USA > Georgia > Coffee County > Ward's History of Coffee County > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19
October 22nd, 1923, his companion who had stood by him all of these years was taken to her eternal home. He married Mrs. Annie Belle Parker Adams of Orlando, Fla., eldest daughter of the sainted William Parker.
The great. American Republic and the Cuban Re- public decorated him last year for services rendered in the Spanish-American War.
90
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Dunk Douglas (Communicated)
Editor Breeze-I have just learned of the death of my fatherly old friend, Dunk Douglas. When mother was left a widow and her three little boys
father's needed a help, we found a never failing friend in Mr. Douglas. He DUNK DOUGLAS made the first pair of shoes I ever wore. Hle helped in a large measure to build the school and church where I first attended school and church. He built the church house at Lone Hill where I joined the church. The first public confession I made of Christ, he was the first to bid me God-speed. He taught me how to work. Impressed my young mind with the dignity of labor. He idolized the honest man, and laziness with him was a crime.
Dunk Douglas was no ordinary man. He had a good strong logical mind and a good memory. He was a good story teller and a good conversationalist. He never lost the thread of his story and knew just when to laugh. He could tell stories all day and then tell a good one after he lay down at night.
91
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Dunk Douglas was a good farmer and a fair me- chanic. He made what he needed for his own farm and made plows and plow stocks for the neighbors. In a word, he was "The professor of odd jobs," for the whole country, and for many years after the war our neighbors would have missed his services very much.
Dunk Douglas was one of the most hospitable men I ever knew. I think there was a time when he fed more men and horses free than the ordinary hotels of the country fed for pay. In any matter of business he was close and exacting. He paid his debts and expected the other people to do the same; but he tried to help every one in need of help. All the public workings, such as fodder pullings, log rollings, etc., he always got there soon and put in a good day's work, and was especially helpful in seeing that others did a good day's work, too.
Dunk Douglas was a good man with a strong per- sonality. He was a good husband and a good father and a good neighbor indeed. I have known him, on many occasions, to stop his own work and help a neighbor. He was kind and forbearing and slow to resist an insult or an injury. He had unbounded faith in God, but he lacked confidence in men. He did not believe in any secret societies and often denounced clans, and combines of every kind.
In religion Dunk Douglas was an enigma. No one could fully understand him at this point. On three different occasions I was very much concerned about his religious life, and at each time I tried to help him all I could. He joined the church late in life but that does not show that he was not a child of God. He had a spiritual mind and loved the word of God.
92
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
His life was an exponent of the "pure and undefiled religion," and when Dunk Douglas stands before the judgment seat of Christ I am strongly of the opinion that he will hear the welcome plaudit, "Come ye blessed of my father and inherit the kingdom pre- pared for you, from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me, I was sick and ye visited me.""
I do not write this as an obituary, but I have only given expression to a few thoughts of the man as I have seen him all my life. And now that he is gone, I desire with his family and friends to drop a tear and a flower upon his grave, trusting that our faith in Him who is the resurrection and the life will some sweet day bring us all together again. Ward's Scrapbook, 1896.
93
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Doctors and Medicine
In the early days we had a few doc- tors. People would wait till the sick were half dead be- fore they sent for a doctor, perhaps thirty miles away. The sick used all sorts of remedies. Oil and turpentine were the favorites. Red oak bark was used as an astrin- DR. STAFFORD DAVIS a celebrated cancer doctor who lived to be 106 years old gent. Elderberry used both as an astringent and a purgative. When you wanted an astringent, scrape the bark up, and for a purgative scrape it down. "For cuts and to stop bleed- ing use cobweb." That is the spider webs hanging about the walls covered with smut. Sweet gum and mullein were used for fevers. Pepper tea for colds. For sprains and bruises use clay and vinegar. For bee stings use tobacco. For snake bites use whiskey and a poultice made of salt, tobacco and onions.
