Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 71

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

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*Acts, 1851-1852, p. 313.

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Covington's Ante- If one is fond of contrast let him ride from Atlan- Bellum Homes .* ta to Covington and back again the same afternoon. Atlanta, our young and marvelous city of magic; our farewell to the past, our card to the future. Covington, of the ancient regime; far, far older; a fine old lady, sitting serenely in her old bro- cade, with a smile of contentment, viewing unmoved the passings years. Some clever analyst once said that the architecture of a section is the only perfect and accurate history of its past; it cannot lie. The splendid old homes of Covington, which have been so perfectly preserved, tell the story of the refined and advanced civilization that once obtained there, making it one of the most aristocratic social and political centers of Georgia. Ox- ford College is only two miles away, and the proximity of this seat of learning naturally gave Covington an atmosphere of culture. Crossing the square and passing out Floyd Street you come to the home of Carey Wood, who, in company with three other adventurous pioneers, was the first settler of Covington, then backwoods, or a mere crossroads on the public highway leading to Augusta. This house, so perfectly preserved with its dignified white columns, and fine air of conservative dignity, so simple yet so suitable, was, as originally built, the first frame house erected in Coving- ton. The first four rooms of this pioneer house, two above and two below, are still a part of this old dwelling as it now stands. They were added to from time to time until long before the war the domicile achieved its present form, since when it has remained unaltered.

Carey Wood and his descendants were a large part of old Covington. His two daughters, Laura and Pauline, married two brothers, Colonel Robert Henderson, who was made a general on the battlefield as he was dying, and Colonel Jack Henderson, both of the Confederate army. An- other of his daughters, Mary Jane, married Ozborn T. Rogers and resided in a splendid old Georgia mansion. General Robert Henderson lived subse- quently in the old Cary Wood homestead, which is now the residence of Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Swann. Two of General Henderson's daughters reared in this old house, Mrs. Lod Hill, of Atlanta, and Mrs. E. Y. Hill, of Washington, Wilkes County, are prominent women well known throughout the State. Robert R. Wood, of Atlanta, is a grandson of Carey Wood. Mrs. Louise Green, the well-known artist of Atlanta, is his granddaughter, and his daughter, Mrs. Ozborn T. Rogers, of the famous old Rogers house, now lives in Decatur. Carey Wood married a Miss Billups, of South Caro- lina, and coming to her husband's home in Georgia, she brought the nurse of her childhood with her as a body servant. At the time of this old negro's death, fifty of her descendants, none of whom had ever been sold, were owned by Carey Wood, and maintained either in his or his children's home, in addition to which he had many other slaves.

Further out Floyd Street, adjoining the old Wood place, is the former home of Judge John Floyd, one of the foremost citizens of Covington. This

* Article written by Mrs. Thad Horton, of Atlanta.

THE CRADLE OF EMORY COLLEGE: Home of the Late Col. W. W. Clark, Covington, Ga., Including Part of the Old Normal School Established by Dr. Olin.

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beautiful old house has its colonnade at the very edge of the sidewalk, and a view looking towards the square with the fluted columns of this old home on one side and the green odur hanging trees on the other is so pictur- esque that it deserves to be perpetuated. Just across from the Floyd house is the old Usher residence, now the home of Jack Henderson, a son of . Robert Henderson. Jack Henderson married Miss Usher, whose father built this beautiful old residence.

The best built and the most archtectural of the many old homes of Covington is the old Rogers: mansion, now the residence of Mrs. Joseph Wright, formerly the well-known Miss Corrie Carr. This splendid old brick house, which would be a credit to any city, was built by Colonel Thomas Jones, the father of Colonel Thomas Floyd Jones, of South Georgia. Originally the tract comprised fifty-five acres. A spacious lawn surrounded the house, there being no neighbors on either side, as there are now .. The picturesque old English-looking residence stood on a noble eminence with its well designed loggia, overlooking the town. A high open brick wall surrounded the house garden, which was laid out in formal flower beds. These beds were surrounded by a boxwood hedge, planted by Mrs. Rogers herself, now a venerable lady of 82, who tells me that some forty years ago this hedge had grown to be waist high. The old walls and box- wood hedges have all been moved away; neighbors have established them, selves to the right and left, but the fine old house still overlooks the city from its splendid eminence. The brick used in its building are said to have cost $10,000, for all the interior walls are of solid masonry. But shortly after the war, the old house with its surrounding acres were sold for the meager sum of $3,800.

