The Rev. John Corn, Another Son of Elder Rev. Adam Corn

We’ve traced the story of Elder Adam Corn who moved to Union County from North Carolina as early as 1839 and of his second son, the Rev. Alfred E. Corn, both of whom were noted as missionaries to the Indians and were instrumental in planting churches in the new settlements to which they moved.  The first son of Adam and Hannah Heatherly Corn was John who was born October 18, 1813 near Cullowhee in what was then Buncombe County, North Carolina, now Jackson County.  John was already married when his father Adam and the rest of his siblings relocated to Union County, Georgia.  John and his wife and one child under five were listed in the 1840 census of Union, but the census taker mistakenly spelled John’s last name as Carne instead of Corn. 

 

John Corn’s marriage to Mary Wade (known as “Polly”) Carter was recorded in Rabun County, Georgia as occurring on November 10, 1836 with the Rev. Robert Wood, also a Justice of the Peace, performing their marriage ceremony.  Polly’s parents were Jesse Carter and Lavina Sams Carter.  The Carter line went back to Edward Carter from Oxfordshire, England who settled in Pennsylvania about 1682.  Before Jesse and Lavina Carter moved to Rabun County, they had lived in Buncombe County near Cullowhee and their daughter Polly and John Corn knew each other then, and probably fell in love.  He went to Rabun County to court and marry her in 1836.  Polly was about three years older than John, having been born September 20, 1810 on the farm where her parents then lived at the Atkins Branch of the Big Ivy River near Cullowhee, NC.  The young couple made their home at first at Cullowhee, but then when Adam Corn, John’s father, decided to migrate to Union County, Georgia to secure land available for settlement there, John and Polly decided to move, too.

We have seen from previous stories about Adam and Alfred that Rev. Adam Corn baptized his two older sons in the Hiawasee River near Macedonia Baptist Church in 1841.  John Corn’s license to preach was issued by Macedonia Church on December 17, 1842.  Two years later, on November 16, 1844, John Corn was ordained to the gospel ministry by that same Macedonia Church.  Serving on the presbytery and ordaining council to question John were his father, Rev. Adam Corn, and neighboring pastors Rev. James Kimsey and Rev. Singleton Sisk. 

A very significant event took place in Augusta, Georgia in May of 1845.  Messengers gathered from states having Baptist Conventions and cooperating Baptist churches to discuss and act upon the proposal to form the convention and establish a Board of Domestic Missions, of Foreign Missions, of Education and other benevolent entities.  Four friends discussed the importance of the meeting in advance, and they were made messengers from their respective churches in Union County to attend the organizational meeting.  They had been given credentials for voting on proposals presented at the Augusta meeting.  The men rode in Major Josiah Carter’s carriage drawn by two fine horses.  With the routes available then from Blairsville to Augusta, we can imagine they went provisioned to camp out along the way since it would have been a several-days journey.  In the group were the Rev. John Corn, the Rev. Elisha Hedden, the Rev. Elijah Kimsey and Major Josiah Carter.  Major Carter was a brother-in-law to Rev. John Corn, the brother of John’s wife, Polly Carter Corn.  Not only did these four men from Union County vote to form the Southern Baptist Convention, but Major Carter himself pledged there to contribute to foreign missions.  Not only would he hold true to his pledge, but three of his granddaughters and one great grandson later became appointed foreign missionaries.  The long trip to Augusta for these three ministers and one layman had far-reaching effects. 

Rev. John and Mary Carter Corn lived in the Upper Hightower section of Towns County, a portion taken in when Towns was formed from Union in 1856.  There they had a farm and reared their family:  Lucinda Caroline who married Lafayette McKinney and Rev. Will Eller; Hannah Lavina who married Marion Stonecypher; John Heatherly who married Sarah Elizabeth Dillard; Mary Adeline (an invalid) who never married; and Nancy Elizabeth who married Ransom Smith. 

             

Rev. John Corn was pastor of the Upper Hightower Baptist Church in his community for many years.  It was said that, because that church was in his home district, he would never accept money for his services.  Other churches he pastored were Old Union and Bell  Creek in Towns County, and at Franklin and Valley River in North Carolina.  He was listed as the first moderator of the Hiawassee Baptist Association when it was organized in 1849.

