Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 63

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1148

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John Lamar, in the same year, built the famous old Lamar home on the Little River, to which Mirabeau and Lucius were brought, when mere lads, and where, in after years the great statesman and jurist, L. Q. C. Lamar, Jr., was born.

In 1808, William E. Adams, a native of North Caro- lina, bought two hundred acres of land, on the Oconee River, in the western part of Putnam and became the progenitor of a noted family in this section.

David Lawson was also an early settler in Putnam, coming to this county from Hancock. His distinguished grandson, Hon. Thomas G. Lawson, represented Georgia in Congress for several years, and was one of the strong- est members of the State delegation. Reese Lawson, his brother, was killed at the battle of Shiloh, during the Civil War, while serving in a Texas regiment of cavalry.

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Dr. Joel Branham and Dr. Reuben Nisbet were among the earliest practitioners of medicine in the town of Eatonton. Judge Richard H. Clarke says that two splen- did lawyers were spoiled when these gifted men chose the saddle bag's in preference to Blackstone. They were both prominent factors in Georgia politics during the ante-bellum period.

Dr. Henry Branham was also a noted physician of Putnam. The distinguished Methodist divine Walter R. Branham was his son. Here Judge Branham, of Rome, was born.

Dr. Adiel Sherwood, a noted pioneer educator and divine, taught the academy at Eatonton, in the late twen- ties. He also instructed a small class in theology, on a plantation, near Eatonton, where he conducted the earl- iest manual school of which there is any record in Geor- gia. Dr. Sherwood compiled and published in 1829 his famous "Gazeteer," a work of rare value, which has long been out of print. He was one of the founders of Mercer.

William H. Seward, afterwards Secretary of State in President Lincoln's cabinet, an abolitionist of the most pronounced type, came to Putnam when a young man, where he taught a school called Union Academy, near old Philadelphia church.

Robert Jenkins, a native of North Carolina, settled in Putnam when the county was first opened. The late Judge William F. Jenkins was among his descendants.

Perhaps the most distinguished of the early settlers of Putnam was Irby Hudson. He was a native of Vir- ginia, in which State, before coming to Georgia, he mar- ried Miss Frances Flournoy. He became at once an in- portant factor in public affairs, serving in the General Assembly of Georgia for thirty one years and wielding the Speaker's gavel for nineteen-a record unsurpassed in the history of the State. Mr. Hudson was also one

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of the pioneers of industrial development in Georgia and it was due largely to his initiative that the great convention in the interest of internal improvements was held at Eatonton, in 1831.

Reuben DeJarnette, a soldier of the Revolution, set- tled in Georgia soon after the close of hostilities, coming from Virginia. He was appointed by the Governor to survey the County of Putnam, a duty which he performed to the satisfaction of the State officials. In the land drawing, on the formation of the new county, he drew land in the neighborhood of the present town of Eatonton, where he lived for many years. Later he removed to the eastern part of the county, where he built the first brick house.

Samuel Reid, a native of Iredell County, N. C., a member of the committee of safety in his home State, and a soldier of the war for independence, came to Geor- gia after the Revolution, settling first in Hancock and then in Putnam. He became the progenitor of a distin- guished family in this section.

William Turner came to Georgia from Virginia and settled in Putnam when the county was first opened. His son, Joseph A. Turner, a gentleman of culture, owned and edited the weekly paper on which Joel Chandler Har- ris learned to set type and for which his earliest composi- tions were written. The late Joseph S. Turner, of Eaton- ton, was the son of Joseph A. Turner.

Thomas Hardeman, Jr., a member of Congress and a gallant Confederate soldier, was born in Putnam, at what is known as the Brooks' place. The Hardemans were originally from Virginia. Thomas Hardeman, Sr., held at one time the office of sheriff. He afterwards removed to Macon.

John A. Cuthbert, while a resident of Eatonton, was elected to Congress. He afterwards removed to Milledge- ville and thence to Mobile, Ala., where he died almost in sight of the century mark.

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Judge James A. Meriwether lived and died in Eaton- ton. He represented the State in Congress and served with distinction on the Superior Court Bench.

Judge Eli S. Shorter, one of the ablest of ante-bellum jurists, began the practice of law in Eatonton, but after- wards removed to Columbus.

Charles P. Gordon, a lawyer of note in ante-bellum days, also lived here. He was a far-sighted and practical man of affairs and was associated with Irby Hudson in calling the first industrial convention. His early death, at the age of forty-five, was a bereavement to the State.

