USA > Georgia > Tift County > History of Tift County > Part 47
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Some of the machinery for the lumber mill which Henry Tift bought he purchased from Thomas Henry Willingham, a prominent and wealthy South Carolinian who, since the War Between the States, had been living in the vicinity of Alban'y where he had large land holdings. Mr. Willingham owend a large tract of timber land at a post office station named Willing- ham, for him. At Willingham, T. H. Willingham owned a large sawmill and the surrounding mill village. Fire completely destroyed the village and the mill, except the machinery, which Henry Tift bought from Mr. Willing- ham and had hauled by an eight ox team, driven by a Negro named Louis Walker, through the pine wilderness which lay between Willingham and what is now Tifton. Here the mill was set up and soon there sprang up around the mill a village which grew into the town of Tifton.
Henry had an office and a commissary on the lower floor of a tall three- story building which stood near the mill. Above the office was a pleasant two-room apartment which he and one of his brothers, Eddie Tift, occupied, there for a while keeping bachelor quarters.
Later Henry met and paid court to Thomas Willingham's daugter, Elizabeth Willingham, of Albany. Better known as "Bessie," Miss Willing- ham was a young woman of unusual charm and beauty. She had attended Wesleyan College and later had graduated with honors at Monroe Female College, Forsyth. Mr. Tift first saw her in the Episcopal Church in Albany one Easter Sunday, and he later said that from the time he saw her he made up his mind that he would ask her to be his wife. They were wed in the First Baptist Church in Albany, on June 25, 1885, at eleven o'clock, the noted Baptist clergyman, Dr. M. B. Wharton, of Atlanta, performing the ceremony. The marriage had been preceded, on the evening before, by a banquet and family reunion held in honor of the bride and groom at the bride's parents' home, where relatives from Albany, Macon, Atlanta, and elsewhere came to attend the festivities.
Following the fashionable wedding, the couple left for a bridal trip to New York, Saratoga, Niagara, and Mystic, Henry's beloved home. At Mys- tic, Henry and his bride spent the summer with his people, and in the fall he brought her to Tifton where he had had his apartment in the tall build- ing refurnished in the latest style for Bessie's reception. The fashionable wicker furniture was threaded with wide blue satin ribbon, tied in big bows.
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Soon after bringing Bessie to Tifton, Henry began to build for her, across the street from the first quarters, a large, new house, made of heart pine lumber from his mill. It is said that Henry personally selected each board. Especially beautiful was the curly pine woodwork of hall, parlor and din- ing room, and a large built-in corner-cupboard. Henry and Bessie soon moved into the new home, which became notable for the large hospitality of its owners, ever generous, kind and upright.
For long the Tift mill was the industrial life of Tifton and all of Tifton savored of it. The Tift plant had a capacity of 50,000 feet of rough lumber per day. There were three large dry kilns, and a planing mill with a daily output of 30,000 feet of matched and planed lumber. Also there was a tur- pentine distillery with which to extract gum from trees before sawing the trees into lumber. There were three locomotives, eighteen miles of rail- road, and two hundred hands constantly at work.
As years passed, Henry not only cut timber but he developed the rich farming lands from which the giant trees had been cut. Cotton became an increasingly important factor in the community and forward-looking Henry built and was president of the Tifton Cotton Mill, still the outstanding manufacturing plant of the town.
Tifton was incorporated as a city in 1890, by act of legislature approved December 29. The first regular meeting of the city council of Tifton was held January 9, 1891. The minutes of the first meeting follow: "'J. I.' Clements was requested to act as secretary of the meeting. Present, his honor, W. H. Love, Mayor. Councilmen H. H. Tift, J. C. Goodman, E. P. Bowen, John Pope, and J. I. Clements. Absent, Councilman M. A. Sexton. On motion of Alderman Bowen, Alderman J. I. Clements was elected mayor pro tem. On motion of Alderman Tift, A. J. McRea was elected marshal for the year. On motion of Alderman Clements, J. H. Goodman was elected clerk and treasurer for the year. Motion made and carried that the marshal's salary shall be thirty-three and one-third dollars per month and such other cost as he may be entitled to for him services. But in no case shall the city be liable for an'y fees whatever. On motion it was or- dered that the marshal and the clerk and treasurer each give bond for one thousand dollars for the faithful performance of their duty. On motion it was ordered that the mayor be authorized to make arrangements to care for prisoners until a guard house can be built. On motion it was ordered that the regular meeting of Council be held on the first Monday night at 7 P.M. in each month.
