USA > Georgia > Chatham County > Savannah > A history of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume I > Part 61
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Savannah has several lodges of Knights of Pythias holding meetings in Knights of Pythias Hall on the southeast corner of Barnard and York streets.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a flourishing institution in Savannah, and the various lodges meet in their large building known as Odd Fellows Hall, at the northwest corner of State and Barnard streets, ereeted on the spot where stood the wooden building in which General Washington was entertained during his visit to Savannah in May, 1791. Before the hall was built in 1887. the lodges met in the building on the northeast corner of Bull and Broughton streets. The new building had been occupied but two years when it was totally de- stroyed by the fire of April 6, 1889, but was shortly after rebuilt on a different plan.
OTHER BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES
The number of societies of a secret and benevolent character is so great that a list of them would cover many pages. We can give the names of only a few, withont naming the officers. The German Friendly Society and the Hebrew Benevolent Society do splendid work in their line. The King's Daughters, Order of American Firemen, Police Benevo- lent Society, Savannah Benevolent Association, and the Associated Char- ities are among the active workers in giving relief to those who need it. We mention also the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Catholic Knights of America. Successful in their efforts to help their brethren are the Woodmen of the World, Elks, Eagles. Owls. Moose. Danghters of Isabella, Daughters of the Confederacy, Children of the Confederacy, Sons of Confederate Veterans, two Confederate Veterans Associations, known as Camps 569 and 756. and many more, both social and benevolent.
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PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES
The patriotie societies of the United States are represented in Savan- nalı by local branches which do much to keep alive the memory of the services of their ancestors in the times of colonial development, the winning of statehood for the colonies and the achievement of indepen- dence, as well as the patriotie services of later times. The Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America has done good work in marking the spots where notable events happened in Savannah in the period of her early history. The society has as its president Mrs. Joseph J. Wilder, who has held the office, serving with ability and dignity for a number of years .*
It has ereeted the following memorials :
NOTABLE SPOTS MARKED BY MEMORIAL TABLETS
A stone seat, in honor of Oglethorpe, on the bluff, west of the City Hall, with this inscription :
On This Spot One Hundred and Seventy-three Years Ago James Oglethorpe, the Founder of the Colony, Pitched IIis Tent, and Here Rested At the Close of the Day On Which Georgia was Settled. Erected by the Georgia Society of The Colonial Dames of America On the 12th of February, A. D. 1906.
On the western wall of the custoni house at the sontheast corner of Bull and Bay streets, the Dames placed in 1903 a tablet with this inserip- tion :
JOHN WESLEY On this Spot Where Stood the First Publie Building Erected in Georgia. John Wesley Preached His First Sermon on American Soil March 7, 1736 (O. S.) Text-1 Corinthians XIII. This Tablet Commemorates the Bi-Centenary Of His Birth, June 28, 1903.
Another memorial of Wesley was erected on the western wall of the Postoffice building, bounded by Bull, President, Whitaker, and York streets, the same time as the above by the same society, with this inserip- tion :
* Since this was written. Mrs. Wilder has given up the presidency, and Mrs. William L. Wilson ably fills the office.
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JOHN WESLEY Preached in the Court House Erected by Oglethorpe On This Lot From May 9, 1736, To November 27, 1737 (O. S.) This Tablet is Here Placed On the Bi-Centenary of His Birth June 28, 1903.
In the year 1899 the same society placed in Wright square a large boulder, with this inscription, in honor of the Indian chief who was a friend of Oglethorpe and of the colony :
In Memory of Tomo-Chi-Chi The Chief of the Vamacraws The Companion of Oglethorpe And the Friend and Ally of the Colony of Georgia. This Stone has been Here Placed By the Georgia Society of the Colonial Dames of America 1739-1899.
The eastern wall of the building standing at the northwest corner of Broughton and Whitaker streets bears a large tablet with this inscrip- tion :
On This Site Stood in Colonial Times Tondee's Tavern Where Gathered The Sons of Liberty Erected by The Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America 1889.
GEORGIA SOCIETY OF COLONIAL WARS
The Georgia Society of Colonial Wars is also a society which has been organized for work of the kind so well done by the Colonial Dames. As yet it has not erected any memorial tablets. At the annual election of officers recently held Col. G. Noble Jones was made governor.
