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.

Eight Crow Family Households in Union Listed in 1834 Census

Examining the 1834 Union County census for early settlers, I discovered eight families with the surname Crow. These were, as listed from the census, with numbers following the names indicative of count of males (first) and count of females (second) recorded in each family when the census was finished on March 24, 1834.

William L. Crow 3 – 4
John L. Crow 3 – 4
Isaac (?) Crow 2 – 2
Peter Crow 2 – 1
James Crow 4 – 4
John Crow 4 – 4
William Crow 2 – 3
Thomas Crow 3 – 4

The total count of Crow residents in 1834 numbered 23 males and 26 females. Out of a population of 903 registered in the census, these 49 people with the same family surname definitely represented a goodly proportion of the citizenship of the county.

With my curiosity thoroughly whetted, I went next to the Marriage Records of Union County, Georgia, 1833-1897, a very handy printed reference book that serves me well when I need to look up information. Thinking I would find many marriages of Crow citizens, I was disappointed to find only these registered listings:

Crow, Clarinda S. to Alfred Nicholson on May 26, 1872 by Charles Crumbley, MG.
Crow, Millisa to Jeremiah Kittle on Dec. 23, 1841 by J. M. Rogers, JP.
Crow, Thomas to Elizabeth Logan on Sept. 23, 1837 by John Martin, JIC.

(Note: For those wondering about the abbreviations following the marriage officers’ names, MG is Minister of the Gospel; JP is Justice of the Peace; and JIC is Justice of the Inferior Court.) To have three marriages registered from Crow family members over a period of sixty-four years of county records, especially with the forty-nine Crows living in the county in 1834, seemed a bit strange to me. Did they not register marriages?

Then I thought, perhaps some of the Crow families were Indians, since all the exodus of Native Americans had not occurred when the first census was taken. Crow sounded a bit like an Indian name, such as Chief Crow, perhaps.

My next tool was the excellent book, Cemeteries of Union County, Georgia (c1990). I searched for Crow entries in the book and the cemeteries where interred. Again, I found only three entries of marked graves of Crow family members in comparison to the number who were registered in the 1834 census. Another question was raised by what I discovered in the cemetery book listing. Here is what I found:

Crow, E. A. - b. 1835, died 1841, Choestoe 1 Cemetery
Crow, Francis M., - no birth date, died August 20, 1841, Choestoe 1 Cemetery
*Crow Indian Children, no birth or death dates, buried Indian 1 Cemetery.

I proceeded to look up the Indian Graves section in the book and read this explanation: “Two graves about 100 yards above the Roy Townsend residence in Coosa District are said to be those of Indian children. The Indian family name was Crow. This story has been handed down from older generations from the Pre-Civil War years.” (p. 249).

This Indian Cemetery, only if containing two graves and those of children, seemed to support somewhat my theory that some of the Crow families listed in the 1834 census might, therefore, have been Native Americans—Cherokee Indians.

That took me on a search for Crow as an Indian name. I found another surprising fact. Crows are a western states Indian group. Crow is a tribal name, a break-off from the Sioux Indians’ Hidatsa Group native to the Missouri River region of America. When the Crow broke from the Sioux, the Crow tribe went westward mainly to the Rocky Mountains area of Colorado. So if any Indian families had the name Crow in Union County, Georgia they were likely given the name due to their raven hair or characteristics considered appropriate to a crow.

Looking up the origin of the surname Crow and Crowe, I discovered that it is Anglo-Saxon in origin, an anthromorphic name, with characteristics resembling a crow, having to do more with character traits than appearance, although the early Crow families may have had very black hair. As early as 1100, Crow families lived in Norfolk and Suffolk in East England. Ailwin Crowe in 1180 was on the “Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire” England. He lived from 1154-1189, and was known as a “Builder of churches.” The first Crow I found migrating to the Southern colonies was Adam Crow, age 19, who sailed from London on the ship “Thomas” and landed in Virginia in 1635. Adam was followed the next year, 1636, by Henry Crow who also settled in Virginia. Adam and Henry were probably the progenitors of the Southern Crow families that migrated to North and South Carolina and into North Georgia. Others listed in the northern colonies were William Crow who arrived in Plymouth Colony in the early 1620s and John Crow in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1630.

