USA > Georgia > Greene County > History of Greene County, Georgia, 1786-1886 > Part 13
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EARLY MANUFACTURERS
Now that Greene County was out of the hard pioneer days and striding ahead. She was producing more cotton than any county in the state. She had some factories built. Some of these were: Barber and Davis, who made clocks, three cotton mills, several wagon shops, cotton gins, blacksmith, silversmith and other minor factories.
COTTON GINS
Eli Whitney born in 1765 graduated from Yale at 27 years of age went South to tutor, but on arriving found that the job had been filled. He was invited to Mulberry Grove by the widow Mrs. Nathaniel Greene and while there he invented the crude cot- ton gin which was a revolving drum which dragged cotton through a sieve of wire. The seeds remained behind and a re- volving brush swept them into a container. The machine was turned with a hand crank and it could clean as much cotton in one hour as several men could clean all day.
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Whitney's cotton gin changed American history and helped to bring on a terrible war. Before the cotton gin, slavery had been slowly dying out in the South and plantation owners were talking about freeing their slaves, but not more cotton could be grown and more slaves were bought to supply the labor, and the ships waiting in the harbors for the fleecy staple were loaded.
After several years Whitney went to New Haven, Conn. and established a gun and pistol factory and supplied the North with the weapons which defeated the South. Thus one man un- knowingly changed the history of a country.
Miller and Whitney's patent, or exclusive right to manu- facture cotton gins was issued by Congress, and not by the state of Georgia. When it expired in 1807, the Georgia Legis- lature sent a strong protest against renewing or giving Miller and Whitney the exclusive right to make and sell cotton gins. This protest was endorsed by the Governor of Georgia and is recorded in Clayton's Digest of the Laws of Georgia 1801- 1810, p. 685.
Miller and Whitney had a monopoly on manufacturing cotton gins and were charging exhorbitant prices for their gins. They had established a few gins and were taking a heavy toll from farmers who carried their cotton to be ginned. This brought about infringements on their patent, retarded the planting of cotton and many "bootleg" gins were sold to farm- ers. Miller and Whitney brought many suits against both the manufacturers of gins and the farmers who bought and used them. This created much prejudice against Miller and Whit- ney and brought about a renewed effort to get their letters of patent canceled or a refusal to renew it.
GEORGIA'S FIRST PAPER MILL
Zachariah Sims was noted for his pugilistic prowess and in the records of Greene County Superior Court, he was in- dicted and prosecuted a number of times for wielding his fists to the injury of those who crossed his path. He was a mechani- cal genius and persuaded George Paschal, a distant relative, to
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go with him to a place on the banks of the Oconee river, called Scull Shoals. There they put all they had into a mill for the manufacture of paper. (1812)
The war with Great Britian excluded the foreign paper, on which we had depended, so this led to the establishment of the first paper mill in Georgia. Sims and Paschal launched the new enterprise.
The Georgia Legislature under Gov. Mitchell recognized the need for a paper mill and passed an act authorizing the State to lend Zachariah Sims $3,000 to complete the mill. Sims' Mill was a combination of a grist mill, distillery, paper mill and other adjuncts.
The mill finally failed and Sims' property went under the Sheriff's hammer and was bought for a low price by Thomas Stokes. Thomas Stokes re-sold it to his brother-in-law, Thomas Ligon, who converted it into a public ginnery, the first ginnery built in Greene County. Many years later this property was acquired by Dr. Thomas N. Poullain and his associates.
Dr. Poullain and his associates then built the first cotton mill in Greene County and named it "The Scull Shoals Manu- facturing Co." This factory was incorporated in the early 1870's and around it grew up a community of 500 people, a post office and a large commissary. (Factory built about 1840.)
Dr. Curtwright was the leading spirit of another enter- prise, and operated wagon trains from the mill to Greensboro each day in the week. Curtwright inaugurated a type of rural free mail delivery all his own, long before the R. F. D. was thought of. The mail was delivered and picked up all along this route and he rendered a valuable service. Judge James B. Park once lived in this community, Long Shoals.
Long Shoals, once a beauty spot of Greene County has long since passed into oblivion, and only a few old timers repeat the story of its glory.
There is an old book named "Agnes Paschal, Ninety-Four Years" written by George W. Paschel a son of Agnes, who was the widow of a Revolutionary soldier. Her husband was
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a partner of Zachariah Sims in the first paper mill built in Ga. The book tells of the records in Greene Co. showing that Zac- hariah Sims was indicted for wielding his fists in many fights many times and he was prosecuted for same.
