USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II > Part 54
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Personal Sketches. Col. L. H. O. Martin, a native of El- bert County, was one of the most prominent and successful planters of his day-essen- tially a man of affairs, of striking appearance and fas- cinating manners, he numbered his friends by the hun- dreds. In early life he married the daughter of Col. Thomas Heard, who lived near Savannah River. He was the bosom friend of Joseph Rucker and of his son, Tinsley Rucker, and rarely a day passed that there was not mutual visits between the families. He was the most delightful of talkers, and a safe counsellor in all matters of weighty importance. He was among the fore- most of that brilliant coterie of men that made social life so pleasing to the planters of the day. During the Civil War he served upon the staff of General Toombs.
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Colonel James Loftin was the fountain head of all knowledge to be gained from books for the rising gen- eration, for many years at Ruckersville. A ripe scholar of vast information, he successfully taught the classics, philosophies, and mathematics in his school for young men. He had a most charming family, and one of his sons, John Loftin, was a leading member of the Macon Bar for many years after the War.
Peter W. Alexander, born in Ruckersville, in 1823, graduated from the University of Georgia in 1844. From his early youth his tastes were literary-of mag- nificent frame and courtly bearing, he was a splendid type of a Southerner. Removing to Columbus, Ga., he entered Journalism, and soon became a writer of note. The outbreak of the Civil War found him in Savannah, owner and editor of the Savannah "Republican." His opinions in political life were eagerly sought, and as war correspondent for his paper, he was the most noted of all Southern correspondents.
His love for his old home and associates at Ruckers- ville has kept green his memory in the hearts of many to this day.
Overton Tate, a planter of large means, married Re- becca Clark, a niece of Joseph Rucker. His home was always the center of large entertainment and social en-' joyment. His wife, still living, at the age of ninety years, surrounded by loving and accomplished children and grandchildren, is one of the noblest specimens of woman- hood that ever graced the life of any community.
Dr. Richard Banks, of Ruckersville, was a noted phy- sician, for whom Banks County was named. He was the beloved good Samaritan of his day, and it was said
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of him that his charities were only bounded by his op- portunities for doing good unto others.
Tinsley White Rucker was the oldest son of Joseph Rucker. Born at Ruckersville, in 1813, he graduated at the University of Georgia in 1833, and soon married Sarah Elizabeth Harris, the daughter of General Jeptha V. Harris, of Farm Hill. He represented Elbert County in the State Legislature in 1836. A man of lofty ideals and of high purposes, his life was without fear and with- out blemish. Farm Hill, his home, previous to the Civil War, was one of the best known and one of the most beautiful estates in Georgia.
Elbert M. Rucker, another of Squire Rucker's sons, was a man of great learning and of rare oratorical pow- ers. So vast was his information, that General Toombs once declared it to be more varied and extensive than any other living man's. But no sketch of Ruckersville is complete that fails to mention the fact that one of the most noted of present-day novelists was born in this village : Mrs. Corra White Harris, who wrote "The Cir- cuit Rider's Wife." It was also the birth-place of As- sociate-Justice Joseph R. Lamar, of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Petersburg: An Old Forgotten Tobacco Market.
On a peninsula which the Broad and Savannah Rivers unite to form, in the extreme southeast corner of Elbert, there once stood an important town, which, until the tobacco trade was abandoned by the planters, was one of the foremost commercial centers of Georgia-old Petersburg. But even this ancient town stood upon the ruins of one much older still. During the Colonial period there was located here a settlement which was called Dartmouth. It was named in honor of the Earl, to whose influence was dne the concessions enjoyed by a band of colonists engaged at this point in trade with the Indians. The area in question was known
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as the New Purchase, and to defend it against assault there was erected in the angle between the two rivers a stronghold called Fort JJames.
But the little settlement failed to realize the expectations of those who planted it, and, after struggling somewhat feebly for existence, it met an early death. The second effort to settle the place was more successful. On February 3, 1786,' for the convenience of planters in the immediate neighborhood, an Act was passed by the Legislature at Augusta, author- izing Dionysius Oliver to ereet on his land a warehouse, to be used for the inspection and storage of tobacco; and from this circumstance dates the commencement of the town of Petersburg. The cultivation of tobacco was just beginning to attract the attention of planters. On the coast, both the production of silk and the cultivation of indigo were languishing. Cotton was little grown at this time, because it lacked the stimulus of the cotton gin. Many of the early settlers in this particular neighborhood, ae- cording to Colonel Jones,2 were from Virginia, and, besides bringing with them to Georgia a love of the weed, they also possessed a high appreciation of tobacco as an article of prime commercial valne. Since the lands in this locality were well adapted to the culture of the plant, it soon became the market erop of the farmers; and to comply with the law which for- bade the exportation of tobacco, without previous inspection, together with the payment also of certain fees, it was necessary to establish ware- houses at convenient points.
