Friday, December 31, 2010
DEXTER
I went down to Dexter to visit my friends Tommy and Martin Cauthen as they opened Martin's Grocery. I had the best sausage biscuit I ever had. I suggest you do the same. One of the few small town grocery's left. Support your local grocers.
Post Office
Old Bank Building
Cotton Wagons, Dexter Supply Company
Dexter Supply Company
Dexter Supply Company
Dexter Methodist Church
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
RHINE, GEORGIA
WHY THE GERMANS NEVER TOOK RHINE
There is a story, said to be true, about an Army officer traveling from Jacksonville, Florida to Macon, Georgia in the late afternoon of a day in the middle years of World War II. Parts of it I have to explain to those of you who have not lived in or near Dodge County for a long time. For those who have, you will know exactly what I am talking about.
It was getting dark and the officer decided it would be a good idea to stop in Hawkinsville to get something to eat, fearing that there would no place open by the time he got to his destination in Macon. So, he pulled in at a roadside eating joint. Beside the front door were two older gentlemen sitting on a bench. As he approached the men, the officer saw one of them reading a newspaper with a big headline on the front page. The man read out loud, "Germans take Milan." Here's the explaining part. The man pronounced the word "Mi-lun," a reference to a small town in southeastern Dodge County, once known far and wide for its toughness and lawlessness, instead of the Italian city, "Mi-lon." The other old gentleman quickly responded, "Yeah, but they'll never take Rhine!" (A town in southwestern Dodge County, a German sounding place also once known as far and as wide for its toughness and lawlessness.)
Rhine, Georgia was incorporated as a town on September 1, 1890, one hundred and twenty years ago tomorrow. Named for a large river in western Germany, the community of Rhine long held a reputation for being a raucous place in southern Central Georgia. Listening to these stories will make you believe, but if you look closely enough, you'll find that these kinds of bad boy behavior happened in many places across the state and our country.
John D. McRanie and Henry Lancaster didn't like each other. They met first in the court room. Then they stepped outside into the streets of Rhine to settle their differences. Both men grabbed each other with their left hands, reached in their pockets, grabbed their pistols, and began firing with their right hands. Lancaster struck McRanie five times. Lancaster somehow managed to come out of the fracas with a harmless glancing blow to his scalp. McRanie went to his grave in the summer of 1903.
Somehow money always seemed to figure into the killings in Rhine. In the days before January 27, 1905, temperatures had fallen to the coldest levels in years, but the tempers of several Rhine residents were as hot as ever. It was reported that Bailiff W.P. Livingston, W.B. Bryant, and W.T. Bryant attacked and severely beat a son of M.A. Burnham, all over a dispute regarding a tract of land. The following day, friends and family of the victim gathered at the assembly area to prepare for an attack on the scoundrels. Shots rang out. Mrs. Ray, a sister of one of the Bryants, rushed to the scene of the battle, only to be struck by an errant shot. Bailiff Livingston was killed. In addition to Mrs. Ray, M.A. Burnham was injured, along with both Bryants and Tom Coffee.
H.G. Everett and Manly Peacock hated each other much worse than McRanie and Lancaster. Peacock had alienated the affections of Everett's wife. Not taking too kindly to Everett's advances, Peacock's response to the incident erupted from a scuffle to all out carnage. Everett filed a damage suit in the amount of $20,000.00. When Peacock traveled to Rhine to settle the matter, the melee began. As the men were sitting on the steps of a store in the cool afternoon of November 7, 1905, Everett told Peacock he had written letters to his wife. Peacock rose to his feet and screamed, "you lie!" Peacock drew his gun and fired a blast into Everett's side. As he fell, Everett returned a single shot, striking Peacock in his head just above his ear. Peacock died an hour later. At first, doctors feared that both men would die of their wounds, but miraculously Everett, the non-aggressor, survived.
Town Marshal Tom Burnham was making his rounds on New Years Eve 1913. Burnham had tried to put a lid on the illegal liquor selling activities of the ubiquitous "blind tigers" in the town, which had the potential of elevating revelry into chaos. Walking with Burnham, who had himself been acquitted of a murder at Bowen's Mill, was M.A. Davenport. Marshal Burnham was cut down and murdered by a volley of bullets which broke his thigh in two places. Davenport was hit by shrapnel which had passed through Burnham's body. Speculators believed that the dead lawman was killed by spirit sellers or angry relatives of the victim at Bowen's Mill.
Just five years later, in the days before Christmas, another Tom Burnham met death on the streets of Rhine. Thomas W. Burnham, a restaurant owner, was gunned down by 19-year-old James Cullen Dowdy. The two got into a scrap when Burnham demanded payment for some syrup he sold to Dowdy. Dowdy exclaimed, "this syrup won't make Kennesaw liquor!" The men exchanged curses until Dowdy picked up his walking stick and whopped Burnham up side his head. Bystanders broke up the fight, if only for a little while.
Dowdy was outside the barber shop when Burnham walked up. "I'll kill him," the ego hurting youngster screamed! Burnham, urging a truce to discuss the matter, turned to go inside the barber shop. Then, Dowdy unloaded his revolver into his antagonist's abdomen, killing him dead on the spot.
New Year's hootch was again the catalyst for a near fatal fight in the early days of 1922. Cleve Studstill, a former town marshal, was working in his butcher's shop late on a Saturday afternoon. A ferocious hail of shots rang out from the direction of Mr. Stuckel's store across the way. As Studstill and his 15-year-old son ran out to see the nature of the commotion, they were ambushed by unknown assailants. After the firing of more than fifty shots, both Studstills, William Harrold, Dan Smith, George Smith, and six or seven others were lying wounded in the streets. Cleve Studstill, the most severely wounded combatant, was taken to a Dublin hospital for treatment.
It seems that it was always open season on the marshals of Rhine. J.J. Lancaster had only been on duty for a few weeks in February 1923, when an unknown assailant hiding under a small bridge attempted to assassinate him right on the town's main street. No motive was found for the attack. Authorities later arrested B.W. Smith and his sons, Joe and J.B., for the attempt to murder the marshal.
The Dowdys were back in the news in November 1923, when Mrs. Oscar Kirkland shot H.A. Dowdy after he allegedly made some unflattering remarks about her. Mrs. Kirkland, believing the maxim that some men need killing, emptied a load of buckshot into her nemesis, breaking one of his legs.
The Germans had heard these and many more reports about the residents of the namesake of their homeland. And, they completely abandoned all plans to invade the lower Ocmulgee valley. But, if the Germans, or any other invading army, ever decide to attack us, I am digging my foxhole in downtown Rhine, where it is said, "all the good people have killed off all the bad people."
There is a story, said to be true, about an Army officer traveling from Jacksonville, Florida to Macon, Georgia in the late afternoon of a day in the middle years of World War II. Parts of it I have to explain to those of you who have not lived in or near Dodge County for a long time. For those who have, you will know exactly what I am talking about.
It was getting dark and the officer decided it would be a good idea to stop in Hawkinsville to get something to eat, fearing that there would no place open by the time he got to his destination in Macon. So, he pulled in at a roadside eating joint. Beside the front door were two older gentlemen sitting on a bench. As he approached the men, the officer saw one of them reading a newspaper with a big headline on the front page. The man read out loud, "Germans take Milan." Here's the explaining part. The man pronounced the word "Mi-lun," a reference to a small town in southeastern Dodge County, once known far and wide for its toughness and lawlessness, instead of the Italian city, "Mi-lon." The other old gentleman quickly responded, "Yeah, but they'll never take Rhine!" (A town in southwestern Dodge County, a German sounding place also once known as far and as wide for its toughness and lawlessness.)
Rhine, Georgia was incorporated as a town on September 1, 1890, one hundred and twenty years ago tomorrow. Named for a large river in western Germany, the community of Rhine long held a reputation for being a raucous place in southern Central Georgia. Listening to these stories will make you believe, but if you look closely enough, you'll find that these kinds of bad boy behavior happened in many places across the state and our country.
John D. McRanie and Henry Lancaster didn't like each other. They met first in the court room. Then they stepped outside into the streets of Rhine to settle their differences. Both men grabbed each other with their left hands, reached in their pockets, grabbed their pistols, and began firing with their right hands. Lancaster struck McRanie five times. Lancaster somehow managed to come out of the fracas with a harmless glancing blow to his scalp. McRanie went to his grave in the summer of 1903.