Mark A. Cooper, a member of Congress and one of Georgia's pioneer captains of industry, lived at one time in Eatonton.

Here lived also Judge David R. Adams, Stephen W. Harris, Milton Cooper, Dixon H. Lewis, and other promi- nent members of the ante-bellum bar.

Eatonton was the home of Josiah Flournoy, who afterwards founded Collingsworth Institute, at Talbotton, where Oscar S. Straus, of New York, an ex-minister to Turkey, received his education.

Here, too, lived the gifted but eccentric John W. Knight, a fire-brand of Methodism.

But the most distinguished son of Putnam was the world-renowned .Joel Chandler Harris, whose folk-lore tales of "Uncle Remus" have been translated into seven- teen different languages. Mr. Harris spent his boyhood days in Eatonton; and, on the Turner plantation, served his apprenticeship to letters. The pecuilar service for which the world is indebted to him is this: he has pre- served in the molds of dialect the quaint humor of the old time Southern negro. The whole English-speaking world today pays tribute to this Georgia. author; for he has belted the globe with the songs of the cabin-fireside, and, even in the library of the scholar, he has made the South- ern cotton-patch as classic as the Roman arena.

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QUITMAN

Created by Legislative Act, December 10, 1858, from Randolph and Stewart Counties, both originally Lee. Named for General John A. Quitman, of Mississippi, a distinguished soldier of the Mexican War and a bold advo. cate of extreme State Rights. Georgetown, the county-seat, named for Georgetown, D. C.

Original Settlers. See Randolph and Stewart, from which counties Quitman was formed; also Lee, the parent county of this belt.

To the foregoing list of early settlers may be added : William C. Hill and George W. Ellis, both of whom about the year 1834 bought large plantations in what was then Randolph, afterwards Quitman. The list includes also : E. C. Ellington, L. P. Dozier, John L. B. Duskin, M. T. Duskin, Thomas R. Harris, Jasper N. Hill, Thomas J. Ellis, John R. Ellis, and others. Most of the early set- tlers of Quitman served in the Indian wars.

RABUN

Created hy Legisative Act, December 21, 1819, out of treaty lands acquired from the Cherokees in the same year. Named for Governor William Rabun, a noted Chief-Executive of Georgia, who waged a spirited controversy with General Andrew Jackson, over the destruction of Chehaw, a. Creek Indian village. Clayton, the county-seat, named for Judge Augustin S. Clayton, a noted Congressman, jurist and man of letters.

William Rabun, Georgia's twenty-eighth Governor, was born in Halifax County, N. C., April 8, 1771 and died at Milledgeville, Ga., October 24, 1819, while occupying the chair of office, aged forty-eight. The family is supposed to have been of Scotch-Irish origin. On account of the unsettled condition of the times, William Rabun lacked the advantages of the best schools but in a measure he supplied the deficiencies of learning by the habit of close observation. His interest in public affairs was doubtless

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an inheritance from his father who represented the county of Hancock in the Convention which framed the State Constitution of 1798. Governor Rabun was never defeated for any office in the popular gift. He served in the General Assembly of Georgia for more than twenty years, during the greater part of which time he was a member of the Senate, wielding the gavel from 1812 to 1816. On the resignation of Governor Mitchell he suc- ceeded to the vacant post by virtue of his office as Presi- dent of the Senate; and was finally elected to fill the chair of State when the Legislature convened.

During the administration of Governor Rabun there arose quite a heated controversy between himself and General Andrew Jackson, then in command of the United States forces against the Florida Seminoles. An Indian village called Chehaw in what is now the county of Lee, had been destroyed by Captain Wright, a Georgia officer, in violation of orders from Governor Rabun; and, since the village had been promised protection by General Jackson on the ground of friendship for the whites, the latter wrote an offensive letter to Governor Rabun hold- ing him to account for the affair; but Governor Rabun, who was in no wise to blame for the unfortunate blunder of Captain Wright, scathingly replied to General Jack- son, giving him a dose of the King's English which he vividly recalled thirty years later when an old man. Autograph letters containing the whole correspondence are today in the possession of Mrs. Governor William J. Northen, a relative. Before completing his term of office, Governor Rabun was seized with a malady which termi- nated his life while an occupant of the executive mansion. The funeral was preached in Milledgeville by the distin- guished Jesse Mercer. It was a time when partisan politics even invaded the sanctity of the pulpit and the good old doctor, in performing the last sad rights over his friend, could not avoid taking a shot at his enemies also. Governor Rabun was a devout Baptist; and once each month, while Governor, he went from Milledgeville to Powellton, to discharge his duties as clerk of the little

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country church to which he belonged. He was also clerk of the Georgia Baptist Convention for a number of years. Governor Rabun was buried at his old home place near Powellton, but due to the fact that the grave was un- marked at the time, it eventually came to pass that no one in the locality could tell where the old Governor was laid to rest. However, the grave has recently been found by Mr. W. W. Stevens, of Maysville, Ga., with the help of an old gentleman-now 84 years of age-by the name of Mr. E. A. Evans, of Anderson, Ala., who once owned the plantation. The latter visited Mr. Stevens in 1910, at which time the grave was discovered and temporarily marked with a bar of iron.

