history of troup county, georgia

Transcription

Courtesy of The GAGenWeb.Org
http://www.gagenweb.org
COPYRIGHT ELECTRONIC EDITION 2005 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
and sticks; prefer pine trees for nests. These birds bury nuts to soften for
opening.
Kingbird; Tyrant Flycatcher; Bee Martin.-8 5. Dark olive or gray;
adults with concealed orange croon ~ a t c h . Eggs: white speckled with brown
red. Song: shrill "thsee." Nests of sticks, roots, grass, string at any height.
Watches for insects from a favorite perch.
Kingfisher, Belted; Halcyon.-1 3. Upper parts slaty blue; under, white.
Eggs: white. Song: loud and penetrating harsh rattle. Nests in tunnel
in side of a bank. Perches near water, watching for fish.
Kite, Swallow-tail; Hawk. Chestnut colored with swallow-like barred
tail. Eggs: white spotted with brown. Song: a shriek not often heard.
Nests of sticks and grass in tall trees.
Kite, White-tailed; Hawk. Like the above except that the tail is white.
Martin, Purple.-8.
Male: rich glossy black; wings and tail duller. Female: with more of brown and mottled. Eggs: dull white. Song: a grating
warble or twitter. Nests of straw, paper, rags in bird houses or gourds.
Enemy of crows and hawks.
Meadowlark; Field Lark; Oldfield Lark.--1 0 5. Mottled brownish plumage. Eggs: white speckled with brown. Song: "tseeu-tseer," and a sputtering call. Nests in sedges on ground, partially arched over.
Mockingbird.-1 o T/2. Gray above; wings and tail brownish; wings white
tipped; whitish under. Eggs: bluish green. Song: great variety of musical
notes; a great mimic. Nests in impenetrable thickets or bushes. The unsurpassed singer; some taught t o sing airs.
Nighthawk; Nightjar; Bull Bat; Mosquito Hawk; risk.-1 0. Mottled
brownish; white band across tail and wings. Eggs: gray and white. Song:
nasal "peent." Nests on bare ground, sometimes on gravel roofs in cities.
Feeds on the wing, destroying flying insects.
Nuthatch, White-breasted; Tree Mouse; Devil Downhead.-6.
Upper
parts slate color; under, white. Eggs: white spotted with brown. Song:
"yank-yank," "ya-ya" in same tone. Nests in cavities lined with leaves
and feathers. Climbs trees with head downward.
Oriole, Baltimore; Golden Oriole; Firebird; Golden Robin.-7 5. Male :
orange and black. Female: dull el lo wish and gray. Eggs: white scrawled
with brownish black. Song: clear varied whistle and warble. Nests of
fibers and string suspended from limbs. Place colored strings near nesting
place and watch result.
Male: chestnut and black.
Oriole, Orchard; Orchard Starling.-7%.
Female: yellowish and gray. Eggs: white, speckled and scrawled with black
and brown. Song: rich and loud warble; a clattering call. Nest is a woven
basket suspended from forks of limbs.
VISIT US @ http://www.gagenweb.org
Owl, Barn. Characterized by the large eyes, and nocturnal habits. Eggs:
white. Song: hoots, accompanied by snapping of the bill. Nests in holes
of trees, on rocks, in deserted nests.
Owl, Horned. Marked with a pointed crest, resembling horns. Eggs:
white. Song: hoots and whws. Nests similar to barn owl.
Upper, brown and black marked with
Partridge; Quail; Bob White.-7.
buff; under, whitish. Eggs: white. Song: "Old Bob White." Nests on
ground in sedges and grasses.
Pewee, Wood.-6 5. Dark olive or gray; wings longer than tail; bills
hooked. Eggs: creamy white speckled with brown. Song: "pee-ah-wee,
pee-wee." Nests are moss covered. Perch on dead limbs in order to see
better.
Phebe; Dusky Flycatcher; Bridge Pewee; Water Pewee.-7.
Dusky olive
brown above; crested; dingy yellowish white under. Eggs: white. Song:
pewit, phoebe. Nests of moss and mud lined with hair, feathers, or wod.
Builds near water.
Robin; Red-breasted Thrush; Robin Red-breast.-10.
Dull olive gray
above; breast red; white under tail. Eggs: bluish green. Song: cheerilycheer-up. Nests of mud and grass on boughs. An occasional nester here.
Shrike, Northern; Butcher Bird; Nine Killer.-10.
Slaty gray above;
white spot on wings. Wings and throat black; light gray below. Eggs:
grayish with spots darker gray. Song: similar to catbird with various
whistles. Nests of twigs and grass in thorny trees. Impales their catches
on thorns to better tear in pieces.
Sparrow, Chipping; Chippy ; Hairbird; Chipbird.-5
Black on neck,
throat and back; dark red crown; some brown. Eggs: whitish thickly
spotted with brown. Song: chip-chip-chip, repeated for several seconds.
Nests of twigs, rootlets and lichens generally in pines.
Male: ashy with black and
Sparrow, English; House Sparrow.-6%.
chestnut stripes; throat black. Female: same as male but gray under. Eggs:
whitish scratched with black. Song: a discordant twittering. Gregarious
nests built anywhere, and of grass and leaves.
Sparrow, FieEd; Field Bunting; Wood Sparrow; Bush Sparrow.-$ '/2.
Chestnut streaked with black; grayish white under. Eggs: whitish marked
with reddish brown. Song: swee-see-see-se-e-e; piping ascending whistle.
Nests of frail grasses and weeds, lined with finer material. Builds in trees
and sometimes on ground.
Sfiarrow, Sharp-tailed Nelson.-5 5. Brownish or grayish olive with black
streak; pale buff under. Eggs: greenish white speckled with brownish spots.
Song: a weak squeaky trill. Nests in hollows of the ground.
s.
Starling.-8. Metallic green and purple. Eggs: pale blue. Song: metallic;
flock makes "wheelbarrow chorus." Nests near and in and on buildings.
A newcomer to the South.
Swallow, Bank; Sand Martin; Sand Swallow.-5 %. Grayish brown or
clay color above; white below. Eggs: white. Song: a giggling twitter.
Nests in holes in sand banks; lives there after nesting.
Swallow, Tree; White-bellied Swallow.-6.
Lustrous dark steel green
above; soft white below. Eggs: white. Song: twittering. Nests of grass
lined with feathers. Lives on border of water, or in orchards.
Swift, Chimney; Chimney Swallow; American Swift.-$ %. Sooty black
plumage; spines on ends of tail feathers. Eggs: white. Song: a continuous
twittering. Nests of sticks glued to side of chimney. Gregarious; feeds
on mosquitoes and insects.
Tanager, Scarlet; Black-winged Redbird; Firebird.-7%.
Male: brilliant
scarlet with black wings and tail. Female: olive green above; lighter below.
Eggs: pale bluish green. Song: like the robin but higher; call, "chip-charr."
Tanager, Smmer; Redbird; Smooth-headed Redbird.-7 %. Male: uniform red. Female: yellowish green olive; orange under. Eggs: bluish green.
Song: similar to robin. Nests of twigs and rootlets on limbs in open woods.
Thrasher, Brown; Brown Thrush; Mavis; Brown Mockingbird.-1 1'/2.
Rusty red brown; white bands on wings; streaked white below. Eggs:
bluish white. Song: bright cheerful carol; whistled "wheeu." Nests of
twigs and rootlets in hedges and thickets. The official state bird of Georgia.
Thrush, Hermit; Swamp Angel; Little Thrush.--7.
Olive brown reddening at tail; pale buff under. Round spots on breast. Eggs: greenish
blue. Song: only during nesting time; similar to mockingbird. Nests near
or on the ground in briers, bark and leaves.
Thrush, Wood; Song Thrush; Wood Robin; Bellbird.-8.
Reddish brown
to olive at tail; breast white spotted. Breast spots are heart shaped. Eggs:
greenish blue. Song: clear and flute like; call, "quit," "quirt." Nests of
grass, weeds and some mud on horizontal limbs.
Towhee; Chewink; Grasel; Joree.-8.
Male: black with white breast;
chestnut wings and tail. Female: brownish instead of black. Eggs: white
with brownish spots. Song: tow-hee-e-e; call, cherink. Nests of bark,
leaves and grass, usually on the ground.
Vireo, Blue-headed; Solitary Vireo.-&
Head bluish slate; yellow green
sides; whitish under. Two white bars on the wing. Eggs: creamy white.
Song: a carol of pure serene trust. Nests are woven baskets of lichens,
fibers and bark. Spider webs are interwoven in the nests.
Vireo, Yellow-thoufed.-6.
Plumage greenish; throat and breast yellow.
Two white wing bars. Eggs: creamy or rosy white specked with brown.
Song: a sad and persistent strain. Nests of bark, grasses and lichens over
water.
Warbler, Swainson.-5.
Brownish above; whitish under. Eggs: white.
Song: descending loud clear whistles. Large nests of strips of bark, roots
and pine needles. This bird is a ventriloquist.
Drab above;
Waxwing, Bohemian; Black-throated Waxwing; Silktail.-9.
lighter gray below; crested; black throat. Feather quills dark; two white
wing bars; wings tipped with red. Eggs: bluish white specked with black.
Song: softly hissed twittering. Nests of twigs and moss, lined with feathers.
Generally nests low in pine trees.
Mottle brownish, gray, black and white; bristles
Wh-ip-poor-will.-10.
under bill. Eggs: pale brown, gray and lilac. Song: repeats its name at
night. Nests on bare ground. Moth eaters; takes its food on the wing.
Black and white; male with red
Woodpecker, Downy Southern.-6.
neck patch; female none. Eggs: white. Song: a sharp series of "peenk."
Nests on bare wood in holes of trees.
Black and white with a spot of red on head.
Wood@cker, Hairy.-9.
Song:
a
whistled
"peenk." Nests in holes of trees in deep
Eggs: white.
woods.
Woodpecker, Pileated.-17.
Black and white crested; red side patches
on head. Eggs: white. Song: a two-syllabled shriek. Nests in tree holes;
can bore a live tree.
Woodpecker, Red-cockaded.-8
White and black; male, scarlet side
of head; female, none. Eggs: white. Song: a nasal "peenk."
Nests in
holes of trees.
Woodpecker, Red-headed; Tricolor; Red-head.-!)%.
Black and white;
head and breast red; young, gray-headed. Eggs: white. Song: a repeated
"charr." Nests in trees and telephone poles.
Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied; Sapsucker.-8 5. Black, white and yellowish above; crown and throat bright red. Eggs: white. Song: a whining
"whee;" other calls harsh. Tree holes in deep woods are nesting places.
They drill holes in tree bark to eat: the sap.
Wren, Carolina; Mocking Wren.-5 $4. Chestnut brown; throat whitish;
white streak from eye to neck. Wings and tail darkly barred. Eggs: white
specked with reddish brown. Song: a loud indescribable tinkling. Nests
of weeds, grass and trash in brush heaps, holes and boxes.
Wrm, How?.--I.
Cinnamon brown; whitish under; wings and tail
barred. Eggs: white, thickly speckled with pinkish brown. Song: loud
s.
clear and enthusiastic warble. Nests of grass and weeds in crevices and
boxes near houses.
Wren, Short-billed Marsh.-$ I/4. Brown faintly streaked with white;
black and buff tails. Wings and tail barred; white shading to buff under.
Eggs: white. Song: not noted. Nests on sides of reeds; a globular woven
nest with side entrance. Moves and rebuilds whenever disturbed.
CHAPTER XIII. TRANSPORTATION
"
ARLY ROADS. The location of the early trails and roads are largely
matters of supposition and conjecture. They were the trails of hunters and trappers, and roads to some market for exchange of trade and supplies.
The location of the old river ferries indicate the objective points, when one
was traveling westerly from the already settled parts of Georgia.
The Philpot Ferry on the northern line of the present county marks the
road through Brown Crossroad, Harrisonville, and Hogansville, towards
Greenville, Griffin, and Milledgeville, and eastward.
The Mooty Ferry, now the Mooty Bridge, served the road running diagonally across the county through Ware Crossroad, LaGrange, Pleasant Grove,
Troup Factory, Chipley, King's Gap, and on in the direction of Columbus.
The Hawthorn Ferry, north of the island and afterward a t the south
point of the island above Sterling Bridge, now called McGee Bridge, was
the road from Antioch, Cameron Mill, LaGrange, and Mountville, eastward.
The Vernon Ferry was formerly just above the bridge of the A. B. & C.
Railroad, and was moved later, on the abandonment of the town of Vernon,
t o Hairston Ferry near the present Glass Bridge.
The West Point Ferry was in the heart of the town, and accommodated
the roads to LaGrange, Chipley and Columbus, and was the crossing place
of roads extending into Alabama.
Nearly all the above roads were probably the trails which the Creeks
used in reaching their capital, Indian Springs. But the roads running north
and south were probably laid out by the white settlers, for the road to
Whitesville is along land lot line a greater part of the way.
In laying out the old roads, steepness of grade received little consideration,
for ridges and divides were sought for the drainage they afforded, and the
crests of hills were vantage points in locating distant landmarks. The only
other consideration was to seek approaches to streams where fordable bottoms were found, or for easy bridging secure from floods. The treatment
of unavoidable marshes and bogs was t o heap the road with stones, where
small in extent, and for long stretches to corduroy the road with closely
laid poles transverse the road.
The trails were widened into roads for the convenience of wheeled traffic
to replace pack animals with panniers. The long established width was
thirty feet including such ditches as nature and the annual road working
supplied.
VEHICLES.The commerce of the early days was carried in huge conestoga wagons with canvas or hide covers. They were drawn by slow moving
oxen, or by mules and horses in teams of two, four, or six to each wagon.
.
The travel was in caravans for mutual protection, camping by the roadside
at night. The old teamsters were unmindful of sanitation and germs, but
ever alert to the howl of wolves, the growl of angry or hungry bears, or
the war-whoop of unfriendly Indians. The travel of business men and
pleasure seekers for short distances was on horseback, gig, or in the family
carriages; for the longer distances, the public stage coaches were used.
Mrs. J. H. Traylor described a trip with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Cabiiiss, from Henry County, Virginia, to Georgia in October of 1827.
They came in a carriage with outriders, and their possessions followed in
covered wagons. They met with great hospitality on the road, not the
least of which was offered by an Indian chief, whose log house looked down
on the waters of the Chattahoochee River. In the early days there were
many handsome carriages, some of which were lined with heavy satin or
velvet, and often cost a thousand dollars. They were drawn by thoroughbred horses, and driven by liveried negro coachmen.
STAGECOACHES.AS the population increased, stage coach lines were
organized, and they were well patronized. The most popular line passing
through the county was the Montgomery and Griffin line, a division of a
transcontinental system. These coaches passed through Mountville, near
which there was a relay station for fresh horses. David Beaman, a New
England man, was the owner of this line, and he owned a house for his
hostler, and stables for his horses on a creek near the Boddie home.
The coming and going of the stage coach always elicited the greatest
interest from the communities through which the coach passed, as it was
the one contact with the outside world. Railroads and telegraphs were
not yet used as mediums of communication.
Two Texas girls planned to come t o LaGrange College, then operated by
the Montgomery brothers, and mistaking the meaning of the word, "Commencement," for the beginning of the term, came nearly all the long trip
by stage coach. Discovering their mistake, they decided that it was too
long and too hazardous a journey to return, so they remained the entire
four years until their graduation before returning to their homes. Many
of the older citizens remember Bob Griffin, who was one of the best and
the last of the old stage coach drivers in this vicinity.
Mrs. Benjamin H. Hill gives an interesting description of her bridal tour
in 1845. Mr. Hill and Miss Emily Moore of Athens were engaged for three
years before their marriage. He spent those three years in LaGrange studying
law with William Dougherty, and was finally admitted to the bar in the
summer of 1845. They were married November 18, 1845, and started on
their trip from Athens t o Long Cane, Troup County, Georgia, where his
father, John Hill lived as a successful farmer. The bride and the groom
went from Athens to Union Point in a horse car, drawn by two horses
hitched tandem. A t Union Point they boarded the Georgia Railroad train
for the city of Atlanta. Here after several hours of delay they took the
stage coach for Long Cane, stopping every ten miles for a relay of horses.
It required as long to go from Athens to Long Cane, as it now does to
reach New York. Mrs. Hill continues the narrative by saying that it was
a freezing cold night, and on account of the delay of the stage coach, they
did not drive the coach to the house, which was a short distance from the
road, so they walked, piloted by a tall negro holding aloft a torch to light
the way. A great glowing fire welcomed them within doors, and warm
hearts took the young bride and groom into their tenderest aaection.
CHATTAHOOCHEE
RIVER. About 183 1 the Chattahoochee River began
to attract attention, and Colonel Reuben Thornton, a wealthy and enterprising citizen of West Point, ran barges and flat boats from West Point up
the river to a point called Standing Peachtree, which is in DeKalb County,
transporting produce, most of which was sold at this point. H e took one
load of flour over the shoals at Columbus, but could not get his boat back,
consequently had to haul his load of sugar, salt, and coffee, to West Point
by wagons. After building new boats, he took his cargo on to Standing
Peachtree in the boats, and from thence it was wagoned to East Tennessee
markets. The merchants of LaGrange and West Point bought their goods
in the markets of Augusta, Savannah, or Charleston, and as there was no
other means of transportation, they were carried in wagons. These wagons
crossed the intervening rivers on flat boats, and it is a significant fact that
no serious accident ever occurred. In 1838, Daniel Duncan and J. M.
Harrington ran boats from Heard County to West Point. They brought
all the material used in building the toll bridge at West Point, and materials
for many other structures.
RAILROAD.Incorporated December 27, 1847,
ATLANTAAND LAGRANGE
with the following incorporators, many of which were Troup County citizens: B. H. Conyers, Andrew J. Berry, John Gr&, Brittain S i s , Sr.,
Hugh Brewster, John Ray, John H. Johnson, Willis P. Menifee, Littleberry
Watts, Joel V.Terrell, J. V. Davis, Thomas W. Bolton, Joseph Poythress,.
Henry West, Edward Y. Hill, R. A. T. Ridley, John Douglas, William Reid,
and James M. Beall. The charter was amended December 14, 1849, to give
the power to extend the road to the Alabama line at or near West Point.
The building of this railroad excited great interest in the surrounding county,
and the day the first train came in to LaGrange, all the citizens of the town
and the countryside flocked in to see it. The first engine was named "E. Y.
Hill," and the first engineer was Oliver Park. The railroad was completed
'
to West Point in March, 1854; the railroad bridge was built in 185 3 and
1854. George H. Winston supplied the stone for the piers.
On December 22, 1857, the name was changed to the present name of
Atlanta and West Point Railroad. The old car shed was built in 1857-58,
with Daniel H. Cram as architect. The bridge and the depots were destroyed
by Colonel LaGrange, commanding the Federal troops that captured Fort
Tyler in 1865. They were rebuilt in 1866 by Colonel Grant and son.
The original terminal of the Atlanta and West Point Railroad was located
where the No. 14 Highway crosses the present railroad in entering West
Point from LaGrange.
MONTGOMERY
AND WESTPOINTRAILROAD.Incorporated in Georgia on
December 26, 1837, it was completed to West Point in July, 1851. The
first engine from Montgomery to run through to West Point was named
the "General Winfield Scott." This railroad is now called the Western
Railway of Alabama, and together with the Atlanta and West Point operates
as a unit from Atlanta to Montgomery.
ATLANTAAND WESTPOINTRAILROAD.This railroad as described above
is a component part of the fast railway mail service between New York
and New Orleans. The stations on this road in Troup County are as follows:
Trimble
$5
Hogmsvil1e.-- 5 8
Louise---64
LaGrange--21
Gabbettville--80
West Point---. 87
miles
miles
miles
miles
miles
miles
from
from
from
from
from
from
Atlanta
Flag station
Atlanta
R. B. Briscoe, Agent
Atlanta-----.Flag Station
Atlanta
P. E. Redding, Agent
Atlanta..-.--Flag Station
Atlanta--..--..
I. H. Weaver, Agent
!
MACONAND BIRMINGHAMRAILROAD.Incorporated December 27, 1886,
by Benjamin H. Bigham, Robert S. McFarlin, Elisha D. Pitman, and William
C. Yancey, under the name and title of Macon, LaGrange and Birmingham
Railroad. A new chartee was granted September 9, 1889, under the name
of Macon and Birmingham, and this charter amended as to route November
7, 1889, andNovember 12, 1889. It was completed in 1891 from LaGrange
to Sofkee, near Macon. This road proved unable to earn a livelihood, and
the greater part, of it was abandoned in 1925. However, parts of i t are in
operation as parts of other systems.
NORTHAND SOUTHRAILROAD.Incorporated October 24, 1870, to run
from LaGrange to Rome through Carrollton. The following were the Troup
County incorporators: Benjamin H. Bigham, W. 0. Tuggle, H. H. Huntley,
C. W. Mabry, R. A. T.Ridley, John R. Broome, B. C. Ferrell, F. A. Frost.
In the LaGrange Reporter of July 5, 1872: "The present status of the
company is over forty miles of heavy road graded, the iron laid on over
six miles, with train running and materials on hand to complete fifteen
miles more." This road was graded from LaGrange to a point beyond the
Mooty Bridge and into Heard County. Further efforts were made to complete this line, when the rights of the Columbus and Northern Railroad
were purchased October 1 5 , 18 8 5, by R. S. McFarlin, and a new corporation
of the LaGrange North and South Railroad chartered with the following
subscribers: R. S. McFarlin, W. V. Gray, Thomas S. Bradfield, Henry E.
Ware, B. C. Ferrell, John J. Swain, James G. Truitt, Henry C. Butler, William C. Yancey, 0.A. Dunson, Edwin R. Bradfield, Alfred Truitt, Thomas
J. Howell, Enoch Callaway, Louis J. Render, F. M. Ridley, Elisha D. Pitman,
I. F. Cox, John R. Broome, Benjamin H. Bigham, Francis M. Longley,
William J. McClure, and A. D. Abraham and associates. The road was not
completed.
LAGRANGE
AND TROUP
FACTORY
RAILROAD.Incorporated December 22,
1857, by Thomas Leslie, Jesse McLendon, Thomas J. Thornton, Thomas C.
Evans, Orville A. Bull, John W. McGehee, and James M. Flowers. Never
built.
LAGRANGE
AND OXFORD(ALA.) RAILROAD.Incorporated March 5, 185 6.
Five miles were to be built in two years, and the whole t o be finished in
six years. No evidence of any accomplishment.
LAGRANGEAND BARNESVILLE
RAILROAD.Incorporated December 15,
1871, by Jesse McLendon, F. A. Frost, S. W. Swanson, A. D. Abraham,
John N. Cooper, Isaac Wise, George V. Boddie, B. B. Amoss, Thomas S.
Bradfield, Thomas C. Miller, B. C. Ferrell, B. H. Bigham, J. H. Fannin,
W. 0. Tuggle, William C. Jarboe, C. W. Mabry, J. E. Toole, H. R. Harris,
M. Reeves, J. E. G. Ferrell, John A. Simonton, James W. Banning, Obediah
Warren, J. P. Atkinson, M. B. Lovett, J. Banning, James M, C. Robinson,
Thomas C. Leslie, J. R. Broome, Godfrey Kener, John H. Mitchell, David
Freeman, William E. Murphey, A. Statford, and R. J. Powell. No construction.
GRIFFIN,LAGRANGE
AND WESTERN
RAILROAD. Incorporated December
27, 1886, by W. E. H. Searcy and T. D. Rockwell of Spaulding County;
J. W. Sullivan of Meriwether County, and James G. Truitt of Troup County.
The name was changed September 22, 1887, to Birmingham and Atlantic
Airline Railroad. No construction.
BRUNSWCK,
LAGRANGE
AND NORTHWESTERN
RAILROAD.Chartered December 21, 1893, with the provision that the charter be forfeited unless
five miles of road are built within five years. Forfeited.
ATLANTA,BIRMINGHAM
AND COASTRAILROAD.The records of incorporation of the original company, The Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic
Railroad, were not available. On March 24, 1905, a committee of LaGrange
citizens, Hatton Lovejoy, E. B. Clark, F. E. Callaway, J. G. Truitt, and
Roy Dallis, arranged a banquet t o entertain George Dole Wadley, vicepsident, and Alex Bonnyman, chief of construction, of the railroad. The
purpose of the meeting was to insure the routing of the road through
LaGrange to the Birmingham terminus, and the effort succeeded. The road
made a direct route to the Alabama coal fields and iron and steel mills, and
gave promise of increased trade with our sister state. After the many
physical dificulties were overcome, there were financial troubles. All the
stations in Troup County are flag stations with the exception of the LaGrange
station. The stations are: Big Springs, Knott, LaGrange, Pyne, and Abottsford. The LaGrange agent is W. M. Fincher.
CHATTAHOOCHEE
VALLEYRAILROAD.This road is located in Alabama
with the exception of the passage through the city of West Point. It is a
potent factor in the development of the Chattahoochee valley on the Alabama side of that stream, and is the outlet for the products of the plants
of the West Point Manufacturing Company.
COUNTYHIGHWAYS.
Nothing has been more conducive t o the growth
and development of Troup County than the system of good roads, which
has been evolved from the muddy, and sometimes impassable, roads of even
fifteen years ago. The Troup County Commissioners have been active in
sponsoring good roads, and as a result of this activity, the county now has
thirty-seven miles of concrete paving, and one thousand and thirty miles
of topsoiled roads. The convicts housed at the model stockade on the
road t a Chipley, just beyond Long Cane Creek, are used to keep the roads
in the most excellent condition. Number 1 Highway which passes through
LaGrange from Franklin southeast to Chipley and Columbus, and number
14 Highway from Trimble to West Point are state highways and are maintained by the state department.
CHAPTER XIV. PUBLIC UTILITIES
ESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH. Telegraphic facilities came to
Troup County soon after the establishment and operation of the
Atlanta and LaGrange Railroad in the early eighteen fifties.
The location of the office was at first in the old depot, the present freigbt
office, from which place it was removed to the second floor of the Truitt
Building and as late as 1908 had only three wire lines in the LaGrange
office. It was afterwards moved to the rear of the National Bank Building, and in 1929 moved to the present office on Bull Street.
Among the operators of the LaGrange oftice are noted the names of William Speer, Ed Dansby, Mrs. May Dennis Heard, Miss Ruby Medlock, Mr.
Sanford, and the present manager, Mrs. Clyde McLaney Jones, who has held
her post since 1908. This station also has a branch office at the Southwest
LaGrange community located in the Callaway Mills General Oftices under
the management of Miss Lucy McLaney.
The West Point ofice was established at about the same time as the LaGrange office and is under the eacient management of Mrs. Walters.
The Hogansville office established at a later date is under the management
of Mrs. Mary John Briscoe. Other communities of the county are reached
through telephone, as the railroad operators do not accept commercial messages.
The present wire service (193 3 ) consists of six wire circuits with a total
of about twenty available in an emergency, but which merely relay through
the LaGrange office and can be switched into active service from that oflice,
and about the same number in the West Point office.
POSTAL
TELEGRAPH
CO. This company is a newcomer to our county,
and opened the LaGrange office on September 24, 1929, under the management of Olin W. Alexander. This company can furnish typewriter extension to remote points, which automatically receives and transmits messages
through the parent office. The only other office of this company in Troup
County is located at West Point, where similar facilities are offered, and is
under the management of Mrs. Roy Pirkle.
COMMERCIAL TELEPHONE
CO. The first commercial telephone of the
county was operated by the above company, chartered May 5 , 1892, by J.
F. Askew, C. V. Truitt and T. C. Lane. The charter specified the line
from Newnan to West Point, and was operated as a toll line connecting the
intermediate points, but was abandoned after the Southern Bell entered
LaGrange.
LAGRANGE
TELEPHONE
EXCHANGE.This pioneer exchange was built in
1894 by W. W. Milam and his son, W. R. Milam, and commenced operation
with only twenty-eight subscribers in an office over the old Bank of LaGrange on Main Street. In 1900 the exchange was moved to the residence
of W. W. Milam at 203 Greenville Street with two hundred subscribers. In
1906 it was moved to an office over Davis Pharmacy with four hundred
twenty-five subscribers. In 1895 a toll line of Southern Bell entered the
exchange for the convenience of subscribers in long distance calls. In 1909
the exchange was sold to the Southern Bell by the Milam family. The
county and LaGrange in particular are indebted to this family for the efficient service they rendered in this pioneer enterprise.
WESTPOINTTELEPHONEAND ELECTRICCO. This exchange was chartered on November 7, 1896, by W. A. and J. T. Robinson. I t furnishes the
telephonic communication for the thriving city of West Point and its Alabama neighbor of Lanett. This exchange has Southern Bell connections,
but continues to remain a separate corporation. It is under the management of J. Smith Lanier and has been for many years.
HOGANSVILLE
TELEPHONE
CO. This exchange was chartered on May 6,
1902, by J. C. Wilkinson, M. K. Word and A. R. Arnold, and continued to
operate until 1909 when it was purchased by the Southern Bell and made a
part of that great system.
BIG SPRINGSTELEPHONE
CO. This exchange was built by Eldredge
