Early Settlers in Union County with Ledford Surname

A search of the 1834 (first) census of the newly-formed Union County (founded 1832) did not yield any citizens listed in the 147 households and 903 population with the surname Ledford.
However, by the 1840 census, when Mr. John Butt, Jr. made his way to all the households he found to register heads of household and number of males and females with the general ages within those residencies, he located four households with the name Ledford.

Ledford is an interesting name, seems to be English in origin, and is what is termed a “habitational” name, with those bearing it having come from a particular location in the old country known by the name. The “ford” part is easy to determine. People would have lived by or near a ford in a stream. We wonder, then, was Led, the first syllable, from the name of a stream? Actually, yes. The Lyd River flowed through Somerset and Devon in England, and was known as “a noisy stream.” The Old English Lyd meant just that. But in Surrey, people were called Latchfords who lived by the stream there. Eventually, through the standardization of English spellings, the surname settled into Ledford, those who lived by the ford by the River Lyd.

The first of the Ledford ancestors of some of those who eventually settled in the new Union County, Georgia seem to be descendants of the John Ledford who came from England to North Carolina about 1763.

By the 1840 census in Union County, Georgia, there were four households of Ledfords enumerated. This writer was not able to learn the relationship, if any, between these four Ledford households. They could have been brothers, cousins or otherwise related.

Benjamin Ledford had nine in his household in 1840—six males and three females. He and his wife were both listed in the age category of “40 and under 50.”

Thomas Ledford had six males and two females in his household. He and his wife were “thirty and under forty.”

William Ledford had three males and six females in his household. He was “forty and under fifty” and his wife was “thirty and under forty.”

The fourth Ledford household was that of George, who had five males and three females. He was “thirty and under forty,” and his wife was in that same age category. Therefore, we count and find that 20 males and 15 females, or a total of 35 Ledfords made their home in Union in 1840.

Moving to the 1850 Union County census, it is interesting to note whether the same households are listed again, and if any other Ledford households have been set up within the ten-year period. It is noteworthy, too, that by the 1850 census, the government had made the decision to list not only the heads-of-households, but the spouse and children, the ages, and where each member of the household had been born.

Let’s take a look at Ledford households in the 1850 Union Census, from which we learn much more information. The only household with the same-named head of household in 1850 as in the 1840 census was that of Benjamin. Whether Thomas, William and George were going by another given name by 1850 is not known. But households, according to the information given to Mr. Butt, the census taker in 1850, were headed by Silas, Porter, David, Benjamin, and James.

Silas Ledford and his wife, spelled Deilly (Delia ?) lived in household # 53. He was 28, had been born in North Carolina, his wife, 29, had been born in South Carolina, and they had been in Georgia at least five years, because their oldest child and the three others listed were all born in Georgia. Their children were Thomas, 5, Benjamin, 4, Caroline, 2, and Louisa, 1. We learn from other research that Silas was a son of Benjamin and Grace Owenby Ledford, the one settler from the 1840 census who had remained in Union County. My curiosity turned me to the Union County marriage records where I found this listing: Silas Ledford married Dolly Elmiry Bowling in Union County on December 19, 1841, with the Rev. Elisha Hedden performing the ceremony. The census-taker’s spelling, “Deilly,” therefore should have been “Dolly” for Silas’s wife’s name.

Household # 54, next door to Silas and Dolly, had the family of Porter Ledford, age 23, born in North Carolina, his wife, Temarina, age 20, also born in North Carolina, and their four-month old baby, Marion. Again, the Union County marriage records yielded the date of this couple’s marriage—August 28, 1848, when Thomas Ervin, a justice-of-the-peace performed the ceremony. The bride’s name was Damaris A. Rogers. Again, this helps us correct a misspelling from the census record of “Temarina” to Damaris. Porter Ledford was the sixth child of Silas and Dolly Ledford, and was given the name Porter after his maternal grandfather, Porter Owenby.

Household 87 was home to David Ledford, age 31, born in North Carolina, and his wife Jane, 35, also born in North Carolina. They had been in Union County less than two years in 1850, for their four listed children, Rachel, 9, Marion, 6, Hardy, 4, and Madison, 2, had all been born in North Carolina.

In 1850, the household of Benjamin Ledford, age 50, born in North Carolina, was listed as # 133 in the enumeration. Living there were his wife, 51, born in North Carolina, and listed as “Racy,” an unusual name, to say the least. Make that an error in entry, which probably should have been Gracy, or Grace—Grace Owenby Ledford, whom Benjamin married in North Carolina before moving to the Ivy Log section of Union County, Georgia sometime before 1840. In Benjamin and Grace’s household in 1850 were two children still at home, Vianna, age 20 and Benjamin (Jr.?), 11, both born in North Carolina. Registered in their household was another female, Caroline Brown, age 19, born in North Carolina.

A young man, Jacob Ledford, age 20, was listed as living in Household 475 with Eli Henson and Elizabeth Henson and their three children, James, 7, Archibald, 5, and Jacob, 1.

In household # 619 were James Ledford, 35, born in North Carolina, his wife, Nancy, 32, also born in North Carolina. Their first three children, Caroline 10, LaFayette 7 and Lucious, 6, were born in North Carolina, but Asberry, 4, and Jane, 1, were born in Georgia.

The last of the Ledford households appearing in the 1850 Union census was that of the family or Hiram Ledford, 47, and his wife, Mary, 47, both born in North Carolina. They had seven children listed as still living at home in 1850, all born in North Carolina: John, 25, Spencer, 22, Marion, 15, James, 12, George, 10, Hiram, 8, and Alexander, 5. They had evidently moved to Union County after 1845 since Alexander was not born in Georgia.

These families were the beginnings of the Ledfords who remained in Union and Towns counties of upper Georgia. We will follow some of them in subsequent accounts.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Aug. 18, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Henson Family Name in Early Union County History

When the special census of 1834 was taken, only one Henson family appeared, that of Joseph Henson, Senior, with Joseph himself and his wife in the household.

Proceeding to the next census in 1840, three households of Hensons were in Union. In the Charles Henson household were two male children, three female children, and Charles and his wife. In the Joseph Henson household were eight male children, four female children and Joseph and his wife. In the Joseph Henson, Sr. household, the same as noted from 1834, the residents had increased to five male children, eight female children, and the mother and father. With such an increase in Joseph, Sr.’s household, we wonder how this accounting could have come about in just six years. Maybe the 1850 census will reveal some answers, or perhaps we can find other clues from family history stories that will add light to these early Henson settlers to the county.

By 1850, the first census with children in households listed by names rather than just an age bracket, we discover Hensons in eight enumerated households, with the number of persons by that name totaling thirty-three, but Daniel Henson, age 19, seems to have been counted twice, first with his own family, and again in the household of M. C. Wilson and his wife, Mary Wilson and their three small children, William, Martha and Eliza Wilson. (Could Daniel and Mary Wilson have been brother and sister and he was visiting them—or working on M. C. Wilson’s farm—when the census-taker called?). A listing, besides that of the Wilsons, in which Hensons were enumerated in 1850 was as follows:

(#65) Allen Henson, 56, and his wife, Elizabeth, 56, with children Edy, 18, Elizabeth, 14, Daniel, 19, and George, 21—all born in North Carolina. Allen Henson’s occupation was listed as cooper—or barrel-maker.

(#466) Archibald Henson, age 74, was born in Virginia. Evidently his wife was not living in 1850. Listed in his household are children Charity, 30 and Ages, 18, both born in North Carolina, and Edmund, age 10 (a young child for a 74-year old man; could he have been a grandchild?), born in Tennessee.

(#471) Charles Henson, age 65, his wife Sally, 64, and one child still at home, Charles. All three were born in South Carolina.

(#475) Eli Henson, age 39, and his wife, Elizabeth, age 29, both born in North Carolina, and their three small children, James 7, Archibald, 5, and Jacob, 1, all born in Georgia. In this household was Jacob Ledford, age 20. (Could he have been a brother to Elizabeth Henson?)

(#548) William Henson, age 26, born in Georgia, his wife, Mary Ann, age 26, born in South Carolina, and a young Joseph Henson, Jr., age 20, born in Georgia. (Could he have been a brother to William, and a son of Joseph Henson, Sr., who was in the 1834 Union census?)

(#549) Joseph Henson, Sr. age 44, born in South Carolina. No wife is listed, but an elderly Rebecca Henson, age 90, no doubt Joseph, Sr.’s mother, also born in SC was in the household, along with children Alsa (a female), 17, Rebecca, 15, John, 12, and Jonathan, 10, all born in Georgia.

(#1047) Henson, James, age 28, his wife, Catherine, age 24, both born in North Carolina, and one child, William, age 1.

For more information about early settlers with Henson surname, we turn to early marriage records and find these who were married in Union County from 1832 to 1850. Some of these relate back to the additional households of Hensons added between the 1840 and 1850 census:

Rebecca Henson married Preston Starrett on 16 February 1839 (by Jesse Reid, JP)

Lovina Henson married Henry Nichols on 24 December 1840 (by Daniel Mathis, JIF)

Henry Henson married Mariah Woods on 25 July 1841 (by David Kenny, JP)

Joseph Henson married Sarah N. Warlex on 12 May 1842 (by Rev. Elisha Hedden, MG)

Mary Henson married Thomas Henson on 22 July 1845 (by John Patterson, JP)

Martha Henson married William Daniel on 10 December 1845 (by Charles Crumley, JP)

James Henson married Catherine Battbey (? sp.) on 13 May 1847 (by W. A. Brown, JP)

T. P. Henson married S. Mahoney on 8 October 1847 (by Benjamin Casteel, JP)

W. C. Henson married Polly Ann Hood on 23 April 1848 (by Charles Crumley, JP)

Loyd Henson married Milly Harkins on 13 March 1850 (by M. L. Burch, JP)

If you are a Henson, or a descendant from a Henson of those listed as settlers in Union up to 1850, or related to those in the nine Henson couples married in Union by 1850, then you can claim your heritage back to these hardy pioneers. A Henson cemetery was established in the Owltown District of Union County. At the time the Union County Cemetery Book was compiled in 1990, eight graves were marked just by field stones with no discernible identification, while twenty-two of the graves had inscribed headstones. The earliest marked grave was that of an infant of J. I. Henson who was born and died October 15, 1875. Probably some of the field stones marked earlier graves prior to that one of 1875. The name gravestone identifying the one born earliest to be buried in the Henson Cemetery is that of James M. Henson (1822-1906). Joseph Henson, Sr., first Henson settler in Union County, must have been buried with only an unmarked field stone at his grave. In my search of all Henson burials listed in the cemetery book, I did not find his name or a date that would identify him.