Parched corn will make coffee and so will parched sweet potatoes. Collard leaves were used for head- aches-warm and bind to the head. Bleeding for pneumonia was used in first stages. For burns use eggs and flour mixed. Many people thought fire could be talked out. Warts, cancers, moles, etc., were
94
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
conjured away, so they said. When choked, beat the patient in the back hard. Ginger tea was used as an astringent in case of stomach trouble. Tina, Sage and Rosemary teas was a remedy that never fails for colic, caused by eating too much. For bilious colic take a tablespoon full of salts, in five minutes take same dose and wait five minutes and if no relief then take an- other dose and in five minutes you will be relieved. It never fails. To use hot water will give more imme- diate results.
Stafford Davis was a celebrated old cancer doctor. People came to see him from all parts of the country. They thought he did them good. They also wrote him and he gave them a sort of "absent treatment." He was known far and near. He lived to be 106 years of age. Before he died it was said that he had trans- ferred his "Gift" to Joe Ward, his grandson.
Old Billy Ward was a Homespun doctor and made his medicine from the woods. He knew enough about the vegetables to get results as astringent, purgatives, etc.
Every locality had its good man or its good woman, who could be sent for in time of sickness, and could be relied upon to go. Also every community had its coffin maker who worked free. Call in neighbors to help him. Many old men selected their coffin planks and laid them in the lofts to dry.
95
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Old Man Billy Ward
In going from Baxley to Douglas you cross the Seven- teen-Mile Creek at the bridge at Reed Lake. Just on the other side to the left, is a little log house. There is where Uncle Billy lives. He is now nearly seventy years old and lives all alone by the side of this big old creek BILLY WARD Pioneer Doctor and Baptist Minister Before the War. where the "Hoot" of the owl and the "Chip Willow" of the whippoor-will greets his ear, but these wild, weird surroundings, no doubt, are congenial to his strange nature. He has raised a large family of children, but none are now with him. He will not live with them but prefers his little hut alone where he can brood over his past life and have all the world to himself.
In his better days he was doing well, had plenty and was a kind neighbor. He was a blacksmith, preacher, and a doctor, and a useful man in our beat. By some means or other he did not go to war and was one of the few men left in our community during that dread- ful period. He used to come to our house to kill beef. Our cows were not used to seeing men folks in those days and they hated them more than dogs. But Uncle
96
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Billy knew how to fool them. He put on a sun bonnet and an apron, and then he could keep them still long enough to shoot one.
He had plenty of cows himself but seldom had beef. He said if he knew which cow he would lose in the winter he would kill her in the summer and thus economize. He was not a stingy man, but seemingly curious, and so he is yet. He hardly ever sent corn to mill like other folks, but did his own grinding on a steel mill. I have often seen them gather corn from the field and grind it for dinner.
I never saw a table cloth on the table but once, and then Monroe Wilcox was there. They had a big turtle for dinner. I was a small boy but they let me eat at the first table and I enjoyed the cooter hugely.
Uncle Billy was a kind old man to the sick and was often called to the bedside of the suffering. He be- lieved in moving pains by hard rubbing. By some accident or other one of his hands had been burned, his little finger was stiff, just half closed. It was badly in the way about rubbing, because it scratched more than it rubbed.
Uncle Billy had no use for shirt buttons on his shirt for he never buttoned one; still he had a fancy for ladies, and would do and say many funny things while in their presence. His wife, he called "Old Doman," poor old thing! I never saw her laugh, but she always wore a broad smile when Uncle Billy was about. She always looked like she was ashamed in his presence.
I have never heard him preach, but those who have heard him say there was a lot of fun in it. He could draw some amusing pictures and make very striking
97
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
illustrations. Here is a sample : "If all the water was in one place and all the trees in one tree, all the men in one man and all the axes in one axe-Then if the big tree stood by that big water and if that big man should take that big axe and cut down that big tree in that big lake of water, whoopee! wouldn't it make a splash."
He never had family prayer, and never asked a blessing at his table, and has now given up preaching altogether. He never doctors anything now unless ' it is his cat or his pig. All of his property is gone, his wife is dead and his children all grown. Poor old man. I am sorry for him, but he doesn't want any sympathy, mine nor yours, and he doesn't think any more of me for writing this article either. But his life is a curious one and provides much food for thought. When you pass his home you will more fully realize what I have told you.
Ward's Scrapbook, 1885.
