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

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

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Governor Johnson embraced, to a limited extent, in later life, the re- ligious philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg, of whose writings he became

*Memoirs of Judge Richard H. Clark, pp. 292-293, Atlanta, 1898.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIEELS AND LEGENDS

an industrious student. He married Mrs. Anna Polk Walker, a lady of rare personal and intellectual charms. She was a daughter of Judge William Polk, of the Supreme Court of Maryland, a niece of President James K. Polk, of Tennessee, and a cousin of Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk, the famous Confederate officer who was both soldier and bishop.

JONES

Clinton. Clinton, the old county-seat of Jones County, was, in ante-bellum days, an aristocratic com- munity, surrounded by the ample estates of wealthy plan- ters. It was also an industrial center. Here was built one of the first iron foundries in the State, a plant which flourished down to 1864, when the hordes of Sherman left it a mass of ruins, never to be revived. Clinton became the county-seat of Jones when the county was first organ- ized in 1807, out of a part of Baldwin; but it was not incorporated until December 2, 1909, when an Act for its better regulation was approved, with the following named commissioners, to wit: Reuben Fitzgerald, Drury Spain, Wm. Butler, Jacob Earnest, and Win. Allen.1 It was re-incorporated on December 4, 1816, at which time Mes- srs. James Jones, Zachariah Pope, James Sapfold, Eb- enezer J. Bowers, John Mitchell, Bolar Allen, and John Parrish, were named commissioners.2 The town was named for Gov. DeWitt Clinton, of New York, and the county for Hon. James Jones, of Savannah, a member of Congress and a distinguished public man of his day. The latter's name heads the above list of town commis- sioners, a circumstance from which it may be inferred that he owned an estate in this vicinity, and perhaps the naming of the county for him was due in a measure to his landed interests. The Clinton Academy was chart- ered on December 15, 1821, with Messrs. James Smith, Gustavus Hendrick, Samuel Lowther, Chas. J. McDon- ald, and Henry J. Lamar, as trustees. Clinton was once

1 Clayton's Compendium, p. 520.

2 Lamar's Digest, p. 1026.

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JONES

a prosperous town, but it failed to recover from the disastrous results of the Civil War. In the preceding volume of this work will be found some additional facts in regard to Clinton, which need not be repeated here; and we also refer the reader to Volume I for a list of distinguished residents.

Gray, the present county-seat of Jones, is a small village located only a few miles above Clinton, on a branch line of the Central of Georgia. The town was named for James Gray, Esq., and was incorporated in 1872.

Blountsville. Blountsville, formerly a village of some pretentions, but now one of the lost towns of Georgia, was located in this county, at a point where some of the best families of the State were established. It was named for the noted Blount family of Georgia, to which the late Hon. James H. Blount, of Macon, for twenty years a member of Congress, belonged; and of which the gifted Mrs. W. D. Lamar, President of the State U. D. C., is also a member. The old Blountsville Academy was chartered in 1834, with Messrs. Alleu Drury, Wm. E. Etheridge, John W. Stokes, Francis Tufts, and John W. Gordon, as trustees.

Thomas B. Slade : Ten years before Wesleyan Female College, at Pioneer Educator. Macon, performed its historie act of conferring upon a woman her first college diploma, there was a distinguished pioneer educator successfully conducting a school for girls in the town of Clinton. This blazer of trails in an educational wilderness was Thomas B. Slade. Here, on the frontier belt of Georgia, while the prints of the Indian's moccasins was still fresh in the soil, this far-sighted scholar who, with the ken of a prophet, could read the signs of the future, here opened an academy in the year 1828 and started a movement for woman's intellectual emancipation. Professor Slade was born in North

*Acts, 1834, p. 6.

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Carolina in 1800. For a while, he practiced law with his father, General Jeremiah Slade, in the Tar Heel State. But he was cast in the molds of a great educator, and, relinquishing Blackstone, he wended his way to Georgia, there to become a leader in one of the forward movements of the age. Perhaps the first pledge and token of Fortune's good-will toward him was his marriage to Miss Ann Jacquiline Blount, a lady of kindred intellectual tastes and of fine aristocratie family connections.

In 1836, what was then known as the Georgia Female College, was founded at Macon; and such was Professor Slade's prestige as an educator at Clinton that we find him in this year removing to Macon, to be installed as the first professor of natural seienees in the new institution, with the general oversight of its affairs. He brought with him to Macon his own chemical apparatus for experiments' and his own geodus for astronomical studies. Thirty of his pupils followed him from Clinton to form the nuelens of the Georgia Female College; also two of his music teachers, Miss Maria Lord, from Boston, and Miss Martha Massey, the latter a beneficiary pupil. Miss' Lord was afterwards well known in Macon as Mrs. Boardman.