An early Henson School once operated in Choestoe District. My Uncle Herschel Dyer, and later his son, Otis Dyer, taught at that school.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Sept. 16, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Reece Family in Union County, GA (part 3): Quiller Frank Reece, Second Child of William and Mary Daniel Reece

Pvt. Quiller Frank Reece (1843-1932)
Civil War - Confederacy
6th Georgia Cavalry, Company F.

Quiller Frank Reece (4.20.1843 – 10.13.1932) was the second of ten children born to William “Billy” Reece and Mary “Sarry” Daniel Reece. As the second child and first son, Quiller held a responsible position in his parents’ household, for he helped to provide leadership and example for his older sister Sarah Elizabeth and the eight other children born into that Reece family.

Union County marriage records show that Quiller Frank Reece married Eliza C. Logan on November 15, 1866. Thompson Collins (not the first settler Thompson Collins, but his son, Thompson), a justice of the peace in the Choestoe District, performed the marriage ceremony.

This marriage was after the Civil War, after Quiller had performed his duties as a soldier in the Confederacy in the 6th Georgia Cavalry, Company F, Hart’s Battalion, Smith’s Legion. When the men signed up for service for three years, they had to furnish their own horse. Commanding officers of Reece’s Company F were not Georgians, and were not listed in the roster of those who served from Union. Records show that Quiller was taken prisoner on December 18, 1862 in eastern Tennessee. Whether he remained in prison until the war ended is not indicated in the records. Many years after he and his sweetheart married, in the year 1910, he registered for a pension for his service in the Civil War. Whether he received it is not clear from available records.

Although Quiller Frank Reece’s wife’s name was listed in the Union marriage records as Eliza C. Logan, her full name was Elizabeth Clarica Adelia Logan Reece (06.04.1849 – 03.08.1936). Elizabeth (shortened to Eliza) was the youngest child of Drury Logan (1766-1855) and Mary Addington Logan (1759-1847). Eliza’s father, Drury, was a brother to Major Frank Logan who owned and operated the famous Logan Turnpike across the mountain between Blairsville and Cleveland, the route over which farmers and traders hauled loads of produce to barter for what they could not grow in Union County. Drury and Mary Addington Logan built their double-story log cabin on Land Lot 50 in the Owltown District on the south side of the Nottely River. The house, remodeled through the years, still stands today as a testament to the solid building of pioneer settlers. It was there that Eliza’s parents reared their eleven children, nine of whom were born in Union. When Drury and Mary Logan were old and incapacitated, it was their youngest child, Eliza and her husband Quiller Frank Reece who took her parents into their home and cared for them until their deaths.

Frank Quiller and Eliza Logan Reece had a very large family, sixteen children, twelve of whom lived to adulthood. Quiller Frank was primarily a farmer by occupation, but he no doubt pursued other trades to bring in extra money to rear his large family. They were Methodists by denomination and faithful members of the Shady Grove Mehodist Church. Upon their deaths, they were interred in the Shady Grove cemetery where their monuments may be viewed today.

A listing of the sixteen children of Quiller Frank and Elizabeth Clarica Adelia Logan Reece follows:

(1) William Drury Reece (02.22.1868) married Roxie Potts.
(2) Mary Rachael Rowena Reece (10.06.1869) married John S. McDonald.
(3) Martha Elizabeth Jane Reece (06.22.1871) married William J. Jackson.
(4) James Roberson Reece (07.21.1873) married Millie Henson.
(5) Thomas Joseph Hughes Reece (12.05.1875) married L. Henrietta Gardner.
(6) Eli Josiah Reece (04.02.1878) married Sallie Luella Stephens.
(7) John Henry Reece (03.27.1880) married Nellie I. Self.
(8) Francis Allen Reece (08. 25. 1881 – 11.01.1881).
(9) Simon Edward Reece (11.14.1882) married Fleta Belle Colwell.
(10) Charles Logan Reece (12.20.1883) married Louise Jane Davis.
(11) Frank Wellborn Reece (03.05.1885) married Sarah Ann Ledford.
(12) Richard Marvin Reece (04.23.1886) married Hailie C. Grendle.
(13) Mintie Della Reece (06.30.1888 – 07.? 1888)
(14) Baby Boy Reece (twin – b/d 07.18.1890)
(15) Baby Boy Reece (twin – b/d 07.18.1890).
(16) Alice Eliza Louise Reece (01.23.1893) married Olin Hayes.

In looking over the list of Frank Quiller and Elizabeth Clarica Adelia Logan Reece’s twelve adult children and who they married, it is easy to see how these descendants of the early Reece settlers married into families of other early settlers. Several of these Reece-connected families remained within Union County. Present citizens can look back with pride and claim their roots to this Reece couple who worked hard to rear dependable, hard-working children.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Jan. 28, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

New Hope Cemetery Inquiry and Cobb Family History

A telephone call led me on a research dig, first about the New Hope Methodist Church Cemetery in Union County, Georgia and then to the Cobb family who buried at least twelve family members there in marked graves. Maybe there were other Cobb family members buried there, for some fifty plus graves have no identity indicators other than unmarked fieldstones.

Strangely enough, the inquiry was not about the Cobb family, but rather about the King family. A granddaughter of Mr. Henry King called me. Mr. King was buried in one of the unmarked graves at old New Hope Cemetery. His son had a stone made, but died before he could erect it, and now the granddaughter and grandson want to fulfill their father’s desire to mark his father’s grave. Finding my name attached to a “Through Mountain Mists” column, she called to ask me if I could give her directions to the cemetery.

Thanks to Mr. Dale Elliott and the late Mr. Charlie Wimpey who compiled and edited Cemetery Records of Union County, Georgia in 1990, I quickly found New Hope Cemetery listed. I read to her from the book, page 300: “From the old courthouse square in Blairsville, it is 8.4 miles north on U. S. 129, then ¼ mile on Cobb Mountain Road.” She said that she and her brother knew the location of the unmarked grave, and would soon be erecting the tombstone at Mr. Henry King’s grave.

From the cemetery book, I learned that the New Hope Methodist Church was founded about 1851 as evidenced by a recorded deed of land in Union County Courthouse. Mr. Moses Anderson transferred property on which the church was located to five men who were trustees of the church, namely W. A. Cobb, U. C. Wilson, B. F. Stiles, Joseph C. Neece and W. W. Odom. I found it interesting that not a single one of these men had named markers in the New Hope Cemetery. Maybe some of them were interred there for the cemetery book states there are more than 50 unmarked graves. I found Joseph C. Neece listed as buried in the Ivy Log Cemetery. New Hope Church either was incorporated with another Methodist church in the community or was disbanded. The building was torn down in the 1940’s and now only the cemetery with its 33 marked graves and 50+ unmarked graves remains to show that an early church met there.

Since a dozen of the marked graves at New Hope have the Cobb last name, my curiosity sent me searching for these early settlers. The earliest marked grave was that of Lydia Keys Cobb with the dates 1773-1848. In fact, this lady’s rather elaborate tombstone is pictured in the cemetery book on the New Hope pages as the first person interred there. Evidently the Cobbs were in Union before 1848 to have a family member buried at New Hope, perhaps as the very first person buried there.

And then I discovered a mystery. Reading the Cobb family histories submitted for The Heritage of Union County (pages 99-100), checking the Union County census records of 1834, 1840 and 1850, and again reading the tombstone of Lydia Keys Cobb from Cemetery Records of Union County showing the tombstone with death date of 1848, I immediately thought: “Something’s wrong in the records.”

I found that Lydia Cobb was listed in the 1850 Census, age 77, as living in the home of her son, William Cobb. According to her tombstone, she died in 1848. William’s wife Charlotte (she was also buried at New Hope Cemetery) and William and Charlotte’s nine children all born in North Carolina, were listed in the 1850 census. Either the census taker was wrong about Mrs. Lydia Cobb still being alive in 1850 or the date on her tombstone is wrong.

Tracing more about William and Charlotte Cobb, I found this information. There were no Cobb families in Union County census records until the 1850 census listing. Then William was 40, his wife Charlotte was 45, and their nine children were Reuben, 19, John 18, Rebecca, 16, Joseph, 14, Louisa, 13, James, 11, Rufus, 8, Elbert, 6, and Harrison, 3. And there, at the end of this family listing is Lydia Cobb, age 77. All had been born in North Carolina What gives? Her tombstone has her death date as 1848, and from her birth date, 1773, according to her tombstone she died at age 75. I think it is not likely there were two women in the same household named Lydia Cobb, and since the one buried at New Hope has the maiden name Keys, I found that she was definitely the mother of William Alfred Cobb.

William Alfred Cobb (8/10/1809-8/5/1886) was the only child of Lydia Keys Mullen Cobb, second wife of William’s father, John Paul Cobb, a Revolutionary War soldier who moved from Charlotte to Newburn, NC. There William Alfred Cobb married, first, Charlotte Henson whose father Daniel was a Revolutionary War soldier. They lived in Haywood County, NC where William was sheriff and an ordained Methodist minister. William Alfred Cobb was a unionist, and did not like states seceding prior to the Civil War. He decided to move his family to Union County, Georgia in 1848 so he could be among more who supported the union.

Since he was one of the Trustees of the New Hope Methodist Church in Ivy Log District when Moses Anderson granted land on which the church and cemetery were located, my supposition is that the Rev. William Alfred Cobb may have been the organizing minister of the church when it was formed. Regardless of the confusing date from the 1850 census which still shows Lydia (Keys) Cobb alive at age 77, and the gravestone death date that shows her death as 1848, William Alfred’s mother was definitely the first burial at the New Hope Cemetery. His wife, Charlotte Henson Cobb, was the second burial there. Her death date was May 22, 1861.

William Alfred Cobb married his second wife, Lavinia Roberts, on February 2, 1862 in Union County, Georgia with the Rev. Thomas M. Hughes, noted Methodist minister, performing the ceremony. After the Civil War, in 1872, William and Lavinia moved to Beaver Dam in Cherokee County, NC. There they lived out their lives and he was buried at his death in 1886 in the Unaka Cemetery in an unmarked grave.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Oct. 22, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Dr. Thomas Jackson Lance, President of Young Harris College, 1930-1942

Dr. Thomas Jackson "Jack" Lance (31 Jan 1886 - 27 Jan 1880)

President, Young Harris College, 1930-1942

Among great persons who have gone out from Union County and served mankind with dignity and unselfishness, we must applaud Dr. Thomas Jackson Lance, educator and humanitarian, who was president of Young Harris College during the difficult times of the Great Depression Years, 1930-1942.