It also states that the paper mill did make paper although it was a failure in the end. It made paper at a time that it sup- plied the need that was very acute during the war of 1812. That is why the Ga. Legislature voted to lend Sims & Pascall the $3,000 to finish the mill.
Agnes Paschal was Agnes Brewer and married George Paschal on Nov. 23, 1802 at the home of Richard Bailey near Lexington. Agnes fed the men that worked in these mills own- ed by Sims and Paschal and boarded many of them, no doubt she worked harder than the owners. Her husband George bought one of the first gins made by Eli Whitney and establish- ed it on Troublesome Creek, so named because of the Indian raids there. She said that Sims lived far in advance of the times then, that he was a mechanical genius of an inventive turn; he would have been a geologist had the science been known, he would have made a success of his paper mill had protection and manufacturing been further developed. The book mentions the smart Irish youth, George Russell, a brilliant scholar who knew Hebrew, Greek, Latin and could solve any problem. He greatly helped in getting the paper mill to run with less labor but after two years of endearing himself to the family of Pas- chal and Sims he vanished as he had come, and no one ever heard of him again.
After the mill failed, George Paschal taught school in Oglethorpe County and had five boys, the writer of the book, "Agnes Paschal, Ninety-Four years" was the fifth and named Lorenzo Columbus George Washington Paschal. The boys called him "General" but he signed his name George W. Pas- chal.
Zachariah Sims later made cotton gins and carding ma- chines and was an extensive manufacturer, living to be an old man.
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GREENE COUNTY INDUSTRIES
Virgil Roberts, was the uncle of our esteemed fellow- townsman, John L. Youngblood. Virgil Roberts operated a cabinet shop in Greensboro for many years, and among other things, he made fine walnut and cedar coffins. After burial caskets became an article of merchandise, he packed up his tools and other equipment and moved to Atlanta and opened a shop there. And as "Tech" added him to its staff of Master- mechanics soon after it was opened, we must conclude that he had made a reputation as a master-workman in his adopted home. Mr. Roberts remained at "Tech" until his death, which occurred just a few years ago. (1940)
The Moncrief Furnace Company of Atlanta, came into existence through the knowledge of metal-work that the Mon- crief boys gained in the old Tin shop of their Uncle, W. G. Durham, in Greensboro.
John F. Zimmerman operated a tin shop on a large scale for many years, and employed a number of workmen. His wares were peddled by wagons that went in every direc- tion. His peddlers swapped tin-ware for rags, beeswax, chick- ens, eggs, and every other commodity that could be had on the farms. Of course they got some money, but the greatest vo- lume of the trade consisted of barter.
Bowen & Sitton operated an extensive Carriage and Buggy shop in Greensboro from soon after the close of the War be- tween the States, and up to 1880; and they worked a number of men. Their shop was located where the post office now stands, and took most of that block that faces on Broad St.
W. D. Grant operated a carriage, buggy, and wagon shop at White Plains for many years. Later, the White Plains Manu- facturing Company bought Mr. Grant's shop and operated it for a long time. Their brands of farm wagons went under the names of Acme and Monarch, and were equal to any shipped here by the leading manufacturers in the larger industrial centers ..
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John A. Miller and F. C. McKinley both operated black- smith shops on a large scale in Greensboro, Mckinley operat- ed in the eighteen-forties. We find where he sued one of his farmer-customers for shop-work for the year 1844, for $108 .- 50. The entries in his charge-book had to be copied on the Court records, and took up five pages. The attorneys for the defendant was James C. Dawson and Thomas S. F. Thweatt.
John A. Miller's charge-book for 1855 shows page after page of charges against such men as O. P. Daniel, John E. Jackson, Dr. Columbus Park, C. A. Davis, Samuel Davis, James B. Nickelson, Rev. Francis Bowman, B. F. Greene, Ru- bin Dawson, William C. Dawson, James Burk, Thomas Cun- ningham, Phillip Poullain, John Branch, Francis H. Cone, Dr. D. C. O'Keif, Hinton Crawford, John H. Broughton, Dr. Henry King, Jesse Champion, W. W. D. Weaver, Mrs. Mary Colt, Greensboro Manufacturing Company, Greensboro Female College, Mrs. Joel Early, Valentine Gresham, Vincent Sanford, Thomas Stocks, and many other Greene County farmers. The articles enumerated would indicate that the blacksmith of that day, took the place of the hardware dealer, if indeed there was any such thing, and many of the accounts were large.
