Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 66

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

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Travelers Rest: A In the early twenties two travelers were making Forgotten Town. their way South, and at sun-down they sought a place where they might find shelter and rest for the night. They found such a place under a friendly elump of trees on a little mound near the road-side. After a refreshing sleep they awoke, and looking around at the beauties of nature, they exclaimed, "This is truly a place of rest, " so the spot was called "Travelers Rest." At that time only one house was standing nearby, but Travelers Rest soon became a thriving village. A dozen or more houses were built by John Shines, Daniel Harrison, William Yarbrough and others. Two churches, one hotel, or tavern as it was then ealled, a Masonic lodge, work shop, grist mill and a very good school were, soon erected.

In those days the only means of transportation was horseback and stage-coach, but the little village prospered, and several large stores were built, the people going through the country to Savannah and Augusta for goods, but in 1850 the Central of Georgia Railroad was extended to the new town of Montezuma, Ga., and the little village of Travelers Rest began to fall into decay. The stores were moved to Montezuma, and today only the huge sign post where the sundial stood and the quiet cemeteries with their sleeping dead marks the spot where old Travelers Rest once flourished. The site of the old town is two miles south of Montezuma.

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Old Lanier: A For- Lanier, located 80 miles from Milledgeville, 22 gotten County Site. miles from Perry, 25 miles from Americus, and near the center of the county, was made the county-site in 1838. During the years from thirty-eight to fifty-two, Lanier was a thriving town of several thousand population. There were two hotels and two livery stables. Forsyth Ansley owned a brick store, Si Hill a grocery, L. L. Snow a grocery, Enoch Wilson a tailor shop. Among other names connected with its earliest history were Dr. Dennis, Mrs. Mahon, Mrs. Hays, the Corbetts, Dr. Dawson, John M. Giles and a little later W. H. Robinson, Aaron Lowe, the Greers (who afterwards moved to Oglethorpe), Major J. D. Frederick, the Laws, the Underwoods, the Lockwoods and Dr. Mckellar. Mrs. W. H. Felton lived a short distance away. The Gileses moved to Perry, the Mahons to Waynessboro or Swaines- boro, the Robinsons to Montezuma, the Fredericks and the Feltons to Marshallville. When the court-house was removed to the railroad at Ogle- thorpe in fifty-two, Lanier saw the beginning of her downfall. Families dispersed houses were torn away, and now on the site of the village, Crepe Myrtle trees mark the location of old walls, once happy homesteads. The ancient grave-yard only remains to tell its tale of the once thrifty past.

"No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale, No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail ; No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, Relax his pondrous strength and learn to hear; The host himself no longer shall be found, Careful to see the mounting bliss go round; Nor the coy maid, half willing to be prest, Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest. But now the sound of population fail, No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale ; No busy steps the grass-grown footway tread, But all the bloomy flush of life is dead."'

Oglethorpe. As far back as 1840, there was a settlement on the site of the present town of Ogle- thorpe, named for Georgia's illustrious founder. In 1850 the local population numbered 268 whites and 186 blacks. It was a regular stopping place for the stage coach. Mr. E. G. Cabaniss owned 600 acres of land in the immediate neighborhood and when the work of construc- tion along the line of the Central of Georgia began to ap- proach the settlement, Mr. Cabaniss laid out town lots and

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advertised an auction sale, from the proceds of which he realized a handsome profit. Thus were laid the founda- tions of the town of Oglethorpe. During the summer of 1852, the Central Railway's southwestern branch was. completed to this point, and instantly the town began to bristle with renewed life. Thousands of wagons be- gan to haul cotton into Oglethorpe, some of them coming from as far south as Dothan, Ala., and these wagons always returned loaded with merchandise. There were eighty business houses on Baker Street alone, besides eight hotels, and the population of Oglethorpe before the war has been variously estimated at from 12,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. -

Lanier began to decline in prestige with the advent of the iron horse. It lacked railway facilities, and. in 1854 the county-site was changed to Oglethorpe. The first court-house was built where the high school now stands, but was burned in 1857. Thirteen years later the jail also was destroyed by fire. The first newspaper was the Southwest Georgian, issued by Simri Rose, in 1851. During the same year the first Masonic Lodge was organized. Mr. Posy Stanfield, now of Americus, was one of the charter members.