The most picturesque home in Covington is decidedly the old Neal homestead. It was sold many years ago to David Spence, whose daughter, Mrs. Sheppard, inherited the place, and whose family now resides there. This most typical and picturesque old home, with its outside chimneys and noble Grecian portico, was built by McCormick Neal, the brother of the late T. B. Neal, of Atlanta, the brother, also, of the late Mrs. Pitt- man, the late Mr. Keely and of Mrs. E. H. Thornton. The beautiful old cedar trees and boxwood hedges were planted by Mrs. Neal herself many years ago. She has many descendants and relatives in Atlanta, among them Mrs. Emma Neal Douglas, whose recent work among the convicts of the Federal prison have endeared her to all benevolent people.

On ringing the doorbell to ask permission to take a photograph of the old place, I was invited to enter, which gave me an opportunity to study the plan of the house and see the woodwork, which is always a most interesting feature of old ante-bellum houses. The woodwork is of white and gold, the mantel in the quaint old drawing room one of the most charming colonial designs I have ever seen, and worthy of reproduction in the finest latter-day mansions.

Most of the old homes in Covington are in a state of splendid preser- vation and in perfect repair. Indeed the spirit of repair pervades the town;

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the old Bob Wood place was being done over inside and out, and the old Rogers or Wight home was in the hands of interior decorators. But every now and then I came upon some beautiful old welling gray with time, and these were by far the most interesting and romantic of all. One of . these was on the corner just above the old Neal residence. A mass of crimson crepe myrtle flaunted itself against a background of antique white clapboards. The gardens to the front and to the side and the rear were mellow with age, and seemed to have been undisturbed for years by a single footfall. Moss and lichens and pretty tender weeds grew everywhere. It was, I ascertained, the home of Mrs. Virginia Usher Camp, the widow of Septimus Camp, who died a few months after his marriage, leaving his bride this beautiful old home, where she has continued to reside entirely alone for the last fifty years. No wonder the garden . seemed undisturbed, with only her light footfall passing through there. Mrs. Camp showed us through her home, and gave us as souvenir the published scores of some songs of her own composition. Later we had water from her picturesque and moss-grown old well. Although Mrs. Camp has owned this place for fifty years, it has an even more ancient history, having been for a generation earlier than its purchase by Septimus Camp the home of the well-known Batts family, of Georgia. The daughter of the house, Miss Adelaide Batts, married E. W. Marsh, then one of the merchant princes of Atlanta. Her children, McAllen (Batts) Marsh and Mrs. Green Adair, still reside here.

It is hard to say which was the most charming, the ride to Covington or the ride home again. Perhaps the latter-we had so many things to think of. As we sped along, the dusk began to thicken. In an incred- ibly short time we were speeding through the cool moist air of Druid Hills; next we were home. But though we were back again, the glamour was still upon us-the glamour of the old South.

Henry Ivy: Revolu- Henry Ivy, or Ivey, perhaps a South tionary Soldier.

Carolinian by birth, was a soldier in Washington's army at Valley Forge, but he moved into Newton with his family, in- cluding two sons, soon after the county was opened to settlement. He died before the day of pensions, carrying to his grave the marks of his warfare, espe- cially during the bleak winter at Valley Forge. His death occurred in 1839 or 1840, at the age of four-score years. With his wife, who preceded him to the grave,

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he is buried at Red Oak Cemetery, eleven miles south of Covington. Like many of his patriotic comardes, he went to his last resting-place, "unknown, unhonored and unsung," but in the sky above him waves the starry emblem for which he fought, symbolizing the greatest power on earth.

Pioneer Temper- During the early days of Newton County it was quite ance Movement. the fashion to partake of fiery intoxicants. Every household had its decanter of spirituous liquors. If a neighbor came in, even before breakfast, he was invited to take a social drink, and he seldom refused. Between the years 1824 and 1826 the first move in the direction of temperance was' inaugurated by the adoption of what is still remembered by some of the older generation as the Washing- ton pledge. Temperance organizations were formed throughout the country, in the constitutions of which this pledge was embodied; and the effect upon the local population was marked. At the old Red Oak Methodist Church, Dr. Alexander Means, of venerated memory, delivered a lecture on temper- ance, the impression produced by which upon the popular mind was most profound. As a result there was formed a small temperance society, the members of which abandoned the use of alcoholic stimulants, except for medicinal purposes; removed their decanters from the bureaus and side- boards and taught their children "to touch not, taste not, handle not the unclean thing."

