USA > Georgia > Tift County > History of Tift County > Part 41
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In addition to his medical profession, Dr. Hendricks had various business interests. He engaged in naval stores and agriculture, and he was a director and vice-president of the National Bank of Tifton.
Also, Dr. Hendricks has engaged in politics and he has never been de- feated for any office for which he has run. On December 5, 1906 he was elected to serve on Tifton City Council and served one term. Later he served for one term on the Board of Education. In 1907 and 1908 he was in the General Assembly of the Georgia Legislature and in 1914 he was mayor of Tifton, following W. W. Banks. 1915 to 1917 he was in the Georgia Sen-
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ate, immediately prior to leaving for army service in World War I.
The Hendricks lived formerly on North Park Avenue in the house now the Sam Lassiter residence, but later purchased and moved into the Love Ave- nue house built by W. O. Tift. There Mrs. Hendricks died March 19, 1946. There Dr. Hendricks and his daughter, Mrs. Louise Stamps, and his pretty granddaughter continue to make their home.
Mrs. Hendricks was a woman of Christian character and was possessed of much sweetness of personality. To her and Dr. Hendricks were born five children; a son, who died in infancy; a daughter, Vera, also deceased; a daughter, Margaret Glenn (Mrs. Thomas Nelson Ricks, of Mount Olive, North Carolina); a daughter, Louise (Mrs. James Allen Stamps, of Tifton) ; a daughter, named for her father, "Billie," Willie Hartridge (Mrs. Albert Horton Ellis, of Rossville, Ga.).
JOHN LEWIS HERRING
John Lewis Herring, son of William Jasper and Rebecca Paul Herring, was born December 8, 1866, at Albany, Georgia, and moved with his parents to Isabella, in Worth County, when he was about one year old.
At Isabella William farmed and kept a store and John Lewis attended school and grew up in the hard days of Reconstruction. Early he loved books and read all he could procure. Grown, he secured work in newspaper offices at Ty Ty and at Isabella, and intermittently engaged in the mercantile busi- ness with his father.
When twenty years old, John Lewis Herring, on December 22, 1886, mar- ried Martha Susan Greene, daughter of John Burwell Greene of near Tifton. John took his bride to his parents' home in Isabella, and there they began housekeeping. John continued in the mercantile business with his father in Isabella for eight years.
About 1894 John Lewis Herring came to Tifton where Benjamin T. Allen had started a newspaper, The Tifton Gazette. After being with The Tifton Gazette for several years Herring was with Stovall on the Tampa Morning News for a few months, but thereafter accepted an offer of a posi- tion again on the Tifton Gazette. A few years later he purchased from Briggs Carson a controlling interest in the Gazette.
In 1912 Mr. Herring while continuing to operate the Gazette established a connection with the Savannah Morning News. He at this time began writing and sending back to the Gazette his highly interesting and valuable "Saturday Night Sketches," which were published in book form in 1918.
On September 14, 1914 John Lewis established the Daily Tifton Gazette, the only daily paper in the state in a town the size of Tifton. This daily has successfully continued.
John Herring, when young, joined the Methodist Church and he was a faithful member of the Tifton Methodist Church.
Mr. Herring was untiring in his efforts to secure the formation of Tift County from territory carved out of portions of Worth and Berrien, and to have Tifton as the county seat. This was accomplished on August 17, 1905.
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In his professional field many honors came to John L. Herring. (See article on "Wire Grass Journalism," this book.)
After the Wilson election the citizens of Tifton presented John L. with a suit of clothes, in appreciation of his handling of election returns. He was deeply touched, and said that when came his time to die he wished to be buried in the suit.
About the close of World War I the men of Tifton, and the women of the Twentieth Century Library Club, separately and unknown to each other, presented him with loving cups.
Mr. Herring was secretary or president of numerous Tifton organiza- tions. He loved and, in 1922, was president of the Kiwanis Club. On Friday, October 5, 1923 the Kiwanis Club was holding a Ladies' Night entertain- ment at the college. Mr. Herring, having ascertained that all arrangements were satisfactorily carried out, was in happy mood and was heading the receiving line when he was suddenly stricken with paralysis. Death followed, on Saturday night.
Mr. Herring's request about the well loved old suit was remembered and carried out. A hundred and fifty cars followed his body from the Methodist Church, where his funeral was held, to the Tifton cemetery, where he rests beneath a lone pine tree.