98
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Tribute to Monroe Wilcox
I see by the last issue of your paper that another good man is gone. Monroe Wilcox is dead.
"Friend after friend departs- Who has not lost a friend ? There is no union here of hearts But that we find an end."
He was my friend and your friend and everybody's friend. Coffee County never had a more useful citizen than he, as doctor and preacher, singing master and school teacher and Christian neighbor. His field for usefulness was wide.
He was a self-made man in the true sense of the word. He educated himself. He read many good books and had a practical knowledge of the sciences, history, theology and medicine.
His influence for the good was widespread and lasting. At one time every office in Coffee County was filled by men who had been to school to him. As a local Methodist preacher he was indeed a model. Like a weeping prophet, he went from place to place, preaching, praying and singing. He seldom led a prayer meeting or addressed a class of Sunday school children that he did not weep over them as he warned them of the awful consequences of a sinful life. The next moment, with happy face and streaming eye, he would sing some glad, sweet song. I can see him now as he appeared to me in 1875, hymn book in hand, and hear his sad sweet voice as he tenderly reads, "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear."
99
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Ilis first sermon was preached at old Lone Hill Church, in 1872, from the text, "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth." Under that sermon and on that day this writer joined the church. His song and his sermon and his very presence was always a help to me in my Christian life. I think I knew him as well as any one, for it was my privilege to live in his home and attend school. Twice a day he read the Bible and had prayer with his family. Often he was called to see the sick and visit the dying. His presence brought hope and comfort.
But he is gone. How much we shall all miss him! There was but one Monroe Wilcox. Is there any one anywhere who can take his place? Let us who knew the man profit by his life .. May the memory of his words, his sweet songs and his weeping face inspire us all to be faithful until one by one we cross over the river to be forever for the Lord.
W. P. WARD.
From Ward's Scrapbook, 1897.
100
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Indians Rob Dr. Parker's Home
About the year 1836 William Parker, (Short-Arm Bill) as he was called, and the father of C. G. W. Parker, and later a well-known doctor, was living in Berrien County on the old Patterson place. One winter day when Mr. Parker was away from home, several Indians appeared at DR. CALVIN GORDON BERRY WASHING- TON PARKER Pioneer Doctor, Indian Fighter and Leading Citizen. the foot of the hill, at a spring, where the family got water. It is said that the Indians began to beat on logs, thereby attracting the attention of the people. It appears the Indians meant to rob and not to murder, but as there were no men at home the women ran through the field, a back way, a distance of five miles to the home of Dread Newborn. The Indians robbed the house, broke open a trunk and got $300 in cash, cut the feather beds open, emptied the feathers out and took the ticks with them. A company of men soon collected together, under the command of George Peterson, Dread Newborn, William Parker, and others. The Indians were overtaken at the Allapaha River and three were killed, others made their escape
101
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
but were followed and overtaken at the St. Illa River, at what is now known as Indian Lake, about two miles northeast of the town of Axson, Ga. They were all shot and killed, except one squaw ; it was reported that she was captured and shot. Dread Newborn, the son of Dread Newborn, who followed the Indians, informs me that the Indian woman was kept in prison for a while and then by direction of the government was returned to her own people. About this time a whole family by the name of Wilds was killed by the Indians, near Waresboro, Ga. One little boy, Reuben Wilds, made his escape. Of course there are a great many Indian stories, but the narratives I have given you are facts testified to by living witnesses and most worthy tradition, for the first time they are put into history.
102
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Old Churches in Coffee County
Old Hebron Church
Founded By That Great and Good Man, Elder John Vickers-Mother Vickers' Chair-The Present Ministers of the Church-Other Matters of History
High up on the hill, near the Satilla River, on the public road, midway between Douglas and Willa- coochee, stands old Hebron Church, one of the old landmarks of Coffee County. Like Jerusalem of old, she is beautiful for situation. This church was built about 1870 by the friends and followers of Rev. John Vickers, a great and good man now gone to his reward.
The church building is one of the largest and neatest in the county and reflects great credit upon the membership of the church and others who aided in the construction. The building is nicely painted on the outside and has good, comfortable seats.
