A Bicentennial Look Back
December 14th marks the 200th anniversary of the creation of Twiggs County, Georgia. Named for Revolutionary War Hero, General John Twiggs, Twiggs County lies in the geographic center of the State of Georgia. Carved out of the county of Wilkinson, Twiggs County became a central location for businessmen, doctors and lawyers until the westward expansion of Georgia began in the 1820s and climaxed in the 1830s.
Among its natives, Twiggs County counts many important persons of 19the Century, Georgia. Governor James M. Smith (Georgia governor) ,Col. James W. Fannin (martyr of the War for Texas Independence), Dudley M. Hughes (congressman and M.D. &. S. railroad organizer), Bishop James E. Dickey (President of Emory College), General Phillip Cook (Confederate General, Congressman and Georgia Secretary of State), Stephen F. Miller (legal writer and attorney), Thaddeus Oliver (author of All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight), William P. Zuber (early Texas historian), and William Young (father of cotton manufacturing in the South). In the past century, the list of famous Twiggs Countians included Chess "The Goat Man" McCartney (folk icon), Earl Hamrick (one of the nation's longest serving sheriffs), and Chuck Levell (keyboardist for the Allman Brothers, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton).
The first county officers were Sheriff Edmund Nunn, Inferior Court Justices Francis Powell, John Lawson, Robert Glenn and Arthur Fort, Inferior Court Clerk Edwin Hart, Superior Court Clerk Archibald McIntyre, Tax Receiver Maj. James H. Patton, Surveyor Peter Livingston, Tax Collector James H. Spann, Coroner James Wheeler and Justices of the Peace William Hemphill, William Melton James McCormick, Jonathan Bell, Arthur Fort, and James Vickers. Representative James Johnson and Senator Robert Glenn were the first to represent Twiggs County during the legislative session of 1810.
The first county seat was established at Marion, located within a short distance from the exact center of the state. Named for General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion, South Carolina's hero of the American Revolution, Marion became a focal point for rising professionals. But, with the westward advances into southern, western and northern portions of Georgia, the town of Marion began to fade away.
County officials decided to move the seat of government nearer to the center of the county to Jeffersonville, which had originally been known as Raines' Store. The attempt to remove the courthouse began in the 1850s. Originally the plans were to simply pick up the courthouse and move it to a new site, also to be named Marion. In 1867, the Military government of Georgia called a temporary halt to the removal of the original tw0-story wooden courthouse to Jeffersonville. The move was soon completed. The old courthouse stood in Jeffersonville until a 1901 fire destroyed it. The current courthouse, with some recent and major modifications, is the county's only other court building.
In addition to Jeffersonville and Marion, other Twiggs towns include Adams Park, Asa, Big Oak, Big Sandy, Bullard's, Buzzard Roost, Danville, Dry Branch, Fitzpatrick, Huber, Ripley, Sabine, Tarversville, Twiggsville, and Willis.
Early citizens of Twiggs spent many years in fear of Indian attacks upon homes and outposts along the state's frontier which coincided with the state line, which was the Ocmulgee River. The state militia, under the command of General David Blackshear of Laurens County and locally under Colonel Ezekiel Wimberly, established a series of three forts along the river. From these strategic points, spies under the command of Maj. James Patton, a Twiggs resident serving out of Fort Hawkins at the future site of Macon, reconnoitered across the river to keep the settlers informed of any threats during what later became known as the War of 1812.
Indian problems resumed in 1818. General Andrew Jackson traveled through Twiggs County while marching toward the scene of fighting further to the southwest. In the mid 1830s, troubles with the Indians in southern Georgia and Alabama arose once again. Troops from Twiggs responded once again to protect the borders of Georgia.
The lure of the paradise of Texas was too much for many Twiggs County families to ignore. So, many of them packed up their belongings and headed for the fledgling new republic. When the settlers went to war with Mexico, former Twiggs citizens took up arms in defense of their new homeland.
Unlike their neighbors to the east, Laurens and Wilkinson counties, the citizens of Twiggs voted to secede from the Union in 1860. The men of the county organized The Twiggs County Volunteers (Co. C, 4th Ga.), The Faulk Invicibles (Co. I, 26th Ga.), The Slappey Guards (Co. G, 48th Ga.), and the Twiggs Guards (Co. 9, 6th Ga.) Among the more well known soldiers was Dr. Andrew J. Lamb, who served aboard the C.S.S. Virginia, aka the Merrimac.
One of the last true Civil war battles in Georgia occurred along the northern border of Twiggs County in November 1864. As the right wing of Gen. William T. Sherman's army was proceeding toward Gordon down the Central of Georgia railroad, they were attacked in their rear by militia and reserve units out of Macon. Although the Battle of Griswoldville paled in comparison to the number of combatants, the number of deaths and wounded was comparable to the major slaughters of the war.
In its early years, the county's main resources were thought to have been limited to timber and agriculture. But when kaolin was discovered in abundance, Twiggs County became one of the leading producers of the "white gold" in Georgia. Although supplies of kaolin are slowly dwindling, it remains one of the county's leading industries.
During the Cold War years after World War II, the United States military established a Nike missile base along present day I-16 and the present site of Academy Sports in order to prevent an attack on nearby Warner Robins Air Force Base.
After two hundred years, Twiggs county remains a fine place to live. Convenient to the metropolitan areas of Macon and Warner Robins, Twiggs Countians enjoy a quiet and peaceful rural life. Happy 200th birthday, Twiggs County!
For more reading see: History of Twiggs County by J. Lannette O'Neal Faulk and Billy Jones. Also see Collections of Twiggs Countians, by Kathleen Carswell.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
EBENEZER HIGH SCHOOL
The Ebenezer Baptist Association was founded in March of 1814. At the annual meeting of the Ebenezer Baptist Association, I.J. Duggan on behalf of the people of Dudley offered land and building for the association's first and only sponsored school. The wooden school and the dormitory were built with private donations. I.J. Duggan gave an entire block of land bounded by Pecan Street on the north, Second Street on the east, Field Street on the south, and Third Street on the west - the same grounds as later schools in Dudley. O.A. Thaxton, a graduate of Mercer University, was selected as the first principal of the school. Professor Thaxton served two years and resigned to take courses at Columbia University in New York. After graduation he took a position as an instructor at the State Normal School of Pennsylvania. He later served as President of Norman College and as a professor Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville.
W.F. Brown succeeded Prof. Thaxton in 1903. His staff was composed of Rev. Frank Loyd, the grammar school teacher; Miss Bessie Ivey, primary school teacher; and Miss Fannie Solomon, the music teacher. Professor Brown resigned at the end of the 1903-4 school year. Professor I.B. Marsh served as principal during the 1904-5 school year. The board voted to rehire Prof. Thaxton if he would take the position.
Graduation exercises for the 1905 class were held in the school chapel on May 23rd. There were several tableaux, pantomimes, and recitations with musical interludes. Among the recitations were: "If I Were Ten Years Old," by Ruby Holland; "Jimmie's Pocketbook" by Manning Stanley; "Mamma's Helper" by Bertha Stubbs; "A Tiny Boy" by Pew Whipple; "Learning to Sew" by Mattie Fordham; "Turning of the Tables" by Linnie Guest; "My Dearest Friend" by Glover Melton; " An Old Fashioned Grandma" by Betsy O'Neal; "When I'm a Man" by Eugene Stubbs; "Mattie's Wants and Wishes" by Lizzie Fordham; "When Papa Was a Little Boy" by Bennett Whipple; "Don't" by Vera Melton; "Mrs. Bobbitt's School" by Clarence Bobbitt; "How Grandma Danced" by Meta Guest; "My Neighbor's Baby" by Georgia Cook; "Why He Didn't Die" by J.J. Holland; "The Blue and Gray" by Willie Melton; "The Old Woman That Lived in a Shoe" by Florence Holland; "Oh I Wish I Were a Grown-Up Man" by Warthen Chappell; "When Papa's Sick" by Maroy Chappell; "I'm Going Back to Grandma" by Willie Southerland; Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" by Berna Guest; and "Papa's Letter" by Eva May Holland. Gussie Gilbert and Jerry Duggan were the class of '05. Miss Gilbert recited her essay and Master Duggan gave the valedictory address.
The 1905-6 term was opened with 50 students and 2 teachers. The opening was delayed because no principal could be secured. By the end of the year a third teacher was added to the staff along with fifteen additional students in the class.
The school year of 1907 opened with great promise. Rev. J.R. Mincey was elected Principal. Miss Clara Davis and Miss Nelle G. Averet were chosen as assistant teachers. Professor Thomas Mincey was hired as the new music director.
On Monday night September 30th, only a few days after the school session had opened, a fire broke out in the school. The fire was discovered about ten thirty that night. The wooden building burned out of control of the stunned citizens. The cause of the fire was unknown although some thought it to be result of some sort of incendiary. The loss amounted to three thousand dollars.
Talk of rebuilding the school spread throughout the onlookers. Dudley's residents wasted no time. Classes were moved to Dudley Baptist Church. Three thousand dollars was pledged in a few days by subscriptions among local residents.
The Ebenezer Association met with the Citizens of Dublin on October 4th. After much deliberation the executive committee voted to approve the rebuilding and contributed slightly over half of the necessary funds. The Trustees took advantage of their loss. A modern brick school would be built at a cost of six thousand dollars.
By the end of the school year the school grounds contained only a pile of bricks. Within three months the new school was completed and ready for the 1908-9 term. The main floor contained four large classrooms separated by one long hall running from front to back. The second floor consisted of one large room which served as an auditorium. With no ceiling in the auditorium and other necessary interior improvements needed school officials went back to the community for help.
Materials and an additional $1,500.00 were raised and the building was completed, free of any debt. Earlier in the year school officials applied to have the school become part of the Mercer University system. Mercer's Trustees declined the offer mainly because the school was then only a pile of bricks.
Rev. Garrett Allen was appointed as Principal in 1909. Rev. Allen immediately began a campaign to increase the enrollment at Ebenezer High School.
Baptists were urged to not to send their children to private schools, but support their association's school by their children's attendance. M.M. Hobbs, T. Bright, and Otto Daniel petitioned the Superior Court of Laurens County to have the school incorporated in the fall of 1909. The directors of the school that year were Wm. J. Gilbert, Felix Bobbitt, John W. Guest, Wm. T. Haskins, A.J. Weaver, and I.J. Duggan.
Graduation exercises for the 1909-10 year were held in the school auditorium on May 26, 1910. The graduating class was composed of Misses Mettie Guest, Myrtle Paul, Maroy Chappell, Genie Denson, Agnes Stanley, and Rev. Wade Grant. Myrtle Paul gave the valedictory address. Mettie Guest was the class prophet and Maroy Chappell was the salutatorian. Agnes Stanley and Genie Denson read essays. Rev. Grant delivered an oration to the attendees. U.C. Barrett, of Dublin, gave the commencement address.
That year of 1910 signaled the end of the school. W.T. Haskins, a trustee and avid supporter of the school died. W.J. Gilbert of Dudley resigned as a trustee. In 1912 the Baptist Churches of Laurens County resigned from the association to form their own association. The majority of the support for the school was now in the hands of the Laurens County Baptist Association. The Association voted not to assume the operation of Ebenezer. The Ebenzer Association turned to the state to take over the operation of the school. This final desperate attempt failed. I.J. Duggan, who had been so instrumental in the founding of the school and who had donated the land, was given title to the land and the building. The conveyance was conditioned upon Duggan's sale of the property to reimburse those who had contributed to the rebuilding. So ended the brief life of the Ebenezer Association's only sponsored school.
W.F. Brown succeeded Prof. Thaxton in 1903. His staff was composed of Rev. Frank Loyd, the grammar school teacher; Miss Bessie Ivey, primary school teacher; and Miss Fannie Solomon, the music teacher. Professor Brown resigned at the end of the 1903-4 school year. Professor I.B. Marsh served as principal during the 1904-5 school year. The board voted to rehire Prof. Thaxton if he would take the position.
Graduation exercises for the 1905 class were held in the school chapel on May 23rd. There were several tableaux, pantomimes, and recitations with musical interludes. Among the recitations were: "If I Were Ten Years Old," by Ruby Holland; "Jimmie's Pocketbook" by Manning Stanley; "Mamma's Helper" by Bertha Stubbs; "A Tiny Boy" by Pew Whipple; "Learning to Sew" by Mattie Fordham; "Turning of the Tables" by Linnie Guest; "My Dearest Friend" by Glover Melton; " An Old Fashioned Grandma" by Betsy O'Neal; "When I'm a Man" by Eugene Stubbs; "Mattie's Wants and Wishes" by Lizzie Fordham; "When Papa Was a Little Boy" by Bennett Whipple; "Don't" by Vera Melton; "Mrs. Bobbitt's School" by Clarence Bobbitt; "How Grandma Danced" by Meta Guest; "My Neighbor's Baby" by Georgia Cook; "Why He Didn't Die" by J.J. Holland; "The Blue and Gray" by Willie Melton; "The Old Woman That Lived in a Shoe" by Florence Holland; "Oh I Wish I Were a Grown-Up Man" by Warthen Chappell; "When Papa's Sick" by Maroy Chappell; "I'm Going Back to Grandma" by Willie Southerland; Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" by Berna Guest; and "Papa's Letter" by Eva May Holland. Gussie Gilbert and Jerry Duggan were the class of '05. Miss Gilbert recited her essay and Master Duggan gave the valedictory address.
The 1905-6 term was opened with 50 students and 2 teachers. The opening was delayed because no principal could be secured. By the end of the year a third teacher was added to the staff along with fifteen additional students in the class.
The school year of 1907 opened with great promise. Rev. J.R. Mincey was elected Principal. Miss Clara Davis and Miss Nelle G. Averet were chosen as assistant teachers. Professor Thomas Mincey was hired as the new music director.
On Monday night September 30th, only a few days after the school session had opened, a fire broke out in the school. The fire was discovered about ten thirty that night. The wooden building burned out of control of the stunned citizens. The cause of the fire was unknown although some thought it to be result of some sort of incendiary. The loss amounted to three thousand dollars.
Talk of rebuilding the school spread throughout the onlookers. Dudley's residents wasted no time. Classes were moved to Dudley Baptist Church. Three thousand dollars was pledged in a few days by subscriptions among local residents.
The Ebenezer Association met with the Citizens of Dublin on October 4th. After much deliberation the executive committee voted to approve the rebuilding and contributed slightly over half of the necessary funds. The Trustees took advantage of their loss. A modern brick school would be built at a cost of six thousand dollars.
By the end of the school year the school grounds contained only a pile of bricks. Within three months the new school was completed and ready for the 1908-9 term. The main floor contained four large classrooms separated by one long hall running from front to back. The second floor consisted of one large room which served as an auditorium. With no ceiling in the auditorium and other necessary interior improvements needed school officials went back to the community for help.
Materials and an additional $1,500.00 were raised and the building was completed, free of any debt. Earlier in the year school officials applied to have the school become part of the Mercer University system. Mercer's Trustees declined the offer mainly because the school was then only a pile of bricks.
Rev. Garrett Allen was appointed as Principal in 1909. Rev. Allen immediately began a campaign to increase the enrollment at Ebenezer High School.
Baptists were urged to not to send their children to private schools, but support their association's school by their children's attendance. M.M. Hobbs, T. Bright, and Otto Daniel petitioned the Superior Court of Laurens County to have the school incorporated in the fall of 1909. The directors of the school that year were Wm. J. Gilbert, Felix Bobbitt, John W. Guest, Wm. T. Haskins, A.J. Weaver, and I.J. Duggan.
Graduation exercises for the 1909-10 year were held in the school auditorium on May 26, 1910. The graduating class was composed of Misses Mettie Guest, Myrtle Paul, Maroy Chappell, Genie Denson, Agnes Stanley, and Rev. Wade Grant. Myrtle Paul gave the valedictory address. Mettie Guest was the class prophet and Maroy Chappell was the salutatorian. Agnes Stanley and Genie Denson read essays. Rev. Grant delivered an oration to the attendees. U.C. Barrett, of Dublin, gave the commencement address.
That year of 1910 signaled the end of the school. W.T. Haskins, a trustee and avid supporter of the school died. W.J. Gilbert of Dudley resigned as a trustee. In 1912 the Baptist Churches of Laurens County resigned from the association to form their own association. The majority of the support for the school was now in the hands of the Laurens County Baptist Association. The Association voted not to assume the operation of Ebenezer. The Ebenzer Association turned to the state to take over the operation of the school. This final desperate attempt failed. I.J. Duggan, who had been so instrumental in the founding of the school and who had donated the land, was given title to the land and the building. The conveyance was conditioned upon Duggan's sale of the property to reimburse those who had contributed to the rebuilding. So ended the brief life of the Ebenezer Association's only sponsored school.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
WHEN THE LIGHTS CAME ON
The Early Years of the Electric Membership Corporations
In our totally electric world, it is hard to imagine a world without electricity. However, some parts of our area didn't have electricity until sixty years ago. Cities like Dublin built their own power plants. Dublin's went on line in 1895 and was sold to the Georgia Power Company in 1925. Out in the country, electricity was still more than a decade away. On May 11, 1935 Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order in Warm Springs, Georgia which created the Rural Electricfication Administration, "the R.E.A."
The farmers of our area knew what benefits electricity would bring. Many doubted the feasibility of establishing a rural electric system in Laurens, Wilkinson, and Twiggs Counties. But the farmers would not be denied. After several organizational meetings the Oconee Electric Membership Corporation was chartered on November 18, 1938. The first board of directors was composed of J.L. Allen, T.C. Waldrep, J.L. Whitaker, Paul J. Jones, Sr., M.B. Bell, Joseph R. Lord, and G.C. Ingram. The directors chose Doyle Bedingfield of Dudley to manage the organization of the EMC. After several months of discouraging efforts, the R.E.A. approved an application for a loan in the amount of $188,000. The grant would fund 220 miles of line and would serve four hundred forty members. G.C. Ingram took over the management. O April Fool's day in 1940, the lights came on. It was no joke. It was the greatest thing that had come to the country since peace and quiet.
Paul J. Jones, Sr. took over the management of Oconee E.M.C. in October of 1940 and served until June of 1957. In the first few years the average electric bill was two dollars a month. In the early Sixties, the average "light bill" had risen to an astonishing $7.79.
Electricity brought on a revolution in the farming community. Homes were warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Housewives cooked on electric stoves, much to the joy of all those boys who had to cut stove wood. Pig and chicken farming was made much easier with electric facilities. City folks started moving into rural areas.
Over a year before Oconee E.M.C. was chartered, the Altamaha E.M.C. was granted a charter to serve Toombs, Emanuel, southeastern Laurens, Treutlen, and Montgomery counties. The corporation began in a small rented room on the upper floor of a building in Lyons. Within twenty years the company's lines stretched for 1,653 miles. That's the same distance from Dublin to Rapid City, South Dakota.
