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.
Monday, November 23, 2009
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)