May--An Important Month in U.S. History

The “Merry Month of May” for 2010 is soon to end. We will celebrate its last day and an important national holiday, Memorial Day, on Monday, May 31. It is a time to honor our patriotic dead and to recall the sacrifices they made for our freedoms. “Lest we forget,” let us take time to consider the price paid for liberty.

Such beauty as we enjoy can sometimes take our minds from more serious matters. Spring is here with great profusion of growing, blossoming landscapes. But it was also thought by old timers that May was a difficult month, one that required attention to practices of good health to get through the month. Two sayings characterized the month: For those already ill with some critical disease, the prediction was, “Ah, he (or she) will never get up May-hill.” Another had a brighter aspect: “If he can climb May-hill, he’ll do.” Well, we “climbed May hill” again this year, and I hope we are another year wiser as well as having reached another milestone in years accrued. Let us consider some blessing we too often take for granted.

In a review of American history, we see that a new, struggling America following winning of the Revolutionary War set the second Monday in May as a time to have delegates from the thirteen independent states (no longer colonies under the King of England) meet in Philadelphia in 1787, “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.”

The Convention was convened on May 14, 1787. Rhode Island declined to send delegates. From the other twelve states, seventy had been selected to go to Philadelphia. Only fifty-five of the seventy delegates elected to go ultimately attended, and of those fifty-five, only thirty-nine ended up signing, not the revised Articles of Confederation, but the brand new document, the Constitution of the United States. It took from May 14 until May 25 to get a quorum of the delegates together to revise the Articles of Confederation.

Many of the arguments, proposals, objections, revisions and adoptions are a matter of record, and can be accessed if anyone is an avid student of how our Constitution came about. However, that group of fifty-five delegates from twelve states represented the citizens, and was truly a “think-tank” for America’s document that has stood through the years.

Georgia’s elected delegates to the Convention were Abraham Baldwin, William Few, William Houstoun, and William L. Pierce. Of the four, only two went to Philadelphia and participated in that May conclave in 1787. These two were Abraham Baldwin and William Few who eventually signed the Constitution after it was circulated in Georgia (and other states). It met with general approval, following the addition of the first ten items in the Bill of Rights. It took from May 14, the day of convening of the Convention to revise the Articles of Confederation, until September 17, 1787, four months, for the new Constitution to be passed. One of the primary arguments was that states’ rights be assured, with the federal government not being all-powerful over the states. Considering the means of communication and transportation in 1787, the passage of the document in four months was indeed a spectacular feat.

It was to the wise, elderly Benjamin Franklin, that final success of the Convention is due. He rose, and reading from a prepared speech which has been preserved for later generations to read, he stated: “Mr. President, I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure that I shall never approve them…The older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment and to pay more attention to the judgment of others…I think a general government necessary for us…what may be a blessing to the people if well-administered…On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wish that every member of the Convention, who may still have objections to it, would, with me, on this occasion, doubt a little of his own infallibility, and make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument.” Benjamin Franklin then introduced the motion to have the delegates sign the document.

And to that document, thirty-nine men set their signatures, enough to give the newly formed United States of America a document, which, though amended numerous times throughout its more than two-century history, still stands as a beacon to democratic governments world-wide. One of the major responsibilities of the president of the United States is to “uphold the Constitution.” Now, we as citizens must be discerning that whatever person is president will honor and uphold the document that was formed in the month of May so many years ago. As citizens of a wonderful nation, we have to “climb May hill” all over again to assure that those things which are vital to the fabric of our freedom are not ripped out, torn apart, misinterpreted and cast aside. On Memorial Day, may we give these “May summits” and all who worked on, stood for and died for them some very serious thought and thanks.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 27, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Cherokee Names and Legends

BLOOD MOUNTAIN

Elevation 4458 Ft.

Chattahoochee National Forest
--------------0-------------
In Cherokee mythology the mountain was one

of the homes of the Nunnehi or Immortals,

the “People Who Live Anywhere,” a race of

Spirit People who lived in great townhouses

in the highlands of the old Cherokee Country.

One of these mythical townhouses stood near

Lake Trahlyta. As a friendly people they

often brought lost hunters and wanderers to

their townhouses for rest and care before

Guiding them back to their homes. Before

the coming of white settlers, the Creeks

and Cherokees fought a disastrous and bloody

battle at Slaughter Gap between Slaughter

and Blood Mountain.