Many of the large farmers had blacksmith and wood- shops on their farms; and there were blacksmith shops at near- ly every cross-road. There was also what was known as "tra- veling blacksmiths"; and many of these were slaves who bought their time from their masters. One of the best known "travel- ing blacksmiths" was Jack Terrell, whose master lived where Mr. Kyle Smith now lives, and who owned a large farm in what is known as the "lower-fork". Jack would go about from place-to-place and do shop work for those who needed his services, collect for work done, and move on to another place. Usually, on Christmas day, he would settle with his master for his time out, and make another agreement for the following vear. In addition to being a good blacksmith, Jack was a good business man, and laid up a neat sum over and above what he had to pay his master for his time.
Other colored artisans bought their time in the same way, and did much of the building both in town and country.
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Supply-merchants bought steel and iron in all widths, thicknesses, and lengths; and "Sweeds" were considered the best for plows etc. Blacksmiths would buy their iron in long lengths, mark it off by patterns, cut it out with cold chisels, heat the pieces after they had been cut, and shape them accord- ing to the wishes of their customers. The solid sweeps, turn- plows, bull-tongues etc, were set to suit the land of the farm- er they were made for, instead of being made by one general pattern, as the factories turn them out now. The music of the hammer and anvil was as much in evidence in the long-ago as the radio and phonograph in the smaller towns of today; and the leather aprons of the blacksmith were badges of honor and rugged character. Such scenes as were described by the poet when he wrote, "Beneath the spreading chestnut tree, the vil- lage smithy stands" will be about all the future generations will know about this useful artisan of the long ago. There was the old-time blacksmith at his forge, the old shoemaker on his bench, and the old time carpenter who actually served an ap- prenticeship under a master-workman like Daniel Pratt, who built some of the finest homes in Savannah, Milledgeville, and Clinton long before he became the world's greatest cotton gin manufacturer. Pratt's homes stand today as Georgia's finest examples of early architecture, and are prized by their owners far beyond the dollars they originally cost, and cannot be dupli- cated for the reason that, such timber cannot be had at any price, and no builder will take the time, or have the patience and skill to do such work.
THE PISTOL FACTORY AT GREENSBORO
March 13, 1863: John Cunningham sold the old factory which he had bought from James L. Brown for $800.00 to Leech and Rigdon of Memphis, Tenn. for $20,000 and they converted the building into a pistol factory, where they made pistols and repaired guns for the Confederate government. I have not been able to find records in any state papers, but L. D. Satterlee of Detroit. Mich. has been engaged in writing a his- tory of all the fire arms manufactured in the United States and accidently ran across one of the old Leech & Rigdon pistols
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made in Greensboro, Ga. He wrote to Dr. Rice for information about the factory and between them they not only established the fact, but found three living witnesses who saw the pistol factory in operation. They were: C. C. Vincent of Greensboro, Ga., Charles A. Davis of Atlanta, and Grif Askew. (1940)
OTHER MINOR FACTORIES
The Southern Cotton Oil Co. built an oil mill at Greens- boro about 1902 and operated it for a number of years and also a large public ginnery.
There was another large ginnery in Greensboro known as the, "All-Steel Gin Company."
Union Point, Siloam, White Plains, Veazey, Woodville, Penfield, and Wrayswood also had large ginning plants.
Fertilizer mixing plants were in operation in Union Point, Greensboro and White Plains for many years but were aban- doned by 1930 due to the advent of the boll weevil and the migration of labor. Fertilizer used has been trucked in from larger chemical plants since then.
These were in operation in the ante-bellum days carriage and buggy factories, woodshops, blacksmith shops, tanneries, harness shops, shoe shops, corn and flour mills. Young men and boys served apprenticeships under master workmen; and it was through their skill that many of Georgia's largest in- dustries got their start.
THE FIRST COTTON BAGGING
From the Greensboro-Herald-Journal of Fri. Feb. 28, 1890 comes a story saying that the first cotton bagging actually made of cotton, was manufactured in Greensboro in 1862.
R. J. Dawson of Greshamville says in this article: "The first cotton bagging made for covering of bales of cotton was made at Scull Shoals Factory, later Fontenoy Mills, in Greene County, Ga. by Dr. T. N. Poulliam in 1862. It was the best article of its kind I ever saw and weighed two pounds per
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yard. The first iron hoops used for the baling of cotton were made by John Webb of Newton Co., Ga. in 1838. He first made wooden hoops and locked them like barrel hoops and shipped the cotton to Thomas Dawson & Sons, Augusta, Ga. I never heard of a patent for these things, I am sure if he had known what a fortune he had in his hands he would have utiliz- ed it."