The Georgia Society of the Cincinnati has in recent years been re- organized, and is building up as rapidly as it can, considering the fact that so few persons are eligible to membership. The president is Hon. Walter G. Charlton, the secretary Mr. George F. Tennille, and assistant see- retary Mr. William Harden. The Lachlan Me Intosh, Chapter of Daugh- ters of the American Revolution, under the regency of Mrs. JJohn M. Bryan lately erected a memorial of Sergt. Win. Jasper at the Spring, called by his name, east of the city of Savannah, where that soldier gal-
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lantly rescued from the British some American prisoners during the War of the Revolution.
GEORGIA SOCIETY SONS OF THE REVOLUTION
The Georgia Society of Sons of the Revolution was instituted on the 22d of May, 1891. and has about one hundred and sixty members. Hon. Walter G. Charlton is president, Mr. William Harden seeretary, and Mr. Waring Russell treasurer. It has as yet erected only one memorial, a bronze tablet to mark the spot of. Spring Hill Redoubt. a point where mueh activity was exhibited during the siege of Savannah in October, 1779, when Sergt. William Jasper was killed and Count Pulaski was mortally wounded. The society appointed a committee, with Mr. Robt. J. Travis as Chairman, to locate the exact spot on which the redoubt stood. The committee took great interest in the work, and reported that the place had been ascertained. The tablet was unveiled February 22, 1911, in the presence of a large audienee, including the Viscount Benoist d'Azy, representing the French government. The tablet bears this in- scription :
Upon This Spot Stood The Spring Hill Redonbt. Here on October 9. 1779. One of the Bloodiest Engagements of the Revolution was Fought When Repeated Assaults Were Made by the Allied Troops of Georgia, South Carolina and France in An Effort to Retake Sa- vannah from the British.
SAVANNAH NEWSPAPERS
This work would not be complete without more than a passing reference to the newspapers that have been published here from colonial times to the present date. It is a singular fact that. while at certain periods when the population of the eity was very far below the number apparently necessary to support more than one daily morning paper. it had two, and both seemed to thrive: while it has now been many years since any publisher has thought it possible to compete with that pros- perous and most popular journal. the Savannah Morning News. At this time we have a successful afternoon newspaper, the Savannah Press, and those two dailies satisfy all demand in that respeet.
Founded in 1733. the colony of Georgia for thirty years depended on the neighboring colony of South Carolina for weekly news of what was going on in the outside world, and Savannah's tradesmen advertised their goods in the Charleston paper.
Seven papers in the other twelve colonies were in existence when. on the 17th of April, 1763. the first number of the Georgia Gazette was issued from the press of James Johnston. "at the printing-office in Vol. 1-33
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Broughton street, where advertisements, letters or intelligence, and sub- scriptions for this paper are taken in .- Hand-bills, advertisements, &c., printed on the shortest notice." It was first printed on a new long primer type, on a foolseap sheet, folio, two columns to a page, and was printed every Wednesday. In a few years it was increased to a sheet of crown size. When the Stamp Aet was to operate in 1765 it suspended publication for about seven months, and again during the War of the Revolution it was not issued for a considerable period. It was published down to and including the year 1802. and the Georgia Historical So- ciety's library contains a nearly complete file of it from 1774 to the time of its suspension. It is to be regretted that the earliest numbers of that newspaper are not in that library ; but two volumes containing the issues from 1763 to 1770 are in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston.
JASPER SPRINGS, SAVANNAH
During a number of years, while the Gazette was regularly printed, a newspaper called the Southern Centinel also appeared in Savannah, a file of which for the years 1793-1798 is possessed by the Historical Society. Still another was begun while the two already named were appearing, called the Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser. It began its career in 1796. and volumes, nearly complete, from that date until 1810 are to be found in the same library. The Georgia Republican and State Intelligencer was printed from 1804 to 1808. All the above were weekly papers; but the last named was succeeded by The Repub- lican and Savannah Evening Ledger. issued tri-weekly, and was finally called the Savannah Republican, which was published ahnost continu- ously until 1875, several suspensions of short intervals occurring between 1866 and that time. A weekly, called The Southern Patriot, appeared during the year 1806-7, and the Savannah Gasctte, a daily, from 1817
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to 1820. Another daily began in 1822, called the Savannah Museum. but was published only one year.
