Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 49

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274

USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II > Part 49

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" 'I am, very respectfully,

" ' Your fellow citizen, " 'JOSEPH E. BROWN.'

"In addition to the pikes made by the free men of Georgia, in response to the Governor's call, two or three thousand were made by the convicts in the State penitentiary at Milledgeville. These were crated in coffin-like boxes, a hundred to the box, and sent to Savannah, where they were to be usd in the defence of Fort Pulaski. There was never occasion to use them in actual fighting, although several battalions were well drilled in the use of the pike and knife.

"After the war a large number of these pikes were stored in the arsenal at Augusta, where they remained until ten years ago, when they were sold at public auction by the Government. There were four different patterns of the knives. The sale was avertised by the Government, and people came from Maine to California to buy the curious war implements."

CLARKE

Oldest State Uni- versity in America. Franklin College:

Volume I, Pages 139-146, 425-436.

Historic Homes Unrivalled among the cities of Georgia of Athens. for its majestic old Southern mansions of the ante-bellum type, Athens, even at the present day, pictures to the imagination what life in

DR. CRAWFORD W. LONG'S OLD HOME, ATHENS, GA.

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Dixie was before the war; for while commercially a town of the most progressive pattern, it is nevertheless, in its domestic ideals, still charmingly reminiscent of the Old South's palmiest days and best traditions. Several years before the war, Colonel John T. Grant, one of the wealthiest citizens of the State, erected on Prince Avenue a magnificent home, which is still one of the glories of Athens. Its graceful Corinthian columns, its wide porticos, its lofty arches, make it still the finest specimen extant of the classic style of architecture, pecu- liar to the ante-bellum period. This stately old mansion is a beautiful monument within itself to the civilization which produced it : proud, aristocratic, ample, elegant. It was built by Colonel Grant soon after his marriage to Miss Martha Cobb Jackson, a granddaughter of the peer- less old Governor who fought the Yazoo fraud; but on his removal to Atlanta at the close of the war Colonel Grant sold his splendid old home in Athens to Hon. Ben- jamin H. Hill, afterwards a United States Senator, who located in Athens mainly for the purpose of educating his two boys, Ben and Charlie. When Mr. Hill removed to Atlanta in 1875 this handsome property was purchased by Mr. James White, its present owner and occupant.

Scarcely inferior to the old Grant home, either in stateliness of proportions or in simple elegance of de- sign is the fine old Joseph H. Lumpkin mansion, on Prince Avenue. It was built by the great Chief Justice soon after his removal to Athens from his former home in Lexington; and, when first built, it occupied an emi- nence some distance from the avenue which it over- looked. Rising out of a wealth of evergreens, it pre- sented a semi-regal aspect, and, due to its elevation, it made a more impressive picture to the eye than did the Grant home, which was built on a level with the street, with a smaller area of ground in front. Here the famous Home School was taught for a number of years by the Sosnowskis.' The handsome old mansion is today occu- pied by Mr. W. L. Childs, and is owned by himself and his sister, Mrs. David C. Barrow, wife of the Chancellor.

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What is known as the Tom Cobb place, a stately old mansion on the same avenue, was built by Mr. Charles McKinley and sold by him to Judge Joseph Henry Lump- kin, who gave it to his daughter, Mrs. T. R. R. Cobb. It is now owned and occupied by Mr. A. M. Dobbs. On the opposite side of the street stands the Camak home, one of the oldest landmarks in Athens. It was built by James Camak, Esq., shortly after his removal to Athens in 1817, and here for the remainder of his days this pioneer rail- way builder and financier resided. It is today owned and occupied by his son's widow, Mrs. M. W. Camak. The old Dearing home, on Milledge Avenue, a handsome specimen of Colonial architecture, was built by Mr. Albon Dearing, whose son of the same name is its present owner and occupant. The old Hull home, a stately mansion of the best ante-bellum type, is still one of the ornaments of Milledge Avenue. It was formerly owned by Colonel Benjamin C. Yancey, and later acquired by the Hulls.

On Prince Avenue, at the intersection of Grady Street, stands the majestic old mansion in which the South's great orator journalist spent his boyhood days and to which he feelingly referred in his famous New England speech. It was built by Colonel Robert Taylor, who sold it early in the fifties to Major William S. Grady, a wealthy business man of Athens, who fell at Peters- burg, in 1863. The Grady home is now owned and occu- pied by Mrs. L. D. DuBose. Standing some distance back from this same avenue, near the intersection of Barber Street, looms an impressive old land-mark: the Thomas home. It was built by General Howell Cobb and sold by him to Mrs. Nina Thomas. The stately old resi- dence is now owned and occupied by Mr. W. I. Abney. The handsome old home on Milledge Avenue, now the property of Judge Strickland, was built by Dr. Jones Long, a brother of Dr. Crawford W. Long.