The second E.M.C. to serve Laurens County was chartered on June 20, 1938. The Little Ocmulgee E.M.C. was founded by R.F. Jordan of Shiloh, President; W.F. Whatley of McRae, Vice-president; and L.E. Tanner of Alamo, Secretary-treasurer. The remaining board members were B.M. Pope and Mrs. H.R. Hill of Wheeler County, E.L. Evans of Laurens County and Hugh Jones, J.M. Wook, and Mrs. W.F. McEachin of Telfair County. The service area was concentrated mostly in Telfair and Wheeler counties. The first corporate headquarters was located in a vacant store. J.W. Simmons, Sr., the first manager, was aided by bookkeeper Mary H. Martin and lineman Charlie Morrison.
A federal loan was approved in November of 1938. On April 7, 1939, the lights came on for one hundred twenty-five families living along the first fifty-two miles of lines. L.F. Jones took over the management of the company in 1940 and served for a year. He was followed by J.R. Chambless, who served for over two decades. At the first annual meeting held in the Wheeler County Courthouse, organizers had to go out and bring in enough members to establish a quorum to vote on the business of the company. L.B. Chambers, W.C. Brown, and A.O. Cook came on to the board in the early Forties replacing Pope, Tanner, and Cook. Mrs. Hill was elected secretary. When more members came on line in Laurens County, H.Y. Grant, Horace Robinson, and Cordie Joiner were elected to the board. This gave Laurens equal footing with Wheeler and Telfair counties.
Service kept expanding as the number of lineman and trucks grew. In 1948 two way radios were installed in the service trucks and members began to get their first credits on their bills from the profits of the company.
FROM: http://www.oconeeemc.com/
Seventy years ago there was no electricity available to the rural residents of Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Dodge, Laurens, Twiggs, and Wilkinson Counties. Life on the farm was hard and the nights were dark.
After the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 by an Executive Order of Franklin D. Roosevelt, wheels were put in motion to bring electricity to this area. A Vocational Agricultural teacher with the Dudley Consolidated Schools, Doyle Bedingfield, along with many interested citizens including T.C. Bobbitt, D.O. Lord, Rubert Hogan, and Warthen Chappell donated much time and effort to his project. They felt it would mean a great deal to every other man, woman, and child in this area to receive electric energy. The only thing these men expected out of this organization was electricity for their homes and families.
On November 18, 1938, Oconee EMC was incorporated with J.L. Allen, M.B. Beall, Paul J. Jones, Joseph R. Lord, T. C. Waldrep, Jimmy L. Whitaker and George Ingram named as Directors of the Corporation.
These men held their first Board of Directors meeting on November 22, 1938 and elected the following officers: J.L. Allen as President, T.C. Waldrep as Vice President, Joseph R. Lord as Treasurer and Paul J. Jones as Secretary.
Before the project would be considered feasible by REA in Washington, the Corporation had to secure 363 members over a range of 135 miles and guarantee revenue of $1,034.00. Interested citizens volunteered to take the lead in their community and work the entire section to solicit members and ask for guaranteed revenue. Jim Henry Montford, Jimmy Nelson, Jack Hobbs, Drew Horne, T.D. Bailey, Bill Tyson, Tom Pritchett, J.A. Butler, and T.D. Yancey worked with the original organizers and Directors to meet the REA requirements.
During the first year of this organization, several changes took place. Frank Y. Soles was elected to the Board of Directors replacing T.C. Waldrep. The Board hired Doyle Bedingfield as Coordinator of the project and Carl K. Nelson was named attorney for the Corporation. The first REA loan of $200,000.00 was approved in the summer of 1939. G.C. Ingram resigned form the Board of Directors to become Project Superintendent and a full-time employee of the Corporation. The Board named E.B. Dominy to replace Ingram as Director.
On October 12, 1939, bids from 15 contractors were received and opened. The low bid was awarded to Miller-Baxter Company, Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana for the building of the first project. On October 16, 1939, negotiations were held with the Bank of Dudley on plans, lease and rental for a new building to be the permanent office for the Corporation. In addition, a stenographer-booker was hired. The Engineering firm of McCrary Company started to survey the right-of-way late in October. In November of that year, actual construction of power lines got underway.
Two hundred and twenty miles of lines were constructed and energized in April 1940 with 446 members being served at the time. The average monthly consumption per consumer was 42 kWh at an average cost of 6.2¢ per kWh.
The Board approved the purchase of a service truck with a maintenance body and R. Hunter Bryan was hired as the first lineman. The first bills were mailed in April of 1940. The minimum bill was $1.00 for 10 kWh. The average monthly consumption per consumer was 42 kWh at an average cost of 6.2¢ per kWh. In May of 1940 a 10% penalty as added to bills not paid within 10 days. On October 8, 1940, Board Secretary Paul J. Jones resigned from the Board of Directors to become Manager of the Corporation replacing George C. Ingram who had been serving as project superintendent. Due to failing health, Ingram was compelled to give up his position as project superintendent and was elected to the Board of Directors.
During the next four years, most all of the members in all the area between the Oconee River and the Ocmulgee River had been signed up for electricity.
Even with this rapid growth, new challenges and problems had to be faced in this decade. Four applications for REA loans were submitted and approved but no construction could get underway because of the war period.
Wire stringing and pole setting almost came to a halt as America geared herself to winning a war after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. On December 24, 1941, the construction of 230 miles of lines were completed and energized with 767 members being served. The average monthly consumption per consumer was 44 kWh at 6.4¢ kWh.
By mid 1942, most of the men in the area had gone to war, leaving a small nucleus to operate the system and erect a few lines to isolated patches of the service area. Despite their limitations, the movement to electrify the area did not die during these difficult years. Those left at home just worked a little harder and many women volunteered their time to promoting the movement.
Finally in 1945, with the Normandy invasion on D-Day, hope began to soar . . . American boys would soon be coming home. America, as well as Oconee EMC, saw a new ray of sunshine.
With the war over, rural Americans resumed the effort to electrify the nation's farming regions. In all the forsaken placed where people were still without power, Oconee EMC continued its dream.
Today, Oconee EMC continues to serve electricity to over 8,500 members with 12,500 meters and maintains 1,904 miles of energized line.
In our totally electric world, it is hard to imagine a world without electricity. However, some parts of our area didn't have electricity until sixty years ago. Cities like Dublin built their own power plants. Dublin's went on line in 1895 and was sold to the Georgia Power Company in 1925. Out in the country, electricity was still more than a decade away. On May 11, 1935 Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order in Warm Springs, Georgia which created the Rural Electricfication Administration, "the R.E.A."
The farmers of our area knew what benefits electricity would bring. Many doubted the feasibility of establishing a rural electric system in Laurens, Wilkinson, and Twiggs Counties. But the farmers would not be denied. After several organizational meetings the Oconee Electric Membership Corporation was chartered on November 18, 1938. The first board of directors was composed of J.L. Allen, T.C. Waldrep, J.L. Whitaker, Paul J. Jones, Sr., M.B. Bell, Joseph R. Lord, and G.C. Ingram. The directors chose Doyle Bedingfield of Dudley to manage the organization of the EMC. After several months of discouraging efforts, the R.E.A. approved an application for a loan in the amount of $188,000. The grant would fund 220 miles of line and would serve four hundred forty members. G.C. Ingram took over the management. O April Fool's day in 1940, the lights came on. It was no joke. It was the greatest thing that had come to the country since peace and quiet.
Paul J. Jones, Sr. took over the management of Oconee E.M.C. in October of 1940 and served until June of 1957. In the first few years the average electric bill was two dollars a month. In the early Sixties, the average "light bill" had risen to an astonishing $7.79.
Electricity brought on a revolution in the farming community. Homes were warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Housewives cooked on electric stoves, much to the joy of all those boys who had to cut stove wood. Pig and chicken farming was made much easier with electric facilities. City folks started moving into rural areas.
Over a year before Oconee E.M.C. was chartered, the Altamaha E.M.C. was granted a charter to serve Toombs, Emanuel, southeastern Laurens, Treutlen, and Montgomery counties. The corporation began in a small rented room on the upper floor of a building in Lyons. Within twenty years the company's lines stretched for 1,653 miles. That's the same distance from Dublin to Rapid City, South Dakota.
The second E.M.C. to serve Laurens County was chartered on June 20, 1938. The Little Ocmulgee E.M.C. was founded by R.F. Jordan of Shiloh, President; W.F. Whatley of McRae, Vice-president; and L.E. Tanner of Alamo, Secretary-treasurer. The remaining board members were B.M. Pope and Mrs. H.R. Hill of Wheeler County, E.L. Evans of Laurens County and Hugh Jones, J.M. Wook, and Mrs. W.F. McEachin of Telfair County. The service area was concentrated mostly in Telfair and Wheeler counties. The first corporate headquarters was located in a vacant store. J.W. Simmons, Sr., the first manager, was aided by bookkeeper Mary H. Martin and lineman Charlie Morrison.
A federal loan was approved in November of 1938. On April 7, 1939, the lights came on for one hundred twenty-five families living along the first fifty-two miles of lines. L.F. Jones took over the management of the company in 1940 and served for a year. He was followed by J.R. Chambless, who served for over two decades. At the first annual meeting held in the Wheeler County Courthouse, organizers had to go out and bring in enough members to establish a quorum to vote on the business of the company. L.B. Chambers, W.C. Brown, and A.O. Cook came on to the board in the early Forties replacing Pope, Tanner, and Cook. Mrs. Hill was elected secretary. When more members came on line in Laurens County, H.Y. Grant, Horace Robinson, and Cordie Joiner were elected to the board. This gave Laurens equal footing with Wheeler and Telfair counties.
Service kept expanding as the number of lineman and trucks grew. In 1948 two way radios were installed in the service trucks and members began to get their first credits on their bills from the profits of the company.
FROM: http://www.oconeeemc.com/
Seventy years ago there was no electricity available to the rural residents of Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Dodge, Laurens, Twiggs, and Wilkinson Counties. Life on the farm was hard and the nights were dark.
After the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 by an Executive Order of Franklin D. Roosevelt, wheels were put in motion to bring electricity to this area. A Vocational Agricultural teacher with the Dudley Consolidated Schools, Doyle Bedingfield, along with many interested citizens including T.C. Bobbitt, D.O. Lord, Rubert Hogan, and Warthen Chappell donated much time and effort to his project. They felt it would mean a great deal to every other man, woman, and child in this area to receive electric energy. The only thing these men expected out of this organization was electricity for their homes and families.
On November 18, 1938, Oconee EMC was incorporated with J.L. Allen, M.B. Beall, Paul J. Jones, Joseph R. Lord, T. C. Waldrep, Jimmy L. Whitaker and George Ingram named as Directors of the Corporation.
These men held their first Board of Directors meeting on November 22, 1938 and elected the following officers: J.L. Allen as President, T.C. Waldrep as Vice President, Joseph R. Lord as Treasurer and Paul J. Jones as Secretary.
Before the project would be considered feasible by REA in Washington, the Corporation had to secure 363 members over a range of 135 miles and guarantee revenue of $1,034.00. Interested citizens volunteered to take the lead in their community and work the entire section to solicit members and ask for guaranteed revenue. Jim Henry Montford, Jimmy Nelson, Jack Hobbs, Drew Horne, T.D. Bailey, Bill Tyson, Tom Pritchett, J.A. Butler, and T.D. Yancey worked with the original organizers and Directors to meet the REA requirements.
During the first year of this organization, several changes took place. Frank Y. Soles was elected to the Board of Directors replacing T.C. Waldrep. The Board hired Doyle Bedingfield as Coordinator of the project and Carl K. Nelson was named attorney for the Corporation. The first REA loan of $200,000.00 was approved in the summer of 1939. G.C. Ingram resigned form the Board of Directors to become Project Superintendent and a full-time employee of the Corporation. The Board named E.B. Dominy to replace Ingram as Director.
On October 12, 1939, bids from 15 contractors were received and opened. The low bid was awarded to Miller-Baxter Company, Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana for the building of the first project. On October 16, 1939, negotiations were held with the Bank of Dudley on plans, lease and rental for a new building to be the permanent office for the Corporation. In addition, a stenographer-booker was hired. The Engineering firm of McCrary Company started to survey the right-of-way late in October. In November of that year, actual construction of power lines got underway.
Two hundred and twenty miles of lines were constructed and energized in April 1940 with 446 members being served at the time. The average monthly consumption per consumer was 42 kWh at an average cost of 6.2¢ per kWh.
The Board approved the purchase of a service truck with a maintenance body and R. Hunter Bryan was hired as the first lineman. The first bills were mailed in April of 1940. The minimum bill was $1.00 for 10 kWh. The average monthly consumption per consumer was 42 kWh at an average cost of 6.2¢ per kWh. In May of 1940 a 10% penalty as added to bills not paid within 10 days. On October 8, 1940, Board Secretary Paul J. Jones resigned from the Board of Directors to become Manager of the Corporation replacing George C. Ingram who had been serving as project superintendent. Due to failing health, Ingram was compelled to give up his position as project superintendent and was elected to the Board of Directors.
During the next four years, most all of the members in all the area between the Oconee River and the Ocmulgee River had been signed up for electricity.
Even with this rapid growth, new challenges and problems had to be faced in this decade. Four applications for REA loans were submitted and approved but no construction could get underway because of the war period.
Wire stringing and pole setting almost came to a halt as America geared herself to winning a war after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. On December 24, 1941, the construction of 230 miles of lines were completed and energized with 767 members being served. The average monthly consumption per consumer was 44 kWh at 6.4¢ kWh.
By mid 1942, most of the men in the area had gone to war, leaving a small nucleus to operate the system and erect a few lines to isolated patches of the service area. Despite their limitations, the movement to electrify the area did not die during these difficult years. Those left at home just worked a little harder and many women volunteered their time to promoting the movement.
Finally in 1945, with the Normandy invasion on D-Day, hope began to soar . . . American boys would soon be coming home. America, as well as Oconee EMC, saw a new ray of sunshine.
With the war over, rural Americans resumed the effort to electrify the nation's farming regions. In all the forsaken placed where people were still without power, Oconee EMC continued its dream.
Today, Oconee EMC continues to serve electricity to over 8,500 members with 12,500 meters and maintains 1,904 miles of energized line.
Friday, October 23, 2009
DUDLEY, GEORGIA
THE EARLY HISTORY OF DUDLEY, GEORGIA
Dudley, Georgia, is located in the northwest portion of Laurens County. Tomorrow, December 17, 1997, it celebrates its 95th birthday as a city. The history of the community goes back beyond its founding as a depot station on the Macon, Dublin, and Savannah Railroad in 1891. It was located on the Vallambrosa plantation of Gov. George M. Troup. Troup's granddaughter, Georgia Bryan Conrad, sold a portion of the plantation to Joshua Walker in 1888. Walker worked with Col. John M. Stubbs and Dudley Hughes in the acquisition of the railroad through the area. He had hoped to run the railroad closer to his home at Laurens Hill. Some
area residents wanted to establish a depot at Whipple's Crossing about a mile east of present day Dudley. Walker donated lots to the railroad to entice it to locate the depot on the lands acquired from Mrs. Conrad.
The station was named Elsie in honor of Mrs. Joshua Walker. An application was made to establish a post office at the depot. The application was denied since there was another Georgia post office by that name. The Walkers decided to change the name to Dudley in honor of their friend Dudley M. Hughes, who was Vice President of the Railroad. The post office was established on October 9, 1891. Mrs. Elsie Walker was appointed as the first postmaster by President Benjamin Harrison. She was succeeded by T.H. Hooks. The town's name was originally spelled "Dudly." The name was officially corrected on February 12, 1907.
The early families of Dudley included the Bobbitts, Cooks, Chappells, Duggans, Fordhams, Gilberts, Guests, Haskins, Hogans, Hooks, Johnsons, Lords, Methvins, Millers, O'Neals, Walkers, Weavers, and Whipples.
The town of Dudley was incorporated by the Georgia Legislature on December 17, 1902. The incorporating act named T.H. Hooks as Mayor, with I.J. Duggan, W.J. Gilbert, W.R. Cook, Felix Bobbitt, and R.J. Chappell as the initial town officials until an election on the first Wednesday in July, 1903. In that election, E.C. O'Neal was elected Mayor. W.J. Gilbert, Felix Bobbitt, W.R. Cook, I.J. Duggan, and R.J.
Chappell were chosen as councilmen. The corporate limits extended a distance of one mile in each direction from the intersection of Field and Second Streets.
The mayor was charged with being the chief executive officer of the town. He supervised the police force and acted as an ex-officio Justice of the Peace. The Mayor was authorized to hold court to determine the guilt or innocence of anyone charged with violating any state law within the town limits. The council was
authorized to specifically tax all shows, auctioneers, sleight of hand performances, wheels of fortune, and billiard tables as they deemed to be in the best interest of the town. Property taxes were limited to one half of one percent of the value of all property.
The first school was established in the early 1890s on the site of the R.J. Chappell home. Grand Jury reports show that Paul F. Duggan taught 31 students in 1894; Leila Smith, 30 students in 1898; and Cora Gilbert, 25 students in 1899. At the annual meeting of the Ebenezer Baptist Association in 1900, I.J. Duggan, on
behalf of the people of Dudley, offered land and a building for the association's first and only sponsored school. The wooden school and the dormitory were built with private donations. I.J. Duggan gave an entire block of land bounded by Pecan Street on the north, Second Street on the east, Field Street on the south, and Third Street on the west - the same grounds where later schools in Dudley were located. O.A. Thaxton was selected as the first principal of the school. He was succeeded by W.F.Brown, R.J. Mincy, and Garrett L. Allen. The wooden school burned in 1907 and within a 100 days, a two-story brick school was built in its place. When the Laurens County Baptist Association was formed in 1912, member churches chose not to continue the operation of the school. The old building was then used as a county school until it was destroyed by fire in 1936.
The oldest bank in Laurens County in continuous operation is the Bank of Dudley. A charter was granted to T.J. Walker, I.J. Duggan, W.J. Gilbert, R.J. Chappell, and B.S. Russell on October 2, 1905. J. A. Hogan was elected president. T.A. Suttle was hired as cashier. The initial board of directors was composed of J. Alva Hogan, R.J. Chappell, W.J. Gilbert, W.T. Haskins, I.J. Duggan, J.A. Wolfe, and T.A. Walker. The bank moved into its new building on November 1, 1905. The bank building was a modest structure with a stone facade. The original building still stands, but has been remodeled several times.
Businesses were booming in Dudley at the turn of the 20th Century. Within 5 years of its incorporation, Dudley's population had swelled from several dozen to five hundred people. E.W. Smith and Charley Johnson had the first stores. T.H. Hooks, W.J. Gilbert, T.J. Gilbert, Allen P. Whipple, I.J. Duggan, and C.J. Johnson operated General Merchandise stores in Dudley. Messers Howard and Graham were busy turning out shingles in their mill. W.Y. Keen was the blacksmith. F.C. Bobbitt sold the best in fancy and family groceries. Dr. R.J. Chappell and Dr. Colgan Carroll were the town doctors. T.C. Bobbitt sold groceries in Dudley for seventy four years. After 13 years of working with T.J. Gilbert, Bobbitt opened his own store in 1927. Bobbitt closed Laurens County's oldest proprietorship in 1986.