Somehow money always seemed to figure into the killings in Rhine. In the days before January 27, 1905, temperatures had fallen to the coldest levels in years, but the tempers of several Rhine residents were as hot as ever. It was reported that Bailiff W.P. Livingston, W.B. Bryant, and W.T. Bryant attacked and severely beat a son of M.A. Burnham, all over a dispute regarding a tract of land. The following day, friends and family of the victim gathered at the assembly area to prepare for an attack on the scoundrels. Shots rang out. Mrs. Ray, a sister of one of the Bryants, rushed to the scene of the battle, only to be struck by an errant shot. Bailiff Livingston was killed. In addition to Mrs. Ray, M.A. Burnham was injured, along with both Bryants and Tom Coffee.
H.G. Everett and Manly Peacock hated each other much worse than McRanie and Lancaster. Peacock had alienated the affections of Everett's wife. Not taking too kindly to Everett's advances, Peacock's response to the incident erupted from a scuffle to all out carnage. Everett filed a damage suit in the amount of $20,000.00. When Peacock traveled to Rhine to settle the matter, the melee began. As the men were sitting on the steps of a store in the cool afternoon of November 7, 1905, Everett told Peacock he had written letters to his wife. Peacock rose to his feet and screamed, "you lie!" Peacock drew his gun and fired a blast into Everett's side. As he fell, Everett returned a single shot, striking Peacock in his head just above his ear. Peacock died an hour later. At first, doctors feared that both men would die of their wounds, but miraculously Everett, the non-aggressor, survived.
Town Marshal Tom Burnham was making his rounds on New Years Eve 1913. Burnham had tried to put a lid on the illegal liquor selling activities of the ubiquitous "blind tigers" in the town, which had the potential of elevating revelry into chaos. Walking with Burnham, who had himself been acquitted of a murder at Bowen's Mill, was M.A. Davenport. Marshal Burnham was cut down and murdered by a volley of bullets which broke his thigh in two places. Davenport was hit by shrapnel which had passed through Burnham's body. Speculators believed that the dead lawman was killed by spirit sellers or angry relatives of the victim at Bowen's Mill.
Just five years later, in the days before Christmas, another Tom Burnham met death on the streets of Rhine. Thomas W. Burnham, a restaurant owner, was gunned down by 19-year-old James Cullen Dowdy. The two got into a scrap when Burnham demanded payment for some syrup he sold to Dowdy. Dowdy exclaimed, "this syrup won't make Kennesaw liquor!" The men exchanged curses until Dowdy picked up his walking stick and whopped Burnham up side his head. Bystanders broke up the fight, if only for a little while.
Dowdy was outside the barber shop when Burnham walked up. "I'll kill him," the ego hurting youngster screamed! Burnham, urging a truce to discuss the matter, turned to go inside the barber shop. Then, Dowdy unloaded his revolver into his antagonist's abdomen, killing him dead on the spot.
New Year's hootch was again the catalyst for a near fatal fight in the early days of 1922. Cleve Studstill, a former town marshal, was working in his butcher's shop late on a Saturday afternoon. A ferocious hail of shots rang out from the direction of Mr. Stuckel's store across the way. As Studstill and his 15-year-old son ran out to see the nature of the commotion, they were ambushed by unknown assailants. After the firing of more than fifty shots, both Studstills, William Harrold, Dan Smith, George Smith, and six or seven others were lying wounded in the streets. Cleve Studstill, the most severely wounded combatant, was taken to a Dublin hospital for treatment.
It seems that it was always open season on the marshals of Rhine. J.J. Lancaster had only been on duty for a few weeks in February 1923, when an unknown assailant hiding under a small bridge attempted to assassinate him right on the town's main street. No motive was found for the attack. Authorities later arrested B.W. Smith and his sons, Joe and J.B., for the attempt to murder the marshal.
The Dowdys were back in the news in November 1923, when Mrs. Oscar Kirkland shot H.A. Dowdy after he allegedly made some unflattering remarks about her. Mrs. Kirkland, believing the maxim that some men need killing, emptied a load of buckshot into her nemesis, breaking one of his legs.
The Germans had heard these and many more reports about the residents of the namesake of their homeland. And, they completely abandoned all plans to invade the lower Ocmulgee valley. But, if the Germans, or any other invading army, ever decide to attack us, I am digging my foxhole in downtown Rhine, where it is said, "all the good people have killed off all the bad people."
HOME OF MELANCTON, THIGPEN, BLACKVILLE, GEORGIA
This home is located on Georgia Highway 86, about a mile east of the point where Johnson, Laurens, Treutlen, and Emanuel Counties join. It was built as early as the early 1800s by Melancton Thigpen, one of the earliest settlers of the region.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
WRIGHTSVILLE, JOHNSON COUNTY
AT THE DAWN OF THE 20TH CENTURY
When the 20th Century dawned a century ago, Johnson County had reached its pinnacle. The population of the east-central Georgia county, named for antebellum Georgia governor, Herschel V. Johnson, had ballooned to nearly eleven and one-half thousand folks, nearly doubling the 1890 population of 6,129. Taxable property doubled in the five-year period centered around 1900. The immense growth of the county was due mainly to the impact of three railroads, the Brewton and Pineora, the Wadley and Mt. Vernon, and the Wrightsville and Tennille, which was presided over by Alexander F. Daley, a Wrightsville attorney.
Agriculture was the predominant industry in Johnson County. Nearly every acre of land which could be cultivated or built upon was improved and each such acre was valued in the amount of $2.66. Unimproved lands, which totaled fifty five-hundred acres out of one hundred and eighty thousand acres in the county, were valued at $1.21 per acre. The county's farmers produced slightly more than four million pounds or eighty three-hundred bales of cotton during the year 1900. Sheep herding was still a viable agribusiness. The forty-two hundred wooly animals ran wild over the grasslands of the county, much to the chagrin of the cattle farmers who owned an equal number of cows. Twenty four-thousand chickens produced a reported thirty-five thousand dozen eggs, which were delicious when served with the meat of seventy seven-hundred pigs and hogs. As for the equine animals, there were five hundred ninety three horses, five hundred four mules, and only three donkeys. Another large agribusiness was the manufacture of forest products. Shingles, rosin, and turpentine were the taken from the forests, which were estimated to be at fifty percent of their original state.
In the year 1900, electronic media was non-existent. Communications were made via the railroads and the postal system. While today there are only a few post offices, a dozen or so post offices were established in the county. The largest of these were Wrightsville, Kite, and Adrian, which continue to function today. Among the others, most of which were located along the railroads were Tom, Ethel, Hodo, Riner, Meeks, and Odomville along the Wadley & Mt. Vernon Railroad; Scott on the Brewton & Pineora Railroad; and Donovan and Spann/Meadows on the Wrightsville & Tennille Railroad. Regnant was located northeast of Scott, and Kittrell was situated in the northwest corner of the county on the Old River Road. Other post offices included Garnto, Ennis, Fortune, Rosa, and Shortpond.
Businesses were booming in Wrightsville at the turn of the 20th Century. The Bank of Wrightsville's assets were approaching thirty thousand dollars. The bank's president, T.J. Arline, resigned to devote more time to his business interests. These interests included the purchase of W.H. Harrison's gin and warehouse with his partners, J.M. Mason, J.E. Smith, Jr., S.A. Corker, and Frank G. Corker, all of whom formed the Wrightsville Gin Company. Dr. Jeremiah W. Brinson, Sr. purchased the Beehive Grocery building on the northwest corner of Marcus and Elm Streets where he built his drug store, which served the community for six decades. There appears to have been three drug stores. Along with Brinson's, there were the City Drug Company and J.W. Flanders' Drug Store. Mason and Arline moved their general merchandise store into a new building adjoining the Brinson building. There were two newspapers in town, "The Headlight" published by J.M. Huff and "The Record," published by A.B. Pierce. Unfortunately, all of the issues of these and other papers have not survived. The Lovett Brothers, Richard T., Ervin A., and William H. had their own businesses. The former two were in the mercantile business, while the latter was engaged in the insurance business with O.L. Little.