In 1818 the Savannah Daily Georgian, edited by Dr. John M. Harney (of whom we have written elsewhere), was launched as a daily and it was published without interruption until 1854. With the exception of the Morning Noes, it is the best known of all the Savannah newspapers, and it was a very strong paper editorially and otherwise considered.
The Morning News began its regular appearance on the 15th of January, 1850, and has been successful throughout a great part of the time since it opened its columns to the public until the present moment. For many years the well-known author, Col. William T. Thompson, was its editor. In fact, he held that position from the very beginning of the paper until his death in 1882. It was in a precarious condition just after the war of 1861-65 but an interest in it was bought in 1867, by Col. John H. Estill who. the next year, secured its entire management, and he made it a great success. It is not possible to say more in this work in relation to this vast enterprise; but it is a paper of large interest and influence, and its plant is not only one of wealth. but one that pays its stockholders, who have taken control since the death of Colonel Estill, handsome dividends. Colonel Estill built it up from almost a failure when he gained control, made a fortune from it, and it formed the chief asset of his estate when he died.
A paper called the Savannah Daily Journal, begun in 1852, lasted three years and passed out of existence. A daily evening paper, called the Savannah Erening Journal, was started the same time as the morn- ing paper of the same name, but lasted only one year. Another venture was made in the way of an afternoon journal in 1866, called the Savan- nah Evening Mirror, but soon failed, the file for one year being all that is left to prove that it was published. In 1868 the Savannah Advertiser, an afternoon paper. started on a somewhat successful race, bought out the old Republican, and sold out in 1875. The Savannah Daily Times, evening paper, founded in 1882, ran pretty well for a number of years and the present successful journal, controlled by Hon. Pleasant A. Stovall, the Savannah Press, is its offspring. The Press is a paper which has recently taken on new life, has made rapid strides, and the people have come to a realization of the fact that it is an afternoon paper that must abide, and that it is a necessity to the community and to the state.
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CHAPTER XLIV
CITIES OF SOUTH GEORGIA
BRUNSWICK - COLUMBUS - WAYCROSS - BLACKSHEAR - VALDOSTA AND HAHIRA-TOWNS IN BROOKS COUNTY-THOMASVILLE-BAXLEY- SYLVESTER AND ASHBURN-ADEL AND NASHVILLE-STATESBOROUGH- TOWNS IN TOOMBS COUNTY-OTHER TOWNS-CONCLUDING REMARKS.
With the great advantages derived from the extensive railroad and steamship facilities under the management of the vast transportation system leading to her very doors, Savannah derives much trade from other portions of the state of Georgia, and more especially from the southern section lying adjacent. By reason of the close connection which she thereby holds with the outlying prosperous towns, consider- able business eomes to her through the dealings of her merchants with the traders and shippers of produce trading in those towns. It is our purpose now to give some account of the thriving municipalities bor- dering on Savannah, showing how they rose from mere hamlets to the important places they hold from a commercial as well as historic point of view.
BRUNSWICK
Early settlements were made in the portions of Georgia, which later on were laid out as parishes bearing the names of St. Patrick's and St. David's in 1765. Among the places so occupied was the site of the pres- ent important city of Brunswick which became the seat of justice when, in 1777, those parishes were united and made one county called Glynn, in honor of John Glynn, a member of Parliament who sympathized with the American colonies in the beginning of their dispute with England, and of whom it is said, "He was one of the leading members of the So- ciety of the Bill of Rights which at the end of 1770 addressed a letter to the American colonies almost inciting them to rebellion." #
On the 2d of October. 1770, Sir James Wright, Governor of Georgia, and his Council. met in Savannah, and, among the items of business then transacted. it was " Resolved. That a Town be forthwith laid ont at Carr's Fields on Turtle River in the Parish of St. David heretofore reserved for that purpose and the said Town to he called Brunswick." At an-
* Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, 1908, Vol. VIII, pp. 12-13.