Georgia's Far Famed Niagara Tallulah Falls, a group of cataracts, five in number, constituting one of the greatest scenic wonders of the continent, occupies a magnificent gorge on the extreme southern borders of Rabun. Here perpendicular cliffs of granite, rising to a height of nearly one thousand feet, overhang an impetuous torrent of water which vault- ing and thundering through the chasm, makes a series of leaps which in grandeur of scenery rivals the far-famed cataract of Niagara. The names given to the various falls since the occupancy of the country by the white race are as follows: "L'eau d'or," a name coined from the French, signifying "water of gold"; Oceana, Tempesta, Bridal Veil, and Hurricane. Two points of observation from which the best views of the chasm may be obtained by visitors are Point Inspiration and Devil's Pulpit. Some time ago, by purchase from individual land-owners in this locality, the Georgia Railway and Power Com- pany acquired possession of the falls, and there is now pending in the courts of Georgia a suit for the recovery of titles. The movement to rescue this property was launch- ed in 1912 by an organization, at the head of which Mrs. Helen D. Longstreet, widow of the famous Confederate

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General, began to wage a most aggressive fight, contend- ing that the soverignty of Georgia over the waterways of the State could not be alienated and that in justice to three millions of people this unrivaled wonder land should be rescued from destruction and converted into a great park. Preliminary surveys were made, in advance of a legal contest; but when Governor Brown was approached in regard to the matter he declined to institute proceedings. He took the position that while the failure of the State at the proper time to safeguard the falls from destruc- tion was to be regretted by every patriotic Georgian it was too late to disturb titles made in good faith. But the issue was submitted to the Legislature with the result that both houses by formal resolution ordered a suit to be instituted by the State, for the purpose of settling this vexed question. The use to which the Georgia Railway and Power Company intends to put the falls will un- doubtedly reduce the volume of water which flows through the gorge, during the summer months. It will also diminish the size of the cataracts. But the present owners claim that in many ways there will be material benefits to offset this loss; that the approaches to the chasm will be beautified by handsome walks and drives, that a magnificent lake bordered with elegant country homes will be one of the new attractions of this region in the near future, that where one person visits Tallulah Falls today there will be a hundred to visit them when the contemplated changes are made: and that further- more by reason of these improvements cheaper electric power can be furnished to the State, for the purpose of lighting the homes of the people and turning the wheels of factories. Thus the matter stands at the present moment. It will doubtless be some time before the issue is finally adjudicated.

There was an old Indian village some distance above the falls to which the name "Talulu" was first given. James Mooney, a writer of some note on the antiquities

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of the Cherokees, at present a member of the ethnological staff of the Smithsonian, states that for rendering the word to mean "the Terrible, " there is no warrant. School- craft, on the authority of a Cherokee lady, renders it "There lies your child", by which expression reference is made to the story of an infant that was carried over the falls. The name was never applied by the Cherokees themselves to the cataract, which was called Uganyi.

Hawthorne's Pool : Hawthorne's Pool, an apparently How the Name Originated. harmless basin of water in the depths of Grand Chasm, has proven a death- trap to more than one adventurous swimmer who lured to an untimely end by the charm which lurks in this spot has taken the fatal plunge. It is supposed that the voracious character of the pool is due to a powerful eddy which draws the hapless victim into an underground recess or cavern from which he never again emerges. The name given to the pool arose from an incident contained in the following letter, which ap- peared in the Southern Banner, at Athens, in 1837, signed "W." It reads as follows :

"On the 15th day of this month, the Reverend Mr. Hawthorne, a minister of the Presbyterian faith arrived in Clarksville by the stage. HIe preached in the church at night on that day and on the following Sabbath, and gained the approbation of every ono who heard him. Those with whom he became partially acquainted during this time esteemed him as a Christian minister of the most eminent degree. Ou yesterday, Mr. Hawthorne with others went on a visit to Tallulah Falls. After tho party had viewed the cataracts. Mr. Hawthorne and some other gentleman concluded to go into a beautiful basin to bathe. There were some ladies in the party and the gentlemen with Mr. Hawthorne escorted them some distance leaving Mr. Hawthorne alone at the water, intending to return end enjoy a cool bath with him. They did return, but only to find his elothing on the banks-he was gone and gone for- ever. It is supposed that he went into the water and from some circum- stance unknown sunk to rise no more. The strictest search has been inade but the body is not yet found, Etc."