Among the other merchants in the town of Wrightsville were H.C. Christian, barber; A.F. Daley, lawyer; S.L. Linder, barber; P. Weinberg, jeweler; J.L. Kent, lawyer; E.A. Outlaw, barber; H. Connellee, furniture; Rouss Racket Store, general merchandise; J.A. Cobb's City Market Grocery; J.W.A. Crawford, wagons and buggies; Stewart and Dale Dry Goods, Cook and Morrell Grocery, Hayes Bros. Grocery; Farmers and Planters Hotel, Kennedy House, Lee Barnes Gin; Thompkins and Johnson Gin; and Walker and Simpson Warehouse.
Kite businesses included A.S. Sealey and M.A. Whitaker's Blacksmith shops; W.W. Pearce, carpenter; I.I. Smith, druggist; G.M. Johnson, J.M. Johnson, W.N. Kight & Son, Neal & Wheeler, and L.A. Perkins General Merchandise stores; Mrs. C.T. Smith's hotel; L. B. Lightfoot, Lawyer; C.T. Smith, Jr.'s livery; S.M. Norris and I.I. Smith's doctor's offices. The town of Rosa had seven general merchandise stores owned by T.F. Brantley, T.C. Bray, G.A. Moye, G.T. Prescott, A.L. Pridgen, and J.E. Smith, along with five cotton gins operated by T.F. Brantley, T.C. Bray, E.V. Jenkins, G.A. Moye, and G.H. Tarbutton. Businesses in the town of Scott included C.T. Thigpen, blacksmith; J.G. Carter's cotton gin; G.W. Pullen's Gen. Merchandise; and J.G. Carter, physician. Spann was home to the blacksmith shop of E.A. Hall, C.F. Boatright's carpentry business, the cotton gins of G.W. Bush and G.W. Wynn, the general merchandise stores of Edmondson & Stewart, G.W. Thomas' Lovett Academy, and the Spann Hotel. Other Johnson County hotels included Dora Williams' hotel in Arrieville and the Wallace House in Riner. Regnant, which was located northeast of Scott on the Adrian/Wrightsville Road, was improved with the blacksmith's shops of John Calley and G.W. Spring, John D. Smith and Lott Foskey's carpentry businesses, E.J. Sumner's and J.E. Welch's cotton gins, G.W. Pullen's Store, W.H. Smith's grist and saw mills, and J.G. Carter's saw mill.
J.A. Dent of Arrieville, L.D. Tison of Meeks, S.T. Ellis of Riner, and A.I. Haynes and Henry Hodges of Rosa were among the other turn of the century physicians of Johnson County. See the December 14th, 1999 issue of the Courier Herald for the businesses of Adrian, which lies partly in Johnson County.
Wrightsville was the home to Nannie Lou Warthen Institute, a college which was located on South Marcus Street and was supported by the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Professor Homer C. Woodard was elected in 1900 to serve as President. He was assisted by Prof. J.A. Mershon and Mrs. J.L. Rozar. Ethel Fincher taught music in the school, which later became Warthen College. The school began in a building which served as the courthouse prior to the construction of the new courthouse in 1895, moved to the site of the old elementary school site, where it burned in the mid 1930s.
The biggest event of the year, besides the political elections and events, was the first annual Chautauqua which lasted from June 3rd to June 8th. The headline speaker was Gen. John B. Gordon, a former Georgia governor, United States Senator, and Major General of the Army of Northern Virginia. General Gordon, as he was always called by those who idolized him, spoke on "The Last Days of the Confederacy," a topic which he was intimately familiar with as he was commander of one-half of Lee's dwindling infantrymen at Appomattox. The remainder of the five-day session was filled with musical performances and lectures, which took place in the courthouse and the Chautauqua Hall.
Among the other news-making events in 1900 was the return and burial of the body of Edward Burnett. Burnett, a young Wrightsville man, was among the first American soldiers to die in the Spanish American War during the invasion of Cuba, where he contracted a fatal case of fever. Even the killing of animals made the news. William Snell picked up a sweet potato and threw it, instantly killing a large hawk on the Ransom Hall Place. George Spivey, of Regnant, killed an eagle with a five-foot wing span. One of the big events of the year was the coming of the Cooper and Company Railroad Circus on November 20th.
Among those holding political office in the year 1900 were J.E. Page, Judge of the Court of Ordinary; J.W. Rowland, Sheriff; W.W. Anthony, Clerk of the Superior Court; Joe H. Rowland, County School Superintendent; R.A. Bradshaw, Tax Receiver; Beverly D. Evans, Judge of Superior Court; S.J. Moye, Tax Collector; C.T. Claxton, County Treasurer; E.A. Douglas, Surveyor; and George Schwalls, Coroner. Turn of the century Justices of the Peace included: Allen Meeks, J.T. Snell, B.B. Blount, A.S. Mayo, L. Foskey, W.C. Wiggins, S.P. Price, and E.J. Sumner.
WASHINGTON COUNTY COURTHOUSE, SANDERSVILLE, GA.
Washington County Courthouse
Sandersville, Georgia
Circa 1910
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
WHEELER COUNTY
Home to America's First Cowboys
Long before the cries of "Head 'em up, Move 'em out" echoed across the plains of the southwest, cattle were raised along the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. While cattle had been in America for centuries, the first true cattlemen came to our country following the American Revolution. They were to
Scotsmen and the Scotch-Irishmen who first settled in the Carolinas. The first generation of these cattlemen moved southward to the lower Oconee River Valley during the War of 1812. They were "America's First Cowboys" in a time when south Central Georgia was the southwestern United States. Today Wheeler County encompasses the extreme western portion of old Montgomery County which lies west of the Oconee River. Originally the lands were a part of Telfair and Laurens Counties until the formation of Emanuel County in 1812.
With first names like Angus, Archibald, Alexander, Duncan, and Malcom and last names like McMillan, McLeod, McRae, McQuaig, McArthur, Gillis, Peterson, Currie, and Clark, they came by the hundreds into Montgomery County, Georgia.
The Scots came looking good grazing lands, which they found in the regions of the Upper Wiregrass. Although the grass was not the best the Scots would persevere for many decades to come.
The Highland Scots continued to move into the area well into the 1830s. Many of the families had made brief stays in Ireland before coming to this country. Gaelic became a second language and was often used in church services. The Scots were known to be as honest and hard-working as they were obstinate and
prejudiced. The were members of the Presbyterian faith. The central church was founded in 1851 just across the Oconee at Mt. Vernon. Some of the Scots converted to Methodism. They began meeting at Morrison's Hill, near Glenwood, in 1828.
Among the large farmers in mid 19th century Wheeler County were Archibald McMillan, Malcom Currie, Anqus McMillan, Duncan McCallum, Duncan Bohanon, William Haralson, George Browning, Gabriel McClement, Henry Wooten, James Chaney, and William Brantley. The 1850 Census recorded that the largest improved acreage farm was 200 acres. Larger tracts were used for grazing lands including those used by sheep. The '50 census indicates that 75% of the current day Wheeler County's slaves worked in the southern part of the county where the larger farms were located. No Scots were considered planters, because none had more than twenty slaves, the largest being the seven each owned by Roderick Gillis and
Isabel McRae. When Georgia voted on secession from the Union in 1861, Montgomery County's citizens and representatives voted to remain in the Union, even after it was certain that Georgia would vote in favor of secession.
Among the more successful Scots who became public servants of early Wheeler County was John McRae. Judge McRae, son of a native Scotsman, served as a justice of the Inferior Court, State Senator - including the first three years of the Civil War -, State Representative, U.S. Marshall, a forty year term as chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, and as Postmaster of Alamo, which was created in 1889. The McRae family donated the land for the new town.
Christine McRae Brightto named the town for the immortal Catholic mission in Texas. She also named the streets for her seven daughters. Glenwood, which means a small valley in the woods, was established the same year on land given by Peter Galbraith.
Many Wheeler County communities carry Scottish names. John McCrae established a village of McVille along the western banks of the Little Ocmulgee River which separates Wheeler County from Telfair County. When the railroad company requested that the town change its name to avoid confusion with McRae, Scotland became the name of the community at the far southwestern edge of Wheeler County.