"On motion it was ordered that the marshal shall procure him a dark blue suit and brass buttons. On motion it was ordered that the mayor be paid One Hundred Dollars per annum for his services. On motion Council adjourned.
"Signed J. I. Clements, Clerk pro tem."
The mayor and councilmen took oath of office before Columbus W. Ful- wood, N. P., of Berrien County.
The minutes of the City of Tifton do not indicate where the first meet-
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ing of council was held, nor is set forth the place of the second meeting, but the third meeting, which was on February 2, 1891, at 7 o'clock, was held in the office of H. H. Tift, and was the customary place of meeting of Council for several 'years.
Among the earliest activities of the City Council was the building of a guard house and for this Henry Tift advanced the sum of $685.51 to com- plete the project, the money to be repaid by the city, and at 8% interest.
Early the use of spiritous liquors was discouraged by the passing of an ordinance fixing the license "for selling spiritous, vinus, malt or intoxicat- ing liquors, rice beer, cider, beer bitters or anything that will tend to in- toxicate, at Ten Thousand Dollars per annum, Payable before Commencing business." This ordinance and others fixing various license fees was passed at a called meeting, held January 19, 1891, the second meeting of council.
Fines were set for anyone guilty of disturbing public worship, or public meetings, or for using profane or obscene language in a loud or boisterous manner upon the streets or in any public place. Fines were set for the violation of the Sabbath day; also for hitching a horse, mule, donkey or any other animal to shade tree or injuring the shade trees in any manner.
At a meeting of Council in H. H. Tift's office, September 7, 1891, Messrs. B. T. Allen, H. H. Tift and J. C. Goodman were appointed to constitute a committee to suggest a method of naming streets and appropriate names for same. E. P. Bowen, mayor pro tem., presided at this meeting. Present were Aldermen H. H. Tift, J. C. Goodman, John Pope, B. T. Allen.
At a meeting held in Henry's office November 2, 1891, at eight o'clock, W. H. Love, Mayor, presiding, the following present, Aldermen H. H. Tift, E. P. Bowen, J. C. Goodman, B. T. Allen, the matter of streets was dis- cussed by council as a whole and it was agreed that all streets runing east and west should be called streets and numbered. Those on the north side of the B. and W. R. R. to have even numbers, beginning with the one next to the railroad as Second Street, and those on the south side of the railroad next to the railroad as First Street.
That all streets running north and south should be called avenues and named, with the exception of two which should be called streets and named. Thus, the street running between Messrs. Green and Knight's should be Mill Avenue; the one by the Institute, Tift Avenue, which ends at the B. and W. R. R., one by Dr. J. C. Goodman's, Central Avenue; the next one west of Central, Ridge Avenue.
"Exceptions : That the Street joining Love Avenue at the B. and W. R. R. and running by the Guard House be called Main Street, the one running by J. C. Goodman's drug store and parallel with the G. S. and F. R. R. should be called Railroad Street. It was moved and seconded that a com- mittee be appointed to establish the city limits. The motion was carried and Messrs. H. H. Tift and B. T. Allen were appointed on that committee.
"J. H. Goodman, clerk and treasurer."
Among early settlers who came to occupy places of prominence in the community were Henry Tift's brothers, W. O. Tift and Edward Tift; prin- cipals of the school, W. L. Harman, and Jason Scarboro; Ben T. Allen,
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founder of the Tifton Gazette, in 1891; Reverend J. H. Foster, pastor of the Methodist Church; Captain John A. Phillips, who owned the Sadie Hotel; W. W. Pace; W. H. Love, Tifton's first mayor, for whom Love Avenue was named; E. P. Bowen, who later became president of the Bank of Tifton; M. A. Sexton; J. I. Clements; J. C. Goodman, beloved "family physician" of Tifton's early days; Reverend Charles M. Irwin, first pastor of the Baptist Church; John Pope, C. A. Williams; the Reverend W. W. Webb, who had presided over the meeting at which the Tifton Baptist Church was constituted, about 1888; James Overstreet, a farmer of the vicinity before Tifton became a town; Dr. J. A. McCrea, Dr. N. Peterson, J. L. Pickard; Raleigh Eve, J. L. Herring, C. W. Fulwood, Mr. Carswell, Briggs Carson, Dr. P. A. Jessup.
