USA > Georgia > Jones County > History of Jones County, Georgia, for one hundred years, specifically 1807-1907 > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91
Both the kitchen and old home are in ruins as for many years shiftless tenants have lived there. The right wing of the house has fallen down, the columns are gone and the once beautifully kept plantation is filled with briars and bushes. It was here that several wounded Yankees were nursed back to health. Three of the wounded prisoners' names were, James Humphreys with a left leg amputated (Lieut.) Co. A, 1st Ky. Cav., Danial Murphy, Lieut. 1st Ky. Cav. Co. G, lumbar vertebrae, Sgt. Thomas J. Jenkins, 1st Ky Cav. Co. I, left leg amputated. These men were wounded near Round Oak at the battle of Sunshine Church. Mrs. White tore up her linen sheets for bandages and cared for these men. She told her descendants of the time when they left after cessation of hostilities, and they never heard from them again. An upstairs bedroom was papered with the useless Con- federate money. At this time Col. Thomas White was dead and the son Joseph Clark White and wife Adeline C. Alexander White and children, Thomas A., Frank, Addie, George, B. J.,
White Place (now in ruins) built by Thomas and Elizabeth Haynes Clark White about 1820. Lower picture of hand made brick house for cooking, spinning and weaving. (Owned by Dr. B. L. White.)
220
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
and Caroline lived there. Caroline and one of the Federal Lts. fell in love, but she was not allowed to marry him.
A dry well used to keep foods cool is in the back yard. This was the forerunner of the refrigerator and the deep freeze of today. Old currant bushes, berry vines and fig trees may still be found in the fruit orchard gone for many years.
Green Roberts House
John Wilder sold 10112 A. of land to William Wilder on July 6, 1820 and William built a house. In 1852 Green Roberts bought the house from William Wilder. At some time rooms were added prior to this. Wooden pegs and hand hewn timbers of virgin pine were used in the construction and the house is sound and attractive now. The great-granddaughter of Green Roberts (Mrs. George Hadaway), lives in this house now and it is owned by Mrs. C. C. Jones of Macon.
John C. Green House
The John C. Green House was built by William Jones and William Davis in 1812, prior to the sale of this tract of land to James Green on March 15, 1827. On Nov. 15, 1833 Joshua Davis, Jr. sold this house to James Green, then he sold it to William Green who in turn sold it to John C. Green Sept. 19, 1858. This is a white two-story house with traditional ceilings and large rooms. The original hand-carved mantels are still in the living and dining rooms, as is the wainscoting of carved paneling. Both the front and back steps are of solid native gran- ite. Near the house are fruit trees and nearby are two streams.
William Moughon House, Fortville (See picture)
One of the most imposing houses in the county was the house at old Fortville situated on a hill and built by Daniel Pratt. It stood on a corner at the crossing of two stage roads, the upper Macon road to Milledgeville and here it was crossed by the stage road leading from the Ichabod Cox Place on the Garri- son Road to Blountsville where it intersected the Monticello, Eatonton roads.
The high two-storied house with tall fluted columns was flanked by tall sycamore trees with white trunks. There was a flower garden of an acre of patterned boxwood with shrubs and
The Moughon House at Fortville built by Daniel Pratt in 1825, owned later by Ormsby, Finney, Chambers, Ross, Masterson and Clark. (Courtesy of Robert Clark.)
222
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
flowers stretching along the Clinton road. There was a grove of towering oaks around the house and a pond nearby. There were dozens of slave houses on the south side all sturdy, strong and whitewashed, having their own trim yards.
The house was fitted with handsome imported hardware throughout, spacious rooms, hand-carved mantels, a spiral stair- way and beautiful fanlights over the entrance. Pratt built this house about the time that he built the Gordon Bowen, Blount- Lindsey house near Haddock, about 1828-30. The house at Haddock was considered the finer of the two because of a third floor and the spiral stairway which had greater height.
This house was owned by the following : Moughon, Ormsby, John W. Finney, W. A. Chambers, B. F. Ross, Clement Master- son and John W. Clark who reared his family here and died here. His son, Robert Clark of Macon owned the house when fire claimed it on June 7, 1946.
Tomatavia
Tomotavia the home of Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Stewart near James was built in 1865 by Mr. Stewart's maternal grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Woolfolk on land that was an original grant of 1808 to his father. The house is built of timber cut from the place and on a foundation of stone quarried on the place cut in blocks of two to three feet. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart restored the place and landscaped the grounds so as to present a different picture each season. The structure is one-storied with high ceil- ings and large rooms.