Other 19th century communities were McArthur, Bruce, and Little York. Little York was established as Post Office on August 11, 1853. Duncan McRae was the first postmaster. He was followed by Alexander McMillan, Harlow Clark, Henry S. Clark, and John McRae. The post office was discontinued shortly after the end of the Civil War. The first two postmasters, McRae and McMillan, operated a general store in Little York. Through the generous donation by Mary Alice Brownson, the ledger books of the store are now available for inspection by historians and genealogists at the Dublin-Laurens Museum. These well preserved
and invaluable books detail every purchase and payment during the mid 1850s.
Other business records in the museum include the McRae store at McVille. The books give the names of hundreds of individuals who lived in present day Wheeler County, northeastern Telfair County, and southern Laurens County.
The heritage of the Scots in Wheeler and Montgomery County still lives. Many descendants of the original families still live in the lower Oconee River valley. Their heritage lives on in the names of their communities and churches.
Long before the cries of "Head 'em up, Move 'em out" echoed across the plains of the southwest, cattle were raised along the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. While cattle had been in America for centuries, the first true cattlemen came to our country following the American Revolution. They were to
Scotsmen and the Scotch-Irishmen who first settled in the Carolinas. The first generation of these cattlemen moved southward to the lower Oconee River Valley during the War of 1812. They were "America's First Cowboys" in a time when south Central Georgia was the southwestern United States. Today Wheeler County encompasses the extreme western portion of old Montgomery County which lies west of the Oconee River. Originally the lands were a part of Telfair and Laurens Counties until the formation of Emanuel County in 1812.
With first names like Angus, Archibald, Alexander, Duncan, and Malcom and last names like McMillan, McLeod, McRae, McQuaig, McArthur, Gillis, Peterson, Currie, and Clark, they came by the hundreds into Montgomery County, Georgia.
The Scots came looking good grazing lands, which they found in the regions of the Upper Wiregrass. Although the grass was not the best the Scots would persevere for many decades to come.
The Highland Scots continued to move into the area well into the 1830s. Many of the families had made brief stays in Ireland before coming to this country. Gaelic became a second language and was often used in church services. The Scots were known to be as honest and hard-working as they were obstinate and
prejudiced. The were members of the Presbyterian faith. The central church was founded in 1851 just across the Oconee at Mt. Vernon. Some of the Scots converted to Methodism. They began meeting at Morrison's Hill, near Glenwood, in 1828.
Among the large farmers in mid 19th century Wheeler County were Archibald McMillan, Malcom Currie, Anqus McMillan, Duncan McCallum, Duncan Bohanon, William Haralson, George Browning, Gabriel McClement, Henry Wooten, James Chaney, and William Brantley. The 1850 Census recorded that the largest improved acreage farm was 200 acres. Larger tracts were used for grazing lands including those used by sheep. The '50 census indicates that 75% of the current day Wheeler County's slaves worked in the southern part of the county where the larger farms were located. No Scots were considered planters, because none had more than twenty slaves, the largest being the seven each owned by Roderick Gillis and
Isabel McRae. When Georgia voted on secession from the Union in 1861, Montgomery County's citizens and representatives voted to remain in the Union, even after it was certain that Georgia would vote in favor of secession.
Among the more successful Scots who became public servants of early Wheeler County was John McRae. Judge McRae, son of a native Scotsman, served as a justice of the Inferior Court, State Senator - including the first three years of the Civil War -, State Representative, U.S. Marshall, a forty year term as chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, and as Postmaster of Alamo, which was created in 1889. The McRae family donated the land for the new town.
Christine McRae Brightto named the town for the immortal Catholic mission in Texas. She also named the streets for her seven daughters. Glenwood, which means a small valley in the woods, was established the same year on land given by Peter Galbraith.
Many Wheeler County communities carry Scottish names. John McCrae established a village of McVille along the western banks of the Little Ocmulgee River which separates Wheeler County from Telfair County. When the railroad company requested that the town change its name to avoid confusion with McRae, Scotland became the name of the community at the far southwestern edge of Wheeler County.
Other 19th century communities were McArthur, Bruce, and Little York. Little York was established as Post Office on August 11, 1853. Duncan McRae was the first postmaster. He was followed by Alexander McMillan, Harlow Clark, Henry S. Clark, and John McRae. The post office was discontinued shortly after the end of the Civil War. The first two postmasters, McRae and McMillan, operated a general store in Little York. Through the generous donation by Mary Alice Brownson, the ledger books of the store are now available for inspection by historians and genealogists at the Dublin-Laurens Museum. These well preserved
and invaluable books detail every purchase and payment during the mid 1850s.
Other business records in the museum include the McRae store at McVille. The books give the names of hundreds of individuals who lived in present day Wheeler County, northeastern Telfair County, and southern Laurens County.
The heritage of the Scots in Wheeler and Montgomery County still lives. Many descendants of the original families still live in the lower Oconee River valley. Their heritage lives on in the names of their communities and churches.
Monday, May 3, 2010
MT. CARMEL BAPTIST CHURCH, DEXTER, GA.
Painting of original church
Painting of church destroyed by a tornado in April, 1929.
CARTER'S CHAPEL METHODIST CHURCH, SCOTT, GEORGIA
Interior View of Carter's Chapel United Methodist Church
Erected in 1902
West of Scott, Georgia on U.S. Hwy 80.
Opposite the entrance to the Hugh Gillis Fishing Area
Sunday, April 11, 2010
PLAINFIELD, GEORGIA, DODGE COUNTY
Store buildings at Plainfield, Georgia, once a stop on the Dublin & Southwestern Railroad from Dublin to Eastman. Oldest buildingss would be circa 1910.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
JOHNSON COUNTY
AT THE DAWN OF THE 20TH CENTURY
When the 20th Century dawned a century ago, Johnson County had reached its pinnacle. The population of the east-central Georgia county, named for antebellum Georgia governor, Herschel V. Johnson, had ballooned to nearly eleven and one-half thousand folks, nearly doubling the 1890 population of 6,129. Taxable property doubled in the five-year period centered around 1900. The immense growth of the county was due mainly to the impact of three railroads, the Brewton and Pineora, the Wadley and Mt. Vernon, and the Wrightsville and Tennille, which was presided over by Alexander F. Daley, a Wrightsville attorney.
Agriculture was the predominant industry in Johnson County. Nearly every acre of land which could be cultivated or built upon was improved and each such acre was valued in the amount of $2.66. Unimproved lands, which totaled fifty five-hundred acres out of one hundred and eighty thousand acres in the county, were valued at $1.21 per acre. The county’s farmers produced slightly more than four million pounds or eighty three-hundred bales of cotton during the year 1900. Sheep herding was still a viable agribusiness. The forty-two hundred wooly animals ran wild over the grasslands of the county, much to the chagrin of the cattle farmers who owned an equal number of cows. Twenty four-thousand chickens produced a reported thirty-five thousand dozen eggs, which were delicious when served with the meat of seventy seven-hundred pigs and hogs. As for the equine animals, there were five hundred ninety three horses, five hundred four mules, and only three donkeys. Another large agribusiness was the manufacture of forest products. Shingles, rosin, and turpentine were the taken from the forests, which were estimated to be at fifty percent of their original state.
In the year 1900, electronic media was non-existent. Communications were made via the railroads and the postal system. While today there are only a few post offices, a dozen or so post offices were established in the county. The largest of these were Wrightsville, Kite, and Adrian, which continue to function today. Among the others, most of which were located along the railroads were Tom, Ethel, Hodo,
Riner, Meeks, and Odomville along the Wadley & Mt. Vernon Railroad; Scott on the Brewton & Pineora Railroad; and Donovan and Spann/Meadows on the Wrightsville & Tennille Railroad. Regnant was located northeast of Scott, and Kittrell was situated in the northwest corner of the county on the Old River Road. Other post offices included Garnto, Ennis, Fortune, Rosa, and Shortpond.
