Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 78

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

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The programme was initiated by an impressive invocation from Dr. J. A. Ivey, one of the oldest and best-known Baptist divines in the State. This was followed by a most charming address by the Dorothy Walton Chapter regent, Mrs. W. A. McLain, who in chaste language and impressive manner extended a most cordial welcome to all those who participated in the exercises. Mrs. McLain, who does all things well, acquitted herself in her usual successful manner. The audience then rendered "America," led by the school children of the hospitable little village of Herod. Miss Aphia Jackson gave as a reading the stirring defiance of Osceola in a very strik- ing manner. The salute to the flag given by the daughters was itself a striking feature, but perhaps the most beautiful picture of the occasion was when little Hildah Gumm and Lindah Harris removed from the mag- nificent boulder the flags which draped it. This was followed by the ad- dress of the State regent, Mrs. S. W. Foster, and those who know her wonderful capacity, her unlimited fund of information, and her graceful and forceful delivery, alone, could realize the treat received by the audience.

In a brief and appropriate manner Judge M. C. Edwards introduced the speaker of the day, Hon. Lucian L. Knight. Few orators have been pro- duced by the State of Georgia who surpass Mr. Knight on any occasion, but it seemed peculiar, that here, the time, the place, and the man had met, and his address proved to be a gem. It combined within itself the choicest thoughts which he had garnered as a trained reporter and erudite scholar, a profound thinker and a gentle poet expressed in the sublimest flights of the silver-tongued orator. Those who sat under the sway of his eloquence could almost see the village re-peopled with its vanished inhabitants. This was followed by "The Star Spangled Banner," and the exercises were closed by benediction by Rev. E. F. Morgan, pastor of the Dawson Metho- dist Church.

A large number attended from various places, and among the guests of honor were Hon. Lucian L. Knight and Mrs. S. W. Foster, of Atlanta; Messrs. T. C. Parker, Charles C. Holt and F. E. Land, of Macon; Mesdames George McDonald, R. L. Walker, S. D. Zuber and R. D. Gay, of Cuthbert ; Colonel and Mrs. R. F. Crittenden, of Shellman; Mrs. C. A. Fincher and Mrs. Frank Harold, of Americus, the Stone Castle Chapter of the D. A. R. and many others.

Charles W. Harris was in charge of the barbecue, and the delicious meat done to turn flanked by generous platters of Brunswick stew would have alone sufficed, but the table literally groaned under delicacies prepared by the daughters, which did furnish a menu equal to any Georgia product dinner.

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The magnificent pile of granite will be a constant reminder to youth who pass there, that this section is not barren of tradition and memories, and its erection by the victor to the conquered has been one of the most delightful events yet to occur in this section.

Mrs. W. A. MeLain entertained in honor of the guests at a 6 o'clock dinner at her palatial residence in Dawson. Appointments, decoration and cuisine were perfect, and the occasion was one of the most recherche of the year.

MRS. M. C. EDWARDS, Historian.

Only a paragraphı from the speaker's address can be given. Said he: "Madam Regent, it was a tender thought of your chapter to memorialize this village of a vanished race, and nothing could better typify the heroic virtues of the noble savage than this exquisite boulder of stone quarried from his own hills. It is also most appropriate, for the purposes of this unveiling, that you should have chosen a day in this beautiful season of the year, when the foliage of the trees is deepening into russet, emblematic of the dark-hued warriors who once roamed these woods; when the reddening sunsets recall his council fires; when the mellow musk bespeaks his harvest fields of maize; when the plaintive wind, like a wandering minstrel, tells the pathetic story of his con- quered tribe, or in a softer key, sings of his wooing in the golden moonlight by the winding waters; when the hazy air is reminiscent of his pipe of peace; and when the oaks and the maples are trembling in the soft vestments of Indian summer. We can think of him now without an un- kindly recollection. For, the icy touch of the frost king has softened the steel-like glitter of his eagle eye, and, on this autumn day, we can come to this place of his former abode, with tears for his fate and with laurels for his fame."

Judge James M. Griggs: His Monument.

