USA > Georgia > Jones County > History of Jones County, Georgia, for one hundred years, specifically 1807-1907 > Part 23
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This same year saw the enlargement of the residential sec- tion. A part of Christianna Haddock Anchors estate was bought by C. W. Middlebrooks. Divided into lots and sold at public auction.
In May 1936 the Georgia Power Company extended the pow- er line from Gray to Haddock.
Today Haddock is a thriving little town of about 500 inhabi- tants. The business section is composed of three general mer- chandise stores owned and operated by J. A. and J. D. Middle- brooks, J. A. Pursley and C. W. Finney ; a garage owned by J. V. Mercer ; Post Office, Ga. Depot, Haddock Gin Co. and Jones County Bank. The Jones County Bank is the oldest bank in the County, G. A. Smith is president, and the Cherokee Products Co., owned by Logan, Albert, Ernest and Mrs. Bloodworth, is located northeast of Haddock. Tarver Smith Lumber Company, is another industry in Haddock.
Round Oak
Round Oak community is located in northern central Jones County in Military District 360, and is on the line between Whites' and Barrons' Districts. It is five miles from the Jasper
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County line on the north and ten miles from the courthouse in Gray, on the south.
Tradition says the village was name first Sylvania, later, Round Oak, for a huge oak tree under which the Indians held their powwows and which was over a hundred years old. The Indians were living through here when Clinton was a village. About 1810-15 the Indian children were at play on the west side of Falling Creek while the white settlers' children were at play on the east. The railroad came through in 1885 and a large water tank was built under the old oak which leaked and killed the tree by 1895. The tank was moved to Hillsboro in 1907.
Some of the early families here were : Butts, Whites, Hunts, Barrons, Days, Hascalls, Coulters, Marshalls, Funderburkes, Greens, Gordons, Ricketts, Osburns, McBurneys, Reese, Good- sons, Gray, Wilburn.
A half mile south was the old Sunshine Church, a log building (no one knows the denomination), also used for a field school. The Battle of Sunshine Church took place here, and the account is given in another chapter. In November, 1864, this church was burned by Sherman's forces, and in 1875 a church was built on the hill at Round Oak. The charter members have many of the names who had previously belonged to old Sunshine Church, and they are buried in the nearby cemetery. This church has in recent years been named Sunshine Church II. One of the wounded Federals who had been hospitalized at old Sunshine Church in 1864, wrote a letter and sent a newspaper clipping to the Hunts who befriended him, and which letter is now in their possession from which I quote: "I preached in the new church at Round Oak, 25 years after I was wounded and a prisoner near here at old Sunshine Church. I brought my wife and daughter from Shelby, Ohio with me to visit the J. M. Hunts. After the service I walked around the church looking over the grounds where we did some of the hottest fighting, and under the church I found several 50-calibre bullets and minie balls." Signed by Sgt. B. F. Morris of Shelby, Ohio.
During the skirmishing, a cannon was set up under the his- toric oak by the Confederates. I have one of these shells in my possession also a Yankee gun and other cannon balls. The Fed-
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erals shot into the house (later owned by George B. J. White) north of Round Oak thinking that Wheeler had his headquarters there. This ten pound cannon ball I have, as it was dug out of a huge sill thirty years later.
Children attended the old field school or had private teachers, until a small subscription school was started. Some of the early teachers were: Rev. E. W. Sammons, Rev. T. W. Ellis, Mr. Searcy, W. E. Patterson (later Chr. of the Ga. Prison Com.), B. F. Merritt, Claude Childs and others. About 1880 a school house was built on the church grounds, the school burned in 1910. In 1912 a new two-story building was constructed near the depot. This building had four teachers and 125 pupils. In 1923 this building was considered unsafe and was taken down and the ma- terial used for a one-story building and auditorium, which served until 1946 when the school was consolidated with the Jones County High School at Gray.
The first stores were run by L. O. Benton & Co. from Monti- cello and the clerks were, John Malone and Milton Campbell. They had large stables where they sold mules, wagons, and farm- ing implements. Other stores here, were: J. W. Turk, Dr. Ben Barron, B. Walker, E. P. Hunt, W. H. Barron and George Gordon. George Gordon also had a cotton warehouse and his clerk was George Pursley. Early one morning, a fire broke out in the store owned by E. P. Hunt which burned the whole town except a store owned by J. T. Williams. In 1901 Barron and Henderson put up another store.