Johnson House in Clinton
The Johnson house on Madison street on the southwestern side of Clinton has stood for eleven decades marvelously well- preserved and unmarred by remodelling. It has always been noted for the classic wallpaper in the parlor, still rich in coloring and unfaded, mounted on cloth and "hung" on the walls of broad wood boards. The refinement of the wallpaper and the pleasing details of the house evoke repeated inquiries as to who built it and when.
It is aptly called the "Johnson house," for it has been occu- pied for nearly ninety-four years by descendants of Francis Solomon Johnson and Lucia Griswold, his wife. On October 3,
223
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
Lancaster House moved from Blountsville in the 1800's.
The W. W. Barron House at Clinton built in 1818 by Samuel Dennis.
The Stewart House at James- (Tomotavia)
New Salem Baptist Church organ- ized in 1839.
1844, Bennett Bell sold to Francis S. Johnson for $1,700.00 a certain well improved lot in the Town of Clinton containing 3 acres adjoining the lots of Mrs. Ann Morris in the rear and fronting, being separated by the street running in the direction of the Baptist church, the lots of Peter and Greene Clower, sep- arated also on one side from Samuel Griswold by a street and on the other by a street from lots owned by Joseph Stiles now in possession of Samuel Morgan and from lots (vacant) belonging to Samuel Griswold.
Wallpaper in the living room of the Johnson House in Clinton (intact after 125 years)
225
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
It has been called the "Flewellen place," for General William Flewellen, in February, 1835, bought from Edward Taylor four half-acre lots, Nos. 33, 34, 35, and 36, for $2,225.00. William Flewellen died in August of that year, leaving a wife and six children. His will bequeathed to his wife, Mary (Thweatt) Flewellen, his houses and lots in Clinton "so long as she may see fit to retain them" and to be disposed of by his executors, "as they may think fit and proper"; also his carriage and car- riage horse and two large plantations in Jones and Monroe counties.
His six children continued to live with their mother until she married Isaac N. Johnson of Newton County, on Nov. 24, 1842. In her marriage contract it was distinctly set out that the large property willed her by her husband, William Flewellen, was to remain her separate estate and property to be administered by Robert V. Hardeman as trustee. This did not include the home place for, on Jan. 1, 1843, Abner H. Flewellen of Muscogee county, brother of William Flewellen, dec'd, "by virtue of the power in me vested by the last will and testament of William Flewellen" sold to Bennett Bell for $1,700.00 "a well improved lot in the town of Clinton containing 3 acres now occupied by Isaac N. and Mary Johnson" adjoining the lot of Ann (Mrs. A. J.) Morris on the rear and fronting the lots of Peter and Green Clower on the street "running in the direction of the Baptist church," which was Madison street.
Edward Taylor, on Dec. 28, 1831, bought a vacant half-acre lot, No. 36, on Madison street from Thomas Hamilton, and the next day bought from John W. Turner for $1,600.00 half acre lots Nos. 34 and 35, "both in Clinton, and being the house and lot whereon Thomas Hamilton has resided and conveyed to the said Hamilton by James Gray by deed dated 15 Jan. 1824, and from the said Hamilton conveyed to the said John W. Turner by deed dated Feb. 21, 1831." Edward Taylor bought lot No. 33 from Daniel Tye on Feb. 10, 1835, and sold it to William Flewellen the same day. James Gray bought half-acre lot No. 34 on Dec. 25, 1817 and sold lot No. 35 on April 16, 1819. These two lots, or one acre, James Gray sold to Hamilton for $400.00; as Hamilton resided there from 1824 to February,
226
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
1831, and then sold the home place to John W. Turner for $1,600.00. The logical conclusion is that Thomas Hamilton had the house erected that today occupies lot No. 35, "fronting on Madison street."
Lowther Hall built in 1822 by Samuel Lowther, architect thought to be Daniel Pratt. Later owned by Hardeman. Pursley, Dr. and Mrs. Frank Jones. (Burned in 1945.) (Courtesy Mrs. Blair)
Lowther Hall
Lowther Hall built in 1822-is believed to have been de- signed by Daniel Pratt-set on a wide sweep of lawn shaded by elms and cedars. The hip roofed, clapboarded structure, a hand- some two-story building of post-Colonial design. It has small, paned, shuttered windows, a small Roman Doric portico and a graceful, elliptical fanlight above the entrance door. A tran- somed door at the second floor opens on the roof of the portico. Built by Judge Samuel Lowther, later occupied by Hardeman, Pursley and Dr. and Mrs. Frank Jones.
