USA > Georgia > Greene County > History of Greene County, Georgia, 1786-1886 > Part 14
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"So far as individuals having "the right of coining money" it is not even possessed by the States. They parted with the right to the Congress of the United States, on the adoption of the Federal Consti- tution, and in that body it still resides, by the 8th Section of the 1st Article of that instrument.
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"The coinage of money is an essential attribute to soverignty. Since the State is surety, 'says Vettel, on the law of nations,' for the goodness of money and 'its currency, the public authority alone has the right of coining it.' Such has been the uniform law of the land, both in this country and in England; and any attempt to coin the money of the realm, however pure the metal, or however ample its weight, independence of public authority and sanction, brings down upon the individual the penalties of treason .- So unquestionable are these facts, that we are let to believe there is some mistake in the statements, and that no person would have the hardihood to encounter the per''ls of the law in such an undertaking."
There was no mistake about Templeton Reid's coinage of gold. Many of his gold coins are still in existence and, if you are so fortunate as to possess one of his $10 gold pieces, it is worth $6,000.00.
So far as the writer knows, Mr. Reid was never prosecut- ed for treason; and everything indicates that he coined gold with the full knowledge of "Uncle Sam", but that he held a duly authorized permit from the Congress of the United States.
The 7 per cent profit that Mr. Reid is said to have made on his coinage indicates that he coined the gold that his custom- ers brought him just as his father converted grain into meal and flour, and that his toll was 7 per cent. There is nothing to show that Mr. Reid ever mined gold; but there is much to prove that the people around Dahlonega devoted their time to searching for gold, therefore, it is reasonable to presume that they carried it to Templeton Reid's mint to be coined into money. Much of the gold that was found was imbedded in rock, and had to be assayed and purified and weighed, therefore, the owner of the gold had to pay for this expense in addition to the coinage.
According to the Putnam County Reid family, Templeton Reid was a silversmith, and made articles of jewelry from both gold and silver. Some of his handiwork is said to be still in pos- session of some of the Reid family.
In the year 1836 the Georgia Railroad had reached Greensboro and cotton had been crowned "King," Greensboro was in the heart of the cotton producing section and planters were "rolling in wealth" to the envy of all "Yankeedom."
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"Yankees" poured into Georgia with the view of outsmarting the yokels. Clocks, Jim Crow carders and other yankee gew- gaws were scarce and the "fields were ripe unto the harvest. Josiah Davis heard of this "promised land" and, like the forty-niners during the gold rush to California, he headed for Greensboro, Georgia.
The Greene County records show where Josiah Davis and Isaac R. Hall formed a partnership and engaged in the mercantile business in Greensboro, Georgia on May 30, 1844, and that Josiah Davis had established the busi- ness some years prior to that date. The partnership agree- ment is recorded in Greene County Deed Book "O-O" p. 138 and was for a period of four years from date. This partnership was renewed May 30, 1848. The capital em- ployed was $5,000.00. Isaac R. Hall owned the building in which they did business.
THE FIRST RECORD OF DAVIS & BARBER
Greene County Deed Book "N-N", p. 218 shows where Davis & Barber loaned Jesse M. Thornton $275.00 and, as security for said loan they took a bill of sale to a "yellow man" named Edward about 22 years of age. This transaction was recorded on October 29, 1841, and shows that the firm of Davis & Barber were already in business some years before Josiah Davis entered into partnership with Isaac R. Hall.
It is reasonable to suppose that Orville Barber, a nephew of Mrs. Josiah Davis, came to Georgia with his aunt and uncle and that they soon thereafter began assembling clocks and ped- dling them over this part of Georgia, and that many of these clocks were sold through "Uncle Josiah's," mercantile establish- ment.
Other records show where Davis & Barber loaned money to other people and took bills of sale to Negroes to secure the loans. In other words, it proves that, although Davis and Bar- ber were Connecticutt "Yankees" they had no scruples against owning slaves.
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When this writer came to Greensboro in September 1889, there were many people still living who knew Josiah Davis personally, and the two-room house in which Davis and Bar- ber assembled their clocks was still standing-and so was Ed- ward, the "yellow man" that Davis and Barber acquired under a bill of sale, and from these I obtained some first-hand in- formation about the old clock maker, Josiah Davis.