"Little Dick Ricketts," lived where later W. H. Henderson built his home. Ricketts farmed and made shoes. He went to the Army with the Jones County Volunteers in the 12th Ga. Regi- ment and although he was only five feet and a few inches he was as brave as could be. The boys in his company said that when Lee invaded Maryland, they had to wade the Potomac river. Long Jim Goolsby was six and one-half feet tall and very thin. He plunged into the water which came up to his chin, then he looked back to the bank at "Little Dick" and yelled, "Come on Dick," to which he replied, "All right, let me roll up my pants," which brought a laugh from his comrades. "Little Dick" went across the Potomac on the shoulders of his friend, "Long Jim Goolsby." He made a fine soldier and could take down anyone twice his size.
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Henry Marshall and his family lived out near the Day-Barron place and he was the carpenter who built the church here. One son, Starling Marshall, was the engineer on the Central passen- ger train, and to let the folks know who was behind the throttle he would give many fancy toots on the steam whistle as he ap- proached the station.
"Sugar Hill," was west of Round Oak 7 miles, and in 1892 they had a great commencement at the school. Several buggies, surreys with the fringe on top, and young men on horseback went to this affair. The rains poured, the bridges washed out and the night was dark, and many attendants from here were days get- ting home.
In 1900 the second Jones County Fair was held here of which there is an account in another chapter. This fair was a red-letter day in this little town and many oldsters still tell of the horse running away and of the prizes awarded by the Judges, the drawnwork, the exhibits of farm products, and the picnic at "Smith's Park."
In 1904 two families from Asbury Park, N. J., Mr. and Mrs. Sam Patterson and sons Henry and George, Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Dey and children, Helen and Sam bought lands a mile south of Round Oak and built a large Colonial home. They were friendly and hospitable and beloved in the community. The home was sold to the G. W. Jackson family about 1914.
Early physicians who practiced here were : Dr. Ben Holland, Dr. C. H. Ridley, Sr., Dr. J. T. Garland ( from Hillsboro), and Dr. T. A. White.
Out in Hammocks District, G.M.D. 377, where New Hope church is located there were many early families: Jacksons, Jar- rells, Burns, Hammocks, Pippins, Maynards, Crutchfields, Rus- sells, Coulters, Middlebrooks, Gordons, Greens, Greshams, Glawsons, and Huffs.
On out near the Ocmulgee river were : Hodges, Dames, Bee- lands, Glovers, Zellners, Van Zandts, Tribbles, Herndons, Greens, and others. Up in the northwest corner of Jones, called Cornucopia, or Sugar Hill were : Ridleys, Mitchells, John Kelly, Mac Patterson, Wm. Brooks, Lane Jacob, Bryan Lee, Kings, Garlands, Isaiah Packer, Isham Meadows, and others.
"Fiddlers Rest," long since disappeared, was a notorious place for drinking and gambling, two miles west of Round Oak. This
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was a crossroads where men gathered at a store and barroom run by George Mann, who held shooting matches, gander pull- ing, gambling and wrestling. Often under the influence of drink, men cut and fought and some died here. There were five or six houses near here at that time.
Round Oak has a population of about 200, a post office with Mrs. R. L. White as Postmaster, it is on highway No. 11, Cen- tral railroad, and is adjacent to the many thousands of acres owned by the U. S. Government, called "Piedmont Wildlife Reserve," on the west, and "Soil Conservation District," on the east, also "The Hitchitee Reserve," on the southeast.
Union Hill
The Union Hill Male and Female Academy was established in 1835, and torn down in 1910. This is a roster of teachers of the school while in existence : Mr. McManna, Mr. G. Washing- ton Ross, Miss Narcissus Ross, Mr. John Wesley Griggs, Mr. Dave Andrews, Mr. William Andrews, Mrs. Rita Davidson, Mrs. Julia Ross Kendrick, Mr. William Osburn, Mr. Kilgore, Miss Willie Johnson, Mr. Luther Folds, Mr. William Bozeman, Miss Lillian Key, Miss Irene Hays, Rev. Arthur Jackson, Miss Lily Wicks, Miss Mary Will Adams, Miss Velna Mooneyham and Miss Carrie Jones.
The Union Hill Primitive Baptist Church was organized in 1805. Sold to and torn down in 1874 by Mr. Bill McKizzic.
Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church was established in 1875. During that time there has been only three church clerks, Mr. G. W. Ross, Mr. W. J. Ross and Mr. Henry Avant, Mr. W. J. Ross is clerk now.
This is a list of pastors who have served there. Revs. Wash Smith, Lawrence Marshall, Wm. Phelps, T. H. Greer, E. W. Sammons, Arthur Jackson, J. N. Etheridge, S. F. Lowe, W. E. Long and L. Jackson.
Land for church and school was donated by Roland Ross, Sr. in 1835. Some of the early settlers were: Thomas Haddock, Clark Dumas, Roland Ross, Sr., Reason Wilcoxon, Ben Finney, Marshall Holsenbeck, Isaac Daniels, James Goolsby, Alex Odom, John McKizzic, Thomas Laxenby, William Vincent, and Thomas Horne. The Hutchings, Childs, Turners, Avants, and Hadaways came in later on.
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Confederate graves nearby are R. E. Hutchings, James Gools- by, and G. W. Ross.
We are indebted to some of the old families of that com- munity for these dates and facts. If the names of any of the early settlers have been inadvertently overlooked, we are sorry.
Union Hill, located in Etheridge District, Militia District 378 near the Putnam County line northeastern, Jones County.
Wayside History
In the early 19th century, only a few homesteads were in the vicinity of what is now Wayside. There was the old Ben Wood- all place, on the site of what is now the J. N. Smith home; the old Finney homestead located right back of what is now J. D. Wood's home; and the old Barfield home, built on the site of the home now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Tony Sweda. All of these original homesteads were destroyed by fire.
Wayside has had three names. It first went by the undignified name of Lousy Level; the second was little better, being Black Ankle; and the present name came into being near the time the railroad came through in the early 1880's.
The next home to be built in Wayside was the Tom Green home, built on the site of what is now the H. B. Davis home. Mr. Green also built a blacksmith shop adjacent to his home.
Early families here were : Carsons, Finneys, Holmes, Browns, Stewarts, Smiths, Barfields, Childs, Greens, Billy George, Wood- alls, and Ticknors. Later were the Whiteheads, Russells, Davis, Woods, Childs, Gordons, Bilderbacks, Pounds, Stanfords, Wil- liamsons, and Bushs.
John S. Stewart lived noth of Wayside; his children were : James, Frank M., John E., Mrs. R. A. Harris, Mrs. W. D. Boothe, Mrs. D. E. Duggan. His nephews were F. M. Stewart, Sr., and J. A. Stewart.
In the latter part of the 19th century, an Academy stood at Wayside, called the Planters's Academy. This was located back of where the Joe Bilderbacks now live. The large spring that supplied the water for this school is at the bottom of the hill and is known as Academy Spring. It now supplies water for the G.M. Canning Co. The trustees for the school were Buck Finney, Mr. Ticnor and Curtis Green (at one time) .
After the Academy was destroyed, a one-room school was built next to the present home of Mrs. Annie Childs. The room
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is still standing with two wings added.
One of the first businesses in Wayside other than the afore- mentioned blacksmith shop was a general store owned by a Mr. Walker. One of the next homes built was on the site of Mrs. Annie Childs home and built by a Mr. Slocum and in front of his house was the next business establishment, a cotton gin.
In the year 1883, a big tornado struck Wayside. Some of the older people in Wayside who were living then remember the storm. It struck first at what is now the Harry Gordon home and ripped a wide path through Wayside and vicinity injuring many people, killing a few and causing great property damage. One family had just moved into their new home and it was de- stroyed all but the floor. It is said that bolts of cloth from the store were wrapped around trees for miles around and some were blow as far as Eatonton. The story is told that in one home, the family had just sat down for dinner and the storm picked up the table cloth with all the dishes on it, twisted the cloth around as if making a hundle with the dishes inside and set it back down on the table. Another story is told of an old negro who was in the store at the time. He locked arms and legs around a keg of liquor. The storm roared over taking the store, but leaving the old negro and the keg intact.
Soon afterwards the railroad came through and the first depot was set up in a box car. The first express office was a flat car. For a while Wayside was the end of the track and one of the older people living now remembers as a child riding from Round Oak to Wayside on the train which consisted of an engine and a coach. She says when they got to Wayside, the porter turned the seats around and the train backed them up the track to Round Oak.