The Indian Fishery. In the southern part of Newton County, near the junction of South and Yellow Rivers, there is a famous shoal called "The Indian Fishery. " It acquired this name from the fact that large numbers of Indians camped here at one time to trade and to fish. The savages gathered for this purpose in the early spring, because at this season a great many salt-water fish called shad came up to the shoal. These were very fine fish, weighing from two to four pounds each. But shad no longer abound in the stream at this point.

Pioneer Industries of Newton. Captain John Webb, in association with a Mr. White, built the first cotton mill in the County of Newton. It was erected on the Alcova River, about ten miles south of Covington. Some time later this co-partnership was dissolved, after which Mr. White built a cotton mill a short distance

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down the same stream. At both places flour mills, with quite a large capac- ity, were also erected. During the Civil War, White's mill was burned by the Federals. Webb's mill was destroyed by fire at a much later period.

Porterdale. Three miles southwest of Covington, at Porterdale, are located the largest cordage mills in the world. In 1868 Colonel E. Steadman bought 1,012 acres on and around the site now occu- pied by this great establishment. He included in his purchase a section of Yellow River, at a point on which, then known as Cedar Shoals, he established a township called Steadman. Here he afterwards erected a mill known as the Cedar Shoals Factory, where cotton and woollen fabrics were both manufactured. This plant was operated by Mr. Steadman for years, after which he sold the property to the late O. S. Porter, Esq., who converted the same into a mill for the manufacture of twine; and later formed a combination with the Bibb Manufacturing Company, out' of which grew the famous Porterdale Mills. The town of Steadman has given place to Porterdale, Ga., a town of 1,500 inhabitants, and the terminus of a branch line of the Central Railroad.

Mr. G. C. Adam's In 1893, Mr. G. C. Adams, County School Com- Fine Work. missioner of Newton, introduced in the rural dis- tricts of this county an innovation which has since met with almost universal adoption, viz., the free transportation of school children to the rural schools of the district. His modest experiments marked the beginning of the present transportation system now in operation through- out the United States. Nor has the progress of this reform movement been restricted to this side of the Atlantic Ocean. It has spread even to Eng- land, where the periodicals' have published full accounts of the system, with detailed maps of Newton County, including the various routes. In 1894 Mr. Adams also organized the Boys' Corn Club in the South. His object was to encourage the boys to remain on the farms, by developing a whole- some spirit of rivalry among them. This movement was at once adopted by all the Southern States, and today the number of workers enlisted in this crusade for the betterment of farm life in the South reaches far up into the hundreds of thousands.

Newton's Window at At the State Capitol, in Atlanta, there is a the State Capitol. leaded window put there by the citizens of Newton County in 1895, the year of the Cotton States and International Exposition. Instead of having the regulation dis- play, the citizens placed this window in the Georgia building and after-

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wards, through the co-operation of Hon. L. F. Livingston and Captain John Milledge, it was placed in the library of the State Capitol, where it de- picts the marvelous resources of Newton. The central panel, portraying the county's water powers, was the gift of the Bibb Manufacturing Com- pany, of Porterdale, Ga.

Rev. A. C. Mixon : Much of the information contained in this work Newton's relative to Newton County has been furnished by oldest Resident. a gentleman, now in his ninety-fourth year, who has been a resident of the county since his earliest infancy: Rev. A. C. Mixon. The home of this revered patriarch is at Mixon, twelve miles south of Covington. His father bought a tract of land in this section of the county when there were no roads in this part of Georgia-nothing but Indian trails; and here, on what was then the frontier belt of the wilderness, exposed to the danger of savage attacks, Mr. Mixon was born in 1821. President Jefferson and Emperor Napoleon were still alive-the former an old man at his country home in Virginia, the latter a prisoner on the Isle of St. Helena. Mr. Mixon is the oldest living graduate of Emory College, and the oldest resident of Newton County ; but his eye is still bright, his step elastic, and his memory of past events as clear as a crystal morning. He is a splendid talker, a man of varied and wide information, and a most genial gentleman. Because he has kept his heart pure, he finds the evening of his life serene; and may his golden twilight linger long.