Jones in 1907 and reaches the communities of Mountville, Salem, Odessadale
and Stovall. It is owned and operated by Grady Jones with about twenty
subscribers since 1915 after the death of Eldredge Jones.
AND TELEGRAPH
CO. This great comSOUTHERNBELL TELEPHONE
pany bought the LaGrange and Hogansville exchanges in 1909 and has operated long distance lines since 189J. I t has about sixteen hundred phones in
the county and numerous trunk lines for long distance use. Telephones
were formerly neighborhood means of communication, but one can now
speak to the ends of the world in combination of wired and radio phones.
RAILWAY
EXPRESS
AGENCY. The original company, which operated in
this county for parcel delivery, was the Southern Express Company. It
was organized soon after the Civil War, and operated under the same name
un ti1 July, 1918, when the Federal government assumed control under the
title of American Railway Express. In March, 1930, the railroads purchased the business, and since that time, the company has operated as the
Railway Express Agency. The names of John M. Barnard, Philip G. Awtry,
and Ed Dansby are associated with the old Southern Express Company. The
present agent of the Railway Express Agency is J. W. Short.
GEORGIAPOWERCOMPANY. The Columbus Power Company entered
LaGrange and West Point in 1911 on 66KVA lines and furnished light and
power to LaGrange, West Point, and Hogansville. The city of LaGrange
operated a municipal electric plant, which they still own, but the power
company offered current cheaper than could be produced by the city. A
connection was made with the Georgia Power Company, and a shortage of
one company was supplemented by the excess of the other. In 1923 the
voltage of the transmission lines was raised to 1 1 OKVA t o the various power
stations and there transformed to 11,000 volts, or llKVA, to be carried
to the individual power houses of customers, and there reduced to 550 or
220 volts for power, and 110 volts for lighting purposes. In 1930, on July
1, the Georgia Power Company acquired the properties of the Columbus
Power Company, and this county has been very efficiently served by this
company since that time. The West Point station is under the jurisdiction
of the Alabama Power Company, which serves the valley industrial plants.
The LaGrange station has for its efficient master, W. H. Tillery, and the
Hogansville station, W. A. Mann. The Maintenance Department is under
the supervision of L. L. Estes for the Troup County customers, and the wellkept stations and lines bespeak his knowledge and efficiency. Not least
among these genial ofhcials is the foreman of the lines, I. I. West, who has
the dangerous task of handling llOKVA lines, sometimes with a full current flow, or hot as the boys say.
THERAILROADS.The railroads are classified as Public Utilities, but have
been treated in the chapter on Transportation.
CHAPTER XV. TROUP COUNTY TEXTILE
INDUSTRY
OBERTSON WOOLEN MILL. Built in 1847; located in land lot
78 of the 4th district. A t some time prior to 1847, there came from
scotland to Troup County Robert Robertson, who bought from James
O'Neal a site a short distance west of the Smith M i l on the Salem Road,
and established thereon the first textile plant of the county, which was
known as the Robertson Woolen Mill. From far and near the patrons
brought their bags of wool for cleaning and carding. I t was returned to
them in long rolls or balls ready for the home spinner or weaver. The success of this mill inspired the next textile venture in a district purely agricultural.
TROUP
FACTORY. Built in 1845, and adapted to cotton manufacture in
1848; located on land lot 1 5 of the 4th district. This plant was built by
Robertson, Leslie and Company, a firm composed of J. L. C . Robertson,
Thomas Leslie, and a Mr. Beaman, as a gristmill in 1845, and was converted
into a cotton mill in 1848, being the second such plant in Georgia, and i t
continued to operate as such for more than a half century. Troup Factory
sheetings and homespuns were standards of excellence in a widespread area
of Georgia, and their use is within the memory of many present day citizens.
Charles H. Griffin was an active factor in the management of this plant
in the early nineties. It was originally located on Flat Shoals Creek on the
Columbus Road or the Georgia No. 1 Highway, but was moved to Greenville
Street in LaGrange in 1902.
The business of the plant was so great that on December 22, 1'857, a railroad was incorporated for the purpose of handling the products, which was
called the LaGrange and Troup Factory Railroad. Disturbances due to the
impending Civil War prevented its building. The name was changed after
the removal of the plant to LaGrange to that of Park Cotton Mills, and its
products were limited to yarn. This mill is now one of the things past and
gone with only a few of its walls standing t o mark the spot.
LAGRANGE
MILLS. Built in 1888, and located on land lots 108 and 109
of the 6th district. The LaGrange Oil and Manufacturing Company was
chartered on August 6, 1883, and its incorporators numbered most of the
business and professional men of the little town of LaGrange: L. J. Render,
A. N. Davenport, J. M. Barnard, J. G. Truitt, J. P. Thornton, H. C. Butler,
W. 0. Tuggle, S. P. Smith, F. M. Longley, M. L. Fleming, J. C. Forbes,
T. J. Harwell, H. H. Cary, E. D. Williams, G . A. Speer, I-lenry Banks,
W. V. Gray, A. R. Phillips, T. H. Whitaker, Louis Mayer, J. G. Whitfield,
E. R. Bradfield, I. F. Cox, J. R. Broome, James Ellis, T. S. Bradfield, A. P.
Jones, Enoch Callaway, J. T.Perry, J. W. Harrison, F. M. Ridley, W. C.
Yancey, and T. C. Crenshaw.
This plant was erected for the extraction of cotton seed oil, but also
operated a large public ginnery. In 1888, the charter was amended so as
to include the manufacture of cotton textiles in addition to the oil plant,
and the name was changed to LaGrange Mills. The building of the cotton
mill plant was a great event in Troup County; the first giant Corliss engine,
the curious machines for cotton manipulation, the first electric dynamo for
the lighting of the mill, the monumental smokestack, were a succession of
marvels to the curious bystanders of that day.
In March of 1890, the charter was again amended so as t o permit the
LaGrange Mills to construct electric pole lines in the city and to furnish
current for the same. There immediately followed the construction of an
arc circuit for lighting the city streets, to which was added an incandescent
circuit of direct current for the benefit of mercantile establishments. These
lines were extended to furnish lights for the Southern and the LaGrange
Female colleges in the same year. The use of meters was unknown and the
rate was a flat fifty cents per month for each sixteen candle po.wer light.
Lighting for residences was not yet accomplished.
The prosperity of LaGrange Mills induced the Consolidated Cotton Duck
Corporation to make the stockholders a very tempting offer, which was
accepted on November 28, 1905. I n 1913, this corporation in turn sold
to Lockwood, Green and Company of Boston, who changed the name to
International Cotton Mills, LaGrange Mills Division, the corporate name
shared by Canadian, New England and the southern plants owned by them.
I n the regrouping of the above-named plants, the name was again changed
to the New England Southern Mills, LaGrange Mills Division.
The financial collapse of the owners and the pressure from the creditor
banks of Boston and New York forced the sale of their southern properties,
and again LaGrange Mills became the property of local stockholders, and
was renamed LaGrange Calumet Mills, and in the year 1932 became a unit
of the Callaway Mills in the consolidation of the various corporations under
that name. But in the minds, thoughts and speech of the old employes,
it is named "The Old Mill." The names of John M. Barnard, manager;
George W. Murphy, superintendent; George Mitchell, electrician, will always
be associated with the success in the operation of this mill.
Among the superintendents of this plant under the various owners are
noted the following names: George W. Murphy, William Reid, John Turnipseed, Eugene Stevens, W. H. Dickinson, John A. Baugh, afterwards manager; Forest B. Gardner, and B. W. Robinson.
,
DIXIECOTTONMILLS.Built in 189j, located on Greenville Street in
LaGrange in land lot 107 of the 6th district. This mill was incorporated
on September 26, 1895, and the following names appear on the charter:
Samuel Hale, James G. Truitt, Blount C. Ferrell, Francis M. Longley, of
LaGrange; W. N. Weeks of New York; J. T. Cressey of New Hampshire;
Thomas P. Ivey of Atlanta. Many investors of the local commercial world
afterwards joined their forces to the above. At first the plant was not an
entire success, because of poor equipment, much of which was out of date
in cotton manufacture. It is curious to note that in the original plans
for buildings and the layouts for machinery no provision was made for a
power plant to operate the mill. Provision for this oversight and for the
replacement of much of the antiquated machinery placed a handicap on
this plant in the form of excessive debt; nevertheless, under the skillful
management of 0.A. Dunson, it continued to operate until forced to sell
by the mortgagor on October 17, 1917, when the plant passed into the
possession of Wellington-Sears Company, and at this date is a unit in their
chain of mills. This plant is the pioneer in this county for the manufacture
of lightweight cotton fabrics, eight ounces to the yard beiig the heaviest
goods made in this plant. Among the names of the superintendents of this
plant are noted the following: DeGroat, Magraw, W. S. Dunson, Jack
Donaldson, J.' J. Ward, A. Culberson, George W. Murphy, Jr., Albert Lehmann; and the names of Samuel Hale, L. J. Render and 0. A. Dunson as
the managers of the plant.
HOGANSVILLE
MANUFACTURING
COMPANY.Built in Hogansville in 1899,
and located in land lot 96 of the 11th district. This plant was chartered
on July 11, 1899, by E. H. Thornton, and R. J. Lowry of Atlanta; and
Frank Word, Judson F. Mobley, and J. F. Askew of Hogansville. The history of this plant from the above date is the same as that of the LaGrange
Mills, as it was sold to the same corporation and afterwards was included
in every transaction in which LaGrange Mills was conceined, and in, those
changes suffered the same changes of name and was distinguished as the
Hogansville Mills Division of each change. It was purchased by the Consolidated Duck Corporation on November 28, 1905; sold in turn by them to
Lockwood, Green and Company and called the International Cotton Mills,
changed to New England Southern Mills; sold again to LaGrange parties and
renamed Hogansville Calumet Mills; consolidated in 1932 as a unit of the
Callaway Mills, retaining the name of Hogansville Calumet as a designation.
The activities of this plant constituted a commercial barometer of the community of Hogansville until the construction of Stark Mills, which shared the
business indicator with the older plant. Among the superintendents and
managers are noted the following: George W. Murphy, William Reid, John
Turnipseed, W. H. Turner, Jr., Oxford, James Mooty, David G. Reid, and
John A. Baugh, manager.
UNITY COTTONMILLS. Built in 1900, and located in land lot 141 of
the 6th district, on Leman Street in LaGrange. This plant was chartered
on May 8, 1900, and the following were the incorporators: J. M. Barnard,
C . V. Truitt, J. E. Dunson, F. E. Callaway, S. H. Truitt, S. P. Smith, J. H.
Edmondson, G. E. Dallis, W. V. Gray, G. B. Heard, E. G. Hood, T. J.
Thornton, F. J. Pike, J. L. Bradfield, H. D. Glanton, T. S. Bradfield, C . D.
Hudson, A. H. Nunnally, P. H. Hutchinson, N. R. Hutchinson, F. M.
Ridey, J. R. Broome, H. R. Slack. There have been some additions to this
plant a t intervals, but the greatest expansion was in the form of an entire
new plant under the name of Unity Spinning Mills, located in land lot 147
of the 6th district. This was built in 1909 by the parent plant of which
it formed an auxiliary. The management of this plant was in the hands of
C. V. Truitt up to the time of his retirement, after which it devolved upon
Cason J. Callaway. The superintendents of this plant are as follows: George
W. Murphy, Sr., William W. Arnold, William H. Turner, Jr., James Newsome, Ed Estes, W. Preston Dunson.
The products of Unity Cotton Mills were originally in the form of the
cotton ducks, but later became more diversified in character. The plant
may be considered as the parent plant of the group of cotton mills now
designated as the Callaway Mills.
ELM CITYCOTTONMILLS. Built in 1905, located in land lot 142 of the
6th district. The charter bears the date of November 15, 1905, and enlisted
a large number of contributors under the leadership of Fuller E. Callaway,
Sr., as the directing genius. The following names are recorded in the charter:
F. E. Callaway, C. V. Truitt, J. G. Truitt, S. H. Truitt, Roy Dallis, W. A.
Holmes, A. T. Dallis, V. E. Dallis, George E. Dallis, Pike Brothers, E. G.
Hood, J. H. Edmondson, Henry Banks, Sr., J. W. Johnston, Bradfield Drug
Co., F. M. Ridley, H. R. Slack, J. C. Roper, J. M. Barnard, George W.
Murphy, P. G. Awtry, J. L. Bradfield, H. D. Glanton, N. E. Marshburn,
E. R. Bradfield, Sr., W. V. Gray, L. D. Mitchell, Pope F. Callaway, McCaine
and Market, E. B. Clark, F. M. Longley, B. H. Seay, R. L. Adams, J. R.
Hall, G. B. Heard, S. P. Smith, W. S. Davis, A. H. Cary, C, Y. Hall, J. R.
Broome, W. L. Cleaveland, N. S. McCalley, J. M. Formby, W. J. Hardy,
J. F. Market, J. Wid Freeman; Banks and Arnold of Coweta County, H. M.
Atkinson, W. D. Brady, George M. Traylor, James Banks, A. E. Thornton,
M. Frank, George W. Parrott, George Dole Wadley, S. P. O'Neal, J. H.
Lane & Company. Elm City was also a cotton duck plant and has enjoyed
a long term of prosperity under the skillful management of the superintendents, Ira B. Grimes and H. F. Shuford.
UNITYSPINN~NG
MILLS. Built in 1909, and located on land lot 146 in
the 6th district. No new corporation was formed, but the plant was built
by Unity Cotton Mills and formed a part of its properties. The products
of this plant were twines, cords and yarns. N o weaving was done in this
plant in the original layout. The superintendents were S. Y. Austin and
Boyd N. Ragsdale. This is also a unit of the Callaway Mills.
DUNSONM~LLS. Built in 1910, and located in land lot 8 7 of the 6th
district. The charter was granted on November 19, 1910, and the following
names appear on the charter as the promoters of this plant: T. J. Thornton,
W. S. Dunson, A. H. Cary, F. M. Ridley, \V. A. Reeves, J. M. Barnard,
S. H. Dunson, W. E. Morgan, P. H. Hutchinson, F. M. Longley, R. 0.
Pharr, J. E. Dunson, J. F. Ogletree. The plant was enlarged in 1923, nearly
.doubling the original capacity of the mill, and varying the production to
include the light as well as the heavyweight cotton goods. The management
was in the hands of T. J. Thornton in the beginning, and he was succeeded
by the present efficient manager, W. S. Dunson. There has always been
exercised a liberal conservatism in the management: liberal in attitude towards
the churches and schools and sports, yet conservative in the business aspects.
The superintendent was W. S. Dunson until his promotion t o manager, and
he was succeeded by A. C. Dunson as the present superintendent.
HILLSIDE
COTTONMELS. Built in 1915, and located on land lot 143
of the 6th district. The charter was granted on December 5 , 1914, to a
large number of incorporators: F. E. Callaway, C. V. Truitt, J. G. Truitt,
S. H.Truitt, Roy Dallis, A. T. Dallis, V. E. Dallis, Render Dallis, S. Y.
Austin, J. H. Edmondson, H. H. Childs, R. 0. Pharr, W. S. Davis, T. H.
Nimmons, E. R. Callaway, H. W. Callaway, W. A. Holmes, C. J. Callaway,
Hatton Lovejoy, W. H'. Turner, Jr., R. C. Key, C. Y. Hall, J. R. Hall,
James Newsom, I. B. Grimes, Boyd Ragsdale, H. R. Slack, B. H. Seay, L. H.
Zachry, Pike Brothers, J. M. Formby, H. T. Wooding, J. D. Hudson, R. L.
Render, C. W. Smith, C. N. Shearer, R. K. Colley, G. W. Birdsong, A. H.
Thompson, J. J. Milam, McCaine Brothers, H. D. Glanton, C. L. Smith,
OGT. L. Cleaveland, W. G. Cleaveland, Henry Banks, Sr., H. D. Phillips,
J. A. Perry, 0.D. Grimes, P. G. Awtry, W. E. Johnson, H. H. Tigner,
W. J. Hardy, J. W. Bryant, R. W. Bryant, E. C. Lewis, James Banks, J.
Carroll Payne, W. D. Brady, C. H. Hutcheson, J. H. Lane and Company,
F. Coit Johnson, James W. Lane, E. W. Leseur, Howard L. Marsh, Oliver
L. Johnson, Charles T. Newberry, Charles D. Brady, Wr. H. Tobey, C. M.
Pirkleman, W. W. Quinlan. This plant, by reason of the installation of
a dye house as a part df the equipment, manufactures the greatest variety
of products of any mill located in the county; in weight from the heaviest
to comparatively lightweight goods with many color variations. This was
the parent ~ l a n tof several lines of manufacture, which were afterwards
incorporated as separate entities and some of them removed to other locations. These were Valley Waste Mills, Valway Rug Mills, Rockweave Mills,
and Oakleaf Mills. The superintendents of this plant were S. Y. Austin,
J. 0. Blackmon, and Frank L. Asbury.
STARKMILLS. Built in 1922, and located in land lot 11 of the 12th district. This plant was not chartered in Troup County, but was built by
Lockwood, Green and Company of Boston, the owners at that time of the
Hogansville and LaGrange plants of the New England Southern Mills, and
sold with them in 1928. It was afterwards sold to the United States Rubber
Company and is still in their possession. This mill was adapted to the use
of long staple cotton for the manufacture of tire cord. The mill is under
the superintendency of H. H. Ocheltree. The managers were John A. Baugh
for Lockwood, Green and Company, and H. Gordon Smith for the U. S.
Rubber Company.
VALLEYWASTEMILLS. The construction of this plant followed very
closely upon the building of Hillside Cotton Mills, of which it formed a
part. A separate charter for this plant was granted on November 4, 1927,
to Cason J. Callaway, Henry G. Smith, and Grady S. Kennington. As the
name implies, it was a plant for the utilization of cotton waste. In the
merger of 1932, the plant has lost its corporate identity.
VALWAYRUG MILLS. Incorporated on November 4, 1927, by Cason J.
Callaway, Ira B. Grimes, and Henry G. Smith. This plant is a distinctive'
idea in the diversification of production in the South. The manufacture of
rugs in the plant has always been a source of interest to the passing visitor,
because the use of Jacquard looms and other machines is so different from
those of the ordinary cotton mills. The beauty and variety of the rugs
have commended them to a widespread patronage in America.
ROCKWEAVE
MILLS. This plant was another offshoot of Hillside Cotton
Mills, and was originally called Rockweave Laundry Textile Mills, but the
charter was amended on December 9, 1927, to conform to the above name.
The plant with a wide variety of products specialized in the manufacture
of those products associated with the laundry trade: bags, nets, and all
forms of canvas containers and receptacles. Most of this plant has been
transferred to LaGrange Calumet Mills, and its corporate identity was lost
in the merger of 193 2.
OAKLEAF
&LS.
This plant is another of the Hillside group of industries,
and was chartered on April 16, 1928, and its location changed to the vicinity
of the Unity Spinning Mills. I t specializes in flannels, wiping cloths and
cords of various kinds. The superintendent is T. L. Arnette.
THECALLAWAY
MILLS.Under this title were merged into one great
corporation the allied plants that were sponsored and controlled by the late
Fuller E. Callaway, as well as those organized and built since his death under
the management of Cason J. Callaway as president, and Fuller E. Callaway
as treasurer. The plants in this great organization are as follows:
SPINDLES
Calumet, LaGrange Plant
..
Elm City Plant
.
Wlls~de Plant
Oakleaf Plant
Unity Plant
Unity S p n n n P
a
Calumet, Hogansville Plant
Manchester Plant, Manchester, Ga
Milstead Plant, Milstead, Ga
.
. .
n
9,984
11,664
3 1,680
3,168
12,960
t 1 5,5 5 2
12,096
25,080
13,668
Total Number of Spindles.._------.-----.----------.....-..........
1 3 5,8 12
The maintenance of recreation parks and playgrounds, the Young Men's
Christian Associations, assistance to the schools and churches have always
been included as a part of the operating budgets of these plants, and the
care of health safeguarded by the presence of well-trained nurses has been
one of the first thoughts towards the welfare and happiness of employes.
The products of these plants include twines, cords, ropes, drills, sheeting,
sateens, moleskin, corduroy, filter fabrics, and every sort of canvas and duck,
a variety of rugs, and many other specialties.
WEST
POINTMANUFACTURING
COMPANY. While the plants of this corporation are not located in Troup County, yet the executive and administrative offices are located in the city of West Point. The plants of this corporation are noted below:
Riverdale at Riverview, Ala., built in 1866, makers of tent and awning
ducks. 11,6 84 spindles.
Langdale at Langdale, Ala., built in 1867 as the Chattahoochee Manufacturing Company, and purchased in 1880. The plant has 3 3,s 5 6 spindles.
This ~ l a n tdonated the sails to refit the frigate Constitution, popularly
known as "Old Ironsides," also donated the sail duck for the Byrd Expedition to the South Pole.
kanett Mills, makers of wide drills, twills and sateens, and the fabrics
used in automobile manufacture.
Shawmut Mills, makers of the heavier forms of cotton duck that is used
for hose and belting.
Fairfax Mills, whose specialty is the making of towels for every kind, of
use, and of every size and weight.
Lanett Bleachery and Dye Works is the pioneer in the dyeing of the
fabrics and the addition of color to our section of the South.
The West Point Manufacturing Company has a total of 192,000 spindles
in the various plants. The corporation has been for many years under the
management of the Lanier family, which has contributed so much t o the
financial, educational, social, cultural and political life of Troup County,
and of West Point in particular.
TROUP
COUNTY
TEXTILES.
The county of Troup ranks well in the total
of the textile plants, the total spindles of each plant is given below:
SPINDLES
Calumet, LaGrange
9,984
Calumet, Hogansville ----.--.-..-.--.--------.I-. 12,096
Dixie Cotton Mills
23,936
Elm City Plant
11,664
Dunson Cotton Mills
41,000
allside Plant -----.-....-----.-----31,680
Oakleaf Pant .
. 3,168
3 1,160
Stark Mills ----.-.-------------------Unity Plant
12,960
-- 11,S 12
Unity Splnnlng Phnt
.-
. .
Total Spindles
197,600
CHAPTER XVI. INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL
ARLY INDUSTRIES. The furnishings of the earliest cabins yield
the clue to the nature of the early commercial barter and industrial
activity. These consisted of rifles, knives, broadaxes for hewing, hatchets
for shaping, crosscut saws, froes, sledge hammers, anvils, spinning wheels
and looms, and such furnishings and fittings as could be made with the above
implements. In later days the large plantations operated commissaries that
could supply almost any need of the neighborhood, and employed smiths
who could fabricate horseshoes, hinges and straps, and hammer out such
wrought nails as were necessary in house construction, and carpenters who
could hew a sill, rive boards for roofs and palings for yard and garden fences,
build houses and barns, and fashion the giant "totem pole of the clan" in
the form of the tall screws for the cotton presses.
The early industries of Troup County were crude and simple in operation,
and were dependent for power on muscle, mules, and water power. The
apparatus for steam power was too heavy and too cumbersome to haul so
far with only oxen as the tractile agency. The mills of the early days were
smithies, carpenter shops, and gristmills, and later sawmills and tanneries.
By reason of the same difficulties of transportation, the patronage of a given
industry was limited to the range of travel of one day for the round trip.
The journeys to the markets of Augusta and Savannah were generally
annual caravans, and they required about two weeks of travel for each round
trip, and to this must be added the time to see the bright lights, to view
the novelties on display since the last visit, and to enjoy the pleasures of
the trading instinct, both in disposing of the wares and produce carried for
the purpose of sale, and to select the quantity and quality of goods to be
hauled on the homeward trip. The entire trip could easily use a month.
THE TROUP
COMPANY.Chartered October 14, 1905, by A. H. Cary,
J. M. Barnard, J. E. Dunson, Frank L. Hudson, W. A. Reeves, T. J. Thornton,
J. H. Edrnondson, J. D. Edmundson, Albert S. Dunson, Frank Word, M. PI.
Hightower, R. W. Trimble, C. W. Smith, L. S. Turner, A. E. Thornton,
W. A. Speer, N. 0. Banks, and T. M. Zellars. The corporation was organized
for the purpose of manufacturing fertilizer and the operation of a warehouse
for storage of cotton. After several years of operation the fertilizer ~ l a n t
was sold to Swift and Company. The warehouse was retained and is still
operated by a reorganized company.
FARMERS
WAREHOUSE
COMPANY.Chartered April 29, 189 1, by Andrew
J. Daniel, Scott Davis, James L. Sims, William C. Matthews, and John Daniel.
This corporation of Hogansville operated for some time, but at the present
date the corporation has dissolved and its properties consolidated with other
warehouse properties.
HOGANSVILLE
WAREHOUSE.Chartered December 29, 1906, by J. F.
Askew, H. H. Ware, Braze11 Trirnble and Company, R. W. Moore, J. M.
Woodruff, and B. F. Rosser. This is an active corporation of Hogansville,
and has united the interests of the warehouses of Hogansville.
SECURITY
WAREHOUSE
COMPANY. Chartered June 28, 1906, by F. E.
Callaway, C. V. Truitt, W. A. Holmes, J. C. Roper, S. H. Truitt, J. D.
Edrnundson, J. F. Market, H. H. Childs, G. W. Birdsong, McCaine and Market, R. 0.Pharr, Henry Banks, V. E. Dallis, C. Y. Hall, S. D. White, N. S.
McCalley, W. A. Heard, W. N. Hogg, R. S. Jackson, W. L. Haralson, Pike
Brothers, Roy Dallis, H. D. Glanton, and J. B. Whitley. A portion of this
warehouse was used for a time as a silk mill, and afterwards as a wholesale
grocery company. The warehouse is at present operated by H. H. Childs
as manager.
OTHERWAREHOUSES.The cotton warehouses of West Point are located
in Alabama, which is beyond the scope of this record. Among the personally
owned warehouses there is noted Barnard and Awtry, which afterwards became the property of E. G. Hood, and is now the freight depot of the
A. B. & C. Railroad in LaGrange; and the name of Frank Word in Hogansville is always associated with the storage of cotton. There are, perhaps,
many other names of former days that should be recorded, but the lack of
definite information prevents.
THEBRADFIELD
DRUGCOMPANY. Chartered May 3, 1897, by Thomas
S. Bradfield and W. S. Davis for the purpose of conducting the wholesale
and retail trade in drugs. The retail stores were a continuation and expansion of a long established patronage. The Court Square Pharmacy was the
original retail drug store.
HOGANSVILLE
MILL AND LUMBERCOMPANY.
Chartered April 9, 1902,
by T. J. Pendergrass, W. C. Lee, J. T. Armstrong, and J. H. Melson. This
company operates the planing mill on the south side of Hogansville.
GEORGIAGRANITEAND POWERCOMPANY. Chartered April 7, 1902, by
J. F. Mobley, Mrs. M. E. Morgan, and Milton H. Hightower, for the production of gravel and crushed stone. The plant located near Trimble furnished
the material used for railroad ballast, and for concrete construction. Many
thousand tons were marketed by this company.
COMPANY.Chartered November
MUTUALCOFFINAND MANUFACTURING
8, 1902, by C. H. Revis, H. C. Clay, J. L. Rice, Squire Thornton, and the
Mutual Aid Society, No. 1. It was organized as an adjunct to the Colored
Burial Insurance Company, and prospered for many years as such.
LAGRANGE
ICE AND MANUFACTURING
COMPANY. Chartered November
16, 1891, by John D. Edmundson, Joseph E. Dunson, C. V. Truitt, F. M.
Longley, and H. C. Butler, for the manufacture of ice. The corporation was
enlarged to include the manufacture of ice cream, cold storage of ~erishables,
and the sale of fuel, and the name was changed to that of LaGrange Ice
and Fuel Company. T'his plant as well as the Citizens Ice and Coal Company
was purchased by the American Service Company of Chicago.
WESTPOINT IRON WORKS. Chartered May 5, 1891, by W. C. Lanier,
L. Lanier, and E. F. Lanier, for the manufacture of castings, gears and
machinery parts. The scope was widened to include all forms of woodwork,
and the business of contracting. This company was a pioneer of the county
in the development of machine shops and foundries.
PIKEBROTHERS
LUMBERCOMPANY. Chartered January 30, 1904, by
J. A. Pike, F. J. Pike, and C. N. Pike, for the manufacture of doors, sash,
and blinds, wooden columns, and all forms of woodwork, paving tile and
concrete building blocks. This company was a development of a plow factory, formerly operated by W. C. Cox. Upon the retirement of Pike Brothers
from contracting and manufacturing, the plant was purchased by the West
Point Iron Works above mentioned, and operated under the name of LaGrange
Lumber and Supply Company. Newman Construction Company is the present owner.
COMPANY. Chartered November 7,
NOVELTYAND MANUFACTURING
1891, by S. T. Whitaker, M. Herzberg, R. R. Lanier, and J. M. Harrington,
for the manufacture of candy in West Point.
MUTUALCOTTONOIL COMPANY. Chartered July 25, 1906, by M. H.
Hightower, H. H. Mobley, Frank Word, S. A. Davis, J. F. Jones, J. S. Jones,
T. T. Jones, H. B. Darden, S. N. Reid, J. M. Barnard, J. E. Dunson, and
E. F. Lanier. This plant, located in Hogansville, was constructed for the
