USA > Georgia > Tift County > History of Tift County > Part 37
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In Tifton the Bucks at first lived at Hotel Sadie, but they soon built a large, handsome, brick, Georgian residence on the southwest corner of Love Avenue at Sixth Street. It was the scene of many happy entertainings.
Mr. and Mrs. Buck had two children, Ethel, who attended Lucy Cobb, and E. A., Jr., who was born at Tifton, September 14, 1903 and attended Sparks Collegiate Institute, Sparks, Georgia. At Sparks, E. A., Jr., fell in a large well, but was rescued. E. A., Jr., was killed in an automobile wreck near Tif- ton, on Christmas night, 1921. Two months later, on February 27, 1922, E. A. Buck, Sr., died at his Love Avenue home. There, on what is said to have been the coldest February weather in the history of the weather bureau. Mrs. Buck died, February 10, 1934.
Ethel Buck, who, after her marriage to Winston McKey, lived in Valdosta. died at St. Joseph's, Atlanta, Thursday, April 4, 1935. Funeral services were held Saturday afternoon at five o'clock at the Buck home in Tifton, where they were conducted by her father's former pastor, Reverend T. H. Thomp- son, of Bainbridge Methodist Church, but formerly of Brunswick, who, as- sisted by Dr. C. W. Durden, had conducted her father's funeral services. Before they laid her to rest with the other members of her family in the Buck mausoleum in the Tifton cemetery, friends sang, "Good-night. Be- loved."
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HISTORY OF TIFT COUNTY
PATRICK THOMAS CARMICHAEL
Perhaps there has been no more interesting figure in Tift County annals than Patrick Thomas Carmichael who moved from Coweta County, Georgia to Berrien County, now Tift. December 10, 1902, and continued to make this vicinity his home until his death on March 30. 1942, at the age of ninety-one years, lacking eighteen days.
Born in Coweta County, April 17, 1851, son of Lieut. Patrick Carmichael, C. S. A., and Mary Anne Washington Speer Carmichael, Patrick Thomas was a great-grandson of Patrick Carmichael, who was born in Brand, Ire- land, in 1754 and came to America in 1773, settling at Newberry District, South Carolina. Patrick Thomas's forebear, had gone to the ship to say farewell to his sweetheart. Elizabeth Thompson (born in Ireland, 1749), who, with her family, was sailing for America. The sweethearts could not bear to separate and Patrick determined to make the journey to America even though doing so would obligate him to a period of servitude in order to pay for his passage. The young people were married on shipboard, in 1773, and the long and hazardous journey across the ocean became for them a honey- moon. Arrived in this country, Patrick faithfully fulfilled his obligation and then became one of the prominent and useful men of the community where he settled. He and Elizabeth became the forebears of a large family of Car- michaels who people South Carolina, Coweta County, Georgia, and now Tift. Members of the family moved to Coweta County in 1851.
Patrick Thomas early felt and heroically discharged the responsibilities of life. When but a lad, the oldest boy left at home when his father and three brothers entered the Confederate Army, he looked after his father's farm. Two of his brothers, Joseph William (born May 22, 1840; killed at Seven Day Battle, in Virginia, June 26, 1862), and Robert M .. (born May 7, 1844; killed August 19, 1864, at Petersburg, Virginia), made the supreme sacrifice for the Confederacy.
Patrick and Elizabeth Carmichael had been members of the Associate Re- form Presbyterian Church, but Patrick Thomas was a Methodist. He joined the church under the ministry of the Reverend Pierce, at Coke's Chapel, Coweta County, 1866. He became Sunday School teacher, Sunday School superintendent, was a steward, and he helped build several churches. His father was a member of Tranquil Church, out from Turin, but later moved to Turin. He furnished the timber for the Turin Church and his son-in-law hauled the logs to the mill to be cut, hauled the lumber to Carol County to be dressed, then back to Turin for the church, which is still in use, and where Patrick II's funeral sermon was preached. Burial was at Tranquil cemetery. In those days before modern funeral arrangements, the leather driving reins from the buggies were used for lowering the casket into the grave.