             

But farming and preaching were not the only two interests of the Rev. John Corn.  When the Civil War was looming and the secession of Georgia from the Union seemed eminent, Rev. John Corn and Rev. Elijah Kimsey were elected representatives from Towns County to attend the secession convention held at the state capitol, then located at Milledgeville, Georgia, a four-hundred miles round trip by horseback from Hiawassee.  Each of these representatives voted against Georgia’s seceding from the Union.

             

Rev. John Corn was a slave owner.  He bought two young slave girls from his brother-in-law Major Josiah Carter.  Harriet, a slave girl, age 7 was purchased for $750 in 1861, and Susan, age 14, for $1,600 in 1863.  He purchased a 17 year old slave lad at a slave auction in South Carolina for $850 in 1862.

             

When he was 48, Rev. John Corn was drafted into the Confederate Army and served,  according to his pension record, as Captain of Company D, 24^th Regiment of the Georgia Volunteers.  His service lasted from June 21, 1861 through May 22, 1862.  When the elder Rev. John Corn resigned his commission, his son John Heatherly Corn  enlisted in the Georgia Cavalry, Company A of the Sixth Regiment and served until the end of the war.

            

In 1874, Rev. Corn was elected as Towns County’s representative to the Georgia Legislature.  By then, the state capitol had been relocated from Milledgeville to Atlanta. While  in route to his legislative duties, he became ill and had to return home. He died from complications with pneumonia at his home at Upper Hightower on January 2, 1875.  He was interred in the Corn family cemetery at Upper Hightower near his home.  Mary Polly Corn died January 14, 1879 and was also laid to rest in the family cemetery.

        

A special election was held through orders of Georgia Governor James Smith, and Samuel Y. Jameson, the great-uncle of Dr. S. Y. Jameson, President of Mercer University, Macon, was elected as Rev. John Corn’s successor to represent Towns County in the Georgia Legislature. Just as John Corn’s son, John Heatherly Corn, followed his father’s example and served in the Civil War, so he entered politics, becoming Towns County legislator for the 1884-1885 term. John Heatherly Corn also served as postmaster of the Visage post office in Towns County from 1875 through 1913, the entire life of that post office.  The Corn families contributed much to early development of both Union and Towns Counties.

©2012 by Ethelene Dyer Jones.  Published March 29, 2012 online with permission of the author at the GaGenWebProject.  All rights reserved.

[Ethelene Dyer Jones is a retired educator, freelance writer, poet, and historian.  She may be reached at e-mail edj0513@windstream.net; phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA 31061-2411.]

Thomas Jefferson Hooper and Some of His Descendants (Great Grandson of Absalom Hooper, Sr, Revolutionary War Soldier – Part 4, Hooper Family)

Just about now I am seeing that to trace all the descendants of Absalom Hooper, Sr. (c 1764-1845), Revolutionary War soldier, and write even the barest sketch of them, would fill a good-sized book. We’ve focused on Absalom, Sr. and two of his sons, Absalom, Jr. and Andrew, who were in Union County, Georgia by the 1840 census. Today’s focus will be on a great grandson of the Revolutionary War soldier who had a distinguished name, Thomas Jefferson Hooper, named for that inimitable and intelligent third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826, president 1801-1809). Descendants of Thomas Jefferson Hooper are still living within the area of Union and Towns counties today, and true to their forebears’ example, they continue to be productive citizens.

Thomas Jefferson Hooper was born November 1, 1845 in Jackson County, North Carolina. He would live until October 8, 1921 and be buried between his two wives in the Old Burch Cemetery in Towns County. He is listed as four years of age in the 1850 census of Union County, Georgia, not having reached his fifth birthday when the census taker visited the home of his parents to enumerate the household. His father was Benjamin Chastain Hooper (1812-1862) and his mother was Elizabeth Cathey Hooper (1815-1888). You might like to refer to the Cathey family articles written previously to see Elizabeth’s connections. Going back another generation, Benjamin Chastain Hooper’s parents were James and Mary Emaline Chastain Hooper, his mother a descendant of the noted Virginia settler, Pierre Chastain, ancestor of many who proudly claim this Chastain connection. James, father of Benjamin Chastain Hooper, was the first son of famed Absalom Hooper, Sr., Revolutionary War soldier.