Among the first settlers were Dr. T. B. Oliver, P. L. J. May, Dr. Black, Major Black, Dr. Head, Henry John- son, Joel B. Griffin, Colonel A. S Cutts, Major Hansel, General Phil Cook, John M. Greer, Warren Lee, W. J. Collins, Dan Kleckley, Major Miller, Sam Hall, Dr. Will- iam Ellis, George Williams, Egbert Alen, Aaron Lowe, Elbert Lewis and Dr. Prottuo. John and Allen Greer came from Lanier in sixty-three.

After a few years of marked prosperity the railroad was extended, but about this time an epidemic of small- pox raged. Numbers of citizens died of the disease. All houses in which there were cases were burned. Houses were moved to Marshallville, Dawson, Americus, Monte- zuma, Lanier and other places. Oglethorpe never recovered from the smallpox epidemic, but soon adjusted

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herself to changed conditions. In 1893 there was a long and hard fight for the possession of the court-house, Mon- tezuma trying to move it. After a successful fight the third court-house was built in Oglethorpe. Artesian wells were bored in July, 1884. Among the most prominent citizens who aided in the upbuilding of Oglethorpe were Colonel W. H. Willis, Captain Sneed, Mr. Charles Keen and Colonel William Fish, father of Chief Justice Fish. The prominent doctors of the fifties were Doctors Cotton, Hall, Ainger, Herring, Colzey, Oliver, Head and Woods. Three of the best dwellings in Oglethorpe were built in fifty-one by Dr. Head, Dr. Black and Major Black.

Gen. Philip Cook: General Philip Cook, soldier, legislator and Secre- An Ante-Bellum Resident. tary of State, was for several years prior to the Civil War a resident of Macon. He lived for a while at Lanier, but later removed to Oglethorpe, where the outbreak of hostilities in 1861 found him engaged in the practice of law. From Oglethorpe he went to the front as a sergeant in the Macon Volunteers. The close of the war found him wearing the stars of a brigadier-general, though he was not a West Pointer. General Cook's father was the famous commandant at Fort Hawkins, during the War of 1812, Major Philip Cook, noted in pioneer days as an Indian fighter. His grandfather, Captain John Cook, was an officer in Colonel William Wash- ington's Legion of Cavalry; while his mother was a daughter of Major John Wooten, who was killed at Fort Wilkinson. He was also lineally descended from the Pearsons, an aristocratic Virginia family distinguished in the Revolution. General Cook's first acquaintance with military life was during the Seminole War, when he volunteered at the age of eighteen. Locating in Americus in 1869 he formed a law partnership with Hon. Charles F. Crisp, afterwards Speaker of the national House of Repre- sentatives. While still a resident of Macon in 1865 General Cook was elected to Congress, but he did not take his seat at this time, because of political disabilities. He rendered the State an important service in the Constitutional Convention of 1865 and later represented his district in Congress for three consecutive terms. He also served in both branches of the State Legislature. Governor MeDaniel, in 1883, appointed him one of the five commissioners to supervise the erection of the present State Capitol in Atlanta; and this magnificent structure-built within the orig- inal appropriation-is a superb monument to the official integrity of this board. In 1890 General Cook was tendered the office of Secretary of

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State, a position to which he was twice re-elected. At his death, he was succeeded in office by his son, Hon. Philip Cook, Jr., who for more than sixteen years has worthily worn the mantle of his distinguished father. General Cook received his collegiate education at Oglethorpe University and began the practice of law at Forsyth, Ga., as a partner of the late Zach Harman. For a number of years after the war, he conducted ex- tensive farming operations in Lee County, where his plantation became an arena for advanced scientific experiments. Gifted with a masterful intel -· leet, General Cook was a born leader of men-courageous, upright, patri- otie, inflexibly true to his convictions. At the same time, he was governed throughout his whole life by the law of gentleness, and to know him was to love him. The Montezuma Chapter, U. D. C., bears the name of this gallant Confederate soldier and peerless gentleman of the old school.

Marshallville. At what is still known as the cross-roads, on the site of the present town of Mar- shallville, Isaac Johnson, in the early part of the last century, built a house partly of brick. On the opposite side of the street he erected a blacksmith shop; and from this modest beginning arose the town. There was also a blacksmith shop run by a man named Briggs. Soon a hard-shell church was built, in which three denomina- tions worshipped-the hard-shell Baptists, the Mission- ary Baptists and the Methodists. This church occupied the site where Henry Taylor's house now stands, and was used until the fifties. In 1825 Needham Massee brought his family from North Carolina to Fort Hawkins, and, two years later, coming to this county, he bought the place on the edge of Marshallville, still owned by his grandsons. In 1832 Daniel Frederick came from Orange- burg, S. C., and settled on a farm just across the county line in Houston; but after a short while he removed to Marshallville, where he bought a farm, which is still owned by the Fredericks.