Thomas Jackson Lance was the first of twenty children born to his father, James Washington Lance (1861-1940). Jim Lance, as his father was known, was a farmer at Wolf Creek, north of Vogel State Park in Choestoe District, Union County, Georgia. The mother of Thomas Jackson, better known as Jack, was Virginia Jane L. Henson (1863-1916). Jack, their firstborn, was born January 31, 1886. It is possible that the young boy had a memory of his grandfather, the Rev. John Lance (1834-1890), who was brutally murdered by moonshiners after returning from a preaching assignment. Jack's father, Jim Lance, spent much time and effort trying to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice. That story has been adequately covered in Charles Hill's excellent book entitled Blood Mountain Covenant.

Since Jack Lance's family was so large, it seems somewhat of a miracle of the mountains that he was able to get an excellent education and become the shining light among educators that was his calling. After a long and useful life of 94 years, Dr. Thomas Jackson Lance died January 27, 1980. I was able to access the eulogy given at the time of his memorial service by the Rev. Edgar A. Padgett of the Calhoun, Georgia United Methodist Church. From this tribute I learned much about the man whose life was marked by selfless service to others.

Being from a large family, and the eldest of the children, early on Jack Lance learned to bear his weight around the farm on Wolf Creek. His full siblings, born to his mother, Jane, were Juan Bascomb (1888-1958), Lena Mabel (1891-1946), Sarah Theodosia, "Docia" (1894-?), Luther Edgar (1897- ?), Fannie Lee (1900-?), Carter Paul (1903-?), Homer E. (1906-?) and Mary Emma Louis (b/d 1908). Jack's father, when Jack's mother, Jane, died, married Melissa Spiva. Jack's half-siblings from this marriage were Elbert, James C. known as Jay, Auburn, Champ C., Bruce M., Charles F., Johnny W., Donald Ray, Grace Jane and Betty Jean (died as infants), and Bobby Gaynell. From his early life Jack Lance was taught the virtues of hard work, honesty, kindness, good manners, and a love for education.

After having learned what he could in the one-teacher schools of Choestoe, and at the knees of notable teachers and preachers there, Jack Lance went to Young Harris College for further education. The college took him in, giving him work on the farm to earn his way. He was an exceptionally gifted student. He graduated from Young Harris in 1908, with high honors.

From Young Harris, he continued his education at the University of Georgia where he earned both the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa National Scholastic Society. His doctor of philosophy degree came later, but the information of where he earned it is not presently available to this writer.

He wanted to teach. His career as an educator included classroom instruction at Hopewell High School, at Richmond Academy in Augusta, at Young Harris College, and then as an administrator for 13 years, serving as superintendent of schools in Waynesboro, Georgia.

His Alma Mater, Young Harris College, having already his record as a student and as a professor there, tapped him as president of the college. He served admirably in that capacity during some difficult years, beginning in 1930 and continuing through 1942. I wish the span of this short article could list all the hardships he faced in keeping the small mountain college above-board financially and operable during some of the darkest years of America's Great Depression. Suffice it to say that his hard work, faithfulness and industry during that span of his career saw him inducted into and honored by the Kappa Phi Kappa National Honor Society for Distinguished Educators.

Of that period of Dr. Jack Lance's career, the Rev. Edgar A. Padgett wrote: "He lived with deficits as his daily companion, but managed to keep Young Harris alive, serving the needs of so many who without it would have had little, if any, chance for a college education… Dr. Lance always found a way to help a deserving student stay in college. Many of our most distinguished citizens of Georgia have testified that they owe their start in life to Dr. Lance who inspired and encouraged them to keep trying, with the assurance of his help."

Thomas Jackson Lance married Annie Rose Erwin who graduated from Young Harris in 1913. To them were born four children: Thomas Jackson, Jr., Robert, Alice Rose, and Thomas Bertram, "Bert." Many will recognize the name of Bert Lance as a cabinet member during the time Jimmy Carter was president of the United States. From Young Harris, in 1942, the Lance family moved to Calhoun, GA and there the children were reared. He was superintendent of schools at Calhoun for two years, 1942- 1944, and then he began a sixteen year tenure with the State Department of Education in Atlanta as a state school supervisor, having as his goal improving the quality of education for every public school student in the state of Georgia.

It was said of Dr. Lance that he had a phenomenal memory, even into his later years. He never forgot a name, a face, a favor, a verse of Scripture, an experience. From his rich well of experience he could recall where he had met people and what they did.

He loved his family, his home, and the classroom. Although many years of his illustrious career were spent in school administration, his first love was teaching. It has been said of him that the "moments of illumination" when a student "sees" through a problem and has an epiphany of insight were, for him, thrilling and emotional experiences.

Considering the "opportunites" this country boy had to become "somebody," they were slender, indeed. But mountains were a challenge to him, and doing good was his second nature. "Lives of great men all remind us, /We can make our lives sublime,/ And, departing, leave behind us / Footprints on the sands of time." So wrote poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. So lived Educator Dr. Thomas Jackson Lance.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published August 21, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

William Harrison Jackson- from Choestoe to Colorado

This true episode is how a person born near the end of the nineteenth century went out from Union County seeking his fortune. His name was William Harrison Jackson, born September 1, 1889 in Choestoe, Union County, Georgia. His parents were William Miles Jackson (1853- 1910) and Nancy Souther Jackson (1853- 1899).

William Harrison Jackson was the eighth of nine children born to Bill and Nancy Jackson. It is interesting to note that seven of the nine children left Choestoe to find work elsewhere. His sister Camilla (1873-1925) married H. L. Henson and they moved to Copperhill, Tenn., where H. L. worked at the Tennessee Copper Company. His sister Lydia (1875-1956) married Virgil Collins and they moved to Laramie, Colorado. His brother Oscar Jackson (1879-1901) died before reaching his twenty-second birthday and was a teacher in Choestoe. Harrison's brother, Ira Jackson (b. 1881) died as a seven month old baby. Della Nora Jackson (1883-1911) and her husband, Ulysses Thompson Collins, moved to Verden, Oklahoma. After Della's death in 1911, Ulysses returned to Choestoe with their three children, Goldie, Mayme and Ralph. Cora Bessie Jackson (1885-1951) married Thomas L. Hood and they moved to Eaton, Colorado. Florida Kate Jackson (1891-?) married Jasper Shuler and they lived in Greeley, Colorado. Oliver Grady Jackson (1893-?) moved to Greeley, Colorado, where he met and married Anna Jensen who was born in Denmark. With so many of his siblings migrating west, William Harrison Jackson at a young age also got the urge to "go west, young man," but his was not a straight trek there.

From his own memoirs written in January, 1969, we learn how William Harrison Jackson left Choestoe and eventually settled in Colorado. He expressed thoughts about his growing-up years in poetry:

"My mother's name was Nancy,
My father's name was Bill.
We lived in a pleasant valley
Close by the Blue Ridge hills.
Some things to me were a marvelous wonder;
Thoughts to my heart were great to ponder:
God, Creator of all life, the Giver,
Creatures, meadows, rills, rivers.

His elementary school years were at the old Choestoe Church house, with slat benches for seats. The building was heated with pot-bellied stoves. In 1896, his first teacher was Joseph Collins who had been to the Hiawassee Academy. Harrison was happy to follow the career of his first grade teacher, noting that he became a prominent lawyer in Gainesville. The Jackson children, including William Harrison, all did their share of work on the Choestoe farm of his parents.

Harrison's mother died when he was ten years of age in 1899. In 1905, his father married again to Jane West. He tells how he left home by "Shank's Mare" (walking). He carried his clothes and other meager possessions "in a valise" and made his way to Mineral Bluff, Georgia, where his sister, Camilla Henson lived. There, and in nearby Copperhill, Tennessee, he found "odd jobs" to earn money until the spring of 1906.

His brother-in-law, Thomas L. Hood, husband of Harrison's sister, Cora, invited him back to Choestoe to help him work on the farm he had rented from an aunt, Mary Collins. In the fall, Aunt Mary paid Thomas $300 in gold for the crops produced that season. Thomas paid William Harrison $15 for each month he had worked with him on the land. Tom and Cora then moved to Colorado. It was back to Copperhill, TN for William Harrison Jackson. There he worked in the copper mines until March 7, 1907. He had saved enough money for a train ticket to Eaton, Colorado, where he went to work in the potato fields and sorting houses at $30.00 per month and board. This work occupied his time from 1907-1913.

William Harrison Jackson's next move was to Blackfoot, Idaho. There he met and wooed Hazel Edith Thompson. They were married August 11, 1913. Her parents, Tommy Thompson and Hilda Edge Thompson, were born in Norway. At Blackfoot, Harrison and Hazel settled down to farming. Their five children were born in the Rose Precinct about five and one-half miles north of Blackfoot. The children were Barton Grady Jackson ( US Marine and professional dance instructor), June Hilda Jackson (US Navy, and educator), Thelma Edith Jackson (twin to June Hilda, died at age six months), Zelma Nancy Jackson (communications and radio operator during World War II, and administrative assistant) and Dwain Thompson Jackson (music educator and employee of Horace Mann Insurance Agency for teachers). The Jacksons bought a ranch at Cedar Ridge, Colorado. There Hazel died with cancer in 1935.

After his children were grown and left home, Harrison Jackson married his second wife, Nora Miller, in 1937. She was a daughter of Andrew Miller and Carrie Young Miller, early pioneers in Arkansas. In 1957, Harrison and Nora sold out their ranch in Cedar Ridge and moved to Delta, Colorado, where he continued to work, even to age 80 and above. He described himself and his wife, Nora, as "happy, busy, and continuing in the faith of the Disciples of Christ." He always liked to tell stories--of his growing-up years in Choestoe, of moving away to find work, of life on the farm or ranch in the west, and of semiretirement and still active. His poem about his life ends: "Those childhood days are gone forever, But such memories we cannot sever."

[Personal note to my readers: At 7:00 a. m. on Thanksgiving morning, November 22, 2007, I received a call from the nurse at Memory Support Unit, Georgia War Veteran's Home, Milledgeville, that my husband, the Rev. Grover D. Jones, had fallen and was in great pain from the fall. He was taken by ambulance to the emergency room of the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon where he underwent extensive examinations and preoperation treatment. His left hip operation (replacement of the ball and socket joint) was on Sunday, November 25. He came through surgery well, and today (Monday) was up on the "new hip" for a short time. His physical/ mental condition is now classified as "Advanced Alzheimer's". Admittedly, the past several days have been stressful- and extremely tiring for me. Less than three months ago, as my readers will recall, I myself underwent five bypasses heart surgery. We learn to meet emergencies and life's challenges "one day at a time," and there is always miraculous strength to walk through them. These, to me, are results of strong faith and God's presence. Thank you for your concern.]

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Nov. 29, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved

Some Nix connections (part 5 Serving in the War Between the States

Before I launch on this week's topic of Nix men (and boys) who served in the War Between the States, I want to clarify items from last week's article on Aunt Jane Nix Wilson Hood.