extraction of cotton seed oil. It continues to be a powerful industrial factor
in the development of Hogansville.
TRIMBLE
BRICKCOMPANY.Chartered by R. W. Trimble, P. H. Darden,
and Edwin Trippe, on May 12, 1902, for the manufacture of brick. This
company has been an important factor in the building trades not only of
this county, but in the entire, southern territory. All the textile plants
erected since 1902 in this section of Georgia have used Trimble brick.
LAGRANGE
TANNERY.
This plant was established about 1832, and was
located on the corner near the intersection of Whitesville and Hamilton
streets on the branch, which still bears the name of Tanyard branch. The
original owners were Samuel Reid and Seaborn J. Thompson. It continued
to operate unril destroyed by the raiders under Colonel LaGrange in 1865.
WESTPOINT
TANNERY.
This plant was located on the tract of land now
known as Heyman's Pines, and was organized at an early date. During the
Civil War it was operated for the Confederate government by Herman Heyman and Daniel Merz. The Federal raiders of 1865 seized the entire stock
of leather. This plant was in operation some time after the close of the war.
KENERFURNITURE
SHOP. This shop was located on Hines Street in the
early LaGrange days. Many of the handsome pieces of furniture that are
now classed as antiques were fashioned in this old shop. Godfrey Kener, the
proprietor, built the old rock mill near Tanyard branch on Hines Street,
and that old building, used as a gristmill, may have been the shop. This
building was razed when LaGrange Mills were built in 1888.
CARLTONAND THACHER.
This firm, located in Mountville, operated a
furniture factory in that place. Their excellent work in the manufacture
of beds, dressers, dining tables, and all kinds of handmade furniture, was
the source of pride and gratification to many of the housewives of old
Troup County.
K ~ GIN
D FACTORY. This plant was located three or four miles east of
LaGrange, and was owned and operated by George Kidd, who had invented
some improvements on the existing cotton gins. The products of this old
factory were widely used throughout Georgia and parts of Alabama.
GRISTMILLS.The old gristmills of the county, some of which dated
from the opening of the county, have always been a source of pleasure and
convenience, as well as manufacturing enterprises. The list is not complete,
yet numbers all that are known to the author: Norwood Mill in the northeastern part of the county; Culberson Mill in the northern part; Cameron
Mill on Yellow Jacket Creek near the river; the Double Mills on the two
sides of the Chattahoochee just above Glass Bridge; Dennis Mill on Long
Cane down near the 4th, Sth, and 6th districts corner; O'Neal's Mill, which
gave the name to the militia district, on Polecat Creek near the Salem Road;
Smith Mill on Turkey Creek on the Salem Road; Dallis Mill near the Meriwether County line north of Chipley; Young Mill on Beech Creek on the
Haralsonville Road, and Pool's Mill in the 14th district on Whitewater
Creek.
A. P. JONES BUGGYAND WAGONMANUFACTURING
COMPANY. This
company, formerly located on the site of the present Dunson Hospital, was
for a long time a prosperous business. I t was established in 1878 and continued to operate until 1904, when the advent of the automobile commenced
its conquest of the horse-drawn conveyances. One remarkable thing in
regard t o this business is that three brothers established four plants for the
manufacture of wagons and buggies: A. P. Jones of LaGrange; R. H.
Jones of Cartersville and Rome, and W. E. Jones of Atlanta. There are
still to be found in Troup, Meriwether, Heard and Harris counties, specimens of the excellent handiwork of "Jones, the Buggy Man."
BANKOF LAGRANGE.This bank was chartered by the General Assembly
of Georgia in 1852, authorizing the corporation to commence business when
$50,000.00 in specie had been paid in. There are no records that the condition was ever complied with. No names were included in charter.
LAGRANGE
SAVINGSBANK. Chartered in 1866 by F. A. Frost, B. H.
Hill, R. A. T. Ridley, Jesse McLendon, and Thomas J. Thornton. N o
records of the savings bank available, but several of the incorporators were
engaged in a private and unincorporated business.
LAGRANGE
BANKINGAND TRUST
COMPANY. Chartered in 1871 by H.
S. Wimbish, John F. Morelad, John A. Speer, John R. Broome, S. W'.
Swanson, T. J. Thornton, W. F. Spalding, John H. Glanton, A. D. Abraham, and James F. Ogletree. The capital stock was fixed at $50,000.00
with the privilege of increasing to $100,000.00. This corporation for a
long time was the principal commercial bank of the county, and the closing
of which almost paralyzed the commercial interests of LaGrange. Among
those wha presided over this bank are noted the names of Major A. D.
Abraham, George A. Speer, Thomas J. Thornton, Joseph E. Dunson, Sr.,
and Joseph E. Dunson, Jr. It is now in procees of liquidation.
~ R C H A N T SAND PLANTERS
BANK OF WESTPOINT. Chartered September 29, 1883, by J. J. Hagedorn, A. M. Eady, Daniel Merz, W. B. Higginbothem, J. R. Scott, W. E. White, J. M. Reed, J. W. Smith, B. L. Harris,
Lawrence Smith, and William Collins. This bank enjoyed a long period
of prosperity, but like many others of our country, succumbed under the
pressure of the twentieth century depression and shrinkage of values.
F ~ S NATIONAL
T
BANK OF LAGRANGE.Chartered December 20, 1883,
by L. J. Render, B. C. Ferrell, F. M. Longley, J. G. Truitt, W. C. Yancey,
W. 0. Tuggle, J. M. Barnard, and H. H. Cary. This bank continued to
operate until 1890, when it was converted into a state bank. The exactions
of a national bank, which did not permit more than 10% of the capital
stock to be loaned to one customer, did not permit the bank to finance the
LaGrange Mills for their suficient operation, as the capital stock was only
$50,000.00. Some of the currency of this bank is still in circulation, but
largely kept as keepsakes.
BANK OF LAGRANGE.Chartered in 1890, by L. J. Render, J. G. Truitt,
F. M. Longley, J. M. Barnard, B. C. Ferrell, and H. H. Cary. The business
of the First National Bank above mentioned was carried on by this bank
without interruption, the change being made between the close of business
on Saturday and the opening on Monday morning. This bank, too, felt the
iron hand of depression and was closed and liquidated.
BANKOF WEST POINT. The personnel of this corporation is not available, but it was a factor in the commercial life of the community, and like
so many other institutions was forced into liquidation.
FIRSTNATIONALBANKOF WESTPOINT. This bank like the First National of LaGrange found itself unable to continue its operations, and was
put into liquidation.
HOGANSVILLE
BANKINGCOMPANY. The leading spirit in the organization of this bank was J. F. Askew, but i t like many others fell victim to
the dark days of the depression and was forced to close.
MERCHANTS
AND FARMERS
BANK. Hogansville. The organizers of this
bank were J. P. Mobley and N. H. Hight, and enjoyed an era of prosperity
but was unable to cope with frozen assets and likewise closed.
LAGRANGE
NATIONAL
BANK. Chartered by United States May 29, 1905,
by F. E. Callaway, C. V. Truitt, J. G. Truitt, W. A. Holmes, S. H. Truitt,
F. M. Longley, and P. H. Hutchinson. One of the few institutions that
remained closed only during the bank holiday, or moratorium, declared by
President Roosevelt. The handsome structure on Main Street in the city of
LaGrange is the home of this institution. The presidents of this bank in
their order are Fuller E. Callaway, Ely R. Callaway, and Henry D. Glanton.
CITI~ENS
BANK AND TRUST
COMPANY. This company represents the
banking interests of the city of West Point, since the closing of the other
banks.
CITIZENS BANKOF HOGANSVILLE.This is not a bank strictly speaking,
but conducts the present business of the city of Hogansville as a sort of
clearing house for an Atlanta bank.
CHAPTER XVII. EDUCATIONAL
AGRANGE FEMALE COLLEGE. This institution has the unique
distinction of having its origin in the first institution in America
chartered for the instruction of women. The originator of such a revolutionary idea was Thomas Stanley, who conducted a small school in the
village of LaGrange. He held the then unpopular opinion that girls should
be given the same educational advantages that their brothers had long enjoyed. How revolutionary this idea was, may be learned from the fact
that only a few years prior to this time, the General Assembly of Georgia
had refused to permit the establishment of "Female Academies." However,
Stanley and his friends persisted in their efforts, and ~ossiblybrought some
political influence to bear on the legislative body, for on December 26, 1831,
a charter was granted to LaGrange Female Academy, designating the following board of trustees: Wilson Williams, Julius C. Alford, Rufus Broome,
James Herring, John L. Gage, William A. Redd, and Joseph Poythress.
As there were in existence no institutions for women empowered t o confer degrees on women, the term academy was used w designate an institution, in which the higher branches of learning were taught, but without
authority to confer degrees. They were the finishing schools of the day.
This academy was established on the lot set apart by the Inferior Court
of Troup County for an academy, when the town of LaGrange was laid
out by them. It is shown on the plat of original LaGrange as the southwest
corner of No. 11 Commons, and is the present site of No. 406 Broad Street,
known in later years as the Turner home.
The academy was presided over by Thomas Stanley as first principal for
two years. At the death of Stanley in 1833, John Park was chosen to
succeed him, and served eight years, assisted for a time by Mrs. Ellen
Stanley in the conduct of the school.
In 1843, the academy and the present site of College Hill were purchased
by the Montgomery brothers, ,Hugh B. T., Joseph, and T. F., and the
dormitory was located on the hill, and the academy building used as classrooms.
In 1847, an application for a fuller charter was made, and was granted
on December 17, 1847, and the name changed to LaGrange Female Institute.
The institution retained this name until a charter amendment on December
26, 1851, when it received the present designation of LaGrange Female
College.
In 185 1, the "new building" was erected on the college hill for the accommodation of classes and administration of college affairs; the cornerstone
was laid on July 4, 1851, with masonic ceremonies. It was an imposing
structure built on the model of the Temple of Diana at the site of the present
building.
In 1857, on the 29th of January, the Montgomery brothers sold the
properties to the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church, South, and
by an act of legislature of December 19, 1859, the trustees were authorized
to sell the property of the Stanley buildings and site.
Fortunately this sale was not immediately consummated, for on March 28,
1860, the entire plant on the college hill was consumed by fire during the
night following a concert held in the auditorium. Classes were resumed
in the Stanley Building, and plans for rebuilding were at once made. The
dormitory, the northern end of the present Oreon Smith Building, was completed by December 20, 1860. The college building was to be completed
by May 15, 1861, but the confusion from the incipient war re vented the
immediate completion. The masonry work was completed, but the floors
and roof unfinished. Benjamin H. Cameron was the contractor, and his
corps of workmen were negro slaves trained for the work.
In 1879, the college building was completed and the classes have been
held in this building since that time. This reconstruction was due to the
untiring efforts of J. R. Mason, president at the time.
In 1885 began the remarkable administration of the beloved Rufus W.
Smith. This covered a period of thirty years and witnessed great improvement in the curriculum and equipment, and a wonderful broadening of
purpose and quickening of the spirit of the institution. A regular department of education was established. An annex of twenty-eight rooms, a
dining hall and a modern kitchen were added to the dormitory. Electric
lights were installed in 1888. Running water and bathrooms were added
to the equipment. The Harriet Hawkes Building was erected in 1911
through the generosity of A. W. Hawkes in a gift of $10,000.00 for that
purpose. It was during this regime that William S. Witham established a
loan fund of $10,000.00 for the aid of worthy students. Alwyn M. Smith
and his wife (Miss Laura Crain), both graduates of the Leipzig Conservatory of Music, were instrumental in placing the department of music upon
a high plane of excellence.
During the administration of Miss Daisy Davies, who was elected president in 1915, an endowment fund of $251,000.00 was pledged largely from
local citizens; notable among the many contributors, the following generous
sums: James G. Truitt and wife, $50,000.00; the Dunson estate, $37,000.00;
Miss Mary Nix, $12,000.00.
In 1920, William E. Thompson was elected to the presidency, and during
his administration, Samuel C. Dobbs donated $25,000.00 and built a beautiful home on the campus.
In 1931 the college celebrated the centennial of the original establishment
with a pageant, depicting its progress from a small school to the present
splendid equipment.
In the early days of the school, it is interesting to note some of the quaint
incidents and settings. These first students, "Amarantha Cameron, Philogenia Ware, Elethia McLendon, Sophronia Campbell" and others arrived in
carriages and in barouches with far more bandboxes and umbrellas than
books. They were accompanied by their black "mammies," but this new
business of girls getting an education did not encourage so many "curling
tresses" and so much "tubbing and buttoning," so the mammies were sent
home.
A serious period ensued in which one-half of each day was devoted to
the study of mathematics, it being generally conceded in that day that a
woman could not learn such an abstract subject. But much time was
given to the writing of essays with such serious subjects as "Mother, Home
and Heaven," "What is Life but Fleeting," "All a Mist," and "In the Dark
Our Fortunes Meet Us," and others of like import.
The college authorities declared that a knowledge of French was indispensable, "as the diplomas are printed in French." In addition to all this
getting of knowledge, these young. misses were admonished to "mind your
manners, and walk sedately."
The board of trustees of LaGrange Female Institute, who succeeded the
board of LaGrange Female Academy, were as follows: Sampson Duggar,
Hampton W. Hill, Daniel McMillan, Orville A. Bull, and Thomas B. Greenwood.
The catalogue of 1848 announces that, "Board for pupils of the Institute
can be obtained in the following homes: Major George Heard, Benjamin
Harvey Hill, Esq., Dr. N. N. Smith, James Bradfield, Esq. Price of board
per month, $9.00, exclusive of washing and lights." Lights were tallow
candles. Twenty girls were accommodated in the institute at the same price.
The dormitory was used in the last days of the war as a hospital for
wounded soldiers.
Thus it will be seen that the LaGrange Female Academy, chartered on
December 26, 1831, and a suitable building erected for its accommodation
was used continuously for the academy classes and those of LaGrange Female
Institute, which was chartered on December 17, 1847, and also for the
classes of LaGrange Female College, as it was later called, until 1851. The
little academy has the distinction of being the first institution ever chartered for the instruction of young ladies in any state.
The presiding o&cers of the institution under the original title of principal, and later as presidents, are given below. For three years the classes
1
were combined with those under President Ichabod F. Cox at the Southern
College, and his name is added to the list.
Thomas Stanley
John Park
Joseph Montgomery
W. C. 'Connor
William C. Harris
Gadwell J. Pearce
Armstrong
Ichabod F. Cox
Morgan Callaway
E. P. Burch
James T. Johnson
J. R. Mason
John W. Heidt
Rufus W. Smith
Alwyn M. Smith
Miss Daisy Davies
William E. Thompson
SOUTHERN
FEMALECOLLEGE. In 1842 Rev. John E. Dawson organized
a school for young women. Dr. Dawson was soon succeeded by Milton E.
Bacon, through whose efforts the school was chartered under the name of
LaGrange Female Seminary in 1845. By an act of the General Assembly
of Georgia dated January 3 1, 1850, it changed the corporate name to LaGrange Collegiate Seminary for Young Ladies; two years later on January
14, 1852, the name was changed to Southern and Western Female College.
On February 17, 1854, the name received its last change of Southern Female
College as a title.
The first class of four was graduated in 1845. The institution won an
enviable reputation for thorough and conscientious work, and its increasing
patronage demanded more extensive accommodations.
In 1850, the old school building was remodeled for a boarding house or
dormitory, and a beautiful chapel was erected. The location a t this time
was in the eastern part of LaGrange, between the present Hill and Greenville
streets. President Bacon was succeeded by John A. Foster.
In 1857, I. F. Cox was made president, in which position he labored over
thirty years. During this period he firmly established the success of the
college.
Near the close of the Civil War, the buildings, which were then used as
a hospital for Confederate soldiers, were accidentally destroyed by fire. The
government at Richmond, Virginia, upon the presentation of the claim by
Benjamin H. Hill, appropriated $ 5 1,000.00 to restore the property, but as
the Confederacy soon dissolved, no return for the loss could be made.
With indomitable energy President Cox set to work to rebuild and refurnish the institution. In 1871, the new site on Church Street was selected
and work begun on the buildings. The chapel erected in 1877 was a monument to the generosity of President Cox and the people of LaGrange.
During the commencement of June, 1887, President Cox was stricken
by apoplexy and died from the stroke. But the heritage he left was a col-
lege free from debt and equipped with handsome buildings and the most
modern appliances. For a time Mrs. I. F. Cox served as president, and was
succeeded by her son, Charles C. Cox.
After the death of President I. F. Cox, which occurred during the commencement in June, 1887, the college was managed for a time by his wife,
who was succeeded in turn by her son, Charles C. Cox. Mr. Cox was
greatly beloved by the citizens of LaGrange as well as the students, and
the college flourished under his administration which continued until the
summer of 189 5 .
Dr. G. A. Nunnally became president, and his administration lasted for
seven years, during which time a new dormitory, the Sarah Ferrell Lyceum,
and a chapel were added to the institution.
In 1902 M. W. Hatton was chosen as president, and he served until 1908
when two of the buildings were burned. Due to the vigorous efforts of
the local alumnae, the Sarah Ferrell Lyceum was renovated and arranged
for classrooms as well as a dormitory, and Dr. R. HI. Blalock was engaged
to manage the institution, and so successful was his administration that
not only were the annual expenses met, but a surplus was provided. Rev.
W.D. Upshaw was engaged to solicit funds for the rebuilding of the dormitory.
In 1910, the new building was completed, and William F. Brown was
elected as president, and served as such for two years. In 1912, James E.
Ricketson succeeded as resident, and continued to serve until 1916, when
M. W. Hatton returned for one year.
In 1917, the trustees of the college decided that inasmuch as L. J. Render
had for many years been a generous patron of the college and had advanced
large sums of money for buildings and for maintenance of the college, that
repayment of these advances would be an impossibility on the part of the
trustees, and that the wisest course was to discontinue the school and turn
over the property to their creditor. This was done, and the buildings were
converted into apartments, and some time later became the property of
Pike and Hunter under the name of Render Apartments.
The Southern was always noted for its classical background and the
splendid musical conservatory. The Cox administration inaugurated this
excellent department, and Dr. John H. Norman of Oxford, England, and
Miss Eula Render, who had studied many years in New York and abroad,
added greater lustre by their knowledge and brilliant performance.
The presidents of Southern Female College at LaGrange include in their
roster many well and widely known educators. The roster follows:
1842-46
1846-5 5
1855-57
1815-57*
1857-87
1887
1887-95
John E. Dawson
Milton E.. Bacon
John A. Foster
Henry E. Brooks
Ichabod F. Cox
Mrs. I. F. Cox
Charles C. Cox
1891-03
1903-08
1908-10
1910-1 2
1912-16
1916-17
Dr. G. A. Nunnally
M. W. Hatton
Dr. R. H. Blalock
William F. Brown
James E. Ricketson
M. W. Hatton
BROWNWOOD.In 1840, the Brownwood Institute for young ladies was
established by Dr. Robert C. Brown. I t was located about two miles from
LaGrange in land lot 1 1 3 on the West Point highway, and occupied the
site of Dr. W. W. Rutland's present residence.
Dr. Brown was born, reared and educated in England. He had previously
taught at the Scottsboro School, and Mrs. B. C. Ferrell had been one of
his pupils. It was through Judge B. C. Ferrell that he was induced to
locate in LaGrange. He was a man of great wealth, and spared no expense
in designing and building the school.
The buildings were entirely English in design, drawn by English architects, and built by English workmen. The campus was immense, about one
hundred acres in extent, and the school buildings were placed in the center.
There were magnificent oaks, velvety lawns of blue grass, and many of the
flowers common to the Old South. Winding walks and broad driveways,
sanded with the whitest sand, wound through the campus.
Pupils were enrolled from all over the South, and it was a great honor
to receive a diploma from Brownwood. For among the noted educators of
this old school are recalled the names of Bennett, Sherman, Foster, and Cox.
Dr. and Mrs. Brown had four children: Harry became a noted physician;
Marie, an artist, never married; Lucia married Ovid Rodgers; Lydia a physician. Dr. Brown is buried in Hillview Cemetery in LaGrange.
After the death of Dr. Brown, Brownwood was sold to Dr. Otis Smith,
a Baptist minister from Massachusetts. Dr. Smith married Martha Womack,
an aunt of Mrs. Thomas A. Boddie.
Thomas Boddie was a student at Brownwood and recounted to Miss Belle
Boddie some of the pranks of the school boys. On one occasion, Dr. and
Mrs. Brown went to the house of Peter Tatum to perform the wedding
ceremony of Betty Tatum and Dr. Little. Dr. Smith and his wife were
the first guests to leave for home after the ceremony. It was a very dark
night, and on reaching the Brownwood neighborhood, the horses became
disquieted and refused to go on. Ben, the negro coachman, got out to
investigate and found a rail fence built across the road. Ben cleared the
road and next morning there was no sign of a fence there. Dr. Smith made
*During the years of 1811-17, John
A. Foeter and Henry E. Brooks acted as co-presidents.
no reprimand, and in fact, enjoyed the prank as much as the boys who
played it.
In 18j2, Brownwood was chartered by the General Assembly as a university for boys with Dr. Otis Smith as president, and for many years
enjoyed the reputation of one of the best schools in the South.
COUNTYPUBLICSCHOOLS. The public schools of Troup County were
organized in January, 1871, in accordance with an act of the General
Assembly enacted on October 13, 1870. The following members constituted the County School Board, and the militia district represented is noted:
LaGrange District
City of LaGrange
Harrisonville District
East Vernon
Rough Edge
Mountville
ONealys Mill
Hogansville District
West Point District
City of West Point
West Vernon
Antioch
LLong Cane
McLendon's
P I ' Mill.
Town of Hogansville
James H. Fannin, President
John E. Toole, Secretary
J. P. Mooty
E. J. Greene
Anderson Leslie
J. T. Johnson
H. Traylor
W. C. Lovejoy
-W. L. Alford
J, W. Oslin
John W. Glass
John G. Goss, resigned Aug. 1
B C. Cook
l
Gibson
.
i.
.
S. H. Dunson
N o election
The examination and selection of teachers and the issuance of the licenses
to teach were made in August, September and October, 1871, and the following names were authorized to teach in the common schools: In East
Vernon, F. B. Mosely and Mrs. Mary R. Lane; in Harrisonville, J. P. Mooty,
John Wrillingharn and Isaac Jackson; in Rough Edge, Robert H. Dallis;
in O'Neal's Mill, Frank Ward; in West Vernon, Charles S. Johnson; in
West Point district, J. D. Attaway and J. R. Mann; in Antioch, W. G.
Floyd and Miss Ella M. Boyd; in Long Cane, Miss Florence Burton; in
McLendon's, L. S. Bates; in city of West Point, A. P. Mooty and A. F.
Trimble; and the following names with place undesignated: J. M. Hogg,
Lemuel Bruce, W. S. Alford, Mrs. Ella Marchman, Mrs. Fannie Autrey,
J. B. Camp, Robert E. Park, I. F. Cox, J. W. Hogg, W. E. Palmer, J. W.
Tarleton.
The first school census taken in the county in the fall of 1871 merely
gives the totals of white and colored between the ages of six and twenty-one.
DISTRICT
WHITE
LaGrange
I5
City of LaGrange-_---.....--I---270
85
656 East Vernon
18 1
673 Harrisonville
697 Rough Edge
238
97
698 Mountville
2 10
699 O'Neal's
157
700 Hogansville
Town of Hogansville
103
116
701 West Point
City of West Point
151
735 West Vernon -.-----.-----------100
15 1
800 Antioch
804 Long Cane
181
71
80 1 McLendon's
149
1086 Pool's Mill
65 5
Total
23 1 5
The original Board of Education
C o u ~ nSCHOOLSREORGANIZATION.
which was chosen in 1871 was found to be too large for efficient work, so
the board was reorganized on January 19, 1872. The new board consisted
of five members with a term of office of four years. The first three of the
board given below were chosen for two years, and the other two for four
years, so that the terms of the whole board would not expire a t the same
time.
W. P. Edmondson
W. E. Glanton
N. L. Atkinson
M. L. Rachels, Chairman
John E. Toole
A. E. Reid
W. S. Trimble
A. C. Williams
E. T. Winn
J. N. Carlton
J. C. C. Freeman
Orville A. Bull
John D. Johnson
William M. Boyd
James F. Park
W. E. Dozier
John T. Boykin
William A. Poer
William V. Gray, Chairman
J. F. Mobley
W. R. Bradfield
John D. Johnson
J. F. Thompson
R. L. Gilham
Henry W. Miller
W. B. Whatley
James F. Askew
H. C. Kimbrough
Jesse F. Jones
E. B. Clark, Chairman
William T. Tuggle
W. C. Davidson
C. K. Bass
R. E. O'Neal
George V. Boddie
H. E. Newton
H. H. Lane, Chairman
John W. Colley
J. H. Cleaveland
Fannin Potta
'
1914-18
191419181918-22
19 18-22
W. S. Brack
J. Q. Burton, Chairman
J. D. Walker
R. H. Sivels
W. C. Davidson
1922-30
1922-30
19281930-1932--
L. L. Smith
J. T. Hairston
J. C. Teaver
H. J. Hogg
J. T. Patillo
COUNTY
SUPERINTENDENTS. The county school superintendents, called
formerly commissioners, were elected by the Board of Education in the first
plan of operation, but were afterwards made elective by the voters, but
excluding those in cities which had an independent system of schools.
The oecials of the early days of public schools were hampered in many
ways in the accomplishment of their purposes: the apathetic attitude of the
people, the lack of suitably trained teachers, and the woeful lack of funds
.coupled with the temporary diversion by the state authorities'.of the school
funds, which caused the pay of teachers to be deferred or discounted. The
roster of superintendents follows:
1871-85
1885-01
190 1-08
1908-12
John E. Toole, Sr.
Orville A. Bull
Hatton Lovejoy
W. C. Davidson
1912-20
1920-28
1928-
John B. Strong
Thomas G. Polhill
J. H. Melson
PRESENTCOUNTYSCHOOLS.
In 1920, when Thomas G. Polhill was
elected as County School Superintendent, there were twenty-three small
white schools in Troup County outside of the municipal corporations of
LaGrange, Hogansville and West Point. The attendance on these schools
was very irregular, for it was dependent on weather conditions and the
needs of the various stages of crop development on the farms. Some of the
school building&were poorly lighted and heated and inadequately furnished
with suitable desks, blackboards and apparatus. During the administration
of T. G. Polhill, the physical conditions were almost revolutionized and
reconstructed. Instead of the numerous poorly constructed buildings, there
were constructed nine modern consolidated schools, each one of which is
provided with a suitable assembly room, a library of well selected books,
furnished with modern desks and an adequate teaching force. The question
of attendance further hampered by the increased distance of some pupils
from the consolidated school, was solved by the use of school buses under
the control of careful and skillful drivers to carry pupils to and from the
schools. Since the consolidation of the various schools, the pupils have made
wonderful advancement in comparison with former days.
Another potent factor in the advancement of the rural schools of our
county has been the introduction of the Four-H Clubs in the schools by
Miss Ida Bell, and the Boys Club by our county farm agents, George Daniel
and John Anderson. These ideas were impracticable until the schools were
consolidated, because the units were too small to justify the expense.
These great improvements that were inaugurated in our county schools
have been amplified and carried on under the efticient management of the
present superintendent, J. H. Melson, who is a teacher of wide experience
and ability, and who is in sympathy with every egort towards improvement.
The following are the schools: Pleasant Hill at Abbottsford; Center and
Gray Hill in the 5th district; Hillcrest in the 12th; Mountville; Oak Grove;
