Profile of Union County in 1850

A profile of Union County’s population and work can be gained from the 1850 census of the county. Total population registered at that time was 6,958, with 1,141 families (or households) enumerated.

This does not account for some of the “hidden” residences that may not have been visited and enumerated by census taker J. J. Logan as he made his trek from house to house from September 2 through November 16, 1850. The fact that it took him a little more than six weeks to make his home visits speaks for the expanse of the county which then consisted of lands taken into Fannin County in 1854 and into Towns County in 1856 when portions of Union were incorporated into the then newly-formed counties.

The total value of properties owned by citizens in 1850 was said to be $485,688. Think of the broad acreage within the county and its stated value then compared to what it is in 2010, a mere 160 years later. It is almost unbelievable how much land has increased in value since those early years of settlement. Recall that Union County was formed from a portion of the expansive Cherokee Lands (or Cherokee County) in 1832.

Slave owners were enumerated by a simple notation in the census of “owns ____ (number) slave(s)”. Slave owners had in their possession numbers of slaves from 1 to the highest, 27. A total of 259 slaves were enumerated for 1850. I will list here the owners of double-digit numbers of slaves: Henry Alston, 27; J. E. Purkins, 18; J. H. Morris, 17; J. R. Wyly, 16; Sidney Harshaw, 13; R. C. Loiter, 12: John Stevenson, 12; T. M. Alston, 11; and E. G. Barclay, (an attorney), 11.

Most who owned slaves had only one, with the single-digit owners ranging from 1 to 8. My great, great grandfather, Thompson Collins, owned 5 to assist him and his sons on the acreage he owned. Already in process in 1850 were measures which would lead to the Emancipation Proclamation declared by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Most of Union County’s citizens, as the census shows, did not own slaves. Through other records we learn that the county was about half pro-Union and half pro-South in political leanings.

The chief occupation of people in Union in 1850 was farming. Other occupations listed were attorney, physician/surgeon, merchant, lawyer, teacher, clerk, waggoner, tailor, grocer, preacher or clergyman (usually with designation Baptist or Methodist following the occupational title), tanner, saddler, brick mason, cooper (barrel maker), carpenter, blacksmith, wagon wright, stone mason, mechanic, shoemaker or cobbler, hatter, cabinet maker, wheel wright, and miller. In examining the various occupations listed, I was surprised to find only one miller listed: George W. Crawford. Knowing that an ancestor of mine established one of the first mills in Choestoe and seeing that he was not listed as “miller” by trade means that he made his living mainly by farming. This was probably true of others throughout the county who ground corn and wheat for the public. Another occupation not listed was miner. Those who discovered gold, mica and other minerals on their property prior to 1850 did not at that time make their living by mining as their chief occupation.

The 1850 U. S. census was the first that listed names for all in the household. Prior to that time, enumeration had given only heads-of-household and the number in the household, with the 1840 census listing number of males and females within given age brackets. Thankfully, with the 1850 census, those who consult listings for genealogical purposes can begin to link children with parents, and follow them in subsequent census records. The 1850 census also gave the state of birth of those listed so that searchers can return to other state records to find origins of their ancestors.

Education was not a priority in Union County in 1850. Ten persons listed their main occupation as teaching—quite a small number for a population of 6,958 with most of the 1,141 families having several children to educate. The number of people over 20 who could not read nor write was numbered at 1,215, which was about 1/6 of adults. Schools were few and far between, with either “house” schools or short-term sessions of school held in a combination one-room building where both school and church met. Those listed as attending school within the year numbered 1,103. If all ten teachers in 1850 were engaged in teaching, their average classroom size could have been 110. This is not likely, for those in a community having school privileges would have had a sort of “rotating” student body, with those pupils not needed in the most ardent months of farming attending school. It is also possible that those with “farming” as their main occupation could also have been short-term teachers. I know this was true with one of my ancestors, John Souther, who could “read and write and cipher,” and who taught others near him, including his own family, the basic rudiments of learning.

Another item of interest learned from the 1850 census is the number of surnames still present within families in the county 160 years later. Many, many current residents can trace their ancestry back to early settlers. This continuation of families within the same geographic area declares a love for the land and satisfaction with the way of life—even with all of its subsequent changes—within the parameters of the “mountains of home.”

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 24, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Considering the Civil War: Choestoe Guards and Young Cane Volunteers

Continuing with an emphasis on April as Confederate Memorial and Heritage Month and April 26 as Confederate Memorial Day, we look this week at two units that figured prominently in the war---Company K of the 23rd Regiment, Georgia Infantry Volunteers, Army of Tennessee, Confederate States of America, known as “The Choestoe Guards,” and Company B, of the 23rd, known as “The Union County Mountain Volunteers” (also known as “The Young Cane Volunteers”).