Betty Jane Shuler called my attention to the caption under the picture. Thanks to her keen observations, the caption should have identified the picture as taken in 1905 (the year Jane's husband Isaac Thornton Wilson died). The baby Sophronia Jane Nix Wilson holds on her lap is Estelle, last born of her children, not Garnie, who lived only about two years and died in 1900.

Seven children of Jane Nix Wilson and Isaac Thornton Wilson are shown in the picture. The second girl from the left, standing, is a neighbor and friend who was visiting in the Wilson home and wanted to "get in" on the picture (Callie Clark?).

To properly identify the Wilson children in the 1905 photograph, they are Tom (1902), Estelle (1904) in Jane's lap, Benjamin (1894), Granny Evaline Duckworth Nix, James Isaac "Jim" (1896); second row: Verdie (1887), friend (Callie Clark ?), Hattie (1889) and Gertrude (1892). Who would know better how to identify these than history buff Betty Jane Shuler? Sophronia Jane Nix Wilson Hood was her grandmother, and the one for whom she was given her middle name, Jane.

Another item to clarify is the statement about Jane Wilson not joining Union Church when it was constituted in October, 1897, although she gave the land on which the church building was erected. She wished to remain a member of the New Liberty Baptist Church where she was a member from her youth. This was not uncommon in those days, to keep one's membership with relatives and friends in the church where one had grown up.

With those items clarified, we move to today's topic in the Nix saga. We trace briefly six sons of James "Jimmy" Nix and Elizabeth "Betsy" Collins Nix who served in the War Between the States. Five of them enlisted in the 23rd Georgia Regiment, Infantry, enlisting at Camp McDonald. The sixth, Jasper, enlisted in Ben Ledford's Regiment. Their father, James, himself enlisted on December 14, 1863 in the Georgia State Militia, Company 2. Betsy Nix therefore had six sons and a husband to be concerned about as they actively upheld the Confederate cause. What happened to these Nix men?

Jimmy Nix may not have left Union County for his service, as the Georgia Militia was charged with protection of home territory. Not much that I can find was written about his service other than his date of enlistment, December 14, 1863.

The sons, in order of age, served as follows: Thompson Nix was born in 1838 and named for his grandfather, Thompson Collins. He married Mary C. Hix in 1860 and they had one son, James Bly Nix, born June 1, 1861. This son was given the same name as Thompson Nix's brother. Thompson was a private in Company K of the 23rd Regiment, Georgia Infantry, enrolling on November 9, 1861. He became ill with a fever and was hospitalized in the "New Hospital" in Yorktown, Virginia, where he died March 4, 1862. It is reported that his body was returned home to Choestoe by W. L. Howard. I found no gravestone for him listed in the Cemeteries of Union County book.

John Nix, the fourth child of Jimmy and Betsy Collins Nix was born in 1840. He, too, was in the 23rd Georgia Regiment, enlisting August 31, 1861 at Camp McDonald. He was killed in battle at Sharpsburg, Maryland in September, 1862. His father filed for death benefits, but it is not known whether his applications were rewarded.

James Bly Nix was the fifth son and seventh child of Jimmy and Betsy Collins. Born June 2, 1844, he was a twin to Isabella, who may have died as an infant. At the age of 17, James Bly Nix joined Company K, 23 Georgia Regiment on August 31, 1861 at Camp McDonald. He was in the Battle of Frericksburg, VA, where he was wounded. He was treated at the Jackson Hospital in Richmond for a wound in his right leg on October 1, 1864. He saw much action during the war and was captured by the enemy and exchanged for a Union prisoner. James Bly returned from the war and married Millie J. "Polly" Henson on November 5, 1865. He was a farmer in the Owltown District. He also had gold mining rights on Coosa Creek and pursued mining with a passion. He and Mollie had nine children.

Jeffie Nix was born in 1846. It has been hard to trace his history, but it is believed that he also enlisted in Company K when his brothers did. Since he is not shown in subsequent census records after 1860, he may have died in the Civil War.

Jasper "Grancer" Nix, ninth child of Jimmy and Betsy Collins Nix, was born in 1847, a twin to Newton. He departed the tradition his older brothers had set and joined Colonel Ben Ledford's Regiment, John Souther's Company, from September, 1864 through May, 1865. His enlistment and discharge papers are not in the National or Atlanta Archives, but a soldier's pension application was found in the Atlanta Archives. He married Harriet Carolina "Tina" Duckworth and they had twelve children. After "Tina's" death, Jasper married Margaret Ballew.

Newton Nix, twin to Jasper, and tenth child of Jimmy and Betsy Collins Nix, joined Company K, 23rd Georgia Regiment at Camp McDonald on August 31, 1861. At the age of fifteen, he died of erysipelas and fever in Richmond, Virginia.

From the military records of these six sons of Jimmy and Betsy Collins Nix, we can imagine the impact of enlistment practices to get young men to join the Confederacy.

Of the six, we know that Thompson, John, and Newton died in the War. It may be that Jeffrie also lost his life during the war, for no further record has been found of him. Six sons fighting, and four lost is a heavy price to pay for war. What grief that mother bore.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones. Published August 23, 2007 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Nix Connections (part 3 in a series on the Nix family of Union County, GA and surrounding counties)

Columbus Hannibal Nix (1874-1950)

The sixth of eight children born to Archibald Carr Nix (1842-1906) and Sarah Ann Williamson Nix (1842-1927) was given the name Columbus Hannibal Nix when he was born April 1, 1874. His name shows the parents' interest in history. Perhaps they did not dream at the time of this sixth child's birth how adventuresome the life of their sixth child would be, prophetic of the name they gave him. It was soon shortened to "Lum" by which he was known the rest of his life.

An unusually bright lad, Lum Nix received what education was available in his home community of Choestoe, showing keen ability in history, geography, and mathematics. At age 17, equipped with the ability to sharpen saws and other handicrafts, like caning straight chairs with oak strips, Columbus Hannibal Nix set out on his life of adventure beyond the mountains of Choestoe Valley. In 1891, it was not easy to "go west, young man," but that was exactly the direction he headed. This was about the time that several in Choestoe Valley heeded the urge to find their livelihood beyond the mountains.

His exact journey and mode of travel are not known to this writer, but he probably went to Gainesville to board a train for his westward journey. Before leaving he would have saved up enough money for his train fare and upkeep along the way. Or, being an enterprising young man, he could have earned money at temporary stops as he sharpened saws or caned chairs.

His westward adventure took him to Colorado, to Idaho, to Oregon, and on to Alaska. At these places he pursued what has sometimes been called "gold fever," seeking that ever-elusive metal in various quick-claim mines in three states. Alaska beckoned him, and he moved northward. Records show that he got a grant in the Yukon on September 2, 1897 for a placer mine. His life as a miner would be the fabric of the stories he told later when he returned to Georgia. Lum Nix was a great storyteller. His life was one great tale of adventure, lived out in his travels and undergirded by his ability to fascinate his listeners by the places he had seen, the work he had done, the people he had met. He would come by our home when I was a child and young teenager and spend two weeks or more with us. Our home was his "base" of work as he sharpened saws for farmers in our community, or caned Reed-made chairs that had worn out with so much use. Now I wish I had listened more carefully to his true tales of adventure and how he overcame great difficulties in his search for treasure.

After twenty years of the adventuresome life, Columbus Hannibal Nix returned to Choestoe in 1911. His father, Archibald Carr Nix, had died in 1906. It is doubtful that Lum returned from Alaska for his father's funeral. But he had other aims upon his return to Georgia. He began to court beautiful Lillie Henson, born December 15, 1881 to Lum's sister, Ruth Alice "Nelle" Nix Henson (1866-1898) and Joseph Denson "Doss" Henson (1856-1926). On the Henson side of the family, Lillie was descended from her grandfather, James Madison Henson, great grandfather, Joseph Henson, Jr., and great, great grandfather, Joseph Henson, Sr. Like members of the Nix family, the Hensons had been early settlers in Union County and Choestoe District. A school named Henson operated for many years in the district, named for this family who had established it.

Lillie Henson and Lum Nix were married January 28, 1912 in Union County. Their children were Alice Pearl, born December 12, 1912; Roy Carl, born October 12, 1914; Corene Etta, born September 10, 1916, Nellie, born July 4, 1918 and Jack Columbus, born July 22, 1921.

The west still held a fascination for Lum Nix, so he packed up his young wife and their firstborn Pearl and headed west in 1913. This trek saw them living in Oregon and Idaho, where children Roy, Corene and Nellie were born. In 1919 they returned to Choestoe, then moved to Blairsville before Jack's birth in 1921.

In 1925 Lum Nix bought land in White County, Georgia and moved his family there where he and Lillie lived out their lives, except for the intermittent journeys Lum made to places he had lived, making his way by his well-honed crafts. Everywhere he went, he was known for his adventurous tales, made even more fascinating by the fact that he was the main character in them.

A great niece of Columbus Hannibal Nix tells the true story of his expertise at setting broken bones. Doris Elizabeth Nix (daughter of Aaron Jacob Nix and Ethel Elizabeth Ensley Nix, and granddaughter of John Wesley Nix and Minty Lavada Reece Nix), was four years old when she fell and broke her leg with a double compound fracture. This happened August 20, 1923, for, as Doris remembers, "my mother was in labor with my sister, Wilda Ruth", who was born on that date. Her Great Uncle Lum came walking up the road shortly after the terrible accident happened and Doris was in great pain with her broken leg. He said that he could set the leg. Doris remembers the excruciating pain, but is grateful that she never had any trouble with the bones knitting back properly. She remembers that Lum had Aunt Lena (Emma Lena Nix Dyer) gather up wool rags she could find to wrap around the broken leg. He then directed her to pour hot water over the woolen rags to bring the swelling down in the leg. With this done, he made a splint from wood, pulled the broken leg into place and set it. The procedure must have been traumatic for the four-year old child, with nothing to lessen the pain. "I sure remember screaming," says Doris Nix Bigger of this experience from her early childhood.

I count myself fortunate to have known this unusual man of the mountains. When I entered Truett McConnell College in 1947 as a charter student, one of my excellent professors there was his first-born child, Alice Pearl Nix, who later became the head of the psychology department at West Georgia College, Carrollton.

Columbus Hannibal Nix died in 1950 and Lillie Henson Nix died in 1973. They were interred in the Friendship Church Cemetery near Cleveland, White County, Georgia.

c 2007 by Ethelene DyerJones. Published August 9, 2007 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. All rights reserved.