During the early thirties a number of families came from the same seetion of South Carolina and settled near the border line between Hous- ton and Macon. In the course of time, these families became strong fac- tors in the development of Marshallville. They included the Fudges, who

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settled on a place now owned by John Pharr; Conrad Murph, who bought the plantation now owned by Nash Murph, his son; Nathan Bryant, who settled near the Flint River on land still owned by his sons; Dr. D. F. Wade, who lived on a place owned by the late D. B. Frederick; Dr. Hol- linshed, with his brother Jim, who lived not far from the river; Frank Baldwin, who settled close to Winchester; William Haslam, who lived .in Houston County and moved to Marshallville after the war; George Slappy, who bought the Mulberry place from Mr. Lowman, now owned by his son Jake; Mr. Wells, who lived where Taylor Williams now lives; Mr. Hiley, who settled between here and Fort Valley; Dr. Crocker, who settled on the river; Mr. Harman Staplers, and Lewis Rumph, who settled in Houston County, where his home is still owned by his son Lewis.

Billy Felton settled at Winchester; his son Ham (W. H.) lived at Lanier until after the war, then came to Marshallville; another son, Mon- roe, settled in Marshallville in 1859.

Major James Belvin and Dr. McGehee settled first in Houston County, but came to Marshallville after the war; George Plant came some time in the thirties. During the early forties Murdock and John McCaskill came from South Carolina, living close to the place where, in the early seventies, they built the beautiful brick colonial home now owned by Lewis Rumph ; D. B. Frederick came from South Carolina in fifty-three, and bought a farm from Dr. Wade; Dave Gammage came from Jones County early in the forties and settled here. Others coming in the forties were the Nixons, Joseph Day, who bought out the Edgeworts family, into which Dr. J. W. Roberts, of Atlanta, afterwards married. Seaborn Bryan came in the forties; John C. Sperry came from Twiggs County in the forties and bought out Isaac Johnson; Rev. Joe Edwards, from Prince George County, Va., came in the forties; Dr. Wm. Hafer came from Pennsylvania in the fifties ; Billy Martin came from Ireland in the fifties; Shadrock Ware came from Twiggs County in 1855, bought an estate from Dick Orr, which is still owned by his sons; Dr. Cook, brother of General Phil Cook, came from Winnsboro, N. C., at the close of the war; L. O. Niles, a teacher and merchant, came from Massachusetts; Major James D. Frederick moved here from Lanier, and for forty years was chairman of the Board of Roads and Revenues; Colonel Reese, a lawyer, came in sixty-eight from Jasper County. He is the father of Mrs. S. H. Rumph and of Mrs. Nash Murph. Henry Taylor, merchant and planter, came soon after the war; Mary Slappy-afterwards Mrs. Bell Lee-mother of Mrs. Oscar Williams, a woman of unquestioned veracity and memory, who died within the last month at the age of 86, gave the following account of how the county's name originated: A group of young people were together discussing a name for the new nameless town, when some one suggested that it be named for Rev. John Marshall, a preacher who lived close to town, and who was greatly beloved; thereupon the name of Marshallville was adopted. Rev.

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John Marshall was son-in-law of Dr. D. F. Wade and father-in-law of Marcus Sperry.

Soon after Daniel Frederick moved into Marshall- ville he laid off the long main street, gave two acres for a Methodist Church, and began selling off lots for build- ing purposes. He erected the homestead in 1845, which is still in possession of his family. In the early fifties, about fifty-five, a Methodist Church was built on this lot, and D. B. Frederick for the Methodists, with William Rice for Baptists, organized the first union Sunday school. D. B. Frederick continued as superintendent of this Sunday School until his death, in 1911-an unusual record. Miss Kate Edwards, sister of Joe Edwards, was one of the teachers in this first Sunday School. Major J. D. Frederick, son of Daniel Frederick, gave the land for a school, which place is still the site of the school building. Walter Frederick and Mrs. Joe Edwards taught in this school for thirty years giving perfect sat- isfaction. The first store was built by John C. Sperry and the first warehouse was run by Hatcher & Baldwin. The railroad came through in fifty-two, but it was not until after the war that the town was incorporated, and Dave Gammage was the first Mayor.

In the early sixties Dr. G. L. D. Rice gave four acres of land for a Baptist Church, on which a substantial edi- fice was subsequently built.