Col. Alfred Living- Colonel Alfred Livingston was one of the most ston : His Escape noted men of Newton. He reached a phenom- From the Indians. enal age, somewhere up in the nineties, and reared a son who represented his district in Congress for twenty consecutive years. There were many incidents of a most dramatic character in the long pilgrimage of Colonel Livingston, but nothing to surpass his wonderful escape from the Indians, when a lad. As told by one conversant with the facts, the story runs as follows: On the border of Taliaferro County, touching Greene, there lived in the pioneer days of our country a little family consisting of three members, father, mother and son, who were fighting hard to exist, with the odds heavily against them. Many were the hardships and dangers to which they were exposed on the perilous belt of the frontier. Indian tribes were all around them, and they were most hostile to these struggling settlers.

One day the father was called away from home on business which re- quired his absence for several days, and his final word of warning was:

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'.Be careful of the Indians, and be ready for an attack at any moment." The first day passed without incident, and as the shadows lengthened mother and son began to make ready for the night. The rude home was provided with cumbersome doors and shutters, but these were made fast. Strange to say, the only weapon in the cabin with which to repel a hostile visit was an axe, but this was made sharp in case of need. With every precaution taken, they prepared to retire. But no sleep awaited them, for the watch- ful Indians had seen the husband and father leave his little home early that morning, and they knew that now was the hour for attack, hoping to count two scalps' in their belt before midnight. As mother and son sat around the little hearthstone, suddenly a wierd scream pierced the stillness of the onter world, and both knew that in a few moments the house would be surrounded by the fierce men of the forest.

Impelled by a sudden impulse the mother seized the axe and stationed herself at the window, while the lad, armed with a cudgel, stood guard at the door. The Indians, with a war-whoop, began to surround the little cabin. The first point of attack was the door, but this was securely fastened, and foiled here, they next addressed themselves to the rudely shuttered window. At a single stroke the frail protection fell to the floor, and a warlike Indian thrust' his head through the opening. The mother aimed well with her axe, and the head of the savage intruder was severed from his body. The other Indians were greatly enraged. When the limp body fell to the ground outside a second Indian thrust his head in, and quickly he, too, fell to the ground in a lump beside his comrades.

Three times with unerring stroke did this brave woman fight for her offspring, and when the third body fell to the ground outside the survivors decided to attack the house by a descent through the chimney. One of the redskins clambered on the roof and swung himself down into the little room. But the mother was alert, and with one well-aimed blow the fourth victim was sent to a bloody death. Only one other redskin remained. When his companion failed to return, he became terrified and fled. All night the inmates of the cabin watched and waited, expecting a return of the enemy at any moment. But the night dragged slowly away without further incident, and dawn's first rays of light found the watchers ready to perform the gruesome task of burying the dead. The mother decided to make a large fire from the accumulated brush around the house, hoping thereby to deceive the Indians, but when the savages approached near enough to perceive the ruse they became infuriated, and rushing upon the helpless woman scalped her.

Though in mortal pain, she possessed sufficient presence of mind to show no signs of life, until the Indians finally left her for dead. At last when she could hear no sounds from the redskins she arose and started back to the cabin, her only thought being her boy. She had not dragged herself far before she saw her husband returning, but ere he reached her she fell to the ground in a fainting condition. The distracted husband bore

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her tenderly into the house, where she breathed her last in a very short while. The lad, who had gone in search of his father, returned just in time to see his mother's eyes close in death. This son was Alfred Livingston. Removing to Newton County years afterwards he bought property in the western part of the county, calling the place at which he settled Bethany, in honor of the historic old church in Taliaferro County, to which his family belonged before he came to Newton.

Oxford. Oxford, the seat of Emory College, came into existence with the great school of Methodism which was here located in the mid-thirties, bringing to this little college town some of Georgia's best families. It was incorporated as a town on December 23, 1839, with the following-named commissioners, to-wit .: Rich- ard L. Sims, Ignatius A. Few, Samuel J. Bryan, Acche- laus H. Mitchell, Harmon Lamar and James H. Bryan.1 The Oxford Female Academy was incorporated on De- cember 19, 1840, with the following board of trustees: James O. Andrew, William Capers, Augustus B. Long- street, Samuel J. Bryan, Richard L. Sims, William H. Mell and George Lane.2

Some of the most distinguished men of the State have been residents of Oxford. The list includes: Bishop George F. Pierce, one of the greatest orators of the American pulpit; Judge Augustus B. Longstreet, author of "Georgia Scenes;" Justice L. Q. C. Lamar, a son- in-law of Judge Longstreet, afterwards a member of Congress, a United States Senator, a Cabinet officer under President Cleveland, and an occupant of the United States Supreme Court Bench; Bishop Atticus G. Hay- good, theologian, educator, author and administrator; Bishop James O. Andrew, first Bishop of the M. E. Church, South; Dr. Ignatius A. Few, a noted pioneer edu- cator and divine: Dr. Alexander Means, an eminent

1 Acts, 1839, p. 80.

2 Acts, p. 7.

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scholar, poet and man of science; Dr. Isaac S. Hopkins, afterwards president of the Georgia School of Technol- ogy; Bishop Warren A. Candler, one of the founders of the great Methodist University which bears his family name, and to the chancellorship of which he was called; Hon. Robert U. Hardeman, former State Treasurer of Georgia, and a host of others.

