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.