General Howell Cobb built the handsome old home on Hill Street, which continued to be his home for a number of years, and where his son, Judge Howell Cobb,

٢٠ جنـ

BOYHOOD HOME OF HENRY W. GRADY, ATHENS,GA. From an original sketch by Miss Garland Smith.

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afterwards resided. It is now the home of Mr. I. W. Richardson. On Pulaski Street, a fine old Colonial man- sion, was built by Mr. Blanton Hill, whose daughter, Mrs. Augusta Noble, occupied it for a number of years after his death. It is today the property of Mr. John D. Moss. On this same street, a stately old home was also built by Mr. Stevens Thomas, a wealthy ante- bellum citizen of Athens. It is now used by the Y. W. C. A. as a home for working girls, and faces on Hancock Avenue.

The old Lucas home, at the south end of Jackson Street, was built by a Mr. Hopping. Afterwards, for a while it became the home of Hon. Eugenius A. Nisbet, and still later the home of Mr. F. W. Lucas, who occupied it for years. It is now owned by the University of Geor- gia and used for the time being as a dormitory for stu- dents. The home of the late Mr. Stephen C. Upson, on Prince Avenue, was built by Hon. Henry G. Lamar, the marriage of whose daughter to Hon. O. A. Lochrane, afterwards Chief Justice, was here solemnized. The Chancellor's home on the University campus was built for Dr. Alonzo Church when he was president of Frank- lin College. The Crawford W. Long home, on Prince Avenue, an attractive structure of the modern type, be- . came in after years the boyhood home of Judge Peyton L. Wade, of the State Court of Appeals. Cedar Hill, the famous old home of Governor Wilson Lumpkin, on an eminence overlooking the Oconee River in the imme- diate environs of Athens, was inherited by his daughter, Mrs. Martha Lumpkin Compton, from whom the place subsequently became known as Compton Hill. It is now owned by the University of Georgia. The old home has recently been removed to one side, in order to make room for the new agricultural building, and some of the stu- dents now reside here during the college sessions. The old Hamilton home, built by Dr. James S. Hamilton, is now owned and occupied by Mr. E. R. Hodgson, Jr. Dr.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

E. S. Lynden's home, at the north end of Jackson Street, was built by Dr. Edward Ware .*

The Lucy Cobb Institute. Volume I, Pages 437-438.

John Howard Payne's Georgia Sweetheart.

Volume II, Pages 62-71.

Origin of the Southern Cross of Honor. Volume I, Pages 222-224.

James Camak. One of the earliest pioneer residents of Athens was James Camak, Esq., whose name was inadvertently omitted from a list of settlers in Volume I of this work. But no history of Athens can be written without some account of this eminent citizen of the ante-bellum period, who, coming to Athens from Milledgeville, in 1817, built the stately old mansion on Prince Avenue, still owned by the family, perhaps the oldest surviving landmark of a community famed for its historic homes. With far-sighted ken, Mr. Camak was quick to see and prompt to grasp the possibilities of the Iron Horse. He became one of the builders of the Geor- gia Railroad, a corporation with whose directorate he was identified until the hour of his death. The town of Camak, an important station on the main line, today com- memorates the part played by this wise builder in the railway development of his State. Mr .. Camak, in 1834, organized in Athens the famous old Branch Bank of the State of Georgia, a financial institution of which he be- came the first executive head. He married Helen Finley,

*Authority: Miss Garland Smith, Athens, Ga.

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the daughter of an early president of Franklin College; and for years was an honored trustee of the oldest State University in America.

Where the Geor- To quote a distinguished local histor- gia Railroad ian: "The Georgia Railroad, one of Originated. the most important enterprises in the State, had its inception in Athens. The first meeting was held here in June, 1833, with Mr. As- bury Hull as chairman, and later, during the same year, he introduced in the Legislature a bill for its incorpora- . tion. Here for years the annual meetings of the road were held, and all its directors were Athens men until the line was completed. The board of directors in 1835 was composed as follows: James Camak, William Will- iams, John A. Cobb, Elizur L. Newton, Alexander B. Linton, James Shannon, W. M. Morton, and W. R. Cun- ningham. The road was originally intended to run be- tween Augusta and Athens, while a branch line to Greensboro was contemplated. Subsequently the Greens- boro branch became the main stem, extending to Atlanta, after which Athens was left on the branch road."*