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other meeting held May 7th. 1771. the Council ordered that all persons securing lots in the new town "shall within three years from the date of such grant bnild or cause to be built and erected on every lot so granted a good and sufficient dwelling house not less than thirty feet in length and eighteen feet in width with a good briek chimney thereto." or "to forfeit and pay yearly and every year for the term of seven years after the sum of one pound sterling," and "at the expiration of said seven years if such dwelling house shall then not be built the lot so granted and not improved-shall revert to his Majesty." ete. Certain lots were reserved for public nses; and then it was further "Ordered, That the Surveyor General do issue a precept directed to George Mackin- tosh to survey and lay out a town to be called Brunswick and the several lots therein agreeable to a plan given him at a place called Carr's Old Fields on Turtle River."
The intention of the Council was carried out. and we have the testi- mony of De Brahm on this point. He says: "Turtois is the greatest
THE CHATTAHOOCHEE IN HARNESS, COLUMBUS
of the Salt Water Streams, takes its Spring 16 miles due west from Fredericka, and discharges itself into Jekyl Sound. Ten miles up the Stream, on the north side. is on a fine half-moon Bluff seemingly caleu- Jated for a town:" and at that point he adds this foot note: "In 1771 a Town was laid out on the said spot Brouswig: many are the Petitioners who have applied to the Governor in Council for propertie in this new town-from its situation extremely promising."
Brunswick is now the second seaport in Georgia, and is built on a spot seemed to be destined from its very location to be the site of a city of great wealth and importante. Its public buildings are greatly admired. and it has some fine residences. Its commerce has grown wonderfully. and the city is destined to become a harbor of great importance on the Southern coast. Recently many industries have been built up there, and
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the following extract from a letter to the Savannah Morning News writ- ten in September. 1911, will give some idea of the rapidity with which the place improves :
"More improvements of a permanent character have been made in Glynn county in the past twelve months than in any corresponding period in many years. Several large factories"have been secured for the city, some of which are now in operation and others in the course of construc- tion, and many real estate transactions have been made that mean much lasting good for the city of Brunswick and the whole of Glynn county and South Georgia. Many new buildings have gone up in the past year, and the street car line which was started two years ago has been completed."
The history of Glynn county is most interesting, especially that por- tion covering the time when Oglethorpe made Frederica his home and while the troubles with the Spaniards in Florida were giving him unrest and annoyance. We could write many pages of matter telling of the operations within the district we are now considering, and the facts con- cerning the daily life of the soldiers of Oglethorpe's regiment in the town of Frederica would alone fill a volume of some size. The fight at "Bloody Marsh," in which the Spanish forces were so badly defeated that they made no further efforts to molest the Georgians is a single instance that has received the attention of many writers and forms the substance of a volume recently published by the Georgia Historical Society, giving the facts as related from a Spanishi standpoint.
Brunswick is a city of large commercial interests. We quote from a recent publication : "Market gardens of truck farms have a fine local market in the city of Brunswick. Some of the farmers ship Irish pota- toes to northern and eastern markets in May and June. Some buyers from Boston cleared $150 an acre on Irish potatoes in the spring of 1900. * * * Brunswick has water-works, gas and electric lights, all under the control of the one company, valued at $200.000. * *
* The com- merce of the city has grown in value from $500,000 in 1884 to $38.000,000 in 1899. # * The cotton exports from Brunswick for the past sea- * son (1900) were 25.000 bales." Of course the amount of cotton exported now is much greater. The population of the city in 1900 was 9.081, and increased to 10,181 in 1910.