The Dudley Baptist Church, the town's first church, was organized in 1893. It was orginally located on Third Street. In 1952, the Church moved to its present location on Second Street. The first pastor was the Rev. J.Z. Bush. The Methodist Church was organized in 1898 with Rev. Charles A. Moore as pastor. The church was originally located on the H.D. Joiner place on the Cochran Road before moving to its present location on Second Street.
Dudley continued to thrive as a town. The establishment of Oconee E.M.C. in 1938 and the location of U.S. Highway 80 through the town kept the town going when so many others didn't survive.
Dudley, Georgia, is located in the northwest portion of Laurens County. Tomorrow, December 17, 1997, it celebrates its 95th birthday as a city. The history of the community goes back beyond its founding as a depot station on the Macon, Dublin, and Savannah Railroad in 1891. It was located on the Vallambrosa plantation of Gov. George M. Troup. Troup's granddaughter, Georgia Bryan Conrad, sold a portion of the plantation to Joshua Walker in 1888. Walker worked with Col. John M. Stubbs and Dudley Hughes in the acquisition of the railroad through the area. He had hoped to run the railroad closer to his home at Laurens Hill. Some
area residents wanted to establish a depot at Whipple's Crossing about a mile east of present day Dudley. Walker donated lots to the railroad to entice it to locate the depot on the lands acquired from Mrs. Conrad.
The station was named Elsie in honor of Mrs. Joshua Walker. An application was made to establish a post office at the depot. The application was denied since there was another Georgia post office by that name. The Walkers decided to change the name to Dudley in honor of their friend Dudley M. Hughes, who was Vice President of the Railroad. The post office was established on October 9, 1891. Mrs. Elsie Walker was appointed as the first postmaster by President Benjamin Harrison. She was succeeded by T.H. Hooks. The town's name was originally spelled "Dudly." The name was officially corrected on February 12, 1907.
The early families of Dudley included the Bobbitts, Cooks, Chappells, Duggans, Fordhams, Gilberts, Guests, Haskins, Hogans, Hooks, Johnsons, Lords, Methvins, Millers, O'Neals, Walkers, Weavers, and Whipples.
The town of Dudley was incorporated by the Georgia Legislature on December 17, 1902. The incorporating act named T.H. Hooks as Mayor, with I.J. Duggan, W.J. Gilbert, W.R. Cook, Felix Bobbitt, and R.J. Chappell as the initial town officials until an election on the first Wednesday in July, 1903. In that election, E.C. O'Neal was elected Mayor. W.J. Gilbert, Felix Bobbitt, W.R. Cook, I.J. Duggan, and R.J.
Chappell were chosen as councilmen. The corporate limits extended a distance of one mile in each direction from the intersection of Field and Second Streets.
The mayor was charged with being the chief executive officer of the town. He supervised the police force and acted as an ex-officio Justice of the Peace. The Mayor was authorized to hold court to determine the guilt or innocence of anyone charged with violating any state law within the town limits. The council was
authorized to specifically tax all shows, auctioneers, sleight of hand performances, wheels of fortune, and billiard tables as they deemed to be in the best interest of the town. Property taxes were limited to one half of one percent of the value of all property.
The first school was established in the early 1890s on the site of the R.J. Chappell home. Grand Jury reports show that Paul F. Duggan taught 31 students in 1894; Leila Smith, 30 students in 1898; and Cora Gilbert, 25 students in 1899. At the annual meeting of the Ebenezer Baptist Association in 1900, I.J. Duggan, on
behalf of the people of Dudley, offered land and a building for the association's first and only sponsored school. The wooden school and the dormitory were built with private donations. I.J. Duggan gave an entire block of land bounded by Pecan Street on the north, Second Street on the east, Field Street on the south, and Third Street on the west - the same grounds where later schools in Dudley were located. O.A. Thaxton was selected as the first principal of the school. He was succeeded by W.F.Brown, R.J. Mincy, and Garrett L. Allen. The wooden school burned in 1907 and within a 100 days, a two-story brick school was built in its place. When the Laurens County Baptist Association was formed in 1912, member churches chose not to continue the operation of the school. The old building was then used as a county school until it was destroyed by fire in 1936.
The oldest bank in Laurens County in continuous operation is the Bank of Dudley. A charter was granted to T.J. Walker, I.J. Duggan, W.J. Gilbert, R.J. Chappell, and B.S. Russell on October 2, 1905. J. A. Hogan was elected president. T.A. Suttle was hired as cashier. The initial board of directors was composed of J. Alva Hogan, R.J. Chappell, W.J. Gilbert, W.T. Haskins, I.J. Duggan, J.A. Wolfe, and T.A. Walker. The bank moved into its new building on November 1, 1905. The bank building was a modest structure with a stone facade. The original building still stands, but has been remodeled several times.
Businesses were booming in Dudley at the turn of the 20th Century. Within 5 years of its incorporation, Dudley's population had swelled from several dozen to five hundred people. E.W. Smith and Charley Johnson had the first stores. T.H. Hooks, W.J. Gilbert, T.J. Gilbert, Allen P. Whipple, I.J. Duggan, and C.J. Johnson operated General Merchandise stores in Dudley. Messers Howard and Graham were busy turning out shingles in their mill. W.Y. Keen was the blacksmith. F.C. Bobbitt sold the best in fancy and family groceries. Dr. R.J. Chappell and Dr. Colgan Carroll were the town doctors. T.C. Bobbitt sold groceries in Dudley for seventy four years. After 13 years of working with T.J. Gilbert, Bobbitt opened his own store in 1927. Bobbitt closed Laurens County's oldest proprietorship in 1986.
The Dudley Baptist Church, the town's first church, was organized in 1893. It was orginally located on Third Street. In 1952, the Church moved to its present location on Second Street. The first pastor was the Rev. J.Z. Bush. The Methodist Church was organized in 1898 with Rev. Charles A. Moore as pastor. The church was originally located on the H.D. Joiner place on the Cochran Road before moving to its present location on Second Street.
Dudley continued to thrive as a town. The establishment of Oconee E.M.C. in 1938 and the location of U.S. Highway 80 through the town kept the town going when so many others didn't survive.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
DEXTER, GEORGIA
The First Twenty-five Years
Dexter Post Office, early 1900s. L to R - Mail carriers G.H. Green, W.P. English, H.I. King, Postmaster, G.F. Shepard and J.T. Register.
The Town of Dexter was officially incorporated 115 years ago today. Formerly known as Barnes, the town enjoyed a population surpassed only by Dublin. Located in heart of some of the county’s most fertile lands, Dexter drew settlers from Laurens and Wilkinson and Washington Counties, who rushed to the area to plant cotton and other crops where trees once stood.
Exaggerated postcard advertising the gardens of Wiggins and Beacham, Dexter, ca. 1913.
Surrounded by communities such as Springhaven, Mt. Carmel, Musgrove, Alcorn, Kewanee and even Nameless, Dexter is more of a community than a town. Any attempt to chronicle a history of these communities, as well as history of the town beyond it’s first twenty-five years of its existence and within the confines of this column would be impossible. I refer you to a definitive history of Dexter and its environs, which was published in the 1990s by former Dexter resident Amy Holland Alderman.
Dexter, like all other towns in the county, owed its existence to the coming of the railroad, in this case the Empire and Dublin or the Oconee and Western Railroad. The site where Dexter is located was first settled by John W. Green. Rev. Green, one of Laurens County’s longest surviving Confederate soldiers, built the first dwelling. The Oconee and Western Railroad had its beginnings in the mid 1880's as a tram road from Yonkers to Empire to Hawkinsville.
Looking from Water Tank, Dexter, ca. 1910.
The Empire Lumber Company applied for a charter as the Empire and Dublin Railroad in 1888. The incorporators were J.C. Anderson, J.W. Hightower, R.A. Anderson, W.A. Heath, N.E. Harris and Y.H. Morgan. Mr. Hatfield of New York supplied much of the capital and served as the first president. Capt. J.W. Hightower was general manager. A.T. Bowers served as the first superintendent. The road ran from Empire in western Dodge County to Dublin. The principal office was established in Empire. Eventually a western leg would be constructed to Hawkinsville. Within a short time the company changed its name to reflect its future.
The new Oconee and Western railroad headquartered its offices and shops in Empire at the junction of the Oconee and Western with the Georgia Railway. The tracks reached Dublin in 1891 - the same year as the W. & T. and the M.D. and S. railroads completed their tracks into the heart of Dublin. The Hawkinsville leg was completed the next year connecting the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers.
The 40-mile railroad ran from Hawkinsville northeast through Cypress to the headquarters at Empire. From Empire the road ran on through Alcorn's, Dexter, Springhaven, Vincent, Hutchins, and Harlow before reaching Dublin. The railroad was primarily a freight carrier because of the vast agricultural and timber resources in the area. New markets were opened for the towns on the line and those at each end of the railroad as well.
From the beginning of the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad, there were plans for westward expansion to Hawkinsville. President and General A.F. Daley announced the purchase of the Oconee and Western Railroad on November 9, 1898.
The sale was completed on February 1, 1899. J.W. Hightower of Empire was elected as Vice President, E.J. Henry of Hawkinsville as treasurer, and W.N. Parson of Hawkinsville as secretary. Other directors were W.A. Heath, J.E. Smith, Jr. and R.C. Henry, the latter two being from Dublin. Master machinist Winter, Auditor Beaumas, General Manager England and Conductor Williams lost their jobs. Gen. Freight and Passenger agent, M.V. Mahoney, was retained by the new owner. A post office was established at Dexter on January 31, 1890. It has been said that when Dr. T.A. Wood was looking for the right name of the new town, he used his knowledge of Latin and chose the only right name for the town - Dexter - which is a derivation of the Latin word for right. James H. Witherington was the first postmaster. In the town’s first quarter of century, it was served by postmasters John White, John A. Clark, William C. Crubbs, Henry F. Maund and Herbert King. King served the longest term (1905-1935) as a postmaster of Dexter.
Dexter was incorporated on August 22, 1891. Dr. T.A. Wood was appointed by the Georgia legislature as the town’s first mayor. J.H. Witherington, W.W. Wynn, W.L. Herndon, J.H. Smith and T.H. Shepard were named as the town’s first council until a formal election could be held on the first Thursday in January of 1892. Lurking, loitering, gambling, cursing, disturbing, fighting, quarreling, wrangling and drinking were all banned as acceptable behavior within the limits of the town. A.H. Hobbs, J.E. New, H.F. Maund, C.A. Shepard, T.C. Methvin, Peyton R. Shy, Jerome Kennedy and H.I. King were the mayors during this period.
Bird's eye view of Dexter from the water tower. R.C. Hogan house is on the left. ca. 1911.
Fires were the scourge of Dexter and many other towns. A devastating fire swept through the town in early May 1901. Many buildings were lost, but valuable stocks of goods were saved primarily through the efforts of the black citizens of the town. Just two weeks later a fire completely gutted the store of Currell and Taylor. A late Friday night fire in January 1913 destroyed Home Furniture Company, a three-store complex and the largest of its kind in the area.
The Dexter City Hall and office of Dr. J.E. New.
The Dexter Banking Company was granted a charter on January 18, 1904. With relatively little information available about the bank, one can assume that its assets were small and its customers were residents of the community. Among its early officers were Dr. J.E. New, the first president, W.H. Mullis, the first vice president, H.F. Maund, the first cashier, and W.B. Taylor. The bank, which evolved into today’s First Laurens Bank, opened for business on February 22, 1904. The initial board of directors was composed of J.E. New, W.H. Mullis, H.F. Maund, W.B. Taylor, John E. Lord, W.H. Lee, T.J. Taylor, W.A. Bedingfield and R.C. Hogan. The bank voluntarily liquidated itself at the end of the depth of the depression. The Farmers State Bank opened in Dexter on August 19, 1911. F.M. Daniel was the first president. Jerome Kennedy was elected the vice-president. John D. Walker served as the financial agent. J.W. Strange was the bank’s cashier. This bank merged with the Dexter Banking Company in 1913 under the leadership of R.C. Hogan.
At the turn of the Twentieth Century, some of the residents of Dexter included Dr. T.A. Wood, Dr. W.B. Taylor, Dr. J.E. New, Rev. Edward Tucker, William L.Currell (merchant), George Walker (grocer), Allen Hobbs (farmer), William Bryan (blacksmith), Seth Bryan (farmer), Raymond Shepard (grocer), Andrew J. Southerland (farmer), Peyton Shy (farmer), Thomas Faircloth (farmer), William Mullis (railroad), George Shepard (carpenter), Alford Gay (merchant), Benjamin Green (farmer), James Rowland (barber), Henry Maund (railroad agents), Lewis Long (farmer), Benjamin Coleman (laborer), Robert Braswell (farmer), Robert Phelps (laborer) and Amos Harris (the teacher at the colored school).
Dexter School, circa 1911.
Laurens County’s second Masonic Lodge, Dexter Lodge No. 340, was founded in 1892. The first lodge officers were Worshipful Master W.A. Witherington, Secretary J.H. Witherington along with R.E. Grinstead, W.B. Rodgers, J.W. Green, John H. Smith. Other members were J.A. Clark, B.C. Green, W.T. Linder, J. Rawls, J.P. Rawls, J.G. Thomas, J.S. Thomas, Jerry Ussery, J.M. Witherington, T.A. Wood and Lee Hardy. J.A. Clark, P.E. Grinstead, T.A. Wood, A.M. Jessup, E.W. Stuckey, J.A. Warren, and E.L. Faircloth served as Worshipful Master during the first twenty-five years of the lodge’s history. Today, one hundred and fourteen years later, the lodge is still in existence.
Masonic Lodge and Odd Fellow's Hall over Taylor's Drug Store, ca. 1910.
The town’s second lodge, the Dexter Odd Fellows Lodge, was established in 1905. The initial officers were Noble Grand - J.R. Harvey, Vice Grand - H.F. Maund, Recording Secretary - W.T. Scarborough, Financial Secretary - W.O. McDaniel, Treasurer - H.I. King, Trustees - F.M. Daniel, T.C. Methvin, E.W. Stuckey.
The ladies of Dexter organized the Magnolia Chapter of the Order of The Eastern Star, an auxiliary unit of the Masonic Lodge. The first officers of the chapter were Viola Daniel, Worthy Matron; Dr. L.W. Wiggins, Worthy Patron; Mary Ussery, Associate Matron; Dr. Floyd Rackley, Secretary; Jennie W. Wiggins, Treasurer and Myrtle Tutt, Associate Conductress.
Dr. W.C. Taylor's Drug Store, ca. 1914. Henry and James Thomas at the soda fountain.
Among the new citizens of town enumerated in the 1910 Census were Henry Shepard (laborer), William P. English (postman), Elbert Davis (carpenter), James Beasley (farmer), J.M. Benford (farmer), Rodger Walden (railroad foreman), Benjamin Tutt (merchant), L.A. Hobbs (farmer), Julian Horne (farmer), Julian Shepard (barber), George Shepard (postman), William J. Thomas (farmer), Hollie Hooks (farmer), Herbert Womack (railroad hand), Wash McLeod (brick mason), Joe McRae (laborer), Rev. James Wilson (minister, colored church), Sidney Hamp (cook), R.C. Shepard (salesman), William Jordan (railroad foreman), John J. Bryan (laborer), George Malone (salesman), Charley Butts (salesman), John Warren (farmer), John Faircloth (laborer), Virgil Crumpton (photographer), Trad Pennington (ice dealer), Charley Evans (laborer), Clarence Duffy (blacksmith), Thomas C. Methvin (merchant), John W. Bass (policeman), Charley Shepard (bookkeeper), John G. Thomas (farmer), Lovett Fann (farmer), Otho Warren (farmer), Solomon Mason (barber), Joseph Joiner (farmer), John Warren (farmer), Rev. John Bridges, Thomas J. Hunnicutt (merchant), Ben M. Daniel (bailiff), Sam Beasley (railroad hand), Lee Rowland (railroad hand), James A. Attaway liveryman), Roscoe C. Hogan (merchant), Jerome Kennedy (telegraph operator), Robert M. Benford (farmer), Herbert King (postmaster), John A. McClelland (salesman), William P. McClelland (fruit tree agent), John T. Thompson (merchant), John D. Bass (lumber mill), Dr. Lee Wiggins, Herbert Chadwick (merchant), John J. Phillips, John J. Harvey (book agent), William Watson (farmer), Fletcher Warren (laborer), John W. Johnston (farmer), William Stripling (merchant), Joseph Daniel (planing mill), Jeremiah Ussery (salesman), William Tripp (laborer), Thomas Register (farmer), James T. Register (postman), Robert Manning (merchant), Hardy F. McDaniel (farmer), John Mullis (farmer), Joe Cherry (laborer), Benjamin Green (postman), Amos L. Register (farmer), William B. Daniel (laborer), Erastus P. Warren (merchant), Eddie Faircloth (music teacher), David Payne (carpenter), Nathan Bostic (lumber mill), B. Wynn (carpenter), James W. Jones (carpenter), Evia G. Currell (boarding house), and U.G.B. Hogan (farmer). Not included in this list are the hundreds of fine women and bright children who called Dexter home.
R.C. Hogan House, circa 1911, corner of King and Alpha Streets.
Dexter Baptist Church, circa 1911.
Church life in Dexter has always been of preeminent importance. Though many rural churches surrounded the town, there were two main churches, the Baptist and the Methodist. On the fourth Sunday in July 1893, Elders B.C. Green J.W. Green and J.A. Clark constituted the Dexter Baptist Church. Among the first members were Nettie Clark, R.M. Green, Viny Green, Cilla Mullis, Anna Smith, Jeany Smith, Nancy Smith, Sarena Smith, J.G. Thomas and J.S. Thomas. The church’s presbytery was composed of B.A. Bacon, P.A. Jessup and the Rev. N.F. Gay. Reverends P.A. Jessup, J.T. Rogers, J.A. Clark, J.T. Smith, S.F. Simms, E.F. Dye, F.B. Asbell, George W. Tharpe and Q.J. Pinson served the church in the town’s first twenty five years. Initial services were held in the two-story school house until a permanent structure could be erected about the year 1903. This wooden building was used until 1960.
Dexter Methodist Church, ca. 1946.
The Methodists began to organize before Dexter came into it formal existence. In 1893, J.W. Warren gave the land and Jake Rawls gave the lumber to build a church building, which was destroyed by winter storms in 1904 and 1905. According to Dexter historian Amy Holland Alderman, the current church building is thought to be the third structure on the site. Among the ministers serving the Methodist church in the town’s first quarter of a century were Reverends C.C. Hines, E.M. Wright, Guyton Fisher, H.C. Fontress, E.L. Tucker, M. L. Watkins, W.O. Davis, L.A. Snow, H.E. Ewing, J.P. Dickenson, J.P. Bross, C.C. Lowe, J.W. Bridges, Claude S. Bridges, Silas Johnson, L.E. Braddy and George R. Stephens.