On December 16, 1875 Patrick Thomas Carmichael married Elizabeth Tig- nor Fambrough (born March 11, 1859, Coweta County; died Tifton, October 6, 1929). They lived until 1902 upon their Coweta County farm. After moving thence to Berrien County, now Tift, Mr. Carmichael continued to farm un- til 1914, at which time he retired and moved to Lenox. Coming to this vicin-
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ity, he bought land from Captain John A. Phillips and from J. G. Adcock. On the Adcock land he had bought he built his home. The land he purchased from Phillips he gave to his children, each receiving one hundred acres. From Lenox Mr. Carmichael moved to Woodbury and thence to Tifton in 1925.
On the occasion of Patrick Thomas's 90th birthay, his son, Homer Car- michael, of Tifton, honored him with a celebration unique. Mr. Homer Carmichael owns a lake, formerly called Tift's Pond, now called Lake Mary, for his late daughter, Mary Carmichael, a comely young woman whom death claimed early. Homer Carmichael planned to drain this lake, clear it of stumps and then refill it. He awaited the near approach of his father's ninetieth birthday, timed the draining at a few days before, and for the occasion had seven hundred pounds of delicious fresh water fish of choice varieties. He invited as guests the Carmichael clan who, coming from five states, assembled to pay homage to the revered head of the family, Patrick Thomas, who, though at so great an age, appeared to be in excellent health, and personally greeted each of the several hundred guests present. Receiv- ing with him and Mr. and Mrs. Homer Carmichael was Thomas Patrick's sister, Mrs. Ella C. Christopher (born in Coweta County, February, 15, 1853; died February 9, 1944, at Turin). Her funeral was held in the Meth- odist Church built with the logs her husband had hauled to make the build- ing possible. Mrs. Christopher, at the time of her brother's birthday cele- bration was upward of eighty-five, as also was their brother, John Carmichael, who also received with them.
To Patrick Thomas Carmichael and Elizabeth Tignor Fambrough Car- michael were born seven children, Jipsie Mae, Francis Albert, Lula Belle, Harvey Lee, Homer C., Thomas Arthur, Paul Douglas. Of these and their children a full account may be found in the book on the Carmichael Family, now in preparation.
Patrick Thomas Carmichael's wife, Elizabeth, was daughter of the Rever- end Dr. William N. Fambrough, Methodist minister and physician, of Coweta County.
BRIGGS CARSON
Briggs Carson, the first of the Carsons to live in Tifton, came here from Cordele about 1896 and continued to make this home until his death, May 27, 1937, at his home at the northeast corner of West Sixth Street and Col- lege Avenue.
Briggs Carson was born December 13, 1870, in Macon County, Georgia. He was one of seven children born to Captain Joseph P. Carson, C. S. A., (born June 1, 1839, at Carsonville, Crawford County, Georgia), and Char- lotte Briggs Carson (born February 7, 1842, Lincoln County, Missouri), daughter of the Reverend William S. Briggs and O. H. Briggs. Briggs Car- son's father, Joseph P. Carson, was a first cousin of General John Brown Gordon, in command of one wing of Lee's army in Northern Virginia. Later Gordon was governor of Georgia. In the War Between the States, Captain
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Joseph P. Carson was in command of Company I, in the Fourth Georgia Regiment, C. S. A., and he was commanding officer at the successful at- tack on Fort Steadman, near Petersburg, Virginia, the capture of Fort Stead- man being the last Confederate victory of Lee's army of Northern Virginia. (See account of "Carson at Fort Steadman," this volume.)
Briggs Carson was educated in the schools of Butler, Georgia, and at Mar- shallville, Georgia. When he was ready for college his father died and it be- came necessary to go to work instead of going to college. He, his mother, and his younger brothers, Keith and Joseph, moved to Cordele, where Briggs re- mained for about five years. While there he was bookkeeper for a Cordele firm, and he travelled for another firm.