In the same issue of the Tifton Daily Gazette which carried its founder's obituary was printed on the editorial page: "The Boys Will Carry On." They have carried on, and well; and ably and valiantly have marched with them dear Miss Leola Greene, and Peggy Herring Coleman, and of late, Mrs. Bob Herring.
The worker, in God's time, finds rest; but the good work goes on.
At the southwest entrance of beautiful Fulwood Park, Tifton, stands a granite memorial erected in token of the love and esteem in which John L. Herring was held by his fellow citizens.
CHARLTON BEACHAM HOLMES
Charlton Beacham Holmes, son of James Russell Holmes and Allie Hester Holmes, of the Dublin community, was born about five miles from Dublin, Georgia, on May 24, 1878. He received his early education in the schools near Dublin and later attended the Valdosta High School while living in Valdosta with his brother, J. F. Holmes.
Upon arrival in Tifton in 1900 the youthful C. B. Holmes at once began a drink bottling business. At first he bottled soda water, and later, when Coca-Cola was on the market, he began bottling Coca-Cola. In this business he continued until his death in Tifton in April. 1947.
On June 17, 1903, Charlton Beacham Holmes married Cora Dickert, daugh- ter of Charles Paschal Dickert and Lucy Suber Dickert, then of Tifton, but previously of Newberry, South Carolina. Miss Dickert had come to Tifton from Dawson, in 1901.
To Mr. and Mrs. Holmes were born five children.
During World War II C. B. Holmes donated to the Red Cross use of an
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upper room in the Coca-Cola building and this was used as a Red Cross Sewing Room during the war period.
BAILUS CHAMPION HUTCHINSON
Bailus Champion Hutchinson, born September 12, 1846, in Gwinnett County, Georgia, near Stone Mountain, was son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Hutchinson, with whom he, when a lad of twelve years, came down an old trail from Atlanta, following the route now known as the National Highway, and, in 1848, settled in a place in the pine forest with no near neighbors, in the River Bend section about four miles west of what is now Adel.
When not yet twenty Bailus volunteered for service in the Confederate Army, in April, 1864, at Nashville. He served in the army for a year and five days, and was under General Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina at the close of the war. He drew one dollar and twenty-five cents and walked from North Carolina to Val d' Osta, now called Valdosta.
On June 28, 1868 Bailus C. Hutchinson married seventeen-year-old Nancy Glenny McKinney (born November 5, 1851, in Berrien County), daughter of Isom Mckinney. Bailus and Nancy lived for seven years in the River Bend section of Berrien County and they then moved to that part of Irwin County which is now Tift County to a place four miles northwest of Tifton where they continued to make their home throughout the lifetime of Bailus who died however, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Will Sutton, Monday, september 22, 1930, two weeks after suffering a stroke of paralysis.
For forty years Bailus Hutchinson had been a member of Zion Hope Church and there his funeral was held September 23, 1930. Burial was in Zion Hope cemetery. Nancy died in 1932.
To Bailus C. and Nancy McKinney Hutchinson were born seven children, all of whom survived both parents. They were: A. A., Lenora (Mrs. J. P. Fletcher), John Henry, William B., Arthur, James (May 12, 1878-June 13, 1946), P. L., Mrs. Will Sutton, all of whom, except Mrs. Fletcher, lived in Tift County at the time of their father's death. Mrs. Fletcher lived then in Miami, but later moved to Mystic, Georgia.
John Henry Hutchinson was Tift County's first tax collector and in that capacity served for many years.
Arthur James was called "Uncle Hutch" and was loved and revered be- cause of his honest and upright character and his cheerful disposition. "Uncle Hutch" was a farmer and later for a number of years operated a small store where the Corner Grocery now is. The Masons were in charge of graveside rites in Zion Hope cemetery where he was buried following services in Zion Hope Church.
JOHN HENRY HUTCHINSON First Tift County Tax Collector
Tift County's first tax collector was John Henry Hutchinson. He an- nounced as a candidate for office on September 8, 1905, soon after the new
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county was created by act of Legislature, August 16, 1905.
J. H. Hutchinson was a charter member of the Country Club at Gun Lake. Also, he was prominent in the activities of the Tift County Singing Conven- tion, organized about 1913. Often he would lead the singing. Mr. Hutchin- son still makes his home in Tift County, not far from Tifton, and, in this 1947, comes frequently to Tifton on business, or to see his friends. He is a Mason, a member of the Tifton lodge, and the only living officer of the original Tift County group.
J. L. JAY, JR.
J. L. Jay was a contractor here in the early days of the twentieth century.
He and his son, J. L., Jr., and another son went first to Fitzgerald from Arlington, and then the two J. L.'s came from Fitzgerald to Tifton. J. L., Sr., did not remain here long.