During the second decade of this century there were movements to slice off pieces of the larger counties of Georgia. Wheeler and Treutlen Counties were formed from Montgomery County. Bleckley County was cut off from Pulaski County. There were at least three movements in Laurens County to form new counties. The citizens of Dexter proposed to take the southwestern portion of Laurens County and the northern part of Dodge County, including the towns of Dexter (the proposed county seat), Cadwell, Rentz and Chester to form Northern County. The new county was to be named in honor of Gov. William J. Northern of Georgia, but the movement fizzled when opposed by Laurens county’s representatives and senators in the state legislature.
Wiggins Drug Store - L-R: Back row: Dr. L.W. Wiggins, unknown clerks. Front row - Lee and Eleanor Wiggins.
Though the railroad is gone and farming is no longer the major occupation of Dexter residents, the town of Dexter still lives. It is a fine place to live. It is a place where the residents can look along their streets and still see many remnants of why the town’s founding fathers believed that it was only right to live in Dexter.
Dexter Post Office, early 1900s. L to R - Mail carriers G.H. Green, W.P. English, H.I. King, Postmaster, G.F. Shepard and J.T. Register.
The Town of Dexter was officially incorporated 115 years ago today. Formerly known as Barnes, the town enjoyed a population surpassed only by Dublin. Located in heart of some of the county’s most fertile lands, Dexter drew settlers from Laurens and Wilkinson and Washington Counties, who rushed to the area to plant cotton and other crops where trees once stood.
Exaggerated postcard advertising the gardens of Wiggins and Beacham, Dexter, ca. 1913.
Surrounded by communities such as Springhaven, Mt. Carmel, Musgrove, Alcorn, Kewanee and even Nameless, Dexter is more of a community than a town. Any attempt to chronicle a history of these communities, as well as history of the town beyond it’s first twenty-five years of its existence and within the confines of this column would be impossible. I refer you to a definitive history of Dexter and its environs, which was published in the 1990s by former Dexter resident Amy Holland Alderman.
Dexter, like all other towns in the county, owed its existence to the coming of the railroad, in this case the Empire and Dublin or the Oconee and Western Railroad. The site where Dexter is located was first settled by John W. Green. Rev. Green, one of Laurens County’s longest surviving Confederate soldiers, built the first dwelling. The Oconee and Western Railroad had its beginnings in the mid 1880's as a tram road from Yonkers to Empire to Hawkinsville.
Looking from Water Tank, Dexter, ca. 1910.
The Empire Lumber Company applied for a charter as the Empire and Dublin Railroad in 1888. The incorporators were J.C. Anderson, J.W. Hightower, R.A. Anderson, W.A. Heath, N.E. Harris and Y.H. Morgan. Mr. Hatfield of New York supplied much of the capital and served as the first president. Capt. J.W. Hightower was general manager. A.T. Bowers served as the first superintendent. The road ran from Empire in western Dodge County to Dublin. The principal office was established in Empire. Eventually a western leg would be constructed to Hawkinsville. Within a short time the company changed its name to reflect its future.
The new Oconee and Western railroad headquartered its offices and shops in Empire at the junction of the Oconee and Western with the Georgia Railway. The tracks reached Dublin in 1891 - the same year as the W. & T. and the M.D. and S. railroads completed their tracks into the heart of Dublin. The Hawkinsville leg was completed the next year connecting the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers.
The 40-mile railroad ran from Hawkinsville northeast through Cypress to the headquarters at Empire. From Empire the road ran on through Alcorn's, Dexter, Springhaven, Vincent, Hutchins, and Harlow before reaching Dublin. The railroad was primarily a freight carrier because of the vast agricultural and timber resources in the area. New markets were opened for the towns on the line and those at each end of the railroad as well.
From the beginning of the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad, there were plans for westward expansion to Hawkinsville. President and General A.F. Daley announced the purchase of the Oconee and Western Railroad on November 9, 1898.
The sale was completed on February 1, 1899. J.W. Hightower of Empire was elected as Vice President, E.J. Henry of Hawkinsville as treasurer, and W.N. Parson of Hawkinsville as secretary. Other directors were W.A. Heath, J.E. Smith, Jr. and R.C. Henry, the latter two being from Dublin. Master machinist Winter, Auditor Beaumas, General Manager England and Conductor Williams lost their jobs. Gen. Freight and Passenger agent, M.V. Mahoney, was retained by the new owner. A post office was established at Dexter on January 31, 1890. It has been said that when Dr. T.A. Wood was looking for the right name of the new town, he used his knowledge of Latin and chose the only right name for the town - Dexter - which is a derivation of the Latin word for right. James H. Witherington was the first postmaster. In the town’s first quarter of century, it was served by postmasters John White, John A. Clark, William C. Crubbs, Henry F. Maund and Herbert King. King served the longest term (1905-1935) as a postmaster of Dexter.
Dexter was incorporated on August 22, 1891. Dr. T.A. Wood was appointed by the Georgia legislature as the town’s first mayor. J.H. Witherington, W.W. Wynn, W.L. Herndon, J.H. Smith and T.H. Shepard were named as the town’s first council until a formal election could be held on the first Thursday in January of 1892. Lurking, loitering, gambling, cursing, disturbing, fighting, quarreling, wrangling and drinking were all banned as acceptable behavior within the limits of the town. A.H. Hobbs, J.E. New, H.F. Maund, C.A. Shepard, T.C. Methvin, Peyton R. Shy, Jerome Kennedy and H.I. King were the mayors during this period.
Bird's eye view of Dexter from the water tower. R.C. Hogan house is on the left. ca. 1911.
Fires were the scourge of Dexter and many other towns. A devastating fire swept through the town in early May 1901. Many buildings were lost, but valuable stocks of goods were saved primarily through the efforts of the black citizens of the town. Just two weeks later a fire completely gutted the store of Currell and Taylor. A late Friday night fire in January 1913 destroyed Home Furniture Company, a three-store complex and the largest of its kind in the area.
The Dexter Banking Company was granted a charter on January 18, 1904. With relatively little information available about the bank, one can assume that its assets were small and its customers were residents of the community. Among its early officers were Dr. J.E. New, the first president, W.H. Mullis, the first vice president, H.F. Maund, the first cashier, and W.B. Taylor. The bank, which evolved into today’s First Laurens Bank, opened for business on February 22, 1904. The initial board of directors was composed of J.E. New, W.H. Mullis, H.F. Maund, W.B. Taylor, John E. Lord, W.H. Lee, T.J. Taylor, W.A. Bedingfield and R.C. Hogan. The bank voluntarily liquidated itself at the end of the depth of the depression. The Farmers State Bank opened in Dexter on August 19, 1911. F.M. Daniel was the first president. Jerome Kennedy was elected the vice-president. John D. Walker served as the financial agent. J.W. Strange was the bank’s cashier. This bank merged with the Dexter Banking Company in 1913 under the leadership of R.C. Hogan.
At the turn of the Twentieth Century, some of the residents of Dexter included Dr. T.A. Wood, Dr. W.B. Taylor, Dr. J.E. New, Rev. Edward Tucker, William L.Currell (merchant), George Walker (grocer), Allen Hobbs (farmer), William Bryan (blacksmith), Seth Bryan (farmer), Raymond Shepard (grocer), Andrew J. Southerland (farmer), Peyton Shy (farmer), Thomas Faircloth (farmer), William Mullis (railroad), George Shepard (carpenter), Alford Gay (merchant), Benjamin Green (farmer), James Rowland (barber), Henry Maund (railroad agents), Lewis Long (farmer), Benjamin Coleman (laborer), Robert Braswell (farmer), Robert Phelps (laborer) and Amos Harris (the teacher at the colored school).
Dexter School, circa 1911.
Laurens County’s second Masonic Lodge, Dexter Lodge No. 340, was founded in 1892. The first lodge officers were Worshipful Master W.A. Witherington, Secretary J.H. Witherington along with R.E. Grinstead, W.B. Rodgers, J.W. Green, John H. Smith. Other members were J.A. Clark, B.C. Green, W.T. Linder, J. Rawls, J.P. Rawls, J.G. Thomas, J.S. Thomas, Jerry Ussery, J.M. Witherington, T.A. Wood and Lee Hardy. J.A. Clark, P.E. Grinstead, T.A. Wood, A.M. Jessup, E.W. Stuckey, J.A. Warren, and E.L. Faircloth served as Worshipful Master during the first twenty-five years of the lodge’s history. Today, one hundred and fourteen years later, the lodge is still in existence.
The town’s second lodge, the Dexter Odd Fellows Lodge, was established in 1905. The initial officers were Noble Grand - J.R. Harvey, Vice Grand - H.F. Maund, Recording Secretary - W.T. Scarborough, Financial Secretary - W.O. McDaniel, Treasurer - H.I. King, Trustees - F.M. Daniel, T.C. Methvin, E.W. Stuckey.
The ladies of Dexter organized the Magnolia Chapter of the Order of The Eastern Star, an auxiliary unit of the Masonic Lodge. The first officers of the chapter were Viola Daniel, Worthy Matron; Dr. L.W. Wiggins, Worthy Patron; Mary Ussery, Associate Matron; Dr. Floyd Rackley, Secretary; Jennie W. Wiggins, Treasurer and Myrtle Tutt, Associate Conductress.
Among the new citizens of town enumerated in the 1910 Census were Henry Shepard (laborer), William P. English (postman), Elbert Davis (carpenter), James Beasley (farmer), J.M. Benford (farmer), Rodger Walden (railroad foreman), Benjamin Tutt (merchant), L.A. Hobbs (farmer), Julian Horne (farmer), Julian Shepard (barber), George Shepard (postman), William J. Thomas (farmer), Hollie Hooks (farmer), Herbert Womack (railroad hand), Wash McLeod (brick mason), Joe McRae (laborer), Rev. James Wilson (minister, colored church), Sidney Hamp (cook), R.C. Shepard (salesman), William Jordan (railroad foreman), John J. Bryan (laborer), George Malone (salesman), Charley Butts (salesman), John Warren (farmer), John Faircloth (laborer), Virgil Crumpton (photographer), Trad Pennington (ice dealer), Charley Evans (laborer), Clarence Duffy (blacksmith), Thomas C. Methvin (merchant), John W. Bass (policeman), Charley Shepard (bookkeeper), John G. Thomas (farmer), Lovett Fann (farmer), Otho Warren (farmer), Solomon Mason (barber), Joseph Joiner (farmer), John Warren (farmer), Rev. John Bridges, Thomas J. Hunnicutt (merchant), Ben M. Daniel (bailiff), Sam Beasley (railroad hand), Lee Rowland (railroad hand), James A. Attaway liveryman), Roscoe C. Hogan (merchant), Jerome Kennedy (telegraph operator), Robert M. Benford (farmer), Herbert King (postmaster), John A. McClelland (salesman), William P. McClelland (fruit tree agent), John T. Thompson (merchant), John D. Bass (lumber mill), Dr. Lee Wiggins, Herbert Chadwick (merchant), John J. Phillips, John J. Harvey (book agent), William Watson (farmer), Fletcher Warren (laborer), John W. Johnston (farmer), William Stripling (merchant), Joseph Daniel (planing mill), Jeremiah Ussery (salesman), William Tripp (laborer), Thomas Register (farmer), James T. Register (postman), Robert Manning (merchant), Hardy F. McDaniel (farmer), John Mullis (farmer), Joe Cherry (laborer), Benjamin Green (postman), Amos L. Register (farmer), William B. Daniel (laborer), Erastus P. Warren (merchant), Eddie Faircloth (music teacher), David Payne (carpenter), Nathan Bostic (lumber mill), B. Wynn (carpenter), James W. Jones (carpenter), Evia G. Currell (boarding house), and U.G.B. Hogan (farmer). Not included in this list are the hundreds of fine women and bright children who called Dexter home.
Church life in Dexter has always been of preeminent importance. Though many rural churches surrounded the town, there were two main churches, the Baptist and the Methodist. On the fourth Sunday in July 1893, Elders B.C. Green J.W. Green and J.A. Clark constituted the Dexter Baptist Church. Among the first members were Nettie Clark, R.M. Green, Viny Green, Cilla Mullis, Anna Smith, Jeany Smith, Nancy Smith, Sarena Smith, J.G. Thomas and J.S. Thomas. The church’s presbytery was composed of B.A. Bacon, P.A. Jessup and the Rev. N.F. Gay. Reverends P.A. Jessup, J.T. Rogers, J.A. Clark, J.T. Smith, S.F. Simms, E.F. Dye, F.B. Asbell, George W. Tharpe and Q.J. Pinson served the church in the town’s first twenty five years. Initial services were held in the two-story school house until a permanent structure could be erected about the year 1903. This wooden building was used until 1960.
The Methodists began to organize before Dexter came into it formal existence. In 1893, J.W. Warren gave the land and Jake Rawls gave the lumber to build a church building, which was destroyed by winter storms in 1904 and 1905. According to Dexter historian Amy Holland Alderman, the current church building is thought to be the third structure on the site. Among the ministers serving the Methodist church in the town’s first quarter of a century were Reverends C.C. Hines, E.M. Wright, Guyton Fisher, H.C. Fontress, E.L. Tucker, M. L. Watkins, W.O. Davis, L.A. Snow, H.E. Ewing, J.P. Dickenson, J.P. Bross, C.C. Lowe, J.W. Bridges, Claude S. Bridges, Silas Johnson, L.E. Braddy and George R. Stephens.
During the second decade of this century there were movements to slice off pieces of the larger counties of Georgia. Wheeler and Treutlen Counties were formed from Montgomery County. Bleckley County was cut off from Pulaski County. There were at least three movements in Laurens County to form new counties. The citizens of Dexter proposed to take the southwestern portion of Laurens County and the northern part of Dodge County, including the towns of Dexter (the proposed county seat), Cadwell, Rentz and Chester to form Northern County. The new county was to be named in honor of Gov. William J. Northern of Georgia, but the movement fizzled when opposed by Laurens county’s representatives and senators in the state legislature.
Wiggins Drug Store - L-R: Back row: Dr. L.W. Wiggins, unknown clerks. Front row - Lee and Eleanor Wiggins.
Though the railroad is gone and farming is no longer the major occupation of Dexter residents, the town of Dexter still lives. It is a fine place to live. It is a place where the residents can look along their streets and still see many remnants of why the town’s founding fathers believed that it was only right to live in Dexter.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
CONDOR
The origin of its name is shrouded in mystery. Who in his right mind would name a post office and hence a community after an ugly scavenging bird? The origin of the name "Condor" comes from the Spanish phrase, "quechua kuntur." A condor is a large vulture found in the Andes Mountains of South America and the mountains of California. Locally, folks pronounce the word "Conder". Five quarters of a century ago tomorrow, the Postmaster General of the United States established a post office at the intersection of two of East Central Georgia's most ancient roads at the community known as Holmes Cross Roads. Over the last two hundred years, the community of Condor has been an integral part of the history and heritage of eastern
Laurens County.
Condor became more of a community rather than a crossroads. The heart of Condor lies about a mile or so southeast of East Dublin at the point where Georgia Highway 29 crosses Bethlehem Church Road. The highway from East Dublin City Hall to it's intersection with Georgia Highway 86 follows an ancient Indian trail, which ran from Indian Springs to Savannah. Bethlehem Church Road runs along the old Milledgeville and Darien Road, which ran from the 19th Century state capital to Georgia's premier southern seaport.
Perhaps the first landowner of Condor was the enigmatic Indian fighter, Capt. Benjamin Harrison, who was granted the land surrounding the crossroads in the late 1790s. Among the residents of Condor in the 1830s were Jeremiah Brantley, William Brantley, Solomon Williams, John B. Williams, Charles Bush, and Hezekiah Jones. On January 4, 1847, Charles L. Holmes purchased one hundred and fifty acres from Jeremiah Brantley along the Darien Road. The sale price - a paltry $100.00. Three days later, Holmes paid Brantley ten dollars for a one acre tract at the southeastern corner of the crossroads at the place where John Boatright had been keeping a store. Boatright settled in the area south of the crossroads in 1837, before selling out to Young Keen. Two months later, Holmes acquired the five acre tract at the southwest corner of the crossroads from John B. Williams for one dollar per acre.
On October 13, 1879, the male residents of the community held an election to incorporate the Town of Holmsboro. Mr. Holmes once jested that the first ordinance to be adopted should require all husbands to return home by dark because he was tired of helping their wives look for them during all hours of the night. While the community was known as Holmes' Crossroads for most of the mid 1800s, somehow the alias of Taylorsville began to appear in public records. Apparently there was some resentment among area residents because an October 1879 article called for a large turnout to incorporate the town of Holmesboro and "elect councilmen who will kill and forever bury the Taylorsville Loan Association."
Apparently the town was never incorporated. On October 2, 1856, Warren Smith conveyed a tract of land adjoining Bethlehem Church to Charles L. Holmes, James M. Smith, and Thomas Hart as Trustees of Taylorsville Academy. During the 1870s, postal service in Laurens County began to expand. On September 17, 1878, the United States Postmaster signed the order establishing a post office of Condor, Georgia. The first office was opened in the store of Dennis Kea, the community's first postmaster. Kea served as postmaster until February 12, 1882, when he was replaced by Charles L. Holmes. Other postmasters of Condor were Columbus W. Brack, Oct. 30, 1888; Fred D. Beall, July 18, 1890; Henry F. Maund, Nov. 15, 1892; Fred D. Beall, Oct. 21, 1896; Mamie Bell, Jan. 30, 1904; Alfred Mimbs, July 2, 1908; and Lewis C. Pope, Oct. 27, 1910, who became the last postmaster when the post office was closed on June 15, 1917.
An 1883 gazetteer listed Condor, also known as Taylorsville and Holmes' Cross Roads, with a population of 150. The community's exports were six hundred bales of cotton, along with tons of lumber, and a few animal hides. The reverends James Smith and J.H. Hudson were pastors of Bethlehem and Gethsemane churches respectively. Condor was the seat of Justice of the Peace Court of Smith's (52nd ) Militia District. W. R. Keen was the district Justice of Peace, while Perry J. Adams served in the position of constable. Dennis Kea, the postmaster, operated a general store along with a grist and saw mill at the northeastern corner of the cross roads.
Beacham and Holmes owned the other general store. Beacham and Pope also conducted a saw and grist mill business. A third saw and grist mill business was operated by Dennis Kea's brother, Wesley Kea. C.G. Bush maintained yet another mill, bringing the community's total number of mills to four. A. B. Tapley was the community carpenter. J. C. Tapley fashioned carriages in a factory originally established by Dennis Kea. Wiley Martin operated a blacksmith and wheelwright shop. The listing showed the Adams, Barfields, Barwicks, Beasleys, Brantleys, Bushes, Carters, Donaldsons, Fullers, Grahams, Hilbuns, Holmes, Joneses, Keas, Keens, Martins, Odoms, Pryors, Smiths, Spiveys, Thigpens, Warnocks, Wilkes, Williams, and Youngs as the major farmers of the Condor community, which stretched nearly to the eastern limits of the county. Dr. Thomas Kea, a brother of Dennis, Wesley, and William Kea made frequent trips to Condor to meet the dental needs of the citizens. Doctor Meridan Odom of Adrian and Doctor John Barwick of Tennille traveled to town to tend to the sick folks in the community. Dr. Barwick and Dennis Kea opened a drug store in the fall of 1881. Dr. John P. Holmes returned to Condor in 1885 and set up his practice after his graduation from the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. James McCullers, another Medical College graduate, practiced medicine in Condor in the 1880s.