When Thomas Jefferson Hooper went a-courting as a young man, he gained enough courage to go to the home of the Rev. Elijah Kimsey, a noted early preacher in the mountain area whose wife was Sarah Bryson Kimsey. Thomas Jefferson had caught the eye and favor of their daughter. Thomas Jefferson Hooper wed Araminta Caroline Kimsey (1846-1874) on Christmas Eve, 1865 when the Civil War was still a raw memory in the minds of many.

To Thomas Jefferson and Araminta Kimsey Hooper were born five children: (1) William (1866) who married Emma Stuart Coffey; (2) Violet Virginia (1869-1929) who married Warne Ketron Hedden (son of the Rev. Elisha Hedden and Juanita Caroline Butt Hedden); (3) Georgia Ann (1871-1921) who married Col. Sylvester M. Ledford; (4) Ollie Araminta “Minnie” (1872-1946) who married David Henry Puett; and (5) Mary Caroline known as “Callie” (1874) who married John H. Davis. Araminta died September 6, 1874, possibly from complications from childbirth when Callie was born. Thomas Jefferson Hooper was thus left with five small children.

He found himself another good wife, the second being Sarah Elizabeth Clementine Ellis (1852-1939), daughter of J. C. and Elizabeth Ellis, whom he married August 22, 1876. In addition to helping Thomas Jefferson rear the first five children, Sarah and he had five children, making him ten altogether: (1) James Lafayette (1881-1954) who married Eva Elinora Barrett; (2) Martha Elizabeth (1884-1937) who married Walter E. Warren; (3) Noah Franklin (1887-1942) who married Julia Kelley; (4) Maggie (1890-1961) who married Charles Colwell; and (5) Richard (1895) who married Ezra Willa Mae known as “Billie” Wood.

Thomas Jefferson Hooper moved his family into the town of Hiawassee, Georgia. There he established the Hooper Hotel, a stately and Victorian-designed landmark that received guests and served notable food for several years. In the town he also helped to establish the Bank of Hiawassee and set up and outfitted a mercantile store. He was elected to and served in the Georgia Legislature from Towns County in 1911-1912. Mr. Hooper was also a trustee of the Hiawassee Academy; an outstanding mountain boarding school founded by Dr. George W. Truett and Dr. Fernando Coello McConnell, cousins, and noted Baptist ministers.

Focusing now on the first son of Thomas Jefferson Hooper and Sarah Ellis Hooper, James LaFayette Hooper (Sr.), born March 1, 1881 (died April 8, 1954), he attended Hiawassee Academy, graduating in 1902. He went to the Atlanta College of Pharmacy and became a licensed pharmacist, working first in Cornelia, Georgia, and then opening Hooper’s Drug Store in 1911 in Buford, Georgia. He married the love of his life, Eva Elinora Barrett, daughter of Forrest C. and Mary Holcomb Barrett of Nacoochee Valley, Georgia on May 2, 1909. The couple returned to Hiawassee in 1914 and opened the Hooper’s Drug Store there. It proved to be one of the most continuously-operated businesses in the town, with the founder’s son, James LaFayette Hooper, Jr. (1914-1982) who graduated from the Southern School of Pharmacy in 1937, succeeding his father as owner and pharmacist. Later a grandson, Representative Ralph Twiggs, Jr. owned and operated the store, succeeded by purchaser Charles Nicholson.

James LaFayette Hooper, Sr. and Eva Barrett Hooper had four children: (1) Faye who married Ralph J. Twiggs, Sr.; (2) James LaFayette, Jr. who married Mary Richardson; (3) Gussie who married J. Walter Moore; and (4) Sarah who married Dr. John H. Carswell.

The legacy of serving the community has continued in the Hooper descendants.