Leila Harper-Wood, an old colored woman whose mas- ter lived across the street from Josiah Davis' home and shop, told me many things concerning the Davis family. According to her story, Orville Barbar had charge of the sales end of the business while his uncle looked after the shop, and that the slaves owned by Davis and Barber did the actual work of as- sembling the clocks-the works were shipped here from Bridge- port, Conn. The wagons were loaded with clocks, Jim Crow carders, tin ware and many Yankee gewgaws, and that these wagons were sent out all over Georgia, Alabama and other states. Jim Crow carders were similar to carders used by our ancestors to card cotton and wool to be made into yarn for knitting stockings, etc. etc. However, their principal use, at that time, was for Negroes to comb their hair.
There is no record of Mr. Josiah Davis' activities after the War Between the States; the presumption is that he lived a retired life up to the time he died in 1869 he was often refer- red to as "Old man Clock Davis."
When I came to Greensboro in September 1889, John J. ("Jake") Davis was an old man, his wife had been dead many years, his children were grown and married, and John J. Davis was a printer for The Greensboro Herald-Journal; he lived on a small farm that he owned just beyond the Greensboro City limit. Adeline Clark, a bright mulatto Negro woman lived with Mr. Davis and kept house for him. Adeline was the Negro woman mentioned in the deed from Peter Clark to Josiah Davis and was said to have been about 16 years of age in 1856 that would indicate that she was in her early 50's when I first knew her. Adeline had several bright mulatto childred. John ("Jake") Davis was the oldest son of Josiah Davis and,
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while she, Adeline was no longer a slave when Josiah Davis died in 1869, Adeline stuck to the Davis family.
Many letters have come to me from many people, in many states, asking information about the old Davis and Barber clocks that were made in Greensboro, Georgia; many of these clocks are still in use and keeping correct time. I think the working on the label-"Made in Greensboro, Ga.,"-is incorrect, I believe the works and cases were made in Connecticutt and sent to Greensboro where they were assembled.
As to the exact date that the firm of Davis and Barber began assembling and selling clocks no record can be found; but I am reasonably sure that it could not have been earlier than the late 1830's. nor later than 1851. As to whether Josiah Davis continued in the clock business after he bought Orville Barber's interest-in 1841-no one seems to know. How- ever, it is a safe bet that no clock, bearing the name of Davis and Barber, is not less than one hundred (100) years old.
EARLY NEWSPAPERS
In the Savannah Evening Ledger, Vol. V, No. 21 we find the following news item: Married at Greensboro, Ga., Tues- day, July 28, 1807, Mr. Samuel Minor, editor of the Greensboro Observator, to Miss Ann Rogers of Hancock County. So we knew that this was the first paper published here. Later Samuel Minor went to Athens and published the "Athens Express." Also in this issue of the Savannah Evening Ledger was an article stating that Greensboro citizens headed by Jonas Fauche held a meeting at which they demand- ed that the President of the United States take action resent- ing the action that the British Squadron had attacked a U. S. Frigate.
Wyley Gresham, a student at the University of Ga. made the principal speech. Others who took part in this meeting were, Matthew Wells, Col. George Foster, Maj. Joseph Houghton, Maj. Ezekiel Brown, Dr. Wm. Strain, Ezekiel Park and Red- mon Thornton.
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The Greensboro "Herald" with H. M. Brown, Edit- or and proprietor had as his slogan, "Vincit Amor Patri," 1869.
Georgia Home Journal, was a weekly edited by Rev. Jos- hua Knowles, 1873-1886. It united with the Greensboro Herald to form the "Herald-Journal". Duke University has a copy of Jan. 22, 1877, 1883-84 issues.
The Herald-Journal weekly, of 1887 may be found in the Greene County's Clerk's Office and Duke University.
There seems to have been a Union Point newspaper edited by Bismuth Miller, but copies could not be found.
The Woodville news items for several years were signed by King Hans 11. The 1891, Jan. 9 copies were, found and it is believed that King Hans 11 was the pen name of Henry Grady.
The Herald-Journal of Feb. 3, 1888 is signed R.J.D. of Greshamville under the caption, "Auld Lang Syne". In this article he wrote of, "The Last of The Knee Buckles", and the first gig.
John Seals published the "Temperance Crusader", in Pen- field in the late 1830's until 1850. Seals moved to Atlanta and named his paper, "The Ga. Literary and Temperance Crusad- er". L. V. French was the literary editor. The Civil War stop- ped the paper and Seals came back to Greensboro and taught in the Female College until authorities made the college build- ings into a hospital for wounded soldiers in Jan. 1865.