Enclosed by a picket fence and handsome gate, were the grounds of beauty, filled with tall cedars and elms, with green velvet lawn, shrubs and flowers. At the right of the house was
227
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
the rose garden bordered with boxwood and beds of sweet helio- trope. There was wisteria climbing in the trees in the back of the gardens and red crepe myrtles. The house seen through a vista of tall trees was painted white. Pomegranates, scupper- nongs, figs, pears and plums grew in the fruit orchard. The old thornless Lady Bankshia rose climbed the garden wall with its clusters of yellow flowers. There were bridal wreath spireas, tea olive and flag lilies. There was the basement where the wine cellar was located, the sewing room where the frames for quilt- ing hung from the ceiling.
Squire Lowther came to Warren County from Virginia and later came to Jones County and built this house in 1818. His daughter Charlotte Mary in 1835 married Timothy Mathews Furlow. She died in a few years and Furlow left Clinton and went to Holton in Bibb County where he married Margaret Holt who was the grandmother of Mrs. Mary Calloway Jones who with her husband Dr. Frank Jones owned and restored the house before it burned in 1946.
The house was built after the fashion of Georgia houses of that day with four large rooms below and four rooms above with a wide hall upstairs and down, becoming narrower at the back where the archway in the center of the hall framed the lovely stairway. The stairway was sheer beauty, with its long graceful sweep, forming an ellipse as it reaches the second floor, with its broad steps and low treads with delicate handrails of walnut and spindles. Forming the supports for the flat arch which divides the front and back halls were two large pillars, with pilasters on three sides. The pillars of wood and the arch of plaster ornamented with ox-tongue moldings. The entire hall moldings were fashioned with great beauty, with the small acan- thus leaf motif, while the ceilings medallions use the large acanthus leaf and blossom for decoration. The intricate and beautiful work of fitting the paneling and moldings done by car- penters a century ago cannot be duplicated today. The hardware in the house was perfect, with brass knobs and keyhole covers with large locks on the doors with the English maker's name still on them. The small cupboards were paneled with crusader's
228
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
crosses and the bedrooms had baseboards and wainscoting about 30 inches high with stile and panel railing.
On the right of the front hall was the dining room, with plastered walls and cornice with a shell and reed pattern. All of the mantels were gracefully shaped with oval panels and reeded pilasters. The fireplaces were perfect with a broad flat stone hearth, a wide place for the fire, iron crane and pothooks, candle molds and an iron kettle. There was a marble-topped table in the back hall with the cedar bucket with shining brass bands and a silver dipper. A door from the dining room entered the mas- ter's bedroom where the four-poster cord bed stood and the in- laid chest. The fireplace was broad and the mantel very lovely. In the parlor the mantel had a medallion in the center with small diamond side panels. With the big log fires in that day and the candle light softly glowing it must have been wonderful.
The upstairs rooms were just as lovely and the guest room with the fancy four-poster bed covered by a silk handmade quilt and hung with graceful valances was a collector's item. The wig and shaving stand with a heavy mahogany dresser were two at- tractions of this room. The ornate washstand held a lovely bowl and pitcher with tiny pink moss roses patterned on them. (Burn- ed in 1946.)
CHAPTER XVII. Towns and Roads-Trails
The Historic Garrison Road and Trails
Along the Ocmulgee where Fort Hawkins stood, lands were reserved by the government and in 1806 a trading post and fort was built, and named in honor of Col. Benjamin Hawkins, the famous Indian Agent. This reserve had long been occupied by the Indians and the Mound-Builders before them. This was a favorite home of the Creeks. Around this fort several stores,
229
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
two taverns and several homes were built before Macon was laid out. This little village was on the southeastern boundary of Jones County. Indian trails crossed here and it was from one of these trails that the Garrison road started.
The Old Ocmulgee Fields, at one time a part of Jones County and now Ocmulgee National Park where the Indian Mounds are located, were near the Fort Hawkins Reserve.
Walnut Creek in 1797 was called Ochuncoolga Creek by the Indians. It was this creek Col. Benjamin Hawkins crossed as it joins the Ocmulgee river. He was in a clumsy log bateau. He had passed through Ocmulgee Fields, followed the Indian Trail on to Fort Wilkinson, just below Milledgeville along the trail now known as the Garrison Road. Along this trail the garrison from Fort Wilkinson passed, headed by Col. Hawkins, to establish the new Fort Hawkins (1806).
According to Seymour Dunbar in his four-volume, "History of Travel in America," we find on page 502, Volume 2 an extract from the treaty at Washington signed by the Creeks on Nov. 14, 1805 giving the United States, "A right to a horse path through the Creek country from the Ocmulgee to Mobile . .. and the Creek Chiefs will have boats kept at the several rivers for the convenience of men and horses; and houses of entertainment established at suitable places on said paths for the accommoda- tion of travelers." Now all of the groundwork for these trea- ties were laid by Col. Benjamin Hawkins. This was the real be- ginning of changing this pre-historic path, first used by the wild animals and then by the pre-historic Indians, then the Colonial Indians, then by the Charlestonians and early Georgians, into a genuine road, leading on toward Columbus.