Rosemont ; Salem; Tatum.
PERSONNEL
OF THE COUNTYSCHOOLS. The personnel of the county
schools under the supervision of J. H. Melson follows:
Abbottsford
n
Gray Hill
Hillcrest
Montvie
0 Grove
Rosemont
Salem
Tatum
t
H. B. Coleman and two teachers
eJ. D. Whiteside and six teachers
K. T. Wilson and four teachers
H. B. Clay and three teachers
H. M. Perry and four teachers
F a n Cain and three teachers
0 T. Harmon and seven teachers
Miss Ruth Boyles
H. R. Sims and three teachers
TROUP
COUNTY
ACADEMY.The Troup County Academy was chartered
in 1827, and in 1828 was located on the present site of Hillview Cemetery
in LaGrange. The students of the academy used water from a spring on
the grounds of the Church Street Park, the former Ridley place. Among
the teachers of this academy are noted Judge Orville A. Bull, Judge Blount
C. Ferrell, and Lem Robertson. In 1838 the property was transferred to
the trustees of the LaGrange High School, who sold the property to the
city for a cemetery.
FRANKLINACADEMY.This academy was chartered in 1827, and incorporated on December 26, 1831, a t the same time as the incorporation of
the town of Franklin, and was located in land lot 283 of 5th district on
the present site of the high school. On December 24, 1832, the name of
the town and of the academy were changed to the name of West Point
Academy.
PLEASANT
GRWE ACADEMY. This academy was chartered by the General Assembly of Georgia in 1827, but no names were mentioned in the
charter. It is probable that the old Pleasant Grove School was the site, but
there are no records available to verify this.
VERNONACADEMY. Chartered on December 22, 1829, with the following named trustees: Woody Dozier, Willis Whatley, Elliott Reid, Wiley J.
Sterling, and Ira Allen. I t was chartered as an accessory to the town of
,
Vernon on the Chattahoochee, which had been an aspirant for the location
of the county seat in 1828. The academy, like the town, now exists in
memory only.
LAGRANGE
FEMALEACADEMY.Incorporated on December 2 6, 183 1, this
was the school which was developed into LaGrange Female College. This
academy has the distinction of being the first incorporated institution for
the instruction of women only in the state of Georgia. The history will
be treated under the history of LaGrange Female College.
WESTPOINTFEMALEACADEMY.This academy was chartered and incorporated on December 25, 1837, with the following trustees: Beaman H.
Martin, Benjamin P. Robinson, William Reid, Dickerson, Burnham, John
M. Russell, John C. Webb, and Edward B. Terrell. This academy was
operated for some time, probably up to the time of the war in 1861, and
formed the nucleus of the Female College afterwards built in 1868.
LAGRANGE
HIGHSCHOOL. This school was chartered on December 28,
1838, with the following board of trustees: N. N. Smith, Benjamin Cameron, William A. Redd, Jesse Bull, John E. Gage, Bennett M. Ware, Wilie
Womack, Andrew Battle, and James K. Redd. The property of the Troup
County Academy was donated to them by the trustees of that institution,
which was sold, and a site bought on the eastern side of the town between
Hill and Greenville streets and east of King Street. The site contained
about twenty acres, and fronted 750 feet on the present Hill Street. This
school was presided over by some well known educators, Otis Smith, Carlisle
Bernan, Threlkeld, Hodges, Mmty and Jones. On October 14, 1843, the
property was purchased by Joseph T. Montgomery, and it is probable that
he induced Carlisle Beman, then president of Oglethorpe University, to take
charge of the school. A t a later date it was in possession of the LaGrange
Board of Education, who sold the school site to a company to use as a race
track, and the school pras moved further west to the intersection of Hill
and Greenville. This in turn was sold by the city to Robert E. and Edward
Park, and the building removed to Park Avenue and operated as a boarding
school for boys. A few years later it was destroyed by fire.
HOMEACADEMY.Chartered on December 31, 1838, with the following
named trustees: William Christian, William .E. Marcus, Peachy Bledsoe,
William M. Fincher, Elkanah Talley, Thomas Tatom, George Wells, and
Samuel Cartright. The location of this academy cannot be definitely stated
as the names of the trustees constitute the only clue. Probably in the southern part of the county, but possibly in the eastern.
WESTPOINTFEMALECOLLEGE. While the college may have been a
development of the West Point Female Academy, it was organized as a
college mainly through the efforts of Major McClendon, and financed by a
stock company in 1868. In November, 1873, it was destroyed by a storm,
but was rebuilt in 1874 by the city council under the administration of
B. F. Reid as mayor. Colonel A. P. Mooty was one of the presidents, and
was in charge in 1874, at which time there were about a hundred students
in attendance.
THE LAGRANGEPUBLICSCHOOLS. Education in LaGrange for many
years was dependent on her colleges, the high school for boys, and several
private schools, all of which received a small addition to their income from
the state school fund through the county school commissioner. The General Assembly of Georgia had passed several acts enabling the city of LaGrange to establish a system of public schools, and in the early part of
1903, an election was held to authorize an issue of bonds for the construction of school facilities to the amount of $25,000.00, and the citizens
approved the measure by an overwhelming majority.
The following Board of Education was elected by the city council to
put the system into operation: F. M. Longley, who was chosen as chairman,
T. A. Atkinson, J. H. Edmondson, H. R. Slack, C. L. Smith, W. L. Cleaveland, and John D. Edmundson, mayor and ex-of6cio member. The high
school, now a r w e l l Avenue, was erected a t a cost of $13,000.00; East
LaGrange and the Union Street colored school, for $4,5 00.00, and the balance up to $20,000.00 was used for desks and apparatus.
Clifford L. Smith was chosen as the first superintendent; James E. Ricketson as High School principal; Miss Lulu Ward as principal of East LaGrange,
and Miss Fleming Ward as principal of Unity School, conducted in a building furnished by the Unity Cotton Mills. An additional colored school
was established as Hill Street in the old colored academy.
The construction of Elm City Mills in 1905 and the Urity Spinning
Mills in 1909 soon overcrowded the Unity School, for which temporary
provision was made on Oak Street for the first grade, but finally resulted
in the construction of the Unity School on Wilkes Street, and the enlargement of Union Street. The High School was built in 1914 at an approximate cost of $36,000.00. The system at that time included the High
School on north Greenwood Street, Harwell Avenue Grammar School, Unity
Grammar School, East LaGrange Grammar School on Johnson Street, and
a kindergarten school on Dixie Street, and the two colored schools, Union
Street and Hill Street.
In 1920, the city limits were enlarged to a two-mile radius, and the
Southwest LaGrange School and the Dunson School added to the city system, and a colored school in the Valley Waste village.
In 1922, the Dawson Street School was built to replace the East LaGrange
School, which was abandoned and razed; and the East Depot School for
colored students was erected in the same year; the High School was enlarged
and a gymnasium added in 1921; the Domestic Science building was added
to the High School group on Greenwood Street. In 193 1, the Junior High
School was erected on fill Street. The present system includes the following schools:
.
High School on Greenwood Street.
Junior High School on Hill Street.
Harwell Avenue Grammar School.
Dawson Street Grammar School.
Southwest LaGrange School on Washington Street.
Dunson School on the Atlanta Highway.
Unity School on Wilkes Street.
Union Street colored school.
East Depot Street colored school.
The story of the LaGrange Public Schools would be incomplete without
paying tribute to the excellent work of James E. Ricketson as principal of
the High school until he became president of the Southern Female College,
and his able successor, Thomas G. Polhill, afterwards the superintendent
of the Troup County schools, and their associates, for the establishment of
a standard of scholarship beyond reproach, and to these at a later date was
added the work of Robert L. Cowart as principal. The painstaking work
in the early years of the schools of Miss Lulu Ward and her sister, Miss
Fleming Ward, in preparing the way for fuller upper grades, which were
pitifully small in the beginning. The Southwest LaGrange School under
the superintendency of Chilton W. Coleman before the merger constituted
a powerful factor in the later expansion of the schools by the excellent
preparatory work accomplished. Since 1916 the LaGrange schools have
been under the care of Superintendent F. F. Rowe, under whom they have
made great progress in development of scholarship, and have added an enviable record of athletic activities.
Clifford
L. Smith
1903-16
F. F. Rowe
1916-
WESTPOINTPUBLICSCHOOLS. The West Point Public Schools were
operated as part of the county system until 1876, when a local board of
education was authorized. In 1879 on August 9, the board was composed
of nine members, the terms of three members expiring every year. On
August 20, 1906, the pro rata of the school fund of West Point was authorized to be paid direct.
The utilization of the West Point Academy as a nucleus for the system
and with some additions was found to be adequate for the demands of the
schools. A large per cent. of West Point citizens in the business sense are
political citizens of Alabama, and the colored population of the Georgia
side is small in proportion to the white. The population of the textile plants
are all in Alabama. Yet the normal growth of the thriving city on the
banks of the Chattahoochee increased the demands of the school on the
hill, and in 193 2 a handsome, commodious, and well arranged high school
was built, which would bq a credit to a veritable metropolis.
q e number of superintendents testifies to the merits of these well known
educators by their long service: A. P. Mooty was the first, serving under
the chairmanship of John R. Scott; J. W. McKemie; Norman C. Miller;
J. E. Purks; Walter P. Thomas, and the present incumbent, W. Terrell
Harrison.
HOGANSVILLE
PUBLICSCHOOLS.The public schools of Hogansville were
established in 1893 in conformity to an act passed by the General Assembly
of Georgia during that year. The school was located in the northern part
of the town in a small wooden building. In 1896 the old small building
was replaced by a larger wooden structure, which at the time seemed to be
ample for the accommodation of pupils for some time to come. The construction of the Hogansville Manufacturing Company in 1899 caused an
influx of students which soon filled the school to overflowing and necessitated the use of temporary quarters for some of the classes. The new brick
schoolhouse and auditorium was erected in 1919, and again there seemed
to be plenty of room. The construction of the Stark Mills in 1922-23
complicated the situation once more, and resulted in the construction of
the new High School in 1932.
Among the early teachers of the Hogansville schools are noted the names
of Mrs, Sarah Covin and her husband, John H. Covin, and A. F. Trimble.
The superintendents include the following: Marvin Williams, Duval Jackson, J. B. Sammons, E. B. Strozier, J. T. McGehee, McLarty, and the present
incumbent, 0. C. Lam.
CHAPTER XVIII. LITERATURE AND ARTS
AGRANGE DAILY NEWS. In any record of the literature of a
community, the editors of the newspapers hold a prominent place,
inasmuch as a great part of the progress of a community is mirrored in,
and influenced by the attitude of the papers of the community. Troup
County has been fortunate in having so many able editors.
The present LaGrange News has had several names during its long and
honorable career. It was launched as the LaGrange Herald in 1843, and
later was called The Chattahoochee. In the early sixties it bore the name
of The LaGrange Reporter, which name was retained up to the time of
the merger of the LaGrange Reporter, the LaGrange Graphic and the S h t t l e
in the year 1928. Since that time it has borne the name of LaGrange Daily
News.
In Avery's History of Journalism in Georgia, he tells us that the LaGrange Herald, then a weekly, was founded by Dr. Bronson. William J.
Scott was an early editor. Judge Alexander M. Speer, for many years prominent in the political history of South Carolina and Georgia, was one of the
senior editors. Thomas J. Bacon, one of the most brilliant members of the
ante bellum bar of LaGrange, was the editor until 1861 at the beginning of
the war. He was mayor of LaGrange a t the time and was one of the first
to volunteer and was a Captain in the 27th Georgia Volunteer Infantry.
He was killed at Seven Pines on May 3 1, 1862, and was the first LaGrange
man killed on the battlefield.
C. H. C. Willingham was the editor during the war and the reconstruction days. He was an able and fearless writer and his intense loyalty to
the South, and his denunciations of Federal injustice came near causing his
arrest several times.
Another editor was John T. Waterman, who was a man of brilliant intellect and courtly manners. He conducted the Reporter for eight years,
making a great success of his management.
Rev. S. Pope Callaway, son of James Callaway, one of the Troup pioneers,
is remembered most happily as editor of the Reporter for many years by
the old citizens now living in the county. He was noted for his cultured
English, his grasp of thought, and his force of expression. After his death
in 1896, his wife, Mrs. Ellen Patillo Callaway assumed the management and
called to her assistance W. W. Randall, an experienced editor and newspaper
man. Some time later she gave the management to her son, James Pope
Callaway, during whose administration the daily was instituted.
In 1902, George E. Billinghurst became manager and editor, and with
him was associated W. W. Randall. In 1904, J. 0.Bell purchased the plant
and became manager and editor. The property again changed hands and
J. A. Perry became manager and editor for some time.
The next editor was John H. Jones, who became the state senator from
our 37th district in 1921-22. H
e was also the author of "Americanism,"
a book of observations and records of the World War. Many of the succeeding managers and editors were never very closely identified with local
interests, and did not leave much impression upon the memory of the readers. Some of these were Williams, Mahaffey, Henry Emory, Howard, Paul
Porter. The present manager and editor is Roy C. Swank, who is able and
efIicient.
THE LAGRANGEGRAPHIC.
This paper commenced publication on January 7, 1888, under the management of C. R. Hawkes and W. W. Randall.
After some time Hawkes was replaced by Roe C. Ward, and this continued
until Randall was employed as editor of the Reporter, when Orville Gustavus Cox became editor of the Graphic. Associated with him was G.
A. B. Tomlinson, and from this gifted pair came many sparkling gems of
prose and poetry. After his death in 1903, he was succeeded by the following editors and managers: James B. Ridley, Marvin M. Dickinson, Samuel
G. Woodall, Roy McGinty, James B. Daniel, W. A. Richardson. After
these the paper was merged with the Reporter under the name of LaGrange
Daily News.
THEWEST POINTNEWS.This newspaper is the medium of news of
West Point and the Chattahoochee valley industrial plants, and was established by Joseph Hames. H e was succeeded by W. Trox Bankston, whose
facile pen enriched the pages for many years. Bankston was a member of
the legislature for our county in 1917- 18. Upon his change of residence
t o the city of Covington, the editorship and management fell upon the
shoulders of John Coffee and his son, who are the present operators of the
paper.
THEHOGANSVILLE
HEADLIGHT.
This newspaper was'established in 1897
by J. R. Kendall and George E. Billinghurst. After Billinghurst removed
to LaGrange, Rev. George W. Morgan became the editor. He was followed
by R. H. Jackson, who was editor up to the time that it ceased publication.
THESHUTTLE. This paper was established as a paper ministering to the
news of the southern textile plants in 1919 under the management of Mrs.
Ethel Thomas, who added to the interest of the pages with a weekly letter
under the pen-name of "Aunt Becky." She was succeeded by Mrs. C. J.
Lewis for a short time, and she was followed by Miss Eleanor Orr, who was
manager until it was merged with the Reporter in 1928 under the name
of the LaGrange Daily News.
OURPAPERS.The end and aim of these papers of Troup County has
ever been to bring the news to its readers in an entertaining manner, to
uphold the lofty principles of our government, to promote civic and urban
gowth, and to disseminate culture and enlightenment among the readers.
The modern editors have striven and succeeded in carrying forward the
high moral policies established years ago by the pioneer editors.
LITERATURE.A tea for authors given by the trustees of the LaGrange
Memorial Library in September of 1933, as a feature of the observance of
the Georgia Bicentennial program, brought out the fact that Troup County
has produced a number of writers of note. The display included the work
of the following Troup County authors:
Mrs. Oreon Mann Smith, a novel, The Novice. She was the wife of
Rufus W. Smith, president of LaGrange Female College, and was a teacher
of distinction in Georgia schools for more than fifty years.
Mrs. Addie Bull Tomlinson, a poem, Missionary. She was the wife of
J. M. Tomlinson, a portrait painter, and the mother of Mrs. Mary Tuggle
and gifted son, G. A. B. Tomlinson.
Gustavus Adolphus Bull Tomlinson, a volume of poems, The Old Brigade
and other poems. He was the son of the above. This talented family
added greatly to the culture of Troup County.
Orville Gustavus Cox, a volume of poems, Elms and Roses. He was
editor of the LaGrange Graphc, and was mayor of LaGrange in 1903-04.
Frank H a r d , a volume of poems, In a Garden. He was judge of the
City Court of Troup County, 1905-16; judge of the Court of Appeals.
His friend, William Cole Jones says of his poems, "He will stand revealed
as one whose crowning gift is a fine responsiveness to the beauty of nature
and the worth of man." He lives in Decatur at present, but Troup County
still calls him her son by virtue of his long residence there.
Mrs. Jewel Faver Glass and her talented daughter, Katherine Faver Glass,
have had many poems published in the newspapers, and they each have
several poems on trees in "Poems of Trees," a Sidney Lanier Memorial.
Carrie Fall Benson, plays and poems. She has written five plays, two
of which, "FiddLin Fellow" and "Timbers," were sold to the Carolina Players, and produced in many cities of the country. The other three, "Decoroza Days," "Porcelain Heartbreak," and r'Mickleberry Manor," have been
produced at LaGrange College and before many organizations of women.
She has written many charming poems, which have been published in poetry
magazines and in anthologies.
Charles Stakeley, a volume of poems. He was a minister of note, and
was pastor for many years a t Augusta, Georgia, and at Washington, D. C.
He died at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1932.
Mrs. Lottie Anne Spikes, a volume, Memories. She was the wife of L. E.
Spikes. She was a contributor to the columns of the Banner Herald.
John Franklin Edwards, a volume, The Red Book. He,was a member of
the 35th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, C. S. A., the father of Mrs. R. L.
Hammett. The book is an autobiography of Confederate service.
John H. Jones, a volume, Americanism. He was an editor of the LaGrange Reporter, and our Georgia state senator in 1921-22.
Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, a history, Life and Labor in the Old South. He
is the most celebrated writer of LaGrange origin, soq of J. R. Phillips and
nephew of Robert M. Young. His history of the ante bellum South is fearless in style, clear cut, and enlightening, yet giving to facts an interesting
and picturesque touch. He was awarded a prize offered by Little, Brown
and Company for the best unpublished history manuscript, the publication
of which won for him the Kahn Fellowship Foundation, which is awarded
for unusual attainment and gives a year of leisure :for travel and rest from
work. He is now professor of American History at the University of
Michigan.
Mrs. Arabella Dawson Hill, a volume, Mrs. Hill's Cook Book. She was
the wife of Judge E. Y. Hill, and daughter of John E. Dawson, founder
of Southern Female College at LaGrange. Her book was for a long time
the supreme authority on all forms of cookery, and many of her recipes
are still in use.
Clifford Lewis Smith, a booklet, Birds and Trees of Trout County. H e
is the author of this volume.
Belle Boddie, contributions, Early Recollections of Troup County. She
has recorded the recollections of her mother, Mrs. Aley Womack Smith
Boddie, the wife of Thomas A. Boddie, with great charm and dignity. They
were published in the LaGrange Grajhc. In addition to these contributions, she has had many other articles accepted by papers and magazines.
Edward Thomas Moon, a history, Class of 1893 of University of Georgia.
A history of the achievements of the class of 1893, written in a clear and
entertaining manner by one of its members.
Mrs. Annie Bass Hill, poems. She is the wife of B. H. Hill of West
Point. She has written many poems of merit and distinction, which have
been published in the Atlanta Constitution, the New York Times, and in
several magazines. She is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club.
Anderson M. Scruggs, poems. His boyhood was spent in West Point.
His most widely known poem, "Glory to Them," is a glorification of the
toilers of the earth. This poem has been published in thirty magazines,
anthologies, and newspapers, and appeared in an English anthology of the
best poems of 1930. He is professor of histology and embryology at the
Southern Dental College, and is a member of the Poetry Society of America,
and of the Atlanta Writers Club.
Nellie Sue Bailey, poems. She is a student at LaGrange College, and
has had several poems published in the local papers, and one included in
the volume of Trees-the Sidney Lanier Memorial.
Benjamin Harvey Hill, addresses and orations. He was one of the distinguished orators of America, prominent in state and national affairs.
Many of his addresses have a wide circulation. His official positions are
noted in the roster of Oficials and Old Citizens.
PAINTING. Our county has been fortunate in having many exponents
of art in color and in form in the communities, and emanating from the
colleges. Some of these have bestowed their artistic creations on friends
-and loved ones, and enriched the walls of many homes. Some of these
artists and teachers follow: Mamie Stakeley, an early instructor; Lucy
Carpenter, whose specialty was wax flowers; J. M. Tomlinson, portrait
painter; Mamie Holifield, an artistic artist; Mrs. Ada Wooten Shaw, Mrs.
Pearl Long Smith, Roberta Black, Viola Burks, and many others. All of
the above have received awards of merit for pictures exhibited a t state and
local fairs and exhibitions. Vance Cotter also won recognition with his
etchings and pen and ink work. William Lamar Dodd, son of Rev. F. J.
Dodd, has exhibited some beautiful water colors in Philadelphia at the
Feragil, and in the International Exhibit at New York. He received a
scholarship in the Art League of New York for excellence of his work.
Musrc. From the early days to the present, the citizens of LaGrange
and of the entire county have enjoyed unusual opportunities in culture
and entertainment and instruction on account of the presence of masters
of art, music, and literature in the colleges, and from the celebrities who
came to our communities under the auspices of our educational institutions.
Among these passing celebrities are noted: Walter Emerson, premier cornetist of the world; Thomas Nelson Page, author and ambassador to. England; '
Governor Bob Taylor, the inimitable entertainer; Rumenji, the master violinist; Blumenstein, the matchless cello player of the Boston Quintet Club;
these and many more through the colleges; William J. Bryan, the orator
and statesman; and John Burroughs, the naturalist; the last two through the
public schools. Among the musicians that have contributed to the technique
and appreciation of music, and became identified with our county as citizens
are noted many names: Alwyn Means Smith, a talented singer and master
of music, and his wife, Mrs. Laura Crane Smith, a finished singer and musician; Herman Schirmacher, musician and orchestral expert; John Norman,
pianist and organist; Louis Alberti, singer and choral expert; Mrs. Pauline
Witherspoon Hutchinson, the golden-voiced soprano; Mrs. Jennie Evaas
Bradfield, the matchless contralto; Eula Render, Mrs. Ethel Dallis Hill, and
Ms. Gene Covin Farmer and her talented daughters, all violinists of the
highest order; Mrs. Mary Will Cleaveland Thompson, Mrs. Annie Lizzie
Strong Park, Sallie Cox, and Viola Burks, artistic pianists and organists; a
host of others, of which those above were only types.
CHAPTER XIX. PUBLIC BUILDINGS
HE COURTHOUSE. In 1827 the first session of Troup County
Superior Court was at a private home west of the town of LaGrange,
since the county seat had not been selected by the Inferior Court, and in
fact the selection was made in the spring of 1828. The old brick courthouse was erected in 1830, and the accompanying jail was located on the
site of the present city hall. The original jail was replaced by a brick structure in 1845, which was built by Benjamin H. Cameron. In 1892 the jail
site was changed to the present one under the administration of M. L. Fleming as chairman of the Troup County Commissioners, and the present structure was built in that year. The other commissioners were J. M. Callaway,
J. P. Baker, J. E. Smith, and W. J. Hammett, and the builder was William
L. Landrum.
The old courthouse was supplemented at a later date by two small offices
separated by a vault. These were for the accommodation of the County
Clerk and the Ordinary, and were located on the eastern edge of the courthouse plat, which was inclosed by an octagonal iron fence. This fence was
afterwards used to inclose the Confederate Cemetery. The old brick courthouse and the offices were dismantled in 1904, and while the work of demolition was ia progress, 0. G. Cox, talented poet and editor of the LaGrange
Graphic, penned the following lines:
"The march of time had ordered that the old courthouse should go.
It was shoddy and old-fashioned and out of time, I know,
But I'm thinking of the vanished scenes in the long ago.
Alford is grandly thundering,
Dougherty is pleading, and Edward Hill is there!
Bull i s weighing justice with scales balanced fair.
Haralson in argument is pealing strong and clear,
Ben Hill sees on furrowed cheek the tribute of a tear.
Gordon's ~outhfulvisage, bright eyes aflame!
Ferrell, clear and brilliant, and a host whom I could name."
In 1904, the present courthouse was built under the administration of
Charles H. Griffin as chairman, and ably assisted in the work by the other
members of the Board of Commissioners, J. M. Callaway, W. J. Hardy, J. F.
Market, and Frank Word, and Frank Harwell as clerk of the board. It
was built by C. C. Totherow and Company as the contractors.
THELAGRANGEPOSTOFFICE. The time of waiting in the lobby of the
old post offices was formerly spent in political discussion, and the transmission of social news, otherwise known as gossip. The gathering time was the
arrival of the mail train, and the waiting time during the distribution in
the various boxes until "General Delivery" was open. The records of the
early days are not kept in the local oflice and the memory of old citizens,
some of which have blank intervals, furnish the source of all available information. The earliest location of the office in the memory of the author
was a wooden building about where the Howard Garage is situated on Church
Street, and Captain W. S. Evans was the postmaster. This was during the
first Cleveland administration in 1884. I t was next moved to the west side
of Ridley Avenue near the Misses Young store, and Moses R. Kirby was the
postmaster. The next move was to the east side of Main Street, and the
postmaster was William Laird, who was not previously a citizen of LaGrange.
In 1905 the ofice was moved to the corner now occupied by the A. 82 P.
store, as the National Bank had leased the old quarters on Main Street, and
on this site Mrs. N. F. Awtry presided as postmistress.
In 1911 the present Federal building was erected as a post office, and continues to be the oflice until the present date. This is a modern building with
all the conveniences necessary for the reception and forwarding of mail.
The addition of the convenience of the parcel post was established about
1917, some time later than the erection of this building. The present courteous and obliging postmaster is Walter L. Turner, who succeeded Mrs. Awtry.
THE WESTPOINTPOST OFFICE.
The thriving city of West Point and
the adjoining part of the city that lies in Alabama also have a Federal building as a post office, the erection of which was completed in 1932. It is on
the west side of the river on the south side of 8th Street, almost on the
Alabama state line.
CITYHALLOF LAGRANGE.The city hall of LaGrange was erected in
1926, during the administration of Grover C. Hunter as mayor, with the
approval of the following members of the city council: F. J. Pike, R. L.
Render, Roy Dallis, E. D. Phillips, J. E. Borders, and A. C. Dunson. The