Following the establishment of a post office at Condor, community leaders came together and built a new academy at Condor. Leading the effort was L.C. Beacham. Beacham donated a large sum of money and the labor of his hands in building the school, which was located near Bethlehem Church. Prof. Thompson opened the school on February 3, 1879 with two dozen students under his charge. Prof. B. R. Calhoun, a first honor graduate of Mercer University and a high-toned Christian gentleman, took over as principal of Condor Academy in 1880. Rev. H. Turner Smith took charge of the Academy in 1883. Dennis Kea, Wesley Kea, and L.C. Beacham, Trustees of the Condor Academy, hired Henry Overstreet to head the academy in 1884. Prof. W. E. Arnold served in 1885. In 1912, the Laurens County Board of Education gave the old school site the members of Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Other area school students were taught by J.B. Jones and Zenobia Smith. An academy was established at Adamsville, north of Condor on the Snellbridge Road in 1880 by W.R. Keen, Wiley Martin, K.M. Jones, and J.B. Jones. On May 5, 1891, F.C. Adams conveyed one acre on the Snellbridge Road at the sweet gum head to Wiley Martin, B.B. Linder, H.T. Bush, J.W. Cox, and F.C. Adams as Trustees for North Condor School, which replaced the old Adams School. Chappell Beacham, after attending Mercer University, opened a school near his home in the Fall of 1880. A new school was opened at Gethsemane Church in the eastern part of the Condor Community in the winter of 1882.
Condor residents began seeking a railroad as early as 1880. William Kea graded a road to Dublin and was ready at an instant to start laying tracks when the railroad finally made it to Dublin from the west. L.C. Beacham laid the foundation for a railroad when, in 1880, he built a three-mile long tram railroad to transport his saw mill lumber from his "Williams Level" mill to the Oconee River in Dublin. His mill had the capacity of turning out more than twenty thousand board feet of lumber every day. The Georgia legislature authorized the incorporation of the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad Company in 1881. For three years, the farmers of eastern Laurens County desperately sought to extend the railroad from Wrightsville to Dublin.
On November 15, 1884, the board of directors of the newly formed Dublin and Wrightsville Railroad accepted subscriptions for the construction of a railroad to the banks of the Oconee River. The leading subscriber was board member L.C. Beacham who purchased one thousand dollars in stock. Condor resident Dennis Kea, who was later named to a seat on the railroad board, purchased six hundred dollars in shares of the new company. Other Condor area residents who subscribed their names were J.D. Keen, C.L. Holmes, W.H.H. McLendon, Jasper Spivey, Farqhuar Adams, Edwin Holmes, and C.S. Pope.
As the railroad was being completed to Lovett and Brewton, a controversy arose as to the location of the route from the latter point. Two possible routes emerged. The northern, or the Blackshear Route, was the most direct and practical route into the city of Dublin. The southern or Condor Route was longer and more expensive to construct. The southern route was actually split into two separate routes, one into the heart of Old Condor and the other just north of Condor. The board ordered surveyor Arthur Pou to survey the routes and render a report on the estimated cost differentials between the different options. C. W. Holmes, in an effort to sweeten the deal to bring the railroad to Old Condor, offered the railroad one thousand dollars in land. Pou found that the route to Old Condor would cost an additional six thousand dollars, while the route to the lands of L.C. Beacham would cost only an additional three thousand dollars.
In a December 1885 board meeting, director R.H. Hightower moved that the board accept the Fenley Kea route which called for the railroad to cross the Milledgeville and Darien Road at a point just south of Fenley Kea's residence. L.C. Beacham and his neighbor C.S. Pope offered the donation of two acres of land and a promise to construct a 35' by 50' depot building, which was to be completed by June 1886. The agreement gave the railroad the right to choose the location of the depot at any spot along the route on the lands of Beacham and Pope. Much to the chagrin of the donors, railroad president W.B. Thomas chose a location which they deemed to be injurious to the value of their property. The location of the depot remained mired in controversy. In a conciliatory move to pacify Messers Beacham and Pope, the board of directors agreed to construct a substantial rail crossing along the Milledgeville and Darien Road.
The deadline came. The depot was not finished. When the board met in July 1886, Fenly Kea complained, and the board voted to annul the contract if the building was not completed in short order. Finally, the depot was completed in September 1886. The location of the depot at Condor brought out the worst in one of the town's residents. Fenly Kea took exception to Lewis Beacham's efforts to locate the depot at Condor. While Beacham was standing a hundred yards away, Kea emptied his five shot pistol, seriously wounding Beacham with all five shots. All of this led to a lawsuit, which thankfully allowed the minutes of the Dublin and Wrightsville Railroad to be introduced into evidence in the case. The minute book still survives and can be found in the archives of the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. Nearly all signs of the depot are now gone. It was located on the southern side of the railroad center about 950 feet west of the where the Darien and Milledgeville Road crossed the railroad.
Fenly Kea and his wife Mary Kea sold several lots in what was called New Condor along the railroad. Among the first purchasers were E.B. Jones & Co., R.J. Hightower and Sons, David Blackshear, C.S. Pope, Rhoda Page, and Mary Tarpley. In 1903, the members of Condor Lodge No. 5192 United Order of Odd Fellows, purchased a lot on the south side of the railroad near the depot. The town of New Condor never became a reality. It appears that all of the lots were purchased by L.C. Beacham who owned nearly all of Condor in 1911. C.S. Pope owned the lands to the north and west, while Dennis Kea's family owned the lands to the south and east.
The heart of the Condor community over the last one hundred and seventy five years has been the churches. The first church was founded as the Fork Road Meeting House four miles from Dublin on the Milldegeville and Darien Road. On January 14, 1821, eleven white and two colored former members of Buckeye Baptist Church organized Bethlehem Baptist Church. John Whittle, Benjamin Manning, and Levi Bush were ppointed to act as the presbytery. The Rev. Whittle was the first pastor. George Daniel was the first clerk. The first deacon was James Kinchen. Area resident Young Keen constructed the first church building. On July 31, 1832, Solomon Williams donated three acres of lands to "The Baptist Church of Christ holding the doctrine of the final perseverance of the Saints through grace and baptism by emersion." The church remains active today and is the second oldest church in the county.
In 1850, Benjamin Pope, Edward Holmes, Kindred Jones, and William Brantley founded Gethsemane Methodist Church just off Dewey Warnock Road about a mile or so south of East Laurens School. The church eventually moved into East Dublin. In 1879, Rev. and Mrs. D.W. Williams organized William Chapel Baptist Church on the outskirts of East Dublin about a mile west of Condor. Eli Hampton, Robert Walker, and Anderson Franklin, Trustees of the Condor A.M.E. Church, purchased a lot at the northwestern corner of the railroad and the main road for a church in 1909.
News of the happenings in the early days of Condor were often printed in the Dublin Post. Among the more humorous stories and trivial accounts of life in Condor was Mack Smith's killing of three gobblers in one shot. Local correspondents frequently reported strange sights, such as a long legged crane like bird with a wide bill that landed in Mary Kea's chicken yard and made himself at home. From the report, it appeared to have been a roseated spoonbill, a bird rarely seen in these parts. December 27th, 1879 was a particularly raucous night in Condor. The local correspondent reported that even the hogs got drunk. In March 1880, a washing machine salesman passed through town with an alligator and a deer in tow - no word if the animals were dead or alive. A month later a band of gypsies came through and swapped George Keen a horse that could tell fortunes. Several Condorites (Condoricans?, Condorians?) marveled at a death match between a king snake and thunder snake, one won by the former. For those of you who don't know where Condor is, get in your car and ride out there. Stop for just a moment or seven, absorb the aroma of the decaying grasses of Fall, and just imagine all of the history that has taken place in and around an ancient crossroads, named by some unassuming soul after one of the ugliest birds in the world.
Laurens County.
Condor became more of a community rather than a crossroads. The heart of Condor lies about a mile or so southeast of East Dublin at the point where Georgia Highway 29 crosses Bethlehem Church Road. The highway from East Dublin City Hall to it's intersection with Georgia Highway 86 follows an ancient Indian trail, which ran from Indian Springs to Savannah. Bethlehem Church Road runs along the old Milledgeville and Darien Road, which ran from the 19th Century state capital to Georgia's premier southern seaport.
Perhaps the first landowner of Condor was the enigmatic Indian fighter, Capt. Benjamin Harrison, who was granted the land surrounding the crossroads in the late 1790s. Among the residents of Condor in the 1830s were Jeremiah Brantley, William Brantley, Solomon Williams, John B. Williams, Charles Bush, and Hezekiah Jones. On January 4, 1847, Charles L. Holmes purchased one hundred and fifty acres from Jeremiah Brantley along the Darien Road. The sale price - a paltry $100.00. Three days later, Holmes paid Brantley ten dollars for a one acre tract at the southeastern corner of the crossroads at the place where John Boatright had been keeping a store. Boatright settled in the area south of the crossroads in 1837, before selling out to Young Keen. Two months later, Holmes acquired the five acre tract at the southwest corner of the crossroads from John B. Williams for one dollar per acre.
On October 13, 1879, the male residents of the community held an election to incorporate the Town of Holmsboro. Mr. Holmes once jested that the first ordinance to be adopted should require all husbands to return home by dark because he was tired of helping their wives look for them during all hours of the night. While the community was known as Holmes' Crossroads for most of the mid 1800s, somehow the alias of Taylorsville began to appear in public records. Apparently there was some resentment among area residents because an October 1879 article called for a large turnout to incorporate the town of Holmesboro and "elect councilmen who will kill and forever bury the Taylorsville Loan Association."
Apparently the town was never incorporated. On October 2, 1856, Warren Smith conveyed a tract of land adjoining Bethlehem Church to Charles L. Holmes, James M. Smith, and Thomas Hart as Trustees of Taylorsville Academy. During the 1870s, postal service in Laurens County began to expand. On September 17, 1878, the United States Postmaster signed the order establishing a post office of Condor, Georgia. The first office was opened in the store of Dennis Kea, the community's first postmaster. Kea served as postmaster until February 12, 1882, when he was replaced by Charles L. Holmes. Other postmasters of Condor were Columbus W. Brack, Oct. 30, 1888; Fred D. Beall, July 18, 1890; Henry F. Maund, Nov. 15, 1892; Fred D. Beall, Oct. 21, 1896; Mamie Bell, Jan. 30, 1904; Alfred Mimbs, July 2, 1908; and Lewis C. Pope, Oct. 27, 1910, who became the last postmaster when the post office was closed on June 15, 1917.
An 1883 gazetteer listed Condor, also known as Taylorsville and Holmes' Cross Roads, with a population of 150. The community's exports were six hundred bales of cotton, along with tons of lumber, and a few animal hides. The reverends James Smith and J.H. Hudson were pastors of Bethlehem and Gethsemane churches respectively. Condor was the seat of Justice of the Peace Court of Smith's (52nd ) Militia District. W. R. Keen was the district Justice of Peace, while Perry J. Adams served in the position of constable. Dennis Kea, the postmaster, operated a general store along with a grist and saw mill at the northeastern corner of the cross roads.
Beacham and Holmes owned the other general store. Beacham and Pope also conducted a saw and grist mill business. A third saw and grist mill business was operated by Dennis Kea's brother, Wesley Kea. C.G. Bush maintained yet another mill, bringing the community's total number of mills to four. A. B. Tapley was the community carpenter. J. C. Tapley fashioned carriages in a factory originally established by Dennis Kea. Wiley Martin operated a blacksmith and wheelwright shop. The listing showed the Adams, Barfields, Barwicks, Beasleys, Brantleys, Bushes, Carters, Donaldsons, Fullers, Grahams, Hilbuns, Holmes, Joneses, Keas, Keens, Martins, Odoms, Pryors, Smiths, Spiveys, Thigpens, Warnocks, Wilkes, Williams, and Youngs as the major farmers of the Condor community, which stretched nearly to the eastern limits of the county. Dr. Thomas Kea, a brother of Dennis, Wesley, and William Kea made frequent trips to Condor to meet the dental needs of the citizens. Doctor Meridan Odom of Adrian and Doctor John Barwick of Tennille traveled to town to tend to the sick folks in the community. Dr. Barwick and Dennis Kea opened a drug store in the fall of 1881. Dr. John P. Holmes returned to Condor in 1885 and set up his practice after his graduation from the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. James McCullers, another Medical College graduate, practiced medicine in Condor in the 1880s.
Following the establishment of a post office at Condor, community leaders came together and built a new academy at Condor. Leading the effort was L.C. Beacham. Beacham donated a large sum of money and the labor of his hands in building the school, which was located near Bethlehem Church. Prof. Thompson opened the school on February 3, 1879 with two dozen students under his charge. Prof. B. R. Calhoun, a first honor graduate of Mercer University and a high-toned Christian gentleman, took over as principal of Condor Academy in 1880. Rev. H. Turner Smith took charge of the Academy in 1883. Dennis Kea, Wesley Kea, and L.C. Beacham, Trustees of the Condor Academy, hired Henry Overstreet to head the academy in 1884. Prof. W. E. Arnold served in 1885. In 1912, the Laurens County Board of Education gave the old school site the members of Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Other area school students were taught by J.B. Jones and Zenobia Smith. An academy was established at Adamsville, north of Condor on the Snellbridge Road in 1880 by W.R. Keen, Wiley Martin, K.M. Jones, and J.B. Jones. On May 5, 1891, F.C. Adams conveyed one acre on the Snellbridge Road at the sweet gum head to Wiley Martin, B.B. Linder, H.T. Bush, J.W. Cox, and F.C. Adams as Trustees for North Condor School, which replaced the old Adams School. Chappell Beacham, after attending Mercer University, opened a school near his home in the Fall of 1880. A new school was opened at Gethsemane Church in the eastern part of the Condor Community in the winter of 1882.
Condor residents began seeking a railroad as early as 1880. William Kea graded a road to Dublin and was ready at an instant to start laying tracks when the railroad finally made it to Dublin from the west. L.C. Beacham laid the foundation for a railroad when, in 1880, he built a three-mile long tram railroad to transport his saw mill lumber from his "Williams Level" mill to the Oconee River in Dublin. His mill had the capacity of turning out more than twenty thousand board feet of lumber every day. The Georgia legislature authorized the incorporation of the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad Company in 1881. For three years, the farmers of eastern Laurens County desperately sought to extend the railroad from Wrightsville to Dublin.
On November 15, 1884, the board of directors of the newly formed Dublin and Wrightsville Railroad accepted subscriptions for the construction of a railroad to the banks of the Oconee River. The leading subscriber was board member L.C. Beacham who purchased one thousand dollars in stock. Condor resident Dennis Kea, who was later named to a seat on the railroad board, purchased six hundred dollars in shares of the new company. Other Condor area residents who subscribed their names were J.D. Keen, C.L. Holmes, W.H.H. McLendon, Jasper Spivey, Farqhuar Adams, Edwin Holmes, and C.S. Pope.
As the railroad was being completed to Lovett and Brewton, a controversy arose as to the location of the route from the latter point. Two possible routes emerged. The northern, or the Blackshear Route, was the most direct and practical route into the city of Dublin. The southern or Condor Route was longer and more expensive to construct. The southern route was actually split into two separate routes, one into the heart of Old Condor and the other just north of Condor. The board ordered surveyor Arthur Pou to survey the routes and render a report on the estimated cost differentials between the different options. C. W. Holmes, in an effort to sweeten the deal to bring the railroad to Old Condor, offered the railroad one thousand dollars in land. Pou found that the route to Old Condor would cost an additional six thousand dollars, while the route to the lands of L.C. Beacham would cost only an additional three thousand dollars.
In a December 1885 board meeting, director R.H. Hightower moved that the board accept the Fenley Kea route which called for the railroad to cross the Milledgeville and Darien Road at a point just south of Fenley Kea's residence. L.C. Beacham and his neighbor C.S. Pope offered the donation of two acres of land and a promise to construct a 35' by 50' depot building, which was to be completed by June 1886. The agreement gave the railroad the right to choose the location of the depot at any spot along the route on the lands of Beacham and Pope. Much to the chagrin of the donors, railroad president W.B. Thomas chose a location which they deemed to be injurious to the value of their property. The location of the depot remained mired in controversy. In a conciliatory move to pacify Messers Beacham and Pope, the board of directors agreed to construct a substantial rail crossing along the Milledgeville and Darien Road.
The deadline came. The depot was not finished. When the board met in July 1886, Fenly Kea complained, and the board voted to annul the contract if the building was not completed in short order. Finally, the depot was completed in September 1886. The location of the depot at Condor brought out the worst in one of the town's residents. Fenly Kea took exception to Lewis Beacham's efforts to locate the depot at Condor. While Beacham was standing a hundred yards away, Kea emptied his five shot pistol, seriously wounding Beacham with all five shots. All of this led to a lawsuit, which thankfully allowed the minutes of the Dublin and Wrightsville Railroad to be introduced into evidence in the case. The minute book still survives and can be found in the archives of the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. Nearly all signs of the depot are now gone. It was located on the southern side of the railroad center about 950 feet west of the where the Darien and Milledgeville Road crossed the railroad.
Fenly Kea and his wife Mary Kea sold several lots in what was called New Condor along the railroad. Among the first purchasers were E.B. Jones & Co., R.J. Hightower and Sons, David Blackshear, C.S. Pope, Rhoda Page, and Mary Tarpley. In 1903, the members of Condor Lodge No. 5192 United Order of Odd Fellows, purchased a lot on the south side of the railroad near the depot. The town of New Condor never became a reality. It appears that all of the lots were purchased by L.C. Beacham who owned nearly all of Condor in 1911. C.S. Pope owned the lands to the north and west, while Dennis Kea's family owned the lands to the south and east.
The heart of the Condor community over the last one hundred and seventy five years has been the churches. The first church was founded as the Fork Road Meeting House four miles from Dublin on the Milldegeville and Darien Road. On January 14, 1821, eleven white and two colored former members of Buckeye Baptist Church organized Bethlehem Baptist Church. John Whittle, Benjamin Manning, and Levi Bush were ppointed to act as the presbytery. The Rev. Whittle was the first pastor. George Daniel was the first clerk. The first deacon was James Kinchen. Area resident Young Keen constructed the first church building. On July 31, 1832, Solomon Williams donated three acres of lands to "The Baptist Church of Christ holding the doctrine of the final perseverance of the Saints through grace and baptism by emersion." The church remains active today and is the second oldest church in the county.
In 1850, Benjamin Pope, Edward Holmes, Kindred Jones, and William Brantley founded Gethsemane Methodist Church just off Dewey Warnock Road about a mile or so south of East Laurens School. The church eventually moved into East Dublin. In 1879, Rev. and Mrs. D.W. Williams organized William Chapel Baptist Church on the outskirts of East Dublin about a mile west of Condor. Eli Hampton, Robert Walker, and Anderson Franklin, Trustees of the Condor A.M.E. Church, purchased a lot at the northwestern corner of the railroad and the main road for a church in 1909.