Henry Tift, his brother, W. O. Tift, and the Reverend L. A. Snow had extensive fruit plantings in the vicinity of Tifton in the early 1890's. H. H. Tift and Snow, Inc., was incorporated in 1891. The cultivation of Con- cord grapes was so extensive that many carloads of the luscious grapes were shipped to points far distant. Peaches and other fruits were culti- vated on an extensive scale and were shipped throughout the country. Henry gave the land for an experimental farm, called Cycloneta, which was famous in its day. The Railroad compan'y to which the land was given failed, and with it the experimental operations ceased. Henry personally owned numerous large farms and these, operated for him by J. Burwell Greene, were interesting and profitable ventures. With S. G. Slack and others H. H. Tift in 1892 began a canning factory in Tifton to can local produce, which was widely shipped. Tobacco was successfully grown and after the experiment had proved successful, it was abandoned by Mr. Tift who was more interested in other projects.
In 1896 Henry Tift founded and was a principal stockholder of the Bank of Tifton of which he was president from 1903 until his death in 1922.
Besides his local business interests, Henry was prominently associated with numerous important enterprises elsewhere in Georgia and in Florida.
Henry was vice-president of the Central Grocery Company, a director of the Planters' Cotton Oil Company, and of the Georgia, Southern and Florida Railroad. He was vice-president of the Bankers' Trust Company; president of the Piedmont Cotton Mills at Egan; vice-president of the Willingham Lumber Company, of Atlanta; president of the Tift Silicia Brick and Stone Company, of Albany. He organized the Georgia-Florida Saw Mill at Alton, Florida, and was for many 'years president of the Georgia-Florida Saw Mill Association. In 1896 he extended one of his logging roads to Fitzgerald and for a number of years owned and operated this road under name of the Tifton and Northeastern, which he later sold. It afterward became known as the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic. He also built and owned the Tifton, Thomasville, and Gulf Railroad, the T. T. and G. The Negroes used to call it the "Turtle, Tappin and Gopher."
Through the vision of Henry Tift and his generosity the Abraham Bald- win Agricultural College and the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station were located at Tifton. Henry personally gave the land for the original 315 acre campus and a large donation in money.
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Henry Tift attended all trustee meetings and was the guiding spirit in the development of the institution. Later he became a trustee and so con- tinued. He loved the school and once when at commencement the students presented him a silver loving cup he was so deeply touched that all he could say was: "Of all the investments I have ever made, this school has brought me the biggest dividends."
Henry also was a patron of the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station and it was secured to Tifton largely through his personal effort and his personal generosity of several hundreds of acres of land and several thou- sands of dollars in money. It began operations in 1920.
The Fulwood Park also is the gift of Henry Tift to Tifton. Henry, with characteristic modesty, in its name honored not himself but his good friend who helped him draw up the papers for the park and who later served for many years as park commissioner-Columbus Wesley Fulwood. Col. Ful- wood was for many years Henry's legal adviser and he held Mr. Fulwood in high esteem.
The land for the first church edifice erected in Tifton was a gift of Henry Tift. This, next to where the Methodist church now is, and toward where the Post Office now stands, was the site of a neat white frame chapel which was built for the worship of God and for the use of all denomina- tions. The Methodists soon outnumbered any other denomination and the church being claimed by them as being in the majority it was turned over to them exclusively and Henry gave to the Baptists a site on which they built a church of their own-the edifice now owned by the Presbyterians. Henry also gave to the Episcopal denomination the site on which was built St. Anne's. When the Baptists first built on their North Park Avenue site they erected a frame building. Before a single service was held the build- ing was destroyed by fire. Henry, who had given generously toward the first building suggested that they rebuild with brick and to make that possible, he gave generously, as he gave to all of the churches. When the Methodists built a larger church he bought back from them the original building, had it moved on rollers to the mill village and named it the Bessie Tift Chapel for his beloved wife. In it on Sunday afternoons she would teach the mill children the Word of God.
On August 17, 1905 the site of Tifton and its outlying lands, part of Worth and Berrien Counties, became by act of Legislature TIFT COUNTY. It is not customary to name a county for a living person and therefore Tift County honored Nelson Tift (born Groton, Connecticut, 1810; died Albany, Georgia, November 21, 1891), founder of Albany, and an uncle of Henry Tift, but it is generally conceded that the name was chosen not only to honor Nelson but also Henr'y because of the high esteem in which Henry Tift was held.