Continuing with some Nix connections (part 2 in a Series on the Nix Family of Union County, GA and surrounding counties)

Sarah Elvira Williamson Nix (12 Dec 1842 - 01 Jun 1927),

wife of Archibald Carr Nix (07 May 1842 - 25 Sep 1906)

Last week’s column began a series which I am calling “Nix Connections.” James “Glancer” Nix (1812-1882), son of William Nix and Susannah Stonecypher Nix, had twenty children and three wives as you saw from last week’s column. Many descendents have continued to live in Union County, Georgia, and many moved elsewhere. It would require several books of genealogy to trace this large family line. My intention is to be selective and give information on some of Jimmy Nix’s descendants.

Our focus today is on the fifth child of James “Glancer” and Elizabeth “Betsy” Collins Nix, Archibald Carr Nix, born in Union County May 7, 1842 who lived here all his life, a farmer, dying September 26, 1906. Archibald married Sarah Ann Elvira Williamson, born December 26, 1842. The marriage was performed on April 4, 1862 by Thompson Collins (a son of Thompson and Celia Self Collins) who was a Justice of the Peace for the Choestoe District. Sarah Ann Elvira Williamson was the youngest of seven children born to John Wesley Williamson, Sr. (abt. 1800-abt. 1880) and his first wife, Sarah Elvira Curtis Williamson (1801-1871).

Archibald Carr Nix and his beautiful wife, Sarah Ann Elvira Williamson Nix, made their home in Choestoe, Union County, Georgia. There they reared a family of eight children, all of whom grew up to be stalwart citizens. The children and their spouses are listed as follows:

1. John Wesley Nix (1-5-1863 – 10-13-1896) married Minty Lavada Reece (2-12-1863 – 8-6-1933). Their children were Izabeth and Lizabeth (twins, b/d 1885); Mary Ann (1886-1956) married Arvel Hayes Brown; Arie (1888-1890); Emma Lena (1889-1955) married David Markus Dyer; Callie (1891-1893); David (b/d 1894); Aaron Jacob (1895-1969) married (1) Ethel Elizabeth Ensley and (2) Annie Lucille Johnston.
2. Laura J. Nix (3-30-1864 – 3-23-1892) married Joseph Brown Reece (6-1-1860 – 2-24-1930) on September 25, 1879. They had a family of ten children.
3. Ruth Alice Nix, called “Nelle” (3-19-1866 – 3-24-1898) married in January, 1889 to Joseph Denson “Doss” Henson (6-26-1856 – 11-9-1926).
4. Adeline E. “Addie” or “Naomi” Nix (4-8-1868 – 2-?-1907) married on August 30, 1891 to Frank L. “Will” Prater.
5. Ariete “Etta” V. Nix (2-17- 1872 – 4-1-1936) married on December 7, 1890 to Amicus N. Miller.
6. Columbus Hannibal “Lum” Nix (4-1-1874 – 9-22-1950) married Lillie Henson (12-15-1881 – 1973) in Union County, GA on January 28, 1912. Lillie was Lum’s niece, a daughter of his sister, Ruth Alice Nix and Joseph Denson Henson. Lum and Lillie had the following children: Alice Pearl, Roy Carl, Corene Etta, Nellie, and Jack Columbus. Each of the five children were brilliant, earning degrees in education and/or engineering.
7. Arthur H. Nix (6-25-1877 – 5-24-1898) died at age 20 and was interred in the Old Choestoe Cemetery. He did not marry.
8. Minnie M. Nix (5-1-1881 - 1-28-1954) married Juan Dupree Miller (1-21-1883 – 5-23-1955).

I can remember visiting in the Miller’s home when I was a child. I did not know then Mrs. Minnie’s connection to me through our common ancestors, William and Susannah Nix Stonecypher and James “Grancer” Nix and Elizabeth “Betsy” Collins Nix. Years later, when I became interested in genealogy, she was no longer alive for me to ask her questions about her parents, Archibald Carr Nix and Sarah Ann Elvira Williamson Nix. Mrs. Minnie always had home-baked cookies for my brother Bluford and me when we visited as children. It is little wonder that we went as often as we dared. Another fond memory of Mr. Dupree Miller is his active role in Salem Methodist Church. He served as Sunday School Superintendent and song leader. We attended Choestoe Baptist Church, but were only “part time,” having services on the second and fourth Sundays. Salem Methodist, also “part time” had services on the first and third Sundays. I remember walking the trail through the woods from Choestoe Church to Salem after Sunday School and arriving at Salem Church in time for the church service on the Sundays Choestoe did not have preaching. Several of Salem’s members did the same, attending Choestoe on the 2nd and 4th Sundays. Mr. Dupree Miller had a mustache. As a child, I was fascinated by his debonair looks and his ability in leading congregational singing. Both Minnie Nix Miller and Juan Dupree Miller were buried in the New Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery.

Archibald Carr Nix and his wife, Sarah Elvira Williamson Nix were buried in Old Choestoe Cemetery where their faded tombstones can be found today. If I did not list children born to any of the seven married children above, I did not have available to me in the resources I used for this article the names of all of Archibald and Sarah’s grandchildren. Next week we will explore another branch of the large Nix family of Union County. Stay tuned.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones. Published Aug. 2, 2007 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. All rights reserved.

Dyer-Souther Reunion

Saturday, July 14, 2007 marks the date for the annual Dyer-Souther Heritage Association Reunion. Choestoe Baptist Church's Family Life Center will be a-buzz with people, beginning with registration at 11:00 a. m. A bounteous covered dish meal will be enjoyed at noon. The reunion program will begin at 1:00 p. m.

If telephone calls and e-mails are an indication, many new "kin" who are just now finding out about the wonderful reunion are planning to be first-time attendees. My excitement begins to grow weeks before the event.

The reunion honors early settlers to the Choestoe Valley who began coming into the county about the time Union County was formed from the large Cherokee territory. Elisha Dyer, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Clark Dyer, and several of their children came from Pendleton District, South Carolina by way of Habersham County where they remained awhile, and then moved on across the mountain to Choestoe, "place where rabbits dance."

The Souther early settlers migrated from the vicinity of Old Fort, NC a few years later, about 1835, with John and Mary Combs Souther settling in the vicinity of present-day New Liberty Baptist Church. Altogether, five Souther siblings had settled in the area by 1850. These were John, Jesse William, Jr., Joseph, Hicks (or Hix), and Kizziah Souther Humphries. Jesse established a mill, with assistance from his brothers John and Joseph. The mill opened in 1848 and ground corn for meal and grains to bolt flour. A sawmill was operated on the site using the water power provided by a head of water passed through a chute to operate the turbines. The grist mill operated for 90 years.

Another family, in the valley by 1832, was Thompson Collins and Celia Self Collins. Her father, Job Self, also settled in Choestoe. Claiming other homesteads were the John and Elizabeth Hunter family. Daniel England married Elizabeth, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Hunter. The oldest house in the county still standing is the Hunter-England cabin, now in bad repair, which can be seen just off Highway 129/19 in the Choestoe District. There were other families: Nix, Jackson, Duckworth, Spiva, Henson, Vandiver, Brown, Townsend, Turner, Reece and more. By the time marriages were performed from one family to another, there soon came a rich fabric of kinship.

Saturday, present for the first time, will be Dan Smith of Raleigh, NC. He descends from Rhoda Lucinda Souther who married John Floyd Edward Vandiver. Dan is a musician. He will sing and will also lead reunion attendees in singing an old, old song.

On April 13, 1868 at New Liberty Baptist Church, Nancy Collins Souther, wife of John Combs Hayes Souther and daughter of Thompson and Celia Self Collins, sat writing the words of a song as the song "heister" lined them out to the congregation. In her own handwriting, these words have been preserved. Set to the tune of "The Good Old Way" found in Southern Harmony # 156, Dan Smith will lead reunion attendees in singing this old church song on Saturday. It is entitled "Come All Ye Righteous Here Below." Nancy Souther wrote nine stanzas of the song. Here are three:

"Come all ye righteous here below,
Oh, Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
Let nothing prove your overthrow,
Oh Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
Chorus:
But call on me both day and night,
Oh Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
And I'll visit you with delight,
Sing glory ha-le-lu-jah!
When the day of judgment doth draw nigh,
Oh Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
Poor sinners will lament and cry,
Oh Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
For the earnest deeds that they have done,
Oh, Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
They will repent in time to come,
Oh, Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!

A solemn memorial service will honor those who have moved from this life to the next- a large number since the last reunion.

We will gladly welcome familiar faces, those who return to their roots year after year. We will help those who come for the first time to feel welcome through connections that have been made since July, 2007. And if you would like to come, too, and see what's up with this large family, you will find a warm reception.

In 1989 my cousin, the late Watson B. Dyer, nominated me to take his place as family historian. Without even asking me if I would accept the job, I was suddenly plunged into a task I didn't anticipate. But one of the great pleasures of my life since then has been contacting people throughout America to help them find their roots. I don't always succeed in giving them the right links, but I've made many new friends and have more "cousins" than I thought possible. The Russian writer in his famous novel, Anna Kerenina, wrote: "All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." We're one big happy family and that's a good way to be.

c2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 12, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved

Ivy Log and some of its early residents

On Saturday, June 9, I attended the fourth annual meeting of the Byron Herbert Reece Society in Young Harris. As attendees were visiting in the lobby of the Goolsby Center after registration and prior to beginning of the meeting in the Wilson Lecture Hall, a fine citizen of Union County commented on this weekly column and assured me he was a regular reader. I thanked him and told him I was glad to hear I do have readers. He gave me a little reprimand that I have dwelt so long on my home district of Choestoe without branching out to other sections of Union County. "Why not write about Ivy Log?" he asked. And to that dear gentleman, I appreciate his question, and will try in future to hop about the county to find worthy historical subjects for this column.

Look at a map of Union County and you will find the militia district of Ivy Log bordering North Carolina on the north, with Gum Log District on the east, Dooly district on the west, and Lower Young Cane on the south. I turned to my excellent ready resource, The Heritage of Union County, 1832-1994 (p. 28) to find if and when Ivy Log had post offices. These federal stations tell us much about some of the activity and people in a district from its early days.

Rock Hill post office in the Ivy Log Militia District received its grant for operation with the appointment of Joseph Patterson as first postmaster on May 21, 1838.

The first census of Union County in 1834 listed Joseph Patterson as having eight males and four females in his household. Other Patterson families, which seem to have been living adjacent to each other in 1834, were Amos Patterson (five males, two females), John Patterson (four males, three females), and George Patterson (four males, three females). According to the Patterson family articles in the county history book, John Patterson, his wife Margaret Black Patterson, and some of heir children migrated to what became Union County in 1829. Although not specifically indicated, Joseph may have been one of their sons, or maybe even a brother to John. The twins, Joseph Elijah and William Elisha Patterson, sons of William Harden Patterson and Rebecca Chastain Patterson, were born in 1871 and were too young for one to be the Joseph Patterson who founded Rock Hill post office at Ivy Log.