The Cobbs. Dr. Henry Hull, one of the most distin- guished of the ante-bellum residents of Athens, has left us the following unique comparison be- tween the two famous brothers, Howell and Thomas R. R. Cobb. It was written soon after the close of hos- tilities, when Dr. Hull was quite an old man. Though both of the Cobbs were distinguished soldiers, the title which he gives the former is "Governor," while the latter he calls "General." Says Dr. Hull :

"The question has often been asked, Which was the more talented of the two. One may as well inquire which is the greater genius, a great painter or a great philosopher? There is no unit of measurement with

*A. L. Hull, Annals of Athens, p. 100.

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which to compare them. So of these two brothers-their minds were of different structure. The Governor controlled men by unequalled manage- ment and tact; the General by the irresistible force of argument, The Governor was the greater politician, the General the greater lawyer. While the wonderful talents of both commanded respect, the social qualities, the genial bon homme, the generous open-heartedness of the Governor secured your love ; the commanding power of intellect in all the General said or did excited the admiration. The Governor would, in commercial language, look at the sum total of an account, without regard to the items, or grasp the conclusion of a proposition without examining each step by the demon- stration. The General received nothing as true which could not be proven, and submitted every question to the crucible of reason before he pronounced upon its absolute truth.

"I do not speak of the publie acts of these brothers, but remember them only as boys, students, and fellow-citizens. The Governor was gen- erous and liberal, almost to prodigality. When his father, from a reckless disregard of economy and mismanagement of his affairs, had allowed his debts to accumulate to an amount which could not be paid by the sale of his property, the Governor devoted the whole of a handsome estate- left him by an unele, Howell Cobb, for whom he was named-to the liqui- dation of the remaining liabilities, so that no man should say that he had been injured by his father. With a hand open as day to melting charity, he gave to those who asked of him, and from those who would borrow of him he turned not away. And many were the cases of a princely gener- osity; and charity of which this world never heard, but which were else- where recorded. The General gave as much, or perhaps more, in propor- tion to his means than the Governor, but in a different way. His benefac- tions were governed by the dictates of reason, rather than by the impulses of feeling. All plans suggested for the promotion of the public good re- ceived his efficient and hearty support. He took a lively interest in every- thing connected with the prosperity of the town, including the University, the schools and the churches. He was the founder of the Lucy Cobb In- stitute, and contributed more of his time, influence and money to insure its success than did any half dozen' men put together.

"General Cobb was prominent in every association of which he was a member. He was a man of the most wonderful versatility of talent, and would concentrate the power of his wonderful mind on the propriety and necessity of secession, on some intricate and abstruse point of law, on the best manner of conducting a Sunday-school, or on any subject which men thought of and talked about, with equal facility, and as if the matter under discussion was the only one he had ever studied, and with a rapidity of transition from one to another, which was almost startling, even where the topics were totally dissimilar. The patient and long-continued investiga- tion of the most abstruse subject was pastime to him, and after such labor he would meet you with a cheerful smile on the brightest face, and crack

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his jokes as if he did nothing else all his life. He was surely the most remarkable man of his day."

To the foregoing parallelism it may be added that General Cobb took no active part in politics until the election of Mr. Lincoln. He then fairly electrified the State with his eloquence, advocating immediate and un- conditional surrender. The suddenness of his appear- ance upon the hustings and the popular enthusiasm which he aroused over Georgia caused Mr. Stephens to liken him to Peter the Hermit, a comparison which was pe- culiarly apposite, in view of Mr. Cobb's intensely relig- ious nature. He was one of the most pious of men. With reference to his capacity for labor, Judge Richard H. Clark, who was associated with him in the first codifica- tion of the laws of Georgia, states that at the close of each day's work his mind was invariably fresh and buoy- ant. He was an absolute stranger to mental weariness, though he performed the labors of Hercules. At the age of 36 he wrote Cobb on Slavery, a masterpiece of legal literature. As chairman of the Judiciary Commit- tee of the Provisional Congress, he also drafted the Con- stitution of the Confederate States. The original docu- ment, in General Cobb's own handwriting, is still pre- served in the family of his daughter, Mrs. A. L. Hull.