While living in Cordele Briggs Carson met and became engaged to Ella Pate (born at Pateville, Dooly County, now Crisp, March, ....; attended Dooly County schools; attended Andrews College, Cuthbert, Georgia, and Wesleyan), daughter of John Smith Pate (born June 27, 1847, Dooly County, died August, 1930, at Cordele, Georgia) and Jimmie Clements (married June 27, 1872). Ella's father, John Smith Pate, was prominent in the annals of Dooly County. For an account of his achievements see William Fleming's "Crisp County, Georgia Historical Sketches." At the Methodist Church in Cordele, on April 27, 1898, the Reverend J. T. Stewart, pastor of the church performing the ceremony, Briggs Carson and Ella Pate were wed. Ella Jane wore a white brocaded satin wedding dress with a long train, and a veil. The evening wedding was followed by a brilliant reception at the bride's parents' home. Immediately afterward the young people left Cordele for Tifton.
In Tifton Briggs and Ella Carson at first occupied a house which they owned next door to where the Misses Mattie and Rosa Corry lived on Cen- tral Avenue. After two years there they moved to a house which they bought on Ridge Avenue, now the G. N. Mitchell home, where they lived for about ten years, after which they bought and moved into the Vickers house, the large home which after thirty-seven years, is still the Carson home.
Briggs Carson founded the first insurance agency in Tifton. His mother and his brothers, Keith and Joseph, moved to Tifton, and the Carson Broth- ers for many years owned and conducted a men's and women's ready-to-wear clothing store. Also, with Henry H. Tift, Tifton's founder, and C. W. Ful- wood, Briggs Carson owned the Tifton Foundry and Machine Shop. At one time Briggs owned interest in the Tifton Gazette Publishing Company, W. H. Park of Macon, and John W. Greer having bought controlling interest in the Gazette in January, 1898, and Mr. Park after several months, having sold his interest to Briggs Carson and J. L. Herring. Carson later sold his interest to J. L. Herring. Briggs also owned a large farm north of Tifton.
Briggs Carson was chairman of Tift County's first Board of Education. Other members were: Dr. F. B. Pickett, W. S. Smith, G. W. Crum, J. N. Horne, P. D. Phillips.
In 1897, during the pastorate of Dr. P. A. Jessup, one of the early pastors of the First Baptist Church of Tifton, Briggs Carson became superintendent of the Baptist Sunday School, and so continued throughout the pastorates
PIONEER TIFTON BUILDERS
Top row, left-C. W. Fulwood, Sr., Lawyer, (deceased) whose interest in City Beautiful brought Fulwood Park. Top row, right-Briggs Carson, Sr., educator and business man (deceased). Center row, left-Dr. Jasper Brooks, veteran druggist. Center row, right-John L. Herring, beloved editor of Tif- ton Gazette 1897-1923 (deceased). Bottom row, left-Dr. N. Peterson, beloved physician (deceased). Bottom row, right-John Henry Hutchinson, first tax collector of Tift County.
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of Dr. Charles Dilworth, Reverend Miller, Mr. Reamey, and during the pastorate of Dr. C. W. Durden. Briggs preceded I. D. Morgan. When Briggs became superintendent of the Sunday School, the church was housed in the Park Avenue structure now housing the Presbyterians. He continued until some time after the congregation moved into the edifice at corner of Love Avenue and Fourth Street.
Children of Briggs and Ella Pate Carson were:
Charlotte, aged about six months when she died; an unnamed infant son, who died in infancy;
Pate, a lawyer; lives in New York City; his wife is Georgiann;
Briggs, a lawyer; lives in Tifton; Married Perry Lee Moore Webb, a widow, daughter of Perryman and Senator Susie Tillman Moore. Issue: Charlotte Carson.
Banks, married; lives in Atlanta.
Robert Clements, of Tifton; married Florence Willingham Karsten, artist, granddaughter of Dr. W. L. and Florence Willingham Pickard. Issue: Ella Jane Pate Carson.
James, clerk of the House of Representatives, Washington. D. C.
Joseph, of Tifton; married Edith Wilkes, daughter of a Methodist minis- ter. Issue, Joseph Carson.