The Christian Index was later published in Penfield. In January, 1906 James Cranston Williams purchased the Greens- boro Herald-Journal which is published and edited for thirty years, now the paper is published by his son, Carey Williams. (See Personages )
GREENSBORO'S HOTELS AND TAVERNS
Soon after the year 1800, Thomas W. Grimes, a prosper- ous business man, merchant and farmer, built and operated a
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hotel on the site now occupied by the Greensboro Auditorium. It ran for years under the name of the Grimes Hotel. In this hostelry General Andrew Jackson was entertained in the year 1820. Louden Willis succeeded Mr. Grimes as proprietor and, for many years it went by the name of the Willis Hotel. John H. Snellings succeeded Mr. Willis and it became known as the Snellings Hotel and went by that name until after the close of the War Between the States. Wiley G. Johnson succeeded Mr. Snellings and operated it for some years under the name of the Johnson Hotel; Mr. and Mrs. John Corry succeeded Mr. John- son, and the name was changed to the Corry Hotel. After the Corries' came Mrs. Jack Ellis who operated it successfully for a number of years. During Mrs. Ellis' tenure, Messers E. A. Copelan, J. Conklin Brown, and Col. Henry T. Lewis bought the property and built the Richland Hotel. After some years, Mrs. Ellis gave up the hotel and moved to Monroe, Ga. Then came Mrs. Arnold and her daughters, Miss Belle and Miss George; the Arnolds ran the hotel until after their mother's death, and moved to Athens, Mrs. Hollis then took charge and ran it a few years and gave it up. She was succeeded by Misses Belle and George Arnold who operated it until it was bought by the City of Greensboro; and the new City Auditorium now occupies this historic site.
THE DOHERTY HOTEL
Soon after Greene county was created, Feb. 3, 1786, among the early settlers came Jonas Fauche and J. J. Doherty: both had been Revolutionary soldiers and had an active part in protecting Greene county citizens from Indian raids; both were Roman Catholics, and both spent the rest of their lives in Greensboro. Fauche was a Swiss and Doherty was an Irish- man. When Greensboro was abandoned as the site for the University of Georgia, Fauche and Doherty bought many of the lots in Greensboro from the Trustees of the University. Together, they bought the entire block in which Bickers-Good- win Co's store is located. Fauche built his home where Mrs. Davidson now lives, and the original house is now standing.
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Mr. Doherty built a hotel on the lot now occupied by the Georgia Power Company and Mrs. Greer's' Cafe. This hotel was also built soon after the year 1800.
Tradition says, "Aaron Burr spent the night in the Doher- ty Hotel while en route to New York for trial." If this be true, the hotel was built prior to 1806. There is no record of this hotel being operated by others than the Doherty's. The writer knew Mrs. Doherty fifty-four years ago, she was not less than eighty years of age, at that time. Her son, Charles, was an old man when I first knew him. Whiskey and cards brought about his downfall and he died a pauper and was buried at public expense.
The old hotel was bought by Messers H. Geissler and Judge Henry T. Lewis; they bought it as an investment and never utilized it. Later, it was condemned by the City Council as a public nuisance and fire-trap. The writer bought the building and tore it down. Many of the timbers were heart- pine and were used to build and repair other buildings. The old Doherty Hotel property is now owned by Cranston and Carey Williams who own and publish The Greensboro Her- ald-Journal.
STRAIN-STATHAM HOTEL
Prior to 1836 William L. Strain and Memory W. Strat- ham owned and operated a Tavern located where Chandler Drug Co., and I Block's Department stores now are. In 1829 Memory W. Statham and James Godkin bought a tract of land in Greensboro, and they operated a "Tannery." The branch that rises near the Greensboro Ice Plant and flows westward to Richland Creek, has long been known as "Tan Yard branch". On Nov. 6, 1836, Memory W. Statham bought from William L. Strain, a lot located on the Greensboro "Commons" and located at the corner of Broad and Main Streets, "said property lately occupied by Strain & Statham as a Tavern and Mansion House." (The Commons embraced the area bounded on the east by East St., on west by West St .; and south by South St .; and the north by North Street. This included the entire business section of Greensboro) .
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Memory W. Statham operated the Statham Hotel up to the time of his death, which occurred in April 1856. His will mentions the following children; Mary Johnson, Ophelia Jane, Henrietta, Anna, and "my youngest daughter, Lillian Melissa". He mentions only one son of whom, he says "It is my will that my ungrateful son, Francis Cummins, shall in no way or man- ner participate in my estate; and that he is not to remain under my roof more than three days at a time; and I hereby request the Judge of Ordinary to see that this request is carried out to the letter and spirit. In the event of failure of this request the letters of testamentary are to be canceled.
Later, a codicil was added and this clause was revoked, however, it left the matter "to the sound discretion of his wife."