One of the classics of the American Con- gress was a speech delivered in the national House of Representatives dur- ing the Spanish-American war period, by a distinguished former representative of this dis-

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trict : Hon. James M. Griggs. Brilliant as a statesman, just and impartial as a jurist, without reproach as a citizen, and fearless and upright as a man, Judge Griggs was beloved by all classes of the people, to whom unstintedly he gave the resources of his great mind. In the heart of his adopted town, where Stone- wall and Lee Streets intersect, there stands a superb memorial to Judge Griggs, reflecting the esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens. The memorial is admittedly a work of art. Upon a solid granite base rest two beautifully polished columns, surmounted by a cornice, on which is chiselled in large letters the name :

"GRIGGS" -

At either side, just over the flowered capitals, is a wreath of bronze. Between the pillars, on a solid block of stone, is a handsome bust of the late Congressman. This also is executed in bronze. It is a splendid like- ness, and taken in connection with its superb setting, it constitutes an exquisite memorial to one whose fame will ever be tenderly cherished by the people of Dawson. In- scribed upon a plate, on the west side of the monument, is the following epitaph :

To the memory of JAMES MATTHEWS GRIGGS, who represented with conspicuous ability and fidelity the Second District of Georgia in Congress, from March 4, 1897, to the date of his death, January 5, 1910, this memorial is erected in his home town by the people of the district. He loved and honored the people. They loved and honored him.

On the east side, in gilt letters, is chiselled this in- scription :

As great as the greatest ; as humble as the lowest.

At the unveiling, which occurred in the summer of 1913, Hon. Henry M. McIntosh, of Albany, Ga., a devoted

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friend, acted as master of ceremonies. Hon. William M. Howard, of Lexington, a colleague in Congress, to whom Judge Griggs was warmly attached, delivered a master- ful address in presenting to the Congressman's home town this beautiful monument which, on behalf of the community, was accepted by Hon. M. J. Yeomans, in a graceful speech, enriched with tender sentiment.

THOMAS

Thomasville. In 1825, Thomas County was formed from Baker and Decatur. Just one year later- December 22, 1826-on lot number thirty-nine, district thirteen, was located the new county-seat called Thomas- ville. Presumably both the town and the county-seat were named for General Jett Thomas, who built the old State-house at Milledgeville, though local traditions are not entirely in accord with this supposition. As pro- vided in the original Act of December 24, 1825, prelim- inary elections were held at the house of Charles Kings- ley. On December 26, 1831, the town was incorporated with the following-named commissioners, to-wit .: Isaac P. Brooks, Edward Remington, Malcolm Ferguson, ' James Kerksey and Murdock McAuley .* In 1856 a new charter was granted, providing for a mayor and six alder- men, with an increase of territory.

Under an Act approved December 24, 1825, Duncan Ray, Archibald McMillan, Paul Colson, Hardy Bryan and Malcolm Ferguson were appointed Commissioners of the Thomas County Academy, and the proceeds from the sale of town lots in Thomasville went to this board. A building was soon erected, and Mr. Cresman taught forty (40) pu- pils at the corner of Madison and Monroe Streets. He was succeeded by Mr. Rolph, who boarded with Colonel Mike Young, and taught until 1837.

*Acts, 1831, p. 237.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Next year Mr. Scott, who boarded with Mrs. McLean, taught in the new building, corner of Broad and Monroe Streets. January, 1838, the old building was renovated, and the upstairs converted into a music room, with Mrs. Metzler and Miss Sophia Metzler teaching the girls, Mr. Scott still teaching the boys, in the new building.

In 1835, the prominent residents of Thomasville were Messrs. Ed. Remington, Isaac Brooks, James and Will- iam Kerksey and Dr. Gauley. Mr. James Kerksey had the first store, on corner of Broad and Jefferson Streets. Prior to 1840, among the prominent families in Thomas County were the Neelys, Blackshears, Youngs, Jones, Hayes, Rays, Hadleys, Dixons, Parramores, Adams, Mc- Maths, Bryans, Dekles, Chastains, Hancocks, Singletarys, Cones, McCanns, Wards, Hartwells, Mitchells and Mac- Intyres. Prominent Congressmen who have resided at Thomasville were James L. Seward, Peter E. Love, A. T. MacIntyre and S. A. Roddenbery. Among the most dis- tinguished jurists and lawyers have been J. R. Alexander, August H. Hansell, William M. Hammond, A. T. Mac- Intyre, Jr., and Arthur Patten.

Fletcher Institute, a school founded by the Methodists, was chartered on February 9, 1854. Young's Female College was granted a charter on December 17, 1860. The trustees of the latter school were: Thomas Jones, James J. Hays, James L. Seward, Augustin H. Hansell, William J. Young, A. T. Macintyre and David S. Bran- don .* This institution grew out of the philanthropy of Elijah R. Young, who left the sum of $30,000 with which to start a school for the education of girls. From 1875 to 1900, Thomasville was a prominent winter resort, but the Piney Woods Hotel was burned, and the transient tourists lost to the city. However, a few still occupy during the winter excellent homes in the vicinity of Thomasville.

