Memorial Day and Thoughts on Freedom

We have a valuable gift, one not wrapped and tied with ribbons. It is intrinsic to America and our constitutional way of life. The gift is costly. The gift is freedom and it has been bought with blood and tears, life and limbs, sacrifice and abnegation.

Memorial Day is a time of reflection on aspects of freedom, its cost in lives and in sacrifice, not only in those who bore arms and met death in service, but the families who suffer through terrible losses.

When some casualties of military service were returned to Choestoe for memorial rites, I was young. But the impression made on me of how young men laid down their lives was deeply imbedded within. I remember the funeral service for James Jasper Hunter (August 16, 1923-December 5, 1945). He was a cousin who died not in battle but as a result of a transfer truck accident. Multiple family members and community people gathered to mourn on that cold, dark winter day when his casket lay ready to be lowered into the grave. Our pastor, the Rev. Claud Boynton, gave accolades of Jasper's service, of his dying young but heroically. Then later, another member of the same family, William Jack Hunter (Sept. 2, 1932 - August 5, 1954) died at sea. Both Jasper and Jack were sons of William Jesse Hunter (1886- 1982) and Sadie Collins Hunter (1900-1979).

Brothers James Jasper Hunter and William Jack Hunter were in military service when they died. They were willing to lay down their lives for their country, but were not killed in battle.

Later, even after the major conflicts of World War II had ended or were drawing to a close, another of our Choestoe boys, James Ford Lance (March 14, 1927 - January 12, 1946) was returned for burial. We gathered at Chostoe's Salem Methodist Church to mourn with his family and bid farewell to yet another young man who met death while in the service of his country. He was laid to rest in Union Memory Gardens at Blairsville.

There were others in what we now call "The Greatest Generation" who were among Union County's war dead from World War II. Having been present for some of the funerals, my young mind was trying to sort out the meaning of freedom and the price paid for it. War is no respecter of persons. The young take up arms. Some die. The parents of those laid to rest grieve and wonder at the high cost of liberty.

Union County has a stately and impressive War Memorial dedicated in 1995. On the monument is a quotation from William Shakespeare (from his Henry V): "But we…shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."

The monument lists names of those who lost their lives In the Indian Wars, the Mexican War, the War Between the States including both Federal and Confederate soldiers (a list not complete yet, but longer than the lists for all other wars combined); World War I., World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. I am not sure, but plans for the War Memorial no doubt include listings from the current Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

Since much emphasis is now placed on "The Greatest Generation," those who fought in and lost their lives in World War II, 1941- 1946, I list below those whose names appear on that memorial marker. Union County lost twenty two sons in that conflict. We pause to salute their memory and to offer thanks for the sacrifice of their lives for freedom.

Akins, Herbert J.

Dyer, Tommy A.

Hooper, W. C.

Rogers, Thomas J.

Anderson, Beecher L.

Everett, Frank J.

Lance, James F.

Sullivan, John C.

Barnes, Clyde N.

Gregory, Arlie

Marr, Charles L.

Summerour, Robert L.

Burnette, Monroe, Jr.

Grizzle, Garnie L.

Owenby, H. J.

Wilson, Wroodrow L.

Davenport, James U.

Grizzle, Garnie L.

Plott, J. B.

Dover, John G.

Harkins, Waymond

Rogers, Dale C.

The honorable William Gladstone, Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1868-1894 wrote: "Show me the manner in which a nation or community cares for its dead, and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies for its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals."

Resource: I am grateful to David Friedly of Blairsville for information from the Union County War Memorial and for the picture with this article.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 28, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Our heritage –the story of Tillman Gooch

For this column today I give precedence to one of my writing students. I have personally invited Anthony Hunter to share the story he wrote about his ancestors, early settlers in Union County, Georgia.

It has been my privilege to give some instruction in creative writing to Tony over a period of several years. He learned of me by reading one of my articles in the paper, a correspondence developed, and “by mail” creative writing instruction began.

I have seen him develop in perception and skill as a writer. He is facile in poetry, essays, short stories and family history. I didn’t have to instruct him very much; he already had the inherent talent for positioning words creatively. My contribution, perhaps, has been to encourage him and to give him pointers in grammatical structure and punctuation.

I hope you enjoy Anthony Hunter’s family account. If you find ancestral links to the people he writes about, know that he has researched thoroughly to bring to the public this article.

The Story of Tillman Gooch by: Anthony Hunter, Guest Writer

Lying within the Chattahoochee National Forest along the southern arm of the Appalachian Trail, just a few miles south of Blood Mountain in Union County, Georgia is a once well-used mountain pass whose name is now all but forgotten.

Gooch’s Gap with its southern exposure is unusually rich with lush green flora. The deciduous hardwoods with a scattering of stately eastern white pines tower over a forest floor covered nearly knee-high in an abundance of native plant life.