J. L. Jay, Jr., and his wife, who was an excellent pianist, moved to Tifton and bought and lived in the house at 413 North Park Avenue, now occupied by Miss Maude Bryant. The Jays had two small sons, Wibbie and Wister.
J. L. Jay, Jr., was cashier of the Tifton and Northeastern Railroad until the road was sold, and thereafter he operated Jay's Cotton Warehouse. Also he conducted a mercantile business and his ads in the Gazette of May, 1904 pictured a large Blue Jay, and advertised J. L. Jay believes in oats and hay, and sells plano, the best, lightest, and simplest harvesting machine made- especially adapted for use of the Southern farmer. He also was interested in wool, and the wool growers of the community brought their wool to his warehouse. where buyers from Savannah and as far away as Philadelphia came to bid for the wool in July of 1904.
Mrs. Jay composed "The Tifton March," dedicated to H. H. Tift, and played it at the Tifton fair. It occasioned a pleasureable and gratifying stir in the community.
Mrs. Badger Murrow, who lived in the large house across the street from the Jays, was organist at the Tifton First Baptist Church, but if she had to be absent, Mrs. Jay would play. Mr. Jay sang in the Baptist choir. Also, he was active in the work of the schurch and especially of the Sunday School. In those days the Sunday School picnics were annual affairs participated in by Sunday Schools of all denominations, and looked forward to eagerly as one of the joyous occasions of the year. In 1906 the picnic was held at Red Bluff on the Ocmulgee. "The picnic crowd went as scheduled. The weather was ideal. There was lemonade and baskets aplenty. The water was so clear fish could be seen fifteen feet below the surface but would not be caught." A special train carried the crowd from Tifton at eight in the morning and brought them back at seven in the evening. The Tifton Band, under F. C. Dynes furnished music. The public was warned by an announcement in the Gazette, by R. H. Kelley, Chairman General Committee: "I wish to state that no whiskey, beer, or disorderly persons are wanted. We want a sober crowd and a good day." The various committees in charge were composed of
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many of the town's most prominent citizens, and on the Basket Committee, "to receive and take charge of the baskets at train, en route, and at grounds" were J. H. Hillhouse, Briggs Carson, Harry Kent, J. L. Jay, Jr.
The Jays moved from Tifton to Arlington where one of the Jays in- herited a hotel.
KATHERINE TIFT JONES
Katherine Stark Tift, daughter of William Orville Tift and Eliza Cath- erine Mallory Tift, was reared in Tifton, and attended the Lucy Cobb Institute, Athens. She married Frederick H. Jones and moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Of this union are three children, F. H., Jr., Elizabeth Mallory Jones Traska, and Sarah Jones Gridley.
As a reader Mrs. Jones has won renown, and she also is well known as a radio speaker. She was for many years with the National Broadcasting Com- pany, and with the Mutual Network. In 1933 she was sent to Europe by R. H. Macy and Company to make the first Trans-Atlantic broadcast ever made by a commercial house from London, Paris and Berlin. She has given re- citals in London, Paris, and across the continent of America.
Several years ago Mrs. Jones moved back to Tifton where she lives next door to her childhood home.
GEORGE WASHINGTON JULIAN
George Washington Julian, born in Forsyth County, Georgia, near Cum- mings, December 10, 1857, graduated from the Southern Medical College at Atlanta in 1887, practiced first at Pearson, Georgia, where he remained ten years, and, in 1897, came to Tifton where he practiced medicine until his death.
Dr. Julian, in addition to being a physician, was a member of the firm of Julian, Love and Buck, a wholesale grocery and feed business, of Tifton. His partners in this were E. A. Buck and Tifton's first mayor, W. H. Love, whose wife was a relative of Dr. Julian's wife, both of them having been Kirklands before marriage.
Dr. Julian married a widow, Mrs. Laura E. Kirkland Hargraves, and of this union were three children, Stella, Lelia, and George W., Jr.
Stella married Clinton Shingler, of Ashburn, of that Shingler family which with John S. Betts, were the founders of Ashburn. Stella's daughter, Betty, married Herman, only son of Eugene Talmadge, Governor of Georgia.