Businesses were booming in Wrightsville at the turn of the 20th Century. The Bank of Wrightsville’s assets were approaching thirty thousand dollars. The bank’s president, T.J. Arline, resigned to devote more time to his business interests. These interests included the purchase of W.H. Harrison’s gin and warehouse with his partners, J.M. Mason, J.E. Smith, Jr., S.A. Corker, and Frank G. Corker, all of whom formed the Wrightsville Gin Company. Dr. Jeremiah W. Brinson, Sr. purchased the Beehive Grocery building on the northwest corner of Marcus and Elm Streets where he built his drug store, which served the community for six decades. There appears to have been three drug stores. Along with Brinson’s, there were the City Drug Company and J.W. Flanders’ Drug Store. Mason and Arline moved their general merchandise store into a new building adjoining the Brinson building. There were two newspapers in town, “The Headlight” published by J.M. Huff and “The Record,” published by A.B. Pierce. Unfortunately, all of the issues of these and other papers have not survived. The Lovett Brothers, Richard T., Ervin A., and William H. had their own businesses. The former two were in the mercantile business, while the latter was engaged in the insurance business with O.L. Little.
Among the other merchants in the town of Wrightsville were H.C. Christian, barber; A.F. Daley, lawyer; S.L. Linder, barber; P. Weinberg, jeweler; J.L. Kent, lawyer; E.A. Outlaw, barber; H. Connellee, furniture; Rouss Racket Store, general merchandise; J.A. Cobb’s City Market Grocery; J.W.A. Crawford, wagons and buggies; Stewart and Dale Dry Goods, Cook and Morrell Grocery, Hayes Bros. Grocery; Farmers and Planters Hotel, Kennedy House, Lee Barnes Gin; Thompkins and Johnson Gin; and Walker and Simpson Warehouse.
Kite businesses included A.S. Sealey and M.A. Whitaker’s Blacksmith shops; W.W. Pearce, carpenter; I.I. Smith, druggist; G.M. Johnson, J.M. Johnson, W.N. Kight & Son, Neal & Wheeler, and L.A. Perkins General Merchandise stores; Mrs. C.T. Smith’s hotel; L. B. Lightfoot, Lawyer; C.T. Smith, Jr.’s livery; S.M. Norris and I.I. Smith’s doctor’s offices. The town of Rosa had seven general merchandise stores owned by T.F. Brantley, T.C. Bray, G.A. Moye, G.T. Prescott, A.L. Pridgen, and J.E. Smith, along with five cotton gins operated by T.F. Brantley, T.C. Bray, E.V. Jenkins, G.A. Moye, and G.H. Tarbutton. Businesses in the town of Scott included C.T. Thigpen, blacksmith; J.G. Carter’s cotton gin; G.W. Pullen’s Gen. Merchandise; and J.G. Carter, physician. Spann was home to the blacksmith shop of E.A. Hall, C.F. Boatright’s carpentry business, the cotton gins of G.W. Bush and G.W. Wynn, the general merchandise stores of Edmondson & Stewart, G.W. Thomas’ Lovett Academy, and the Spann Hotel. Other Johnson County hotels included Dora Williams’ hotel in Arrieville and the Wallace House in Riner. Regnant, which was located northeast of Scott on the Adrian/Wrightsville Road, was improved with the blacksmith’s shops of John Calley and G.W. Spring, John D. Smith and Lott Foskey’s carpentry businesses, E.J. Sumner’s and J.E. Welch’s cotton gins, G.W. Pullen’s Store, W.H. Smith’s grist and saw mills, and J.G. Carter’s saw mill. J.A. Dent of Arrieville, L.D. Tison of Meeks, S.T. Ellis of Riner, and A.I. Haynes and Henry Hodges of Rosa were among the other turn of the century physicians of Johnson County. See the December 14th, 1999 issue of the Courier Herald for the businesses of Adrian, which lies partly in Johnson County.
Wrightsville was the home to Nannie Lou Warthen Institute, a college which was located on South Marcus Street and was supported by the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Professor Homer C. Woodard was elected in 1900 to serve as President. He was assisted by Prof. J.A. Mershon and Mrs. J.L. Rozar. Ethel Fincher taught music in the school, which later became Warthen College. The school began in a building which served as the courthouse prior to the construction of the new courthouse in 1895, moved to the site of the old elementary school site, where it burned in the mid 1930s.
The biggest event of the year, besides the political elections and events, was the first annual Chautauqua which lasted from June 3rd to June 8th. The headline speaker was Gen. John B. Gordon, a former Georgia governor, United States Senator, and Major General of the Army of Northern Virginia. General Gordon, as he was always called by those who idolized him, spoke on “The Last Days of the Confederacy,” a topic which he was intimately familiar with as he was commander of one-half of Lee’s dwindling infantrymen at Appomattox. The remainder of the five-day session was filled with musical performances and lectures, which took place in the courthouse and the Chautauqua Hall.
Among the other news-making events in 1900 was the return and burial of the body of Edward Burnett. Burnett, a young Wrightsville man, was among the first American soldiers to die in the Spanish American War during the invasion of Cuba, where he contracted a fatal case of fever. Even the killing of animals made the news.
William Snell picked up a sweet potato and threw it, instantly killing a large hawk on the Ransom Hall Place. George Spivey, of Regnant, killed an eagle with a five-foot wing span. One of the big events of the year was the coming of the Cooper and Company Railroad Circus on November 20th.
Among those holding political office in the year 1900 were J.E. Page, Judge of the Court of Ordinary; J.W. Rowland, Sheriff; W.W. Anthony, Clerk of the Superior Court; Joe H. Rowland, County School Superintendent; R.A. Bradshaw, Tax Receiver; Beverly D. Evans, Judge of Superior Court; S.J. Moye, Tax Collector; C.T. Claxton, County Treasurer; E.A. Douglas, Surveyor; and George Schwalls, Coroner. Turn of the century Justices of the Peace included: Allen Meeks, J.T. Snell, B.B. Blount, A.S. Mayo, L. Foskey, W.C. Wiggins, S.P. Price, and E.J. Sumner.
Monday, March 29, 2010
THE GREAT BREWTON BANK ROBBERY
The Case of the Capitulant Crook
Frank Elmore was no John Dillinger, neither was he an Al Capone. In his day, Elmore would have been called a “small time hood.” But, when you are looking down the barrel of a Thompson submachine gun, it doesn’t matter whether or not the man behind it is Dillinger, Capone, or any of the other much heralded gangsters of the early 1930s. Just a little less than seventy-one years ago, Elmore walked into the lobby of the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Brewton and set off a tidal wave of excitement throughout Laurens County.
As J.B. Herndon opened the doors of the Farmers and Merchants Bank on the morning of Wednesday, August 30, 1933, he had no idea of the drama which was about to unfold before him. Waiting for him was one Frank W. Elmore. The 31-year-old Elmore had visited in Dublin in 1930, arriving in the city both times in airplanes, an unusual and noticeable method of transportation at that time. He struck up a friendship with Lewis Clarke, with whom he shared a keen interest in aviation. This time Elmore inconspicuously entered the city and spent several days with Clarke in is home on North Jefferson Street. For days Elmore scouted the roads leading in and out of Brewton, Georgia. Elmore and Clarke devised a bold plan to rob the Farmers and Merchants Bank, which was an easy target in that secluded and unsecure realm of the county.
On Tuesday night August 29th, Elmore walked to town and stole a Ford coach, which was parked at the Fred Roberts Hotel. He drove the car through East Dublin and parked it off the Buckeye Road, just above the bridge and about a half Mile deep in the woods. The following morning, Elmore asked Clarke to ride with him to pick up a car. Elmore drove a Buick automobile past the site where he had left the stolen car, turned around and came back toward the bridge. Elmore got out of the car and directed Clarke to take the Buick to the Pritichett garage on the Irwinton Road. Elmore told Clarke that he was going to “skip the country.” Clarke followed Elmore’s instructions, gave the key to the car to Mrs. Pritchett and walked back down the highway to his home. Meanwhile, Elmore headed toward Brewton.
Lewis Blankenship and Frank Bullard were milling around the front of the Brewton Depot when they looked across Jackson Street and saw a man about six-feet one-inch tall and weighing about 175 pounds go into the bank. Though the man left the motor running in his car and donned a pair of long rubber gloves, their suspicions were not aroused for they felt that the man was a resident of Brewton.