The historical marker gives interesting information about early dwellers in our land. The Cherokee who were in Union County long before the white settlers left us many names and legends that, though sometimes sad, enrich our land and lend much food for thought. The historical marker on Blood Mountain gives a taste of both legend and real history, and helps us know why the mountain was named Blood.

First, to the myth about the Nunnehi, immortal people. These were believed to be the immortals who dwelt in these mountains. Their task was to help all who traveled and needed assistance of any sort. We can only imagine how overwhelming was their tasks when the Creeks and Cherokees met in battle at Slaughter Gap near Blood Mountain. It is said the blood ran down so profusely from the dead and wounded that the whole area was covered in blood. Hence the names, Blood Mountain and Slaughter Gap.

Prior to the Revolutionary War, the Cherokee had made contact with English, French and Spanish settlers. They had learned to trade and make bargains with the European colonists. We find many instances of Cherokee leaders negotiating with traders and government officials. Oftentimes, the Cherokee would make raids against the settlers. Living on the frontier in those days was fraught with danger. In the Revolution, the Cherokee sided with the British against the colonists.

In 1791 at what was called the Holston Conference, Cherokee-American negotiations were somewhat stabilized. There followed several treaties in which Cherokee land was ceded to states and the federal government. By 1819, the Cherokee Nation was left with about ten million acres of their former land holdings. Some of the Cherokee began to move to western lands in the early 1800’s. The Overhill Cherokee that had remained in the mountains of Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee were the most adamant against moving west. In 1828, the government of Georgia declared Cherokee law null and void. Governor Gilmer, with the support of President Andrew Jackson, sent troops to push the Cherokees out. The next governor, Wilson Lumpkin, continued to push for Cherokee removal. Many had left before the final exodus and the Trail of Tears that began under the military direction of General Winfield Scott in 1838.

When white settlers began to come into what became Union County in 1832, some Indians remained but most had already moved.

The town of Blairsville was incorporated on December 26, 1835 and became Union’s county seat. Two reports exist about whom the town was named for. In his Georgia Place Names, Kenneth Krakow states that it was named for Francis Preston Blair (1791-1876), a Kentuckian, editor of The Washington Globe newspaper which was established to support Andrew Jackson’s presidency. The fine house in which F. P. Blair lived in Washington was purchased for government property and is now known as the Blair House.

The other person (probably more authentically) for whom the town of Blairsville was named was Captain James Blair. He was an official Cherokee Indian agent, born in Augusta County, Virginia in 1761, and listed as working in Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas as an Indian agent between the years of 1801-1835. The naming of our county seat town for this Blair was declared in “The Blair Family Magazine,” Volume 8, No. 3 in the Fall of 1990 by researcher Margaret Vance Webb. She tells how James Blair worked to settle land claims and to assist with Cherokee removal from Georgia. In Habersham County, Georgia, where Georgia Highways 115 and 105 intersect, a historical marker indicates that spot as where the “Blair Line” crossed. The historical marker reads: “It was a line between the state of Georgia and the Cherokee Nation, surveyed by Captain James Blair in the early 1800’s. The line extended from the forks of the Soque and the Chattahoochee Rivers in a direct northerly line to the Tallulah River. It was the boundary line in 1817 for all the lands east of the Chattahoochee River by the State of Georgia from the Cherokee Nation by the Treaty of 1818.”

This abbreviated sketch merely hits the high places of the stormy era of our history prior to and leading up to Cherokee Removal. Each time you hear a name, like Walisiyi, Trahlytah, Arkaquah, Coosa, Choestoe, and many more, know that the Cherokee left place names where they once lived, names that we now take for granted in our familiarity with our beloved county. Honor the names and the land left to us. They came our way at great sacrifice and with much heartbreak.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 20, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Some Early Settlers Named Gaddis and the Gaddistown District

If we could see the past, then of course it would look different. For there was a time when every man was a part of his mother,. . .and. . . part of his grandparents. If you could see humanity spread out in time, as God sees it, it would look like one single growing thing…rather like a very complicated tree. Every individual would appear connected to every other.” -C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)

The famous English theologian and apologist, C. S. Lewis, whom I have quoted here, had the right idea when he stated that humanity is “like a very complicated tree,” and that “every individual…(is) connected to every other.” In our eagerness to find out about the past, we are searching for that giant tree, and our connectedness. I enjoy looking at the names listed in the 1834 Union County census when the county was brand new, just becoming established, two years after its organization. I am fascinated by names of people who made up the early settlers, learned by noting names in that census. And that is how I came to the name Gaddis for a brief look. They left behind a place named for them, Gaddistown, the southwestern-most district in the County, surrounded by Coopers Creek to the north, a portion of Fannin County to the west, Canada District to the east, and Lumpkin County to the south.