Rock Hill post office operated under that name and with Joseph Patterson as postmaster until October 4, 1842 when Richard W. Roberts got the contract as postmaster. He changed the name to Ivy Log and the post office went by that name until it was discontinued September 15, 1910. As Rock Hill and Ivy Log, the community gathering place, probably in a store run by its postmasters, had an operational life of 70 years, quite a long tenure for mail depositories of that era. For two years, the post office charter was not renewed, as seen in the following listing of postmasters.

William R. Utter succeeded Richard W. Roberts on May 4, 1847. He remained until the post office was discontinued at the end of his term June 27, 1866. His was the longest tenure of any of the officers.

There must have been an appeal to reestablish the office, for on June 9, 1868, William A. Cobb became postmaster. William Alfred Cobb married Charlotte Henson on May 22, 1861. This couple had nine children: Reuben Francis; John Franklin.; Rebecca Leona; Joseph Jasper; Louise Jane; James Wesley; Rufus Alexander; Elbert Lorenzo; and Harrison Taylor.

Both William A. Cobb and his wife, Charlotte Henson Cobb, were children of Revolutionary War patriots. His father was John Paul Cobb who fought with the famed "Swamp Fox," Francis Marion, at the Battle of King's Mountain, York County, NC. Charlotte's father was Daniel Henson who served in the Revolution and fought the Tories.

Before moving to Georgia about 1848, William Alfred Cobb was sheriff of Haywood County, N.C. He was also a Methodist minister. Charlotte Henson Cobb died May 23, 1861 in Union County and was buried in the New Hope Cemetery, Ivy Log. William Alfred married his second wife, Lavinia Roberts, on February 2, 1862. His second wife probably assisted Rev. Cobb with duties at the post office. When he gave up duties as Ivy Log's postmaster, he and Lavinia moved to Beaver Dam, Cherokee County, N.C., where he died August 5, 1886. He was interred at the Unaka Cemetery there.

William A. Cobb was succeeded at the Ivy Log post office by Pleasant Short, appointed postmaster April 21, 1873. The remaining postmasters and their dates of appointment were William W. Chapman, June 7, 1883; Jasper L. Owenby, March 29, 1887; Frank E. Conley, August 9, 1887; Ulysses Sidney Cobb, May 18, 1897; and Elizabeth C. Cobb, March 15, 1899. Ms. Cobb kept the office open until Ivy Log was permanently closed on September 15, 1910.

Space in this article precludes tracing family connections of these last six postmasters at Ivy Log. However, Ulysses Cobb was a grandson of William Alfred Cobb, son of Harrison Taylor Cobb. The last postmaster at Ivy Log, Elizabeth C. Cobb, was Harrison Taylor Cobb's wife, Elizabeth Caroline Neece Cobb (09-27-1845 - 10- 07-1933). She and Harrison Taylor Cobb (06-14-1846 - 05- 31-1920) were buried at the New Hope Methodist Cemetery in the Ivy Log Militia District. An interesting aside is that the oldest marked grave at the New Hope Cemetery is that of Lydia Keys Cobb (1773-1848). She was the second wife of Revolutionary War soldier John Paul Cobb and the mother of William Alfred Cobb (1809- 1886). W. A. Cobb was fourth postmaster at Ivy Log.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 14, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Burnette and Cobb Families Link

One branch of the Burnette family of Union County, Georgia descends from William Mark Burnette (1848-1939) and Martha Holcombe Burnette who migrated from Buncombe County, North Carolina to the Ivy Log section of Union County, Georgia about 1898. The Burnettes came from England to America in the early 1700s and eventually settled in the mountains of North Carolina.

William Mark Burnette as a young man worked on building the famed Biltmore House near Asheville. As America's most notable mansion became a prime tourist attraction, Mr. Burnette enjoyed telling his children and grandchildren about his work helping to erect the mansion.

William Mark and Martha Burnette had eleven children. Martha died in North Carolina in 1894. When the youngest child, Mark Hampton (born in 1886 in Buncombe County) was twelve years old, his father decided to migrate to Union County, Georgia. They settled in the Ivy Log section of the county.

William Mark Burnette, no doubt saddened by the death of his dear Martha in 1894, was known as a "strict and austere" man. He began making syrup in Ivy Log. His was one of the early sorghum syrup mills in that section of Union. He had a productive farm and his children had to work hard to assist in tilling the land. Mr. Burnette got the mail route, carrying the US mail by mule back between the scattered area post offices.

Strict in discipline and against "the wiles of the devil," Mr. Burnette forbade his children to play cards or to dance.

Music was a part of the Burnette children's upbringing. In their home they had a pump organ, a Jew's harp, and a harmonica. Four of the sons, Monroe, Reid, Ernest and Mark, became good at harmonizing and formed a quartet. They were often invited to sing at area churches, at homecoming services, at all-day singings at the court house and other places, and at dinners-on-the ground. Monroe Burnette composed lyrics and music to songs and had some of his gospel songs published. If any of you readers happen to own a copy of Monroe Burnette's music, count yourself fortunate.

The youngest child, named Mark Hampton (known by his first name Mark) met the lovely Burdetta Cobb and they were married in 1909. She was one of two children born to the Rev. James Wesley Cobb (1837-1922) and Martha Thomas Cobb (known as "Aunt Patty" - 1843-1920).

This union of Mark Burnette and Burdetta Cobb brought together two notable families of Union County.

The early Cobbs in America had migrated from Ireland about 1755. Jasper Edward Cobb had three sons. One of them, John Paul Cobb, joined the Revolutionary War forces under the famed "Swamp Fox," General Francis Marion. John Paul survived the Revolution and moved his family to North Carolina. There his first wife died, leaving him four small children. He married a widow, Lydia Keys Mullen, and moved to Burke County, North Carolina. John Paul and Lydia Cobb had one child whom they named William Alfred Cobb. He married Charlotte Henson. This couple became parents of Burdetta Cobb's father, the Rev. James Wesley Cobb.

James Wesley Cobb was an itinerant Methodist minister traveling to his churches on horseback or by foot. He preached not "for hire," but received gratefully whatever the parishioners gave him in apples, potatoes, chickens, grains and other farm products. He often had these goods strapped across his horse as he returned home. One year, the ladies of one of his churches decided to make Rev. Cobb and his wife, "Aunt Patty," a quilt. They got together and pieced and quilted it and gave it as a Christmas gift.

During the Civil War, James Wesley Cobb joined the Confederate Army and saw action at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga. He received a shot in his jaw, but thankfully had a chew of tobacco in his mouth at the time and the tobacco stopped the bullet.

James Wesley Cobb's wife, Martha Thomas Cobb, was a noted midwife and practical nurse. She attended many women in her community and beyond at the time of childbirth. She also knew practical herbal remedies, and nursed many through a raging typhoid epidemic. Mark Burnette often told children and grandchildren that he owed his life to his wife's mother, dear "Aunt Patty," who nursed him through his serious bout with typhoid. The graves of James Wesley (1837-1922) and Martha Cobb (1843-1920) can be seen in the New Hope Cemetery in Union County.

Mark Hampton Burnette and Burdetta Cobb Burnette moved from Union County, Georgia to Fannin County shortly after their marriage in 1909. Mark was employed by Tennessee Copper Company at a daily wage of $1.00. Because of his affiliation with the Union to secure better working conditions, he was released from his job. He became a house painter and floor finisher.

Burdetta died in 1966 and Mark in 1967. Both were buried in the Crestlawn Cemetery, McCaysville, Ga

Ty Cobb of baseball fame was a cousin of Burdetta Cobb Burnette. Many descendants of the Burnette and Cobb families still reside in the mountain regions of Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee. This is just one of the many stories that could be written about these families.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 8, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Edward Sylvanus Mauney (1897-1977) – Union County Historian

People in Union County held Edward Sylvanus Mauney in great respect. He was born in the Ivy Log District of Union County on May 12, 1897 in a log cabin. His parents were Charles Stanhope Mauney (1868-1950) and Theodocia Carroll Mauney (1878-1973). Edward Sylvanus was one of eleven children born to his parents. Other children in the Mauney family were Clyde Charters Mauney; Luther Rush Mauney; Charles Pershing Mauney; Mazie Mozelle Mauney; Mary Willard Mauney Jordan; William Roy Mauney; Minnie Mauney Teague; Bess Mauney Conley; and Johnnie Mauney Gladson. Edward Sylvanus Mauney, like most of the youth in Union County who grew up in the early twentieth century, had his share of "making do" with what the family had. His father, Charles Stanhope Mauney, was a farmer, a teacher, Union County School Commissioner (Superintendent) and a rural mail carrier.

Early on, Ed Mauney learned to "carry his weight" in farm work. Noted for his mathematical skills and his bookkeeping abilities, Ed Mauney began to prepare himself to be a teacher. No doubt influenced by his father who had been a teacher in one-room country schools, that the elder Mr.Mauney spent from 1900 through 1912 at the helm of Union County Schools and for many years was chairman of the Union County Board of Education, Ed Mauney began to prepare to be a teacher.

His teaching itinerary took him to at least five country schools. Whether he spent more than one year at each school is not known. In the days when Ed Sylvanus Mauney taught, schools and churches often met in the same building. He is known to have taught at Gobble Hill Baptist Church house at Gum Log; Mount Zion Baptist in Dooly; Providence Methodist in Young Cane; and Ebenezer Baptist, also at Gum Log.

When he was 18 years of age, he left home for the first time to take a job at the bank in Blairsville. He served as a cashier under the bank owner's scrutiny. Mr. Chester Beacham was owner of the bank and the young teller's supervisor.

In 1918, he was inducted into the U. S. Army. He was 21 at the time. After rigorous training at Camp Gordon, he was deployed to England on November 8, 1918. Fortunately for the young soldier, World War I ended on November 11, 1918, so he did not see fighting. He was sent to France for some of the postwar occupation. In May, 1919, Ed Mauney returned to the United States. He was soon discharged honorably from the U. S. Army.

He entered Draughn's Business College in Atlanta and remained in that city until 1921 when he returned to his native Union County and his parents' home in Ivy Log. He walked from the train station in Culberson, NC, nine miles to his home upon his return from college.