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War Woman's Creek is the name given to a small mountain stream entering the Chattooga. Says Mooney : "The name seems to be of Indian origin, but the Chero- kee word is lost. A writer quoted by White attempts to show its origin from the exploit of a certain Revolution- ary amazon in capturing a party of Tories, but the name occurs in Adair, as early as 1775. There is some reason to believe that it refers to a former female dignitary among the Cherokees described by Heywood as having authority to decide the fate of prisoners of war. Several instances of women acting the part of warriors are on record among the Cherokees."

Rabun Gap School, an institution recently started for the mountain boys and girls in this picturesque region of the State, is doing a splendid work. It has already found substantial friends. Two members of the Hodgson family, of Athens, Ga., Messrs. E. R. and Asbury Hodg- son, have made handsome gifts to the school. The success of Miss Berry's work near Rome, shows the rich possi- bilities which are here offered. (See article on Mount Berry : How the Sunday Lady of 'Possum Trot won the Mountains.)

"The Demosthenes of the Mountains."

Volume II.

Logan E. Bleckley: Chief Justice Logan E. Bleckley Jurist, Philosopher, Wit, Mathematician and Poet.

was a native of Rabun; and here long after his name had become illustrious in the annals of the Bench he loved to wander along the moun- tain streams. When addressing the Alumni Society of the University of Georgia, in 1886, he made the following droll allusion to the early haunts of his boyhood. Said he: "From Stekoah Valley, at the base of the Blue

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Ridge, in the county of Rabun, the distance to where I now stand is eighty-five miles ; but in making the journey I have consumed fifty-nine years and seventeen days. Thus my coming to college has been at the rate of some- thing less than one mile and a half per annum. Arrived at last, it would seem that I ought to be marked tardy, and so I would were it not for the fact that I graduated on the way. I must have graduated, for this is my alma mater, and I am present now as one of the alumni. Of course travelling at my slow gait, I could never have overtaken the honor, but it overtook me, or rather it met me in the road and settled upon my unworthy head, for- tunately without an examination of the inside. Stekoah, the name of my native valley, is a term derived from two Cherokee words meaning 'big little.' On this occasion I feel 'Stekoalı.' Judge Bleckley was an original genius. Late in life, he spent three days at the University of Georgia, devoting one day to each class, after which he announced himself a graduate of the institution. His great hobby was mathematics. He was also given at times to flirting with the Muses. But one of the dominant characteristics of the great jurist was humor. He was full of droll mannerisms and of whimsical eccentricities.

Original Settlers. The original settlers of Rabun, accord- ing to White, were: General Coffee, Henry Cannon, Tillman Powell, E. Powell, General Andrew Miller, James Dillard, John Dillard, Jesse Car- ter, Charles Gates, Chesley McKenzie, James Kell, James Allen, Drury Wall, Joseph JJones, David Moseley, John Kelly, William Jones, Cleveland Coffee, Joel Coffee, John Patterson, William Price, E. Denton, William Grantham, William Godfrey, and Elijah Crane.

James Bleekley was also an original settler.

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Rabun is a county of mountains. Says a writer: "In whatever direction the eye is turned, it beholds ridges of mountains, one behind the other, like a dark blue sea of giant billows, instantly stricken solid by nature's magic wand."

RANDOLPH

Created by Legislative Act, December 20, 1828, from Lee County. Named for John Randolph, of Roanoke. The name of the great Virginian was first given to the county of Jasper, but his attitude of opposition to the War of 1812 made him unpopular in the State, and the action of the Legislature was rescinded. But eventually he regained his lost favor with the State, and the county of Randolph, next to the Alabama line, was formed in his honor. Cuthbert, the county-seat, named for Hon. John A. Cuthbert, a noted Congressman, editor and jurist. Originally, Randolph embraced Quitman, Stewart, Webster, and in part Clay and Terrell.