Under the invigorating spell of the tobacco trade, Petersburg began to grow. The area was divided into town lots, with convenient streets inter- secting each other at right angles. The warehouse was located near the point of confluence between the two streams, but far enough removed from the water's edge to escare an overflow. In the course of time others were built in the same neighborhood, including one by William Watkins, who secured Legislative permission in 1797.3 The intellectual character of the residents is attested by the fact that in 1802 eighteen of the prin- cipal citizens of the town organized themselves into a union, the avowed purpose of which was the diffusion of knowledge and the alleviation of want. Its membership was as follows: Shaler Hillyer, president; John Williams Walker, secretary; Memorable Walker, Oliver White, James San- ders Walker, John A. Casey, Thomas Casey, Robert Watkins, William Jones, Albert Bruxe, Robert H. Watkins, Rigual N. Groves, Nicholas Pope, Andrew Greene Semmes, James Coulter, William Wyatt Bibb, Garland T. Watkins and Thomas Bibb. Dr. W. W. Bibb became a United States Senator. He was also the first Territorial Governor of Alabama, an office in which he was succeeded by his brother, Thomas Bibb. The town was governed by commissioners, who were first chosen by the Legislature and afterwards by the local citizenship.
1 Watkin's Digest, p. 325.
2 Dead Towns of Georgia, p. 234, Savannah, 1878.
3 Watkin's Digest, p. 658.
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It is of record that on December 1, 1802,4 Robert Thompson, Leroy Pope, Richard Easter, Samuel Watkins and John Ragland were appointed commissioners of the town of Petersburg and were charged with its "Better regulation and government." In the zenith of its prosperity, the town numbered between seven and eight hundred souls, and was considered second in importance only to Angusta. As long as the tobacco trade continued, the town flourished; but with the rise of the cotton plant it began to decline. The residents gradually moved to other localities. Only a few remained to people the little grave-yard of this deserted village; and today sunken wells and moss-covered monnds, with an occasional loose brick from some ancient chimney pile, survive to tell the wayfarer where Petersburg once stood in the forgotten long ago.
Rose Hill. Reminiscent of the best days of the old regime and famous throughout the whole length and breadth of the South, is one of the fine old ancestral homes of Elbert : Rose Hill. The original structure, built in the early part of the last century by Thomas Jefferson Heard, still constitutes the main part of the present establishment; but wings have since been added on either side, giving it a much more regal appearance than it wore in the days of its first owner. The oldest building is known as Middlesex; while the two annexes are called respectively, Essex and Wessex. The estate itself is called Rose Hill, a name whose appropriateness is well maintained by the scene which greets the visitor's eye, on approaching this magnificent home. Acres of roses, rising terrace upon terrace, furnish a mountain of fra- grance, out of which loom the stately parapets of the old mansion.
Rose Hill is today the home of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene B. Heard, the fame of whose hospitality has long since crystalized into a proverb. Mr. Heard acquired Rose Hill by inheritance from his grandfather; but the estate has lost none of the splendor of the old days in his pos- session. Peaches are cultivated on a vast scale. The cotton acreage is something enormous, and scores of la-
4 Clayton Digest, p. 92.
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borers are employed; but there is not a negro on the plantation whose welfare is not an object of constant so- licitude to the humane owners of Rose Hill. Mrs. Heard is one of Georgia's most gifted women, an acknowledged leader in not a few of the great forward movements of her time; and here, in this beautiful home of the Old South, some of the most beneficent and helpful reforms of the new era, have found an inspirational beginning. Here originated the Traveling Library of the South, and here the first Federated Woman's Club in Georgia was organized. To give our readers a better acquaintance with Rose Hill, we quote from a well-known writer the following descriptive paragraphs :*
Box and cedar hedges border both sides of the walks. Large magnolia and crepe myrtle trees, gnarled and spotted from old age, envelop the home in their green foliage; ivy from Kenilworth Castle covers Middlesex windows' and walls, and the sparrows and jay-birds make merry all day long, hiding in its deep branches. Purple iris and small, old-fashioned gladioli planted by the owner's grandmother, bloom in reckless masses over the green lawn. Roses climb to the second-story balconies, their petals blowing out over the air as a soft summer breeze would sway the graceful stens.