building was designed by Lockwood and Poundstone, and constructed by the
LaGrange Lumber and Supply Company. The cornerstone was laid by W.D.
Richardson, Grandmaster of Georgia Freemasons.
The building is located on the northeast intersection of Haralson and
Ridley Avenue on the site of the old county jail. It provides commodious
city offices for the clerk and the city engineer, a comfortable room for a
council chamber, and in the basement the city police office and the city
prison. The city clerk is J. H. Moss, and the city engineer, G. H. Sargent.
WEST
POINTAUDITORIUM.This modern structure is a credit to the city
of West Point, and houses the welfare activities of the community, and the
headquarters of this district of scouts under the leadership of Grady Brad-
shaw. The city offices are located on the corner of First Avenue and Ninth
Street. Further details and dates were not obtainable.
HOGANSVILLE
CITYHALL.
The city hall of Hogansville was erected in
1924, during the administration of Mayor Daniel. It is located on the south
side of Main Street a short distance from the railroad station, which is the
center of the corporate limits of the city. Upon the cornerstone appears the
following information: "Hbgansville City Hall, 1924; G. G. Daniel, Mayor;
C. C. Nall; R. E. Daniel; B. F. Rosser; W. P. Wilkes; B. R. Williams, Sr.;
R. H. Utting, clerk." The building is a credit to the enterprise of this
energetic city.
THEDUNSONHOSPITAL.
This hospital was originally the LaGrange Sanatorium, which was chartered November 24, 1902, by H. R. Slack, F. M.
Ridey, H. W. Terrell, T.S. Bradfield, F. E. Callaway, J. E. Dunson, C. V.
Truitt, W. A. Reeves, and A. T. Dallis. The Sanatorium was sponsored by
Dr. H. R. Slack, who was a large contributor in the subscription to the
enterprise, and it was operated by him until 1916, when it was purchased
by the city of LaGrange in response to a bequest by Joseph E. Dunson, who
died in that year. The bequest was stipulated as a fund of $10,000.00 for
the erection of a municipal hospital, and in addition a maintenance fund of
$500.00 annually for five years for the operation of the hospital. The city
purchased the Sanatorium for $20,000.00 by adding $10,000.00 from the
city treasury. The Sanatorium was valued at a larger sum, but Dr. and
Mrs. Slack donated the excess value to the hospital.
The Dunson Hospital began operations with forty beds, and included a
colored ward in accordance with the conditions of the bequest. At a later
date the hospital was enlarged to accommodate sixty beds and an X-ray
laboratory. A training school for nurses was conducted for a time.
Among those citizens who have served as trustees, or directors, of the
hospital are found the names of H. H. Childs, Jarrell Dunson, T.J. Thornton, F. S. Tatum, J. J. Milam, and C. N. Pike. The present board consists
of C. N. Pike, R. 0. Pharr, T. G. Polhill, Richard Hutchinson, and Mayor
R. S. O'Neal, ex-officio member.
The superintendents of the hospital are named in the order of their service
in the hospital: Freda Walters, Ethelyn Patterson, Grace Hudson, and
Catherine Shriver McDuilie, the present incumbent.
LAGRANGE
MEMORIAL
LIBRARY. The LaGrange Woman's Club bought
from G. B. Heard, administrator of the Heard property, the house and lot
on Church Street in 1911 for a club house. Even at this early date, a public
library was being discussed by the club, but the income from the rental of
the house was used for liquidating the indebtedness, and all the remaining
available funds were used during the World War and the following years
for the care of war orphans and Red Cross projects. Finally, on March 1,
1921, during the administration of Mrs. Howard Park as president of the
club, and with Mrs. Clifford Smith as chairman of the library committee,
a small library of three hundred volumes was installed in the assembly room
of the club house. So generous were the gifts to this little collection that
in a month's time it numbered two thousand volumes. The chief gift was
the reference library from the Southern College, donated by the Render
family.
The Woman's Club bore all the expense of maintenance of the library for
three years, after which the city began to appropriate a small sum towards
its support. A reading room was added to the library at a cost of $800.00,
which was open to the public for one or two days each week. The library
soon outgrew its quarters, and the club members began to agitate the question of erecting a larger and more convenient building for the library.
As a result of this agitation in 1924, Joseph H. Edmondson made a most
generous and attractive proposition to the club women, viz.: that he would
contribute $5,000.00 toward a library building, if the club and the citizens
of the town would raise $10,000.00. In response to this proposal, in 192 5
Hubert Quillian, secretary of the South-West LaGrange Y. M. C. A., was
asked by the Woman's Club to take the chairmanship of the library movement. The club as an organization had promised to contribute $1,000.00
in cash and its valuable lot on Church Street and the sum to be obtained
from the sale of the old house on the site as a nucleus to build a library
and Woman's Club room. The club also promised t o contribute its books,
then valued at $3,000.00. In addition, fifteen members of the club had met
previously and had subscribed $1,$00.00 as their personal gifts to the construction.
The matter was presented to the Rotary Club by Hubert Quillian in such
an attractive and interesting manner that the club took over the project and
with their characteristic enthusiasm and energy, they achieved the astounding
success of securing $25,000.00 in subscriptions in one day. It was suggested
and adopted by all the interested parties that the library should be dedicated
as a memorial to the soldiers who suffered and died in the World War.
The Troup County Library Association was formed with Hubert M. Quillian as president, a constitution was adopted and a charter secured; and plans
drawn by Ernest D. Ivey of Atlanta were accepted, and a contract for building a public library and a Woman's Club room was let to the LaGrange
Lumber and Supply Company. This handsome library was completed in
November, 1926, and dedicated on Armistice Day to the veterans of the
World War as a memorial to those who suffered and died in that great conflict.
The library was opened to the public on December 6, 1926. It now has
nearly seven thousand volumes, a very good reference collection, and all the
leading magazines. In 1932 the total circulation was 33,716 volumes. I t
is supported by the City of LaGrange and the Woman's Club, the city contributes $1,200.00 yearly to the support and the club pays the deficit and
adds to the library.
Miss Jeannette Wilhoite has acted as the librarian since its beginning in
1921. Her efficiency and charm have contributed in a large measure to the
usefulness and popularity of the library.
The present board of trustees are as follows: J. H. Edmondson, President; Mrs. Clifford Smith, Vice-President; Render Dallis, Secretary; Robert
Hutchinson, Treasurer; Mrs. J. E. Dunson, Jr.; Miss Mary Nix; Cason J.
Callaway; H. W. Caldwell, and W. H. Turner, Jr.
HAWKES
CHILDREN'SLIBRARY.In 1873 four young men of West Point,
Scott Todd, Morris Herzberg, Theodor Mayer, and H. Blumenfield, formed a
reading club. They met in the rear of the Herzberg jewelry store, where
they kept their books, and read and discussed them.
A few years later the Young Men's Library Association was formed. A
room was obtained, the books installed, and a librarian secured. Other members who joined at this time were Shep Shepherd, LaFayette Lanier, Daniel
Merz, and H. Heyman. This library finally became the nucleus of the present Hawkes Children's Library, which was established through the activity
of the West Point Woman's Club.
A. K. Hawkes, a philanthropic citizen of Atlanta, becoming interested
through the influence of Mrs. C. E. Patillo, left a bequest of $7,500.00 for
a children's library at West Point. The result of the bequest is the attractive
library building on the west bank of the Chattahoochee. Mrs. S. 0.Cundy,
sister of Mr. Hawkes, supplemented this gift with a contribution of more
than $5,000.00, the income from which is used for the purchase of books
for the library. On September 29, 1922, the library was opened with appropriate ceremonies.
The library is supported by the city and the West Point Woman's Club.
Mrs. Mary Poer Oslin has been the efficient and courteous librarian from the
time of its establishment, and her profound interest has been a great factor
in the success and upbuilding of the library. On January 1, 1932, there
were 4,575 volumes in the library.
CHAPTER XX. CHURCHES
HERE ARE many churches and chapels in the county, and there are
some which have moved from their original location to a more convenient site, and a few of the old buildings have come into the possession of
the colored people by gift or by purchase. The following list of the churches
gives all that are known to the author:
NAME
PASTOR
LOCATION
Callaway Chapel
Mountville Road
M. G. Wilson
County Line ---.--------------------Fourth
District
Hogansville---------------------------------J. G. Graham
Hogansville, First
Hogansville, Second
Hogansville
J. G. Graham
LaGrange, First
LaGrange
W. E. Howard
LaGrange, Dunson
LaGrange
P. T. Layton
..
LaGrange, East (Dixie)
LaGrange
C. S. Freeman
LaGrange, South (Unity)
LaGrange
J. B. Rice
LaGrange, Southwest
LaGrange
C. M. Goforth
Long Cane
Long Cane
H. G. Bradshaw
J. W. Maltbie
Mountville --..-....-....-.----------Mountville
.
Providence
Harr~sonville
R. E. L. Harris
H. G. Bradshaw
Union
Jones Crossroad
Wehadkee
W e s t Vernon
H.G. Bradshaw
Point
m e H. lvey
West Point .-....-..I..-.------.--.-West
East Vernon (Tatum)
East Vernon
Robert Crowder
.
-Fuller
Emmaus
Hogansville, east
i l l
Flat Shoals - . - - - - - - - - - . S m i t h
LaGrange
LaGrange
. .
Lebanon
Fourth Distr~ct
W. F. Mims
.
-
BAPTIST,PRIMITIVE
LaGrange, Cherry Street
LaGrange
.-.
--------
-Satterwhite
CATHOLIC
--------
West Point ....-.-..-...-....------....
West Point
CHRISTIAN
Oak Street
Oak Grove
West Point
LaGrange
. .
Fourth D~strlct
Point
Church of Christ
LaGrange
C. W. Hanson
W W W W ~ W W W - - ~ W W
S. P. Spiegd
Jerse Dollar
NAME
LOCATION
PASTOR
J. D. C. Wilson
J. D. C. Wilson
St. Marks -----.---I-----------LaGrange
Good Shepherd
LaGrange, S. W
HOLINESS
Jackson Street
Beth-El -.-......-I---------------
LaGrange
-
David Marx
West Point
...--Hammett Road--.-.-.-----------------H. C. Holland
Asbury
.
Wlllam Greenway
Bethel, West Point Circuit
Gabbettville, E
Stovall Road
W. E. Brown
Big Springs
L. B. Linn
LaGrangeDixie
L. B. Linn
. - L a
Dunson
..
Harmony, West Point Circuit
Abbottsford, W
Wlllam Greenway
Hogansville
.. Hogansville
H. C. Holland
-LaGrange ----..-..--.---.-I--------- L.M. Twiggs
LaGrange, First
LaGrange, South
LaGrange..
W. E. Brown
William Greenway
Long Cane, West Point Circuit.--Long Cane..-----.--...-----.--------Midway
14th District
J. C. Adams, J. K. Brown
..---- Mountville
W. E. Brown
Mount Pleasant
Pleasant Grove,West Point Circuit..-Pleasant Grove
William Greenway
Saint James .-.---...-.---.....---------------HogC. Holland
LaGrange--C. A. Reese
Saint John
Salem ------------.----.---------------Salem
J. R, Allen
Trinity
LaGrange
G. T. Pittman
.LaGrange
C. A. Reese
Unity
West Point
Point
G. L. King
.
.-
1
1
1
1
1
1
-
Ebenezer
..-.---.----Hogansvile
LaGrange ---.I---....-....----------------LaGrangeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeA.
E. Dallas
Loyd Chapel
-Glass Bridge Road
A. R. Howland
West Point
West Point
LaGrange
Larane
LAGRANGEFIRSTMETHODIST. The site for the town of LaGrange was
purchased on March 5 , 1 8 2 8, and was surveyed and subdivided by the Inferior
Court of Troup County a short time thereafter. As soon as the subdivisions
were made, on one of the lots set aside for church purposes, the first church
of LaGrange was erected, a log church on the site of the present Methodist
church. It was completed in 1828. On the same site in 1858, a brick
church was built, which was replaced by the present structure in 1898.
This church was under the jurisdiction of the South Carolina Conference
from 1828 to 183 2; of the Georgia Conference from 183 3 to 1867; 'of the
North Georgia Conference from 1868 to the present time. The first session
of the Georgia Conference was held at LaGrange in 1833, and in 18S S, the
Conference again assembled at LaGrange, at which session the question of
purchasing LaGrange College was presented for consideration.
From 1828 to 1839, the church had no pastor and shared with the other
churches in this section a preacher on the Troup Circuit. In 1840, it was
made a half-station, sharing the pastor with West Point. At that time the
following were the only stations in the Georgia Conference: Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Milledgeville, Savannah, and Washington.
Anderson, W. D
1 891-92
Bigham, Robert W
1867-70;93
Boring, Isaac
1930-31
Boring, Jesse
1829-30;35; 57
Butch, E. P
1859-60
Chappell, J. D
1929-30
Connor, W. G.-.-.....---.-1854-56
G d e , W. F.-..----...-.---1863-64
Crumley, W. M
1870-72
Dillard, Walter B
1915-17
Duncan, John P
1850-52
Eakes, R. Frank .---.-.....-.-1901-04
Ellis, John B
1927-30
Evans, James E.-.--..--.-...
1857-58
Evms, W. H
1853-54
Foate, W. R .---.--_----..-.1852-53
Gardner, G. E
1884-86
Graham, Alex
1858-59
Harris, Samuel A .--..-I--... 1912-15
Hopkins, Isaac S
1906-08
Hughes, F. G
1893-95
Hunter, J. D
1833-34
Hunter, John
1828-29
Irvine, W. T
1909-11
Jarrell, A. J
1886-88
Jenkins, John S
1924-27
Key, Caleb W
1841-42;60-62
LaPrade, W. H.--..----.-.-1877-79
Ledbetter, S. B
1907-09
.-.--,.-----
.,.-..-..---..--..-
Lewis, Josiah
1882-84
Lewis, Walker
1907-09
Matthews, W. D..-----..-..
1833-34
Mitchell, Arch. H
1830-31
Norman, Jeremiah
1831-32
Parks, H. H
1874-75
Payne, James B.-.....-.-.--_1837-39
Pope, Cademan
18 80-82
Quillian, A. F.
1899-01
Quillian, Frank
1922-24
Quillian, W. F
1890-91;95-97
Samford, Thomas ----.--.-...
183 5-37;40;46
Scott, W.J.
1872-74
Shankle, A. G
1918-21
Smith, G. G
1875-77
Smith, Rembert G
1921-22
Speer, E. 'W
1864-67
Starr, 3. W ..-...----.-..-..------.1832-33
Thomas, A. C
1897-99
Twiggs, L. M
1930Tulley, John W ......--..-.....1846-48
Wadsworth, W. W
1879-80
Walton, Fletcher .-....--.-..-1904-06
Wasson, S. E.-.--.....-...-...--1917-18
White, Miller F..-.-....--.-..1848-50
Wiggins, James A ..--.--......
1 842-45
Williams, W. S
I831-32
Wright, A. ..-.-------.-..-.
1862-63
.------.-
...--.-.--.
LAGRANGE
FIRSTBAPTIST. This church was organized on April 12, 1828,
with Jonathan Nichols as chairman, and James David as supply minister, and
a membership of eleven. Necey Fowler was the first person to join the new
church. Mrs. S. C. Todd, in a reminiscent article published in the LaGrange
Graphic in 1895, stated that the organization took place in the same building
where the first court was held, at Nicholas Johnson's house, and that Mr.
and Mrs. Johnson, and Mr. and Mrs. Culberson, were among the eleven members.
For a number of years the church worshipped in a building on the northwest corner of Bull and Broome streets. This property was deeded by the
Inferior Court to the Presbyterian and Baptist churches on August 15, 1831,
as one of the lots to be given by the county for religious purposes. There
is also a record, which shows that the Baptist church owned a lot on Smith
Street, which they sold to Robert A. T. RiQey on March 4, 1839, but there
is no record of a church building on that lot.
On October 12, 1855, the congregation reached a decision to build a
church of their own to seat from four to six hundred people, the building
to be designed "upon the basis of the highest combination of simplicity and
cheapness compatible with taste." The present lot, known then as Howard's
Tavern, was selected. At the south end of the building was erected one of
the tallest spires in the state, about one hundred seventy-five feet, according
to the statements of some old citizens. In the interest of economy, this
steeple was erected after the building was completed. It was destroyed in
later years by a wind storm.
In 1862, Benjamin H. Cameron was instructed to hang a bell in the steeple
and "when it was properly hung, he would be paid." The bell was uninjured
in the fall of the steeple, and for many years was in use on a platform in
the rear of the church.
The basement of the church was impressed by the Confederate government
for a hospital during the War Between the States. A sum of $368.00 was
collected for the use of the basement, which sum was used to build a baptistry. Previous to this time, the baptisms were performed in the nearby
creeks and the Chattahoochee River. Some time later, a marble pool, the
gift of the late I. F. Cox, was installed.
In 1884, an organ was installed, and Miss Sallie Cox was the first organist.
Some time later a handsome three-manuel Skinner organ was erected after
the remodeling of the church in 1922.
In the remodeling of the church in 1922, parts of the old structure were
undisturbed, the east wall being retained and parts of the roof, but the
purity of its colonial architecture was not in any way disturbed.
Binns, Walter P
1926-3 I
Callaway, S. Pope
1861-67
David, James
1828
Dawson, John E
1842-47
Ford, J. W
1886-87
Granberry, George
........1841
Harden, M. B
1871-83
Harris, R. H
1883-8s
Hornaday, H. C
1867-71
Howard, Willis E
1932McKay, R. R
1888-91
Mallary, Charles D.........................
1848-52
.-...
Moncrief, A. J
1899-02
Moon, Jesse
1840
Nunnally, G. A
1896-99
Posey, Humphrey
183 8
Reeves, James
1829-3 1
Smith, Otis
183 1-37
Stokes, William H
183 2
Teague, E. B
18 5 5-64
Tumlin, G. S
1891-9 1
Tunnell, Spencer R .-...-.------..--1919-26
Vaughan, A. B
1902-18
Wood, John
18 3 3-3 5
LAGRANGEPRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH. On March 21, 1829, the Presbyterians of the village of LaGrange gathered together and organized a church.
Three Presbyterian ministers were present: Garrett Hollenbeck, Edward
Lanier and Jesse Stratton.
The charter members of this church are as follows:
Bailey, Nancy
Baker, Mary
Cameron, James
Cameron, David
Cameron, Mary
Wadford, Alexander
Watson, John M.
Hall, Robert
Hall, Cynthia
Hall, Fidelia
Hall, Carolyn
Long, James E.
Wilkinson, Flora
Wilkinson, Margaret
Robert Hall, Green Culberson, John M. Watson, and James H. Cameron
were elected Ruling Elders, and James Long was appointed clerk.
Many of the early settlers from other older states were Presbyterians, and
they hastened to join by letter. A characteristic of the early churches was
their strictness of discipline. One of the members was suspended in open
session in 1832 for drunkenness, profanity and gambling. A committee was
appointed to see the erring member and to admonish him to confess, repent,
and reform. If he complied, he was forgiven; if not, he was called before
the session, tried, and frequently suspended.
The first report made by William A. Redd was as follows:
18 3 2
Total now in communion ........................................................
. .
Added by exarninatlon ..............................................................
Added by certificate .................................................................
. .
Dtsmlssal by certificate ............................................................
Suspended ..
Adults baptized
Missionary Funds raised
Education Funds raised
Some of the earliest additions to the church were: Benjamin and Eliza
Cameron, James Cameron, Sr., and his wife Sara Cameron, James Loyd and
his wife.
James Loyd and P. H. Greene organized and taught the first Sunday
school in Troup County.
This church shared the building with the Baptist church on Bull Street
until January 3, 1846, when the new building on the corner of Church and
Haralson streets was dedicated. In 1863 this building was used by the Confederate government as a hospital, and again the congregation shared with
the new Baptist church alternating the services. When the church was
released, the sum of $245.00 was paid as rental by the Confederate government.
In 1919, the beautiful structure on Broad Street was erected during the
pastorate of T. D. Bateman upon a site donated by Miss Laura Loyd. The
membership has grown to the present total of three hundred and thirtysix, and contributed members to the formation of Long Cane (Loyd's) and
Ebenezer churches.
Carter,
H.C..--..-..---------------------183 1-32
Long,
Scott, Thomas F
Patton, William K
Likens, John G
Cunningham, W. M
McMurray, Francis
Bruce, J. T
Anderson, J. P
Herndon, J. G
Bateman, T. D
Dallas, A. E
..
1832-34
-1834-3 8
1838-40
1841-70
1871 -83
1884-91
1892-99
1900-19
1919-22
1922--
James S................................. 1829-30
Redd, William A.
1830-39
Smith, Nathaniel N. ........................ 18 39-68
Toole, John E.
1869-8 5
Boyd, Andrew J
188 1-99
Calhoun, J. D .................................
1899-01
Schaub, J. L. ................................... 1901-11
Gilbert, L. E..................................
1912-14
Ash, H. C....................................... 1914-23
King, B. J......................................... 192 3 -3 2
Sargent, George H...........................
1932-
LOYD PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH. This church was organized in 1837 at
Long Cane and was called Long Cane Presbyterian Church, and the majority
of its members were former communicants of the LaGrange church. This
original church building was the joint property of the Baptist and Presbyterian churches of Long Cane, and was situated near the old camp ground,
where camp meetings preceded by prayer and fasting were held in the 30's
and the early 40's.
For many years this church was given one service a month by the LaGrange
Presbyterian ministers. Sometimes the services were held in homes remote
from the church.
In 1887, the Presbyterians withdrew from Long Cane, and built a new
church three miles north of Long Cane, and named the new building Loyd
Church, in honor of James Loyd, the oldest surviving member of the Long
Cane Church.
In 1911 a manse was built. In 1915 , during the ministry of W. E. Dozier,
the membership was greatly increased, and the services more frequent, and
the old building was torn down and replaced by a comfortable new structure.
John Glenn Likens
Wm. M. Cunningham, D.D.
Robert Logan
W. W. Brimm
Frank McMurray
J. T. Bruce
J. P. Anderson
J. G. Herndon
W. Beale
I. H. Miller
W. E. Dozier
R. Gardien
A. R. Howland
Robert Hall
David Davidson
James Loyd
John T. Newton
W. C. Davidson
Lyman C. Davis
F. B. Dozier
W. S. Brock
Charles R. Darden
W. R. Loyd
J. C. Teaver
R. M. Davidson
Hope Hudson
Murdock Cameron
Ebenezer Newton
James Dickey
Asa C. Hudson
H. E. Newton
R. R. Lane
J. Q. Burton
David W. Beaty
Charles T. Hudson
F. R. Davis
J. G. Davidson
Traylor Loyd
W. W. Maley
MOUNTPLEASANT
METHODIST
CHURCH.One of the earliest settlers in
Troup County was Thomas Evans, who built a cabin home near the present
site of Camp Viola. He was of Welsh descent on both sides of the family,
and was distinguished by his uprightness and godliness. I t was in his cabin,
where he and his family were joined in earnest prayer by his neighbors, that
the Mount Pleasant Church was organized.
James Hunter, an energetic and consecrated circuit rider, organized this
church in 1828, and served as their pastor that year. The services were
held in the cabin of Thomas Evans for nearly a year.
However, the congregation grew too large for the cabin, and in the
autumn of 1828 the neighbors built a larger log house for worship, near
where the old Hebron Church stood. Rev. W. C. Evans, son of the above
named Thomas Evans, served this church in 1846.
People continued to move into the neighborhood and again it was found
necessary to build a larger church to accommodate the communicants. This
second building was located in front of the home of Wilson Partridge.
The years passed and again the church was too small, so another much
larger church was built on the hill in Mountville, where the cemetery is
now located. One of the most flourishing Sunday schools in the county
was organized and conducted in this church through the efforts of John
Carleton.
In 1908 the church was moved from the hill to the present site. From
this little country church, four of its members have entered the ministry:
W. C. Evans, J. E. Russell, William Hightower, and Charles P. Marchman.
WESTPOINTMETHODIST
CHURCH. The first church building in West
Point was the Methodist Church, which was a log structure, built on the
site of the home of Dr. J. P. Miller in 1 8 3 1. The building was used by all
the denominations, and the Methodist congregation was organized by Rev.
Thomas Williamson as the first organization in the town.
In 1834, a frame house was built on the eastern part of block 34, which
lies between Tenth and Eleventh streets, just west of the present highway.
In 1812, a building committee, composed of George H. Winston, James
M. Hill, and James W. McLendon, let a contract for a brick church on the
west half of block 72 on the south side of Seventh Street. The lot was
donated by the West Point Land Company. The building was completed
in 18 13, and was dedicated on December 4, 18 5 3, by Dr. Alexander Means
of Emory Cbllege.
In 1906, during the pastorate of S. P. Wiggins, the present commodious
church and Sunday school buildings were erected under the supervision of
a building committee, composed of L. S. Turner, chairman, Benjamin H;
Hill, J. S. Baker, H. W. Miller, and J. E. Purks.
Among the early members of this church are noted the families of the
following: Lodwick Alford, Arthur E. Baker, Charles Eaton Bass, William
Biscoe, Henry Chappell, David Davenport, John Durham, W. B. S. Gilmer,
J. M. Harrington, Henry Harris, James M. Hill, Mrs. Emma Lanier Oglesby,
William Reid, Evans Richards, James Scott, Thomas Tatum, Henry Todd,
Dr. Ward, John C. Webb, George H. Winston, and Thomas Winston.
Boring, Isaac
Mitchell, Archibald H.
Williams, W. S.
Morgan, Jeremiah
Whitley, Starr, J. W.
Hunter, J. D.
Matthews, W. D.
Boring, Jesse
Samford, Thomas F.
Payne, James B.
Samford, Thomas F.
Tatum, Thomas
Kay, Caleb W.
Wiggins, James A.
Samford, Thomas F.
Tulley, John W.
White, Miller F.
Frost, Johnson
Duncan, John P.
Talley, John
Foote, W. R.
Myrick, Fletcher
Wiggins, L. G. R.
McGehee, John W.
Dixon, R. M.
Simmons, W. A.
Cook, W. F.
Ryburn, P. M.
Thigpen, A. M.
Birch, E. P.
Thigpen, A. M.
Cox, D. D.
Ryburn, P. M.
Lewis, W. F.
Seals, T. A.
Rivers, W. P.
Thigpen, A. M.
Farris, B. F.
Ellis, H. J.
Williams, A. W.
Sasnett, B. H.
Parker, J. R.
Foote, W. R.
Robinson, W. F.
Allen, Beverly P.
Quillian, H. M.
Betterton, T. C.
Shaw, Simeon
Wiggins, S. P.
Tumlin, J. M.
Cleckler, R. C.
Logan, J. G.
Cooper, W. H.
Patillo, C. Evans
Erwin, J. P.
Crawley, W. G.
Edmondson, R. A.
Veatch, J. W.
Jones, H. H.
Yarbrough, J. F.
King, G. L.
WESTPOINTBAPTISTCHURCH. This church was organized on September 7, 1849, by the following: James Whitten, C. D. Mallory, James Fuller,
and William D. Harrington. Twenty-four letters were presented for the
membership on the day that the church was constituted as the West Point
Baptist Church of Christ, and at an early date became a part of the Western Association. The first building was erected in 1850, and dedicated in
August, 1851. It was built on the site of the present church, the lot which
was donated by the West Point Land Company. The first record as to a
Sunday school was in 1883, but the school may have been in existence prior
to that time. On December 3, 1883, the Woman's Missionary Society was
organized. The old building was replaced in 1896, and in the new building
was celebrated the Semi-centennial of the organization on September 7,
1899. The present building is a result of the diamond jubilee held in 1924
during the pastorate of Dr. Ernest Quick, and the credit for the beautiful
structure is given to the building committee: W. H. Huff, chairman, H.
H. Greene, and J. C. Lanier, who supervised the completion in 1925. The
second church building was used for classes for a time after the West Point
Female College was burned in 1886.
PASTORS
Bishop, J. W.
Bledsoe, William C.
Bond, A. R.
Briscoe, W. R.
Callaway, S. Pope
Callaway, Thomas M.
Carpenter, J. H.
Deal, W. R.
Askew, L. D.
Burdette, J. W.
Callaway, G. W.
Callaway, J. T. M.
Callaway, Lewis A.
Callaway, W. A.
Curley, B. H.
Harrington, William
D.--
Eden, J. F.
Figh, Rufus
Forrester, Graham
Golden, E. 2. F.
Harrington, William
Ivey, James H.
Jester, J. R.
McMurray, J. A.
Pack, B. M.
Quick, Ernest
Roby, 2.D.
Shirley, H. H.
Smith, Otis
Smith, W. T.
Trainham, Wert
Tucker, H. H.
Williams, Wray, W. A.
1850-54
1849
Harris, L. M.
Heard, R. S.
Huguley, Columbus
Huguley, W. H.
Jennings, R. W.
Nolan, J. H.
Sharman, C. W.
Whitaker, S. T.
Woodyard, H. T.
N o records from 1814 to 1871.
WESTPOINTCHRISTIAN
CHURCH;Disciples of Christ. I t was about the
year 1853 that Dr. Hook, a minister of the Christian Church of Augusta,
Georgia, visited West Point, and his ministry during this visit marked the
beginning of the work of this church in West Point.
Among the pioneer families identified with the establishment of the church
in West Point are included the names of the Laniers, the Winstons and the
Griggs.
Monthly services were held more or less regularly from 1 8 53 to 1905 by
Drs. A. G. Thomas, F. L. Adams, T. M. Harris, J. N. Grubb, A. C. Henry,
and Belt White; also during this period special services were held on different
occasions by Drs. 2. T. Sweeney, Philip Lamar, and A. R. Moore.
In 1905, S. P. Spiegel, State Evangelist of Alabama, held a protracted
meeting, and the organization was strengthened by several additions. The
first trustees of the organization were: LaFayette Lanier, Sr., S. T. Hammond, E. F. Lanier, and Phil Lanier.
At the time of the reorganization in 1905, the church began to accumulate funds for the purpose of erecting a building, which was built in 1906