News of the happenings in the early days of Condor were often printed in the Dublin Post. Among the more humorous stories and trivial accounts of life in Condor was Mack Smith's killing of three gobblers in one shot. Local correspondents frequently reported strange sights, such as a long legged crane like bird with a wide bill that landed in Mary Kea's chicken yard and made himself at home. From the report, it appeared to have been a roseated spoonbill, a bird rarely seen in these parts. December 27th, 1879 was a particularly raucous night in Condor. The local correspondent reported that even the hogs got drunk. In March 1880, a washing machine salesman passed through town with an alligator and a deer in tow - no word if the animals were dead or alive. A month later a band of gypsies came through and swapped George Keen a horse that could tell fortunes. Several Condorites (Condoricans?, Condorians?) marveled at a death match between a king snake and thunder snake, one won by the former. For those of you who don't know where Condor is, get in your car and ride out there. Stop for just a moment or seven, absorb the aroma of the decaying grasses of Fall, and just imagine all of the history that has taken place in and around an ancient crossroads, named by some unassuming soul after one of the ugliest birds in the world.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
CEDAR GROVE
The First Hundred Years
On August 17, 2008, the town, or should I say the community of Cedar Grove, will officially turn one hundred years old. In reality, Cedar Grove, or the community that it encompasses has been around for much longer than that. Cedar Grove has always been a community. Cedar Grove, the town, never seemed to get off the ground. The fates against it, Cedar Grove is the only incorporated Laurens County town to have never had a post office and though it was the largest Laurens County town ever created by the Georgia Legislature, its location far away from railroads and populous centers doomed it to fail as a municipality. In the end, Cedar Grove and those who have lived there and those who still live there have persevered to make it a fine place to live.
Early residents of the community, the Clarks, Gays, and Burches often traded for goods and supplies, not in Dublin, some twenty three-airline miles away, but instead along with other early residents of Scottish descent in Montgomery County, now Wheeler County, in the community of Little York, once located west of Alamo. Later in the 19th Century, residents traded at McRae, ten miles closer than Dublin.
Before there was a Cedar Grove, there was Arthur, Georgia. Located near the intersection of Georgia Highway 45 and Paul Young Road and west of the present Cedar Grove Crossroads, Arthur, established as a post office on June 29, 1880, was named for Arthur Burch, a member of the Burch family, who has for more than a century and a half lived in the area. The first postmaster at Arthur was Daniel H. Burch. He was succeeded by D. Cabie, who served for only 18 days until Arthur Burch took office. Arthur Burch only served for 79 days until John Burch was sworn in as postmaster, a post he held until C.M. Clark became the final postmaster in 1900. The post office was closed on September 22, 1908 and the mail ordered to be sent to Depue in Dodge County.
In the latter decades of the 19th Century, what would become the Cedar Grove community was inhabited by the Browning, Burch, Caldwell, Clark, Clements, Colemans, Currie, Gay, Harrell, Harrelson, Lowery, Miller, Mullis, Purvis, Ryals, Sears, Taylor and White families.
Citizens of McRae desperately wanted a railroad to Dublin. They had hoped to lure the Dublin and Southwestern Railroad away from Eastman. In 1904 the men from Telfair County met and formed the McRae and Dublin Railroad Company. C.B. Parker was elected President of the company. Grading was begun from the depot to the Seaboard Air Line near the Oil and Fertilizer plant. Ransom Rogers of Atlanta laid off the route and the work was begun on the 35-mile road. The road progressed along the present day Highway 441 toward Dublin, but failed due to lack of financial support. Telfair County tried again in 1912. The Jacksonville, McRae, and Northern Railway was incorporated to build a road from the Ocmulgee near Jacksonville through McRae and northward to Dublin through Cedar Grove. One of the incorporators was future Georgia governor, Eugene Talmadge. Like many other attempts, this railroad also failed. The coming of the railroad would mean new people and, more importantly, more money for the Cedar Grove Community.
Promoters of an actual town had high hopes. On August 17, 1908, the Georgia Legislature adopted a bill incorporating the town of Cedar Grove. It was the largest town ever created in Laurens County. With twenty four land lots of two hundred two and one-half acres each, the new town was 4,860 acres in size or 7.59 square miles. John P. Harrell was named as the town's first mayor. James Purvis, J.T. Parish, W.E. Kinchen, J.Y. Hill, and S. Harrelson were named to the first town council until an election was held on the first Saturday in January 1909.
Yet, there is one burning and mystifying question about Cedar Grove which still puzzles anyone who ever lived there or just passed through. Where are the cedar trees? Well, the story goes like this. About the year 1869, Rev. Cornelious Clark, a righteous and God-fearing man, wanted to build a church near his home. He remembered a grove of cedars growing in a nearby cemetery and decided that this would be the place for his house of worship and obviously named it "Cedar Grove." Samuel Harrelson, Mary Pharis, B.L. Lowery and others joined with him in establishing the new church. Others took offense that the community's church would not be located in a more central location, so B.L. and Lamar Lowery offered to build a church in the triangle formed by Georgia Highways 46 and 126 and Sudie Pearl Jones Road, about one and a quarter miles to the northwest along Sudie Pearl Jones Road. Clark reluctantly agreed to the new location but insisted that the name Cedar Grove be retained. And, it did.
The most accepted authorities state that Purvis' store was the first business in the town. Sam Mackey, Russell Howell and Cordie Joiner also operated establishments there.
Cedar Grove became the center of religious, civic and educational activities. The earliest church, the Clark Baptist Church, ceased to exist in the 1880s. There was a New Hope Church located southwest of the Cedar Grove Crossing off Chic Inn Road.
The Masons of lower Laurens County organized the Whiteford Masonic Lodge in 1885, moved to the Lowery community shortly thereafter, and later returned to Cedar Grove. The Odd Fellows of Cedar Grove established a lodge, which they share with the Masons.
The original school began in a log church. As the school population grew, classes were held in the lower floor of the Masonic Lodge until 1924, when the schools of Whitewater, Oakdale and Union Springs were consolidated into Cedar Grove School. A large school, for its time, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1939. The school closed and merged into Laurens High School near Rentz.
In 1920, the Cedar Grove Community Council was created to help promote the community. The original members were: J.W. Horne, J.T. Grimsley, D.E. Grinstead, J.C. Ussery, J.F. Burch, J.W. Purvis, R.F. Gay, M.L. Miller, B.H. Howell, C.W. Clark, A.B. Miller, H.R. Gilder, J.P. Jackson, Dr. B.S. Benson, R.L. Thigpen, B.L. Lowery, E.N. Johnson, S.L. Miller, L.L. Howell, A.H. Johnson, M.L. Beasley.
The actual town of Cedar Grove only existed for ten years and two days. For on August 19, 1918, when most of her citizens were fighting World War I, the boll weevil and flu bugs, the Georgia Legislature in its enigmatic wisdom repealed the town's charter. They might have killed the town, but they could never kill the spirit of Cedar Grovers, who love their community as their forebearers did.
On August 17, 2008, the town, or should I say the community of Cedar Grove, will officially turn one hundred years old. In reality, Cedar Grove, or the community that it encompasses has been around for much longer than that. Cedar Grove has always been a community. Cedar Grove, the town, never seemed to get off the ground. The fates against it, Cedar Grove is the only incorporated Laurens County town to have never had a post office and though it was the largest Laurens County town ever created by the Georgia Legislature, its location far away from railroads and populous centers doomed it to fail as a municipality. In the end, Cedar Grove and those who have lived there and those who still live there have persevered to make it a fine place to live.
Early residents of the community, the Clarks, Gays, and Burches often traded for goods and supplies, not in Dublin, some twenty three-airline miles away, but instead along with other early residents of Scottish descent in Montgomery County, now Wheeler County, in the community of Little York, once located west of Alamo. Later in the 19th Century, residents traded at McRae, ten miles closer than Dublin.
Before there was a Cedar Grove, there was Arthur, Georgia. Located near the intersection of Georgia Highway 45 and Paul Young Road and west of the present Cedar Grove Crossroads, Arthur, established as a post office on June 29, 1880, was named for Arthur Burch, a member of the Burch family, who has for more than a century and a half lived in the area. The first postmaster at Arthur was Daniel H. Burch. He was succeeded by D. Cabie, who served for only 18 days until Arthur Burch took office. Arthur Burch only served for 79 days until John Burch was sworn in as postmaster, a post he held until C.M. Clark became the final postmaster in 1900. The post office was closed on September 22, 1908 and the mail ordered to be sent to Depue in Dodge County.
In the latter decades of the 19th Century, what would become the Cedar Grove community was inhabited by the Browning, Burch, Caldwell, Clark, Clements, Colemans, Currie, Gay, Harrell, Harrelson, Lowery, Miller, Mullis, Purvis, Ryals, Sears, Taylor and White families.
Citizens of McRae desperately wanted a railroad to Dublin. They had hoped to lure the Dublin and Southwestern Railroad away from Eastman. In 1904 the men from Telfair County met and formed the McRae and Dublin Railroad Company. C.B. Parker was elected President of the company. Grading was begun from the depot to the Seaboard Air Line near the Oil and Fertilizer plant. Ransom Rogers of Atlanta laid off the route and the work was begun on the 35-mile road. The road progressed along the present day Highway 441 toward Dublin, but failed due to lack of financial support. Telfair County tried again in 1912. The Jacksonville, McRae, and Northern Railway was incorporated to build a road from the Ocmulgee near Jacksonville through McRae and northward to Dublin through Cedar Grove. One of the incorporators was future Georgia governor, Eugene Talmadge. Like many other attempts, this railroad also failed. The coming of the railroad would mean new people and, more importantly, more money for the Cedar Grove Community.
Promoters of an actual town had high hopes. On August 17, 1908, the Georgia Legislature adopted a bill incorporating the town of Cedar Grove. It was the largest town ever created in Laurens County. With twenty four land lots of two hundred two and one-half acres each, the new town was 4,860 acres in size or 7.59 square miles. John P. Harrell was named as the town's first mayor. James Purvis, J.T. Parish, W.E. Kinchen, J.Y. Hill, and S. Harrelson were named to the first town council until an election was held on the first Saturday in January 1909.
Yet, there is one burning and mystifying question about Cedar Grove which still puzzles anyone who ever lived there or just passed through. Where are the cedar trees? Well, the story goes like this. About the year 1869, Rev. Cornelious Clark, a righteous and God-fearing man, wanted to build a church near his home. He remembered a grove of cedars growing in a nearby cemetery and decided that this would be the place for his house of worship and obviously named it "Cedar Grove." Samuel Harrelson, Mary Pharis, B.L. Lowery and others joined with him in establishing the new church. Others took offense that the community's church would not be located in a more central location, so B.L. and Lamar Lowery offered to build a church in the triangle formed by Georgia Highways 46 and 126 and Sudie Pearl Jones Road, about one and a quarter miles to the northwest along Sudie Pearl Jones Road. Clark reluctantly agreed to the new location but insisted that the name Cedar Grove be retained. And, it did.
The most accepted authorities state that Purvis' store was the first business in the town. Sam Mackey, Russell Howell and Cordie Joiner also operated establishments there.
Cedar Grove became the center of religious, civic and educational activities. The earliest church, the Clark Baptist Church, ceased to exist in the 1880s. There was a New Hope Church located southwest of the Cedar Grove Crossing off Chic Inn Road.
The Masons of lower Laurens County organized the Whiteford Masonic Lodge in 1885, moved to the Lowery community shortly thereafter, and later returned to Cedar Grove. The Odd Fellows of Cedar Grove established a lodge, which they share with the Masons.
The original school began in a log church. As the school population grew, classes were held in the lower floor of the Masonic Lodge until 1924, when the schools of Whitewater, Oakdale and Union Springs were consolidated into Cedar Grove School. A large school, for its time, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1939. The school closed and merged into Laurens High School near Rentz.
In 1920, the Cedar Grove Community Council was created to help promote the community. The original members were: J.W. Horne, J.T. Grimsley, D.E. Grinstead, J.C. Ussery, J.F. Burch, J.W. Purvis, R.F. Gay, M.L. Miller, B.H. Howell, C.W. Clark, A.B. Miller, H.R. Gilder, J.P. Jackson, Dr. B.S. Benson, R.L. Thigpen, B.L. Lowery, E.N. Johnson, S.L. Miller, L.L. Howell, A.H. Johnson, M.L. Beasley.
The actual town of Cedar Grove only existed for ten years and two days. For on August 19, 1918, when most of her citizens were fighting World War I, the boll weevil and flu bugs, the Georgia Legislature in its enigmatic wisdom repealed the town's charter. They might have killed the town, but they could never kill the spirit of Cedar Grovers, who love their community as their forebearers did.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
CEDAR GROVE
The First Hundred Years
On August 17, 2008, the town, or should I say the community of Cedar Grove, will officially turn one hundred years old. In reality, Cedar Grove, or the community that it encompasses has been around for much longer than that. Cedar Grove has always been a community. Cedar Grove, the town, never seemed to get off the ground. The fates against it, Cedar Grove is the only incorporated Laurens County town to have never had a post office and though it was the largest Laurens County town ever created by the Georgia Legislature, its location far away from railroads and populous centers doomed it to fail as a municipality. In the end, Cedar Grove and those who have lived there and those who still live there have persevered to make it a fine place to live.
Early residents of the community, the Clarks, Gays, and Burches often traded for goods and supplies, not in Dublin, some twenty three-airline miles away, but instead along with other early residents of Scottish descent in Montgomery County, now Wheeler County, in the community of Little York, once located west of Alamo. Later in the 19th Century, residents traded at McRae, ten miles closer than Dublin.
Before there was a Cedar Grove, there was Arthur, Georgia. Located near the intersection of Georgia Highway 45 and Paul Young Road and west of the present Cedar Grove Crossroads, Arthur, established as a post office on June 29, 1880, was named for Arthur Burch, a member of the Burch family, who has for more than a century and a half lived in the area. The first postmaster at Arthur was Daniel H. Burch. He was succeeded by D. Cabie, who served for only 18 days until Arthur Burch took office. Arthur Burch only served for 79 days until John Burch was sworn in as postmaster, a post he held until C.M. Clark became the final postmaster in 1900. The post office was closed on September 22, 1908 and the mail ordered to be sent to Depue in Dodge County.
In the latter decades of the 19th Century, what would become the Cedar Grove community was inhabited by the Browning, Burch, Caldwell, Clark, Clements, Colemans, Currie, Gay, Harrell, Harrelson, Lowery, Miller, Mullis, Purvis, Ryals, Sears, Taylor and White families.
Citizens of McRae desperately wanted a railroad to Dublin. They had hoped to lure the Dublin and Southwestern Railroad away from Eastman. In 1904 the men from Telfair County met and formed the McRae and Dublin Railroad Company. C.B. Parker was elected President of the company. Grading was begun from the depot to the Seaboard Air Line near the Oil and Fertilizer plant. Ransom Rogers of Atlanta laid off the route and the work was begun on the 35-mile road. The road progressed along the present day Highway 441 toward Dublin, but failed due to lack of financial support. Telfair County tried again in 1912. The Jacksonville, McRae, and Northern Railway was incorporated to build a road from the Ocmulgee near Jacksonville through McRae and northward to Dublin through Cedar Grove. One of the incorporators was future Georgia governor, Eugene Talmadge. Like many other attempts, this railroad also failed. The coming of the railroad would mean new people and, more importantly, more money for the Cedar Grove Community.
Promoters of an actual town had high hopes. On August 17, 1908, the Georgia Legislature adopted a bill incorporating the town of Cedar Grove. It was the largest town ever created in Laurens County. With twenty four land lots of two hundred two and one-half acres each, the new town was 4,860 acres in size or 7.59 square miles. John P. Harrell was named as the town's first mayor. James Purvis, J.T. Parish, W.E. Kinchen, J.Y. Hill, and S. Harrelson were named to the first town council until an election was held on the first Saturday in January 1909.
Yet, there is one burning and mystifying question about Cedar Grove which still puzzles anyone who ever lived there or just passed through. Where are the cedar trees? Well, the story goes like this. About the year 1869, Rev. Cornelious Clark, a righteous and God-fearing man, wanted to build a church near his home. He remembered a grove of cedars growing in a nearby cemetery and decided that this would be the place for his house of worship and obviously named it "Cedar Grove." Samuel Harrelson, Mary Pharis, B.L. Lowery and others joined with him in establishing the new church. Others took offense that the community's church would not be located in a more central location, so B.L. and Lamar Lowery offered to build a church in the triangle formed by Georgia Highways 46 and 126 and Sudie Pearl Jones Road, about one and a quarter miles to the northwest along Sudie Pearl Jones Road. Clark reluctantly agreed to the new location but insisted that the name Cedar Grove be retained. And, it did.
The most accepted authorities state that Purvis' store was the first business in the town. Sam Mackey, Russell Howell and Cordie Joiner also operated establishments there.
Cedar Grove became the center of religious, civic and educational activities. The earliest church, the Clark Baptist Church, ceased to exist in the 1880s. There was a New Hope Church located southwest of the Cedar Grove Crossing off Chic Inn Road.
The Masons of lower Laurens County organized the Whiteford Masonic Lodge in 1885, moved to the Lowery community shortly thereafter, and later returned to Cedar Grove. The Odd Fellows of Cedar Grove established a lodge, which they share with the Masons.
The original school began in a log church. As the school population grew, classes were held in the lower floor of the Masonic Lodge until 1924, when the schools of Whitewater, Oakdale and Union Springs were consolidated into Cedar Grove School. A large school, for its time, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1939. The school closed and merged into Laurens High School near Rentz.
In 1920, the Cedar Grove Community Council was created to help promote the community. The original members were: J.W. Horne, J.T. Grimsley, D.E. Grinstead, J.C. Ussery, J.F. Burch, J.W. Purvis, R.F. Gay, M.L. Miller, B.H. Howell, C.W. Clark, A.B. Miller, H.R. Gilder, J.P. Jackson, Dr. B.S. Benson, R.L. Thigpen, B.L. Lowery, E.N. Johnson, S.L. Miller, L.L. Howell, A.H. Johnson, M.L. Beasley.
The actual town of Cedar Grove only existed for ten years and two days. For on August 19, 1918, when most of her citizens were fighting World War I, the boll weevil and flu bugs, the Georgia Legislature in its enigmatic wisdom repealed the town's charter. They might have killed the town, but they could never kill the spirit of Cedar Grovers, who love their community as their forebearers did.
On August 17, 2008, the town, or should I say the community of Cedar Grove, will officially turn one hundred years old. In reality, Cedar Grove, or the community that it encompasses has been around for much longer than that. Cedar Grove has always been a community. Cedar Grove, the town, never seemed to get off the ground. The fates against it, Cedar Grove is the only incorporated Laurens County town to have never had a post office and though it was the largest Laurens County town ever created by the Georgia Legislature, its location far away from railroads and populous centers doomed it to fail as a municipality. In the end, Cedar Grove and those who have lived there and those who still live there have persevered to make it a fine place to live.