Roses everywhere, a wealth of bloom and variety from stock bought of famous collections or given by friends from some distant place, their own kind they name for the favorite guests. A bright red rose is the Josie S., called for the dark-haired, bright-cheeked girl who would come down from the city with her lovers to see if they were as nice in the quiet of the country as on the more diverting streets of town. Another, a pale yellow bud, fragrant as a tea rose, is the Kitty T., its namesake a tall blonde girl with a wealth of golden hair and twinkling gray eyes.
Stone gates lead out into the "park," and tall cedar hedges follow the drive to the outer entrance on the main highway. A garage has been built for their automobile, but it has been so hidden by shrubs and vines that it looks almost as old as the "outbuildings" which were on the "street" in slave time, where were the cabins of those negroes work- ing about the yard.
Telephones and an ample water supply bring the city comforts to them, and the library tables are covered with magazines and newspapers. But the pride of the owners are the old English prints of 1803 and the colonial mirrors in empire style of gold and mahogany that have been in the family for more than half a century. Tall colonial mantels, hand-
*Miss Nita Black, in the Atlanta Journal.
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carved, are just as they were in the days of their ancestors. Candles are used almost entirely, and for these there are tall, old-time brass holders. In Middlesex are the general living rooms, two libraries with heavily laden book shelves, the dining-room and the breakfast-room. Upstairs are the several guest-rooms. "Little Miss," the only daughter, is now married and lives in Essex, while her father and mother reside in Wessex."
Elberton. In 1790, Elbert County was formed out of Wilkes, and named for Governor Samuel El- bert, in whose honor the county-seat was likewise named. It is said that a bold spring of excellent water settled the location of the future seat of government. Elberton was incorporated by an Act approved December 10, 1793, the preface to which contains this insignificant sentence : "Whereas the town of Elberton requires regulation." The commissioners of the town named in this Act were: Middleton Woods, Reuben Lindsay, Doctor John T. Gil- mer, Beckham Dye, and James Alston. Only Beckham Dye is represented by the present population. Elberton made little progress for many years. The wealthy pio- neers were planters who resided mainly along the Sa- vannah River. Ruckersville and Petersburg were the centers of local commerce.
But the early residents must have believed in edu- cation, as indicated by Legislative Acts incorporating Philomathia Academy in 1823; Eudisco Academy in 1823, and Elberton Female Academy in 1826. The Elberton Female Academy continued without change even in name until it was superseded by the public schools of the pres- ent time. The Elberton Male Academy was incorporated later. It closed during the Civil War, and small boys were received into the Female Academy. Methodist and Baptist churches were built soon after the town was es- tablished. The Presbyterians built many years later.
The leading representative citizens between 1825 and 1860 were: Major Alfred Hammond, Robert McMillan, Esq., Thomas Jones, William Nelms, Zachariah Smith,
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W. A. Swift, Amos Vail, J. A. Trenchard, Young J. Har- ris, Dr. Henry J. Bowman, Dr. Calhoun Wilhite, Simeon Hall, Robert Hester, Esq., Doctor M. P. Deadwyler, Dr. D. A. Mathews and Major John H. Jones. Robert Mc- Millan and Robert Hester were brilliant lawyers. Dr. Deadwyler was the leading physician, a courteous gentle- man, loved by everyone. He died without children, leav- ing as sole heir to his liberal fortune, a wife who gener- ously and wisely distributes it to worthy causes. The present handsome Baptist Church, one half of which she donated, stands as his memorial.
But Elberton owes her chief debt of gratitude to Ma- jor John H. Jones. He was born in Elberton in 1814, and here he died in 1899. In 1873, Elberton was thirty miles from any railroad. Many times its citizens had tried to build a railroad and failed. Major Jones then took up the fight. For six years he gave to this work his time and brains and character. The Elberton Air Line Rail- road from Elberton to Toccoa, Ga., was the result. It was completed December 5, 1878, and Elberton, now 8,000 population, dates its progress from its completion.
Major Jones married Lavonia, daughter of Major Alfred Hammond. The splendid city of Lavonia was named in her honor. They reared a large family of children and their children and grandchildren are among the people most prominent in business, social, educational and church work. Major Jones graduated from the State University in 1838. He was refined, courteous, af- fectionate, good. Upon every public question, he stood for the progressive and the moral. The present Elber- ton is his most enduring monument.