The Lumpkins : Mr. Augustus L. Hull, of Athens, Ga., who possessed an intimate personal ac- quaintance with the Lumpkins, has given us the following pen-picture of the famous brothers, Wilson and Joseph Henry Lumpkin, both of whom were long residents of Athens :

"The one, the eldest, the other, the youngest, of eight children, they were as dissimilar as brothers could be. One a shrewd politician, the other abhorring politics; one commanding by his ability, the other persuading by his eloquence; one robust in his aggressiveness, the other fond of study ; one a Baptist, the other a Presbyterian ; one an adherent of Clark, the other

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

of Troup; one a Democrat, the other a Whig; one tall, the other short in stature; but both men of striking presence, and both of great abilities.

"Wilson Lumpkin was Congressman, United States Senator and Gov- ernor of Georgia. During his administration the State road was built, and he devoted his energies to the material development of the State. Governor Lumpkin was long the president of the Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia. As he headed the procession to the chapel on commencement occasions, with a tall, commanding presence, erect and dig- nified, with long hair brushed back from his head and falling over his shoulders in gray curls, he seemed one of the most impressive men I have ever seen. He was thrice married, and built the old stone house, now in the campus extension, in which he lived for many years, and where he died in the closing days of 1870. One of his children, a very bright and at- tractive boy of six or seven years, wandered one afternoon away from the house and lost his way in the woods along the river. Though search was made all night, he was not found till next morning, exhausted with wan- dering and wild with terror. The horrors of the darkness of that night de- stroyed his mind, and though he grew to be a man of fine proportions and pleasing countenance, mentally he was never any older than on the morn- ing when he was found, and forty years afterward, as though he recalled that dreadful night, he wandered again into the woods and was drowned in the river, not far from the place where they found him before.

"Judge Lumpkin was a learned jurist and a finished scholar. He loved study, and was a great reader. His speeches, of which no record now remains, were full of pathos, and the fire of eloquence, and his decisions while on the Supreme bench are models of clearness and elegant compo- sition. A natural teacher, for many years he imparted instruction to the young men in his office and in the Lumpkin Law School, charming them alike by the elegance of his language and the thoroughness of his knowl- egde. He was a great temperance advocate, and his voice, always heard on the side of righteousness, was a power for good.

"Judge Lumpkin was the first Chief Justice of Georgia; and one of his successors in office, Chief Justice Bleckley, said of him: 'His liter- ary power was in vocal utterance. In the spoken word he was a literary genius, far surpassing any other Georgian, living or dead, I have ever known. Indeed, from no other mortal lips have I ever heard such har- monies and sweet-sounding sentences as came from his. Those who never saw and heard him cannot be made to realize what a great master he was.' Judge Lumpkin died June 4, 1867, from a stroke of paralysis."

One of Wash- In an old cemetery, near the historic site ington's Men. of Cherokee Corner, lie the mortal re- mains of Charles Strong. Sr., a Revolu- tionary soldier, who served under the immediate com-

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mand of General Nelson. His commission was issued by William Lochren, January 18, 1781. He was present when Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at York- town, in Virginia, after which he removed from his old home in Goochland County, Va., to a plantation in Clarke County, Ga., near Cherokee Corner, where he died Octo- ber 15, 1848. There are numerous descendants in Geor- gia of this revered soldier and patriot .*

CLAY

Fort Gaines. During the Creek Indian War there was built near the site of the present town of Fort Gaines, on the Chattahoochee River, a stronghold to protect the extreme western frontier of Georgia. It was named for General Edmond P. Gaines, an officer of the United States Army, and a prominent figure in the military operations of this period against the Creeks. We find from the records that by an Act approved De- cember 14, 1830, the town of Fort Gaines was chartered. with the following named commissioners, to wit: Gabriel Johnson, John Dill, Edward Deloney, George W. Pres- cott and James V. Robinson.1 One year later, the old Fort Gaines Academy was chartered, at which time Messrs. Samuel Johnson, Thomas B. Patterson, Sr., Leonard P. McCollom, Ira Cushman and James Buch- anan were named as trustees.2 But one school was not enough. Though on the frontier, Fort Gaines was edu- cationally wideawake, and, on December 31, 1838, an Act of the Legislature was approved, granting a charter to the Fort Gaines Female Institute, one of the earliest pioneer schools for young ladies. The management of this school was entrusted to the following trustees : John Dill, Simon Green, Samuel Gainer, James P. Holmes,

*Authority: Mrs. W. C. Clarke, Covington, Ga.

1 Acts, 1830, p. 217.

2 Acts, 1831, p. 17.

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and William Mount.1 When Clay County was organized from Randolph and Early in 1854, the county-seat of the new county was made permanent at Fort Gaines. Clay's first representative in the Legislature was L. B. Dozier. Others who followed him were: Peter Lee, F. T. Cullens, John L. Brown, W. A. Graham, S. R. Weaver, R. A. Turnipseed and John B. Johnson.