and 1907, and dedicated in 1907.
Dr. A. R. Miller of Savannah was called to become the first full time
minister, and served for three years. He was followed by Rev. 0.P. Spiegel,
who served for one year, 1910. In 1911, Rev. L. M. Omer became the
pastor, and remained until the summer of 1917. In December, 1917, S. P.
Spiegel, the present incumbent, began his ministry with the church.
The church has a magnificent plant and a p o d parsonage, and while it
has never been strong numerically, it has been and now is a power and an
influence for good in the community.
The present trustees, in the year 1933, are: S. T. Hammond; George H.
Lanier; William C. Batson, and S. H. Johnson.
ST. MARKSEPISCOPAL
CHURCH.There was no organized Episcopal congregation in LaGrange until 1892. There were, however, a number of
church members. Some of these were: Mrs. Bennett Ferrell, and her sister
Miss Emma Bright, Mrs. Frank Ward and her three daughters, and the
families of Fred Ball, Henry Mason, and Wiley Sims. Church services were
held in Sterling's fill, now the Truitt Building, in the Presbyterian church
and in the Masonic Hall by visiting clergymen.
On May 26, 1892, Bishop Nelson reached a sermon in the First Methodist
Church, which was the beginning of a campaign to build an Episcopal
church. A subscription was started and soon a sum sufficient to warrant
the purchase of a lot was raised. Rev. William M. Walton, Archdeacon of
Atlanta, purchased the present site of the church on the corner of Church
and Battle streets.
January 9, 1893, a contract was let to Pike Brothers to build a church
and a rectory. Henry C. Butler made and donated the pews, which are
still used in the church. Mrs. L. T. Slack, a consecrated church member,
and her family were largely instrumental in the erection of this church.
R. C. Ward gave the foundation stone and brick.
The first convocation was held in the church on December 17, 1893, by
Aschdeacon Walton, who served this little church named St. Marks, for
five years. He was succeeded by Rev. R. F. DeBelle, Rev. Thomas Burry,
and Rev. G. R. Micou, who gave two or three services each month.
The first resident rector was Rev. A. H. Brooke, who began his work in
1903, and was succeeded by Rev. Henry Phillips in 1906. The ministry of
Rev. Henry Phillips was quite successful. Due to his efforts the congregation
of St. Marks was materially increased, and a mission in southwest LaGrange
built with a church, a school and a library. He served until 1915, and
was succeeded by the following rectors: Robert Phillips, Arthur M. Marshall, William B. Hays, H. A. Willy, G. V. Harris, J. W. Fulford, G. J.
Batty, and J. D. C. Wilson, the present rector.
Under these ministrations, the church has greatly increased its membership and usefulness. The present rector also serves the Good Shepherd Mission in southwest LaGrange.
ASBURYMETHODISTCHURCH.This church is located in land lot No.
119 of 12th district, or a t Harrisonville. The organizers of this congrega-
tion were: John and Nancy Stinson, Henry and Sara West, Philip and
Elizabeth Howell, John Ragan, James Amos, W. C. Leith, Ready and
George Watts. In 1827 and the early part of 1828, the congregation
gathered at the various homes for services, and after the building of a
schoolhouse near Providence Cemetery (land lot 171) for a time the building was used as a meeting place. After a short time a place was provided
at Tan Yard Hill, but water not being convenient, the building on the
Asbury site above mentioned was erected in 1833, in conformity to the
charter granted to "Asbury Chapel" in 1832.
For some time this was the only church in the northern part of the
county. The impetus given to this community by the session of the annual
conference at LaGrange in 1833 was probably an outcome of this great
gathering, as the church was built the same year. The church has witnessed
the eloquence of many Methodist notables who ministered to the old time
circuits. As a result of the great religious revival of 1838, the development
in the whole section was rapid in religious fervor and church growth. The
following are the pastors who served this church, the year indicated where
known:
Aiken, E. K
Askew, J. S
Bard, W. M. D.
Bell, J. 0.
Bigham, Robert W.
Bill, W. T
Birch, E. P.
Bowden, John M.
Brannon, F. M. T.
Bryan, J. C
Cotter, W. J.
Cox, D. D.
Davies, Henry R.
Dillard, Walter B.
Elliott, T. M.
Ellis, Henry J.
Embry, T. J.
Evans, William H.
Florence, William A.
Foote, William R
Green,
Hartis,
Harwell, Richard J.
Heard, Peter A.
Henderson, Irby
....
-
863
1880
-
Hodnett,
Logan, 3. G..................... ..................... .189!
Lowe, J. T.
Martin, C. S.
1870
Mason, J. R
Maxwell, W. A.
Morgan, John
18 I8
Reid, K.
Roberts, J. W.
Roper, Lucian
Rush, Leonard
Scott, 'William J.
Sears, A. J.
Simmons, William A ............................. 1840
Singleton, J. J.
Smith, J. B.
Spearman, G. T.
Speer, E.
Sprayberry, J. A.
Timmons, T'. H..................................... 1869
Tumlin, G. W.
Walraven, M. M.
Whitaker,
W d ,Elisha ...
1875
Yarbrough, George W. ........................ 18I7
..
1879
1871
1873
-
FLATSHOALSCHURCH.This church was organized on February 5 , 1829,
and the constitution was adopted on February 11, 1829. The following is
a copy of some of the minutes:
"A Book for the Church of Christ at Flat Shoal Creek,
the 5th of February, 1829."
Constitution of the Baptist Church of Christ, Troup County, 4th District, known by the name of Smith's Meeting House, this 11th day of
February.
Benjamin Smith
Tinsley Heath
Israel Gamble
George, a man of color
Winniford Smith
Nancy Posey
Polly Smith
Levina Smith
Polly Heath
Nancy Gamble
Berena Smith
Jane Gamble
Georgia, Troup County:
Whose names are hereunto subscribed to certify that being clothed with
church authority met on the day at first above written, and formed ourselves
into a presbytery and constituted the brethren into a Gospel Church, in
testimony of which we hereunto subscribe our names the day and date
above written.
W. COOPER,
Minister,
ANDERSON
SMITH, Clerk.
February 11, 1829.
JOHN
Feb. 11, 1829, Peggy Smith joined the church.
Feb. 21, 1829, James and Elviry Hollis united by letter. James made Clerk.
Feb. 20, 1830, name changed to Flat Shoals Church.
May 15, 1830, Margaret Smith granted a letter of dismission.
Cooper, John W
1 829-37
Caldwell, Cread
1837-42
Belcher, Abner ..
.
1843
Brown, -.............................. 1843-46
1847-56
Hudspeth,
Coursert,
.....
I856
Higginbothem, Henry
1856-r9
Caldwell, Cread
1860-62
Williams, Jesse
1862
Higginbothem, H . N .......................1 862-73
..
Wdl~ams,Jesse ................................ 1873
Caldwell, Benjamin ....-.................. 1874-77
-
Williams, J. H
Basemore, T. J
Jackson, J. C...............................
Hunter, W. A
Thrash, E. C
Prather, Reese
Fuller, F. L
Riner, W. W
O'Neal, J. D
Riner, W. W.
Mims, W. F
1877-83
1884-85
1886-89
1889
1890-93
1894-08
-1909-1 1
1911-16
1919-20
1920-32
1932-
..--.-..-.--....-.---------
Smith, Benjamin
Gamble, Israel
Satterwhite, Obediah
Forshee, Wyley
Caldwell, M.
Floyd, Thomas B
1829
Hollis, James
Wilkerson, Harrison G.+.-.--.Lee, Henry B
..
O'Neal, Hdliard
Lawless, John
Floyd, Thomas B
Hunter, Abel B
Hardy, Coalman
Satterwhite, S. H
1829-30
1829-30
1832
1833-45
1845
Satterwhite, Elijah
Hunter, Abel B
Hunter, W. A
O'Neal, E. J
O'Neal, E. F
1850
1876
1878
1893-31
193 3
1848
18 30
1831-35
183 6-38
18 3 8-48
1849-5 5
-185 6-57
18 5 8-75
Satterwhite, E. W.-.-------...-.--1876
Satterwhite, S. H
1876-84
Fuller, C.
1
1884-86
Satterwhite, S. H
1887-90
Hardy, J. C
1
1890-93
Satterwhite, S. H
1894-07
Hardy, J. W
-1908-22
O'Neal, Mrs. M. V
1922--
.-.------.--------------
1875-76
MOUNTZIONCHURCH.On land lot No. 23 1 of seventh district. The
presbytery who organized this church on October 13, 1829, was composed
of James Reaves, Anderson Smith and John W. Cooper, and the organizing
members are as follows:
William A. Stanley
Nimrod Yarbrough
Edward Satterwhite
Alexander Allison
John Johnson
Obediah Satterwhite
William A. Radney
Mary Jarvis
Nancy McCoy
Lucinda Stanley
Yarbrough
Susan Satterwhite
Mary Allison
Elizabeth Johnson
Polly Satterwhite
Frances Radney
The minutes prior to June 2, 1838, cannot be found, but on that date
Thomas B. Floyd was called to act as deacon, having been previously ordained to that office.
On June 3 0, 1838, the pastor was liberated for the first Sunday in August
to attend the general meeting at Hillibahatchy. Ignatius Russell and William Collins were members at this date, and the pastor was named Belcher.
September I., 1838, Polly Parrish united with the church.
February 2, 1839, William Chambers united by letter.
March 2, 1839, Malinda Yarbrough by letter.
April 6, 1839, Mary Chambers by letter.
May 4, 1839, Abner Belcher, a minister, and his wife, Martha, by letter.
May 5 , 1839, Rebecca Brazeal, James Collins, Miss Judith Collins.
June 1, 1839, brother Island, slave to Edmondson, letter of dismission.
January 4, 1840, Peter Parrish, by letter.
February 1, 1840, James Hardy and Emily his wife by letter.
PASTORS
DEACONS
Belcher, Abner
18 39-4 1
Floyd, Thomas B
Hamrick, Harrison
1845 -49
Collins, William
Radney, W. A
Hudspeth,
1850
Hamrick, Harrison
18 50
Britton, Emanuel
181 1-53
Rowe, Kephe
18 5 3 -56
Stringer, J. ---------.-...--.-.------.--.---18 16-57
Floyd, Thomas B
Cousert,
1858-61
Hardy, James
. . Jesse
W~ll~ams,
186 1
Radney, W. A
-
-
1838-48
18 3 8-40
1812
18 3 8-40
1840-1 2
18 52-
WESTPOINTPRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH.On December 3 0, 1837, the West
Point Presbyterian Church was organized with thirteen persons in attendance; the meeting was held in a building of logs. The new church was built
on a lot near the Georgia and Alabama line, facing the city of West Point.
It was built by a negro carpenter belonging to George Croft and George
Reese. I n the building there was provided a gallery for the slave members.
The church was dedicated on July 30, 18 52.
In 1886 and again in 1919, the building was flooded by the Chattahoochee
River and badly damaged. In spite of these calamities, this devoted congregation has built a handsome, commodious church in the Gothic style or
architecture on West Tenth Street and Fifth Avenue. This building was
designed by Charles H. Hopson.
EBENEZER
PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH. The original location of this church
was on the site of the present I-Eogansville cemetery, and was donated by
Joseph N. Boyd on June 12, 1835 . The church was fully organized in
1837 with fifty charter members, and at that time was given the above
name.
The first elders were Joseph N. Boyd, John E. Gillespie, and Green Culberson. The early church was aftiliated with the LaGrange church and was
served by the pastors of that church. At a comparatively modern time the
church was removed to the present site in the city of Hogansville.
ANTIOCHBAPTIST CHURCH. This church was an important factor in
the religious life in the days when Antioch was a flourishing village. The
following document found among the county deeds is an interesting record
of this former church:
State of Georgia, Troup County:
Know all to whom it may concern that I, Archey Whatley, of the state
and county first written, do for and in consideration of the love and esteem
which I have for the Baptist Church who worship at Antioch and who are
of the same faith and order with myself and wife who believe in the foreknowledge of God, in eternal unconditional personal election, original sin,
particular redemption, efficaceous grace, in regeneration and sanctification,
free justification by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, and the final
perseverance of the saints to eternal glory, that baptism by emersion and
the Lord's Supper are ordinances and washing the saints feet, and other good
works are Christian duties, and for the purpose of having a Baptist meeting
house close at hand for the convenience of myself and family, attending
divine worship, know ye that I do hereby constitute and appoint Labon Pitts
and John Stillwell who are deacons of Antioch and their successors (Deacons
of Antioch Church) trustees in behalf of and of said Antioch Church,
know ye that I do hereby give unto the said Labon and John and their
successors in office for the use and benefit of Antioch Church who are and
may continue to be of the above named faith and order the lots or parcels
of lands and roads or ways connected therewith (viz.) one parcel of the
following description commencing at a chestnut post on the west line of
a parcel of land I sold to Jackson Ray, thence due north twenty rods to a
white oak corner, thence southwardly twenty rods to a stake corner, thence
west twenty rods to the place of beginning containing two and a half acres
more or less for the purpose of building a Baptist meeting house on, and
one parcel of land round the spring which is now used by the congregations
who meet at Antioch Church meeting and by R. F. Session's family of the
following description a circle forty feet diameter the spring to be the center
of said circle containing one-tenth of an acre more or less and also a road
or way thirty feet wide leading from meeting house lot to the spring to
leave the meeting house lot entirely east of the first corner thence directly
to the spring, and a road or way thirty feet wide from the meeting house
N. easterly to the public road. The above described lands and roads or
ways are parts and on lot of land number thirty in the fifteenth district of
Carroll when drawn, to have and to hold the above described lands and roads
or ways together with every thing thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining unto the said Labon and John and their successors for the use of
Antioch Church forever in fee simple. And I, the said Archey, do hereby
warrant and will forever defend the rights and titles of the said lands and
roads or ways against the claim of myself my heirs and assigns and against
the claim or claims of all and every other person or persons whomsoever.
In witness whereof, I hereunto set my hand and a$x my seal in the presence of this 12th day of August, A. D., 183s.
WAIDHILL,
ROBERTH. STKONG,
WILLISJ. WHATLEY,
JAS. M. RICHARDS,
J . P.
ARCHEYWHATLEY(L. S.)
Recorded 25th May, 1837.
R. F. MCGEHEE,Clerk.
BEULAH PRIMITIVE BAPTISTCHURCH.This church, according to the
first minutes, was constituted on August 3, 1837, at the house of Archey
Whatley and the following constitution with the regular old Baptist articles
of faith attached were adopted:
The following, whose names appear below, have mutually given ourselves
to each other, and having withdrawn from difFerent churches, for various
unscriptural institutions of the day and feeling it our duty to endeavor to
promote the cause, and kingdom of Christ on the earth, and having met at
the house of brother Archey Whatley, in the western part of Troup County,
and agreed to call elders John Blackston, and Moses Gunn, regular ordained
ministers, as a presbytery, to constitute us into a church after the regular
order of the Baptist. These elders, after examination, and prayer, proceeded
to declare us a church of Jesus Christ, on the regular principles, and articles
of faith.
JOHN BLACKSTON,
MOSESGUNN,Presbytery.
Barnett, John
Barnett, Sarah
Taylor, Elizabeth
Brazell, Jabez F.
Brazell, Seneth
Whatley, Elizabeth
Brazell, James
Post, Marey
Whatley, Fanny
Post, John
Post, Martha
Post, Martin
Post, Sarah Ann
Smith, William
Smith, Mary
Whatley, Archey
Smith, Nancy
After the constitution of the church, it was declared in gospel order, and
a conference was organized. The church was named Beulah, and elder John
Blackston was called and chosen unanimously as pastor. John Blackston as
moderator and Jabez F. Brazell as clerk. Archey Whatley, who had donated
the site for Antioch Church, withdrew from that church on the constitution
of Beulah.
During the years from 1837 to 1 8 50, forty-two members united with the
church, and from 185 1 to 1861, inclusive, forty-seven were added, among
whom are noted the names of Vachel D. Whatley and wife, Julia Garrett,
Ornan Whatley and wife, Edward Cooley, James Bonner, Goodwin D. Floyd
and wife.
PASTORS
1837-39
Blackston, John
Jackson, Edmond
1841-42
. .
Loyd, Benjamm
1842
Black, Peterson
1844-48
Swint, F.
1848-50
Britton, Emanuel
18 11-14
Whatley, Vachel D. -----.-..----1854-66
Edwards, Simeon
1866-68
Taylor, Dr. C. B.
Whatley, A. B.
Burson, H. S.
McCoy, H. R.
Avery, W. R.
Taylor, Dr. C. B.
Prather, Rees
Parish, W. J.
1868-71
1871-74
1876-79
1879-86
1886-88
1888
1890-08
1908-1 I
The church was dissolved by mutual consent on August 17, 1925. The
above information was furnished by Elder S. H. Whatley of Thomaston,
Georgia, and to the information was appended the following note:
"The children of these old faithful Christians and their neighbors furnished
the material for the perpetuity of this old church for eighty-five years. Then
the citizens began to move to other sections for various reasons, principally
for better school facilities. This made a sad decline in the church attendance
and finally it was almost impossible to take care of a pastor. Archey J.
Whatley, who still survives at this date, the son of Ornan Whatley and
grandson of old Archey, is the only one of the members living in the community of the old church site. Elder Vachel D. Whatley was ordained in
Beulah Church in 18 5 3 and served the church until his death in 1866. Elder
A. B. Whatley was ordained in 1870 and served until 1874. The writer
asks the forbearance of the readers for claiming the honor of being the son
of Elder Vachel D. and brother of Elder A. B. Whatley.
"I submit this report in respect to the church of my dear father and
mother, the church where they worshipped before I was born. I began my
career as a Christian in my early manhood, and though I was never a member
of Beulah Church, I loved and still cherish the memories of my childhood
at that dear place. I have been preaching for the Primitive Baptist close
on to half a century. I shall soon lay down my armor and join the church
triumphant."
ELDERS. H. WHATLEY.
Thomaston, Georgia,
December 20, 1933.
WEHADKEE
BAPTISTCHURCH. This church is located in land lot 17 of
the 16th district. It was constituted on October 1 5 , 1849, and the membership was withdrawn from the Long Cane, and from New Hope, Alabama,
churches. The following are the charter members:
Crowder, 0.W.
Crowder, Rachel
Haralson, Jesse B. (Deacon)
Henderson, Jefferson A.
Johns, Susan J.
Kirby, Lucinda
Kirby, Pleasant B.
McCoy, Amos H.
McCoy, Martha E.
Morris, Flora B.
Morris, Joseph P.
Morris, Sophronia
Parker, Elvinton H.
Parker, Martha A.
Phillips, Henry
Post, Elizabeth
Tingle, Ellen
Tingle, Solomon
Waldrop, John J.
Williams, Caroline
Williams, Madison
1849-6 1
Hammond, T. M.
1904-10
McCoy, Daniel H.
Culpepper, J. T.
1910-12
Roberts, William H. ----------...-----.
1861-64
Henderson, Elisha W.
1864-66
Martin, C. B.
1912-1 1
Hearn, S. C.
3 6 6
Collier, W. B.
1915
Callaway, A. R,
1866-68
Cofield, W. P. ---....-.-.----.--.--.---------1915-16
Dean, John W.
1916
Cumbee, Reuben A. J.
1868-77
Colquitt, G. W.
1877-78
Blalock, R. H.
1916-18
Martin, C. B.
1918
Goss, J. G. -----.------.-,--- 1878-84
Houston, H. W.
1
1884-90
Henry, W. H.
1918-20
Hunter, J, P.
1890-93
Vaughan, A. B.
-1920-26
Cox, T. J. --...........-..I.
---1893-99
Owens, R. E.
1926-33
Whatley, W. R.
1899-01
Bradshaw, Grady
193 3
Hunter, J. P.
1901-04
CLERKS
Chivcrs, Joel M. .....-.------.
1849-53
Edmunds, Samuel A.
185 3-56
Boyd, Richard C.
18S6-68
Clark, H. R. .-.....-----------.-1868
Johnson, Charles S.
Haralson, W. H.
Smedley, David B.
1868-71
1871-99
1899
The first Sunday school was established in this church in 1868.
TEMPLE
BETH-EL. Under the designation of Beth-El Temple was organized the Jewish synagogue for the West Point and Lanett members of the
Jewish church, which is allied to the Congregation of Atlanta, and Dr.
David Marx, rabbi of the Atlanta Congregation, ministers to the religious
needs of the Congregation.
Temple Beth-El is located in Lanett on ground donated by Mrs. Betty Merz
Heyman for that purpose and adjoins the home place of Mrs. Heyman and
also of Lee Heyman.
The temple was built in 1908 by means of public subscription, and was
dedicated in the spring of 1909 by Dr. David Marx, who served as Rabbi
for the Congregation before the erection of the temple, and has continued
to serve through the succeeding years.
The officers of the Congregation are as follows: President, Lee Heyman;
Vice-President, Joseph Herzfeld; Treasurer, Zachariah Hagedorn; Secretary,
Louis P. Heyman, who is also the Superintendent of the religious school. The
teachers of the religious school are Lee Heyman, Louis P. Heyman, and Miss
Rose Heyman.
The Jewish citizens of LaGrange and of Opelika are members of the West
Point Congregation, who worship at Temple Beth-El.
JEWISHCEMETERY
AT WESTPOINT. The Jewish Cemetery at West Point
was dedicated in August of 1.885 just preceding the burial in it of Herman
Heyman, a pioneer citizen of West Point. The dedication was consummated
by Rabbi S. Hecht of Montgomery, Alabama. The land adjacent to Pinewood
Cemetery was purchased from the city as a Jewish burial place, and prior to
that time Jewish citizens on their death were taken either to Atlanta or to
Montgomery for interment.
Many well known citizens of West Point and of adjacent towns rest there
peacefully in their final sleep: Mr. and Mrs. Herman Heyman; Mr. and
Mrs. Jacob Freisleben; Morris Herzberg; Zach and Philip Hagedorn; Louis,
Theodore and Fred Mayer, and their sister Mrs. Thekla Mayer; Mr. and Mrs.
Isaac Hagedorn and their sons; and Mrs. Hagedorn's sister, Mrs. Reichard;
Isaac Frohain of Alexander City, Alabama.
MIDWAY
METHODISTCHURCH. This church was built in 1867 in land
lot 121 of the 14th district. I t was the consolidation of two congregations, one of which was at Liberty Hill, and the other called Rehoboth a t
Antioch. The property consisting of four acres was donated by John T.
Boykin, Sr., with the stipulation that it should revert to the heirs in case of
abandonment as a church. The property was deeded by the heirs to the
North Georgia Conference in 1910. The church was built by contributions of lumber, labor, and money from the members and their friends.
Some of the lumber was secured from the Wilder estate, and is still in a
state of good preservation. Among the pastors who served this church are
noted the names of J. W. Lee, James Eakes, and many others. It was formerly a part of the West Point circuit, but now is a part of the Glenn
circuit.
HARMONY
METHODIST
CHURCH. This church, located about two miles
west of Abbottsford in land lot 7 of the 16th district, is one of the earliest
churches west of the river, and was probably established in 1838. The
present church building, which replaced the preceding small frame building, was built in 1898. The site of this church is the location formerly
used as the Harmony camp ground. The church has been during the later
years a part of the West Point circuit. It was the gathering point of the
community of Troup and Alabama Methodists, especially in the summer
months, during which the camp meetings were held. The cemetery adjacent to the church holds the ashes of many of the Troup pioneers.
ANTIOCHBAPTIST
CHURCH. The incorporation of this church took
place on January 21, 1852, and the following were names of the trustees
designated as such in the charter: Henry Walker, Benjamin Green, Hardy
Morgan, Thomas Green, and Augustus J. Scrutchins. However, in this
charter reference is made to Cedar Creek Baptist Church, which may have
been the name of the church before this incorporation. The many changes
in this section of our county has caused this church to be absorbed by other
congregations.
BETHELCHURCH. Organized in 1831, and together with its cemetery
located in land lot 121 of the 5th district. This is one of the old community churches on the east side of Long Cane Creek, and is a part of the
present West Point circuit, sharing with Harmony, Long Cane, and Pleasm t Grove the services of one pastor for the four churches.
CHAPTER XXI. ORGANIZATIONS
LEGION,BAXTER
L. SCHAUB
POST. The LaGrange Post was
organized on November 21, 1919, and was named in honor of Baxter
L. Schaub, the first Troup County man to lose his life in the service. He
was the son of Mrs. J. L. Schaub, and saw service on the Mexican border as a
member of the Fifth Infantry, National Guard of Georgia. He continued
in service when this regiment was mustered into service as the 122nd Infantry after the declaration of war with Germany. He was a mess Sergeant, and lost his life when the mess hall at Camp Wheeler was destroyed
by fire, November 24, 1917.
Ia the thirteen years of the existence of the Post, it has rendered service
to the community in many ways. The care of disabled service men is the
first objective of the Legion, and this Post has contributed its services to
many deserving cases. The promotion of Americanism by lectures in the
schools and the observance of great anniversaries constitutes another activity of the Post. The Legion loyally assisted the other organizations of the
city of LaGrange in the erection of the public library as a memorial to the
Troup County men who lost their lives in service during the war.
In 1929, under the leadership of Albert Brooks, a drum and bugle corps
was organized, and proved very popular. This corps received the honor of
being the prize corps in the meet of 1933.
In 1930, under the leadership of John R. Finn, the membership of this
Post was increased by the addition of more than 300 members, and entertained the state organization in 1931.
The commanders of this Post are as follows:
MERICAN
Howard, W. L.
Callaway, Enoch
Bradfield, Loyd
Martin, Raymond W.
Philpot, Eugene A.
Dunaway, Eugene
1919-20
1920-21
1921-22
1922-23
-192 5 -26
1926-27
O'Neal, R. S.
Thomason, J. Toombs
Brooks, Albert
Finn, John R.
Holleran, Owen C.
Winn, Frank
1927-28
1928-29
1929-30
1930-3 1
193 1-32
1932-33
No elections were held in 1923, nor in 1924.
AMERICANLEGIONAUXILIARY.In February, 1931, John R. Finn as
Commander of the Legion named a membership committee for the establishment of an Auxiliary, and they were Mrs. Cason J. Callaway, Mrs. T. H.
Nimrnons, and Mrs. Albert Brooks, and an application was made on February 1, 1931, for a charter for the LaGrange Auxiliary of the Baxter L.
Schaub Post of the American Legion.
On February 2 1, 193 1, a meeting was called, at which the state president, Mrs. E. S. Travis, addressed the gathering on the subject of "Rehabili-
tation, Child Welfare and Americanism."
ogcers were elected :
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
T. Harvey Nimmons
President
R. S. O'Neal---First
Vice-president
J. B. Davis---..Second
Vice-president
Albert Brooks..---_-.Secretary-Treasurer
At this meeting the following
Mrs. Walter Binns
Chaplain
Historian
Mrs. J. D. C. Wilson
Mrs. George Cahall_------Sergeant-at-Arms
A t the time of organization, this Auxiliary had the largest charter membership of any organization of auxiliaries in the state of Georgia. The
Auxiliary assisted the Legion most graciously in entertaining the state !egionnaires in LaGrange in July, 193 l.
A t the recent meeting of the Legion in Valdosta in 1933, this Auxiliary
received the award for the greatest increase in membership in the state.
UNIONSONIC LODGE. Union Lodge, No. 28, Free and Accepted Masons was one of the early organizations of the county. The charter was
applied for on October 22, 1842, and was organized on December 4, 1842,
with the following oGcers: Kinchen L. Haralson, Worshipful Master;
Blount C. Ferrell, Senior Warden; Hampton W. Hill, Junior Warden; Lewis
Hines, Treasurer; Daniel McMillan, Secretary; Jesse King, Senior Deacon;
William C. Buffington, Junion Deacon; George A. Dudley, Tiler.
The charter members of the Lodge were:
Buffington, William C.
Dudley, George A.
Fears, Oliver P.
Ferrell, Blount C.
Ferrell, Mickleberry
Gage, John E.
Haralson, Kinchen L.
Hardin, William S.
Hill, Hampton W.
Hines, Lewis
Key, Caleb W.
King, Jesse
McMillan, Daniel
Peel, John J.
Stokes, William B.
Ferrell, William B. M., F C
Latimer, James, EA
The roster of Worshipful Masters, or presiding officers, and their years
of service are given below.
Haralson, Kinchen L.
1842
1843-41
Ferrell, Blount C.
Bogart, Peter
1846
1847-49
Ridley, Robert A. T. ..-.-..--.-.------..
Morgan, D. W.
18 50
1851
Todd, J. C. B. ................................
Sims, W. H. ---.......---...-.-.-.....--.---1852
Hodges, Henry
1853-54
1855-56
Long, James A.
Bigham, Benjamin H.
1857
Jones, Waters B
1858-60
1861
Tuller, W. M.
1862-63
Teague, E. B.
1864
Ridley, Robert A. T.
Jones, Waters B.
1865
1866-67
Scott, J. H.
1868-71
Curtright, B. F. ..--.-.-...--.---------------Jones, Waters B.
1872
Yancey, William C.
1873-74
Toole, J. Edward, Jr.
1879
Bigham, Benjamin H.
1877-78
Toole, J. Edward, Jr. ........----..-----.
1879
Huntley, 'William H.
Banka, Henry
Longley, Francis M.
Chapple, J. A.
Banks, Henry
Smith, Clifford L.
Banks, Henry
Weaver, William H.
Cleaveland, William L.
Gorham, Zachry T.
Smith, Clifford L.
Lovejoy, Hatton
Reeves, Henry
Ricketson, James E.
Campbell, Walter R.
Clark, Eugene B.
Harwell, Frank
1880-84
-1885-87
188 8
1889-90
189 1-92
1893-95
1896-98
1899
1900-02
1903
1904-05
1906-07
1908
1909-10
191 1-1 2
1913
19 14
191 5-19
Smith, Cligord L. ..-..--...-.-.--.-.------Connally, Pyron R.
1920
Sargent, George H.
192 1
Connally, Pyron R.
1922
1923
Johnson, J. Forest
Smith, Clifford L.
1924
Park, Howard P. -.......-.......-1925
---A
Almand, Henry G.
1926
1927
Sutherlin, J. J. .---........-..-..--------Wooten, George F.
-1927
Turner, Walter L.
1928
Sutherlin, C. Wilner
1929
Davis, R. Cooper
1930
Turner, Henry
193 1
1932
Calhoun, Frank F., Jr.
Dye, A. Luther
1933
LAGRANGE
WOMAN'SCLUB. In 1908, Mrs. Sallie Boykin Cary organized the LaGrange Woman's Club and was elected the first president. Like
the other clubs of the Georgia Federation, which it joined in 1909, this club