Any man coming to Wayside on business and having no place to stay was taken in at the old Bachelor's Hall which was located adjacent to the present O. R. Cook home.
In the early part of the 20th century, the peach industry put in its appearance. There were several packing sheds set up in Wayside. The first one was put up by J .D. Wood and located on the spot where Mrs. B. J. Whitehead now lives. Another was Mr. Jerry Smith's located across from Horace Green's present home.
This about brings the history up to 1907 with the exception
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of the Civil War incidents which are taken up elsewhere in the book.
In 1921 Miss Maude Childs organized a community Sunday School which grew into the Presbyterian church, which was or- ganized with four members: Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Marquess and Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Davis. The building was dedicated in 1923 and the manse was built by E. M. Davis, Sr. Wm. H. Mar- quess was elected and ordained elder with E. M. and H. B. Davis as trustees.
Located in Barron's District, Military District No. 300.
By Mrs. E. M. Davis, Jr.
CHAPTER XVIII Education
The history of education in Georgia and Jones County during the Colonial and Ante-Bellum periods was a series of develop- ments by slow growth, from tutors, small private schools to academies, poor schools, field schools and finally public schools.
It took years for people here and in Georgia as a whole to get away from the idea of poor schools and advance public schools for all, regardless of condition.
Jones County was new, land abundant and cheap and money was hard to raise. The first poor schools were supported by taxes derived by levies from the Inferior court upon recommendation of the Grand Jury. Names of the children unable to pay were kept on file and may now be seen at the courthouse in the Ordin- ary's office. The teachers got about five cents per day per pupil, the highest was paid seven cents. The parents in one community got together and hired a Yankee school teacher to teach ten months. Some planters who had tutors in their homes sent their children to northern colleges to finish their education.
In 1820 a committee appointed by the legislature recommend- ed a poor school fund and in 1822 the state appropriated $12,000 to be divided among the counties according to the num- ber of poor children returned from 8 to 18 years with tuition paid for only three years.
Some important dates are : the University of Georgia, called Franklin College was created in 1784 the first established by a
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state, but it was not opened until 1801, and the first class of nine graduated May 31, 1808 under an arbor on the campus. Indians stood at the edge of the forests looking on in awe. Those nine were Col. Gibson Clark, Gen. Jeptha Harris, Wm. H. Jackson, James Jackson, Augustus S. Clayton, Thos. Irwin, Jared Irwin, Robert Rutherford and William Williamson. Wesleyan in Macon was chartered as Georgia Female College on Dec. 23, 1836 and began operation in 1839, the first college for women under a state charter. In 1843 there were eleven graduates. Em- ory at Oxford established in 1837, Pennfield-Mercer, 1829-1833, Oglethorpe at Milledgeville, 1838, Augusta Medical, 1833.
There is no record of schools in Jones County from the or- ganization of the county in 1807 until 1821 and in all probability there were few who received any education during those first few years after Jones County was settled. The settlers were coming in during that period and working to get land cleared, houses built and food for the family. There was the Indian problem, money was scarce, the roads at times impassable and the nearest markets were Augusta and Savannah. Education was a luxury and not a necessity during those first years of the county.
As these settlers got some of their many problems adjusted, there was an increasing interest in education. Then it was believ- ed that it was the duty of the individual to pay for the education of his children and not the duty of the state. The result was that there was a mass of children whose parents were unable or un- willing to pay for their schooling. The state paid nothing at all for several years and then only to the academies and that was very little. The academies were not intended for the masses, but for the wealthier classes. The masses could not afford to board their children at the academy or to travel long distances over the rough roads. The rank and file had so many difficulties that their children were allowed to grow up without schooling in those first years of the new county, and this resulted in classes of cit- izenship, the aristocratic element and the poor class. The plant- ers bought more and more land and slaves while the poor man had few opportunities to do this. Often they would move on to new counties where the land was cheaper and the soil richer.
Step by step the schools grew from the private tutor to poor schools, field schools, academies and finally to free or public schools at a later period. As soon as Jones County had establish-
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ed a creditable system, the dark days of the Civil War came to blot it all out, and then followed the worst period of all, the carpet-bag rule and Reconstruction when there were no schools for ten years. By 1872 as the state was getting back in control of her affairs, she at once set up a system of education supported by taxation. Gov. James M. Smith appointed Gustaves J. Orr, State School Commissioner. He is called, "The Father of the Public School System in Georgia."