Two classes graduated under him before the college was bought by the M. E. Church. He arranged the first curriculum and prepared the first diploma granted by the college, thus marking with his pen a new epoch in the educational history of the world. He removed to Columbus in 1842, where for thirty years as principal and proprietor of a female institute of high grade he continued his great work until advanced years forced him to resign his mantle to younger shoulders. He died in 1882 crowned with the benedictions of a well-spent life. Professor Slade pre- scribed for himself a high standard of ethics. He was never known to canvas for a pupil nor to reject one because she was unable to pay. It is something in this day and time to realize the distinction due this man who wrote the first diploma ever delivered to a woman and arranged the eur- riculum for the oldest female college in existence. No fitter epitaph for his tomb could have been written than the words of prophecy fulfilled in Christianity 's great forerunner: "The voice of one erying in the wilder- ness : Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.' **

The Famous Bunkley Trial. Some score of years prior to the Civil War there oc- curred at Clinton one of the most famous court-house trials in the forensic annals of Georgia. Jesse Bunkley, a well-educated youth of profligate habits and a seion of one of the wealth- iest families of the county, disappeared from Jones in a very mysterious manner; and, though every effort was made to trace the young man, he could never be found. On the death of his father, the widow Bunkley married a man named Lother, but $20,000 was left to Jessee, provided he should return home, give evidence of improved habits, and establish his

*Authority: Mrs. Edgar A. Ross, of Macon.

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LAURENS

identity beyond question. Time brought no solution to the riddle. The belief at last became fixed in the popular mind that he was no longer in life, and accordingly his property was divided among his relatives. Sub- sequent to this division-perhaps five years thereafter-a man who bore some slight resemblance to Jesse Bunkley appeared upon the scene in Clinton and made a demand for the property, to which he claimed to be entitled.

But the parties in possession demanded, in turn, proof most positive of the claimant 's rcal identity before relinquishing such substantial holdings. On this point, he failed to satisfy them, and not long thereafter the alleged Bunkley was arrestsed on the charge of cheating and swindling. It was averred in the bill of indictment that the defendant's real name was Barber. On the trial of the case, not less than 130 witnesses were examined, 98 of whom were for the prosecution. Four of the former college mates at Athens of the true Jesse Bunkley were put upon the witness' stand. These were Robert Dougherty, Hugh A. Haralson, Henry G. Lamar and Charles J. McDonald-all of them men of distinction. But they could not recognize in Barber the features of an early schoolmate. Even his mother failed to find in his face any familiar lineaments. Barber knew just enough con- cerning the local environment to suggest that possibly he might have learned the story from the rightful heir. He was utterly at sea in regard to a number of matters concerning which the real Jesse Bunkley could not have been ignorant. He was, therefore, sentenced to prison But there are people who believe to this day that he was the real Jesse Bunkley, whose only offence was that he demanded the restitution of property which was rightfully his own under the laws of Georgia. Judge John G. Polhill pre- sided at the trial; and, in the prosecution of the defendant, Walter T. Colquitt, Robert V. Hardeman and William S. C. Reid-three of the strong- est advocates in the State-were associated.

LAURENS

Dublin. The original county-seat of Laurens was Sum- terville, a small hamlet between Rocky and Tur- key Creeks, in the north-west part of the county, where the population was chiefly centered. But before any public buildings were erected a large body of land on the opposite side of the river was acquired from Mont- gomery and Washington, which called for the selection of a new county-site, at some point on the Oconee River, central to the enlarged boundaries. Where the city of Dublin now stands there lived at this time an Irishman who agreed to donate a site for the public buildings, pro-

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

vided he was allowed to name the town for Erin's re- nowned capital.