The Cuthberts. Two of the most distinguished Geor- gians of the ante-bellum era of politics were the gifted brothers, John A. and Alfred Cuthbert. They were sons of Colonel Seth Jolm Cuthbert, an officer in the Revolution, and grandsons of the sturdy old Colo- mial patriot, Joseph Clay. Both were natives of Savan- nah, born at the close of the long struggle for independ- ence, and both graduates of Princeton. Alfred, the elder of the two, located for the practice of law in the little up- land town of Monticello. He succeeded Dr. W. W. Bibb in Congress; and for the next sixteen years, barring an occasional term, he sat in the National House of Repre- sentatives. When John Forsyth, then United States Senator, became Secretary of State in President Jack- son's cabinet, Mr. Cuthbert was chosen to fill his vacant seat. First for the unexpired term and afterwards for the long term, he graced the toga of this exalted forum. At the age of seventy-two, Mr. Cuthbert died at his home in Monticello and was buried on the Sand Hills, near . Augusta.

John A. Cuthbert, his younger brother, was equally distinguished. He began his public career by represent- ing the historic old county of Liberty in the Georgia

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Legislature. Thence he removed to Eatonton for the practice of his profession. At intervals he served the State in Congress with marked credit, after which he opposed the peerless John Forsyth for the United States Senate. It is no small tribute to the abilities of Mr. Cuth- bert that on the first ballot in the contest which ensued the vote between the candidates was tied ; and had it not been for the fact that he was friendly toward John Clarke at a time when the Troup faction was dominant in politics he might eventually have defeated his illustrious rival. He wielded a brilliant pen and for a time edited the famous Federal-Union, at Milledgeville, then the capital of the State. In 1837, he removed to Mobile, Ala., where he became a Judge, and, when not upon the Bench, prac- ticed his profession with great success. He died at his home, on Mon Luis Island, in Mobile Bay, in 1882, at the phenomenal age of ninety-four years. He retained his wonderful power of intellect to the very last and only a few months prior to his death made an important legal argument. He lived to be the oldest surviving member of the National House of Representatives. Judge Richard H. Clark states that on one occasion, at Upson Court, some lawyers were discussing Mr. Calhoun's great con- versational powers and to settle an issue between them they agreed to leave it to John A. Cuthbert. Thereupon one of them approached him with the question: "Mr. Cuthbert, whom do you consider the most gifted conver- sationalist you have ever met?" Without any intimation whatever of the purpose which lay behind the question, he instantly replied: "My brother Alfred."

Andrew Female College, an institution of high grade, controlled by the South Georgia Methodist Conference, is located at Cuthbert. It was founded in 1854. Dr. John W. Caldwell was the first president. He was succeeded in turn by Capt. A. H. Flewellyn. The list of executive heads has been somewhat lengthy, including: Dr. A.

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S. Hamilton, Rev. J. B. McGehee, Rev. W. H. Key, Rev. P. S. Twitty, and others. The present head of the institu- tion is Rev. J. W. Malone, an accomplished educator. In 1892, the main building was destroyed by fire. It was afterwards restored at a cost of $22,000. The faculty of the school is a strong one, and the standard of scholarship will compare favorably with the best. The plant is well equipped, thoroughly modern, and up-to-date.

Original Settlers. As given by White, the original settlers of Ranolph were: Samuel A. Greer, James P. Sharp, James Martin, Jacob Hawk, Wiley Strickland, Thomas Coram, Lewis Rivers, Benjamin Davis, Allen Moye, Martin Brown, Abel Bass, John Roc Edward McDonald, Z. Bailey, Joseph Sands, David Rumph, Dr. Jones, Colonel Alexander, Rev. Mr. Swain and George Wood.

To the foregoing list of early settlers may be added the names of the following pioneer residents: Frederick Andrews, Hardy Arrington, Zachariah Bailey, Reuben Bynum, George W. Ellis, Thomas J, Ellis, John R. Ellis, Paschal Hammock, William Hammock, S. T. Jenkins, E. H. Keese, Peter E. Keese, John McDonald, Edward Mc- Donald, Jesse B. Key, Jolm McKay Gunn, James J. Mc- Donald, John Martin, a Baptist minister; James Martin, James W. Oliver, Wm. . J. Oliver, Everett Pearce, Philip Pearce, Thomas Stanford, Joseph Newton Stanford, Dr. James W. Stanford, Thomas Stapleton, killed in the Creek Indian War, John Stewart, Daniel R. Stewart, Francis Taylor, William Taylor, Columbus Taylor, James Madison Trippe, J. F. Trippe, Dr. John W. Caldwell, the first president of Andrew Female College; James Adol- phus Whaley, Wilkins D. Whaley and others.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume I, Part 63

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1148