Ella Pate Carson has been active in the women's work of the Tifton Meth- odist Church. She is a charter member, a former president, and long time historian of the Charlotte Carson Chapter, United Daughters of the Con- federacy.
Ella Pate Carson continues to live at the Carson home on Sixth Street, and there with her are her sons, Clements and Joseph, and their wives and chil- dren, and her son James, when not in Washington.
CHARLOTTE CARSON
Charlotte Ashmore Keith Briggs was born February 7, 1842, at Lincoln County, Missouri, daughter of a Methodist minister, the Reverend William S. Briggs and his wife, O. H. Briggs. Charlotte was a grand-niece of Chief Justice Marshall, of the United States Supreme Court. Reverend William S. Briggs was eldest son of James McDonald Briggs and Charlotte Ashmore Keith. James McDonald Briggs was youngest son of David Briggs and Jane Lansdown Briggs. David, first progenitor of the Briggs family in America, came to Virginia in 1752 and settled in Stafford County, twelve miles from Fredericksburg, near the Rappahannock River. David is said to have been "a gentleman of unusual natural ability, liberally educated, and soon took high rank in the new country." He amassed a considerable fortune, and his original home in this country was bought of Lord Fairfax.
Through one line Charlotte is said to have been descended from Poca- huntas, famous Indian princess.
Upon outbreak of the War Between the States the men of Charlotte's family joined the Confederate Army and the women of the family were sent
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to Georgia, where it was then deemed safe. Among those appointed to escort the Briggs party was Captain Joseph P. Carson, of Carsonville (born June 1, 1839, at Carsonville, Crawford County, Georgia), son of Joseph J. Carson and M. G. Carson. Carsonville was named for Joseph J. Carson and the large plantation home in which Joseph P. was born is still standing. J. H. Carson and W. H. Robinson were the Macon County delegates to the Secession Convention which met at Milledgeville, January 21, 1861. Both voted to secede.
Soon after. the outbreak of the war Joseph P. Carson, on April 27, 1861, en- listed in the Fourth Georgia Regiment, as a private. He was elected to com- mand Company I, in the above regiment and remained in service until the close of the war.
Pretty eighteen-year-old Charlotte Briggs had married Joseph P. Carson before he returned to his duties in Virginia.
Joseph P. Carson received wounds at Sharpsburg, at the Wilderness, at Winchester, and was twice wounded at Petersburg. For two years prior to the close of the war he was in command of General John B. Gordon's sharp- shooters, and Carson was in command of the successful assault on Fort Steadman, March 25, 1865, the last Confederate victory of Lee's army of Northern Virginia.
The Confederate army was so greatly outnumbered that it was impos- sible to follow up the victory of Fort Steadman and the end of the contest came at Appomattox, April 9, 1865.
When the war was over Joseph P. Carson and his distinguished cousin, General John B. Gordon, who later became governor of Georgia, returned to their homes in Georgia and for many years they were in business to- gether in a large farming and cattle-raising project in Macon County, not far from Reynolds, Georgia.
To Joseph P. and Charlotte Briggs Carson were born seven children: Ophelia G. (born April 9, 1865, Macon County, Georgia, near Reynolds) ; Rains (born July 22, 1867, Macon County) ;
Beulah R. (born August 5, 1869, Macon County) ; Briggs (born December 13, 1870, Macon County) ;
Holmes (born September 17, 1872, Macon County) ;
Keith (born October 2, 1876, at Reynolds, Taylor County) ;
Joseph (born March 9, 1879, at Reynolds).
After Joseph P. Carson and John Brown Gordon had been in business for many years, Carson bought out Gordon's interest; but soon afterward Carson died, and his widow, Charlotte, was left with the responsibility of rearing the surviving children, not yet grown. She moved to Cordele and was there for several years. When Briggs, her eldest surviving son, was grown he moved to Tifton, and later Charlotte and the younger sons, Keith and Joseph, also moved there.