This offer was accepted: On December 13, 1810, an Act was approved appointing a board of commissioners to locate the new county-site and to dispose of the hold- ings at Sumterville. The board was constituted as fol- lows: John C. Underwood, Jethro Spivey, Benjamin Adams, John Thomas, and Wm. H. Matthews.1 In the year following, Dublin was made the new county-site ; and on December 9, 1812, the town was incorporated with Messrs. Neill Munroe, Lewis Kennon, Wm. Tolbert, Eli S. Shorter, and Henry Shepherd as commissioners.2

Dublin is located in the center of a rich agricultural belt; and with splendid railway connections it is one of the most important commercial towns of Georgia, with an outlook for the future rivalled by few older commu- nities. Gov. George M. Troup owned two large planta- tions in Laurens County, which he called Valdosta and Vallombrosa; and, during the last twenty-five years of his life, he was often a familiar figure on the streets of Dublin. Gen. Blackshear, whose famous country-seat "Springfield," was further down the river, made fre- quent visits to the county-seat. Here also lived at one time a noted jurist, Judge Eli S. Shorter, who after- wards removed to Columbus. Georgia's present Com- missioner of Commerce and Labor, Hon. Henry M. Stan- ley, was a former resident of Dublin; from which town hails also a member of our present Court of Appeals, Judge Peyton L. Wade. Gen. Eli Warren, Hon. Lott Warren, Rev. Kit Warren, Dr. Peter E. Love, Hon. John T. Boifeuillet, and Hon. Warren Grice, may likewise be included among the former residents of Laurens.

Cotton Seed Mr. James Callaway, of Macon, one of the as a Fertilizer. best informed historians and writers in the State, is authority for the statement that Henry C. Fuqua, of Laurens County, Ga., was the

1 Clayton's Compendium, p. 642.

2 Lamar's Digest, p. 950.

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first person of record to discover the value of cotton seed as a fertilizer. The discovery was made by acci- dent.

Springfield : The Major Stephen H. Miller, in his Bench

Home of and Bar of Georgia, gives the following Gen. Blackshear. picture of General David Blackshear's

plantation life, at Springfield, on the Ocmulgee. Says he :*

"Besides his grapery of several acres, General Blackshear owned large orchards, from which he distilled apple and peach brandies of the purest kind. Nothing was neglected in the manufacture, from the gathering of the fruit to the dropping of the rectified spirits from the tube. He usually gave morning drams to his slaves; and whenever, from exposure to cold or water, they required a tonie, he ordered them to receive it from his cellar. It was often the case that, in heavy work-raising houses, building mill-dams, and adjusting timbers-they were in condition to receive it; but he never permitted them to have it in such quantity as to produce intoxica- tion, and he saw nothing to regret from the custom.

"He also cultivated the cane, making more than enough sugar and syrup for his own use. It was his rule to let his neighbors have whatever he could spare from his farm. He never profited by scarcity and high prices in the market. His rates were just fairly remunerative. He never specu- lated on the necessities of the people. Being a first-rate judge of human nature, he was not often deceived. To the honest and industrious, he was ever a friend; to the idle and dissolute he showed no favor. Though oblig- ing in his disposition, he adhered to certain rules which he adopted early in life:

"1. Never spend any money before you get it.

42. Never pay other people's debts.

"3. Never pay interest.

" Much is comprehended in these words. They reveal the secret of pros- perity, in violence often to the best sympathies. General Blackshear was governed by principle-not by impulse. Hence his great influence and success.

"It was customary for the court, including both the judges and the bar, while journeying on the circuit, to stop with General Blackshear, at leisure intervals. The dignified Early, the jovial Strong, and other high functionaries, who enjoined silence in court and held the multitude in awe, laid aside official consequence, and shot duck and angled for fish with as

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

much glee as the boys who for the time being furnished them guides and companions. The judges would go to the mill and made upon the sheeting, or creep softly upon the dam, spearing the finny tribe or harpooning a turtle, with perfect relish for the sport. After such achievements, the side- board was called upon for its quota of refreshment. It was all right then, but a very decided change has since taken place; and sideboards, wine, brandy, and such old-fashioned luxuries have been dispensed with-certainly an improvement on the virtues of our predecessors."*

Gov. Troup's Will. On file, in the Ordinary's office, at the court house, in Dublin, is the last will and testament of Governor George M. Troup. It is a model of brevity, containing less than two hundred words, but it disposes of what was supposed to be, at the time of his death, one of the largest estates in Georgia. The document reads as follows :