Cashier Herndon was standing behind the grilled teller’s cage going about his daily routine, when he heard Elmore say “stick ‘em up!” Thinking it was a practical jokester, Herndon smiled as he turned around. Instantly as he was staring down the barrel of a “Tommy gun,” Herndon knew nothing about the command was funny.
Elmore ordered Herndon to lie down at first, but then directed the terrified banker to go to the open vault and fill a sack with all of the “greenbacks” he had on hand. Elmore spotted two high-powered rifles near the money and ordered Herndon to turn them over as well. The captor and his human shield marched out of the bank, with the nose of Frank’s “Tommy gun” in Herndon’s back. The robber, with about $7500 in loot aboard, directed Herndon to lie along the front fender of the getaway car. As Elmore sped off with Barton clinging to the front of the car, Blankenship and Bullard didn’t seem to notice the predicament Barton was in.
About a mile and a half down the road at the home of George Curl, Elmore stopped the car, ordered Barton to jump off, and dashed off toward Dublin. Rev. Brewton of the Brewton Methodist Church came along and found the dazed victim.
The men drove back to Brewton, where Barton began spreading the news of the robbery by telephone throughout the countryside. Law enforcement officials and curiosity seekers swarmed around the town like flies. In a mere instant, hundreds of men, armed with all sorts of weapons, began combing the countryside between Brewton and the Oconee River in search of the villainous criminal. When asked about his ride Barton said, “It was the longest I ever made.”
Elmore drove back to the site where he had previously hidden the Ford coach. Knowing that he would have to move quickly, Elmore dumped the rifles into the woods and hid the majority of the money, mostly small bills and some silver coins, in a hollow log, covering them with a pile of leaves and trash. He set out through the swamps toward the Oconee River. There he found a boat. Using a stick to paddle with, Elmore managed to navigate to the west bank, where he sank the boat. His next destination was the Pritchett home where he hid a bundle of money in a patch of weeds about fifty feet off the highway. Elmore continued his westward course until he arrived at the home of Irwin Montford on the Country Club (Claxton Dairy) Road. Little did Elmore know that deputies had found the Buick, which contained a certificate with a photo of Elmore and a statement certifying Elmore’s fitness as a sailor. A United States Navy officer’s uniform was also found in the trunk. The photograph was duplicated and disseminated to members of the posse. When some people heard that the robber had used a Thompson machine gun, they immediately reported their suspicions of Elmore’s involvement to the authorities.
Just before 5:00, Montford, D.C. Crafton and J.D. Evans were standing around a woodpile discussing the robbery, when they noticed a man approaching the front of the Montford house. The man, whom they did not recognize as Elmore, tried to open the front door and then skulked around to the garage in the back of the house, where he began eyeing two vehicles. When the men confronted Elmore, he told them that his name was “Miller” and that he had heard that there was a bank robbery and wanted to join the posse, but that he needed a ride into town to get his gun. Montford, suspicious of the man’s story, went into his house and got his gun, Before accepting Elmore’s offer of a dollar for the ride into Dublin. The robber appeared tired to Montford. Naturally he was tired. He had carried a lot of paper money and a thirteen-pound machine gun for several miles through the swamps and woods along the river.
Just down the road, the quartet came upon a road block. Montford, riding on the running board, signaled the driver Crafton to stop just beyond a small congregation of lawmen, including Sheriff Wiley Adams and acting Dublin Police Chief Frank Johnson. The lawmen were not suspicious of the men, whom they knew very well. Montford motioned Sheriff Adams to approach the car. He told the sheriff that he had a suspicious man in The car who might be the bank robber. Others approached the scene. Elmore told Adams that he worked for A. Lease & Co.
Knowing the man was lying and acting on Johnson’s preliminary identification, the Sheriff drew his pistol and ordered Elmore to get out of the vehicle. As Adams continued to interrogate the suspect, Elmore leaned back and said “Whew! It is not worth the trouble. I did it!” He directed the officers to where he had hidden the money. Elmore seemingly dismissed the robbery as a petty crime, and instead boasted of his exploits in Cuba, showing the officers how he had machine gunned Cuban soldiers with his gun. He told Adams he got the guns to use when running liquor. Elmore was wanted by Federal authorities in Miami, who stated that the fugitive had an airplane in storage there. He was also wanted by Jacksonville, Florida authorities and was the prime suspect in the theft of weapons from the R.O.T.C. Arsenal at the University of Georgia. With all but $511.00 of the money in hand, Elmore was taken into custody and transferred to a jail in Macon. Clarke was also arrested as an accessory to the crime.
On November 1, 1933, Judge J.L. Kent sentenced the confessed robber, represented by Lester L. Porter, to ten years in prison. Elmore’s accomplis Clarke was given 12 months and a $100.00 fine. Clarke, represented by Earl Camp and W.A. Dampier, maintained his innocence. Elmore recanted his story of Clarke’s lack of culpability in the caper. He testified that though Clarke did not participate in the robbery, he was involved in the planning of the crime. Mrs. Elmore came from her home in Americus and stood by her husband during his trial, but appeared highly and visibly perturbed at the sentence which was handed down by the jury.
Elmore was sent to the Montgomery County Chain Gang for a term of hard labor. The sly prisoner continued his ruse as a model inmate while in the custody of Montgomery County Sheriff Burch. The gloating of Elmore’s quick capture and conviction did not last long. On the evening of February 11, 1934, Elmore, using a hand made key, opened the door of his cell and his eight cell mates. The nine convicts stole a car and made it to Swainsboro, where their pursuers lost their trail.
Elmore was recaptured and taken to serve in the Hall County Chain Gang, from which he escaped not once, but twice. Following his capture by Federal agents, Frank Elmore’s state sentence was commuted and instead he was sentenced to serve ten years in the Federal pen in Atlanta.
The bank’s deposits were insured and no one lost their money. No one was hurt. The whole affair was over in less than nine hours, but to those who still remember the Great Brewton Bank Robbery, it will vividly remain in their minds.
The incident convinced the directors of the bank to close their doors and move to a more secure location in Dublin a few years later.
TENNILLE, GEORGIA
Train of the Sandersville & Tennille Road, operating between Sandersville and Tennille, circa 1911.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
ADRIAN - CAPTAIN JAMES'S WELL
Sunday, February 21, 2010
OAK PARK CAFE, OAK PARK, GEORGIA
S. Highway 1, south of Swainsboro in southern Emanuel County.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
ADRIAN, GEORGIA DEPOT
Depot of the Wadley Southern and Brewton and Pineora Railroad, Adrian, Georgia. ca. 1910.
Monday, January 18, 2010
THE BRIDGE TO EVERYWHERE
It was a big thing. It is still a big thing. The thing is the bridge at Ball's Ferry. Way back some seventy years ago, the skeptics said that it was a bridge to nowhere. There were no highways leading to either side of the 1,683 foot long bridge. None of this mattered at all to the thousands of people from surrounding counties who gathered to get a closeup look at the first bridge over the Oconee River on the final day of March 1939. It was their bridge. And, they were proud of it. Last Friday a dozen seniors came back to relive old memories and remember the day when as kids they walked across the bridge for the first time.
Dennis Holder, Chairman of the Wilkinson County Board of Commissioners, hurriedly organized a ribbon cutting before the new bridge is scheduled to go into operation on Friday, January 22nd. A call was sent out to find as many of those people who were there the day the original bridge was dedicated to come back and walk across the bridge before it is opened to vehicular traffic.
Marlene Tompkins came. She was five years old when she watched her daddy, Mr. Cecil Lord, as he pushed wheel barrows full of cement and dumped them into wooden forms used to support the bridge. Mr. Lord kept the ferry at night and worked on the bridge during the day. "It was good work and he was glad to get it," Mrs. Tompkins added.
I remember seeing 15 hogs cooking on the bar-b-que grill about where the new bridge is now," said Frank Mills. "My father bought me a new pair of shoes to wear. He got them from Mr. Murray Hall's store in Toomsboro. I think he paid five or six dollars for them. Before it was over, I had worn them completely out," Mills chuckled.
A.W. Stuckey was there too. "I walked all the way across the bridge and then came back on the bottom side," he recollected. Stuckey remembered that the folks from Washington and Johnson counties met the folks from Wilkinson and Laurens County in the middle of the span. "I remember seeing lots of dignitaries everywhere. When the primary celebration was over, there was a big dance in the middle of the bridge that night. The bridge was really swaying that night." the ol' man recalled.