In 1834 there were five Gaddis households listed in the census, with a total of twenty-four people bearing that family name—thirteen males and eleven females. Since only heads-of-households and number in the family unit were listed in 1834, we learn that these Gaddis men were early settlers in the county: Linsey Gaddis (3 males, 2 females), Iredell Gaddis (1 male, 2 females), James Gaddis, Sr. (3 males, 2 females), James Gaddis, Jr. (4 males, 2 females), and Lewis Gaddis (2 males, 3 females).

By 1840, the Gaddis households in that year’s census had increased to nine, with household populations giving a total of 30 males and 28 females with the Gaddis last name. Those listed were as follows: John Gaddis (4 m. 3 f.), Iredell Gaddis (2 m. 3 f.), Lewis Gaddis (2 m. 4 f.), James Gaddis (6 m., 1 f.), Drury Gaddis (4 m. 1 f.), another Drury Gaddis (3 m. 5 f.), William Gaddis (1 m. 2 f.), George Gaddis (5 m., 3 f.) and Emry (sic) Gaddis (2 m. 4 f).

By 1850, interestingly, only three Gaddis families were listed (one spelled Gettis). By that census, we have names and ages listed, and the state the head of household migrated from. Susan Gaddis, age 47, lived in household 85, with children Susan, 14, Allen, 12, and Matilda 8. In the household with Susan Gaddis were two with the last name of Black, their given names Iven, age 19 and John, age 23. In the Gettis (sic) household numbered by the census taker 917, were M. M., age 31, and his wife, Lucila, age 25, both born in North Carolina, and an elder lady, Elenor, age 70 (maybe M. M.’s mother?), all born in North Carolina. The third Gaddis, (in household # 969) was Lewis, age 47, born in North Carolina, his wife, Margaret, age 43, born in South Carolina, and these children: Eline, age 20, born in SC, and Elizann, 18, Allen, 14, Elvira, 12, Margaret, 10, Perlina, 8, and Archibald, 5 (the last six born in Georgia). In doing some Gaddis family research elsewhere, I found a bit of information that stated that many of the Gaddis families, living close to Lumpkin County, moved on over to that county and were involved in the later “gold rush” there. This I have not authenticated. Either some Gaddis families were missed in the 1850 census, or they had migrated to another county by that time.

We can assume that Gaddistown District was named for James Gaddis (Sr. or Jr.), Linsey Gaddis, Iredell Gaddis, or Lewis Gaddis, the first families of the Gaddis name that settled Union. The district lies along the Toccoa River that runs north, and has some very productive bottom lands for farming. The Gaddistown post office application was approved June 15, 1848. Interestingly, the request was not made by a Gaddis, but by John D. Cavender, another citizen of Gaddistown, who was the first postmaster from its opening until February 2, 1852. The post office continued for a total of 107 years, closing in 1955.

The name Gaddis (spelled in many ways—Gettis, Geddes, Gadice, Gattis) is a Scots-Irish name, a habitational or place name. In Scotland, the earliest found with this name were those who “lived on a ridge.” It is interesting that as the Gaddis forebears came to America, they migrated to and settled in the hilly sections of North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. They seemed to make their homes along mountainous terrain and learned to make a way and a living in the hill country.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 13, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Continuing the Legacy of Benjamin J. Ledford: Son Benjamin Mercer and Grandson Arthur Paul Ledford

The Civil War brought hard times and “make do” situations even to families in remote Union County, Georgia. As we’ve already seen in the account of Silas L. Ledford, third child of fifteen born to the early settler Benjamin J. Ledford (1800-1882), who joined the Georgia Cavalry and the Local Defense Troops, so another son of Benjamin, his eleventh-born, also had a term in Civil War fighting.

Benjamin Mercer Ledford (11/14/1838-03/24/1919) was Benjamin’s eleventh child. His mother was Grace Ownbey Ledford. On May 10, 1862, he enlisted with the 6th Regiment, Georgia Cavalry Volunteers, Company B. He received the rank of captain. He was wounded in the knee at the Battle of Chickamauga . This brought about his subsequent resignation from active duty. He continued to serve in the Local Defense Troops and evidently received the rank of Colonel in that group, for he was often referred to as “Colonel Ledford.”