"Georgia, Laurens' County. I wish my executors to keep together, as I leave it, all my property, real and personal, for three years after my decease, endeavoring to improve it as they would their own. 1st. Giving from the proceeds to the heirs, a decent and becoming support, as they had been accustomed to, and 2nd. appropriating any surplus to investment in lands and negroes, Savannah Town property, Savannah Bank Stock, or other subject as they should deem best for the interest of such heirs, the children of Florida Troup late Florida Bryan or Foreman, Oralie Troup and George M. Troup are my only heirs, at the expiration of the three years and on the 1st day of January next thereafter I desire all the said property of which I may die possessed with the increasements both real and per- sonal to be divided as nearly as possible into three equal shares I mean specifically, one share for the children Florida, one share for Oralie and one for G. M. Troup, who are to have and to hold the same to them re- spectively their heirs and assigns forever with these exceptions, Viz: If Oralie should die without legal lineal heir or heirs then shall her share go to the children of Florida to be equally divided among them or the survivors and if George should die without legal heir or heirs then shall descend to the children of Florida likewise or the survivors and I hereby constitute and appoint G. B. Cummings, James Screven, Thomas M. Fore- man, and George M. Troup my executors.

"Signed and sealed this 20th. day of September 1851.

G. M. TROUP (Seal)

*Stephen H. Miller, in Bench and Bar of Georgia, Vol. I.

GOV. TROUP'S OLD HOME:

Remains of the Valdosta Mansion in Laurens County, Showing the Sandstone Chimney, in the Midst of a Deserted Ruin.

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LEE

Witness. WILLIAM WINHAM. ALEXANDER ADAIR GILTMAN his THOMPSON X SMITH." mark

"The above will was probated and recorded at the June Term of the Court or Ordinary in and for Laurens County in the year 1856. This April 28th, 1911.

W. A. WOOD. Lanerns County, Georgia.

LEE

Leesburg. The original county-seat of Lee County was Starksville; but in 1872, the site of public buildings was changed to Leesburg, the present seat of government. The latter place was chosen by the follow- ing named commissioners, to wit: Isaac P. Tison, Henry L. Long, Fred H. West, Wm. T. Saddler, and Virginius G. Hill, who were instructed to choose a site on the line of the South-western Railroad, preferably at or near Wooten Station; otherwise at or near Adam Station. Messrs. Willis A. Jones, Chas. M. Irwin, Wm. C. Gill, and John Paley, were at the same time appointed commis- sioners to assess damages sustained by the owners of real estate at Starksville, in consequence of such re- moval .* The site selected was at Wooten Station, the name of which was changed to Leesburg, by legislative Act, in 1874. The town has grown considerably in re- cent years, sharing in the development which has brought this section of Georgia to the front. Near Leesburg, Gen. Philip Cook owned an extensive plantation, today the property of his grandson, Hon. Philip Cook, Jr., Georgia's present Secretary of State.

*Acts, 1872, p. 264.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Chehaw.

Volume I.

The particulars in regard to the destruction, of Che- raw have been carefully gathered and preserved by White. Says he :*

"In March, 1818, Governor Rabun requested General Jackson to station a sufficient military force on the frontier, to protect the most exposed . parts against the incursions of the Indians. To this 'application no answer was given. Governor Rabun, believing it to be his duty to provide for the safety of the frontier inhabitants, ordered Captain Obed Wright, with a sufficient force, to proceed immediately against the Felemma and Ho- paunee towns, the inhabitants of which were known to be decidedly hostile, having committed many murders. The orders of Governor Rabun confined Captain Wright specially to this object.

"Captain Wright, took up the line of march from Hartford, in Pu- laski County, with two companies of mounted men, under Captains Robinson and Rogers, and with an infantry force under Captains Dean and Childs, besides two detachments under Lieutenants Cooper and Jones-in all about two hundred and seventy effective men. When the detachment reached the neighborhood of Fort Early, information came that a celebrated old chief, Hopaunee, whose town had joined the hostile party, had removed; that he was then living in the village upon which the attack was subsequently made; that he was the principal leader of the hostile Indians; and that a great portion of them were under his immediate direction. Captain Wright considered himself authorized to attack it, as one of the Hopaunee towns.

"Accordingly the attack was made on April 23, 1818, and in the course of two hours the whole was in flames. About ten of the inhabitants were killed. General Glascock, of the Georgia Militia, in a letter to General Jackson, dated April 30, 1818, in detailing this transaction .says: 'When the detachment arrived at Cheraw an Indian was discovered grazing some cattle. He proposed to, go with the interpreter and to bring one of the chiefs with whom the captain could talk. It was not to be. An advance was ordered. The cavalry rushed forward and commenced the massacre. Even after the firing and murder commenced, Major Howard, who furnished you with corn, came out of his house with a white flag, in front of the line. It was not respected. An order was given for a general fire, and nearly four hundred guns were discharged at him before one took effect. He fell and was bayoneted. His son also was killed.'