We have only to trace the progeny of Absalom Hooper, Sr. through many generations to see that various regions of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and other states have benefited from the genuine hardiness, community spirit, work ethic, public service and church and educational support from those who hark back to the stalwart young man (Absalom, Sr.) who served his country well beginning in 1776 in our War for Independence. As we observe Veterans Day on November 11, we have opportunity to reflect on this heritage and salute those who have stood faithfully in the gap to win and preserve freedom from then until now and into the future.

c2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Nov. 11, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Echoes of camp meetings and evangelist Rev. Elijah Kimsey

The Rev. Elijah Kimsey was a great uncle of the noted Dr. George W. Truett who became one of the outstanding Baptist pastors and denominational leaders of the 20th century. Rev. Kimsey did not travel far from the mountain area where he was born, but his evangelistic zeal and fiery preaching had such an effect on summer camp meetings in the mountains of Western North Carolina, North Georgia and East Tennessee that echoes of his influence still linger on in lives he touched and in legends told about him.

In a biography about Dr. George W. Truett written by that great preacher's son-in-law, Powhattan W. James, Dr. Truett recounts how his "Uncle Lije" Kimsey waked up a floundering Methodist Camp Meeting being held one summer near Hayesville, N.C.

The fact that Rev. Elijah Kimsey was a Baptist minister ordained November 20, 1847 did not deter him from going to the Methodist overseers of the Camp Meeting at Hayesville. He told them that he had prayed all night and the Lord had told him to seek out the arbor meeting gathering and preach there. Rev. Kimsey had a thick lisp to his speech. The Methodist ministers conferred and told the itinerant preacher their services were at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. and again at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. "When do you want to preach?" they asked Rev. Kimsey.

"Brethren, my thoul ith on fire. I want to preach to these people. The thooner, the better, brethren," Rev. Kimsey replied. "The fire is burning in my thoul," he reiterated.

The ministers told him he could preach at the 8 a.m. service. They rang the bell to gather the people from their wagons and tents, and soon a crowd was under the brush arbor tabernacle. After an introduction by one of the Methodist elders, Rev. Kimsey was given the pulpit.

The story has been passed on for generations about that camp meeting and how the evangelist with a speech impediment began to preach and seemed not to be able to stop. His lisp only added to the interest, because everyone listened carefully to understand every word as Rev. Kimsey expounded the Scriptures and poured out his heart in zealous preaching.

As he preached, and as the services went on, sometimes not even stopping for the usual meals and fellowship, people in the surrounding area heard about the revival. The crowd increased as the Camp Meeting went on with exhorting, testimonies, singing, and preaching. As much as the people enjoyed eating around their campfires, fasting was a natural outgrowth of the spiritual climate and praying. Campers preferred hearing the preacher with a lisp and anointed with the Word of the Lord than to cook and eat.

It has been said that particular meeting marked the beginning of a moral and spiritual awakening of that section of North Carolina, Western Tennessee and North Georgia. Word of the meeting lept over the mountains and sped through the valleys. Hundreds were converted and the people who gathered there went home at the end of the series of meetings with renewed hope and inspired zeal.

Who was this preacher with the gift to move people to spiritual commitment? Elijah Kimsey was born February 4, 1812, a son of Thomas and Nancy McClure Kimsey. His birthplace was old Buncombe County, N.C. His family moved from Buncombe to Haywood County (now Macon) when Elijah was a boy. He and Sallie Bryson married there, but by 1837 the new couple had moved to what was then Union County, Georgia, a county five years into organization. They settled in the Friendship Community which would later be taken in as part of Towns County in 1856.

Elijah Kimsey, despite his pronounced lisp, had a desire to serve through both teaching school and being a preacher. He pastored churches and taught in one-teacher schools in the area of North Carolina and Georgia near where he lived.

Rev. Elijah Kimsey and Rev. John Corn were chosen as representatives of Towns County to go to the secession convention held at the Georgia capitol then at Milledgeville. Both the ministers were pro-union. It is said that they did not protest the right of Georgia to secede from the Union but questioned the wisdom of such a move in their general opposition to war and division in the country. When a large majority voted in favor of secession, the Revs. Kimsey and Corn went on record as accepting the decision to secede.

Rev. Kimsey was too elderly by the time of the War Between the States to serve in the army. However, three of his sons enlisted and fought for the Confederacy.