In the seventies Sam Rumph, at Willow Lake, began to experiment with peaches. Some questioned the wis- dom of the venture, but a new era had come for Mar- shallville. His son, Sam Henry Rumph, a practical planter, continued his experiments, and after years of waiting developed his long-desired and perfect-shipping peach, which he named for his wife, "Elberta." It was some time before the people could grasp the idea of an-

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other product besides cotton. Now this is the greatest peach section in the world, and the Elberta is still the standard.

There are several homes in and around Marshallville worthy of especial note. About one mile from and over- looking Flint River is the old Crocker home, built by Dr. Crocker in 1840. His daughter Mary, who was born on this place the night the stars fell, married Ham Felton in this house at the age of fifteen. The house is in per- fect preservation, and Dr. Crocker's granddaughter, Mrs. Walter Walker, occupies the place. -

Three buildings were moved from Oglethorpe when the smallpox began to frighten people away. One was a hotel moved by Tom Slappy and later bought by Need- ham Massee. It is about one mile from town, and is still owned by the Massee family. Mr. Nixon moved a house in which Mr. Shadrick Ware lived, but the house was burned in the last few years. The third house moved from Oglethorpe was the William Haslam house, in which John Lee lives now. Mr. George Slappy built his Colo- nial home in sixty-eight, and his family still occupies it. Mr. W. H. Felton built his home soon after the war, and his family, still own it. One of the oldest homesteads is the Lewis Rumph house, about six miles from town, built in the fifties and still owned by Lewis Rumph the second. Marshallville installed water-works and electric lights in 1914. One distinction of Marshallville is that most of the plantations around the town have been handed down from father to son for a period ranging from fifty to seventy-five years.

Montezuma. As late as 1850 the site now occupied by the city of Montezuma-one of the most beau-

tiful of Georgia towns and a wide-awake center of trade and commerce-was a low swamp in the midst of a dense thicket of woods, whose solitudes were broken only by the clutter of wild game and by an occasional shot from

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some hunter's rifle. Wild ducks and turkeys, antlered deer, opossums, coons, and squirrels were found in large numbers. It was a favorite locality for the sportsman- this typical bit of Arcadia; and such, indeed, were its surroundings that even a poet's imagination would have been taxed to evolve a town from this particular spot where-it must be confessed-the hooting of the owl sometimes rendered the night hideous. But a town began to arise on this very spot. Luckily for Montezuma, she possessed the fighting spirit. Mars became her pa- tron deity among the gods. There was also something about her name suggestive of war. In a grapple with Travelers Rest for railway honors Montezuma won. Population began steadily to increase. Almost in a day a new metropolis was born. Some of the more enter- prising merchants from Travelers Rest came to Monte- zuma. In fact, the first business house in the new town was erected by Messrs. Holton and Orliff, who came from Travelers Rest, and it stood where the establishment of Hicks and Black is now located. After plucking the laurels from Travelers Rest, it was necessary to start a prolonged and bitter struggle for existence with Ogle- thorpe, but Montezuma began to lay her plans for secur- ing the wagon trade on the opposite side of the Flint River, access to which was made easy by a splendid bridge across the stream at Travelers Rest.

Shadrick R. Felton, father of Mr. A. C. Felton, was the founder of Montezuma. He owned all the land upon which the town now stands, and as an inducement for people to locate here the town was laid off into lots, and placed upon the market at a very low price. To facilitate the sale of lots, Mr. Felton gave John T. Brown half interest in all town lots to sell them. Mr. Brown was first railroad agent. The depot was situated where the stand-pipe in front of the Minor Hotel is now. The first hotel was built by S. R. Felton and C. H. Young, and

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was run by Mrs. Ritley; the second hotel was built by Dr. Manly. The first warehouse was erected by S. R. Felton and John T. Brown; the second by J. O. Jelks and C. H. Young, and managed by Captain W. T. Westbrook. The first dwelling was built by Messrs. Holton & Orliff. The second business house was put up by W. S. Truluck, and the third by D. L. Harrison; the first livery stable by C. H. Young, the first drug store by Dr. S. D. Everett. In 1871 Montezuma elected its first Mayor and Council, with Dr. A. D. Smith as Mayor, and at his death Judge A. J. Hamilton was made Mayor in 1872. He and his wife lived here to celebrate their sixtieth wedding anni- versary. In 1860 there were a number of fine families living in Montezuma, among them Mrs. Ann Roach, Dr. Everett, Mrs. Bottome, L. A. Brantley, Norris Brothers and William McLendon. One of Mr. Mclendon's daugh- ters married J. E. De Vaughn and another married J. W. Mckenzie. The Mckenzie family has been very prom- inent in the upbuilding of Montezuma and Macon County. J. W., T. R. and W. L. Mckenzie came here from Dray- ton in Dooly County as very young men and have since then been prominent merchants, planters and factors in the upbuilding of Macon. In 1871 Jno. F. Lewis estab- lished a mercantile and banking business, and put his son, E. B. Lewis, then seventeen years old, in charge of it. Subsequently E. B. Lewis ably represented this district in Congress for twelve years, and has always contributed liberally of his time and means to any and every enterprise intended for the promotion of the town. The Lewis Banking Company, organized in 1871, is still the largest bank in this section. Mr. Lewis organized the First National Bank in 1903, an institution of which he is president.