In 1927 he took the Civil Service Examination, passed it, and became a rural mail carrier. Then in 1930, even though the Great Depression was in its infancy after the failure of banks and the stock market in October, 1929, the Georgia Legislature appointed Edward Sylvanus Mauney as official historian of Union County, Georgia. The appointment of historians was an effort throughout the state to get valuable historical information recorded before it was lost. Two examples of his historical writings are in the "Sketches of Union County History,” Teddy Oliver, Editor, published in 1987. On pages 85-87 is reprinted the article he wrote about his home district, "Ivy Log," in 1948 and on page 74 his account of "Gum Log." Ivy Log, his own home district, shows the flair this historian had for writing:

"The pioneer of Ivy Log cleared the virgin forest, built the log cabin, and tilled the soil with crude implements made by his own hands. He was tanner, shoemaker and his own wheelwright. He sheared the sheep that browsed on the hillsides covered with blossoming dogwood. The family carded, spun and wove the wool into warm clothing and household necessities. And at the close of the long weary day of labor that extended far into the night, there went up from hallowed hearthstones many fervent prayers from true and noble hearts." (p. 87).

One of Edward Sylvanus Mauney's deep interests was collecting Indian artifacts and making visits to the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina where he became good friends to Chief Carl Standing Deer. The rumor went about the county that Ed Mauney was also interested in "a beautiful Indian princess" at Cherokee. Was she the daughter of Chief Standing Deer? Whether this was fact or rumor remains to be discovered.

It is known that many of Ed Mauney's trips "up North Carolina way" were to see Blanche Elizabeth Henson (1909-1993) who lived at the Martin’s Creek Community of Cherokee, NC. Perhaps she was the "Indian Princess" he went to see. Her parents were Edgar W. and Bertha Jane Hatchett Henson. Her father, like Ed's, was a rural mail carrier and was postmaster at Culberson, NC, where the post office was a part of his general merchandise store there. The beautiful Blanche Elizabeth could weave, make crafts, and was a noted gardener. She attended the Bachman School and the Lees McRae School in Banner Elk, NC. The couple married October 18, 1941, and he brought her home to Blairsville to live.

With her "green thumb," Blanche Henson Mauney had a yard and garden about their house that was second to none. She grew prize-winning Iris, among other noted flowers. Blanche Mauney operated a crafts store in Blairsville where she sold quilts she had pieced and quilted and linen placemats she had woven. Her store was also a consignment shop for other mountain crafts persons to display their wares and sell them.

Perhaps many of you remember Ed Mauney's pet bear, Bozo, who he got as a little cub from Charlie Turner "below the mountain" at Charlie's Corner (intersection of Highways 19/129). Ed would go on his rounds with his pet bear chained in the back seat of his convertible automobile.

Petting that bear was, for children, like going to the zoo to see a captured animal, except that Bozo was more people-friendly. His fiancée, Blanche Henson, did not share Ed's love for his pet bear. They postponed their marriage until after Bozo's death.

Both Ed and Blanche had an interest in antiques. Ed collected vintage guns, such as the Gillespie rifle. He had a collection of Stradivarius violins, and could, himself, play "a right mean fiddle." In Blanche's craft shop and in their home were excellent examples of antique furniture and glassware.

Highly intelligent, personable, and talented, this twentieth century citizen of Union County left his mark on historical documentation and the lives of people to whom his infections personality left great memories.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 1, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Some Ingrams and Their Spouses

We have, for two weeks, written about the families of John Little Ingram (1788-1866) and his father, Revolutionary War soldier, also named John Little Ingram (1755-1828). It is interesting to note some of the marriages of descendants of these Ingrams and see how the marriages linked Ingrams to other early settler families of Union County, Georgia.

Sarah (better known as Sally) Ingram (1820- ?) was the fourth child of John Little Ingram (1788-1866) and his first wife, Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram (1793-1829-30?). Sally Ingram married Thompson Collins, Jr. (1818- ?). “Thompie,” as he was known, was a son of early settlers Thompson Collins (1785-1858) and Celia Self Collins (1787-1880). Thompie and Sally did not have any children; at least, not any who lived to adulthood. Thompie Collins had a large portion of farmland near the Notla River from holdings his father had claimed in the 22,000 acres that once belonged to the elder Thompson Collins.

Thompie developed the land and had one of the largest apple orchards known then in the Choestoe District along what is now Collins Road on a rise between the present Wilonell Collins Dyer property and what was the Jewel Marion Dyer property.

Thompie Collins was, for many years, a justice of the peace for the Choestoe District. In viewing early Union County marriage records, the name of Thompson Collins appears often as officiant of marriages in the community.

Nancy Ingram (1823-1897) was the sixth child of John Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. She married Athan England (1815-1893), a son of William Richard England (1770-1835) and Martha “Patsy” Montgomery England (178-1865). Richard England’s parents were Daniel (1752-1818) and Margaret Gwynn England (1758-1847). During the Revolutionary War, Daniel England performed patriotic service by operating his iron foundry at his large plantation on Hunting Creek near Morganton, NC, for the war effort. When some of the England children migrated to what is now White County (then Habersham) during the gold rush of 1828, Margaret, widowed, went with them. When Richard and Martha England settled in Choestoe, Union County, in the early 1830’s, Margaret England moved with them. Margaret’s is said to be the first grave in the old Choestoe Church Cemetery. Athan and Nancy Ingram England had these children: California E. England, Tom P. England, Richard Little England, William H. England, and John E. England. Athan and Nancy lived on a farm in the area that is now the Georgia Mountain Experiment Station off Highway 129/19 south of Blairsville.

Eliza Louisa Ingram (1827-1907) was the eighth child of John Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. She married James Marion Dyer (1823-1904) on June 18, 1846. They lived on a farm on Cane Creek, Choestoe, where James Marion’s parents, Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr. (1780-1845) and Elizabeth Clark Dyer (1785-1861) had settled in the early 1830’s. James Marion and Louisa Ingram Dyer had a large family of twelve children: Harriet Emaline who married Carr Colllins; Joseph G. who married Polly Turner; Micager C. (“Buck”) who married Josephine Henson; Archibald C. Young who married Hannah Jane Wimpey; James C. Dyer, died at age two; Bluford Elisha Dyer who married Sarah Evaline Souther; Nancy “Sis” Dyer who married William Hunter; Elizabeth Caroline “Hon” Dyer who married William Albert Souther; Jefferson Beauregard Dyer who married Rhoda Souther; Francis Marion Dyer who married Molly Dyer and Helen Dann; Mary Dyer, died young; and James C. Dyer who married Malissa Swain.

Malinda Ingram (1829- ?) was the ninth child of John Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. She married Andrew Townsend, son of Eli and Sarah “Sally” Dyer Ingram. Andrew Townsend, along with his father, Eli, served in the Texas War for Independence against Mexico, and was honorably discharged from the service of the United States on July 13, 1848 at Mobile, Alabama. For his service, Andrew Townsend received 160 acres of bounty land. Malinda and Andrew Townsend had these children: Thompson L. “Bud” Townsend who never married; Thomas Simpson “Simp” Townsend who married Ruthie West and Wilda Hood; Nancy J. Townsend who married Thomas N. England; Amanda Jane Townsend who married Enoch Chapman Hood; Andrew Crockett Townsend, Jr., who married Myra Anne Duckworth, Mary Duckworth and Mary Hunter; Elizabeth Townsend who married William Jackson Shuler; and Clarasie Townsend who married Joshua Columbus Fortenberry.

Since these daughters of John Little Ingram (Sally, Nancy, Louisa and Malinda) are only four of the twenty-one children of John Little Ingram who grew to adulthood, these families comprise only a small portion of Ingram descendants. If you can make your own kinship connection back to any of these, you share in a rich heritage of Ingrams who reach back to England, Wales and Scotland before migrating to the New World in the late 1600’s.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 16, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

John Little Ingram, Father of a Large Family

John Little Ingram (1788-1866), the father of twenty-two children, twenty-one of whom lived to be adults, was the ancestor of many with Union County, Georgia connections.

John Little Ingram was married three times and had children by each wife. First he married Mary “Polly” Cagle (1793-1829). Their ten children included one child that died as an infant and nine more, seven daughters and two sons: Rebecca, Isaac, Elizabeth, Sarah, Tillman, Nancy, Mary Jane, Louisa and Malinda.

After his wife Mary “Polly” died, John Little Ingram married Cynthia Kittle in 1830. To them were born ten children, five sons and five daughters: Lucretia, Little, Jr., Ginsey, Allen, Clary, Cynthia, Jeremiah, Benjamin, Ruth and Martin.

After his second wife’s death, John Little Ingram married, third, Catherine Cameron in Franklin County, Georgia on February 22, 1845. He and Catherine had two sons, Joseph (1846) and William (1847). His third wife died before 1860. By then, several of the twenty-one children of John Little Ingram had already married and established homes of their own, with the first of his and Mary Cagle Ingram’s children, Rebecca, herself marrying a Cagle—Joseph Roland---in 1834.

At the age of 78, John Little Ingram died at the home of his daughter, Lucretia Ingram Rhodes in the Ivy Log District of Union County. She was the first child of Little’s second wife, Cynthia Kittle Ingram. Lucretia had married George Rhodes, a widower with two small sons, Grant and Wiley Rhodes. Even though John Little Ingram had been an early member of Choestoe Baptist Church (listed in the 1836 membership rolls), he was buried at the Ivy Log Baptist Church Cemetery, because transporting the body to Choestoe in 1866 would have been a long journey by wagon. His first wife Mary had been buried in Hall County. His second wife Cynthia may have been buried in the Gaddistown District of Union County where the family lived at the time of her death. The place of interment of his third wife, Catherine, is unknown.

There is no stone marking the grave of War of 1812 patriot John Little Ingram. I wish we knew the exact location so we could erect a monument to his memory.

My interest in the Ingram family stems from my great grandmother, Louisa Eliza Ingram (1827-1907) who married James Marion Dyer (1822-1904) on June 18, 1846. Louisa was the eighth child of John Little Ingram and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. The sixth of the twelve children born to Louisa and James Marion Dyer was Bluford Elisha Dyer (1855-1926), my grandfather, who married Sarah Evaline Souther (1857-1959). The tenth of the fifteen children of Bluford and Sarah was my father, Jewel Marion Dyer (1890-1974) who married Azie Collins (1895-1945).

The Ingrams in America were patriotic. John Little Ingram, my great, great grandfather, was a soldier in the War of 1812. His first service was near Nashville, Tennessee for six months. He enlisted again from Franklin County, Georgia and fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama with General Andrew Jackson in 1814. It was there that the Creek Indians known as “The Red Sticks” rose up against white settlers. General Jackson and his soldiers were dispatched to put an end to the Indian uprising at Horseshoe Bend.

We can only imagine the stories John Little Ingram told his many children of his experiences as a soldier in the War of 1812 and his service in the Indian uprisings. Little Ingram was discharged at Augusta, Georgia in 1814. He brought home with him a small hymn book that became a family treasure. It was passed on through his youngest son, William P. Ingram (son of Little and Catherine Cameron) who lived in Culberson, NC. As late as 1935, George Ingram, son of William P., still had the old hymnbook in his possession.