Dr. Curtwright owned "The Curtwright Manufacturing Co." at Long Shoals on the Oconee River. Cost of property, $140,000, spindles and looms 4,000,and also had flouring and saw mills. He owned a stone bridge across the Oconee River built by him. Curtwright kept a fleet of six mule teams on the road at all times hauling his products to Greensboro and sup- plies back to the mill. The hames on each mule had a bell on it, so that the constant jingle of the bells kept the people in- formed of his coming. Curtwright instructed his drivers to carry articles or mail for the people living along the road to and from town free of charge.
Scull Manufacturing Company was situated at Scull Shoals on the Oconee River. Cost, $50,000. Spindles and looms 2,000. Annual consumption of cotton 4,000 bales. Annual value of goods $200,000.
The Greensboro Manufacturing Co. located at Greens- boro had steam as motive power, cost $70,000, spindles 4,000.
Of the three cotton manufacturies above there is hardly a trace to be found. The only descendants of the stockholders now living in 1837 are: Mrs. James B. Park and Mrs. Henry T. Lewis. Both are granddaughters of Dr. Poullain who own- ed the Scull Shoals factory. The main source of labor for these plants was slave labor and after the destruction of the war the mills had to close down for lack of money and labor.
Park's Mill on the Oconee built by Richard Park about 1840 was burned by Sherman's forces Nov. 1864. 640 acres of this land was in Morgan County. Richard Park died in 1852. Judge James B. Park, Sr. rebuilt the mill with Col. J. N. Armor and Greene Moore in 1866. After many years the factory clos- ed down and fell into decay.
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The Greensboro Manufacturing Co. was converted into a gun factory during the Civil War. Henry P. Williams of Macon, son of James B. Williams, and Charlie Williams of White Plains ran this factory for the Confederacy until the end of the war.
After the war, manufacturing soon ceased in Greene Coun- ty. What was left of old cotton mills was sold for junk and it was not until the late 1890's that enough could be scraped to- gether to build more factories.
Judge James B. Park, Sr., wielded a tremendous political influence in Greene County up to the time of his death. He re- presented the County in the legislature for many years and was Chr. of the Co. Commissioners. He helped Greene County from being prostrate after the war to rise again. His son Judge James B. Park, Jr. was Judge of the Ocmulgee circuit for a long time and was greatly respected and loved.
In 1898 the Union Manufacturing Co. of Union Point was incorporated. Those who signed the petition for the chart- er were: John C. Hart, Samuel H. Sibley, R. F. Bryan, and T. A. Burke. Hale Sibley was the first Pres. This mill made hosiery and yarns. It was reorganized in 1900 with Harold Lamb as its Pres. Its capital was $162,400 and annual value of products were : $300,000. The 1930 census gives Union Point a population of 1,627.
The Mary-Leila Cotton Mill was organized in 1899 and this list is given so that you may know that the loyal citizens were interested in trying to do something for their town and county when money was hard and scarce. E. A. Copeland, W. R. Jackson, Sr., J. B. Park, Jr., T. B. Rice, Hall Bros., J. B. Williams, James Davison, James E. Armor, Walter F. Armor, H. M. Spinks, L. J. Boswell, C. M. King, T. C. Griswold, Morris and Evans Bros., F. C. Bickers, Amy Geissler, C. D. Lundy, C. L. Harris, Mrs. S. E. Whitaker, R. B. Smith, A. H. Smith, T. T. Brown, H. T. Brinkley, Jr. Minnie Linton, W. L. Bethea, W. M. Weaver, John T. Boswell, J. C. Boswell, J. O. Boswell Mary D. Jackson, Geo. P. Culver, Mrs. Ed- ward Young, G. A. Hall, L. H. Branch, G. A. Merritt, B. C.
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McWhorter, S. E. Jopling, R. W. Branch, Greensboro Shoes and Clothing Co., J. P. Brown, A. L. Bickers, W. P. McWhorter, J. M. Thompson, J. H. McWhorter, J. L. Brown, Jr., T. A. Branch, H. G. Lewis, Mrs. E. E. Branch, J. L. Youngblood, H. T. Lewis, P. G. Moore, J. W. Wright, L. P. Jernigan, B. F. McWhorter, W. A. Kimbrough, W. S. Davis, M. J. Ross- man, J. E. Torbert, D. N. Asbury, E. S. Dixon, A. S. Seals, Chas. A. Davis, E. C. Hixon, R. J. Lowery, Rudolph Geissler, S. H. Phelan, J. P. Dawson, Marion Morgan, Alexander & Alexander.
Of these original 68 petitioners only 25 were living in 1925. The capital paid in was, $83,000 and equipping mill $120,000.