Early residents of the community, the Clarks, Gays, and Burches often traded for goods and supplies, not in Dublin, some twenty three-airline miles away, but instead along with other early residents of Scottish descent in Montgomery County, now Wheeler County, in the community of Little York, once located west of Alamo. Later in the 19th Century, residents traded at McRae, ten miles closer than Dublin.
Before there was a Cedar Grove, there was Arthur, Georgia. Located near the intersection of Georgia Highway 45 and Paul Young Road and west of the present Cedar Grove Crossroads, Arthur, established as a post office on June 29, 1880, was named for Arthur Burch, a member of the Burch family, who has for more than a century and a half lived in the area. The first postmaster at Arthur was Daniel H. Burch. He was succeeded by D. Cabie, who served for only 18 days until Arthur Burch took office. Arthur Burch only served for 79 days until John Burch was sworn in as postmaster, a post he held until C.M. Clark became the final postmaster in 1900. The post office was closed on September 22, 1908 and the mail ordered to be sent to Depue in Dodge County.
In the latter decades of the 19th Century, what would become the Cedar Grove community was inhabited by the Browning, Burch, Caldwell, Clark, Clements, Colemans, Currie, Gay, Harrell, Harrelson, Lowery, Miller, Mullis, Purvis, Ryals, Sears, Taylor and White families.
Citizens of McRae desperately wanted a railroad to Dublin. They had hoped to lure the Dublin and Southwestern Railroad away from Eastman. In 1904 the men from Telfair County met and formed the McRae and Dublin Railroad Company. C.B. Parker was elected President of the company. Grading was begun from the depot to the Seaboard Air Line near the Oil and Fertilizer plant. Ransom Rogers of Atlanta laid off the route and the work was begun on the 35-mile road. The road progressed along the present day Highway 441 toward Dublin, but failed due to lack of financial support. Telfair County tried again in 1912. The Jacksonville, McRae, and Northern Railway was incorporated to build a road from the Ocmulgee near Jacksonville through McRae and northward to Dublin through Cedar Grove. One of the incorporators was future Georgia governor, Eugene Talmadge. Like many other attempts, this railroad also failed. The coming of the railroad would mean new people and, more importantly, more money for the Cedar Grove Community.
Promoters of an actual town had high hopes. On August 17, 1908, the Georgia Legislature adopted a bill incorporating the town of Cedar Grove. It was the largest town ever created in Laurens County. With twenty four land lots of two hundred two and one-half acres each, the new town was 4,860 acres in size or 7.59 square miles. John P. Harrell was named as the town's first mayor. James Purvis, J.T. Parish, W.E. Kinchen, J.Y. Hill, and S. Harrelson were named to the first town council until an election was held on the first Saturday in January 1909.
Yet, there is one burning and mystifying question about Cedar Grove which still puzzles anyone who ever lived there or just passed through. Where are the cedar trees? Well, the story goes like this. About the year 1869, Rev. Cornelious Clark, a righteous and God-fearing man, wanted to build a church near his home. He remembered a grove of cedars growing in a nearby cemetery and decided that this would be the place for his house of worship and obviously named it "Cedar Grove." Samuel Harrelson, Mary Pharis, B.L. Lowery and others joined with him in establishing the new church. Others took offense that the community's church would not be located in a more central location, so B.L. and Lamar Lowery offered to build a church in the triangle formed by Georgia Highways 46 and 126 and Sudie Pearl Jones Road, about one and a quarter miles to the northwest along Sudie Pearl Jones Road. Clark reluctantly agreed to the new location but insisted that the name Cedar Grove be retained. And, it did.
The most accepted authorities state that Purvis' store was the first business in the town. Sam Mackey, Russell Howell and Cordie Joiner also operated establishments there.
Cedar Grove became the center of religious, civic and educational activities. The earliest church, the Clark Baptist Church, ceased to exist in the 1880s. There was a New Hope Church located southwest of the Cedar Grove Crossing off Chic Inn Road.
The Masons of lower Laurens County organized the Whiteford Masonic Lodge in 1885, moved to the Lowery community shortly thereafter, and later returned to Cedar Grove. The Odd Fellows of Cedar Grove established a lodge, which they share with the Masons.
The original school began in a log church. As the school population grew, classes were held in the lower floor of the Masonic Lodge until 1924, when the schools of Whitewater, Oakdale and Union Springs were consolidated into Cedar Grove School. A large school, for its time, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1939. The school closed and merged into Laurens High School near Rentz.
In 1920, the Cedar Grove Community Council was created to help promote the community. The original members were: J.W. Horne, J.T. Grimsley, D.E. Grinstead, J.C. Ussery, J.F. Burch, J.W. Purvis, R.F. Gay, M.L. Miller, B.H. Howell, C.W. Clark, A.B. Miller, H.R. Gilder, J.P. Jackson, Dr. B.S. Benson, R.L. Thigpen, B.L. Lowery, E.N. Johnson, S.L. Miller, L.L. Howell, A.H. Johnson, M.L. Beasley.
The actual town of Cedar Grove only existed for ten years and two days. For on August 19, 1918, when most of her citizens were fighting World War I, the boll weevil and flu bugs, the Georgia Legislature in its enigmatic wisdom repealed the town's charter. They might have killed the town, but they could never kill the spirit of Cedar Grovers, who love their community as their forebearers did.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
ADRIAN, GEORGIA NEWS
ADRIAN SEVENTH GRADE EXERCISES
ADRIAN, Ga. - May 27. Seventh grade
graduation exercises will be held in the Adrian
school auditorium Friday morning, June 5,
beginning at 10 o’clock, with Col. J. Eugene
Cook, of Wrightsville, delivering the class
address.
Those who will receive certificates at
that time are:
Lanelle Avery, Mary Barwick, Elvie
Mae Barwick, Robbie Braddy, Donald
Chapman, Tincie Douglas, Corliss Douglas,
Nina Pearl Elliott, Edsel Flanders, Cathleen
Flanders, Essie Ree Hall, Hilda Joiner, Walden
Johnson, Billy Key, Ida Mimbs, Vera Mathis,
Gene Meeks, Maxine Odum, Marjorie Smith,
W.C. Tyson, Dale Thompson, Elaine Taylor,
Verlon Watson, Opal Ivey, Reba Wheeler,
and Maxine Hutcheson.
Dublin Courier Herald, May 27, 1936.
ADRIAN F.F.A.
TO LAKE BURTON
14 BOYS AND MR. AND MRS.
HAYDEN ON WEEK’S CAMP THERE
ADRIAN - August 4. - Fourteen
Future Farmers of America boys, accompanied
by their teacher, O.L. Hayden and Mrs.
Hayden, left in a large school bus Monday
morning with Lake Burton in the northern part
of the state as their destination. They will
spend a week and will be instructed in the art
of camping, boating, fishing, swimming, and
other sports.
Those making the trip include Austin
Drake, Henry Grady Neal, Harry K. Neal,
Roland Gillis, Billy Gillis, Lyman Hutcheson,
Fay Fountain, Arnold Loyd, Walker Bailey, Jr.,
Lyman Webb, Myles Webb, Julian Thigpen,
Dale Thompson, and Edward Griffith.
Dublin Courier Herald, Aug. 4, 1936
ADRIAN F.F.A.
HAD BIG TIME
By BILLY GILLIS
The members of the Adrian Chapter of
the Future Farmers of America sponsored an
educational tour last week. The following boys
went on the trip: Lyman Hutcheson, Roland
Gillis, Billy Gillis, Harry K. Neal, Henry Grady
Neal, Arnold Loyd, Lyman Webb, Myles
Webb, Dale Thompson, Austin Drake, F.A.
Fountain, Julian Thigpen, and Walker Bailey,
Jr.. Mr. and Mrs. O.L. Hayden went with the
boys.
The group camped at Magnes Camp on
the shore of Lake Burton, the largest lake of
the Georgia Power Company. Each day a
program was set up for the boys which included
mountain climbing, fishing, swimmings, and
trips to places nearby. We spent one day in
North Carolina.
The boys are looking forward to seeing
more of the wonders of Georgia in all sections
of the state by making a trip each year.
The motor boating was one of the
greatest sports with the boys, and if you don’t
think so you might ask Lyman Hutcheson what
happened at Jones’ Fishing Camp.
Several of the boys, including Julian
Thigpen, Arnold Loyd, and Myles Webb were
taught how to row a boat without lunch. Ask
them all about the man that gave them dinner.
The trip was an enjoyable one and everybody
had an excellent time.
Dublin Courier Herald, Aug. 17, 1936
ADRIAN W.M.S.
TO STAGE PLAY
MUSICAL COMEDY “COOL KNIGHTS”
WILL BE PRESENTED FRIDAY NIGHT
ADRIAN - Aug. 4 - The Methodist
Women’s Missionary Society is staging a three
- act musical comedy, “Cool Knights” on
Friday Aug. 7 at 8:30 in the Adrian High
Auditorium. The play is being directed by Miss
Emma Lane Rabb of the Triangle Producing
Company of Greensboro, N.C. Proceeds will
be used on the Methodist Parsonage.
Included in the cast are Misses Elizabeth
Flanders, Essie Mae Anderson, Frankie Ricks,
Katherine Hutchinson, Dorothy Anderson,
and Louise Moye. Thomas Fountain, Edward
Cook, G.B. and Lambuth Hutchinson, Edwin
Drake, Evan Taylor, and Carl Gillis, Jr.
There are three groups of attractive
chorus girls. In the first group are Louise
Curry, Vivian Thigpen, Sephale Hutchinson,
Madeline Gillis, Nell Ricks, Mina Lee Braswell,
Daphne Thompson, Martha Colvin, Clara
Odom, Julia Meeks, and Emma Dell Spell.
The younger chorus groups are composed of
Patricia Gillis, Elaine Taylor, Tincy Williams,
Marjorie Kea and others.
Music for the occasion will be furnished
by Miss Hortense Fountain.
Dublin Courier Herald, Aug. 4, 1936.
DUBLIN DEFEATS ADRIAN 26 TO 16
Locals Stage Six Inning Rampage Yesterday
By Billy Keith
Coach Kelley’s high school Irish baseball
team staged a six inning rampage gathering 15
runs and smothered the Adrian High nine 26
to 16 in the wildest game of the season played
here yesterday afternoon.
Adrian was out front in with a ten run lead
in the second inning, but the locals were only
three runs down in the fourth. The 15 run
rally staged in the sixth inning gave the green
and white team a 26 to 16 decision over the
Adrianites. The locals batted three Adrian
pitchers over the diamond.
Line up:
Dublin 26 Adrian 16
Brown 1b Watson 3b
Morrison 2b Smith rf
Scarboro 3b Drake p
Bedingfield lf-p Webb c
Baldwin ss-p Thompson 2b
Towns rf Anderson cf
Hobbs cf Billy Key lf
Clarke p-1b Kelly 1b
Shepherd c Jack Key ss
Smalley
Daniel
Brunson
Keith
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Adrian 4 6 1 2 3 0 0 - 16
Dublin 1 0 5 5 1 15 0 - 26
Dublin Courier Herald, May 3, 1939.
COMMENCEMENT AT ADRIAN
WILL BEGIN FRIDAY
Adrian, Ga. May 9, 1940 - Graduation
exercises of the Adrian High School will begin
Friday night, May 10, at 8o’clock, when the
Seniors present their play, Good Gracious,
Goodness.
Those taking part in the play are Verlon
Watson, Henry Grady Neal, Elvie Mae
Barwick, Maxine Odum, Anton Horton, Pete
Cooper, Edsel Flanders, Dale Thompson, Patsy
Holmes, and Corput Kelly.
On Tuesday night, May 15, the Grammar
School operetta, “Child’s Mid Summer Night
Dream,” will be presented. Thursday night, a
concert by the piano pupils of Mrs. F.L. Kea
and the band pupils of I.L. Taylor will be an
enjoyable.
Class night will take place on Friday night,
May 27, with the following seniors taking part
on the program: Salutatory, Elvie Mae
Barwick; Valedictory, Robbie Braddy; Class
History, Maxine Hutcheson; Prophecy, Elaine
Taylor; Last Will and Testament, Mary
Barwick.
Dr. E.M. Highsmith of Mercer University
will preach the baccalaureate sermon on
Sunday morning, May 19. The program will be
completed on Monday night, May 20, when
Dr. Marvin S. Pittman, president of South
Georgia Teacher’s College at Statesboro,
deliveres the graduation address. Emanuel
County school superintendent will deliver the
diplomas, and Ned Warren will make the
awards. All events will take place at the
newly completed Community Hall.
Dublin Courier Herald, May 9, 1940
FINE BUILDING FOR ADRIAN GYM
Adrian - Work is progressing nicely on the combined auditorium and athletic court. The floor of the old auditorium was removed and dirt was excavated to give proper depth for basketball playing. A waterproof concrete floor is being built, which will be covered with a wood floor. Eight rows of grandstand seats will be placed on the sides for athletic events and additional folding chairs have been purchased to use in the center of the building for other occasions, thus increasing the seating capacity to 800. Marvin Woods is in charge of the work. When finished, the Adrian school will be one of the most complete gymnasiums in this section.
Dublin Courier Herald, March 18, 1940
ADRIAN SCHOOL GYM IS OPENED
Adrian, Ga., May 3, 1940 - The formal opening of the Adrian High school new
gymnasium took place on Tuesday night with a capacity crowd present to enjoy the
festivities. The program opened with an invocation by Rev. J.C. Walker. An address by Judge Robert Humphrey of Swainsboro, former Adrian citizen, was featured. Judge
Humphrey was introduced by T.J. Braswell, member of the local board of education. Other school board members present were, J.R. Williams, M.T. Riner, Marvin Woods, and H.C. Williams.
The school band under the direction of I.L. Taylor, leader, played several selections. Two ball games concluded the evening entertainment. The women teachers lost to the girl’s high school team by a score of 6 to 25, and the Adrian Athletic Club won over the Adrian High School boys in an exciting game, the score being 29 to 21. Woodruff Kea was the referee for the girls game and Lanier Flanders for the boys.
Superintendent Sam Jones stated that by converting the auditorium into a gymnasium,the seating capacity has been increased from 550 to 900. Grandstand seats have been placed on each side of the building, and directly over these are long rows of balcony seats. The old seats were sold for more than enough to purchase 350 folding chairs to be used in the center of the building for stage programs. Mr. Jones stated that much credit for the building is due to Marvin Woods, contractor for the job and to O.L. Hayden and the agriculture boys, who actually did a great part of the work.
The community as a whole is grateful to superintendent Sam Jones for conceiving the idea and it was largely through his untiring efforts that it was accomplished. The building has been named Community Hall.
Dublin Courier Herald, May 3, 1940
F.F.A. BALL TEAMS
DEFEAT OPPONENT
Adrian, Ga. - Adrian Future Farmer’s Association
softball team defeated the Emanuel County Institute
Tuesday at Adrian in a close game. Adrian won by a
score of 4 to 3. Adrian is playing in a softball league
with other teams in this section.
Members of the Adrian Club are Spell, Kelly,
Watson, Thompson, Fountain, Flanders, Ricks, Frazier,
Spearman, and Hayden.
Dublin Courier Herald, April 25, 1940
SENIORS AT ADRIAN ARE GIVEN HONORS
Adrian, Ga. - The honors for the Senior Class have
just been announced by Superintendent Sam P. Jones.
They are first, Robbie Braddy, second, Elvie Mae
Barwick, third, Maxine Hutcheson, fourth, Elaine
Taylor, and fifth, Mary Barwick.
Other seniors, forty four in all are Barnettte
Brantley, Donald Chapman, Pete Cooper, Corliss
Douglas, Doris Durden, Nina Pearl Elliott, Noel
Fowler, Edsel Flanders, Ovie Garnto, Patsy Holmes,
Anton Horton, May Horton, J.T. Horton, Essie Ree
Hall, Samolene Hall, Maxine Herrmann, Walden
Johnson, Walden Johnson, Hilda Joiner, William Key,
Margaret Kitchens, Corputt Kelly, Tom Lee, Ralph
Morris, Pearl Mimbs, Gladys Miller, T.L. Nobles, Henry
Grady Neal, Maxine Odum, Dorothy Price, Lula Mae
Spell, Emadel Spell, Corene Smith, W.D. Smith,
Josephine Skinner, Laura Thigpen, Dale Thompson,
W.D. Tyson, Ellen Walker, and Verlon Watson.
Dublin Courier Herald, April 22, 1940
ADRIAN BOYS WIN TOURNEY
Emanuel Cage Meet Held in Swainsboro
ADRIAN, Ga. - The Adrian boy’s basketball team
won the Emanuel County tournament at Swainsboro,
which was terminated Saturday night.
Adrian defeated Oak Park in their first game
Thursday night, 33 to 18. Friday night they easily
downed E.C.I. Graymont, 47 to 24, then on Saturday
night in the finals, Adrian defeated a strong Swainsboro
outfit in an extra playing period 28 to 26.
The final game was really a thriller, and the score
was tied several times. Billy Key, crack forward for
Adrian, hit the basket with a spectacular shot the win
the game for Adrian.
Adrian has won the Emanuel county tournament
three consecutive years and is entering the district
tournament this week with high hopes of winning.
Dublin Courier Herald, February 20, 1940
Adrian and Cadwell Open Play Tonight
Adrian and Cadwell open the athletic tourney
tonight at Brewton’s gynasium, Coach Heckle
announced today.
The game will be at 8:00 p.m. The second game of
the tourney will be played between Wrightsville and
Harrison ball teams, beginning at 9 o’clock this
evening.
Dublin Courier Herald, February 20, 1940
ADRIAN F.F.A. HELD BANQUET
Home Ec and FFA Entertained Their Parents
Adrian, Ga. - The Adrian Chapter of the Future Farmers of
America and the Adrian Home Demonstration Club were hosts to
their Annual Father and Son and Mother and Daughter banquet.
The following guests were present: A.W. Blackburn, County
Superintendent of Emanuel County; Otis G. Price, Swainsboro,
member of the County Board; R.M. Perkins, Stillmore; E.L. Smith,
Graymont; A.L. Flanders, Swainsboro; H.C. Williams, Adrian, of
the State Board of Education; Mr. and Mrs. T.J. Braswell, Mr. and
Mrs. Marvin Woods, of Adrian; Mr. and Mrs. Z.T. Houser, of
Scott. Mr. Houser is a member of the Johnson County Board of
Education.
Brief talks were made by A.W. Blackburn, Otis G. Price, Z.T.
Houser, H.C. Williams, and S.P. Jones, Superintendent of Adrian
schools.
Verlon Watson, president of the Adrian chapter, presided.
Herbert L. Smith was an honorary guest, having won the American
Planter’s degree in Kansas City last October. This degrees is the
highest award that a member of an Association may win. Mr.
Smith was introduced by his former teacher and advisor of the
Adrian chapter, O.L. Hayden. J.N. Baker, District Supervisor of
the Southeastern District of Vocational Agricultural Education
was introduced by Dale Thompson, treasurer of the Adrian
Chapter.