*Acts, 1860, p. 176.

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Senator-Elect Georgia's new Senator-elect, Hon. Thomas

Hardwick. W. Hardwick, was born in Thomasville, Ga., on December 9, 1872; and though he has since spent the greater part of his life elsewhere, Thomasville has always felt a deep maternal pride in his public honors.

Roddenberry Park. During the last week in July, 1914, an appropriation of $5,000 was made by Congress for an additional purchase of ground, adja- cent to the post-office building in Thomasville, this ex- tension to be known as Roddenbery Park, in honor of the late Hon. S. A. Roddenbery, Congressman from the Second District. It was a departure from long-estab- lished custom to pay a tribute of this kind to a deceased member of Congress; but such was the esteem in which the lamented Georgian was held by his associates, irre- spective of party affiliations, that no serious opposition was registered. Judge Roddenbery was a tower of strength in the cause of temperance, giving it the advo- cacy of a most intense moral earnestness. He was at all times and under all circumstances a staunch friend of the common people, whose burdens he carried upon his drooping shoulders to the very last; and even when the sands of life were running low he refused to take a much- needed rest, remaining at his post of duty like the senti- nel of Herculaneum. He was a foe without truce or com- promise to whatever bore the semblance of graft; a legis- lator who scorned to reckon with expediency when Con- science said, "It is wrong;" and a man whose worst enemy could not speak of him except in terms of unquali- fied respect.

The Le Conte Pear. It was in the neighborhood of Thom- asville that the famous Le Conte pear was first cultivated on a scale which began to attract the attention of fruit growers in other parts of the world.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

Colonel L. L. Varnadoe, a native of Liberty County, Ga., purchased a plantation near Thomasville at the close of the Civil War, and on removing to this plantation he brought with him a cutting from one of the pear trees, called a Chinese Sand Pear, on which John Le Conte had been experimenting. Colonel Varnadoe's success was phenomenal, and from this one cutting has come a yield whose value and extent defies the mathematician. Judge John L. Harden, of Savannah, a kinsman of the Le Contes, is quoted by the late Dr. Stacy, of Newnan, on the subject of the Le Conte pear, to the following effect :

"In 1850 my great uncle, John LeConte, purchased from Thomas Hogg, a nurseryman of New York, a small pear tree. He was told by Mr. Hogg that the fruit was of inferior quality, and fit only for pre- serving; that it would not mature its fruit so far north as New York, but that it might do so in the South; that it was the Chinese Sand Pear. The tree was given to my mother, and when it grew large enough it pro- duced fruit which, to our surprise, was of excellent quality. 'The original tree in forty-five years old, 1895, and is still productive and vigorous, although sadly neglected. It has borne twenty bushels in one year, after allowing for what may have been stolen."

At the close of the late war, the people of Liberty County were in straightened circumstances, and quite a number of them emigrated to southwestern Georgia. Among them was Colonel Leander L. Varnadoe, a native of the County and a member of the old church. Upon the sug- gestion of his uncle, Mr. William Jones, that the tree might be propa- gated from the cutting, and that the fruit might be profitably raised in the section whither he had moved, Colonel Varnadoe secured quite a number of cuttings and took them with him and planted them at his home near Thomasville. He was soon delighted to see that the idea was a happy one, and to find himself the owner of an orchard of vigorous trees, yielding abundantly of luscious fruit for the market. Cuttings were soon in great demand; and from this little beginning the whole Southern country has been covered with Le Conte pear trees. Many have made not only livings, but even fortunes, by investing in them.

To give some idea of the impoverished condition of our people at the close of the war and to show what a happy hit was the idea of promoting the cultivation of this pear from cuttings, I narrate the following incident : On the return of Colonel Varnadoe from the war, it is said that his first bill of fare was so meagre and uninviting that he jocosely remarked to his wife:

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"Annie, if you can, you may do so, but I cannot say grace over such a dinner."