Tomb of Hon. Within a stone's throw of the town cen- Wiley Thompson. ter, on property owned and occupied by one of the leading business men of El- berton, is the tomb of Hon. Wiley Thompson, a distin-
*Authority: Judge Geo. C. Grogan.
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guished statesman, who represented Georgia in Congress for several successive terms during the early ante-bellum period. He met his death at the hands of Seminole In- dians in Florida. The inscription on this distinguished Georgian's monument reads as follows :
. WILEY THOMPSON. Born Sept. 23, 1781. Mur- dered at Fort King, Florida, by the Seminole Indians, Dec. 28, 1837. Aged 56 years, 3 mos. and five days. "Blessed is the man that loveth the Lord and delighteth in his commandments."
EMANUEL
Swainsboro. On November 18, 1814, an Act was approved by Gov. Early, designating as a site for pub- lic buildings in the new county of Emanuel, a locality within one mile of the place pointed out by one Jesse Mezzle, as the center of the county.1 The commissioners to choose a site and to superintend the erection of public buildings were named in the original Act of 1812, creating the new county, to wit: Edward Lane, Francis Pugh, Needham Cox, Eli Whitdon, and Uriah Anderson.2 To these were subsequently added, Jesse Mezzle and Archi- bald Culbreth. The site agreed upon for the county-seat was made permanent by an Act approved December 6, 1822, and the name of the town-as this Act informs us- was to be Swainsboro.
To Paris and Back. Thirty years later an effort was made to change the name of the town to Paris; and by an Act ap- proved February 18, 1854, this name was formally bestowed upon the town.3 At the same time Paris was to be retained as the county-seat, and the following commissioners were appointed to put into effect the terms of this act, viz., Elam B. Lewis, Joshua J. Arnold, Berry Stroup, Nathan
1 Lamar's Digest, p. 210.
2 Lamar's Digest, p. 197.
3 Acts, 1853-1854, p. 269.
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Stephens and D. B. Smith. But Paris was short-lived; and eventually Swainsboro reappeared. Since railway facilities were obtained, the growth of the town has been marked. Swainsboro was named for an influential family of pioneer settlers from the State of North Carolina. Stephen Swain represented Emanuel in the Senate of Georgia almost continuously from 1813 to 1836, after which, according to the records, Ethelred Swain was frequently returned.
EVANS
Claxton. On August 14, 1914, an Act was approved creating by Constitutional amendment the new County of Evans out of lands formerly included in Tatt- mall and Bulloch; and if this amendment is ratified at the polls it will give Georgia one-hundred and fifty-two counties. Claxton, the new county-seat, was originally known as Hendrix. But there was already a post-office in Georgia by this name; consequently the postal authori- ties at Washington requested the ladies of the communi- ties to select a new name for the town, which they did, selecting the name of Claxton. Situated on the Seaboard Air Line, the growth of the town of late years has been exceedingly rapid.
Gen. Clement A. Evans. Gen. Clement A. Evans, whose services to the State are memorialized in this Act of the Legislature, was a gallant Confederate officer, who, at Appomattox, com- manded Gordon's famous division. Some time after the surrender had taken place, there was heard the noise of rapid firing in a remote part of the field. On investigation, it was found that Gen. Evans, ignorant of affairs at headquarters, was leading a victorious charge upon the enemy 's breastworks. Subsequent to the war, Gen. Evans became a devout minister of the gospel and served a number of Methodist churches; but he also gave much of his time to public affairs. In 1894, he was a popular can- didate for Governor of Georgia, but retired from the race prior to the date of election, on account of a physical inability to meet the demands of a strenuous campaign. Ten years later, he was elected by his old war comrades to succeed Gen. Stephen D. Lee as Commander-in-Chief of the United Confederate Veterans. As a member of the State Board of Prison Commissioners, he rendered the State an important service in his old age. Two great orations were delivered by Gen. Evans during the last
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years of his life: one on the unveiling of an equestrian statue to Gen. John B. Gordon, on the capitol grounds, in Atlanta; and the other on the dedication of the famous monument in Richmond, Va., to his revered chieftain : Jefferson Davis.
FANNIN
Morganton. In the Act creating Fannin County, in 1853, judges of the Inferior Court were empow- ered to select a county-seat, near the center of the county ; and, in pursuance of this Act, a locality was chosen to which was given the name of Morganton. The town was incorporated by an Act approved March 5, 1856, with the following town commissioners, to wit: James H. Morris, Wm. B. Brown, Thomas M. Alston, Wm. Franklin, and Madison Casady. The charter was afterwards several times ameneded.