Before the Revolutionary War, New England ideas were pre- dominant in Georgia education, but after the Revolution immi- grants poured into Georgia from Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina and a new order prevailed. Virginia and not New England gave direction to the new order of society. The Virgin- ian had no common schools then. Many of the wealthier planters were educated in private schools, and they had tutors, but the plain people had few advantages. They had meager schooling in the "field school", which our pattern followed and also in our "poor schools".
This "field school" and "poor school" were always in the country, usually located at a crossroad near a spring. It was made of logs, the large cracks filled with mud. Some had a stick and mud chimney, none had glass windows, and the light came in through the door or openings in the walls, closed only by wooden shutters. The seats were made of split logs, or later "punch- eons". the more privileged of the poor might bring a split bot- tomed chair from home for more comfort. If there was any desk at all it was a shelf around the walls with seats pulled up to it. The floor was of split logs or coarse boards and some used the bare ground. There was nothing of beauty about the school and it was not meant to be a place to be enjoyed. These were places for hard work and strict discipline.
The teacher was often a young boy who had learned to read and write and cipher, and was seeking a new place to settle. Sometimes he was a local preacher who had no income from his work in the pulpit, and taught a subscription school to supple- ment what he made on his little farm near by. Sometimes he was a trifling adventurer who taught a short while before getting into trouble and slipping mysteriously away. Some of these schools were better than others-some teachers were very efficient and praise-worthy. Andrew B. Stephens, father of Alexander Ste-
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phens taught one such school in Wilkes County. Among his old papers is a bill dated Christmas 1805 made out to the "estate of Wyllie Wright for teaching two students, 12 months, 16 dol- lars." The general rate was $6.00 for 12 months. Often the teacher was boarded around or paid off in produce.
Some of the rules in the old schools were: Scholars going out of doors to study could not sit within 30 feet of each other or 50 feet of the schoolhouse. No scholar was allowed to go into fields, orchards or gardens unless it was on their road home from school. There was a special admonition not to take melons or fruit without the consent of the owner. They were not to make game of each other or of each other's clothes. They must not nickname one another.
The school teacher relied on the old hickory stick to maintain discipline. "He only whipped the big boys, and frightened the little ones and hardly ever whipped a girl."
A typical student's lunch was brought in a tin pail and consist- ed of a piece of meat, a sweet potato, a little jar of syrup with a lump of butter in it which was poured in a potato or biscuit after he stuck his finger in it.
The teacher made so little that he usually had a farm, or sold sewing machines or hauled wood to help out his finances. The salary might not be over $30.00 a month. sometimes three months before the crop was laid by and three months after the crops were gathered, he taught the school.
Each year the teachers were examined by the Superintendent of Education before they were licensed to teach, and had to do examples in fractions, decimals, subtraction, division, compound interest and partial payments. Teaching about one hundred years ago was a hard job with little pay.
Old Sunshine Church, a mile south of Round Oak, was used as an old field school and only recently I have picked up bits of slate around the site where the old log church stood. The girls were taught only to read and write. The boys had "ciphering". There was the paddle with a, b, c's cut on it, the horn book was used and then the blue back speller. My mother said that books were so scarce she learned to read from an almanac. The teacher was an autocrat and the parents wanted him to be. School opened soon after sun up and closed about sundown.
The War Between the States made even existing a problem for
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a decade after the burning and destruction through Georgia. Jones County was left destitute and education was at its lowest ebb. We find no records for ten years.
In 1871, as the state began to regain control of her affairs, the records show that Jones County's Board of Education consisted of one member from each district and that they selected Isaac Hardeman, President of the Board and David W. Lester as School Commissioner and Secretary. In 1873 a school term of three months was provided for the children of the county. Since the beginning of the present school system, Jones County has had five capable leaders for her schools. These interested men have brought our schools a long way in seventy-five years.
Consolidation and transportation have reduced the white schools to only four and the colored schools to four, all of which have excellent facilities.
These five men are : David W. Lester, 1871-1881; A. H. S. McKay, 1881 to 1902; E. W. Sammons, 1902 to 1942; U. S. Lancaster from 1925 to 1933 and W. E. Knox 1933 to the pres- ent. There follows an account of their lives.
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