Some few years after his removal to Thomasville, he was offered $10,000 cash for his pear farm, which he very wisely refused. The old mother tree, from which the millions now in cultivation throughout the South- land have sprung, was seen by the writer some time ago. It is sixty inches in circumference, and twenty-four feet in height. Until recent years it has shown no symptoms of blight. Such a tree is not only worthy of mention but deserves a conspicuous place in a collection like this .*

Two Great Law- Stephen F. Miller, in his Bench and

yers Vanquished. Bar of Georgia, narrates the following story of a lawyer who once practiced at the Thomasville bar :

"Some years ago a very romantic story was circulated in the news- papers, in which Mr. [John] Taylor [formerly a lawyer of Thomasville], was the leading hero. The seene was laid in Arkansas. It appears that a rich planter had insulted the wife of his overseer. She made it known to her husband, who took the liberty of caning his employer on sight. The planter some days afterwards shot the overseer, killing him instantly. He was prosecuted, but his money saved him from conviction. In the meantime he had spoken slanderous words concerning the widow, who brought her action for damages. The day of trial arrived. Sargent S. Prentiss and Albert Pike appeared as counsel for the defendant. The case was called in regular order; and such was the array of influence, the great wealth of the defendant, the ability of his lawyers, and the humble condition of the plaintiff, that even the young attorney who brought the action shrank from it and abandoned his client to her fate. The jury sounded the case again; and, no one responding, he appealed to the gal- lantry of the bar. There was walking in the lobby of the court-room a slender, woebegone-looking personage, with a high forehead, pensive features, thin, compressed lips and wandering blue eyes-his visage of sandy complexion. He heard the appeal, and advancing within the bar modestly informed the court that he would represent the plaintiff. All eyes were turned on the stranger. No one knew him.

"This was a perplexing moment. The judge remarked that no gentle- man could be permitted to act as counsel without a commission. The stranger drew from his pocket divers pieces of parchment bearing signa- tures and court seals from Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkan- sas, Texas and possibly from other States, conferring on John Taylor

*James Stacy, in History of the Midway Congregational Church.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

the privilege of counsellor, attorney at law, and solicitor. His name was then entered on the docket, and, asking a short indulgence, he found some one who kindly gave him the names of the witnesses, and they an- swered to the call. He opened the case by reading the declaration and proving the words. He said but very little more, and gave way to the defence. Prentiss made one of his fine speeches, expended his wit freely, and also aimed a sneer at the plaintiff's counsel, whom he described as a reckless adventurer, unable to live by his profession in any of the States in which he had been incautiously licensed.

"The learned Pike, with the garlands of poetry on his brow, rose to continue the argument of his friend Prentiss. The character of the plain- tiff was denounced. The obscure attorney who had volunteered services came in for a share of his piercing wit and mischievous humor. Here the speaking for the defence closed with a flourish of exultation.

John Taylor stood before the jury. With his elear, piping voice, dis- tinct in every syllable and full of feeling and intellect, he took up the evidence, applied the law, and then made himself known. He ridiculed the false wit and vulgar impudence of the opposing counsel, until even the, gallant Prentiss and the manly Pike felt themselves as children in the hands of a giant. Court, jury, spectators, bar-all gazed with wonder. Taylor rose higher and higher in his flights, until the audience was fairly spellbound. He saw his advantage, knew his powers, and felt that the jury would give the full damages claimed in the declaration. He then turned to the spectators, who were much excited, and implored them not to lay violent hands on the defendant-not to ride him on a rail. They mist forbear doing what justice prompted on the occasion. Fifty thousand dollars would be some punishment to a creature so sordid. Let him .ive to endure the scorn of honest men. The jury retired, and soon brought in a verdict for fifty thousand dollars! Taylor was immortal. The author does not vouch for the correctness of this story, but, from his own knowledge of Mr. Taylor and the inspiration under which he often spoke, he is in- clined to believe it. This extraordinary man practiced law for several years in southern Georgia. He would have electrified even the Senate of the United States .*

Boston. Boston, an enterprising town of South Georgia, the rapid growth of which in recent years has kept well abreast with the development of this section, was char- tered by an Act of the Legislature, approved October 24, 1870, designating Thomas Adams, B. A. Stone, A. B. Carson, J. Long and J. J. Hatchell to serve as commis- sioners pending an election to be held on the second

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

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Monday in June, 1872. The corporate limits were made to embrace one mile square with the depot of the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad as the town center.1 To meet the demands of growth, an Act was subsequently passed by the Legislature amending the old charter and giving the town a municipal form of government. On October 14, 1891, a charter was granted to the Boston and Albany Railroad, the stockholders of which were : M. R. Mallette, J. W. Taylor, D. R. Blood, A. B. Cone, W. M. Brooks, T. T. Stephens, E. R. Whaley, J. C. Stanaland, J. S. Norton, H. A. Vann, and F. C. Ivey.2 The present public school system of Boston was established in 1891.