These units were formed in 1861 and went to Fort McDonald in Cobb County where they were attached to the 23rd Regiment in August, 1861. Joseph G. Souther who was only six years of age when the men signed up and went away to war recalled in his memoirs written many years later in 1937: “I saw the first soldiers of my township enlisting for the front, happy, content, saying the war would be over in six weeks and not a drop of blood spilt.”

But the anticipation with which the Choestoe Guards faced the war was short-lived, for Joseph Souther noted: “Thirty young men of my township joined the ranks, one-half of which never returned to once prosperous and happy homes.”

Who were some of these soldiers in Company K and Company B?

William P. Barclay was first Captain of the Choestoe Guards. Later he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. The 23rd Regiment was ordered to Richmond, Virginia on November 10, 1861, and shortly went into action at the Battle of Yorktown. It was there the men learned how cruel and terrible war can be. Private John Nix of the Choestoe Guards was a casualty there. His brother, James Bly Nix was near him and saw John cut down by a mini-ball “right in the midst of a roasting ear patch.” Fighting in the Peninsular Campaign of 1861-62, they moved on to the Battle of Seven Pines on May 31, 1862. Lt. Colonel William Barclay was described as “cool and gallant” in every intense battle. In Maryland at the Battle of South Mountain on September 14, 1862, Col. Barclay was called “the hero of the battle” by General D. H. Hill and Colonel A. H. Colquitt in their written reports. On September 17 in the Battle at Sharpsburg (Antietam, America’s bloodiest day), Colonel Barclay and his troops underwent heavy bombardment. He was fatally wounded, but before his death he saw his unit victorious in the field. Four Barclay brothers served in the Confederate Army. The others were Elihu S. Barclay, Hugh W. Barclay, and Julius Barclay. Two of these, William P. and Julius (Captain of Company G, 52nd Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment) were killed. Julius lost his life in the Battle of Atlanta.

James H. Huggins, captain and enlister of Company B, the “Young Cane Volunteers,” likewise distinguished himself in battle. On May 29, 1862, Captain Huggins was in command of his unit at the Battle of Malvern Hill. Following this engagement, he was promoted to major. At the Battle of Sharpsburg at which his good friend, Colonel Barclay died, Major Huggins was severely wounded. After that battle, Huggins was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Then came the forlorn march from Shepherdstown, Maryland back to Fredricksburg, Viginia in the dead of winter. Huggins’ unit was deprived even of shoes and had to march through the snow with such improvised footgear as they could tie around their feet to protect them in the terrible cold. They were assigned to guard a wagon train of supplies. Many of the men were taken captive but some were exchanged a few weeks later. Col. Huggins’ unit traveled much during the last several months of the war. They were at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. At the latter battle, General Stonewall Jackson lost his life. There Colonel Huggins was taken prisoner of war and held at Fort Delaware, but was traded in a prisoner-of-war exchange.

His unit was ordered to Kingston, North Carolina, back to Richmond, Virginia, and then to Charleston, South Carolina where they spent the winter of 1863. They were fired upon as they were aboard the ship named Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbor, but no casualties resulted for Huggins’ unit. They were ordered to Olustee, Florida, where they engaged in the Battle of Ocean Pond. Colonel Huggins was reported as “acquitting himself with honor” at that battle.

From Florida, Huggins and his men returned to Charleston and thence to Petersburg, Virginia and on to Drewry’s Bluff where they won a fierce battle in May, 1864. In June, 1864, they fought for the second time at the Battle of Cold Harbor where it is reported “they left the ground littered with Grant’s drunken rabble.” They met the enemy again at the final siege of Petersburg, Virginia located on the Appomattox River. The end was near at hand. A week after the final battle at Petersburg came the signing of the surrender papers on April 9, 1865, with the treaty signed three days later on April 12.

Space precludes a listing of all the members of “The Choestoe Guards” and “The Mountain—or Young Cane---Volunteers,” and the brave soldiers who lost their lives. Those with internet connections may access the muster rolls of these two and other units of brave Union County Confederate soldiers.

It is interesting to note that Colonel James H. Huggins, born August 22, 1828, was a lawyer by occupation. He served in the Georgia General Assembly both before and during the war. He signed for Georgia to secede from the Union. He was a slave owner, having two slaves in the 1860 listing who helped him in his farming operations.

Regardless of our leanings, whether North or South, we can but salute the bravery and persistence of the units from the mountains as they defended their homeland. A Confederate Memorial Day marker in Kingston, Georgia declares the South’s men “gallant Confederates—greatest fighting men of all time.”

Historian James M. McPherson stated: “A blend of triumph and tragedy, courage and cowardice, heroes and knaves, selfless sacrifice and selfish profiteering, the war shaped and defined the America that has emerged in the (now 140) years since the guns fell silent.”

