parties of the Creeks; but not so much about the Jackson methods. We, however, can remember hearing our grand- mother tell of one of her uncle's campaigns as a member of Jackson's army of relief in Alabama, in which they got out of rations, and came near starving to death; but just then they set fire to an Indian stockade of logs, which was full
6
HISTORY OF COLQUITT COUNTY
of Indians of all kinds, and which had a cellar, filled with sweet potatoes. Her uncle said the potatoes were well roasted and thoroughly soaked with the Indian grease, furnishing very toothsome eating indeed. We could be disposed to think our grandmother's uncle was drawing on his imagination in this recital, after the fashion of veterans of wars since the world began, were it not for the fact that after we were grown up, we saw the story about the potatoes, roasted in Indian grease, in print in some of the annals of those times. It was at the end of his campaign against the Creeks that Jackson was ordered to New Orleans, which led him into im- perishable renown on one January 8, 1815, in a battle with Sir Edward Packenham, a brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington.
In 1818, the raids of slave-owners from Georgia and the Carolinas into the Seminole country in the Spanish territory of Florida, for the purpose of recapturing their runaway slaves were increasing, and as there were the counter-raids of the Seminoles, particularly along the Georgia bank of the Chattahoochee River, as far north as Columbus; pressure was again brought on Washington by the white settlers of southern Georgia to furnish protection, and General Jackson was again authorized to organize a band of militia. As Florida at that time belonged to Spain, a friendly power, the General seems to have had orders to push the Indians back to the Florida boundary line; but not to invade Florida. This was in the year 1817.
As Jackson pushed down the Chattahoochee, the gardens and patches of the Indians filled with growing corn and beans showed that they were not on the war-path; but he pressed right on into Florida across the international boundary line, and brought up at Saint Marks, on the Gulf Coast. When he got there, the Spanish garrison put up no defense, being
7
THE FIRST GEORGIANS
surprised and outnumbered; and "Billy Bow-legs," the Semi- nole Chief, was gone with his followers, he having been ap- prised of Jackson's coming. So Jackson pushed out of Saint Marks to the southeast, a distance of a hundred and forty- three miles, where he expected to capture "Billy Bow-legs" and his force; but again the "birds had flown," with the ex- ception of two aged Indian chiefs. Jackson promptly hanged them, although there is no record that either of them was guilty of violating any law.
By the time the General got back to Saint Marks, he was very angry and tired; so he arrested Alexander Arbuthnot, a Scotch trader, aged seventy-one, and Robert Ambrister, an English trader, aged thirty, "because he believed they had sold supplies to the Indians"; and sent them to a drumhead court-martial, on the instant and on the spot. The court- martial, composed of petty officers, named by Jackson, pro- ceeded to investigate the charges; and, although the evidence failed to show that Ambrister was guilty, and affirmatively showed that Arbuthnot was innocent, the finding as to Ar- buthnot was guilty with recommendation of death by hang- ing. Jackson reviewed this finding, and wrote "approved" under it on the paper; and so Arbuthnot was hanged next day. The court-martial also found Ambrister guilty and recommended a penalty of death by shooting; but, an hour afterwards, reconvened, and recommended a penalty of fifty lashes on the naked back, and confinement in jail for a term of twelve months. The General wrote "disapproved" under the second recommendation, and the word "approved" under their first sentence.
Not much is known of the history and characteristics of Alexander Arbuthnot. The Scotch are not famed for much talking. But Romance has embalmed the memory of Robert Ambrister. Before he was out of his early twenties he had,
8
HISTORY OF COLQUITT COUNTY
as a member of the British Royal Marines, seen practically every land under the sun. As a member of Wellington's "Guards," he had lain all of that momentous day at Waterloo prone on the ground, under the pounding of the military genius who had well-nigh conquered the world. The next year, he had assisted to guard Napoleon at St. Helena. Finally, on a visit to his brother, the Governor of the Ba- hamas, he heard of Florida; and came to Saint Marks-and to Jackson's Firing Squad.
The men went to their deaths the day after their trial, Jackson having ridden away early in the morning, leaving a detachment of troops to carry out the sentences. Ambrister spent his last night with his guards, who were fascinated by the flow of his brilliant conversation, so that neither he nor any of them slept. A sweetheart was waiting for him in London.
There is nothing to record as to the history of Arbuthnot, nor as to how he spent his last hours; but it seems certain that, like his companion in misfortune,
"He nothing common did nor mean, On that memorable scene."
Both comported themselves with the dignity of members of the great races to which they belonged, and to which so many of us are proud to belong.
Some prominence seemed due these unfortunate men, on account of a great wrong done them both by a representative of our country-a wrong which would appear to have been condoned by their own country, owing to the fact that Britain and the United States had just closed a foolish war; and consequently, there was the less disposition to precipitate another war between the countries.
Then, too, Ambrister at least was young and adventurous. He spent more than a year at Saint Marks before his arrest.
9
THE FIRST GEORGIANS
He sold hunters' supplies to the Seminoles, and took their wares in return. Doubtless he joined them in their fishing and hunting trips. And, since what is now Colquitt County was less than a hundred miles from Saint Marks, it is alto- gether likely that Ambrister accompanied the Indians on some hunting and fishing trips to this section, perhaps camp- ing with them along the Ochlochnee, the Warrior, the Big Indian, and the Ocapilco. Anyhow, we are pleased to imagine that he did; and if Arbuthnot came along sometimes, that is alright too.
CHAPTER III General Jackson Causes Trouble --- The Seminoles
GENERAL JACKSON closed his campaign against the Seminoles, in 1818, with net results already stated, as follows: Two old Indian Chiefs hanged out of hand; two British subjects killed after farcical trials; the bundling up and shipping to Pensacola of the Spanish garrison at Saint Marks. Also, the United States had acquired a splendid opportunity to go into a war with England, which haughty State had in the preced- ing century plunged into a war with half of Europe about the loss of an ear by one of her subjects, named "Jenkins." However, she had just emerged from the Napoleonic struggle, which had shaken her to her foundations, and included an incidental conflict with the United States, and this doubtless influenced her to finally back away from her angry demands made on the Government of the United States. Nor was this trouble all. Spain at that time was a very much stronger power than the United States. At the commencement of negotiations with Spain concerning the violation of her ter- ritory, and the shipping of her troops about in the Gulf as if they were African slaves, the war clouds hovered ominously, and in sight of those that hovered in the direction of England; and so President Monroe and his cabinet had many anxious hours; and the report gained circulation, twenty years afterwards, that at one of these cabinet meet. ings, John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, suggested that Spain be placated and England appeased by hanging General Jackson. This was, of course, in executive session; and when Jackson heard of it for the first time, the people had put him in the presidential chair. This was owing to a
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.