Mr. J. E. De Vaughn, prominent planter and merchant, moved to Montezuma in 1868 from Jonesboro. Dr. I. X. Cheves and family moved here from Crawford County, and his sons, Rev. A. J. Cheves and O. C. Cheves, were prominent in religious and educational movements. Mr.

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Ham Felder was one of the first preachers. The Car- negie Library was built in 1906. Montezuma was con- sidered an unhealthy locality until the first artesian well was bored,in 1883. Subsequently, fifteen wells have been bored, and the town has enjoyed unusual health-giving facilities. The deepest well is 500 feet; the shallowest 45 feet; the largest flow 100 gallons per minute, the smallest 6. The A., B. & A. Railroad came into Monte'. zuma in 1903. Montezuma and Oglethorpe were con nected by a ferry-boat until 1902, when an iron bridge was built. Montezuma's business was enhanced by the building of a bridge by the town connecting with the upper part of the county in 1888.

Among the old homes in this neighborhood is the Har- rison home, moved from Spaulding. Until a few years ago, on the site of the Library, stood an old hotel, the Roach House, which was moved from Oglethorpe. There are four old plantation homes within a radius of five miles : the Adams place, the Hooks homestead, the Bar- ron home and the Dykes home. Electric lights and water- works were installed in 1902. The first fire engine was bought in 1885. It is one of the oldest and best in the State. The Montezuma Manufacturing Company and Oil Mill was established in 1901, the knitting mill in 1903 and the fertilizer plant in 1910. The first steamer, "The Montezuma," was run between Montezuma and Warwick, in 1885, the steamer "Ada" in 1886.

The old Montezuma Record, now The Georgian, was established in 1883. It is one of the pioneer weeklies of this section. In 1911 the Daughters of the Confederacy erected a handsome monument to the heroic men in gray who went from Macon County into the Civil War.

Spaulding. In the year 1868 Dr. W. C. Wilkes, pastor of the Baptist Church at Travelers Rest, conceived the idea of establishing a seminary, and chose as its location a spot close to the home of his friend, Mr. Isaac Cheves, some two miles distant. At onee, in order to educate their children, and for the sake of the religious and educational

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atmosphere, many families' moved there and built homes. It was named Spaulding, for Dr. A. T. Spaulding, a Baptist minister. Among the residents were Sam Turner, Tom Sutton, Judge J. H. McClung, John Henry Mckenzie, Lee Veal, Mr. Spencer, who built the home afterwards bought by the Maxwells, Shadrick Felton, Warren Davis who built the home later sold to Mr. Veal, J. M. DuPree, Mr. Battle, who built the home now owned by Morgan Chastain and Mr. Truluck, who had the only store. The seminary prospered for six or eight years, but gradually the families moved away, and the seminary lost its prestige. Mrs. Lee Veal taught the first music class. Many Montezuma citizens received early training in the Spaulding Seminary, which was about two miles from Montezuma.

MADISON

Danielsville. Danielsville, the county-seat of Madison County, was named for General Allen Dan- iel, a soldier of the Revolution and an officer of some note in the State militia. When the new County of Mad- ison was organized in 1811, General Daniel, who owned large interests in the neighborhood, donated the site for public buildings and helped to organize the first court. The town was incorporated by an Act approved Novem- ber 27, 1817, with Messrs. James Long, Willis Towns and Joseph Vincent as commissioners .* The Madison County Academy was chartered in 1811, when the county was first organized. Near Danielsville stands a famous land- mark of Presbyterianism in upper Georgia, known as New Hope Church, considerably more than a hundred years old. Dr. Crawford W. Long, the discoverer of sulphuric ether anaesthesia, was born in Danielsville, a fact in itself sufficient to give the town a deservedly high rank among the historic shrines of the world. Dr. Long's wonderful achievement marked a new epoch in the annals of medicine and made humanity his debtor until the end of time.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 66

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