was organized for civic, philanthropic and cultural purposes. It was divided into a number of departments which followed as near as possible the
Federation departmental system, and during the twenty-five years of its
existence most of these sections have continued to function. The child
welfare, community service, fine arts, American home, garden, and junior
sections have been especially successful.
Splendid contributions have been made to the patients at Alto and Milledgeville, Red Cross, Christmas seals, Camp Viola for undernourished children, Tallulah Falls School, and many other worthy causes. A number of
scholarships have been given for student aid. The club has maintained a
scholarship at Tallulah Falls for two years.
The civics, community service, and garden sections have inaugurated,
planted and supervised a city park and a playground, and has planted hundreds of trees, shrubs and roses on the highway.
The child welfare section has conducted a clinic for diphtheria and other
preventable diseases in pre-school children for many years.
The fine arts section has exerted a cultural influence in the community by
giving concerts and bringing celebrated artists to the city, also sponsoring
fine collections of paintings, etc.
The club met in the homes of the members for many years. In 1911,
the Heard House on Church Street was bought for a club house for $3,300.00, on which a part payment was made from the small sum that the
club had been able to save, and the balance was borrowed from the LaGrange
National Bank through the courtesy of Fuller E. Callaway, the following
women indorsing the note and forming a body of trustees for the club:
Mesdames Enoch Callaway, C. M. Awtrey, C. V. Truitt, W. A. Holmes,
F. E. Callaway, Sarah Reid, T. A. Atkinson and Clifford Smith. This note
was paid in the course of time, and in 1920 the trustees deeded the building
to the club. I t was not used by the club, however, till 1921, the rents being used to help pay the debt. It was at this time that the club put into
existence the principal project for which it had been working for many
years: a public library.
This library was maintained almost entirely by the club until 1926, when
the old club house was torn down and replaced by a beautiful new library
and club house. The library has continued to be the principal activity of
the club. During the years since 1926 up to the present, 1933, the club
has contributed $3,441.36 as its share of the expense of maintaining the
building and running the library, in addition to the contribution of the club
towards the erection of the building.
The club has won the district gavel many times for its excellent work,
the Tallulah Falls gavel, and the General Federation prize of fifty dollars for
its Book Week observance. This prize was used to purchase two etchings
for the library.
Mrs. Clifford Smith served the club for fourteen years as president, and
Mrs. Henry Reeves for three years. The following women have served as
presidents of the club:
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
'Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Sallie B o y k i Cary
Clifford Smith
Sarah White Dunson
Henry Woodyard
H. H. Childs
Howard P. Park
Jarrell Dunson
L. D. Mitchell
F. C. Ferrell
Henry Reeves
The following members constitute the officers, who have been elected for
the current year of 193 3 :
Miss Margaret Edmondson
President
First Vice-president
Mrs. J. T. Nichols ..-.-.
Mrs. Neil Glass.-..---Second Vice-President
Mrs. Render Terrell---.--..-----------Secretary
Mrs. T. L. Arnett
Treasurer
WEST
POINTWOMAN'SCLUB.When
the realization of what organized
women could do was first sweeping the country in 1898, a group of West
Point women with a vision of accomplishment banded themselves together
as the West Point Woman's Club.
From the beginning the objects of the club were "social, literary and humanitarian." Interesting women of all denominations met in friendly intercourse to exchange ideas under the cheering influence of the "cup of
tea." Picnics and outings as well as the annual club reception in September were all parts of the social aspects of the club. The literary and cultural features were in the form of well-executed programs including the
study of travel, music and art, suggestions on home making, and always
the high lights in current events. A deep interest was developed in civic
affairs for the betterment of the community in public buildings, schools,
welfare of the poor, care of the cemetery, and the like.
For a number of years the membership approximated thirty members, and
under the wise direction of Mrs. J. Lindsay Johnson, at that time president
of the Georgia Federation of Woman's Clubs, the club joined the federation
in 1899, and acceded to the suggestion that the club be unlimited in
numbers.
Standing as a monument of achievement of the club, is the City Auditorium, wherein are provided quarters for the club, Chamber of Commerce,
Welfare Association, and the Boy Scouts. Credit also is given the club for
the establishment of the Hawkes Children's Library, which is elsewhere described in these pages. The activity of the club made possible the bonds
for the school building, the pride of the city.
The care of the cemetery has always been a part of the club plans, and
under the leadership of Mrs. E. F. Lanier funds for the fence and gate were
provided. The club has always maintained a chairman of cemetery maintenance, among whom the following are noted: Mrs. Benjamin T. Smith,
Mrs. E. F. Lanier, Mrs. Clarence Hudmon, Mrs. John H. Horsley, Mrs. Lewis
Askew and Mrs. Grady Webb.
Under the direction of the civic chairman and in the interest of beautification of the city, shrubs have been planted at the new school buildings,
both at the white and the colored schools.
Under the direction of the forestry chairman, Mrs. Harold Parker, a beginning has been made for the beautification of the highway from West
Point to LaGrange, and replacements and extension will be continued.
Plans for a garden section of the club are being worked out with Mrs.
George H. Lanier as chairman, and plans for a Junior Woman's Club are
being considered in the hope that a junior club may result.
Much attention has been given in the past few years to social entertainments, both for the social intercourse and for the securing of funds for
various projects by means of enjoyable entertainments.
For the past two years the club has been interestingly entertained by the
dramas given under the direction of Mrs. Jack Hodnett, Jr., who is chairman of drama. The audiences and the participants have been very enthusiastic over the renditions.
'
The welfare work of the club has been under the direction of the chairman of social service, Mrs. Edmund F. Cook, who is also president of the
West Point Welfare Association.
Each year an active chairman handles the sale of Christmas seals in support of the Georgia Tubercular Association, and the present chairman is
Mrs. William Keith; and the club annually conducts the campaign for Red
Cross members under the direction of C. E. Wright, representative of the
Red Cross in West Point.
In 1912 the club was chartered, and many of the present active members
were included in the roll of charter members. The list of the charter
members follows:
Adams, Mrs. David L.
Adams, Miss Emma
Avary, Mrs. J. Arch
Bankston, Mrs. W. Trox
Clarke, Miss Carrie
Cohen, Mrs. Morris
Crowder, Mrs. R. L.
Cumbce, Mrs. Edward L.
Dixon, Mrs. Mary
Fullerton, Mrs. Claude L.
Hagedorn, Mrs. Max
Hagedorn, Mrs. Philip
Hagedorn, Mrs. Zach
Harris, Mrs. Anna
Herford, Miss Marjory
Herford, Mrs. Wiiliam B.
Herzberg, Mrs. Helen
Herzberg, Mrs. Hetty Lou
Heyman, Mrs. B.
Heyman, Miss Bertha
Heyman, Mrs. Lee
eurnphrey, Mrs. Robert T.
Higginbotham, Mrs. W. B.
Logan, Mrs. J. G.
Lovelace, Mrs. John L.
McAfee, Mrs. M. J.
McCulloh, Mrs. Mark
McKemie, Mrs. J. Courtney
McNamara, Mrs. P. Joseph
Mitchell, Mrs. Edgar
Omer, Mrs. L. M.
O'Neal, Mrs. Rance
Oslin, Mrs. Mary
Poer, Mrs. John M.
Shaefer, Mrs. Mollie
Scott, Mrs. Fannie
Stanfield, Mrs. W. H.
Tatum, Mrs. P. A.
In February, 1933, the club celebrated its thirty-fif th anniversary. The
club has continuously served its members, its city, and its citizens and
those of the communities which it brings together.
On the organization of the West Point Woman's Club, the officers were
limited to a term of two years' consecutive o$ce holding. The presidents
of the club commencing with the year of organization in 1898 are as
follows:
Lang, Mrs. Ed
1898-1900
Adams, Mrs. David L.
1900-02
Herford, Mrs. W. B.
1902-04
Humphrey, Mrs. R. T. ..-.----........
1904-06
Bankston, Mrs. W. Trox .--.--...1906-08
.....
Humphrey, Mrs. R. T.
1908-10
Heyman, Miss Bertha
1910-12
McNamara, Mrs. P. J.
19 12-14
Avery, Mrs. J. A. ....-....-..-......1914-1
a
- I
Wright, Mrs. C. E. ----------.--------19 15 -1 6
1916-17
Avery, Mrs. J. A.
Bankston, Mrs. W. Trox
1917-19
1919-2 1
McCulloh, Mrs. Mark
1921-23
Poer, Mrs. J. M.
DeLamar, Mrs. Mary
1923-24
Hudmon, Mrs. W. C. -.-..-..-.. 1924-25
McCulloh, Mrs. Hugh, Sr. -.........
1925-26
Wallace, Mrs. James M. .-..---....1926-27
Cook, Mrs. Edmund F. ----.---.-1927-29
Hodnett, Mrs. H. J.
1929-31
Byrd, Mrs. Mark M.
1931-33
McCulloh, Mrs. Hugh, Jr. ----- 193 3-
LAGRANGE
BAPTISTWOMAN'SMISSIONARY
UNION. During the pastorate of M. B. Hardin in 1882, the Woman's Missionary Union of the First
Baptist Church of LaGrange was organized with twenty-eight members, and
the following ogcers:
Mrs. John Pitts
President
Mrs. U. B. Frost .......--....-------------------------------.----.-----.------Secretary
Mrs. J. C. Forbes----...-----.-----------------------------------------Treasurer
The following consecrated women have acted as presidents during the
fifty or more years that the society has diligently labored to carry on the
work of Christ: Mesdames F. M. Longley, C. C. Cox, A. T. Cason, W. V.
Gray, P. G. Awtrey, W. A. Reeves, R. S. O'Neal, and Misses Ella McLendon
and Alice Amoss. Miss Amoss served for fourteen years.
During the administration of Mrs. P. G. Awtrey, a handsome new organ
was bought and presented to the church by the union.
During the administration of Mrs. W. A. Reeves there was the greatest
increase in the size and number of circles, and in the general excellence of the
work. The Bible department under Mrs. Duke Davis won the Western
Association award for a number of years..
The union is active in the support of Camp Viola, and their work in behalf of home and foreign missions is deserving of highest praise. A t this
date, 1933, the union has two hundred and eighty members, and is divided into nine circles. The officers for 1933 are as follows:
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
R. S.
L. C. Schaudies
Enoch Callaway, Sr
Frank Stevens
E. C. Market
President
Vice-president
Second Vice-President
Secretary
Treasurer
PRESBYTERIAN
LADIES'Am SOCIETY. The Ladies' Aid Society of the LaGrange Presbyterian Church was organized in 1835, and has been noted
from that time to the present day for its many benevolent activities.
Among its first projects were the purchase of the first church organ, and
the assumption of all the expenses of the church except the salary of the
pastor.
During the Civil War this society was disbanded in order to form the
"Soldiers' Aid Society," which was composed of all the women of the town.
These women ministered to the sick and wounded soldiers, and after this
work was over, they reorganized their own societies and took up their separate interests once more.
By their diligence and devotion these noble women were enabled to cancel $3,000.00 of the indebtedness of the present beautiful church. Mrs.
Thomas A. Boddie was a member of this body for sixty-seven years, and
Mrs. J. L. Schaub for fifty-one years.
The LaGrange Chapter of
UNITED
DAUGHTERS
OF THE CONFEDERACY.
the United Daughters of the Confederacy was organized July 3, 1897, under
the leadership of Mrs. A. V. Heard, better known as Miss Queen Heard. The
chapter entertained the state convention in 1902, at which time the Confederate monument on Court Square was unveiled. This monument bears
this inscription:
"Erected by the LaGrange Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy t o the memory of our Confederate soldiers-those who fought and
died, and those who fought and lived. I n our hearts they perish not."
The aims and objectives of the LaGrange Chapter can best be stated in the
words of the creed of the general organization:
"We are daughters of the Confederacy to preserve in loving remembrance the memory of those who gave their lives to the Confederacy and
to protect their last resting places from neglect and obliteration; to care
for the needy ones who still abide with us; t o guard the truths of history; to educate worthy young people who are descendants of Confederate
veterans; and by mutual study and research to keep alive for many years
a distinctly Southern womanhood."
The LaGrange Chapter through the years of its existence has been the active Memorial Association, of which Mrs. Caroline E. Gay was president for
so many years. Among the names of those who presided over the chapter
the following are noted: Mrs. A. V. Heard, Mrs. Caroline E. Gay, Mrs. Sarah
Reid, Mrs. Eugenia Nix, Mrs. F. T. Reid, Mrs. R. 0.Pharr, Mrs. Henry
Reeves, Mrs. J. L. Braaeld, Mrs. J. J. Milam, Mrs. Enoch Callaway, Sr., Mrs.
Roy Dallis, Mrs. L. D. Allen, Mrs. T. G. Polhill, and Miss Mattie McGee.
Bigham, Mrs. M. J.
Boyd, Mrs. Mary A.
Burks, Miss A. F.
Callaway, Mrs. Fannie Banks
Fitts, Mrs. B. B.
Gay, Mrs. Caroline E.
Gorham, Miss I. L.
Gorham, Mrs. 2. 7'.
Heard, Mrs. A. V.
Herring, Mrs. S. J.
Hooten, Miss Lutie May
Hooten, Mrs. N. J.
Hutchinson, Mrs. N. R.
Longley, Mrs. F. M.
McCaine, Miss Mary
McFarlane, Mrs. Ida
Mooty, Miss Tommie B.
Newsom, Mrs. W. H.
Nix, Mrs. Eugenia Gay
Park, Mrs. L. M.
Pitts, Mrs. Littleton
Ragland, Mrs. Sallie H.
Rakestraw, Mrs. M. E.
Reid, Mrs. J. B.
Reid, Miss M. E.
Ridley, Mrs. C. B.
Ridley, Miss Ellie
Ridley, Miss Julia
Speer, Mrs. G. A.
Strong, Miss Elizabeth
Strong, Miss Frances
Swanson, Mrs. Graves
Thornton, Miss Elizabeth
Thornton, Mrs. J. P.
Tomlinson, Mrs. J. M.
Toole, Miss E. J.
Ward, Mrs. M. A.
Ware, Mrs. J. J.
Whitfield, Mrs. E. G.
Witherspoon, Mrs. Philo
DAUGHTERS
OF THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION.In
1894 a small but flour-
ishing chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was organized
as the eighth in the state, the Atlanta chapter being the first in 1891. This
chapter was called, "The Susannah Elliott Chapter," but it was afterward
disbanded. The LaGrange Chapter, as at present constituted, was organized
on February 5, 1920, with twenty-three charter members. The LaGrange
Chapter was named not only for the beloved "City of Elms and Roses," but
also in honor of LaGrange, the ancestral home of the Marquis de LaFayette,
French hero, who aided America so materially in her struggle for independence. The officers of this charter member band were:
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Miss
Mrs.
Mrs.
Alice M. Rushton King (B. J. K.)
.Regent
Birt Thomas Park (H. P. P.) - - - - I - - - - - . - - . - - - Vice-Regent
Mary Park Polhill (T. G. P.)
Recording Secretary
Mary Lane Hutchinson (Frank Ha)--Carresponding
Secretary
Annie Newton - . - - . - - - - - - - - - - - - Aegistrar
Jennie Evans Bradfield (J. L. Be)--- 7-----.-----Treasurer
Mattie Turner Faver (J. D. F.)
_--.Historian
Awtrey, Mrs. Ada M. (P. G.)
Awtrey, Mrs. Nemie F. (C. M.)
Bateman, Mrs. Erroldine H. (T. D.)
Bradfield, Mrs. Jennie E. (J. L.)
Callaway, Mrs. Ida C. (F. E.)
Callaway, Mrs. Lula W. (E. R.)
Dallis, Mrs. Ruth E. (Roy D.)
Davis, Mrs. Sarah B. (W. S.)
Faver, Mrs. Mattie T. (J. D.)
Gerlach, Mrs. Sarah L. (R. F.)
Hooker, Mrs. Louise S. (Scroope)
Hutchinson, Mrs. Mary L. (Frank)
King, Mrs. Alice M. R. (B. J.)
Lane, Mrs. Mamie B. (R. R.)
Newton, Miss Annie
Newton, Miss Janie
Parham, Mrs. Daisy R. (V. S.)
Park, Mrs. A. Elizabeth S. (R. H.)
Park, Mrs. Birt T. (H. P.)
Phillips, Mrs. Julia (Robert)
Polhill, Mrs. Mary P. (T. G.)
Strong, Mrs. Mary I. R. (1. B.)
Terrell, Mrs. Lena M. (Henry)
1920
Mrs. B. J. King
1920-22 'Mrs. C. M. Awtrey
1922-23 Miss Annie Newton
1924-21 Mrs. E. T. Moon
1925-27 Mrs. J. L. Bradfield
1927-29
1929-31
1931-32
1932-33
1934-
Mrs.
Miss
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
T. G. Polhill
Mattie McGee
H. R. Slack
T. G. Polhill
J. D. Favcr
The LaGrange Chapter has awarded prizes each year in the High School
for excellence in American history and citizenship. Scholarships have been
given to LaGrange College and the Penn Studios. A chapter of Children of
the Revolution was organized by Mrs. Polhill, the second such chapter in the
state. The bi-centennial of the birth of George Washington was celebrated
during the regency of Mrs. H. R. Slack by planting a tree in the city park
with a suitable marker.
LAGRANGE
LIBRARY
CLUB. One of the first Woman's clubs in the state
was organized in LaGrange in 1897 by Mrs. Enoch, Callaway, who acted as
the president for several years, and represented the club at the first state federation meeting in Rome, Georgia, in that year. The object of this club was
to found a library. The meeting was held in the old council room, which
occupied a part of the space where the present Masonic hall is now located.
A small but select library was installed in this building, and Mrs. I. H. Lane
and Mrs. Daniel Curtright acted as librarians. Dr. Callaway was of great
assistance to the club in financing the library and furnishing the. room. A
small fee was charged for library membership, but this was found to be hard
to collect, and finally the library was given to the public schools, and made
the nucleus of the present school libraries. The club disbanded after disposing of the library.
CHAPTER XXII. ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
RIMITIVE. The original type of houses built by the pioneers was
adopted from the Indian design. The floor plan was simple, being
that of two rectangles separated by a space, and the entire structure covered
by a continuous gabled roof of boards. The intervening space was sometimes floored over and sometimes merely raised with carefully packed earth,
and was used by the Indians as a meeting place for a council, by the pioneers
as a porch or a daylight sitting room when the weather permitted. The name
given to this part of the cabin by the pioneers tells the story of other occupants for at least part of the time, as it was called the "dog trot."
Wide and high fireplaces of stone capped by a chimney built of sticks and
mud constituted the heating and cooking facilities of the indoors. Chimney
corner seats within the cavernous fireplace were the choice seats in winter,
during which season the homefires never died, but heaps of ashes kept live
coals through a whole season. Huge logs constituted the fuel.
The barns, stables, cribs and houses of the quarters or servant houses continued to be made of logs long after the "big house" became a mansion.
The di$culties of transportation of window glass over rough trails made
the use of transparent windows prohibitively expensive; hence most of the
window openings were closed with rude wooden shutters, which were seldom
opened in winter or closed in summer.
In the luxurious years that followed the cabin era of the
QUARTERS.
pioneers came the age of gigantic plantations, and an essential part of these
were the quarters, or slave and servant homes, which were built at some distance from the big house, and were long lines or groups of small log cabins
usually one-room, or two-room a t most. In the evening when one approached within hearing distance of the cabins, there might be heard the
strum of a banjo, or the shuffle of a dance on the bare ground, or the oral
petitions raised to Almighty God by some saintly old negro, or the grunts of
some rheumatic with a "misery" in the side or back.
THE BIG HOUSE.The house of the master was always called the "big
house," which term had no reference t o the size as it might be of modest
dimensions. There were two distinct types of residences of the early days.
One of them was strictly classical in facade with huge Doric or Ionic columns
like some temple to house the altar to some heathen god instead of the lares
and Penates that it held. These houses were two-story with the columns
for the full two-story height, and formed the setting for a spacious verandah,
which sometimes was extended on the two sides as well as the front. One
invariable feature of these temple-light facades was the presence of a bal-
'
cony with a grilled balustrade, placed immediately over the front entrance,
which in turn was decorated with transom and side lights.
The second form was not so regal in appearance, composed of one-story
height slightly elevated from the ground level, and provided with broad low
verandahs on three sides. This form resembled the Spanish style with the
exception of the central patio and fountain. Numerous small columns decorated the surrounding verandahs.
Our county was fortunate in having the services of skilled architects and
builders, such as, Cullen Rogers, Charles Bailey, and the Camerons and
Greenes, for to them we are indebted for many of the beautiful houses of
the ante bellum days, that were built in the forties and fifties of the nineteenth century.
CHURCHES.
The early churches were simple log rectangles seated with
puncheon benches and having very primitive furnishings. They were insufficiently heated and not infrequently without any provision for lighting
except the lanterns brought from their homes by those assembled.
The replacement of these crude buildings took place at an early date, certainly before 1840. The brick churches followed the lines of basilica structure, a rectangular building with a classic facade, and a pulpit recess at the
opposite end. Provision for a choir was made at a much later date in one
corner near the pulpit and the altar; because in the early days the use of
musical instruments in a church was taboo.
MODERNCHANGES.The ceilings of the dwellings were formerly high,
and were decorated with plaster mouldings and also rosettes for the chandeliers. The high ceiling added both to the comfort in summer and to the
discomfort in winter. The present day ceilings are low.
The huge fireplaces of the long ago have shrunk to narrow grates, or else
have disappeared except as an ornament, where furnaces supply heat. The
cellar was once the storage place of wines and liquors, and sometimes of fruits
and vegetables.
EARLYHOMES.There are many homes in our county, which are interesting from their age and their associations. Many of these are omitted
from those enumerated below for the lack of definite information obtainable
by the author. Very few of the original houses of the pioneer period are
now in existence. Of those built at a date following that period, the strength
and the dignity of composition after these many years give testimony to the
fact that our forbears built wisely and well.
BELLEVUE. The most interesting and historic house in LaGrange and
perhaps in Troup County is "Bellevue," the former home of Senator Benjamin H. Hill. It is located at the north end of McLendon Avenue, which
was formerly the juniper-lined driveway to the mansion. The estate originally included twelve hundred acres. The beautiful colonial house crowned
the hill, and afforded from the "Court," as the flat roof was called, a panorama of exceeding beauty. Far in the rear of the house were the slave quarters, orchards and vegetable gardens. The house was surrounded by magnolias and beds of old fashioned shrubs and flowers, bordered with boxwood.
The walks paved with granite slabs led through the grove of splendid oaks
and hickories of the original forest to the massive iron gates at the entrance.
These gates, which cost $12,000.00, were replicas of the gates at the White
House in Washington. The entire grounds were enclosed by a stone wall,
built by slaves.
This house, which is regarded by architects as one of the purest types of
southern colonial architecture, has immense hallways and handsome rooms
with high ceilings and beautiful plaster cornices, and additional gilt cornices
over the French windows. There is a wide portico on three sides of the
house adorned with magdicent Ionic columns of two-story height. On the
roof above the second story is the "Court" surrounded by a balustrade in
keeping with the stately columns.
"Bellevue," which required two years in building, was designed by an
architect by the name of Taylor, and was erected on the site of General Hugh
A. Haralson's home, which had been burned. The site was purchased by
B. H. Hill on November 3, 18 5 3. Mr. Hill built the, home for his beloved
wife, and she said that she spent the happiest years of her life here. During
their residence a t "Bellevue," it was noted for its lavish hospitality and the
large number of celebrated people entertained. Here Jefferson Davis, Stephen
Mallory, Clement Clay and a host of other celebrities were guests. Associated
with this house are memories of brilliant dinners, scintillating with wit and
repartee; of balls, gay and sparkling with beautiful belles and handsome
beaux; and there is the reverse side of this picture also: the many sorrows and
anxieties of the war and the poignant emotions of Hill's arrest in his own
bedroom by the Federal soldiers.
Mr. and Mrs. Hill sold this house and moved to Athens, and eventually
made their home in Atlanta. The estate was bought by Judge Jesse McLendon, and is now owned and occupied by his son, Millard F. McLendon.
FERRELL'SGARDEN. Chief among the interesting places of old LaGrange
was the home of Blount C. Ferrell, now replaced by the handsome villa of
Mrs. Fuller E. Callaway, and the beautiful gardens, which are known
throughout the United States. One of the four gardens of "Hills and Dales,"
formerly known as "Ferrell's Garden," was begun a hundred years ago by
Mr. and Mrs. Mickleberry Ferrell, who bought the whole of Land Lot nurn-
ber 1 11 of the Sixth District on December 11, 183 1, and moved to LaGrange
in 1832. In 1841, Mickleberry Ferrell gave to his daughter, Sarah Coleman
Ferrell, eighty acres in the southeast corner of the lot. Sarah Ferrell married her cousin, Blount C. Ferrell, and together they built a quaint and interesting house and immediately began planning their own garden. How
pure in design and artistic in structure were these plans of Sarah Coleman
Ferrell in 1841, is manifest today as garden experts from the world over
come to admire them! One terrace after another, bordered with box and
planted with magnolias, and rare trees, shrubs and flowers from far distant
countries were added with the passage of years. Among the trees are to be
found the shittim wood from the Holy Land, a giant Australian cunninghamia, whose foliage is renewed every twelve years, a gingko tree from Japan
with foliage like maiden hair fern, a linden from Germany, weeping cherry
trees from Japan, tea bushes from China, European larches, cryptomarias,
aged cedars and magnolias, hawthorn, tea olives, banana shrubs, and a host of
others. The ancient cedar from Lebanon was blown down in 1932, but
Mrs. Callaway preserved the wood and had a number of interesting pieces
of furniture made from the tree.
Mrs. Ferrell originated many quaint conceits in boxwood, among which
are noted her own motto "GOD IS LOVE" and that of Judge Ferrell "Fiat
Justitia." Mrs. Callaway has added the Callaway coat-of-arms motto "Ora
pro mi." Mrs. Ferrell called the lower garden on the west side, "The
Church." She shaped from tree-box the figure of an organ, pulpit and chairs,
and formed a lyre of box and blooming flowers. Mrs. Callaway has continued this idea by planting old maids and sweet williams for the congregation, jack-in-the-pulpit acts as preacher, while the birds sing, and the marigolds take the collection.
Judge and Mrs. Ferrell spent seventy years of happiness together in the
quaint house and the beautiful gardens, and the joy they gave others through
their hospitality and generosity can never be estimated. Mrs. Ferrell died
in 1903 at the age of 86, and Judge Ferrell at 92 years of age in 1908.
Four years later, Fuller E. Callaway purchased the estate and.erected a
beautiful Italian villa on the site of the old Ferrell house. Mrs. Callaway has
striven to carry out Mrs. Ferrell's ideas and to keep the old world charm
of this peaceful and lovely place. Besides this, she has added thousands of
shrubs and gayly blooming flowers, a rock garden, a charming wild flower
garden, a beautiful lake with graceful bridges and summer houses. Like
Sarah Coleman Ferrell, Mrs. Callaway loves and tends this garden, and prays,
"That her employment in Heaven will be to tend and water from the ambrosial fount, flowers that never would in other climates grow."
NURSES'HOME
ON HARALSON
STREET. The nurses' home of the Dunson
Hospital is one of the oldest residences in LaGrange. It was built in 1829
by Joseph D. McFarlin, the father of R. S. McFarlin, and was sold to James
M. Hill in May, 1835 , and in turn to Thomas C. Brown in July, 1836, and
acquired by James M. Turner about 1839. I t was from this house that
William W. and Sterling G. Turner went to Brownwood school, and Achsah
and Annie Turner to LaGrange College under the Montgomery brothers.
It was afterward the home of the Cunningham family, and from them bought
by Dr. H. R. Slack, and eventually sold to the city of LaGrange as a home
for Dunson Hospital nurses. After one hundred and four years occupancy,
the house is still in splendid condition. Colonial builders built for time.
WILKINSON
HOUSE,
30 1 VERNONSTREET. This site was originally purchased by Whitfield H. Sledge, and sold by him to Pleasant P. Coleman, who
built the present house. The purchase was made in 1835 by Coleman. The
Wilkinsons, the present owners, formerly owned a dignified home of colonial