Five of John Little Ingram’s sons served in the Civil War and three of them lost their lives in that conflict. Tillman Ingram (1822-1863) was the fifth child of Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. His first enlistment ended in discharge with the notation that he was “too old for service.” However, Tillman, wishing to “defend against the enemy,” reenlisted, giving his age as younger than his actual years. He died of a raging fever in Trinity, Texas during the war. Four of Tillman’s sons, John Robert, Thomas B., John C. and Edmond Dale, fought in the Texas War for Independence against Mexico.

Little Ingram, Jr. (1832-1863), son of Little’s second wife, Cynthia Kittle, died at the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi and was buried there. He had married Mary King on March 8, 1855. She was left a widow with little children, but information about their family has not yet been gathered by this researcher.

Jeremiah Ingram (1838-?) was a brother to Little, Jr. and the seventh child of John Little and Cynthia Kittle Ingram. He enlisted in the Confederate Army and fought at the Battle of Chancelorsville, Virginia where he was captured May 3, 1863. He was paroled from Fort Delaware (probably in a prisoner-of-war exchange) that same month. His record showed that he deserted the Confederate Army September 21, 1863. He married Elizabeth Henson on December 3, 1857. Further information about their family is unknown to this writer.

Benjamin Ingram (1840-?) married Charity Gilbert on July 15, 1856. He enlisted in Company B of the Georgia 23rd Regiment at Camp McDonald on August 31, 1861. He was at the Battle of Charlottesville, Virginia. He was hospitalized with consumption in December, 1862. He was captured at the Battle of Fredericksburg in June, 1863. He was paroled and rejoined his company. On July 21, 1864 he was captured at Winchester, Virginia and sent to military prison in Wheeling and from there transferred to a prison at Camp Chase, Ohio September 16, 1864 where he remained a prisoner-of-war until the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. He returned to Georgia but further information on his family has not been researched by this writer.

Martin Ingram (1844-1863) married Rebecca Bozeman prior to enlisting in the Confederate Army. He was a casualty of the war, dying at Jackson, Mississippi in 1863.

John Little Ingram learned the importance of patriotism from his father, Pvt. John Little Ingram of South Carolina who was a patriot in the American Revolution. Next week’s column will go further backward in time to trace the service of this soldier.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 2, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Willis, the First Twiggs in Union County

A name carrying distinction in Union County and beyond is that of Twiggs. Willis Twiggs was the first of the line to settle in Union County, Georgia.

He was born in Rutherford County, NC on December 5, 1804 and died at Choestoe, Union County, Georgia December 11, 1880. He and his wife Margaret England Twiggs (August 9, 1812-December 10, 1886) were both interred in the Old Choestoe Cemetery.

Not proven but believed by those who have traced the Twiggs line, Willis Twiggs was the son of Timothy and Joice Willis Twiggs of Rutherford County, NC. This conjecture seems almost positive by Willis Twiggs’ given name, a custom in that day, for a son (second or later) to receive the maiden name of his mother. Then Willis himself named one of his children Joice Minerva Ann, a name which honored the one believed to be his mother, Joice Willis Twiggs.

Willis Twiggs migrated to Habersham County, Georgia where he had been eligible for one draw in the land lottery of 1832. There he married Margaret England in either 1833 or 1834. Margaret herself had been eligible for a land lot in Habersham County due to her grandfather Daniel England’s patriotic service in the American Revolution. The ancestry of Margaret England is somewhat nebulous, like that of Willis Twiggs. Her father was listed as John Good and her mother Jane England. She was reared as an England and bore that last name.

Willis and Margaret Twiggs’ first child, Mary Louise, was born in Habersham County (now White) on March 12, 1835. She was a baby when her parents moved over the mountain into the Choestoe District of Union County. There, in the 1838 Tax Rolls of Union County, he owned land in the 34th District, described as having “oaks and hickory trees” and “upland”. In June of 1859 Willis Twiggs added to his acreage by purchasing land in the 16th District from James M. Henson. It was on this land that Willis Twiggs built his house, lovingly called “The Homeplace” by descendants. The land has been owned by members of this Twiggs family from the 1830’s to the present.

Willis Twiggs was a very religious man, following the beliefs of the Methodist Church. Beginning at least as early as 1838, church services were held in his home at Choestoe for at least nine years until the first Salem Methodist Church building was erected on Self Mountain in 1847. His obituary printed in “The Wesleyan Advocate” stated that he “professed religion and joined the Methodist Church at age 12.” The death notice cited that he was “an orphan from an early age and his way in the world was quite rough. He learned to trust God for all good. He lived a faithful Christian life.”

Shortly after settling in Choestoe, he made acquaintance with a Methodist missionary of the Holston Conference, and with his assistance held sacred meetings at his home for nine years until the congregation could build the Salem church house.

In addition to Mary Louise who was born before Willis and Margaret Twiggs moved from Habersham County, GA, the couple had five other children, all born in Union County. These were Elizabeth Jane (b. March 1837) who married William C. Hicks on November 4, 1866; Margaret, born 1839, who died at age 19, unmarried; Joice Minerva Ann, born November 27, 1841, who married George W. Bryant on November 29, 1869; John Wesley born January 31, 1846 who married first Sarah Elizabeth Hughes on August 20, 1871 and second, Georgia Elizabeth Westmoreland in 1886. This son of Willis and Margaret Twiggs became a noted itinerant Methodist preacher, a teacher and a farmer. The sixth child of Willis and Margaret was Harvey Alfonso, called “Bud,” born June 1, 1848. He married Elizabeth Johnson on July 21, 1876. Mary Louise, their firstborn, married Spencer Lafayette Curtis on January 25, 1857.

In later columns, we will trace other descendants of Willis and Margaret Twiggs and note the significant contributions they made as they remained in Union County or moved to other areas to live and work.


c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published September 23, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Private Michael Tanner, Revolutionary War Soldier

The marker for a Revolutionary War soldier, Private Michael Tanner, stands about in the middle of the Old Choestoe Cemetery. This simple marble monument, typical of war memorials dotting old cemeteries in various locations, is unpretentious. One might pass it by, not recognizing its significance or the contribution the soldier made to the freedom of America.

The Blue Ridge Mountains Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, seeking to make a more lasting memorial, held a commemoration service at Private Michael Tanner’s grave on November 3, 2001. As a member of the Old Unicoi Trail Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, I was invited, along with other members of my chapter. It was a distinct privilege, toward the end of the memorial service, for fellow chapter member Carole Thompson and me to place a wreath to honor the service of Private Michael Tanner.

Dr. J. Allen Henson, a descendant of Private Tanner, gave a brief biography of his great, great great grandfather. It is to Dr. Henson I am indebted for the following information.

Michael Tanner was born December 4, 1759 in York County, Pennsylvania. Tanner is a trade name, deriving from those who followed the profession of tanning animal hides for fine leather. The earliest-known progenitors of Michael Tanner seem to have originated in Germany, moved to Holland, and then migrated to America in 1721, settling in Pennsylvania.

When Michael Tanner was eighteen, in 1777, he enlisted in the Continental Army in Shenandoah County, Virginia. His first encounters were against the Indians of the area to protect settlers from raids. He then engaged in skirmishes with the Tories who were faithful to the British crown.

When the Revolutionary War officially began, he was ready to bear arms for his country. At first he served as a volunteer, but was drafted when fighting accelerated. He served at first under the command of Captain Raider, General Hand and Captain Mason.

His unit journeyed to Fort Wallin on the Ohio River, the first assignment after he was drafted. Then he moved with his unit to the South Branch of the Potomac River where he was under the command of Captain George Huston and Colonel Simms. From there he fought in Rockingham County, Virginia under Captain John Rush in the Virginia Regiment headed by Colonel Harris.

The highlight of Private Michael Tanner’s military service occurred at Yorktown, Virginia, when General George Washington engineered the surrender of the British Field Commander, Charles, Earl of Cornwallis. At full strength, the American allied forces brought together 8,000 Continental Army troops and 3,000 militiamen at Yorktown, augmented by 15,000 French sailors who blocked Cornwallis’ escape and prevented British reinforcements from arriving by sea. It was a tense confrontation and much hinged on General Washington’s maneuvers, with Alexander Hamilton commanding the light infantry.

Cornwallis, realizing the precarious position of the British forces, began negotiations with General Washington. On October 19, 1781 the American Revolution ended and American independence was secured. Did Private Michael Tanner hear the strains of “The World Turned Upside Down” played from the British ship in the harbor? If he did, its strains must have reverberated in his memory for years to come.

We can only imagine the relief and happiness of soldiers like Private Michael Tanner who had done their part to bring about the surrender. Although it took two more years for hostilities to completely cease, statesmen like Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and John Adams kept negotiating for terms of peace. Questions of what would become of British loyalists (Tories) after the war and the bounds of U. S. territory to extend to the Mississippi River were argued. The Treaty of Paris was signed September 3, 1783.

Private Michael Tanner returned to Virginia following Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown. In Rockingham County, Virginia on July 14, 1782 Tanner married Catherine Butt. They migrated from the more settled area of Virginia to the frontier counties of Rutherford and Buncombe in North Carolina. There they reared their family and he earned his living from the soil. Known children of Michael and Catherine were Michael (Jr.), Mollie Tanner Ross, Elizabeth Tanner Ellison, George Tanner, Sally Tanner, Catherine Tanner Harkins and sons Jacob, Adam and Abraham.

When Michael Tanner made application for a war pension, he used his father’s German Bible with family records to establish his birth date as December 4, 1759. From the pension application Dr. Henson learned of the war record of Private Tanner. He was still in Buncombe County, North Carolina, when he received a Revolutionary War pension in April, 1833.

By 1838, Michael and Catherine Butt Tanner had settled in the Choestoe District of Union County, Georgia, moving there to be near some of their children who had migrated before them. Catherine Butt Tanner preceded her husband in death, dying April 12, 1842. Her grave was marked by a fieldstone in Old Choestoe Cemetery. Seven years later, on August 25, 1849, Michael Tanner was laid to rest by his beloved Catherine. In 1989, one hundred and forty years later, Dr. J. Allen Henson had a military marker erected for his ancestor.

The memorial service held on November 3, 2001 was a solemn, dignified and uplifting ceremony. The strains of patriotic music from fife, drum and bagpipe echoed through the trees and hills around Old Choestoe Cemetery where this Pennsylvania-born, Virginia-bred, Yorktown patriot found his final resting place. The honor guard dressed in military regalia gave a proper twenty-one gun salute. It was a worthy tribute to an humble soldier-farmer whose ancestors had come to the shores of America in 1721 seeking freedom.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 19, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.