Rev. Kimsey's beloved companion, Sarah Bryson Kimsey, mother of their nine children (William, Thomas, David, Nancy, Amanda, Josiah, Araminta, Elisha, and Sarah) died September 1, 1886 and was buried in the Burch Cemetery in Towns County. Following Sarah's death, Rev. Kimsey moved to Habersham County. There he married his second wife, Ella, on April 3, 1887. Rev. Elijah Kimsey died May 7, 1896 at age 84 and was buried in the Kimsey Cemetery, Mt. Airy, Ga.

The epitaph on Rev. Kimsey's tombstone is typical of his life: "He went and done what the Lord commanded."

c2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 4, 2006 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Harvey Alfonso "Bud" Twiggs Family

Harvey Alfonso, better known as “Bud” Twiggs, was the youngest of six children born to the early Union County settlers, Willis (1804-1880) and Margaret England Twiggs (1812-1886). Harvey A. was born at Choestoe, Union County, Georgia on June 1, 1848 and died there March 6, 1932. He married Elizabeth Johnson on July 21, 1876, and to “Bud” and “Lizzie” Twiggs were born five children reared on the farm, part of which was inherited from Bud’s father, Willis.

Margaret M. Twiggs (August 2, 1871-May 28, 1949) married Mancil Pruitt Dyer, a son of Choestoe’s inventor of the “Apparatus for Navigating the Air,” Micajah Clark Dyer and his wife, Morena Ownbey Dyer. Mancil Pruitt had the nickname “Mant”. He and Margaret had seven children: Nellie Naomi who married Dallas Nix; Herbert Carter who married Pearl Duckworth; Patrick Henry Lee Dyer who married Cleo Hix; Celia Wilhemina “Minnie” Dyer who married Marshall J. Nix; Harriet who died at nine years of age; and Chartiers McMillan Dyer who married Pearl Parker and Sibyl Franks. When Margaret died in 1949, she was at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Marshall Nix, in Waverly, Colorado where she had lived during a period of ill health. Her body was returned for burial at Pine Top Cemetery, Choestoe, where her husband was buried in 1916.

Bud and Lizzie Twiggs’ second child was James Willis Twiggs (June 15, 1879 – February 1, 1966) known as Jim, this son had a distinctive career as a teacher, public servant, educator and benefactor. He married on December 28, 1910 to Helen Cordelia Collins (March 1, 1886-December 10, 1981), daughter of Dallas and Rosannah Souther Collins. The Rev. Charlie Rich performed their wedding ceremony at the home of the bride’s parents near New Liberty Baptist Church. They had one daughter, Clarice Lorraine Twiggs who married Thomas Jefferson Stephens. Helen Collins was a teacher when she and Jim Twiggs married. During the first years of their marriage both taught school at Talmo, Georgia (Jackson County) for three years, then to South Georgia for three years, and northward to Gwinnett County for three more years. Then they returned to Union County. In 1920 Jim Twiggs was elected County School Superintendent in Union County where he served two four-year terms (1920-1928). He next was with the sales tax unit of the Department of Revenue. He was elected state senator from the ninth congressional district for one term. Following that service he was a supervisor with the Georgia Department of Education until his retirement at age 72. Jim and Helen Twiggs were known for their Christian compassion and community spirit. I personally will ever be grateful to Mr. Jim Twiggs for loaning me the money to complete my AA degree at Truett McConnell College in 1948-1949 at a time when my father had a not-so-good crop year and did not have the money, even with my working at a campus job, to pay my college tuition. Mr. Jim Twiggs came to my rescue with a loan which I repaid during my first year of teaching.