Mrs. Melissa Statham and her daughters operated the hotel until sometime after the War Between the States. Just after the close of the war the Federal Government placed a small "Army of Occupation" in Greensboro and, a "Quisling" was placed here to humiliate the conquered citizenry. So ob- noxious was this man, that he was bitterly hated; but like con- quered France, Holland and Norway resented such vermin, some one was bold enough to end his career by a rifle shot from one of the windows of the Statham Hotel. A Negro, now living in Greensboro, by the name of Catlin, claims to have seen him fall to the street with a bullet through his body. No one ever knew, or tried to find out who fired the shot that killed the obnoxious officer.
Mrs. Statham owned a Negro by the name of Ned; Ned was house-boy, porter, waiter, and general utility man. In those days all hotels sent porters to meet the trains and solicit pat- ronage. Those who have never seen hotel porters vie with each other in crying out the merits of the hotels they repre- sented have missed something. "Drummers" encouraged this rivalry and precipitated many fist-fights among porters. The Statham Hotel boasted of having more pretty girls than most hotels; Ned was a smart rascal and knew how to play up the attractions of his hotel and, "they say" he got the business. One of the girls married Wylie G. Johnson and opened a hotel of her own.
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According to the nom-de-plume Ned applied to the old lady and two of her daughters, they must have been plucky; he referred to them as "Old Pluck, Pluckee, and Plucibus." Ned was still alive when the writer came to Greensboro, and it was through him that much of this story was gathered. One of old "Pluck's" daughters, a widow, came back to Greensboro and rounded out her days in the boardinghouse of Mrs. Eudora Hall, her name, that does not matter, but I think she was "Pluckee."
The death of Mrs. Statham and the marriage of her daughters, brought about the closing of this ancient hostelry. The property changed hands, a number of times. Dr. John E. Walker operated a drug store in the corner now occupied by the Chandler Drug Company for some years in the eighteen- eighties. Hon. E. A. Copeland bought the Statham Hotel pro- perty and, in 1889, he tore it down and built his bank which went by the name of E. A. Copelan, banker. The Copelan estate still owns this property.
In 1809 Benjamin Weaver advertised in the Georgia Ex- press at Athens, Ga. that he had bought the "Eagle Tavern" in Greensboro formerly run by Thomas Dawson. He adver- tised that his tables were supplied by the best provisions the county had and that his cellars were abundantly provided with liquors of the first quality. His stables were extensive and airy and the horses attended by an experienced hostler.
In 1885 the Greensboro Herald said that the old hotel opposite the Georgia railroad depot had been torn down. For many years it had been the eating place for the people on trains and in its day it was a popular place.
The Herald-Journal of July 19, 1889 stated that the old Statham Hotel on Main Street was being removed and would be replaced with an elegant brick building, the E. A. Copeland Bank. The bank was opened in Sept. 1889. Candler's Drug Store was where the bank was formerly. One of the bank's first depositors was Dr. T. B. Rice.
In May 17, 1889 it was advertised that "The Last Days of Pompei" would be played in Greensboro on May 28, 1889. Admission 50 cents.
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DOCTORS
The old country doctor was truly a circulating pharmacy. He mixed his own medicines, rolled the pills, and carried in his old leather saddlebags such things as, blue mass, mustard, lobelia, quinine, morphine, laudanum, boneset, and gentian for making tinctures and many other concoctions.
In his office would be the amputation kit of small, medium and large saws for the bones, the scaples and probers. On the shelves would be seen jars of syrup for the hives, peppermint, powdered rhubarb, syrup of squill, the small scales, the tile and spatula, the mortar and pestle for rolling pills. The people took so many pills it is a wonder the joints weren't ball bearing. There were great jars of castor oil.
Sterilization by boiling was unheard of, and all of these instruments had wooden handles so we conclude that the in- struments were probally made ready by wiping with a carbolic solution. The sufferer of colds and pneumonia suffered the ir- ritating poultices on the chest often followed by huge, red blisters.
Opium was resorted to freely and resulted in many ad- dicts. Far back in the country where a doctor was not available there were predatory fakers who called themselves doctors but their only training consisted of reading Dr. Gunn's and Thompson's book, "Home Treatments of Diseases."
The country doctor of the early days rode long lonesome trails on horseback in all kinds of weather. He delivered babies by candlelight, he often sat until dawn and watched a life ebb away after he had done all that he knew to save it . . He was a friend and a counselor and very prominent figure in the ante- bellum times, and of his part in the life of the country much has been written.