TIFT

Tifton. Tifton, the county-seat of Tift, began to exist in 1857 with the erection of a saw-mill on the site of the present town by Captain H. H. Tift. The subsequent history of this wide-awake young metropolis of the wire grass, which, in 1905, acquired its new honors as a county seat, has already been fully outlined in Volume I, to which the reader is referred.

TOOMBS

Lyons. In 1905 the County of Toombs was formed out of Tattnall, Montgomery and Emanuel Counties, and under this same Act Lyons was made the new county- seat. The town was chartered with a municipal form of government in 1897, but was founded a number of years prior to this time by Mr. H. C. Bagley, who here located a station on the old S. A. M. Railway, along the line of which he was then engaged in developing town sites at strategic points.

1 Acts, 1870, p. 169.

2 Acts, 1890-1891, Vol. I, p. 441.

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GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS AND LEGENDS

TOWNS

Hiawassee. Hiawassee, the county-seat of Towns, was named for the picturesque river upon whose banks it is most charmingly situated. In 1856, when the County of Towns was formed out of Union and Rabun Counties, in this enchanted land of the mountains, Hia- wassee was made the new county-seat. The town was incorporated on October 24, 1870, with the following- named commissioners, to-wit .: William T. Crane, A. M. Maulden, R. A. Brown and Dr. P. W. Rillion .* In 1857, a charter was granted for the Hiawassee Railroad Com- pany to run from some point in the County of Rabun, at or near the town of Clayton, there to connect with the Northeastern Railroad; thence running down the valley of the Little Hightower, through Towns, Union and Fannin counties to the Tennessee line, in the direc- tion of the Ducktown copper mines. But this charter failed to materialize into a steel highway, due to the on- coming of the Civil War.

Recollections of Gov. Towns. Governor Towns was a Chesterfield in his address. Nothing could exceed the suavity of his disposition and the ease of his manner. He was truly a refined man, courteous and unpretending with the plain, and diplomatic with the precise; it was constitutional, therefore pleasant to all. He had a friendly word and a kind recognition for each individual. His manner claimed no superiority over other men, and yet it signified that he was good as any of them He never appeared upon stilts, nor did he forget his self- respect in his most careless moods. At the bar his rank was decidedly high as an advocate. He possessed all the requisites of an orator to control the jury. In its subdued tones his voice was like plaintive music. The in- tonations were faultless. His language, at such times, was the poetry of emotion ; his gestures adapted themselves, without consciousness on his part, to the circumstances of the case. The human heart was an open thing to him. He could play upon it in smiles or in tears, with almost the skill of Patrick Henry; yet he lacked the thunderbolts of that Jove of eloquence, to rival the grandeur of the storm. With these elements of

*Acts, 1870, p. 204.

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TROUP

success, ripened into maturity by practice and established in many a con- test, Governor Towns had before him as inviting a prospect as ever al- lured the imagination. There had been a Forsyth, with his fluent simplic- ity and his inimitable sneer; a Berrien, with his music of phrase and his classic gestures; a Wilde, polished in diction and lofty in thought; a Colquitt, with his arrows of eloquence, barbed for the rhinocerous or soft- ened for the hare; yet it was the prestige of Governor Towns to differ from them all-perhaps to excel them all-in the spontaneous gushings of the heart, in the electric sympathy. which, kindling with the orator 's emotion, blazed in every bosom-court, jury, bar, audience, all melted, all subdued, by the occasion. Such was the man and such the prospect, when he retired from the executive chair, in 1851. But a few months revolve; then suddenly the scene is changed; the tongue of the orator is palsied; his frame a hopeless wreck .*

TROUP

La Grange. In 1826, Troup County was organized out of a part of the recently acquired Creek In- dian lands and named for Governor George M. Troup, the stalwart chief executive who forced the Federal gov- ernment to redeem its obligation to the State, with ref- erence to the Indian tribes. LaGrange, the county-seat of Troup, was named for the chateau of General Lafay- ette in France. The town was granted a charter of in- corporation on December 16, 1828, with the following- named commissioners, to-wit .: Richard A. Lane, James Simmons, John Herring, Dowe Perry, and Howell W. Jenkins. But the old Troup County Academy was char- tered a year earlier. On December 26, 1827, this pioneer school was incorporated with Messrs. Samuel Reid, Rich- ard A. Lane, Whitfield H. Sledge, Henry Rogers and Charles L. Kennon as trustees.

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Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II, Part 78

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