Though far from his boyhood home, Henry still loved it and he would srend his summers there. In 1906 he bought the old Pyncheon home on Meeting House Hill, Mystic. This had been in his family for ninety years, and there Henry and Bessie and their family would spend their summers thereafter. Henry loved sailing, and owned "The Annie" and "The Wasp,"
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and was seldom happier than when, with his hand on the tiller, he was sailing over the waters of the Sound. Also there was swimming and there were clam-bakes. All these things Henry loved. His merry, blue eyes would twinkle with happiness as he saw everybody about him enjoying the fun. His sister and her family, the Bebees, usually were of the party occupying the old house each summer. Various members of Bessie's family would visit there at different times. The Mystic summers were happy times.
For many years Henry Tift made large and frequent donations to Monroe Female College, Forsyth, where Bessie had graduated in 1878. In recogni- tion of Henry's and Bessie's generosity and in appreciation of their great service to the college the Board of Trustees changed the name of the in- stitution to Bessie Tift College. This took place in 1907, when Dr. C. H. S. Jackson was president of the college.
Bessie became interested in the work of Tallulah Falls School, and re- turning from a meeting at which she had learned of the great need of the school, and at which she had been elected one of the first three trustees, she told Henry about the school and about how handicapped it was for lack of almost every needful thing. Impressed by the loftiness of the project and by the need, Henry sent a carload of lumber from his Tifton Mill to Tallulah Falls. There, with lumber from the Tifton mill was erected the school's first dormitory. It was built by the school boys, and the tools with which they worked were bought by money sent for the purpose by Henry Tift, Jr. This cottage, called the Lucy Willett Cottage, is now used as a hostess .house.
Far-seeing Henry, in addition to giving Fulwood Park to Tifton, said that the town would need a hospital, and he provided that a certain choice lot near the park might be acquired by the city at a low price provided it were used as a hospital site. Also, he gave to the Twentieth Century Li- brary Club a lot on which to build a library; but they sold it instead of using it as a building site, and later they purchased the handsome J. J. L. Phillips house in which the library is housed, and which provides spacious and beautiful rooms for club meetings.
Henry was a man of such shrewd judgment that he not only foresaw an opportunity for building, but he also was quick to perceive when a thing had fulfilled its usefulness. Therefore when the tall timber was cut and Henry realized that to continue to operate the mill would be to do so at a loss, he closed it down. This was in 1916, after forty-four years of opera- tion. After that the town, to Henry's machinery accustomed ears, seemed strangely quiet.
"It seems quiet without the mill, doesn't it, Bess?" he asked. However, he turned his attention to fruit growing, live stock raising, pecan growing and to cotton seed oil. He felt that in these things lay Tifton's greatest opportunity of financial growth.
January 1, 1920, Henry became Tifton's last mayor. When the city changed its form of government to the commission form of government he became chairman of the commission, January 1, 1921.
Henry and Bessie had three sons, Henry Harding Tift, Jr., Thomas Willingham Tift, and Amos Chapman Tift, and Henry and Bessie had a
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number of grandchildren who were their pride and joy. Granddaddy'll take that boy!" Henry would say, and take his little grandson, Henry Tift III, whose mother had died and who was living with Bessie and Henry, where also the child's father, Henry, Jr. lived and Henry, Jr.'s little daughter, "Pres." Henry, Sr. would take little Henry II and walk with him up and down the room and sing to him, until the child slept.
Henry was eighty-three years old when, in 1922, he suffered a stroke of paralysis from which after a few days he died, on Saturday morning, February fourth. His last words were, "Take care of Bess."
In accordance with his previously expressed wish Henry's body was carried back to his beloved Mystic for burial. A number of devoted and sorrowing friends formed an escort of honor that went with his body on a special train from Tifton to Mystic. Besides his family those who went were R. W. Goodman, J. L. Pickard, J. J. Golden, I. W. Meyers, S. F. Fleetwood, E. P. Bowen, B. Y. Wallace, J. L. Herring, all of Tifton; J. D. Willingham and W. B. Willingham, both of Atlanta.
Words cannot express the kindness of Henry, with his twinkly blue eyes and benign smile. Though not large of physique, Henry was large in every other respect. His was a large heart, a large mind-and he was a man of large vision. Bessie always called him, "Big Henry," and perhaps her name for him aptly summed his character. Henry Tift was big in all that was good. He was a truly great man.