Perry Dominy's most vivid memory came just before the keynote speaker came to the podium. "I was a senior in high school and was trying to get a good look," Dominy remembered. As the Army band from Fort Benning was playing, someone suddenly shoved him out of the way. That someone was Gov. E.D. Rivers who was making his way to speak to the assembled multitude. "Gov. Rivers was never a favorite of mine," said Dominy, who added, "the bridge was a political football. He recalled that there were no roads there at the time because until that point travelers crossed the muddy river a short distance to the north at the ferry.
"My parents thought I was too little. So, I didn't get to come" said Annie Loyd Mason. But, Annie Mason was there last Friday. After seven decades Annie got her chance. She stepped onto the spotless concrete bridge and walked.
Paul and Hayden, (L-R) great grandsons of Mary Holland Duke, were there to help her retrace her steps. Betty Paul and Polly Sumner Brinson, who were students at Ball's Ferry School back in 1939, were back to walk again. Betty remembered masses of people everywhere. Polly thought about her daddy, Eugene Sumner, who helped build the bridge.
Charles Paul came with his mother Betty and brought his daughter Layla along too. This time there would be three generations walking across the new bridge. Layla was glad to see her grandmother get a chance to do it again. Paul, who helped round up participants, crosses the bridge every day. "It is more than just a bridge, it is a bridge to the future," said Paul, who believes his great grandchildren will be using this bridge into the next century.
Those who gathered on the west end of the bridge were greeted by Commissioner Holder, who thanked Georgia state senators Gillis and Brown for their roles in securing the ten million dollars in state and federal funding for the new bridge. Holder also thanked the members of the Ball's Ferry Park Association, which is composed of citizens from Wilkinson, Baldwin, Washington, Johnson and Laurens counties, for their dedication in establishing a state historical park. He also thanked the D.O.T. officials and project managers for the bridge, Chris Jordan and Kevin Joiner.
The project, which is slated to begin later this year, is now being tolled while environmental studies are being conducted on the burrowing crayfish, which lives along the banks of the river. The commissioner told the crowd that the new bridge will create a change in direction and offer a better entrance into the state park.
Cecil Hodges, of Washington County, was only eight at the time of the first dedication. He remembered school children were all lined up to walk across. "Before we began, we were told not to walk in step because it may cause the bridge to wobble and collapse," Hodges fondly remembered.
Mary Alice Jordan, a leading Washington County historian, was present lending her support to the bridge and the new park. Mr. Byron McCook, at 93 years, was a grown man back in 1939 when he crossed the bridge for the first time on foot. Mr. Byron responded, "I am just glad to be here again."
Kimberly Watkins was the first to accept Commissioner's Holder's invitation to walk across the bridge. Stopping only a few times to see if she could spot a gator flopping around in the suddenly warmer waters, Hopkins was the first to make the one-third of a mile trek to the Washington County side. "I wanted to be able to tell my five-year-old son, who was fascinated by the bridge building equipment, that I was one of the first to walk across the bridge," commented Hopkins. "People don't realize the history we have in our county. You always hear about the negative parts. But, I wouldn't trade living here for anything in the world." Right behind Mrs. Watkins was Connie Etheridge, the first of the repeat walkers to make it to the other side.
The new bridge took exactly seventeen months to complete. Workers of the Rogers Bridge Company installed more than ten thousand feet of beams and placed nearly 450 tons of reinforced steel into the new bridge, which is some 37 feet longer than the old one. They poured more than four thousand cubic yards of concrete. Heavy contractors dumped and graded 140,000 cubic yards of dirt along the approaches.
Today people will continue to cross the river on the new bridge at Ball's Ferry, but on a wider and safer bridge. No longer are there any doubters about the new one, which now and forever will always be the bridge to everywhere.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
WHEN BASKETBALL WAS ALL WE HAD
The 1945-46 Dudley Basketball Teams
It was a time when hardly anyone could dunk a basketball, a time when guards on the girl’s team had to stay back at their end of the court. The war years were tough on everyone. There wasn’t a whole lot of money to be spent on fun. Some kids were lucky enough to have battery-powered radios with long antenna wires, which were hung on tall poles or trees in the front yard. On Tuesday, Friday and some Saturday nights from November to early March, there was basketball. In the days before there were state championships in high school sports, the Holy Grail of high school basketball in rural counties were the County Championships. Nearly every community still had their own school. Rivalries were often intense, but were frequently friendly, not filled with some of the unsportsmanlike ferocity of today’s rivalries. From Lovett to Cedar Grove to Dudley, the highlight of the school year was basketball. The winter of 1946 was no exception.
One of the top teams of the late 1940s were the teams from Dudley High School. The kids had little time to work on their game. Many of them were farm kids, and chores demanded priority over basketball practice. Still, years before they were penned as the Cardinals, the boys and girls from Dudley dominated other Laurens County teams, all without the luxury of having a true basketball coach.
You see in those days, schools were hampered by tight budgets and were compelled to have sponsors accompany the team at home and on the road. Sometimes a school got lucky when the teacher knew a lot about the game. The boy’s sponsor at Dudley was vocational education teacher, Troy Edwards, while the girls were sponsored by the home economics teacher, Mrs. G.S. Crews.
The girl’s team was led by the Hogan sisters, Betty Ann and Barbara, both crack shooters. Winnie Mae Raffield was the third starting forward. Keeping the other girls away from the Dudley basket was more than adequately handled by starting guards Grace Willis, Delores Lister and Mary Radney. Substituting for the starters were Catherine Woodard, Kate Willis, Ann Radney and Celestine Barfoot.
The boys were led by center and high scorer Billy Crafton. You know him as Don Crafton, long time president and CEO of Morris State Bank. “Billy” was a name penned on the lanky center by his grandfather. Starting at forward were Don Haskins and Captain Fisher Barfoot, a future vice president of Piggly Wiggly Southern, community leader and Georgia state representative. Tom Brown and Mike White started at guard for the boys. Coming off the bench to spark rallies or preserve a victory were substitutes Billy Kibler, Atys Bowles, Rabon Lord, Roy J. Chappell and Rowell Stanley.
During the 1945-6 season, Dudley played Laurens County teams from Rentz, Cadwell, Condor, Brewton, Cedar Grove, Lowery, Wilkes, and Dublin High School. Road trips were fairly short with games against Soperton, Jeffersonville, Irwinton, Wrightsville, Toomsboro and Cochran. Among the stiffest competition the Dudley boys faced that year were the boys from Condor High School. The eastside young men lost only one game during the regular season, that coming at the hands of Dudley, and suffered a stunning and fatal loss in the county tournament.
It wasn’t until the 194os that most schools had gymnasiums. Prior to that, many schools were forced to compete on dirt courts enduring unfavorable winter conditions. Don Crafton remembered, “Basketball was king. People lined the walls of the wooden gymnasiums to root for their teams. Gymnasiums were heated mostly by large pot-bellied wood-burning stoves.”
Perhaps the most exciting regular season game came on a cold Tuesday night in the Condor gym. A mistake in the scheduling forced the teams to shorten the quarters to five minutes each. At the end of the first quarter the girls were tied 4-4.
Dudley held on to garner a highly spirited 23-12 victory over the Condor girls. The boys game was much closer and even lower scoring than the girls game. In a slow downed game, the Dudley boys defeated the highly touted Condor five 13-9, ten of those points coming from center Don Crafton.
In much more satisfying games, the Dudley teams smashed the hoopsters from Wrightsville. Betty Ann Hogan, the team’s leading scorer for the season, poured in 26 of her teams 33 points in a 33-7 romp. Don Crafton contributed 18 points and Tom Brown another 15 points in a 54-14 stomp of the Johnson County
quintet.
Dudley’s closest rivals were the teams from Dexter, Cadwell and Rentz. The teams were so well balanced that the outcome of games were virtually never certain. With another 20-point night, Betty Ann Hogan led the girls over nearby Rentz, 28-21. The Dudley boys struggled, but with a dozen points from Crafton, managed to eek out a 28-27 come from behind road victory over Rentz.