Before our times it was known as the "Path of the Creek Nation"; part of it became the Garrison Road and the whole path rapidly became known as the Federal Road or the Mail Road and when telegraph wires were put up, some people called it "The Wire Road."
Fort Hawkins was built in 1806, and it was garrisoned by troops from Fort Wilkinson in 1807. Aaron Burr crossed the river in March 1807, after his capture on the Tombigbee. He
230
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
found no ferry there, but did find one at Fort Wilkinson on the Oconee just below Milledgeville.
One fork off the Garrison Road leads from a mile southeast of Cumslo and a mile and a half southwest of James and crosses the Ocmulgee at Tarver's Site.
Parallel with the Garrison Road and approximately two miles north of it, "Tom's Path," extends all the way from the Oconee to the Ocmulgee rivers. It crosses the Oconee at Tobler's Creek, and apparently crosses the Ocmulgee at Holton. Another path at the Ocmulgee crossing goes eastward toward the Oconee and is known as the Choctaw Trail. It is believed that this trail went in the vicinity of Eagle Rock.
This Old Garrison Road was an important road before and during the War of 1812. Along this road went the troops to Fort Hawkins. Gov. Peter Early had succeeded Gov. D. B. Mitchell and at an intersection in Jones County he reviewed the troops going to defend their liberties against the British and Indians.
It is said that this road was first an animal trail and then an Indian trail. The settlers and traders later used this trail for travel and gradually the road was made wider and better. The Indians traveled south to Spanish forts at Tallahassee, St. Marks and Pensacola. At one time this route was filled with bands of raiding Indians en route or returning from the frontiers laden with booty and scalps of Georgians. Couriers carried the news from the Capital, Milledgeville, to Clinton (by way of a road coming by Lowther Hall) and to Fort Hawkins, that the English were stirring up trouble with the Indians and that a crisis was impending between the Indians and the Georgians. (1811-12.)
The Garrison Road was an important stagecoach and mail route in Colonial days. A man by the name of Phelps had a tav- ern where the roads lead out to Pitts Chapel. Here the horses of the stagecoach were changed and the travelers fed and cared for.
This old road was under the supervision of the local Justices for a time. An order passed on Sept. 19, 1808 appointed Charles
231
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
Parting and Benjamin Howard as overseers of the Garrison or Federal Road. (See Inferior Court Minutes of 1808. )
Today this road is paved and in Jones County a State His- toric marker is placed at the intersection of road leading from it up to Gray. As this road enters Milledgeville another State marker has an interesting inscription, (this is Highway 49.)
Masonic Hall in Clinton-1820 (by courtesy of Mrs. Valentine B. Blair)
Indian Trails
Many Creek Indian towns were located on the Chattahoochee river, about 100 miles below what is now Columbus. Their paths were well traveled trails open to horses but not suitable to wagons. "Horse Path" from Cusseta, a town below Columbus ran almost due east to the Flint river near the Old Creek Agen- cy, thence to Fort Hawkins in Jones County. Near here were the "Ocmulgee Old Fields" on a vast river bottom which yielded great crops of corn to the savage owners. This path crossed Jones County to James and ended at Rock Landing on the Oconee below Milledgeville.
232
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
Another Indian Trail was "Old Indian Path," which ran from the Flint river and crossed the Ocmulgee river at what is now Juliette and went across Jones County to Milledgeville. Two other trails crossing Jones County were "Cheehaw Trail" and "Tom's Trail."
These trails were constantly used by Indians and white traders. In 1802-04 the Indians ceded all lands between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers : in 1825-26 they ceded all the lands between the Flint to the Chattahoochee.
The son of James Comer, a pioneer of Jones County, said that when he was a small boy, he was standing with his father on their farm in Finney's District on "Cheehaw Trail," when two Indians came along going on a long journey. James Comer gave each a few dollars to help them along, and they went down into the valley nearby and laid down their packs, unslung their bows, then made a mark on a tree and put their money on a blanket. Then they took their bows and shot at the mark on the tree to determine who would possess all of the money. As soon as one Indian won the money, they picked up their sacks and left, apparently satisfied.