More than one hundred guests were served by the Home
Economics department under the direction of Miss Sara Malone,
teaching of Home Economics in Adrian school. The tables were
beautifully decorated with a small Christmas tree on the speaker’s
table. Miss Laura Thigpen, president of the Home Economics
Club, introduced the club’s part of the program.
After the banquet, J.N. Baker showed a new educational picture
just put out by the department of Vocational Education dealing
with the vocational work.
Dublin Courier Herald, December 14, 1939
ADRIAN AND KIBBEE
SPLIT DOUBLE BILL
Adrian, Ga. - Adrian cagers won the
opening game of the season by smashing a
fighting Kibbee team 48 to 18. Splendid
coaching by Ned Warren, school principal,
played a big part in the Adrian victory. Verlon
Watson was high point man for the visitors
with fourteen markers. Billy Key and J.T.
Horton with eleven tallies each.
The Kibbee girls won from the Adrian girls
by a score of 30 to 15.
Dublin Courier Herald, Nov. 13, 1939.
ADRIAN SCHOOL BAND BEGINS YEAR
PROGRAM
Adrian, Ga., Oct. 7, 1939 - Isaac Taylor, band leader
announces, that the band instruments have arrived and that
practice will begin immediately. This is the first year that
Adrian high school has had a band and much interest is being
manifested. The leader, Isaac Taylor, is a graduate of Berry
Schools of Rome, has played with the Chattanooga, Tennessee
Municipal Band and last year conducted the Montgomery high
school band.
The personnel of the band is as follows: Trumpets, David
Rogers, Verlon Watson, Grable Braswell, Clark Hutcheson;
Clarinets, Lowell Wilson, Martha Douglas, Kent Hutcheson;
Alto Saxophone, Paul Kea; Trombones, Jimmie Gillis, Donald
Chapman; Baritone, Esdel Flanders; Bass, Earl Watson;
Cymbals, Sammie Lee Hall; Bass Drum, Gailord Hammock;
Snare Drum, Harvey Smith.
Dublin Courier Herald, October 9, 1939
ADRIAN BOYS IN TOURNAMENT
Adrian, Ga. - The Adrian High boy’s
basketball team won second place in the First
District tournament for the second successive
year. Adrian was rated as an underdog at the
beginning of the season, but under the
excellent coaching of Ned Warren, proved to
be a match for the outstanding teams in the
district.
Adrian opened the tournament,
Wednesday, Feb. 21, defeating a strong
Soperton outfit by a score of 17 to 12, then on
Friday night they defeated former district
champions, Collins by the unusual score of 13
to 1. Saturday night they defeated Glenville 28
to 10, and on Monday night, in the finals, they
were defeated by the strong Brooklet team on
the latter’s court, in a close game, 24 to 18.
Dublin Courier Herald, Feb. 29, 1940
ADRIAN, Ga. - May 27. Seventh grade
graduation exercises will be held in the Adrian
school auditorium Friday morning, June 5,
beginning at 10 o’clock, with Col. J. Eugene
Cook, of Wrightsville, delivering the class
address.
Those who will receive certificates at
that time are:
Lanelle Avery, Mary Barwick, Elvie
Mae Barwick, Robbie Braddy, Donald
Chapman, Tincie Douglas, Corliss Douglas,
Nina Pearl Elliott, Edsel Flanders, Cathleen
Flanders, Essie Ree Hall, Hilda Joiner, Walden
Johnson, Billy Key, Ida Mimbs, Vera Mathis,
Gene Meeks, Maxine Odum, Marjorie Smith,
W.C. Tyson, Dale Thompson, Elaine Taylor,
Verlon Watson, Opal Ivey, Reba Wheeler,
and Maxine Hutcheson.
Dublin Courier Herald, May 27, 1936.
ADRIAN F.F.A.
TO LAKE BURTON
14 BOYS AND MR. AND MRS.
HAYDEN ON WEEK’S CAMP THERE
ADRIAN - August 4. - Fourteen
Future Farmers of America boys, accompanied
by their teacher, O.L. Hayden and Mrs.
Hayden, left in a large school bus Monday
morning with Lake Burton in the northern part
of the state as their destination. They will
spend a week and will be instructed in the art
of camping, boating, fishing, swimming, and
other sports.
Those making the trip include Austin
Drake, Henry Grady Neal, Harry K. Neal,
Roland Gillis, Billy Gillis, Lyman Hutcheson,
Fay Fountain, Arnold Loyd, Walker Bailey, Jr.,
Lyman Webb, Myles Webb, Julian Thigpen,
Dale Thompson, and Edward Griffith.
Dublin Courier Herald, Aug. 4, 1936
ADRIAN F.F.A.
HAD BIG TIME
By BILLY GILLIS
The members of the Adrian Chapter of
the Future Farmers of America sponsored an
educational tour last week. The following boys
went on the trip: Lyman Hutcheson, Roland
Gillis, Billy Gillis, Harry K. Neal, Henry Grady
Neal, Arnold Loyd, Lyman Webb, Myles
Webb, Dale Thompson, Austin Drake, F.A.
Fountain, Julian Thigpen, and Walker Bailey,
Jr.. Mr. and Mrs. O.L. Hayden went with the
boys.
The group camped at Magnes Camp on
the shore of Lake Burton, the largest lake of
the Georgia Power Company. Each day a
program was set up for the boys which included
mountain climbing, fishing, swimmings, and
trips to places nearby. We spent one day in
North Carolina.
The boys are looking forward to seeing
more of the wonders of Georgia in all sections
of the state by making a trip each year.
The motor boating was one of the
greatest sports with the boys, and if you don’t
think so you might ask Lyman Hutcheson what
happened at Jones’ Fishing Camp.
Several of the boys, including Julian
Thigpen, Arnold Loyd, and Myles Webb were
taught how to row a boat without lunch. Ask
them all about the man that gave them dinner.
The trip was an enjoyable one and everybody
had an excellent time.
Dublin Courier Herald, Aug. 17, 1936
ADRIAN W.M.S.
TO STAGE PLAY
MUSICAL COMEDY “COOL KNIGHTS”
WILL BE PRESENTED FRIDAY NIGHT
ADRIAN - Aug. 4 - The Methodist
Women’s Missionary Society is staging a three
- act musical comedy, “Cool Knights” on
Friday Aug. 7 at 8:30 in the Adrian High
Auditorium. The play is being directed by Miss
Emma Lane Rabb of the Triangle Producing
Company of Greensboro, N.C. Proceeds will
be used on the Methodist Parsonage.
Included in the cast are Misses Elizabeth
Flanders, Essie Mae Anderson, Frankie Ricks,
Katherine Hutchinson, Dorothy Anderson,
and Louise Moye. Thomas Fountain, Edward
Cook, G.B. and Lambuth Hutchinson, Edwin
Drake, Evan Taylor, and Carl Gillis, Jr.
There are three groups of attractive
chorus girls. In the first group are Louise
Curry, Vivian Thigpen, Sephale Hutchinson,
Madeline Gillis, Nell Ricks, Mina Lee Braswell,
Daphne Thompson, Martha Colvin, Clara
Odom, Julia Meeks, and Emma Dell Spell.
The younger chorus groups are composed of
Patricia Gillis, Elaine Taylor, Tincy Williams,
Marjorie Kea and others.
Music for the occasion will be furnished
by Miss Hortense Fountain.
Dublin Courier Herald, Aug. 4, 1936.
DUBLIN DEFEATS ADRIAN 26 TO 16
Locals Stage Six Inning Rampage Yesterday
By Billy Keith
Coach Kelley’s high school Irish baseball
team staged a six inning rampage gathering 15
runs and smothered the Adrian High nine 26
to 16 in the wildest game of the season played
here yesterday afternoon.
Adrian was out front in with a ten run lead
in the second inning, but the locals were only
three runs down in the fourth. The 15 run
rally staged in the sixth inning gave the green
and white team a 26 to 16 decision over the
Adrianites. The locals batted three Adrian
pitchers over the diamond.
Line up:
Dublin 26 Adrian 16
Brown 1b Watson 3b
Morrison 2b Smith rf
Scarboro 3b Drake p
Bedingfield lf-p Webb c
Baldwin ss-p Thompson 2b
Towns rf Anderson cf
Hobbs cf Billy Key lf
Clarke p-1b Kelly 1b
Shepherd c Jack Key ss
Smalley
Daniel
Brunson
Keith
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Adrian 4 6 1 2 3 0 0 - 16
Dublin 1 0 5 5 1 15 0 - 26
Dublin Courier Herald, May 3, 1939.
COMMENCEMENT AT ADRIAN
WILL BEGIN FRIDAY
Adrian, Ga. May 9, 1940 - Graduation
exercises of the Adrian High School will begin
Friday night, May 10, at 8o’clock, when the
Seniors present their play, Good Gracious,
Goodness.
Those taking part in the play are Verlon
Watson, Henry Grady Neal, Elvie Mae
Barwick, Maxine Odum, Anton Horton, Pete
Cooper, Edsel Flanders, Dale Thompson, Patsy
Holmes, and Corput Kelly.
On Tuesday night, May 15, the Grammar
School operetta, “Child’s Mid Summer Night
Dream,” will be presented. Thursday night, a
concert by the piano pupils of Mrs. F.L. Kea
and the band pupils of I.L. Taylor will be an
enjoyable.
Class night will take place on Friday night,
May 27, with the following seniors taking part
on the program: Salutatory, Elvie Mae
Barwick; Valedictory, Robbie Braddy; Class
History, Maxine Hutcheson; Prophecy, Elaine
Taylor; Last Will and Testament, Mary
Barwick.
Dr. E.M. Highsmith of Mercer University
will preach the baccalaureate sermon on
Sunday morning, May 19. The program will be
completed on Monday night, May 20, when
Dr. Marvin S. Pittman, president of South
Georgia Teacher’s College at Statesboro,
deliveres the graduation address. Emanuel
County school superintendent will deliver the
diplomas, and Ned Warren will make the
awards. All events will take place at the
newly completed Community Hall.
Dublin Courier Herald, May 9, 1940
FINE BUILDING FOR ADRIAN GYM
Adrian - Work is progressing nicely on the combined auditorium and athletic court. The floor of the old auditorium was removed and dirt was excavated to give proper depth for basketball playing. A waterproof concrete floor is being built, which will be covered with a wood floor. Eight rows of grandstand seats will be placed on the sides for athletic events and additional folding chairs have been purchased to use in the center of the building for other occasions, thus increasing the seating capacity to 800. Marvin Woods is in charge of the work. When finished, the Adrian school will be one of the most complete gymnasiums in this section.
Dublin Courier Herald, March 18, 1940
ADRIAN SCHOOL GYM IS OPENED
Adrian, Ga., May 3, 1940 - The formal opening of the Adrian High school new
gymnasium took place on Tuesday night with a capacity crowd present to enjoy the
festivities. The program opened with an invocation by Rev. J.C. Walker. An address by Judge Robert Humphrey of Swainsboro, former Adrian citizen, was featured. Judge
Humphrey was introduced by T.J. Braswell, member of the local board of education. Other school board members present were, J.R. Williams, M.T. Riner, Marvin Woods, and H.C. Williams.
The school band under the direction of I.L. Taylor, leader, played several selections. Two ball games concluded the evening entertainment. The women teachers lost to the girl’s high school team by a score of 6 to 25, and the Adrian Athletic Club won over the Adrian High School boys in an exciting game, the score being 29 to 21. Woodruff Kea was the referee for the girls game and Lanier Flanders for the boys.
Superintendent Sam Jones stated that by converting the auditorium into a gymnasium,the seating capacity has been increased from 550 to 900. Grandstand seats have been placed on each side of the building, and directly over these are long rows of balcony seats. The old seats were sold for more than enough to purchase 350 folding chairs to be used in the center of the building for stage programs. Mr. Jones stated that much credit for the building is due to Marvin Woods, contractor for the job and to O.L. Hayden and the agriculture boys, who actually did a great part of the work.
The community as a whole is grateful to superintendent Sam Jones for conceiving the idea and it was largely through his untiring efforts that it was accomplished. The building has been named Community Hall.
Dublin Courier Herald, May 3, 1940
F.F.A. BALL TEAMS
DEFEAT OPPONENT
Adrian, Ga. - Adrian Future Farmer’s Association
softball team defeated the Emanuel County Institute
Tuesday at Adrian in a close game. Adrian won by a
score of 4 to 3. Adrian is playing in a softball league
with other teams in this section.
Members of the Adrian Club are Spell, Kelly,
Watson, Thompson, Fountain, Flanders, Ricks, Frazier,
Spearman, and Hayden.
Dublin Courier Herald, April 25, 1940
SENIORS AT ADRIAN ARE GIVEN HONORS
Adrian, Ga. - The honors for the Senior Class have
just been announced by Superintendent Sam P. Jones.
They are first, Robbie Braddy, second, Elvie Mae
Barwick, third, Maxine Hutcheson, fourth, Elaine
Taylor, and fifth, Mary Barwick.
Other seniors, forty four in all are Barnettte
Brantley, Donald Chapman, Pete Cooper, Corliss
Douglas, Doris Durden, Nina Pearl Elliott, Noel
Fowler, Edsel Flanders, Ovie Garnto, Patsy Holmes,
Anton Horton, May Horton, J.T. Horton, Essie Ree
Hall, Samolene Hall, Maxine Herrmann, Walden
Johnson, Walden Johnson, Hilda Joiner, William Key,
Margaret Kitchens, Corputt Kelly, Tom Lee, Ralph
Morris, Pearl Mimbs, Gladys Miller, T.L. Nobles, Henry
Grady Neal, Maxine Odum, Dorothy Price, Lula Mae
Spell, Emadel Spell, Corene Smith, W.D. Smith,
Josephine Skinner, Laura Thigpen, Dale Thompson,
W.D. Tyson, Ellen Walker, and Verlon Watson.
Dublin Courier Herald, April 22, 1940
ADRIAN BOYS WIN TOURNEY
Emanuel Cage Meet Held in Swainsboro
ADRIAN, Ga. - The Adrian boy’s basketball team
won the Emanuel County tournament at Swainsboro,
which was terminated Saturday night.
Adrian defeated Oak Park in their first game
Thursday night, 33 to 18. Friday night they easily
downed E.C.I. Graymont, 47 to 24, then on Saturday
night in the finals, Adrian defeated a strong Swainsboro
outfit in an extra playing period 28 to 26.
The final game was really a thriller, and the score
was tied several times. Billy Key, crack forward for
Adrian, hit the basket with a spectacular shot the win
the game for Adrian.
Adrian has won the Emanuel county tournament
three consecutive years and is entering the district
tournament this week with high hopes of winning.
Dublin Courier Herald, February 20, 1940
Adrian and Cadwell Open Play Tonight
Adrian and Cadwell open the athletic tourney
tonight at Brewton’s gynasium, Coach Heckle
announced today.
The game will be at 8:00 p.m. The second game of
the tourney will be played between Wrightsville and
Harrison ball teams, beginning at 9 o’clock this
evening.
Dublin Courier Herald, February 20, 1940
ADRIAN F.F.A. HELD BANQUET
Home Ec and FFA Entertained Their Parents
Adrian, Ga. - The Adrian Chapter of the Future Farmers of
America and the Adrian Home Demonstration Club were hosts to
their Annual Father and Son and Mother and Daughter banquet.
The following guests were present: A.W. Blackburn, County
Superintendent of Emanuel County; Otis G. Price, Swainsboro,
member of the County Board; R.M. Perkins, Stillmore; E.L. Smith,
Graymont; A.L. Flanders, Swainsboro; H.C. Williams, Adrian, of
the State Board of Education; Mr. and Mrs. T.J. Braswell, Mr. and
Mrs. Marvin Woods, of Adrian; Mr. and Mrs. Z.T. Houser, of
Scott. Mr. Houser is a member of the Johnson County Board of
Education.
Brief talks were made by A.W. Blackburn, Otis G. Price, Z.T.
Houser, H.C. Williams, and S.P. Jones, Superintendent of Adrian
schools.
Verlon Watson, president of the Adrian chapter, presided.
Herbert L. Smith was an honorary guest, having won the American
Planter’s degree in Kansas City last October. This degrees is the
highest award that a member of an Association may win. Mr.
Smith was introduced by his former teacher and advisor of the
Adrian chapter, O.L. Hayden. J.N. Baker, District Supervisor of
the Southeastern District of Vocational Agricultural Education
was introduced by Dale Thompson, treasurer of the Adrian
Chapter.
More than one hundred guests were served by the Home
Economics department under the direction of Miss Sara Malone,
teaching of Home Economics in Adrian school. The tables were
beautifully decorated with a small Christmas tree on the speaker’s
table. Miss Laura Thigpen, president of the Home Economics
Club, introduced the club’s part of the program.
After the banquet, J.N. Baker showed a new educational picture
just put out by the department of Vocational Education dealing
with the vocational work.
Dublin Courier Herald, December 14, 1939
ADRIAN AND KIBBEE
SPLIT DOUBLE BILL
Adrian, Ga. - Adrian cagers won the
opening game of the season by smashing a
fighting Kibbee team 48 to 18. Splendid
coaching by Ned Warren, school principal,
played a big part in the Adrian victory. Verlon
Watson was high point man for the visitors
with fourteen markers. Billy Key and J.T.
Horton with eleven tallies each.
The Kibbee girls won from the Adrian girls
by a score of 30 to 15.
Dublin Courier Herald, Nov. 13, 1939.
ADRIAN SCHOOL BAND BEGINS YEAR
PROGRAM
Adrian, Ga., Oct. 7, 1939 - Isaac Taylor, band leader
announces, that the band instruments have arrived and that
practice will begin immediately. This is the first year that
Adrian high school has had a band and much interest is being
manifested. The leader, Isaac Taylor, is a graduate of Berry
Schools of Rome, has played with the Chattanooga, Tennessee
Municipal Band and last year conducted the Montgomery high
school band.
The personnel of the band is as follows: Trumpets, David
Rogers, Verlon Watson, Grable Braswell, Clark Hutcheson;
Clarinets, Lowell Wilson, Martha Douglas, Kent Hutcheson;
Alto Saxophone, Paul Kea; Trombones, Jimmie Gillis, Donald
Chapman; Baritone, Esdel Flanders; Bass, Earl Watson;
Cymbals, Sammie Lee Hall; Bass Drum, Gailord Hammock;
Snare Drum, Harvey Smith.
Dublin Courier Herald, October 9, 1939
ADRIAN BOYS IN TOURNAMENT
Adrian, Ga. - The Adrian High boy’s
basketball team won second place in the First
District tournament for the second successive
year. Adrian was rated as an underdog at the
beginning of the season, but under the
excellent coaching of Ned Warren, proved to
be a match for the outstanding teams in the
district.
Adrian opened the tournament,
Wednesday, Feb. 21, defeating a strong
Soperton outfit by a score of 17 to 12, then on
Friday night they defeated former district
champions, Collins by the unusual score of 13
to 1. Saturday night they defeated Glenville 28
to 10, and on Monday night, in the finals, they
were defeated by the strong Brooklet team on
the latter’s court, in a close game, 24 to 18.
Dublin Courier Herald, Feb. 29, 1940
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