An interesting incident occurred while he was in service. He was visiting in a friend’s home in Loudon County, Tennessee. While there, Union troops attacked the house. How he had time, before the soldiers came into the house trying to kill any of the Confederate soldiers they found, is not exactly known. But the story has been passed down about how Benjamin Mercer Ledford escaped death. He donned the garb of a woman, and with a bonnet on, was at the dough board kneading bread when the invasion occurred. His life was spared, and for good cause. He married Sarah Blair (09/28/1838-09/13/1889) on July 29, 1863, daughter of his friend in whose house he had escaped death.

Benjamin Mercer and Sarah Ledford made their way back to Union County, Georgia to set up housekeeping. Since her father was a substantial citizen of Loudon County, and owner of slaves, he gave Sarah slaves to help her with housekeeping and Benjamin Mercer with his farm work on Gum Log in Union County where they settled. This couple gave ten acres to Antioch Baptist Church from the land holdings they had acquired.

Benjamin Mercer Ledford became an ordained Baptist minister, announcing his call on October 18, 1873. He received his license to preach by Ebenezer Baptist Church three years later on July 14, 1876. Not only interested in helping the churches in the district where the Ledfords lived, it is believed that he also preached at churches “over in North Carolina” from his home. He was very much interested in education and was successful in securing a grant for a high school for the Gum Log district from Peabody Funds. This school was established about 1880 and was a boon to that section of the county.

Benjamin and Sarah had six known children: Mary L. (1865), Mamie May (1867), Arthur Paul (1869), William J. (1872), Bettie A. (1874) and Benjamin M. (1877, who died as an infant). When Sarah died in 1889, she was laid to rest in the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery on land her husband had given to the church. Benjamin Mercer married twice more: to Eliza Plott and to Lena Gray (believed to be a Cherokee Indian). He later moved from his beloved Gum Log and lived in Cherokee County, NC. He was interred at the Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery, Suit, NC.

The third child of Benjamin and Sarah, Arthur Paul (01/12/1869-04/07/1931) became a noted merchant and owned and operated his own store in the Gum Log District. Arthur Paul, known lovingly as “Bud” Ledford, started working in the mercantile business by hiring on at the store of Charley Mauney. In 1924, Bud purchased the store for himself. It was a popular trading place in that section of the county. He bought another store on Gum Log Road in 1925, and operated it until his death in 1931.

Arthur Paul Ledford married Alcy Dona Ensley (04/14/1870-04.01/1943) on December 20, 1888 in Union County. Her parents were Robert and Martha Parris Ensley of Gum Log. To “Bud” and Dona were born six children; Mamie Isabell (1890-1981) married John Calvin Hood; Alma Udora (1893-1969) married Jess C. Bradley; Obed Erick (1894-1977) married Nora Brown; Benjamin Robert (1897-1928) married Ada Wilson; Baxter Wayne (1902-?) married Bert(a) Miller and moved to Ohio; and William Blair (1906-1987) married Violet Lance.

Bud Ledford died April 7, 1931 in Franklin, NC after stomach surgery. His body was returned and buried at Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery, Gum Log. Later, when his beloved wife, Dona passed (April 1, 1943), she was interred alongside her husband’s grave.

The Ledford families played an important role in Union County history from the early years until the present. Those who went out to other places likewise were strong contributing citizens. For example, Amy Vianna Ledford (1830-1892), seventh child of Benjamin J. and Grace Ownbey Ledford, who married William Franklin of Union County about 1851, moved with her family to Coryell County, Texas in 1889. We can only imagine the long journey from Union County to Texas by covered wagon, via Arkansas and other stops along the way. They left Union County in 1883 and arrived in Weatherford Texas in 1889—a long and eventful journey with many stops in between.

There is much more to the Ledford story, but I will leave it to others to write. Suffice it to say that the family of Benjamin J. Ledford played an important role in establishing a solid citizenry wherever they went from their roots in North Carolina and North Georgia.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 6, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Continuing the Ledford Legacy: Benjamin's Son Silas and Grandson Mercer

Last week we looked at the life and times of early Union County settler, Benjamin J. Ledford (1800-1892) who settled on land along Ivy Log Creek. He had a large family of fifteen known children. His third child, Silas L. Ledford (1822 – 1891), and one of Silas’s sons, Mercer Lafayette Ledford, will be the focus of this article.