One of the Crow men in early Union County served as a public officer. The first county officers were installed on March 20, 1833 when the county was a little more than three months old (founded Dec. 3, 1832). These were, according to the marker on the old courthouse square: James Crow – Sheriff; Arthur Gilbert – Clerk of Superior Court; Joseph Jackson – Clerk of Inferior Court; James Gaddis, Sr. – Coroner; and Joseph Chaffin – Surveyor. John Thomas was the representative to the Georgia Legislature and had been the one to suggest Union as the name for the new county, stating, “There are none but Union men there.”

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Aug. 20, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

John Butt Sr. and his family

Last week's column introduced John Butt, Jr., who, according to the 1834 census (initial tally for the new Union County) was the first of the Butt settlers here. He and his first wife, Sarah Gordon Butt, were the only two in their household when William Gilliland, census taker, completed the survey (March 24, 1834). John Butt, Jr. and Sarah's first child Thomas was born April 13, 1834, and was that close to being included in the 1834 census.

By 1840, two more Butt families had joined John, Jr. and Sarah Butt to take up residence in Union County. One family was that of John, Jr.'s brother, Alfred Butt, who married Caroline Boyd on October 10, 1839 in Union County, with the Rev. Elisha Hedden, Jr. performing the ceremony. Elisha Hedden was Alfred's brother-in-law, having married John, Jr. and Alfred's sister, Juanita Caroline Butt (1821-1896) on July 19, 1838. The second Butt family listed in the 1840 census was that of John Butt, Sr. and his wife, Sarah Rider Butt. It will be the Senior John Butt family that we will trace in this column.

John Butt II (later designated Sr.) was born in Pendleton District, SC in 1780 to John Butt I. All of these John Butt names can be confusing, indeed. The family researcher needs to look at birth dates, and designations to keep them straight.

John Butt, Sr. (remember his son, John, first Butt to settle in Union, was designated Jr.) and his wife and children had first moved from the Pendleton District of South Carolina to Habersham County. It was during the "Gold Rush" days along Duke's Creek in what later became White County. John Butt II (or Sr.) staked a claim and began searching for gold. This writer has no record of whether he struck it rich with gold mining, but his acquisition of land seems to indicate that his findings were not minor. Sometime before 1840, John Butt, Sr. and his wife and children still at home moved across the mountain from Duke's Creek to a section of Choestoe near where Booger Hollow Road is now located, on the Virge Waldroop place. He farmed there, and later moved northward as gold was found in the Coosa Mines. On the Butt homeplace on the Nottely River, an old mindshaft was later found near the graves of John, Sr. and Sarah Butt, an indication that he had set up a mine on his farm there.

John Butt, Sr. and Sarah Rider Butt were parents of eleven children, five sons and four daughters. They are listed here, not in order of birth; if known, their spouses are listed:

(1) John Butt, Jr. (12/06/1806-01/23/1884) married Sarah Gordon and Rebecca Fleming. (See last week's column for his life story and names of his fourteen children.)
(2) Jacob Butt (1808) married Ruth Collins (1820), a daughter of Thompson and Celia Self Collins. They had a farm in the Butternut Creek section of Union County and reared a family of eight children.
(3) Matilda Butt was born about 1811 and married a Lyons.
(4) Alfred Butt, born in 1813 in Pendleton District, SC, married Caroline Boyd in Union County Oct. 10, 1839 and settled along Butternut Creek to farm.
(5) Elizabeth Butt married John Fain. They lived awhile in Union County then moved to Cherokee County, NC.
(6) James Allen Butt was killed in the Seminole War and buried in Tallahassee, Florida.
(7) Judah Butt (daughter) married Elisha Carroll.
(8) Sarah Butt (b. 1816) married Jacob Loudermilk.
(9) Juanita Caroline Butt (09-21-1821 - 01/21/1896) married the Rev. Elisha Hedden, Jr. on July 19, 1938. They had eleven children and lived in Union and Towns counties. He was a noted early Baptist preacher in the mountain region.
(10) Susannah Butt married a Black; and then George Gaddis (on 10/07/1834).
(11) William G. Butt was born in Habersham County in 1823. He married Sarah Adaline England in Union County on 01/08/1845.