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Apr. 28, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Considering Some Black History in Union County on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

I am writing this article on Monday, January 17, 2005, a national day to honor black civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. His life was brief. Born January 15, 1929, he met death by an assassin’s bullet on April 4, 1968. On January 20, 1986, the first nation-wide observance of a day in his memory was held in America. Thinking of this man who was named the Nobel Peace Prize winner on December 10, 1964 aroused my curiosity about black history in Union County, Georgia.

At best, history of blacks in Union County is sketchy. In the 1850 census of the county, twenty-four landowners were listed as slaveholders with a total of about 91 slaves. Some of the slaveowners’ names were illegible in the listing, and likewise the number of slaves held. By 1860, just prior to the Civil War, blacks in the county numbered 116 and all of them were slaves.

Since the farms were relatively small, and most of them were settled by independent Scots-Irish who migrated from North Carolina, few of the landowners had been accustomed to slavery and did not bring slaves with them to the lands they claimed, received mainly from the land lottery, along the creek and river valleys of Union County.

A look at names of slaveholders in 1850 reveals that citizens with these last names owned slaves: Butt, Hughes, Barclay, Reid, Haralson, England, Watkins, Addington, Erwin, Turner, Collins, Flowers, Hunter, Thompson, Hudgins, and at least four more whose names cannot be determined from the census taker’s handwriting.

The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. After this major document that changed the lives of blacks throughout the United States, most of those living in Union County remained as farm workers for their former owners, the women did housekeeping and laundry, some found work in the few hotels in town, and those with trades like carpentry or blacksmithing found work in those lines. Blacks also worked in the mines during the heyday of gold mining in Union County.

Two communities of black settlements were located in the Blairsville militia district. One was near the foot of Welborn Mountain. The other was about a mile east of Blairsville off Highway 76. This settlement was said to have houses located in the hollow there, with the black school and church on a rise above the dwellings.

Cemeteries reveal clues to the history of a people. From the old courthouse square in Blairsville, the Black Cemetery is located 1.5 miles east on Highway 76, with a turn south on Shaw Road for one-fourth mile, then southwest to the top of the ridge and westward for about one-fourth mile. Although there are more than 100 graves in this old cemetery, only seven have names still decipherable. The first person buried there with a name on the stone was Samuel Morris, born in 1839 and died March 26, 1901. Others and dates were: Lester Butt, June 10, 1900-March 13, 1904; Whalen Butt, April 27, 1875 – May 13, 1905; Ollie Butt, July 15, 1881-February 16, 1906; Mary Addington, 1812-June 12, 1919 (note her long life of 100 years); John T. Trammel, October 15, 1857-September 3, 1928; and Eliza Trammel, December 24, 1868 – November 17, 1945.

Records show that Eugene Butt gave land for the black church, school and cemetery following the Civil War. Church and school were held in the same building. Rev. Tom Coke Hughes, a noted white Methodist preacher of the nineteenth century held services at the black church on occasion. It is said that he had an agreement with Glenn Butt that if the congregation got “caught up in the Spirit,” he would escort Rev. Hughes safely from the church amidst the shouting and charismatic celebration.

The black school was still in operation in 1924, although M. L. Duggan, Rural School Agent who did a survey of Union County Schools in 1916 did not list the black school as one of the public schools. By 1938 the church had only the families of Glenn Butt and Eliza Trammell attending. Most of the black families had moved elsewhere to find employment.

When I was a child, my parents showed me graves in the Old Choestoe Cemetery that had fieldstone markings. I was told they were graves of former slaves of Collins, Hunter and England slaveowners in the community. Many of the blacks took the last name of their former owners after the Emancipation Proclamation. The 100-year old Mary Addington in the black cemetery near Blairsville no doubt bears the last name of March Addington who owned five slaves in 1850. Mary could have been one of them, or have married one of his male slaves.

I have been inspired again by reading several of the speeches and writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Among his famous words are the “I Have a Dream” address delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on August 18, 1963. In it he stated: “I have the dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” And in that same speech: “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”

His advocacy of non-violent social change has brought about many actions that have helped his dreams to be realized. I can imagine that from the 1830’s through about the mid-1940’s before the remaining black population left Union County, they held similar dreams. The blacks were here for awhile, having come through no choice of their own. They lived and worked and then went elsewhere, along with their dreams and their history, like the mists that lift from the mountains. We see vestiges of their habitation here and wonder how life must have been for them.

[I am indebted to these publications for information for this article: “Sketches of Union County History,” (1987), edited by Teddy J. Oliver, pp. 38-41; “Cemetery Records of Union County, (1990), pp. 296-297)].

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published January 20, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.