Silas L. Ledford had an older sister, Hannah (b. 1819) and an older brother, Josiah (b. 1820) when his mother, Grace Ownbey Ledford (07/30/1799 – 06/12/1864) gave birth to him in Buncombe County, North Carolina on October 22, 1822. He would have other siblings: Sallie, Martha, Porter, Amy Vianna, John C., Carolina L, Patterson and Mercer, all born in North Carolina before the family came to Union and settled in Ivy Log. The youngest of his siblings, Pinkney, was born after the family arrived in Georgia. Later, after his mother died, his father, Benjamin J. Ledford, married Sarah Salena Chapman Miller and Silas L. had three half-siblings, Solomon S., Mary and William, who were younger than Silas’s children.

As we saw in last week’s account of Benjamin J. Ledford, Silas’s father, he was a large land owner. He gave his son Silas some acreage and on it he build a log cabin which became the first house for him and his wife, Dolly Elmira Bowling Ledford (b. ca. 1821) whom he married in Union County on December 19, 1841. She was a daughter of Thomas and Mary McDonald Bowling. This marriage blended two early settler families, for Dolly’s father had helped to cut timbers to build Union County’s first court house in the early 1830’s, and he also was elected an early sheriff of Union County.

To Silas and Dolly Bowling Ledford were born five children: Thomas (1845), Benjamin A. (1846), Gracie Caroline (1848), Louisa (1849), and Ellantha M. (1851). The exact date of Dolly’s death is unknown, but it occurred between 1851 and 1856. Silas married his second wife, Eliza Arminda Bowling (1837-1897), who may have been a sister of his first wife, Dolly. To Eliza and Silas were born nine children: Andrew, Jane, John S., Alice V., Mercer Lafayette, Ida, Virgil C., Sallie Isabelle and Frank H.

When the Civil War came, Silas L. Ledford served in Captain Young’s Company, the Georgia Cavalry, Local Defense Troops. Whether he saw action in battle or just defended the home front is not known. His main occupation was farmer. No record was found of the burial of Silas, Dolly and Eliza Ledford in the Union County cemeteries book. It is believed that he and his second wife, Eliza, were both buried in unmarked graves in the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery. Silas left a will, probated in 1888. In it, he made no mention of children Thomas, Louisa, Ellantha or Frank. They may have preceded their father in death.

Some interesting facts are known about Mercer Lafayette Ledford, tenth child of Silas Ledford, whose mother was Eliza Bowling Ledford. He was born September 24, 1865. Mercer attended the Ivy Log High School. At age seventeen, he took the Georgia certification test and became a teacher. He taught first at Ebenezer School, a country school located on land his grandfather and then his father had owned.

On June 16, 1897, Mercer Lafayette Ledford married Florence Iowa Christopher. She was a daughter of John A. and Sarah Martin Christopher. Well educated for a woman of her era, Florence had attended school in Blairsville and also graduated from the Hiawassee Baptist Academy. She taught school for several years before her marriage. To Florence and Mercer were born four children: Sarah, Ina, Curtis and Louisa.

Mercer and Florence moved to Gwinnett County where he continued to teach. He became interested in law, and began to “read” law in the firm of Juhan and McDonald. He passed the state bar in 1892 and began the practice of law in Lawrenceville.

Union County drew this couple back to their roots. They moved back to Union County where he set up a law practice. It is said that his first trial in Union County was held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. What precipitated this place for the trial is unknown to this writer. In Union County, Mercer Lafayette Ledford distinguished himself as a lawyer and community servant. He was on the County School Board and served for a time as County School Commissioner (Superintendent). In 1902 he was elected to the state senate to represent the district and served for three terms, authoring bills and serving on committees.

The Mercer Ledford family moved to Cairo, Georgia (Grady County) about 1905. There he practiced law, became county attorney, served on the school board and was active on the Democratic executive committee from that district. He held membership in various civic organizations and had leadership positions in Woodmen of the World and Cairo Lodge F & AM. He and Florence were active members of the Baptist Church in Cairo. Mercer Lafayette Ledford is an example of a grandson of an early settler who went out from the environs of Union County and did well in his chosen profession.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published April 29, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Early Union Settler Benjamin J. Ledford (1800-1892)

In the years since I’ve been writing about people, places and events in these “Through Mountain Mists” columns, there are many surnames familiar to Union County’s residents, past and present, which I have not yet mentioned. To use mountain vernacular, It is hard to “get a round to it” for all of them.