Bud and Lizzie Twiggs’ third child was John Milford Twiggs (June 9, 1881-September 5, 1960). John married Celia Sarah “Sallie” Collins (October 8, 1884 – October 4, 1972), daughter of Ivan Kimsey and Martha J. Hunter Collins on March 1, 1908. John was a farmer on Choestoe, tilling the land settled by his grandfather Willis Twiggs and passed on to him by his father Bud Twiggs. John and Sallie had two sons, Roy Willis Twiggs (1909-1987) and Mercer Franklin Twiggs (1912-1990). Educated at Young Harris and North Georgia Colleges and Oglethorpe University, Roy taught school for several years. Roy became director of Union County’s Department of Family and Children’s Services (then called the Welfare Department) in 1938. World War II came and he served for four years in the U. S. Army. Following military service, he again assumed directorship of the Department of Family and Children’s Services from 1946 through his retirement in 1971. He was named to the Georgia Welfare Hall of Fame in 1985. Quiet, efficient and unassuming, Roy Twiggs is remembered as a compassionate social worker who sincerely had the welfare of his clients uppermost as he sought to help those who really needed aid. Mercer Twiggs had a career of thirty-seven years with the Georgia Highway Department. He married Ruby June Little in 1942 and they had one child, Sarah Rebecca Twiggs who married James Matthew Thompson. John and Sallie Twiggs were buried in the Old Choestoe Cemetery and Roy Twiggs and Mercer Twiggs in the New Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery.

Fourth child of Bud and Lizzie Twiggs was Naomi Belle Twiggs (May 17, 1886-August 14, 1941). She married Fulton Huey Gaddis and they lived to Barrow County, Georgia.

The fifth and youngest child of Bud and Lizzie Twiggs was Frank Densmore Twiggs (January 10, 1889-July 4, 1979) who married Margaret Lea Self on October 28, 1934. She was a daughter of Willis C. and Mollie Dyer Self. Lea and Frank lived in the Twiggs house that his father, Bud, built. The house is still standing on Collins Road just off Highway 80 and is now owned and maintained by Frank and Lea’s son, Ralph.

Frank taught school in one-teacher schools for a few years, among which was Pine Top. He became a full-time farmer, saying he “liked to be his own boss.” He and Lea had two children, Ralph (born in 1936) and Opal (1937-1944). Frank and Lea Twiggs were wonderful neighbors and extended such kindness to my younger brother, Blueford, and me after our mother died in 1945 when we were young.

Some interesting stories have been passed down in the Twiggs family about the escapades of Harvey Alfonso “Bud” Twiggs. A favorite is how he “broke” a new horse for his son Jim to ride. Determined to tame the horse, he bridled it up and took it into the field. The horse bucked and reared, but Bud held on for dear life. Finally, the horse reared and fell, with Bud Twiggs still holding on. Those who were watching feared that Mr. Twiggs was badly injured, but he got up and refused help in taking the horse back to the barn. A few days later, Bud Twiggs saddled up the horse and came out riding him, with the animal behaving, well-broken and taken to the saddle, ready for his Jim Twiggs to ride. Bud Twiggs was at the ripe age of 80 when he broke the untamed horse. He lived four more years after the horse-breaking incident.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published October 28, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Family of Thomas Kimsey Jackson

Thomas Kimsey Jackson
Teacher, Merchant, Farmer, Minister
(1867-1951)

Two weeks ago this column presented the family of early Union settler William Jackson and his wife, Nancy Owenby Stanley Jackson. Many avenues can be pursued on the Jackson families and how they spread from Union County to many states. This column will focus on Thomas Kimsey Jackson, grandson of William and Nancy Jackson, and son of their son William Marion Jackson (05/09/1829-03/12/1912) and Rebecca Goforth Jackson (03/03/1833-06/05/1901).

Marion Jackson and his wife Rebecca lived on Town Creek, Choestoe District, where he farmed. They lived near his parents, William and Nancy Jackson. Marion joined the Union Army during the War Between the States and served as a private in Company H, 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Mounted Infantry from October 3, 1863 through August 16, 1865. He saw action in the Cumberland Gap Campaign. He received a medical discharge for severe rheumatism. His pension application stated that he was unable to perform manual labor because of his disability.

Thomas Kimsey Jackson was one of eleven children born to Marion and Nancy Jackson. Three of T. K.’s siblings died young. Eight of them lived to adulthood, married and had families. Thomas Kimsey Jackson was born December 17, 1867 and died February 2, 1951.

In an account of his life and family, T. K. Jackson wrote: “I was educated for a school teacher and for seventeen years I taught school.” He does not say where he received his education, but perhaps he went through the Gap to the Hiawassee Academy where he received as good an education as was available for aspiring teachers in the late nineteenth century.