Although Henry received a financial rating of upward of seven million dollars, it was not because of his wealth that Henry Tift was esteemed, but rather because of his constant consideration of the welfare of his fellows. Perhaps he was greatest not on the day in which he made his largest sum of money, but rather on that day when, in his office, he fingered a stack of notes due him and said, "If I should call these notes, I would make a million dollars; but if I did, I'd break every man whose note I hold. Not a note shall be called !"
EDMUND HARDING TIFT
Edmund Harding Tift, born Mystic, Conn., was son of Amos Chapman Tift and Phoebe Harding Tift, and was brother of Henry Harding Tift, founder of Tifton. Edmund came to Tifton in 1885, the year of Henry's marriage, but prior to it.
Edmund Tift's wife was Catherine Ransome, a native of Mystic, Conn., and they had one daughter, Catherine, called Lassie.
When Eddie Tift arrived in Tifton another brother, Orville, was already here. For a number of 'years the three Tift brothers lived in a row, Henry being in a large house in the middle and one brother on each side, in a cottage. Later, Orville built a very large house, now the Hendricks' house, on Love Avenue, and Ed built a large house across the street, the house now the Frank Corry home.
Edmund, called "Uncle Eddie" was associated with Henry Tift in bus- iness. He was head of the Tift Dry Goods Store which occupied the build- ing now housing the Wade-Corry Co. In the store was W. C. Spurlin, and
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Mrs. Annie Bennett there had her fashionable dressmaking establishment where she with exceptionable skill fashioned smart and beautiful garments.
In addition to their other interests, all of the Tift brothers had farming interests. In August, 1895 the Tifton Gazette stated: "Capt. E. H. Tift has shipped 52,000 lbs. of grapes from his Mystic, Georgia vineyard up to yesterday and has more to ship." The big purple Concord bunch grapes of the Tifton of that day were a great delicacy, much in demand.
The home of Mrs. E. H. Tift was the birthplace of the Twentieth Cen- tury Library Club. The meeting had been planned and scheduled to be held in the home of Mrs. W. W. Banks. Mrs. Banks had a headache, and Mrs. Tift, at Mrs. Banks' request, offered her home. Mrs. W. O. Tift was first president of the club. Thereafter Mrs. H. H. Tift was president until her death. Through efforts of Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Tift Episcopal Church serv- ices were brought to Tifton, and St. Anne's Church was built, work on the building beginning March 20, 1898. Prior to that services had been held in the Methodist Church. which had been built as a church to be used by all denominations. Henry for that purpose had donated the lot and a generous sum of money. At the beginning of the Episcopal Church here there were only four members and to augment their small group the Bap- tist and Methodist friends would meet with them. From the earliest days until they left Tifton, Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Tift usually would entertain in their home the Episcopal minister when he would come to Tifton to hold service. The minister came from Alban'y, Fitzgerald or Cordele, and serv- ices were held once or twice a month. Mrs. E. H. Tift played the organ and E. H. Tift sang in the choir. With the bishop, E. H. Tift planned the building and supervised its erection on a lot given by Henry Tift. The Bishop gave some financial aid and the small congregation was cooperative, and St. Anne's became a reality.
Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Tift were interested too in the social life of the community and gathered together the talent of the town of that early day and gave entertainments, a source of pleasure to those presenting the program and those who composed the audience.
In the summer of 1906 Mrs. E. H. Tift and Miss Catherine Tift visited Mrs. Tift's sister, Mrs. Sanford Starke, in Denver, Colorado. They re- turned to Tifton in September.
Mr. Tift built many cottages in Tifton, and also built the brick business block which, in 1917, was occupied by Kent & Son.
Mr. Tift was for a time exalted Ruler of Tifton Lodge of Elks.
Mrs. Tift was a woman of beauty of face and character. Mr. Tift, quiet and kind, was deeply interested in his home and church, and was capable in business. He lived in Tifton for thirty years, and he and Mrs. Tift had many friends here. For a time, Mrs. Tift's mother, Mrs. Ransome, lived with the E. H. Tift's. She was an invalid who sat in a wheelchair. Mrs. Tift was careful to have Mrs. Ransome always daintily clad and about her shoulders a pretty scarf, usually hand crochet. On her head would be a small lace cap, the fashion among elderly women of that day.
Catherine, onl'y daughter of Edmund and Catherine Ransome Tift, mar- ried Edward Henry Bacon, Jr. (born Jan. 21, 1882; graduated Georgia
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