John Butt established the Polk post office in the Choestoe District on February 20, 1844. We can believe the oversight of the post office was given to John Butt II (or Sr.) rather than John Butt, Jr. because of its location in the Choestoe Militia District. He kept the appointment until November 5, 1845, when Francis (Frank) Collins (son of Thompson and Celia Self Collins) became postmaster. John Butt (Sr.) again assumed the postmaster's job at Polk on September 13, 1847, and kept it until Joseph England succeeded him September 25, 1851, when the name of the post office was changed from Polk to Choestoe.

Several of the Butt families, including John Butt, Sr. were slave owners. In the 1840 census, John Butt, Sr. had two slaves; his son, Alfred, had one slave; and his son John Butt, Jr. had four slaves. By 1850, John Butt, Sr. had passed away, but his widow, Sarah Butt, owned five slaves, Alfred owned 2, and John Butt, Jr. owned eight slaves.

It has been recorded that upon his death, John Butt, Sr. owned over 2,000 acres of land which was passed on to his children.

The Butt Family Cemetery has two graves with headstones so weathered that inscriptions are now illegible. The late Union County historian, Edward S. Mauney, recorded the inscriptions for posterity before their information faded:

Sarah Butt - 1784 - April 29, 1855
John Butt, Sr. - 1780 - May 16, 1843

This cemetery may be visited by driving west from the old courthouse on the square in Blairsville on Highway 76 for one mile. Turn left (south) onto an access road and travel one-fourth mile to the old Butt Homeplace nestled along the Nottely River. On the old homeplace site you may also be able to see remains of an old mine shaft where John Butt, Sr. and his sons once mined for gold in Union County.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 29, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Butt families – early settlers in Union

Union County was two years old when the first county-wide census was ordered in 1834. A good pastime for those interested in first families and historical research of family names is to study the first census of an area and see who the early settlers were.

William B. Gilliland was the first census taker. He registered the population in 1834 as 903. John Butt, Jr. and his wife were the only Butts registered in that census.

By 1840, the second Union County census, John Butt, Jr. and his wife were still in the county. Their household had grown to two males under 5 years of age, one male 5 to 10 years of age, John Butt, Jr., himself, between the ages of 30-40, 1 female under five, and his wife, between 20 and 30. John Butt, Jr. was the census taker. The population in 1840 numbered 3, 152 for Union County. The county was geographically large at that time, and still within its boundaries were portions of land that would be designated to Fannin County in 1854 and to Towns County in 1856.

Two other Butt families were in Union County by 1840. John Butt, Sr, whose age was between 50 and 60, a male between 15 and 20, a male between 30 and 40, Mrs. Butt, between 50 and 60, and one female between 20 and 30. This family was the parents of John Butt, Jr. and his brothers and sister still at home in 1840. The other Butt family was that of Alfred, between the ages of 20 and 30, and his wife, between the ages of 15 and 20. We find from other sources that Alfred was also a son of John Butt, Sr.

First, a word about the Butt surname. Some researchers have traced the first Butt settlers in America to Dutch origin, with the name spelled Butz. However, in a reliable source entitled Names through the Ages (NY: Berkeley, 1999), the name is seen as English, derived from Butler, meaning "keeper of the bottles." In time, the final syllable, er, was dropped and another t added, making it Butt; then, in more recent years, probably going back to the Dutch sound of Butz, the surname has a common spelling of Butts.

Since John Butt, Jr. and his wife were the first Butt family to settle in Union County, this column will seek to trace their family history. It is interesting to note that he owned four slaves in 1840, and by 1850 he owned 8 slaves. Since farming was his main occupation, these assisted him on the farm, and they helped Mrs. Butt with caring for the children and doing housework.

John Butt, Jr. was born in South Carolina December 6, 1806. His parents were John Butt, Sr. (1780-1843) and Sarah Rider Butt (1784-1855).

John Butt, Jr. was married twice. His first wife was Sarah Gordon Butt (April 17, 1816- February 13, 1864). John, Jr. and Sarah Gordon Butt had twelve children:

(1) Thomas J. Butt (April 13, 1834-March 6, 1895) married Ella McCraney. He was active in establishing early schools in Union County. Their son, Virge, became a medical doctor in North Carolina.
(2) William Butt (1836-?). He evidently left Union County, for he was not in the 1870 census.
(3) Clarissa (Feb. 17, 1838-June 17, 1906) married John England. They had five children: Gus, Lush, Dollie, Alice and Sally.
(4) James Allen Butt, Sr. (April 6, 1840-Dec. 10, 1905) married Carrie Goodrum Bagwell. James, Sr. fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War and was wounded twice, first in Virginia and then in the Battle of Atlanta. Their children were James Allen, Jr., Ed, Lelah, Nina and Fleeta.
(5) John Butt, Jr. and Sarah's fifth child, born in 1842, was John Gordon Butt (his middle name was his mother Sarah's maiden name). He married Sallie Weaver. They evidently left the county; their children are not traced.
(6) Eugene W. Butt (May 1, 1844-Feb. 12, 1921) married on February 12, 1872 to a lady listed in the Union marriage records as F. G. Reid. She died in childbirth with their first child, a daughter. Eugene took care of the child by making her a bed he could swing onto his plow as he tended his crops. His second marriage was to a Miss Erwin. They had four children, Cora, Garnett, Jewell and Grovie. Eugene Butt was once termed the wealthiest man in Union County due to his large land holdings. He reportedly gave each of his children $10,000 upon their leaving home.
(7) Georgia Ann Butt (1846) married Edwin W. Watkins on Jan. 25, 1866. They evidently moved from Union County.
(8) Andrew J. Butt (1848) married Matilda C. Gaddis on Sept. 29, 1872, with the Rev. Alfred Corn performing the ceremony. This couple moved to Colorado.
(9) Sarah E. Butt (called "Sallie, 1851-June 23, 1875) married John L. Logan on Aug. 6, 1868. By 1870, they had one child, a girl named Sallie. Sarah died at age 24 and was buried in the new Blairsville Cemetery.
(10) Samuel F. Butt (b. 1853) married Rosa Pless on Jan. 2, 1879. Their children were Forrest, John, Arnold, Alice and Bertha.
(11) Virgil R. Butt (b. 1855) was at home with his parents in the 1870 census. No further information is available about him.
(12) Alice E. Butt (b. about 1857, according to census age) evidently did not marry. A grave in the new Blairsville Cemetery lists Alice as born in 1853 and died in 1886. She is possibly the Alice whose parents were John, Jr. and Sarah Gordon Butt.

Sarah Butt died February 13, 1864, during the Civil War. She was buried in the new Blairsville Cemetery. John Butt, Jr. married the second time to Rebecca Fleming on Nov. 30, 1869. John and Rebecca had two children, Paul and Orrin, bringing the number of children of John Butt, Jr. to fourteen.

John Butt, Jr. made a living for his large family by farming bottom lands along the Nottley River. He was one of the first representatives to the Georgia Legislature from the new county, along with John Thomas. The naming of the county Union, "because there are none but Union men there" was attributed to John Thomas. But both John Butt, Jr. and John Thomas agreed to this name.

Many descendants of John Butt, Jr. have contributed to growth and development of Union County and have gone to other places to make their mark there.

(Resources: Early census records of Union County: 1834, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870. Marriage Records of Union County, 1833-1897, compiled by Viola H. Jones, 1992. Cemetery Records of Union County, GA, Union County Historical Society, 1990.

The Heritage of Union County, GA, 1832-1994, UCHS, 1994.)

c2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 22, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved

More Post Offices in the Suches Area

Mr. Ira Harkins, who, if not officially the historian of the Canada/Suches area of Union County, should be declared so. I am grateful to him and his articles in “The Heritage of Union County” for information about early post offices in that section “across the mountains” from the county seat of Blairsville.

Last week’s column listed three of these early post offices and the postmasters who worked at Gaddistown, Quebec, and Suches. Several other mail stations were located along the hills and hollows of this mountainous area.

Early settlers along Mulky Creek were the Harkins family and the Shopes family. In 1880 Charles W. O’Kelley made application for a post office which he wished to name Harkinsville. However, the US Postmaster General disapproved that name and Shopes was chosen instead, with Mr. O’Kelley becoming the first postmaster on August 8, 1880. This office was short-lived, with the mail routed to Clemeth near the Toccoa River on March 3, 1883.

However, the people served by Shope didn’t want to give up their post office. William L. Smith applied for approval of Polk, Georgia post office in the vicinity of the former Shope station on January 1, 1882. You will recall that this was the second time the name Polk was approved as a Union County post office. The first was named by postmaster John Butt on February 20, 1884 and changed to Choestoe on September 25, 1881. Evidently Polk had been out of disuse as a post office name in the county long enough to be reactivated in a new location. Some of the people who served Polk were Mr. Smith, James H. Shope (rescinded), Mr. Smith (second time), James H. Cavender, Mary A. Cavender, and Samuel Dixon. The last location of Polk was at Mr. Dixon’s homeplace at present-day Dixon Branch a mile south of Mulky Gap. When this Polk post office closed September 7, 1887, the mail was routed to the Coosa post office.