Justice Perhaps the most illustrious graduate of Emory Col- L. Q. C. Lamar. College was the renowned jurist and statesman: L. Q. C. Lamar. Entering the freshman class in 1841, he received his diploma in 1845. Some few years later he married Virginia Longstreet, the beautiful daughter of the president, and when Judge Long- street removed to Mississippi to become the head of the new university, he soon followed, to spend the remainder of his life in his adopted State. He became a member of Congress, an envoy to Europe, on behalf of the Confederate government, during the Civil War, a Senator of the United States, a member of the Cabinet of President Cleveland, under the latter's first administration, and finally an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. But he never ceased to love Georgia. Throughout his whole life, he remained loyal to Emory, and nothing delighted him more than to recount the recollections of his long sojourn of four years at Ox- ford. In the commencement address which he delivered in the summer of 1870, before the alumni of the college, he paid the following beautiful tribute to the old town. Said he:

"No spot on earth has so helped to form and make me what I am as this town of Oxford. It was here, in the church which stands a little further up the street that I became fully impressed with the value and peril of my soul, and was led to pour out my contrite confessions. It was in yonder building, which now seems so deserted, that I became conscious of power. It was here, in the Phi Gamma Society, that I received my training as a debater. I see before me now many who wrestled with me in the arena of argument. There sits a man who was one of the first-he was, indeed, actually the second-to suggest that I had powers within me to stir men's hearts and to convince the reason. Wesley Hughes was the first. I know not where he is, but I send to him my greetings wherever he may be. There sits the venerable man who, when I delivered by gradu- ating address, in approval of its sentiments, placed his hand upon my head and gave me his blessing. There is another old man who sat at the very fountain head of my mind, and with loving hand directed the channel in which it was required to flow and who. when I arrived at manhood, gave

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me my betrothed bride, who has ever since held the choicest place in my affections and made my life one constant song of joy."

Zora Fair : A Heroine of the Civil War. Still fragrant in the memory of the town of Oxford is the daring exploit of a beautiful South Carolina girl, who refugeed to this re- mote Georgia village during the Civil War. Her name was Zora Fair. She was living with an uncle, Mr. Abram Crews, in the famous old city of Charleston, when the latter was detailed by the Confederate government to run the blockade to Europe. Before embarking upon this perilous enterprise, he sought to find a safe retreat for his family, and, having friends in the little village of Oxford, he brought them hither, and with the other members of his household came Zora Fair. She was a frail slip of a girl, but she came of courageous stock, with wonderful powers of endurance, as events were to prove, and with a spirit as brave as ever animated the maid of Orleans. The story is too long to be told in this connection, but those who wish to read an account of this brave girl's heroism can find it in "Grandmother Stories,"* a charming little book written by Mrs. Howard Meriwether Lovett, of Augusta. It is enough for present purposes to say here that, disguising herself as a mulatto negress, she crossed the Yellow River, on a partially destroyed mill dam, and made her way on foot to Atlanta, where, passing the enemy's lines, she gained access to General Sherman's headquarters, possessed herself of certain secrets pertaining to the Federal plan of campaign; and, narrowly escaping death under fire of a sentinel's gun, she returned with blistered feet to Oxford, from which place she sought to communicate by letter with Gen- eral Joseph E. Johnston, then at Lincolnton, N. C. But, unfortunately, the brave girl's' message fell into the hands of the Federals. Troops were sent to Oxford to effect her capture, but she remained in hiding until danger was well past. If the letter had reached General Johnston there might have been a different story for the historians to tell. This daring exploit orig- inated in the fertile brain of the young girl herself. She undertook its bold and hazardous evecution without help; and though it failed of suc- ces's, it proclaimed her a brave and fearless girl, possessed of the spirit of the true heroine; and her name deserves to be embalmed for all time to come in the grateful affections of her beloved Southland.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 71

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