Briggs married Ella Pate; Keith married Laura Smith; Joseph married Isadore Timmons, daughter of Mayor W. W. Timmons, of Tifton. After Isa-
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dore's death, Charlotte lived with Joseph in the house now owned by Judge Eve. After his second marriage, Charlotte made her home with her son Briggs, and his wife, Ella Pate, at the Carson home on West Sixth Street, where she died November 11, 1913. She is buried in the Tifton cemetery.
Charlotte Carson was organizer and first president of the Charlotte Car- son Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which chapter was named for her as the widow of Captain Joseph P. Carson, intrepid and valiant hero of Fort Steadman. The chapter was organized in the parlors of the Myon Hotel in the winter of 1908, and received its charter on April 14, 1908, in the auditorium of the Tifton Grammar School. For a history of the chap- ter, see article by Ella Pate Carson, in this volume.
CAPTAIN OWEN LEMUEL CHESNUTT AND FAMILY
Among the obvious, but none-the-less tragic aftermaths of the War Be- tween the States were the destroyed homes, wrecked plantations, blasted hopes, and interrupted careers. No war that America has ever fought re- sulted in such sickening devastation to homelands, nor left so deep a hurt. The returning Southern soldier had no G.I. Bill of Rights, no organized and concerted efforts to re-establish him in civilian life, no friendly, grateful gov- ernment to breach the gap between war and peace. Instead, the young Con- federate officer, demobilized from war, began a battle for which he was ill- equipped, and for which his physical and emotional depletion weighed heavily against him. That this circumstance was repeated over and over and over in no way lessened its poignancy; on the contrary it increased it, for the effect on the South of its tragic accumulative weight is incalculable.
Among these returning Confederate officers was Captain Owen Lemuel Chesnutt, age not yet 24 years. Son of Thomas Jefferson Chesnutt and his first wife, Laetitia Owen, he was born in Sampson County, N. C., Sept. 22, 1840. His father, born in 1802 of Welsh and English descent, was an out- standing man in eastern North Carolina, well-to-do, cultured and influential. His mother was Welsh, of distinguished ancestry, being a member of that Owen family whose recorded history dates to 880, (the Owens were Kings of Wales until conquered by Edward 1st in 1282).
Owen L. Chesnutt was graduated from Franklin Military Academy in May, 1860 and entered the war immediately. He served with distinction the entire four years, in North Carolina, in West Virginia, in Tennessee, and in Virginia, and was at Appomattox at the surrender. He was Captain of Com- pany "C", 38th North Carolina, in Scales Brigade, Col. John Ashford com- manding the regiment.
In 1865 Capt. Chesnutt was married to Mary Ann Newkirk Matthis. She was a daughter of Abram Newkirk Matthis and Eliza Jane Dollar whose home was "Pleasant Hill" in Sampson County, N. C., and she was the granddaughter of Mary Ann Newkirk and Major James Matthis (also spelled
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Matthews) of "White Oaks" in Sampson County. Major Matthis represented Sampson County in the House of Commons, General Assembly of N. C., from 1802 to 1818. This family had come to North Carolina from Virginia, Mat- thews County, Va., having been named for one branch of the family. Mary Ann Newkirk's family had come from Kingston and Albany, N. Y., where they were among the first settlers from Holland to the New Netherland Colony, in April 1659. They were related to and intermarried with many of the most distinguished Dutch families in New York.
The Matthises were large slave holders, and "White Oaks" and "Pleasant Hill" were scenes of gracious and comfortable living. In this atmosphere Mary Ann had grown up, and she had grace and stamina to face, with her beloved Captain, her world torn and shattered and demanding from them the full measure of strength and courage and faith.
Capt. and Mrs. Chesnutt lived for some years on the depleted old plan- tation, but his battle wounds had taken their toll (he had been wounded seven times) and he was not physically equal to the battle of farm restora- tion. In 1887 they left North Carolina to make their home in the little saw- mill village of Tifton. Beautifully educated, Capt. Chesnutt turned to teach- ing school which he did for several years; and later served as Clerk of the City Court and Justice of the Peace. Never a robust man, he retired from active life at an early age. He was one of the organizers of the Presbyterian Church, was one of its first Elders, and served it with love and devotion until his death in June, 1910. (See Presbyterian Church History.) Mrs. Ches- nutt followed her husband in death ten days later.