GOLD IN GREENE COUNTY IN 1854
"A gold mine has been discovered in this county about one mile from Public Square and ten or twelve miles from Pen- field and is thought to be very rich. A vein fifteen feet wide has been opened and four laborers in four days have gathered a half pound of this precious metal. Robert Foster of our vill- age is the largest owner and is now working the mine with a limited number of hands. He has shown us several specimens of the gold which to our eye is very fine, and from present pros- pects our people will hear as much of the gold of Greene County as the gold of California." (Quote from paper in 1854)
Templeton Reid's father was a Revolutionary soldier and received a Head-Right grant in Greene County ; but owing to the various ways of spelling of names at that time-Reed, Read, and Reid makes it difficult to connect families, however, Sam- uel Reid seems to have been the progenitor of Templeton, and was engaged in the milling business at an early date, on the Oconee River. Reid & Garner's mill was located at, or near Reid's ferry, about where the Greensboro-Eatonton road crosses the Oconee, and probably, on the Putnam side of the river. If this be true, the old miller may not have charged his Greene County customers toll to cross over his ferry; but he may have tolled their grain a little heavier.
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The first authentic record we have of Templeton Reid, appears in the Minute Book of the Oconee Navigation Com- pany, and the first entry in that book carries the following heading :
Greensboro 27th December, 1811
"This day having been passed upon for a meeting of the Directors appointed by the Legislature to carry into effect an act incorporating a company under the style of the "Oconee Navigation Company" the following per- sons appointed and took the oath prescribed by said act, viz; Joseph Cooper, John Garner, Thomas W. Grimes, Thomas Reid, Zachariah Sims and Joseph Phillips."
Thus did the Oconee Navigation Company begin to lay its plans to operate boats on the Oconee River from Milledge- ville to Scull Shoals, with Barnett Shoals and Athens as its final objective. However, the following obstacles stared them in the face and had to be overcome; reading down the river, they were; Park's mill, Reid & Garner, Hill's Shoal, Law- rence's Shoal, Long Shoal, Parker's Shoal, Methodist Shoal, Yazoo Shoal, Flat Shoal, Wadmon' ( ?) Shoal, Cooper's mill, Low's mill, Shoulderbone Shoal, Lamar's Shoal, Spivy's mill, Island Shoal, Fishtrap Shoal, Wright's mill, Cedar Shoal, Up- per Hurricane shoal, Lower Hurricane shoal, Clark's mill, Tom's shoal, and Chandler's shoal. Twenty-four barriers against navigation within fifty miles as the crow flies, but al- most double that distance as the river runs.
The Georgia Legislature passed an act authorizing a sur- vey of the Oconee and appropriated money to remove each of these obstacles.
The minutes of the Oconee Navigation Company indicate that boats were being navigated from Milledgeville to the mouth of Fishing Creek as early as July 31, 1817.
as follows :
"The board of directors met in Greensboro persuant to adjourn- ment, present; N. Lewis, T. Terrell, R. Rea, T. Stocks, T. S. Reid, and T. Grimes. On motion, Resolved, that there be a committee of four persons appointed to appropriate the money raised by the first class of the Oconee Navigation Lottery, to opening the Oconee river,
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commencing at Fishing Creek and working from thence, upwards in a way that they or a majority of them, may deem the best calculated to advance the interest of said navigation, and that T. S. Reid, T. Terrell, Col. F. Carter and Templeton Reid be that committee."
This was the last entry in the minute book of the Oconee Navigation Company; but the minutes of the Greene Superior Court show that the Oconee Navigation Company went "on the rocks". The State of Georgia took it over and tried to operate it, but, it too, failed to make a success and finally, abandoned the project. At least, one Negro was drowned while the State was operating boats, and the owner of the Negro brought suit to recover the value of the Negro.
Up to the year 1830, the only gold money in circulation in the United States, was of English, Spanish, and other, for- eign coinage, except, the private coinage of A. & B. Bechtle of North Carolina whom the U. S. Treasury had granted a permit to coin gold, provided, that 27 grains of 21 carat gold must be put in each dollar, and this information together with the name of the coiner, must be stamped upon each coin, the writer has one of these Bechtler coins, and it is plainly stamped to comply with the above.
TEMPLETON REID'S COINAGE ATTACKED BY THE HANCOCK ADVERTISER
The Hancock Advertiser, Oct. 18, 1830, pg. 3, col. 1
"TEMPLETON REID'S MINT Copied from the Richmond whig
"A Mr. Templeton Reid has established a mint at Gainesville,, Geo., and coins gold in pieces of $10, $5, and $2.50 value. The Augusta Courier establishes the quantity coined at $700 per day and a correspondent counts his profits at 7 per cent, equal to $15,000 per annum. Mr. Reid denies them to be so much. We did not know be- fore that individuals possessed the right of coining money.
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