CLAYTON

Jonesboro. On the site of the present town of Jonesboro, there was formerly a village known as Leaks- ville, an academy for which was chartered as early as December 22, 1823, with the following pioneer residents named as trustees :2 Thomas Wilburn, Robert Leak, John Chislum, Jack Wilburn and Columbus Watson. When the Central of Georgia reached this point, impart- ing new life to the town and giving rise to visions of civic importance, the name of Leaksville was discarded, and, in compliment to one of the civil engineers who surveyed the line, Mr. Samuel G. Jones, the town was called Jones- boro. Mr. Jones was the father of the late Governor Thomas G. Jones, of Alabama, afterwards a District Judge of the United States. When the County of Clay- ton was organized in 1858, Jonesboro was made the county-site of the new county ; and by an Act of the Leg- islature, approved December 13, 1859, the town was in- corporated with the following-named commissioners : James B. Key, Sanford D. Johnson, G. L. Warren, Joshua J. Harris, W. H. Sharp, R. K. Holliday and James Alford.3 One of the strongest advocates of the measure creating Clayton County was Judge George Hillyer, a member of the present Railroad Commission.

1 Acts, 1838, p. 4.

2 Acts, 1823, p. 15.

3 Acts, 1859, p. 175.

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Judge Hillyer was then just entering public life, and he made a host of warm friends by his plendid work for the bill.

Pioneer Settlers. As gathered from the oldest records extant, some of the pioneer settlers of Clayton were as follows: James B. Key, John M. Huie, Stephen G. Dorsey, R. E. Morrow, Philip Fitzgerald, Abner Camp, James Davis, J. B. Tanner, N. C. Adam- son, G. W. Adamson, A. Y. Adamson, Andrew L. Huie, A. J. Mundy, Joshua J. Hanes, James Daniel, W. W. Camp, Thomas Moore, John Stanley, Elijah Glass, Hill- iard Starr, W. Y. Conine, James McConnell, Luke John- son, Reuben Wallis, James F. Johnson, Thomas Johnson, James S. Cook, William Cater, Moab Stephens, James H. Chapman, Thomas Byrne, Zachariah Mann, Patrick H. Allen, Peter Y. Ward, and others. James F. Johnson was the first State Senator and Elijah Glass the first Representative, both elected in 1859.

CLINCH.

Homerville. Homerville, the county-seat of Clinch County, was founded in the year 1859 by Dr. John Homer Mattox. The public buildings were first located at Magnolia, but the need of a central location and the desire to be on a railroad brought about the re- moval of the court-house to Homerville in 1862. As soon as the Atlantic and Gulf Line was completed to this point, Dr. Mattox saw a bright future for a town in this neighborhood. Accordingly, he began to lay off some of his land into town lots. This property was first ac- quired, in 1842, by his father, Elijah Mattox, and, at the latter's death, was inherited by Dr. Mattox.

The new town was first called "Station Number 11." However, in a few years the name was changed to Ho- merville, in honor of Homer Mattox. At this time, a

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group of homes, a small store and a shed designed for the railroad station, marked the beginning of the future county-seat. Today Homerville possesses a bank, two handsome church buildings, several stores, and some of the most attractive homes in this part of Georgia. Water- works and electric light plants have recently been in- stalled, while a telephone system has been in use for sev- eral years. The Bank of Homerville has a capital stock of $25,000, with a surplus equal to half this amount. Its officials are : President, R. G. Dickerson, a former State Senator and one of the State's foremost men; Vice-Pres- ident, W. T. Dickerson, also formerly State Senator and a prominent lawyer; and Cashier, G. A. Gibbs.

Among the prominent citizens of Homerville, in ad- dition to the bank officials mentioned, are Judge John T. Dame, the Ordinary; his brother, George M. Dame, a strong factor in county and town affairs; S. L. Drawdy, Judge of the County Court of Clinch, and a former Rep- resentative; his brother, Charlton C. Drawdy; J. F. Barnhill and J. H. Ferdon, two prominent naval stores men; W. V. Musgrove, and many others. Homerville was first incorporated in 1869. In the western part of the town is the handsome new school-house, DuBignon Institute, named in honor of the late Fleming G. DuBig- non, one of Georgia's most gifted sons. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1909, but on the same site the present structure was completed the following year .*

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 49

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933 Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co. Number of Pages: 1274

Author: Knight, Lucian Lamar, 1868-1933
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga. : Byrd Printing Co.
Number of Pages: 1274