By nature Capt. Chesnutt was unusually genial and affable, of fine bear- ing and address, hospitable, sincere in friendship, forthright in character, and devout in his Christian life. Unusually gifted as a public speaker, with cul- tured mind and a beautiful flow of language, he was always in demand as toastmaster and featured speaker on gala occasions. Many of his speeches have been preserved in manuscript and show a breadth of vision and an elo- quence comparable to many of the best speakers of his day. These speeches show him to have been particularly advanced in his ideas of the New South; and to have been without rancor or bitterness toward his late adversaries. At the time of his death he probably had as many friends as any man in the country. Chesnutt Avenue was named in his honor.
To Capt. and Mrs. Chesnutt were born the following children:
Eliza Laetitia, married Henry Hardy Britt, died 1929. (See Britt Family.)
Thomas McIntosh, married Janie Williams, daughter of Charles and Flora MacDonald Williams of Fayetteville, N. C. Died 1933. Children: Thomas Williams Chesnutt, Catherine MacDonald, married Roy Benton Allen, chil- dren: Mary Catherine and Roy Benton, Jr.
Abram Matthis, married Eunice Brown of Atlanta, Died 1940. Children: Louise, Henry, Mildred, Irene and Edwin (died 1945 in Italian campaign).
Owen Lee, married Mary Carmichael (Ethridge) of Jackson, Ga. Captain in Dental Corps with American Army in France in World War I. Died 1942. Lillian Gray, died in girlhood.
Mary Marable, married Paul Wingard, Rome, Ga. Died 1944.
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HISTORY OF TIFT COUNTY
SAMUEL M. CLYATT
The Tifton Gazette of May 13, 1904 carried the story that Sam Clyatt and J. M. Gaulding had been appointed by the newly formed Sam Cylatt Fishing Club to select a site for purchase by the club for the location of a club house. Fishing clubs were popular with Tifton men of that day. The Tom Welch Fishing club had been organized by Brunswick and Western Railroad men in 1892, and had headquarters on the Satilla River. The Homosassa Fishing club was another fishing club with many Tifton members.
Not only was Sam Clyatt popular among his fishing friends, but every one who knew him liked him and he was elected Mayor of Tifton, to succeed . Mayor W. W. Timmons, who was mayor in 1904 and 1905.
Mayor Clyatt began his term of office as mayor in January, 1906. The event was celebrated by a 'possum supper. "A fine fat 'possum had been baked to an epicure's taste by Jack Garrett and was served in handsome style by Host Brigham, with oysters and accessories. The occasion was a most pleasant one to all attending."
Mayor Clyatt had married Miss Emma Stump, and they had two children, beautiful and beloved Marguerite, and James J. Clyatt, possessed of an ex- cellent voice. Mrs. Clyatt was daughter of valliant James Stump, who, at fifteen, fought in the Mexican War and during the War Between the States was a blockade runner between New York and Richmond. Three of his vessels were captured by the United States. Later, during the administration of President Grover Cleveland, he was sergeant-at-arms at the Capitol at Washington. James Stump died in his seventy-sixth year, in 1905, at Val- dosta.
Elected to serve as councilmen with Mayor Clyatt were H. H. Tift, E. P. Bowen, and S. G. Slack. John T. Mathis was mayor pro tem., and Leon Har- graves was clerk of council and city treasurer.
Mayor Clyatt's term of office was a period of much progress in Tifton. S. G. Slack, J. J. Golden and N. Peterson were appointed to draft a sanitary code for the city; and an ordinance was passed providing receptacles for trash and garbage. Raleigh Eve was appointed in June, 1906, to examine the city charter and later was appointed to draft a code of laws for the city; and these were adopted. In June, 1906 the citizens of Tifton voted for public schools and the new school, corner stone of which was laid in 1906, was opened January 14, 1907.
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