"Governor Rabun regretted very much this occurrence. Captain Wright was arrested by order of General Jackson, but was released by the civil authorities. Gov. Rabun afterwards had him arrested again. And the

*Historical Collections of Georgia, Lee County, Savannah, 1854.

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LIBERTY

President of the United States ordered him to be placed in the custody of the marshal, but he made his escape."

Palmyra. Volume I.

Starksville. In 1826, Lee County was organized out of a part of the Creek Indian lands acquired under the second treaty of Indian Springs-the treaty which cost General McIntosh his life. But it was not until 1832 that a site was fixed for public buildings. Starksville was the name given at this time to the new county-seat. In 1847, due to some dissatisfaction, this Act was repealed. But Starksville remained the seat of government-though apparently without public buildings, for in 1851 an Act was · passed authorizing a court-house and a jail, only to be re- pealed n 1853. Rented quarters were no doubt occupied. On December 26, 1851, Starksville was incorporated as a town, with the following named commissioners, to-wit .: George C. Tickner, Willis A. Hawkins, Samuel Lind- sey, Philip M. Monroe, and Edward V. Monroe .* The Starksville Academy was chartered in 1833. So far as appears from the records' neither a court-house nor a jail was ever built at Starksville.

LIBERTY

Historic Old Mid- way: A Shrine of Patriotism.

Volume I. Pages 135-138; 726-743.

One Hundred Years of Usefulness : The Midway Centennial. Beginning on December 5, 1852, and lasting for three days, there was held at Midway Church, a season of rejoicing, the memory of which still abide in the traditions of the settlement. It marked the completion of the first one hundred years of existence in the history of the Midway congregation ; and, besides drawing a multitude of visitors to the locality, it riveted the attention of the whole nation upon the marve- lous record of the little church, whose religious and pa-

*Acts, 1851, p. 45.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

triotic achievements became everywhere the topic of the hour. Newspapers devoted columns to it. Ministers of the gospel preached sermons upon it. Thousands who possessed no church connection were enthusiastic in praise of the little district in Georgia; which was the proud possessor of so much well-deserved renown.

The centennial observance began on the Sabbath. Dr. I. S. K. Axson, who was then the senior pastor, preached a sermon appropriate to the occasion. On Monday morn- ing, early, the festivities of the day were inaugurated by the firing of cannon. Among the invited guests of the occasion was the Chatham Artillery, of Savannah, whose iron mortars awoke the echoes of the settlement. Be- fore the sun was well up, the people commenced to gather from every direction. They came in family carriages, in farm wagons, and on horseback. The roads leading to Midway were crowded for miles with travelers; and by 10 o'clock there was gathered about the Liberty pole in front of the historic church, a crowd, the like of which no one had ever seen in the settlement. At a point on the Sunbury road the procession formed and to the ac- compaiment of music furnished by the German band from Savannah, marched to the church. Colonel William Max- well, though somewhat of a veteran, was the president of the day ; and, bedecked with blue rosettes, made an im- pressive figure. Assisting him, in the capacity of grand marshals, were Captain Abiel Winn and Captain Peter W. Fleming. One of the features of the parade was a broad banner, on which was inscribed this legend: "Our Country, Our Whole Country, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, 1852." It was borne by Mr. Thomas Q. Cassels, the chairman of the committee on arrangements, supported by Captain Cyrus Mallard. As soon as the congregation was assembled within the church and the prayer of invocation was concluded, an ode, written for the occasion, by Rev. Samuel J. Cassels, was sung. Then followed an address by Prof. John B. Mallard, setting forth incidents and circumstances

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LIBERTY

connected with the early days of the settlement, the part which it played in the struggle for independence, and its varying vicissitudes of fortune both good and ill. Fol- lowing the address, there was given a selection by the band, after which the congregation repaired to the spot selected, directly in front of the building for the laying of the corner stone to the proposed monument to the forefathers of the settlement. Here an address was de- livered by Rev. John Winn, and a prayer offered by Rev. Charles C. Jones, after which a number of interesting relics and mementoes were placed in the receptacle. Then' came a salute from the guns, and the multitude repaired to the tables near-by, where they partook of an elegant out-door banquet upon the lawn, and numerous toasts were proposed. On this occasion, Rev. Samuel J. Cas- sels, who was an invalid confined to his home in Savannah, sent this toast, which became quite celebrated : "Liberty County-the place of my first and second birth, and yet to be the place of my third."

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

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