I like to examine the 1834 and 1840 census records of Union County to pinpoint names and see if I can trace some of the descendants of those listed. I found no Ledford families in the first (1834) census, but by 1840 there were four families of Ledfords, that of Benjamin with nine members at that time, that of Thomas with eight in his household, William, with ten, and George with eight. The total population of Ledfords in Union in 1840 numbered thirty-five. Whether Benjamin, Thomas, William and George were related, maybe brothers or cousins, I did not uncover. Maybe readers and descendants of some of the first four Ledford families can add some light on this puzzle. Because I did easily find information on Benjamin J. Ledford and some of his descendants, he will be the present focus.

Ledford is an interesting surname. English, deriving from the Anglo-Saxon, it is what we call a habitation name, or a name derived from the place where the first lived bearing this name. The prefix, spelled variously “Hlude” “Lud,” “Lyd,” and later “Led” (and add to that earlier “Latch”) come from the Anglo-Saxon and means “loud, fast-flowing river.” Suffix of “Forde” meaning a shallow place for crossing the river, the name, then, described the people from the shallow place beside the loud-flowing river. They were identified by where they lived. Later, rivers themselves got names, so those who dwelt by them might receive the name of the river itself with the addition of the suffix ford, to indicate they lived near the river crossing.

What we know as Ledford originated around Somerset and Devonshire in England. In Anglo-Saxon records as early as 997, families named Lydford lived in Devonshire. Ludesfords were listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. A John Lodeford applied in London in 1450 for a marriage license. William Ludford married Vertue Rocker at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent in 1669. Further anglicized, the prefix became “Led” with the addition of the suffix “ford.”

The ancestors of Union County’s Benjamin J. Ledford (02/03/1800 – 03/24/1892) have been traced to a John Ledford who settled in North Carolina prior to the Revolutionary War. His son, John, Jr., the father of Benjamin, fought in the Revolution, thus giving this family ties back to that important event in American history.

John Ledford, Jr. had rather extensive land holdings in Buncombe County, North Carolina on Hominy Creek. Therein is seen that tendency still, probably ingrained since Anglo-Saxon times, of Ledfords settling and clearing land near a “loud flowing stream”—creek or river. John, Jr. (wife’s name unknown) had six children, four sons and two daughters, listed in the 1800 census in Burke County, NC, but names of these six, except for Benjamin, are unknown to this writer. Who knows? Maybe the four Ledfords in Union County, Georgia in 1840 were brothers. We can only wonder until this is uncovered and proved.

Benjamin Ledford married first Grace Ownbey (07/30/1799 – 06/12/1864), a daughter of Porter and Martha Morgan Ownbey. A land deed for 123 purchased acres along Hominy Creek in Buncombe County, North Carolina was registered to Benjamin Ledford in 1829. In 1832, he added another 100 acres to his holdings. The town of Candler, NC was founded on land held by Benjamin.

But, like many of their neighbors, Benjamin and Grace Ownbey decided to migrate to the mountains of North Georgia when Cherokee lands opened up for white settlers. He sold his land in North Carolina in 1839 and moved to Union County, Georgia to acreage he secured on Ivy Log Creek. There he erected a log cabin and cleared the land for farming. There this couple reared their large family of twelve children: Hannah (1819), Josiah (1820), Silas L. (1822), Sarah Mareilla (called Sallie, 1824), Martha M. (named for Grace’s mother, 1826), Porter L. (named for Grace’s father, 1827), Amy Vianna (1830), John C. (named for Benjamin’s father, 1832), Carolina L. (1834), Patterson (1835), Benjamin Mercer (first name for his father, 1838), and Pinckney (1840).

Grace Ownbey Ledford died in 1864, during the Civil War, and was buried at the Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery, Gum Log District of Union County. Grace lived to see all of her children reach adulthood except for the youngest, Pinckney, born in 1840, who was fourteen when his mother passed. Benjamin, widowed, married the second time in Union County to Sarah Salena Chapman Miller, widow of Civil War soldier Henry Miller. Their marriage took place September 18, 1868. Salena was much younger than Benjamin (04/18/1837 – 06/24/1920). Salena’s parents were Solomon and Adeline Odom Chapman. Three children were born to Benjamin and Salena: Solomon S. (1870), Mary (1873) and William (1875). The birth of these three later in Benjamin’s life brought his total number of known children to fifteen.