In those days, Dublin was included on Dudley’s schedule, even though their school was much bigger and was the only school in the county to have a football team. Near the end of the season the teams met at the Hargrove Gym on North Calhoun Street. The Dudley girls defeated the girls from Dublin by a whopping margin of 38 to 15, with Betty Hogan putting 30 points on the board. The boys game was tied at the half, 18-18. Tom Brown scored 15 points and Fisher Barfoot added 12 more as the Dudley five defeated the Dublin five 39-38.
The highlight of the season was the Laurens County Basketball Tournament in February. Tom Brown led the Dudley boys with 21 points in a 55-20 smashing of Cedar Grove on the second night of the tournament, which was held at Brewton High School. In the semi-final games, the Dudley girls easily defeated the Brewton six by the score of 34-13. As usual, Betty Ann Hogan topped the scoring list with 20 points. Tom Brown led the boys again matching the entire Brewton teams total in a 39-15 smashing.
In the county championship, both Dudley teams faced the hard charging teams from Rentz. In a close game, the Dudley girls pulled away in the 4th quarter to register a 40-27 championship victory. The boys game was much closer, too close for the nervous fans of both teams. During the entire game, the teams remained within four points of each other. When the final buzzer sounded, Dudley sneaked by Rentz in a hard-fought 25-24 victory to capture the school’s second county championship.
Both teams advanced to the District tournament. The Dudley boys defeated Sandersville in the first game and Dublin in the semifinals, only to lose to a more powerful team from Cochran in the finals. The girls captured the district title, bringing home first place trophies in the county and the district. The team’s four trophies and many similar ones were tragically lost in a fire a few years later. The highlight of the district tournament was the naming of Betty Ann Hogan to the All-District team. For decades after she graduated high school, people asked her if she was the young girl who was such a great basketball player for Dudley.
In today’s basketball world, basketball in March is called “March Madness.” A half century ago it would have been better termed “March Sadness.” The end of the county and district tournaments signaled the end of the game until the return of winter and a void in the lives of the kids who depended on the game. To some, basketball was all they had.
It was a time when hardly anyone could dunk a basketball, a time when guards on the girl’s team had to stay back at their end of the court. The war years were tough on everyone. There wasn’t a whole lot of money to be spent on fun. Some kids were lucky enough to have battery-powered radios with long antenna wires, which were hung on tall poles or trees in the front yard. On Tuesday, Friday and some Saturday nights from November to early March, there was basketball. In the days before there were state championships in high school sports, the Holy Grail of high school basketball in rural counties were the County Championships. Nearly every community still had their own school. Rivalries were often intense, but were frequently friendly, not filled with some of the unsportsmanlike ferocity of today’s rivalries. From Lovett to Cedar Grove to Dudley, the highlight of the school year was basketball. The winter of 1946 was no exception.
One of the top teams of the late 1940s were the teams from Dudley High School. The kids had little time to work on their game. Many of them were farm kids, and chores demanded priority over basketball practice. Still, years before they were penned as the Cardinals, the boys and girls from Dudley dominated other Laurens County teams, all without the luxury of having a true basketball coach.
You see in those days, schools were hampered by tight budgets and were compelled to have sponsors accompany the team at home and on the road. Sometimes a school got lucky when the teacher knew a lot about the game. The boy’s sponsor at Dudley was vocational education teacher, Troy Edwards, while the girls were sponsored by the home economics teacher, Mrs. G.S. Crews.
The girl’s team was led by the Hogan sisters, Betty Ann and Barbara, both crack shooters. Winnie Mae Raffield was the third starting forward. Keeping the other girls away from the Dudley basket was more than adequately handled by starting guards Grace Willis, Delores Lister and Mary Radney. Substituting for the starters were Catherine Woodard, Kate Willis, Ann Radney and Celestine Barfoot.
The boys were led by center and high scorer Billy Crafton. You know him as Don Crafton, long time president and CEO of Morris State Bank. “Billy” was a name penned on the lanky center by his grandfather. Starting at forward were Don Haskins and Captain Fisher Barfoot, a future vice president of Piggly Wiggly Southern, community leader and Georgia state representative. Tom Brown and Mike White started at guard for the boys. Coming off the bench to spark rallies or preserve a victory were substitutes Billy Kibler, Atys Bowles, Rabon Lord, Roy J. Chappell and Rowell Stanley.
During the 1945-6 season, Dudley played Laurens County teams from Rentz, Cadwell, Condor, Brewton, Cedar Grove, Lowery, Wilkes, and Dublin High School. Road trips were fairly short with games against Soperton, Jeffersonville, Irwinton, Wrightsville, Toomsboro and Cochran. Among the stiffest competition the Dudley boys faced that year were the boys from Condor High School. The eastside young men lost only one game during the regular season, that coming at the hands of Dudley, and suffered a stunning and fatal loss in the county tournament.
It wasn’t until the 194os that most schools had gymnasiums. Prior to that, many schools were forced to compete on dirt courts enduring unfavorable winter conditions. Don Crafton remembered, “Basketball was king. People lined the walls of the wooden gymnasiums to root for their teams. Gymnasiums were heated mostly by large pot-bellied wood-burning stoves.”
Perhaps the most exciting regular season game came on a cold Tuesday night in the Condor gym. A mistake in the scheduling forced the teams to shorten the quarters to five minutes each. At the end of the first quarter the girls were tied 4-4.
Dudley held on to garner a highly spirited 23-12 victory over the Condor girls. The boys game was much closer and even lower scoring than the girls game. In a slow downed game, the Dudley boys defeated the highly touted Condor five 13-9, ten of those points coming from center Don Crafton.
In much more satisfying games, the Dudley teams smashed the hoopsters from Wrightsville. Betty Ann Hogan, the team’s leading scorer for the season, poured in 26 of her teams 33 points in a 33-7 romp. Don Crafton contributed 18 points and Tom Brown another 15 points in a 54-14 stomp of the Johnson County
quintet.
Dudley’s closest rivals were the teams from Dexter, Cadwell and Rentz. The teams were so well balanced that the outcome of games were virtually never certain. With another 20-point night, Betty Ann Hogan led the girls over nearby Rentz, 28-21. The Dudley boys struggled, but with a dozen points from Crafton, managed to eek out a 28-27 come from behind road victory over Rentz.
In those days, Dublin was included on Dudley’s schedule, even though their school was much bigger and was the only school in the county to have a football team. Near the end of the season the teams met at the Hargrove Gym on North Calhoun Street. The Dudley girls defeated the girls from Dublin by a whopping margin of 38 to 15, with Betty Hogan putting 30 points on the board. The boys game was tied at the half, 18-18. Tom Brown scored 15 points and Fisher Barfoot added 12 more as the Dudley five defeated the Dublin five 39-38.
The highlight of the season was the Laurens County Basketball Tournament in February. Tom Brown led the Dudley boys with 21 points in a 55-20 smashing of Cedar Grove on the second night of the tournament, which was held at Brewton High School. In the semi-final games, the Dudley girls easily defeated the Brewton six by the score of 34-13. As usual, Betty Ann Hogan topped the scoring list with 20 points. Tom Brown led the boys again matching the entire Brewton teams total in a 39-15 smashing.
In the county championship, both Dudley teams faced the hard charging teams from Rentz. In a close game, the Dudley girls pulled away in the 4th quarter to register a 40-27 championship victory. The boys game was much closer, too close for the nervous fans of both teams. During the entire game, the teams remained within four points of each other. When the final buzzer sounded, Dudley sneaked by Rentz in a hard-fought 25-24 victory to capture the school’s second county championship.
Both teams advanced to the District tournament. The Dudley boys defeated Sandersville in the first game and Dublin in the semifinals, only to lose to a more powerful team from Cochran in the finals. The girls captured the district title, bringing home first place trophies in the county and the district. The team’s four trophies and many similar ones were tragically lost in a fire a few years later. The highlight of the district tournament was the naming of Betty Ann Hogan to the All-District team. For decades after she graduated high school, people asked her if she was the young girl who was such a great basketball player for Dudley.
In today’s basketball world, basketball in March is called “March Madness.” A half century ago it would have been better termed “March Sadness.” The end of the county and district tournaments signaled the end of the game until the return of winter and a void in the lives of the kids who depended on the game. To some, basketball was all they had.
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