One of the first things that attracts the attention of a stranger on entering the church is an old-fashioned leather-bottomed chair hanging upon the wall of the building. This chair has a history. It is the chair of old "Mother Vickers" of sainted memory, mother of Rev. John Vickers, the founder of that church. This is the same chair that she occupied in church for several years. When Mother Vickers left this land of troubles and heartaches and went to be with her Lord whom she loved and served so long, she exchanged this old country chair for a seat in glory among the angels, and this old chair was left vacant, and now hangs upon
103
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
the wall, a constant reminder to children and friends that she has gone up higher. As this editor sat and looked at the old chair, he thought what a sermon it preaches to all who enter there. The mother fought a good fight, kept the faith and is now gone to her reward; but this empty chair is calling, calling, call- ing children and friends, sinners and all. If it were my mother's chair, I would long to live the life she lived, and walk in the way she walked and would {never cease to pray till her God was my God and I had the witness in my heart that we would all meet again.
Oh, that chair, our mother's chair Preaching sermons on the wall; Listen to mother, who left it there, Oh, heed her call, heed her call.
The graveyard at Hebron is one of the best kept in Coffee County. Many good fathers and mothers of Israel are buried there. Among them we noticed the names of Lott, Vickers, Purvis, Paulk, Lindsey and others. Many nice and costly tombstones mark the last resting place of these beloved dead. The one at the grave of Rev. John Vickers, who died in June, 1900, is especially beautiful.
The history of Hebron Church is a most interesting one. Rev. John Vickers, during his lifetime, was the central figure of that branch of the Primitive Baptist Church. When he first grew to manhood, he joined the Primitive Church and was, by them, licensed to preach; but a division among the members, on points of doctrine, very soon culminated in a split in the church. Rev. Vickers contended that salvation was conditional, while the old line hardshells claimed that
104
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
salvation was by election and unconditional. Rev. Vickers wrote a tract giving his views of the plan of salvation in which he called the old line Baptists "fatalists" and contended that he and his followers held the true Primitive Baptist doctrines. In his faith he lived and died. The church, as a denomination, has not grown very fast, but has been blessed of God in doing great good. They have had much to contend with to maintain their doctrine and practice, and deserve great credit for what they have done and are doing. They should be encouraged to press on in their good work. There are many good men and women in that neighborhood of Hebron who are not members of any church, but who ought to be, and they will never be satisfied in any other church and therefore, ought to joint that church and help push the work of the Lord in that locality. Yes, mother has left a vacant seat. Who will be the first one to go in and sit down?
Ward's Scrapbook, 1905.
Arnie Church
Many of the pioneer citizens of Coffee County were believers in Primitive Baptist doctrine. They had churches in many places in South Georgia and some in Coffee County. One of the oldest churches in Coffee County is Arnie Church. It is situated about ten miles southwest of Douglas. This church was organized about 1886 by Elder Mobley and others. Elder King was one of the first pastors of that church. Among some of the members of that old church were the Morris ', O'Steens', Douglas', Mckinnons', Vickers' and others. This church has been a landmark among the
105
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Primitive Baptists of Coffee County. It is situated among a class of good farmers. They also have a good school near the church and are a progressive people. The Primitive Baptist, as a people, are conservative in all matters. They are not quick "To go after strange fire to burn on their Altars." They have always stood like a stone wall between the church and all worldly institutions. They believe in a strict separation of church and state, or we might say the church and the world. There are no better citizens in Coffee County than the Primitive Baptists and their sons and daughters. They are strict to meet all their obligations, financial and otherwise, and are truly loyal to the Primitive Baptist Church.
Some of the pastors were Elders Parrish, Tomberlin, Stallings, O'Steen, Elder Weatherington and others.
Mormon Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon Church, sent missionaries from the West to Coffee County in 1898.
Among the first Elders to appear were Nephi Hen- son and Elder Brewer. Many citizens of the county were excited over the appearance of the Elders. Some regarded them as messengers from Heaven, gave them shelter and lodging, remembering that Scripture says, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Others re- garded them as emissaries of the devil, wrecking homes and carrying away women.