Dr. Rice writes that he did not find a list of doctors serv- ing in the Confederate Army from Greene County but some records name these men serving in that capacity. Drs. W. H. Credelle, J. M. Griffin, I. D. Moore, W. M. Harris. Dr Cre- delle was stationed at Andersonville prison and came near meet- ing the same fate as did Wirtz. Dr. Credelle escaped and went
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to France until the storm blew over, coming back and practicing here until the late 90's and Dr. Rice knew him personally.
Greene County has had some very able country doctors. They were: Dr. John E. Walker, Dr. Wm. L. Bethea, Dr. W. E. Adams, Dr. I. D. Moore, Dr. W. H. Credelle, Dr. J. C. Asbury, Dr. J. H. Gheesling, Dr. B. F. Daniel, Dr. J. R. Ro- bins, Dr. Wiley Hailes, Dr. John L. Durham and Dr. Arthur Jaynes. Some later doctors that Rice knew personally were: Dr. E. G. Adams, Dr. Goodwin Gheesling, Dr. J. A. Stapper, Dr. C. C. King, Dr. C. O. Copeland, Dr. H. D. Carson, Dr. Deaver, Dr. Nash, Dr. A. H. Randall, Dr. W. A. Moore, Dr. A. A. Jernigan, Dr. W. L. M. Harris, Dr. T. W. Landrum, Dr. John G. Godkin, Dr. Thomas P. Janes, Dr. L. M. Kimbrough, Dr. Geo. W. Durham, and one Negro doctor, Dr. C. M. Baber.
Dr. J. M. Griffin, Dr. R. J. Youngblood and Dr. Colum- bus Park were old, but still practicing medicine in 1889 in Greene County.
Dr. Rice says that old Dr. William Coffee Daniel was thought to have been born in Greene County in 1792. He was known in Savannah as, "Old Doctor Capsicum" His mother was the daughter of General Coffee who married Mary Don- aldson and her sister Rachael married President Andrew Jack- son. Thomas Stocks married Cynthia Coffee, the first time, therefore Mrs. Stocks was an aunt of Dr. Wm. Coffee Daniel (Dr. Capsicum) .
Major Jonas Fauche who was in charge of military oper- ations in Greene County in the 1790's and Ga's second Adj. General married Polly Daniel a widow with one son. Her first husband was a close relative of Dr. Daniel and Jonas Fauche made Dr. Daniel one of the executors of his will.
Dr. Daniel practiced medicine in Savannah where malaria was prevalent in summer so he sent his family in the carriage with a wagon of provisions to Mrs. Stocks home to stay until frost came. The home was called, "Oak Hill" and there was also a town house in Greensboro.
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Why was Dr. Daniel called, "Dr. Capsicum"? The bulle- tin of the Ga. Medical Society, Vol. 1 No. 5., page 62 gives this explanation : Dr. William Coffee Daniel (1792-1868) was gra- duated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1815 and later divided his time between his many plantations and the practice of medicine as well as taking part in politics. In 1826 he published a book called, "Autumnal Fevers of Savannah", this book said that the debilitated condition of fever patients required active stimulation rather than bleeding and purging. He advised the use of tea and red pepper. So earnest was Dr. Daniel's advise of this rather severe remedy that he was given the name of "Old Doctor Capsicum." It is thought that quinine had been isolated from the chinchona bark but it was still protected by copyright and exceedlingly high in price. There were no capsules and it was stirred into coffee to drink, that is if you had the coffee and could get the quinine.
PRACTICING MEDICINE IN THE LONG AGO
Ralph Smith, that peerless columnist of The Atlanta Jour- nal, is always digging something interesting out of his "Pan- dor's Box," and his latest antique is Dr. Gunn's "New Family Physician, or, Home Book of Health." The mere fact that this publication reached its one hundreth edition in 1870, gives some idea of how universal home diagnosis and treatment was practiced; and it is not to be wondered at how high the death rate ran under the self-medication plan of our forefathers. How- ever, Dr. Gunn's book was a boon to many families who lived in remote sections that were far removed from any doctor. His general advice, list of things to eat and not to eat were sound, for his day; and "kitchen-physic" played an important part in his "Home Treatment" of disease. Medicinal herbs cut quite a figure in his "practice" and he laid considerable stress on the poisonous ones, and his dosage was not always correct. His praise of Opium and its derivaties were termed as "Divine Medicine' and caused it's use to be resorted to all too freely; and resulted in many addicts. Fortunately, heroin and cocaine had not been discovered, otherwise he would have recommended them also, and we would have had a generation
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