Lelia Julian married Allen Garden of Fitzgerald. George Julian, Jr., mar- ried and lives in Tifton at the Julian home at the northwest corner of Central Avenue at Second Street. This home was bought by Dr. Julian from Captain John A. Phillips who built it and lived in it after he moved from the Hotel Sadie which he built and owned. At this home Dr. Julian lived until his death there on Tuesday morning, May 29, 1928, at 10:30 o'clock. The funeral, from the home, was conducted by Dr. W. L. Pickard, who had been Dr. Julian's friend for more than thirty years; the
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Reverend George C. Gibson, who was pastor of the Tifton First Baptist Church, of which Dr. Julian was a member; and the Reverend J. H. House, pastor of the Tifton Methodist Church. Burial was in Tifton cemetery. Numerous members of the Shingler and Kirkland families were present. Dr. Julian had no living relatives other than his immediate family.
Mrs. Julian, who was born February 1, 1864, died November 13, 1934. She is buried in the Tifton cemetery.
Mrs. Julian had, by her first marriage, a son, Colonel L. A. Hargraves, of Pearson.
THE KENT FAMILY
The Kent family moved into this section of Georgia now known as Tift County in 1894, coming from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Judge Harry Kent, the head of the family, was born in Staffordshire, England, July 27, 1856. In early manhood he married Miss Mary Morris of the same city and remained there, following the occupation of coal mining, until 1881 when they came to America. In 1893 he became interested in some literature advertising this section. In 1894 Mr. and Mrs. Kent and seven children, William, Heber, Joseph, Morris, Frances, Effie and Milton, moved to Tifton where Mr. Kent engaged in fruit farming. Their eighth child, Charles Almer, was born in Tifton.
In 1895 Mr. Kent and son, Joseph Kent, opened a cotton and fertilizer warehouse where the Owens Grocery Company now stands. In 1897 they bought the J. M. Paulk Furniture Store and established a furniture business under the name of H. Kent and Son. This business now under the name of Kent's Furniture and Music Store, lays claim to being the oldest retail busi- ness in Tifton, being in 1946 forty-nine years old.
In 1921 the business was bought by Milton U. Kent and Charles Almer Kent, the two younger sons. It is operated today by Milton U. Kent and Mrs. C. A. Kent, widow of the late C. A. Kent who died October 11, 1944. In future years Charles A. Kent, Jr., and Thomas Milton Kent intend to carry on the business as successfully as their forefathers in continuing growth.
During Mr. Kent's residence here he was active in civic and business affairs until his death on May 25th, 1927. He was interested in a number of business enterprises and under his direction in the early days of Tifton, with the able assistance of his oldest son, Will, the Kents became famous through- out this section as draymen. Kent's dray and their fine horses were con- spicuous on the streets of Tifton in the city's early days. Later they operated the first long distance truck hauling line in the state. Mr. Kent was for many years Justice of the Peace and ex-officio Justice of the Peace for this dis- trict, from which office he obtained the title of Judge. He took an active interest in civic, religious, and political affairs. He became a booster for Tifton and this section soon after moving here, and was prominently identi- fied with every forward movement of the city and section.
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Joining the Methodist Church during their youth in England, Mr. and Mrs. Kent remained staunch, faithful and true members until death. They were moving spirits in erection of the present Methodist Church building in Tifton, giving liberally of their time and means. Mr. Kent served as an official, either steward or trustee, for many years. The Harry Kent Bible Class was so called in his memory.
Mr. Kent, as head of the Kent family in this section, made the name Kent stand for something that his boys and his boys' boys will have to rise early and work late to live up to. Because of the characteristics for which he was noted, the name of Kent became a household word in this section which stands for energy, economy and success.
Joseph Kent, the third son is prominently known throughout the state in business circles, being an outstanding business man. He assisted in organiz- ing The Farmers Bank of Tifton and served as its first president. As direc- tor of the War Bond sales during World War II he carried the County far over the top in all drives. He is prominently known for his civic and patri- otic spirit.
Judge Kent's children still living in Tifton are William, Heber, Joseph and Milton.
BELLE WILLINGHAM LAWRENCE
Belle's story is brief; and only those who knew her can conceive of her sweetness, her radiance, her charm. Belle captivated all-young, middle-aged, and old, but especially the children-and the men. It is said that she had over a hundred offers of marriage.
Belle Willingham, daughter of Thomas Henry Willingham and Cecilia Baynard Willingham, was born at the Yancey Place, near Albany, July 18, 1871. She entered Monroe Female College, Forsyth, Georgia, and there she was first honor graduate, and was chosen valedictorian; but on the day be- fore graduation she went driving, the horses ran away, she was thrown from the vehicle, her foot caught in the reins, and she was dragged. She was seriously injured internally so that she was never robust again though her beauty was unimpaired.