COLUMBUS
On the east bank of the Chattahoochee river, about the foot of the falls, is located the city of Columbus, laid out in the year 1828. It is the county seat of Museogee county, which is named for an Indian tribe . once occupying that part of the state. The river on which the city stands separates Georgia from Alabama. Muscogee county was laid out in 1826, two years before the town of Columbus started, and in 1827 por- tions of it were taken off and added to Harris. Talbot and Marion coun- ties, but in 1829 portions of Harris and Marion were annexed to Mus- cogec. Columbus is a manufacturing city and a large amount of capital is invested in its mills. It is, in this respect, surpassed only by Augusta. So numerous and prosperous are the manufactories that it is not pos- sible to deserile all of them and it would be unfair to single out a few to the disadvantage of the others. The census of 1900 gave Columbus a pop-
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ulation of 17.617, but the city claimed that the inhabitants of suburban settlements should have been ineluded. which would have increased the number to 25.000. The rapid stride it has taken lately is shown by the figures given in the census of 1910, placing the population of the city proper at 20.554. Besides the large business done by the retail mer- chants, Columbus has a good wholesale trade extending over a large territory, said to embrace eleven southern states. It has a number of banks with adequate capital for all purposes. Seven railroads enter the city and two of them have their shops there. Gas, electrie light and water works and electrie street railroad are in full operation. Four steamboat lines on the river compete with the railroads in the freight business. The public school system there is well maintained, and it is the boast of the city that it was the first in the South to adopt the graded school system. There are churches of all denominations, with property valued at more than a quarter of a million dollars. In addition to the educational advantages of the city public schools the Eagle and Phoenix Manufacturing Company does much for its operatives through its elub, gymnasium and free cirenlating library.
WAYCROSS
The Savannah, Albany & Gulf Railroad was built shortly before the War of Secession, and its name was changed several times before it became a part of the present Atlantic Coast Line System. When first opened a station was established in Ware county, and to it was given the name of Tebeanville. It began to grow. and gave evidence of prov- ing a place of some importance: but when the Brunswick & Albany Railroad was constructed it crossed the former road at a point one mile and a quarter northeast of Tebeauville and the intersection point was appropriately called Way-Cross. In the Georgia State Gazetteer for 1883- 84 we find these significant words in place of the former descriptions of Tebeauville : "Discontinued postoffice. Mail to Way Cross"; and the name Tebeauville from that time reased to be mentioned in any pub- lished accounts of places in Georgia. Wayeross took all the business away from it. and Wayeross has been a growing and prosperous town and eity ever since. To show the rapidity with which the growth has been accomplished a glance at the following table is sufficient :
Population in 1890. 3.364; population in 1900, 5.919; population in 1910, estimated, 15.735.
The eity has now a new railway station, express and freight offices, artesian water. up-to-date sewerage, paved streets. electric lights, eleven railroads, ten churches, four hotels, five public schools, two daily and three weekly papers, four banks. a business college, a Baptist College. a Y. M. C. A. building. wholesale and retail stores. theatre, moving pie- tures, U. S. experiment station, shops of the A. C. L. railway, car manu- factory, turpentine still. brick works, marble yard. steam laundry, iee factory, two express saw mills, two pine saw mills, two planing mills. three cigar factories. five bottling works, tive shingle mills, and in addi- tion the city parks and recreation gronuds are all that could be wished for. The business transacted in the city is of such large proportion that a board of trade has been established there, through whose offices infor- mation may always be obtained ou any point desired.
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BLACKSHEAR
Blackshear, the seat of justice of Pierce county, is a place of con- siderable activity. It is on the direct line of the Atlantic Coast Line System, and is well supplied with facilities for travel and freight. It has good stores, schools and churches, as well as adequate banking capital. Its cotton gin is most complete in its outfit and plant, and it has a sea island cottonseed oil mill and a good fertilizer manufactory. . In this thriving town education is a subject which interests the people to a large degree. The Blackshear Institute has been for some time a source of great pride, and it has been until very recently under control of the Presbyterian church, but at a meeting of the Presbytery of Savannah. held only a short while back, it was decided to transfer its management to
VIEW ACROSS THE SQUARE, WAYCROSS
the Methodist Episcopal church, which made a bid for it. The institute is an important factor in the education of the people of that section and will doubtless grow under its new and favorable auspices. Population, 1910, 1,235.
VALDOSTA AND HAHIRA
Valdosta is the business center of Lowndes county. The way in which the place got its name is not generally known, and the facts are here given in order that the matter may be definitely settled. The great state rights governor of Georgia, George M. Troup, owned a plantation in Laurens county to which he gave the name of Valdosta. The county of Lowndes was laid off in 1825 from Irwin county, and the name Troupville was given to the seat of justice in honor of the governor. That place was situated in the fork made by the continence of the Withlacoochee and Little rivers, and was for some time a thriving place. After the death of Governor Tronp the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Rail- road was built, and the station in Lowndes county at which trains
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