The first converts to the Mormon religion were Calvin W. Williams, Dan P. Lott, Joseph J. Adams and families. Elder Ben E. Rich was one of the first
106
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
presidents of the Southern States Mission. He helped to establish the church in Coffee County. He was suc- ceeded as president of the Mission by Elder Charles- A. Callis.
Coffee County has been a fruitful field for the Mormon Church, it having grown to a membership of more than seven hundred. There are two churches in the territory-Cumorrah Church in Coffee County, and the Utah Church in Atkinson County, formerly Coffee. Traveling Elders have been preaching regularly in both of these churches since they were built.
The church and elders have grown more in favor with the people as the years have gone by. The ma- jority of the Mormon people engage in agriculture. They are encouraged by the leaders to make the fields green with good crops. They stress as an essential part of their religion, "good health and clean bodies."
They believe in temperance and education.
Sand Hill Baptist Church
Sand Hill Church is situated about seven miles east of Douglas and was organized by Thomas P. O'Neal. Some of the ministers were: G. W. Newbern, Henry Dent, Gilford Lastinger, Rev. P. W. Powell and others. Some of the members of this church fifty years or more were : Henry Dent and his family, Thomas Dent and his family, Daniel Gaskins and his family, Frank- lin Ward and others.
A large association was held on the grounds where the church now stands in 1875. Preachers and people gathered from all over the country. Services were held under a brush arbor. Some of the ministers who attended that meeting were: G. W. Newbern, Johnie
107
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
Taylor, Gilford Lastinger, Thomas P. O'Neal, Elder Barber and W. R. Frier, Sr., father of the Editor Frier of the Douglas Enterprise, was clerk of the associa- tion. James Vining, S. P. Gaskins and others preached.
Lott Memorial Church (Communicated 1924)
I attended the old Lone Hill Church last Sunday, the first Sunday in the New Year. I joined that church fifty years ago; I love to go there. It has been "Lone Hill" since 1854. The name of the place ought to be changed to meet the present day conditions. The sweet memories that cling about the old name may be embalmed and perpetuated in the new name.
I submit the "Lone Hill" Church name be changed to the "Lott Memorial Church." Some of the reasons are as follows :
When the Lott family moved to this country about the year 1810 they settled right on the spot where the church now stands. They were the pioneers of our present civilization. They cleared the land, built the houses, made a good and lasting impression on this part of Georgia. When they died they were buried at the Lone Hill Grave Yard and they continue to bury the Lotts and their generation there. Many of the best citizens in that locality are related to the Lotts. The old "Lone Hill" means nothing and stands for nothing. If the name is changed, as I suggest, it will be building a monument to the Lotts and will point the young generation to that heroic band who first settled there and whose children and grand- children largely built Lone Hill and made it what it
108
WARD'S HISTORY OF COFFEE COUNTY
is, what it has meant to me and to hundreds of others who joined that old church and attended their first Sunday schools there. It will be placing a premium upon the lives of those saintly ones who wrought so well in the long ago. It will be like a clarion call to all the Lotts and their generations to again join their scattered forces and to make the "Lott Memorial Church" the best country church in this part of Georgia. The church could not fail with the two Dan Lotts-Elias' Dan and Arthur's Dan, John Peterson, Sampie and Monroe Smith, E. R. Cross, Willis New- bern and their families and many others. They have the talent to do anything necessary to be done to make a big, successful church. The woods out there are full "of fine people who, no doubt, would be glad to fall in line with the proper leadership and build up a great church choir and a great church. My heart thrills at the possibility of such a movement. I submit the ques- tion-shall it be the Lott Memorial Church?
Ward's Scrapbook, 1910.
Lone Hill Methodist Church
Lone Hill Methodist Church is situated twelve miles northeast of Douglas, Ga. This church was organized at the close of the Civil War. It was the plan of the pastor of the church to have preaching once a month, Saturday and Sunday. It is said that the preacher came to church on Saturday, once upon a time, and that not a soul came to meeting. He came at 11 o'clock and waited until twelve or one and still no one came. He left the church and went to Aunt Fannie Gaskins for dinner. He told Mrs. Gaskins his experience and said it was the most lonesome place he ever saw. He
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.