Benjamin J. Ledford died March 24, 1892, having reached the advanced age of ninety-two. He was laid to rest beside his first wife, Grace, in the Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery, Gum Log. Salena lived until June 24, 1920. She, too, was buried in the Ebenezer Cemetery.

Lives and exploits of some of the fifteen of Benjamin Ledford’s children will be explored in subsequent articles. This pioneer and his descendants, whose surname meant from ancient times “dweller beside the loud, roaring river,” made a difference in the early life of Union and other counties where they migrated.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published April 22, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Spring in Appalachia –The Service (Sarvis, Sorbus) Tree Blooms

In spring in Appalachia we look through eyes of winter’s lingering to see signs of renewal. Stretching up our mountainsides are trees with snow-white blooms, looking more like angel-clouds descended and brightening our still cool days.

It is our sarvis tree (also known as service tree, an Anglicization of the Latin sorbus torminalis, or wild service tree). Its white blossoms are as welcome as the spring sunshine, as heartening as the balmy breezes that blow from the south to awaken all of nature and bring hope and beauty to a gray landscape.

Our north Georgia poet, Byron Herbert Reece (1917-1958) wrote about the service tree in his second book of poems, Bow Down in Jericho (E. P. Dutton, 1950). The poem is so beautiful, so to-the-point. It gives such a clear word-picture of the scene that no explication should be forthcoming. Just enjoy his words, his insight, his flawless presentation in:

We Could Wish Them a Longer Stay

Plum, peach, apple and pear
And the service tree on the hill
Unfold blossom and leaf.
From them comes scented air
As the brotherly petals spill.
Their tenure is bright and brief.

We could wish them a longer stay,
We could wish them a charmed bough
On a hill untouched by the flow
Of consuming time; but they

Are lovelier, dearer now
Because they are soon to go,
Plum, peach, apple and pear
And the service blooms whiter than snow.

-Byron Herbert Reece (in Bow Down in Jericho, 1950)

Reece in his poem pairs the “service tree on the hill” with more domesticated trees common to Appalachian orchards: “plum, peach, apple and pear.” There on the mountainside, the service tree bears its blossoms, fragrant in the early-spring.

It gives me a sense of connectedness to know that my grandmother looked out and saw the service (sarvis) tree blooming and declared, “Spring is here!” And it was also with a sense of continuation back to her mother and grandmother before her who had likewise looked for this harbinger of spring on the mountainsides, lighting up the grayness before all the trees had budded forth.

A commonly held belief about why this tree was called the “sarvis” or service tree is likewise a part of our Appalachian culture. It bloomed out in time to be gathered and taken to church services (sarvis) in the early spring. It could also be used at spring funerals, some of which had to be delayed until the ground was thawed enough to dig the grave and bury the dead. I can’t remember this happening, but I am told it was true, back when our winters were much more severe than now. Much farther north than our North Georgia mountains, I did once visit in the Adirondak mountain region and saw a “holding place” where the corpse was kept until the thawing ground removed the resistance and allowed the shovels to enter to dig the grave.

And why did Reece, in his poem, relate the service tree blossoms to our better known “plum, peach, apple and pear”? I think it was because they bloomed close to the same time in spring. He could have included it because the service tree had fruits of its own coming in the fall season as a result of spring blooming. The service tree bears a small edible fruit which is similar to a date. This fruit is stringy and astringent.

My grandmother, Sarah Evaline Souther Dyer (an herbalist “doctor”) would have known that it was good for colic when boiled and made into medicine. Even the second part of the Latin name, “sorbus torminalis,” means “good for colic.” Also, when the fruit was left until the over-ripe or “bletted” stage, it became less-astringent and good for use as food as well as for home-brewed medicines.

Go back now and re-read Reece’s beautiful poem. Let its lines help you to see “the service tree on the hill.” These “blooms whiter than snow” provide a lovely sight to winter-weary eyes. “We could wish them a longer stay,” but alas, time moves on (and times, too, for that matter). And so do our mountain ways, our connections to a past life slower in pace, our ways of “making-do” and appreciating what we have. Even a show of spring and blossoms ready for “services”—whether church celebration or funeral wake —can remind us of those good times. We can only prolong these white blossoms of our rich mountain life through passing on our lore, our stories, our memories. They, like “the service blossoms whiter than snow” are “lovelier, dearer now/Because they are soon to go.” Let us do what we can to help these rich stories remain among us.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published April 15, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.