Joe Lunsford applied for a post office which he wanted to name Mist on April 5, 1903. Mist was not approved as a name and Seabolt was designated. This post office served about 300 people in the area of today’s Cooper’s Creek bridge. Seabolt, too, was short-lived, closing on October 31, 1907 with the mail going to Suches. Seabolt was reopened in 1922 with Frank Seabolt as post master and continued for two years when it was closed in 1924. At that closure, Seabolt’s mail was routed through the Baxter post office.

Baxter was the forty-fifth post office established in Union County. Its founding date was June 16, 1900. David M. Jarrard was the first postmaster. It is believed that the wholesale groceryman, John Cannon, persuaded Mr. Jarrard to apply for a post office permit, and at the same site he would operate a grocery store for the community. Baxter post office was located near a sawmill and grist mill on the Toccoa River. David Jarrard and his wife Essie operated the Baxter post office until they moved to Texas in 1901. The Jarrards were followed by James H. Cavender who served from 1901 through 1903. His sister, Mary Ann Cavender, who got her start in post office work at Polk at Mulky Gap, followed her brother and served as postmaster for thirty-two years. Baxter’s next postmaster was Mary Ann’s sister, Nellie Cavender Grizzle who began work in 1935 and served until her death. Then Mrs. Lillie Gurley was postmaster from January 26, 1944 until the post office was closed April 15, 1953 and the mail routed to Gaddistown. She moved the post office into her home about a mile from the former location of Baxter.

For forty-four years Baxter served its constituents and was a gathering place for those who enjoyed trips to the post office to visit with the postmasters and hear the latest news of the day. The last location of the Baxter post office, in an annex of Mrs. Gurley’s house, was still standing in 1994.

Clemeth post office in the Cooper’s Creek district was approved in 1881 and closed out in 1887. The name was from the first postmaster, Clemeth Cavender. In the short six years of its existence, Clemeth had its founder and the following postmasters: Andrew Campbell, James Cavender, William Jones, William A. Jones (was this the same person?), William F. Cavender and James A. Cavender (for the second time). Gaddistown became the recipient of the mail when Clemeth closed. It is interesting to note that in the application, Clemeth Cavender noted that the location on the Toccoa River was thirteen miles from Blairsville, nineteen miles from Dahlonega, forty-eight miles from Gainesville, and 100 miles from Atlanta. The community of Clemeth had a population of “about 200,” a grist mill and saw mill, a general merchandise store, a school and Baptist and Methodist churches.

Sarah post office began in May, 1899 with John Marr as first postmaster. He was followed by his daughter, Fannie Marr Jarrard , then Marr’s son-in-law, James Jarrard. John Marr and Jim Jarrard also operated a grocery store, one in the “John Cannon” chain of stores. This post office was near Mt. Airy Church on Cooper Gap Road. Sarah operated until May 31, 1955, fifty-six years. The mail was routed through Suches.

Natal began in June, 1901 on the headwaters of Cooper Creek two miles west of Wolf Pen Gap. G. W. Gaddis was the postmaster for almost two months. Others serving at Natal were William P. McGee, Emanuel Burnett, Mrs. Lizzie Burnett, and Miss Mollie Jarrard. Natal closed after thirty-five years of operation and the mail was routed through Suches.

Pilot post office, named after Pilot Mountain and the copperhead snakes called “pilots” prevalent there, opened in December, 1911 with the Reverend William Henry Washington Gurley as applicant. He opened the office in his store, but it was his daughter Mary Gurley who was first postmaster. Operation stayed in the Gurley family, with another daughter, Vennie Gurley Hendrix, serving for eight months, and Ethel Akins Gurley for four years. These were followed by Dollie Grizzle, John F. Seabolt, Dollie Grizzle (for the second time), and Mrs. Bertha Tritt. Pilot closed after twenty-one years and the mail was routed through Suches. These post offices in the Suches area made it easier for residents to have a connection to the world outside their mountain stronghold.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 12, 2005 in The Union 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.