design, which was located on the site of the McClellan store.
James and David Culberson owned the only sawCULBERSON
HOUSES.
mills in Troup County in its early days, and constructed many of the early
homes. James Culberson built the house now occupied by Mrs. T. A. Atkinson at 207 Broad Street, sometime prior to the war for his son, J. P.
Culberson. It is said that the house was originally built in the country, and
taken down and rebuilt on the present site. He also built the house now
occupied by J. J. Milam at 203 Broad Street, for Judge J. B. Edwards. The
house and grounds embraced about three-fourths of the entire block. It
was surrounded by an iron fence, and the massive gates were on the eastern
side, facing Lewis Street. The old Banks house, which formerly occupied
the space on Broad, Lewis and Vernon streets, now used as a park, was built
by Judge William C. Thomas, great grandfather of Mrs. Henry Reeves, and
afterwards was acquired and enlarged by James Culberson, who gave it to his
daughter, Mrs. Martha Culberson Thornton, grandmother of Mrs. L. D.
Mitchell. James Culberson, who lived at the junction of the Harrisonville
t
northeast of LaGrange, also built another house for his
and ~ a m m k t roads
daughter, Mrs. Sarah Culberson Snead, on the site of the Newton home at
117 Church Street.
WARE
HOUSE,
3 11 VERNONSTREET. This site was originally bought by
Daniel S. Robertson, sheriff of Troup County, on April 14, 1832, and he is
said to have lived there several years. The deed to him names the property as
the west half of No. 2 Commons, and adds five rods front on Vernon Street
from No. 3 Commons, which accounts for the offset in Harwell Avenue.
The site was purchased in 1834 by Bennett M. Ware, the gandfather of
Mrs. Eugene Nix, whose mother, Mrs. Caroline Ware Gay, was born there
in 1835. Mrs. Gay will always be remembered for her loyal support of the
Confederacy and the civic interests of LaGrange during the war, reconstruction and long afterward. This place was acquired later by Col. James H.
Fannin, whose family occupied it for many years. Mrs. Fannin was Julia
Ferrell, and inheriting a love of flowers from her ancestors, planted many
trees, shrubs and flowers on the place. Mrs. H. E. Cary, sister of Mrs. R. T.
Segrest, bought the place in 1909.
BODDIEHOUSE.
This house, located seven miles east of LaGrange on the
Mountville road, was built in 1836 by Nathan Van Boddie, and was designed
by the architect, Cullen Rogers, and is typically southern colonial in style.
Its outstanding distinctions are the beautiful Ionic columns, the fan-light
transom over the front door, and the immense dining room, which is forty
feet in length and twenty in width.
Before the advent of railroads in Troup County, David Beman, who
owned and operated the Montgomery and GrifKn stage coach line, had a relay
station on the Boddie farm, and Miss Belle Boddie relates that her grandmother consented to serve the passengers meals, and accommodate them for
the night if necessary. There were two long tables in the capacious dining
room, and four cherry tables which were added when there was an overflow
of guests. The fare was abundant and delicious, and Mrs. Boddie realized
$8,000.00 from her venture.
The Boddie house was the scene of many brilliant gatherings, both political and social. The handsome dining room was also used as a ball room.
Much of the beautiful furniture is still in this house, now occupied by Misses
Belle and Van Boddie.
The home of James M. Flowers is located on the Big
FLOWERSHOUSE.
Springs road in Land Lot No. 157 of Sixth District. The first house was
a log cabin, which was used until the present house was built in 18$1, and
was then used as a kitchen for many years. The Flowers home was noted
for its beautiful flower yards, which were designed by Berkman, the Augusta
landscape gardener. The boxwood and many of the old fashioned shrubs still
survive after the passage of many years. Some of the most beautiful furniture to be found in the South is still in this house, now occupied by Joseph
Newsom, a nephew of Mrs. Flowers.
E. Y. HILL
HOME.The home of Edward Young Hill, for whom Hill
Street was named, was a handsome home replaced in recent years by the
Junior High School on Hill Street. The home was purchased by Dr. H. S.
Wimbish, who resided there until February of 188 5 , when the place was sold
to Maj. A. D. Abraham. I t was in turn sold to Robert D. Render in 1898,
and sometime after his death, the property was purchased by the city of
LaGrange for a Junior High School site.
THEOAKS,1103 VERNONSTREET. The town home of Philip H. Greene
took its name from the grove of splendid oaks in which i t was situated. It
was built in 1845 by Philip Hunter Greene, who was his own architect and
builder. The house was constructed of timber from the native forest, the
trees being felled and the lumber prepared by slaves. The construction is
of traditional ante bellum style: all timbers mortised together and secured
by wooden pegs; the facade is composed of six massive Doric columns; and
the floor plan is that of four large rooms separated by a wide hall. At the
rear of the hall is one of the most beautiful curved stairways to be found in
LaGrange, among whose interesting features are noted the mahogany stair
rail and the quaint niches in the walls for statuary. The walls and ceilings
of the lower floor with their frescoes were made of plaster of Paris, and the
mantels of black marble imported from Carrara.
A t the rear of the house was the glassed conservatory, in which were
stored rare plants and shrubs, among which there was a lemon tree that
provided fruit for many years.
This property was inherited by the daughter, Mrs. Sarah Caroline Greene
Todd. It is now the property of Mrs. Francis J. Dodd and still stands in
the dignity and beauty of its early days among the venerable trees from
which it took its name.
BROUGHTON
HOME.
The home of Edward Broughton of ante bellum
days was a large two-story house with green blinds, broad halls and spacious
verandahs. I t was a homelike place with many windows open t o the sunshine and to the fragrance of the garden filled with old fashioned flowers.
Seven daughters went from this home to LaGrange College under the
Montgomery brothers, one of which daughters, Mary, married Troup Montgomery. This house occupied the site of the house in the triangle between
Greenville and Hill streets in LaGrange, now occupied by Mrs. F. J. Pike.
Miss Tallie Hill relates that the old Broughton house or a t least one on the
same site was used in stage coach days as a hotel, probably after Howard's
Tavern was sold as a site for the present Baptist Church, which was in 1839.
TALLIE
~ L HOUSE,
L
109 HILLSTREET. This is one of the very old
homes of LaGrange as it was built before Hill Street was opened, and its position is that of facing on Greenville Street, which explains the angular position in reference to Hill Street. Wiley P. Burks, guardian for Mrs. Hill,
bought this home for her in 1853. Mrs. Hill was the mother of five daughters, Frances, Victoria, Mary, Tallie and Mat, and two sons, Abram C. and
Albert G. There are a number of beautiful oaks on the grounds surround-
ing this interesting house that are over one hundred years old. Misses Tallie
and Mat Hill have lived in this house continuously for eighty years. They
taught a private school there for many years, and many men and women
of this community received not only their early education here, but they
also acquired the moral precepts from these remarkable women, which have
guided them through life. To their keen mentality and wonderful memories, the author is indebted for many interesting facts about the early history
of LaGrange.
GEORGE
HEARD
HOME,206 BROADSTREET. The home of George Heard
is a stately house in a setting of trees and shrubs, which was inherited by
his daughter, Martha Heard, who married Judge James M. Beall, and the
house was known for many years as the Beall house. There were two sons in
the Heard family, the one, Rev. Peter A. Heard, who married Mary Cade
Alford, made a great name for himself in Georgia Methodism; the other,
Dr. Henry Thomas Heard was equally distinguished as a physician, This
house is now the residence of Mrs. George E. Dallis.
The home of Robert Dougherty formerly occupied
DOUG HER^ HOME.
the whole block on Church Street, part of which is now the site of the
Render Apartments. Some of the giant oaks that adorned these beautiful
grounds are still standing. The house was a large colonial structure. As
Robert Dougherty was regarded as a giant in the legal profession, his home
was the frequent meeting place of pioneer celebrities. This site, after the
destruction of the Southern Female College on Hill Street in 1861, was the
location of the college, the apartments being a portion of the college
buildings.
REIDHOUSE.The house on the Mountville road, located in Land
SAMUEL
Lot No. 90 of Sixth District, is one of the first frame houses in Troup
County. It was built by Samuel Reid, the county surveyor, and replaced
the log house of the early pioneer days. The stately columns were added
at a much later date. Judge Reid was the grandfather of Mrs. J. B. Strong.
The house today is known as the Glanton house, and stands far back on the
north side of the road.
RILEYI'V~ARCHMAN
HOME. When the early pioneers began to settle in
Troup County, Riley Marchman built a home on Land Lot No. 9 9 of the
Sixth District, which is on the south side of the Mountville road. He cleared
the ground for his plantation, which was surrounded by Indian cabins and
homes. George Marchman, a youth of sixteen in training in Company C
of First Georgia Reserves, was killed at the battle of Fort Tyler in West
Point, and is buried in the family cemetery on this place.
WALTERCOLQUITT
HOME. On the outskirts of the southeastern part of
LaGrange, Walter Colquitt bought a tract of land and built a house. While
he was never a resident of Troup County, yet he spent all his summers in
this country home, which in later days became the property of A. J. Heard.
JOEL D. NEWSOM
HOME. This home is located on the north side of the
Big Springs road in Land Lot No. 136 of the Sixth District, and was the
home of Joel D. Newsom. This house of colonial type of architecture is
a replica of the Boddie house on the Mountville road, and was designed by
Cullen Rogers, an able architect of the ante bellum period.
LTNDSAY
HOME,
401 VERNONSTREET.This house occupies the site formerly known as No. 3 Commons of LaGrange, and was the home of B. F. H.
Lindsay, whose daughter, Mrs. Bessie Lindsay Walker, resides on Hill Street.
After the death of B. F. H. Lindsay, his widow married Dr. William E.
Murphey and lived in the same house. John L. Robertson was the next
owner, and in the late nineties it was purchased by Mrs. Frank Ward and her
daughters, one of whom, Miss Lulu Ward, still has her home and flower garden there. Mrs. Ward was a quiet gentlewoman, who looked on the journey
of life as a road to Jericho, and deemed the law of human helpfulness one of
the greatest laws of the code.
One of the very interesting old homes in Troup
JOHNHILLHOME.
County is that of John Hill at Long Cane, located in Land Lot No. 189 of
the Fifth District. I t is similar to most of the houses of former days, colonial in style with broad farm lands surrounding it. From this home came
three men of marked ability: Dr. John Hill, William Pinckney Hill, and
Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill.
ALFORD
HOME. The first home built in the western part of LaGrange
in Land Lot No. 110, was the home of Julius C. Alford, which formerly was
located on the site of LaGrange College. Julius C. Alford, our Congressman who was dubbed the "War Horse of Troup," was prominent in the early
military and political circles, and proposed the name for the city of LaGrange.
Julius Alford was a great uncle of Judge W. T. Tuggle, our popular city
court judge. This site was purchased by the Montgomery brothers in 1843
for the erection of dormitories for students of the LaGrange Female Institute,
which used the Female Academy on Broad Street for class rooms.
FORESTHOME. The home of Charles Cabiniss Bailey, located in Land
Lot No. 2 5 2 of the Sixth District, was purchased by him October 28, 1827.
Charles Bailey came from
County, Virginia, to Forsyth, Georgia, and
leaving his family in Forsyth, he brought carpenters with him to Troup, as
well as blacksmiths and masons. With this corps of laborers he constructed
five two-story houses in the county. In 1850, he built the handsome resi-
&
dence known as "Forest Home" on the above mentioned site on the north
side of the Hamilton road, near Rosemont School at present. H e presented
this home t o his daughter, Mrs. John Humphrey Traylor, whose descendents
still retain possession of the estate. The first ladder steps of the house built
in 1827 are still in use to connect the second story of the house with the
attic. The old wisteria still climbs across the verandah, and the old garden
still boasts of the ancient boxwood, crepe myrtle and tall cedars. What
stories of elaborate hospitality, brilliant entertainments of celebrated men,
romance, joy and sorrow, this house and garden could tell! Jefferson Davis
and a host of others were entertained within its hospitable portals. From
this home have gone forth numerous men and women distinguished in the
social and political life of Georgia.
BOYKINHOME.This beautiful old colonial home is located in Land Lot
No. 139 of the Fourteenth District, which was originally a part of old Carroll County. The present house was built in 1849 by John T. Boykin, and
was occupied by his son, John T. Boykin, and his children continuously
until 1924, and was ever known for the generous hospitality of its inmates.
POYTHRESS
HOME.The site of the home of Joseph Poythress was bought
by him in 1830 from James and William Daniel, and occupied the site of the
present post oflice in LaGrange. The property was inherited by Frank Poythress, who married Caroline Ware, and she in turn became the owner of the
property after the death of her husband, and sometime afterward she married John T. Gay, and lived in the house until her death in 1922. The house
was moved to front on Broome Street when the post office was built, and
was finally razed in 1925 .
GRIGGSHOME.The battle-scarred Griggs home is on the Alabama line
in West Point and located in Alabama, but it is so closely identified with
the history of Troup County, that it has been included in our list of homes.
It remains practically unchanged since the battle of Fort Tyler, when it was
scarred with bullets in the fierce struggle for possession of the fort.
WHITFIELDHOUSE.This is one of the old houses of Troup County, and
was the home of Horatio Whitfield, an old pioneer of the county, and is
located on the south side of the road a t Whitfield Crossing near Louise. The
property was afterward in the possession of the Banks family. In 1931, it
was purchased by S. H. Dunson, and he and Mrs. Dunson have used excellent
judgment in the remodeling of the house, adhering strictly, though in a
charming manner, to the traditions of architecture of the ante bellum period
during which the old house was built. I t is now known as "Gricewood."
TARVER
HOUSE,
CHURCHSTREET. This house was built by the mother
of Judge Walter Colquitt. After the death of Henry Colquitt, her husband,
she married Andrew W. Tarver, and was in her second widowhood when the
house was built. She occupied the house with her son, John Colquitt and his
children, he being a widower at that time. The property is in possession of
the Lehmann family and has been for many years.
HENDERSON
HOME,303 HILLSTREET. This stately house was built by
William Henderson, the great uncle of Mrs. R. 0.Pharr, some time before
the war, and was purchased by Benjamin H. Bigham in 1861 upon his return
from the War Between the States. It is conspicuous for the beautiful staircase and the handsome brass cornices over the windows. Mrs. Adelaide
Bigham Park, her daughter, Mrs. Mary Park Polhill, and her granddaughter,
Mrs. Adelaide Park Webster, were all married in the same room of the house.
MCFARLAND
HOME,
H ~ ESTREET.
S
This house was built by a German
contractor named Wagner for Joseph D. McFarland about the year 1833.
It was occupied by the Bacon and the Fannin families; James Stanley and
his wife lived here in 1843, and it was afterwards occupied by Benjamin B.
Amos, the father of Mrs. Ida McFarlane. It was bought by L. J. Render in
1880 and is still in possession of his daughter, Mrs. W. E. Morgan. The
Render family though pioneers of Meriwether County have added much to
the wealth, culture and prestige of LaGrange and Troup County for more
than fifty years.
RUTLEDGE
HOME. This house is located on the east side of the road from
Hardin Crossroad to West Point. It was built by a contractor named Urpe
in 18f2 for Joseph Rutledge, father of Mrs. M. L. Fleming. Two years were
required to construct the house; no nails were used in the framing, all joints
being mortised and tenoned and fastened by wooden pegs. It remained the
property of Joseph Rutledge until his death in 1892, and became the property
of Mrs. M. L. Fleming in 1895, and was sold by her to William Hogg in 1908.
FROSTHOME,
323 GREENVILLE
STREET.This house was the former home
of the Frost family, who were financial and military characters in the early
days of LaGrange. At some later time i t was purchased by W. V. Gray, and
occupied by his family for many years, and is still in possession of the family.
'WILKES HOME,
218 MAINSTREET. This house was the former home of
Benjamin Wilkes, the grandfather of Ben Wilkes of Springdale Drive. The
house was situated in the center of a large lot fronting on Main, Bull and
Broome streets. It was afterwards moved southward from the original position, when the Truitt home was built near Broome Street. The Wilkes
family were among the wealthiest and most influential of the early days.
SWANSONHOMES.On the north side of the old Vernon road just beyond
the second crossing of the A. B. & C. Railroad is the old home of Graves
Swanson. On the south side of Vernon road within the city limits on the
site of the home of Ely R. Callaway was the home of Sherwood Swanson.
Both of these homes were noted for their lavish hospitality. The home of
Sherwood Swanson housed the first session of the Superior Court held in the
county. Sherwood Swanson married Sarah Cameron, one of the three g a d uates of LaGrange College under the Montgomerys in the first class of 1846.
CAMERONHOME.This home is located on the north side of Vernon
road just within the city limits, and was the home of Benjamin Cameron, a
pioneer builder and contractor. He built the old court house in 1831. His
son built the dormitory and college building of LaGrange College in early
1861. the war preventing the completion of the college building.
Sms HOME. The home of Wiley Sims was the site of the old LaGrange
Country Club; the old house being remodeled as a club house. Wiley Sims
was the first ordinary of Troup County, the office being created in 18 5 2.
He was prominent in the social and political life of early days.
FLORENCE
HOME.Near the A. J. Heard place southeast of LaGrange,
the summer home of Judge Walter Colquitt, was located the Florence home.
The menage of this home was noted for the exquisite furniture, handsome
carriage and horses, and other appointments in keeping with the early
pioneer country home.
POERHOME.
This house dates far back in the county records, and the
age is attested by the bend in the street in West Point, whose other streets
are straight lines except those along the river front. The city was laid off
in rectangular squares at the beginning of its existence.
WHATLEY
HOME.This home is located on a narrow road leading north
just beyond the Estes Cemetery west of Abbottsford. A view of this quaint
house bespeaks its age. The angular dormers and steeply pitched roof are
ample evidence of the originality and good taste of the designer.
HARWELL
HOME,305 BROADSTREET. ?Ibis is perhaps one of the oldest
homes in LaGrange and was the home of Vines Harwell and his wife, Mary
Lane, who were married on November 18, 18 23, and afterwards moved to this
home, where were born Henry and John Harwell on December 24, 1827, in
this house. 'The house was afterwards occupied by J. Brown Morgan, whose
wife was captain of the "Nancy Harts" in the Civil War period. T t was
afterward owned by John N. Cooper. It has been in possession of the
Pinckard family for more than thirty years. The beautiful columns were
added to the house in the later years of its existence.
MODERNHOMES.Among the handsome modern homes of LaGrange,
West Point and Hogansville, may be mentioned the following: Truitt and
Dunson homes built in southern colonial style; Nix home of English type
with its beautiful gardens; the handsome Callaway Italian villa set in the
famed Ferrell Gardens, now called "Hills and Dales"; Lanier home in West
Point with the house and gardens artistically set on the famous Fort Tyler
hill with a magnificent panoramic view of the surrounding country; Word
home in Hogansville picturesquely located in a stately grove of oaks.
There are doubtless many other homes in the county, which should be
enumerated, but the lack of definite information has prevented their inclusion in this edition of our county history.
CHAPTER XXIII. CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES
IP
LANTATION DAYS. On the old plantations the spring months were
one unending toil of planting, sowing, weeding, tilling up to the
"laying by" time about the first of July, when the golden seas of wheat,
barley, rye and oats, and sometimes millet were waiting for harvest time.
The strong armed cradler mows a swath in the ripened grain, and he is
closely followed by one who gathers the cuts and binds them into convenient bundles or sheaves. When the reaping and binding are complete, the
bundles are shocked in upright piles with one spread over the top to protect
the shocks from possible rains before the threshing time.
The itinerant thresher is notified that the community is ready for "thrashing day"; and when notice is received that the caravan is on the way, then
commenced the hurry, bustle and hard toil of the burning summer days,
which left completely exhausted every one from the cooks feeding the extra
itinerant crew and the laborers moving the grain to the thresher and the chaff
and straw out oflthe workers' way, to the master awaiting the scorer's count
of the harvest total. The modern reaper has taken away the glamor of old
"thrashing days" with the hearty appetites and deep sleep consequent upon
laborious toil.
The summer months were largely idle time with the exception of the
pulling of fodder and cutting of hay. Visits to distant friends and kinsmen,
various gatherings in churches and camp meetings, served to pass away the
long summer days. The call of the road commissioners always marred the
idyllic summer days, when the able bodied citizens gathered together for
highway work in making possible the old roads and in cutting new ones.
The notable days of autumn were cotton picking, cane grinding, cider
making, corn shucking, each of which were celebrated in accordance with
the alcoholic inclinations of the participants. One other day should be
mentioned, and that is settling day or October 1, when the accounts of the
harvest year are closed. Prior to this date all transactions were of the barter
type: the threshing paid in toll 06 grain; the miller in toll of grain; all else
on credit payable on the settling day.
Plantation days are gone with its toils and labors, with its pleasures and
recreations, but they have a warm place in our hearts.
THECOUNTRY
DOCTOR.
In the early days most of the roads were only
faintly marked trails, and in consequence travel was largely on horseback.
This was the method employed by the country doctors in reaching their
patients, and all physicians were country doctors.
The doctor was the surgeon, the dentist, the pharmacist, the nurse, and
the botanist, and anything else that was needed by the patient. He carried
in his saddlebags instruments for operations, materials for compounding remedies, miscellaneous sedatives and purgatives, bandages and liniments, in fact
a circulating pharmacy.
On the way t o some distant visitation his watchful eye was ever on the
alert for catnip, boneset, lobelia, bayberry, gentian and all those plants from
which he prepared his tinctures.
It is a matter of pleasure and also of duty to pay tribute t o the tireless
energy, enduring patience and studious skill of these faithful pioneer ministers of health to our forefathers.
CORNSHUCKING. The monotony of farm life was sometimes broken by
introducing a concerted social feature, or by making play of work. One
of these in those other days was a "Corn Shucking," which our northwestern
countrymen would call a "Husking Bee," but in our Georgia always bore
the above appellation.
By light of lanterns and to the accompaniment of banjos and fiddles (not
violins) husky neighbors vied with one another in races of time or quantity
of corn husked, and a feature of the contest was to find who would shuck
the first ear of red corn, which entitled the lucky one to the first and a
double portion of the eggnog, and sometimes he received also a spanking
from the envious defeated contestants.
The dancing of jigs and singing of old songs interspersed the program of
work and amusement. Now, alas, the days of corn shuckings are nu more,
and it is in memory alone that we may see some husky buck "cut t i e pigeon
wing," or hear some old darky "zoon."
LOG ROLLING. The original forests of the county were so dense that in
order to plant crops, it was necessary to fell the trees and to destroy all timber
not needed for building cabins, barns and shelters. The disposition of the
enormous mass of trunks, branches and brush entailed the communistic assistance of neighbors in rolling the logs into a heap for burning. After the
arduous toil by day with cant hooks and levers, came the evening by the
light of the bonfire, and entertainment of song and dance with refreshments
both liquid and savory.
HOUSE
WARMING.When the patches for fields and gardens were cleared,
and the cabin of logs completed with its board roof and stick chimney; when
puncheon benches, shelves and racks and bunks, were added, and the pioneer
ready to occupy his new home, invitations were broadcast by word of mouth
to the "House Warming." The house might be the future home of some
newlyweds, or merely the abiding place of some newcomer t o the community, but the ceremony was much the same in either case. The host gave
warm welcome with a roaring fire in the spacious fireplace, a royal banquet
of venison or bear steak with suitable accompaniments, which usually included hard liquor for men and wine for the ladies.
The presents brought by the guests would seem curious when compared
with a modern shower: for the host, a powder horn scraped until thin and
translucent, a leather shot pouch, a tinder box, a coon-skin cap, knitted
woolen socks and the like; for the madame, a skillet, a spider, buckskin
moccasins, mittens knitted from colored yarns, and the like.
COOKING
METHODS.The pioneer oven usually placed some distance back
of the cabin, was a cumbersome affair built of stone or brick, with a huge
firebox underneath provided with a stick chimney for the draft. The firing
of the oven was not a daily occurrence, for it required some time to heat
the oven chamber to a cooking temperature. The bread supply for a week
was usually baked at one heating, and a ham, or a whole pig, or a turkey, or
all three could be baked at one time in the cavernous depths of the oven on
ceremonial occasions, but roasting and barbecuing were more frequently
resorted to for such use as the family alone required.
The spider was a three legged cooking implement for cooking bread at
the open fireplace. It was provided with a cast iron cover on which hot
coals and ashes were heaped in order to brown on top the biscuit or corn
pone without having to turn over.
The skillet, or frying pan, was used for the cooking of rashers of bacon,
sliced ham and steaks, much as at the present time.
The hot ashes of the giant fireplace were also utilized for the roasting of
sweet potatoes, and sometimes for the cooking of the ashcake of corn bread.
To keep the home fires burning was a solemn duty, since matches though
invented in 1856 were not in common use in the South until some time
after the Civil War. The method of preserving fire was to bank ashes over
the live coals at night before going to bed. The hunter, camper and long
distaace teamster customarily carried a tinder box, flint and steel, or sometimes in a metal box a spongy mass taken from decayed trees, which they
called "punk," which would when enclosed carry a smouldering spark for
many hours.
HORSEBACK
RIDING. Tn the early days when most of the roads were little
more than faintly marked trails, the favorite method of transportation was
that of a saddle horse. The general use of saddle horses made necessary
some changes of costumes, which were later relegated to the realm of things
past and forgotten. One of these changes among the men was the habitual
wearing of high top boots. Among women in the days when modesty of
person was considered a virtue was the use of the side saddle, and a riding
habit with long flowing skirts was always in evidence. These perquisites

history of troup county, georgia

Transcription

Similar documents

Free Printable Wedding Invitations 1 flat

"HEY, THAT TICKLES"—Eleven-month

File

Mrs. Starr`s Second Grade Class loves going to the computer lab

A`WOND

Summer, 10 - LaGrange County Habitat for Humanity

LaGrange Friends Fall 2014 Newsletter

May 18, 2012 - Urbana City Schools

Funeral Services For Mrs. Jennie Thompson are rteld

BOSSLey Biz - Bossley Park High School