Clinton
Clinton, which was first called Albany was the county seat and is situated near the center of the county 22 miles, southwest of the capital of Milledgeville. 14 miles from Macon, 25 miles from Forsyth, 23 miles from Monticello, 28 miles from Irwin- ton and 28 from Marion. It had a courthouse, a jail, a Metho- dist and a Baptist church, male and female academies, three taverns, several boardinghouses, stores, a tannery, and me- chanics shops. The town was healthy and was incorporated in 1816.
The most common diseases were, pneumonia and fever. An African named Sam property of J. S. Billingslea, at the time of his death was said to have been 130 years old. Mrs. Rachel died at 81 and Arthur Harrup at 85. (White's History of Georgia. )
To a sturdy band of pioneers and settlers who back in 1807 came into a wilderness of Indian country to build up a civiliza- tion and a peaceful agricultural life, we owe much. Clinton was designated in 1809 as the capital of the county, however the
233
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
large brick courthouse was not finished until 1818. The contract- ors for the building were called "undertakers" and Robert and John Allen were paid for this work. Robert Hutchings and James Smith were selected to secure plans. The Judges at that time were Robert Cunningham, Joseph Duckworth, J. W. Ray, G. W. Ross. The sale of lots paid for the courthouse.
This courthouse was an interesting part of Clinton's history. Clinton was the trading center for miles around for as many as 16,000 people when Macon was in swaddling clothes in 1821. Clinton had four springs of freely flowing water that not only supplied the people, horses, and travelers but was used for man- ufacturing purposes. It was a good place for settlers to make a home and they did.
Among the early comers to Clinton were two Yankees who were to set their mark upon Georgia. Samuel Griswold and Daniel Pratt both skilled carpenters and mechanics. Griswold came from Connecticut and Pratt from New Hampshire. The first frame dwelling was built by Sam Griswold near the brick courthouse and for several years Griswold and his family used it for a store and a dwelling. Griswold prospered and soon built a handsome house on Bonner's Hill. Near his home he built a gin factory and with Daniel Pratt as an assistant he made gin saws and other equipment and the business grew, so that Daniel Pratt moved to Alabama where he founded the town of Pratt- ville and started a gin factory of his own. In 1839 because of no railroad facilities, Griswold moved his factory and home to Griswoldville.
The circuit rider preached in Clinton and rode to the small town of Macon to preach at what is now Mulberry Methodist church. The ladies of Macon drove to Clinton in their carriages to purchase crinolines, silks and brocades for their Sunday frocks. Charles Hutchings had a fine store and a trip was made to New York each year to procure the latest materials. He had a two- story frame building on the north side of the square. Diagonally across from the Hutchings store, east of the square stood the handsome two-story structure which was to serve as the Clinton Hotel. Here came many notables to attend balls, to stop over-
23
148
24
16 21
>
12
39
17
3
6
7
Pulaskist.
To Garrison R. - >
10
32
49
30
1.
47
9
-
31
46
> E
36
33.
45 41 40 38
34
44
11
12
2
35
3
-
37
YOG .
-P
5
+
20
Madison St.
300
« Macon
22
2
7
Athens ->
Madison St.
29
28/15
27
25/26
1
18
00
WK
Clinton 1821-50_
19
235
HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
MAP OF CLINTON - 1821 - 50 LEGEND
This is a map drawn according to data from old deeds, from old letters at that time and surveys. At some time in the past there was a plat of Clinton, but it is lost sight of.
1. Courthouse
2. Clower-Hamilton House
3. Flewellen-Johnson House
4. Baptist Church
5. Robert Hutchings- Stewart House
6. Elbert Hutchings-King- man-Comer House
7. Gen. Alfred Iverson's- Ellis-Willingham
8. Cader W. Lowe-Bonner House
9. Lowther Hall
10. Dr. Pursley's
11. Jail
12. George-Pope-Post Office
13. Samuel Dennis-W. W. Barron House
14. Clinton Female Seminary
15. Clinton Hotel-Mitchell- Smith-Barron-Blair
16. Parrish-Green House
17. Methodist Church
18. Day's School for Boys
19. Bonner's Hill-Griswolds
20. Griswold Gin Works
21. Law Office of Samuel Lowther and Alfred Iverson, Sr.
22. Lockett-Blount-Ross- Hamilton House
23. Beersheba Jones-Pitts- Pursley-Ross House
24. Morgan's Tan Yards
25. Tailor Shop
26. Bowling Alley
27. Photo Shop
28. Silversmith's
29. Gantt's Bar
30. Winship and Hutchings Store
31. Juhan & Clowthers
32. Mike Sullivan's Tavern
33. Masonic Hall (3 stories of brick) skating rink
34. Winship Machine Shop
35. Thomas Bog Slade's House
36. Mrs. Gibson's Hotel
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.