After graduation Belle, whose father had died, became a member of the H. H. Tift household in Tifton, Belle being a younger sister of Bessie, Mrs. H. H. Tift. Belle was active in the social life of the town's early days. She was a leader among the young people of the First Baptist Church, and, for a time, she taught elocution; for brown-eyed, music-voiced Belle was a gifted elocutionist. She and her pupils would stage delightful programs in Tifton's opera hall, a large hall over what is now Corry's store but then was the Tift Dry Goods Store.
Belle visited widely-in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Virginia, and in many places in Georgia. Wherever she went she was immediately a favorite; and her wardrobe was fit for a princess. Many of her most beauti- ful gowns were not those New York-bought, but were the ones skilfully
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fashioned by Mrs. Annie Bennett's deft fingers.
On July 17, 1904, Belle Willingham married William Lawrence, a gifted violinist of New York City, the ceremony being performed in Stonington, Con- necticut. After a honeymoon spent in a fashionable New York hotel, the Lawrences came to Tifton where they made their home at 606 Love Avenue, which was freshly painted inside and out, and was beautifully furnished. The matter of furnishing the house and moving in occasioned much pleasur- able excitement, not only to Belle and Will, but also to all of Belle's numer- ous Tifton relatives.
To William and Belle Lawrence were born two children, Cecilia, and William Lawrence, Jr. Belle loved them dearly, but her health was utterly broken and shortly after little Will's birth, Belle died of cancer on April 5, 1912, at the Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta. Burial was on the Pickard lot, Al- bany, Georgia.
Belle's young children were reared by her sister, Bessie Tift. Will Lawrence lived many years. He died in Orlando, Florida, where he is buried.
WILLARD HERSCHEL LOVE
Love Avenue, Tifton, was named for Tifton's first mayor, Willard Herschel Love. Born October 23, 1856, at Eden, Effingham County, Georgia, near Savannah, he was son of Dr. Love whose forebears had come from England to North Carolina. Dr. Love spent his latter years in Folkston and is buried at Fort Valley.
Willard as a youth went to Kirkland, Georgia, where he was a telegrapher. There he met pretty, dainty, blond Absey Jane Kirkland, daughter of Mathew Henry Kirkland and Mary Jane Bailey Kirkland, and of the Kirkland family for which the town was named. The robust young giant with the bluest of eyes and the fragile, blue-eyed Absey fell very much in love. On December 5, 1878 they were wed at the Kirkland home of Absey's father.
The youthful Loves made their home in Kirkland and there were born to them three children, Henry, named for his grandfather Kirkland; Claude, and Mary.
In 1887 the Loves moved to Tifton. Mr. Love owned two brick buildings on Central Avenue Extension, now Railroad Street, between Third and Fifth Streets. While their beautiful, large dwelling on Love Avenue, at the north- west corner of Second Street was being completed, the Love family occu- pied quarters over the Love's grain and feed store. When the new home was finished, they moved in. It was a handsome house and one of the first large homes built on Love Avenue. Mr. Love later sold it and it became the Re- gent Hotel.
After Tifton was incorporated, December 29, 1890, W. H. Love became the town's first mayor. The first Council meeting was held January 9, 1891, and Mr. Love continued in office from then until March 6, 1893 (at which time his resignation was accepted. He was followed by Columbus Wesley Fulwood who took office May 1, 1893).
Mrs. Love was a near kinswoman of Dr. George Julian's wife, both of
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them being Kirklands. Dr. Julian, W. H. Love and E. A. Buck formed in Tifton a business company known as Julian, Love and Buck, a wholesale grocery and feed firm. Later Julian was not connected with the firm but it continued as Love and Buck, which, in 1895, opened in connection with the business a private banking house, Tifton's first bank. Julian, Love and Buck was the firm which now is the Downing Company.
After selling the large Love Avenue home, Mr. Love built for his family a pleasant residence on the Heights where they continued to live until his death, which occurred in Waycross, where he had gone on business for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, with which he was at that time connected as claim agent. He died in May, 1904. Burial was in Fort Valley.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Love were members of the Tifton Methodist Church. Mrs. Love later joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and after this be- came deeply devout. A kindly woman, sweet tempered and cheerful, dainty and pretty, Absey was skilled in the household arts of cookery and sewing.
Soon after Mayor Love's death, Absey moved from Tifton to Waycross to be with her son, Henry (who there had a position with the A. C. L.). Later she moved to Douglas, Georgia, where she died of pneumonia, Decem- ber 26, 1929. She was survived by all three of her children.
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