Massacre of Fannin's Men.
Pages 115-121.
Blue Ridge. Blue Ridge, the present county-seat of Fan- nin, was incorporated as a town on October 24, 1887, at which time Hon. J. W. Gray was designated to fill the office of mayor, and Messrs. M. Mckinney, F. H. Walton, W. T. Buchanan, Wm. Taylor, E. L. Rickets, and W. B. Wuce were named to serve as aldermen pend- ing the first regular election. The corporate limits of the town were fixed at one mile in every direction from the depot of the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad; but, in 1890, this area proving too large for immediate purposes, was diminished .* On August 13, 1895, the county-seat of Fannin was changed to Blue Ridge, as the result of an election for which due and legal notice was given .* The present public school system of Blue Ridge was established in 1899.
*Acts, 1855-6, p. 353.
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FAYETTE
Fayetteville. In 1822, Fayette County was organized out of lands recently acquired from the Creeks, under the first treaty of Indian Springs. By an Act ap- proved December 20, 1823, Fayetteville was made the permanent site for public buildings. At the same time a charter of incorporation was granted, with the follow- ing residents named as commissioners : Jordan Gay, Sin- eon L. Smith, Wm. Harkins, John Hamilton, and Tandy D. King .* The Fayette County Academy was chartered in 1840. Both the town and the county were named for the great palladin of liberty, General LaFayette, who made his last visit to Georgia in 1825.
FLOYD
Rome. In 1832, Floyd County was organized out of lands then recently acquired from the Cherokees, and named for Gen. John Floyd, a noted Indian fighter of Georgia. The first county-site chosen by the Inferior Court judges was Livingston; but in 1838, the seat of government was transferred to Rome, at the head of the Coosa River. The Rome Academy was chartered in 1837; the Cherokee College of Georgia in 1850; the Cher- okee Wesleyan Institute in 1854, and the Rome Female College in 1857. As a seat of culture, Rome gradually forged ahead of Cassville, for years an educational cen- ter of Cherokee Georgia. Some of the early pioneers of Rome were: Daniel R. Mitchell, Philip W. Hemphill, Judge John H. Lumpkin, Judge Wm. H. Underwood, Ma- jor Chas. H. Smith, Andrew J. Liddell, Zachariah B. Hargrove, Wm. Smith, A. T. Hardin, Wm. T. Trammell, Alfred Shorter, Judge John W. Hooper, Dr. H. V. M. Miller, Simpson Fouche, Thomas Hamilton, T. J. Ste-
*Acts, 1823, p. 179.
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phens, Nathan Bass, Judge Augustus R. Wright, W. S. Cothran and many others.
Historic Third Ave- The following article from a local nue: The Girlhood contributor recently appeared in one Home of Mrs. of the newspapers :
Woodrow Wilson.
"Third Avenue, of this city, since the elec- tion of Woodrow Wilson, is now considered more historic ground than ever. On the north, the avenue is bounded by the Oostanaula River, and extending in the far distance is Lavender range of mountains, at whose base Generals Hood and Sevier marched. DeSoto, the famous discoverer, is said to have camped over the river opposite Third Avenue on his way to the Mississppi. At the eastern end of the avenue, where runs the Etowali River, is a little island that marks the site where Revolutionary soldiers once camped.
"At the foot of Third Avenue runs the first of Rome railroads. On the street was once the Shelton manse, on whose campus once camped Federal soldiers. When peace was restored and years rolled by, Shorter College was built on this site by Alfred Shorter, as a gift to one of his daughters. Across the street from the Presbyterian Church is a house where Henry W. Grady brought his bride from Athens. Near the First Methodist Church, on this same street, is the old home of Bill Arp. The brick cottage, now "Rosemont," was once the home of Mrs. John J. Seay, a kinswoman of Secretary Bayard. Mrs. Seay's sister was brides- maid to Miss Mittie Bullock, Theodore Roosevelt 's mother.
"Just below the brow of the hill there stands an old garden, and just beyond it a low white cottage. Some of the shrubs and flowers were planted by Rev. S. E. Axson, when this was the girlhood home of Ella Lou Axson, the first lady of the land and the wife of President-elect Woodrow Wilson. In that little white house her big brown eyes looked wonderingly out toward the future. What were her girlish dreams, her hopes, her ambi- tions? She lived with her books and her paintings, among the Southern flowers; and here with her gentle mother and sainted father she spent many of her girlhood days."
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