He taught at the country schools at New and Old Liberty Churches. Among his famous pupils was his nephew, Mauney Douglas Collins, son of T. K.’s sister, Mary Louise Jackson who married Archibald Benjamin Collins. A letter dated October 9, 1936 from T. K. Jackson, Young Harris, Georgia, and written to a niece (name not specified) states: “Yes, we are all proud of M. D.’s success and his ability to do things. I hope others of our people will make high marks.” By this time, that nephew whom T. K. Jackson probably taught to read was Georgia’s School Superintendent.

Thomas Kimsey Jackson married twice. His first wife was Mary Jane Collins (11/26/1869-01/17/1887), daughter of John P. and Fronia Duckworth Collins. T. K. and Mary Jane had one child, Thurman Sylvester (known as Vester, born 01/15/1887 - 01/19/1922). Mary Jane evidently died with complications following childbirth, for her death occurred two days after her baby boy, Vester, was born. Mary Jane was buried in the Six Oaks Cemetery near Old Liberty Baptist Church about which I wrote last week. Jumping forward in time, this first-born son of T. K. Jackson married Lola Souther, daughter of William Albert and Caroline “Hon” Dyer Souther. Vester and Lola had five children: Elma Clara, Donald Clifford, Worth Oliver, Adele Marie and Ruth Lavesta. Vester Jackson met a tragic death on January 19, 1922 from a gasoline explosion at his store and filling station at Town Creek, Choestoe. His last child, Ruth, was born August 31, 1922, seven months after her father’s death.

Thomas Kimsey Jackson married his second wife, Mary Caroline Collins (04/09/1872-07/03/1952) on January 13, 1889. She was a daughter of Elijah Kimsey and Rosetta Sullivan Collins. To T. K. and Mary Caroline were born fifteen children. They were:

Iowa Rosetta Jackson who married Bluford Vasco Dyer
Sarah Christine Jackson who married Frank Calloway Duckworth
Thomas Watson Jackson (10/21/1893-01/19/1910)
Elma Jackson (08/01/1895-10/01/1895)
Martha Nevada Jackson who married Robert (Bob) L. Jackson
Fannie Jane Jackson who married Earl Penland
Ollie Mae Jackson who married Benjamin Frank Sargent
Lillie Bell Jackson (08/22-1902 - 08/30/1921)
Mary Leona Jackson who married McKinley Pruitt
Margaret Viola Jackson who married Anson Ray Geckler
Pat Marion Jackson who married Louise D. Macon
Pearl Jackson, a twin to Pat (03/23/1909-06-?-1909)
Annie Maude Jackson who married Roscoe McGaha
Thomas J. Jackson who married Lucy Inez Aderhold
Hugh Dorsey Jackson (03/12/1917-04/26/1917)

The Thomas Kimsey Jackson House and Store at Town Creek, Choestoe

In addition to his seventeen years of public school teaching, Thomas Kimsey Jackson operated a country store at Town Creek, Choestoe. The store was in the front ell of the house, accessible by steps from the front. The large family lived in the back wing of the house.

The family moved from Town Creek to Young Harris in 1907 where he also continued his work as a merchant. The twins, Pat and Pearl were born there. Pearl, one of the twins, was buried at Old Union Cemetery, Young Harris in 1909, as were the other children who died young. His reason for relocating to Young Harris was to give his children better educational opportunities at Young Harris Academy and College. Both Thomas Kimsey Jackson and his wife Mary Caroline Collins Jackson were interred at Old Union Baptist Church Cemetery, Young Harris. Jacksonville, the village near Young Harris on Highway 76/APD 515 was named for the Jackson family.

Thomas Kimsey Jackson was ordained to the ministry. This writer does not have information on where he might have been a pastor, but surmises that he probably preached at Old Liberty Baptist Church (Union County) and at Old Union Baptist Church (Towns County).

Descendants which are many of Thomas Kimsey Jackson and his sixteen children, fourteen of whom married and had families of their own, can be proud of the legacy left by this teacher/merchant/preacher.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Apr. 15. 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.