As the gap is only accessible by foot, the quiet hiker might expect to see all manner of wildlife from chipmunks to squirrels, deer and turkey, or the rare spotted elf newt and perhaps even a fleeting glimpse of the shy black bear. But if you ever do make the journey to this serene, remote place, bear in mind that it is also a doorway into time, and therein lies part of its treasure.

Many of our landmarks such as Gooch’s Gap are so named as a dedication and memorial to the hardy, brave pioneers who ventured forth into unknown lands as settlers. Tillman D. Gooch was but one among the ranks. He was a family man, a farmer, a prospector and an adventurer. The son of a farmer, he was born in Greenville County, South Carolina in the year 1800. It was there he lived his youth. Although young for a man of his era to marry, at the age of 19 Tillman wed Mary Elizabeth Justice who was born in Franklin County, North Carolina. She was 19 as well.

Their first child, Samuel, was born in South Carolina in 1824. Before the birth of their second child, Caroline, in 1926, the young family ventured forth into the then-Cherokee nation in the area of Georgia that became Rabun County.

No documents or journals have been found that record Tillman Gooch’s life. But living through oral family history, two things have been passed on about the man. First is the fact that he and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, did not get along well. Their marriage was an on-again—off-again affair. This probably contributed to the second known fact about Tillman: that he was an adventurous man.

In his wanderings or by conversing with the native Cherokee, Tillman learned of a certain mountain pass that led to the headwaters of the Toccoa River. By crossing the gap, traversing down along the Toccoa River as far as the present town of Blue Ridge, then veering southwest through the connecting valleys, he found a route through the mountains that led to the Cherokee Nation’s Cherokee County. It was a week-long trip by horse, deep in the heart of Cherokee County. To travel the distance was just part of the everyday life of men such as he.

Whether planning to move his family or to leave them, Tillman purchased land in Cherokee County. Then for reasons unknown, he lost that land in 1834 in a sheriff’s land sale to a man named Andrew Miller.

Between 1826 and 1838, Tillman and Mary Elizabeth had five more children: Elizabeth Ann, James Madison, Adaline, Mary and Margaret. Their children numbered five daughters and two sons.

About the time the Cherokee were removed on the infamous Trail of Tears (1838-39), Tillman left his wife and children never to return. Some say he left to help drive the Cherokee out. If this be true, why did his own daughter, Mary Jane, apply for enrollment with the Eastern Band of Cherokee in 1907? Wouldn’t one of her parents had to have been Indian? Her mother Mary Elizabeth was not removed. Could it be that Tillman was part Cherokee and ordered to leave? Or could there have been another reason for his disappearance—like love?

Two years before the famous gold strike at Sutter’s Mill, California in 1850, Tillman arrived in Sutter County. There he married a lady named Nancy Miller (without divorcing his first wife, Mary Elizabeth). Was she kin to the man Andrew Miller to whom Tillman lost his land in Cherokee County in 1834? We may never know. But in the days when divorce was almost unheard of, how could a man be with his new love without running away with her? Regardless, Tillman and Nancy stayed married for the reminder of their lives. Perhaps Tillman found the happiness denied him with his first wife, Mary Elizabeth.

All of Tillman Gooch’s children married and had children of their own. Both of his sons, Sam and Jim, settled at the very foot of the gap named after their father. Sam settled on the southern side in the Nimblewell District of Lumpkin County. His brother Jim settled on the northern side of the gap in the area known as Sarah at the very headwaters of the Toccoa River in the greater area called Suches in Union County. The two Gooch brothers married sisters, Betsy and Elvira Grizzle.

The legacy from Tillman D. Gooch is not the high mountain pass named after him. Like many of our pioneer forefathers, his legacy is the children he left behind—children who became men and women that love their mountain home so that it has become the very fiber of their being. These children and their descendants went on to become farmers, teachers, soldiers, business owners, craftpersons, moonshiners, homemakers, artists, timber cutters, successful politicians, church leaders—the sons and daughters of the American dream.The legacy from Tillman D. Gooch is not the high mountain pass named after him. Like many of our pioneer forefathers, his legacy is the children he left behind—children who became men and women that love their mountain home so that it has become the very fiber of their being. These children and their descendants went on to become farmers, teachers, soldiers, business owners, craftpersons, moonshiners, homemakers, artists, timber cutters, successful politicians, church leaders—the sons and daughters of the American dream.

And if by chance you wish to attend a Gooch Reunion where there might be 500 present, you will be sure to learn the real meaning of the words “southern hospitality.” I’ll see y’all there—or maybe on the mountain.

(Note: Anthony Hunter is a great, great, great grandson of Tillman D. Gooch.)

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 31, 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.

More Early Union County Post Offices

With double emphases in April on Confederate Memorial and History Month and National Poetry Month, I addressed this column to those two subjects for the past four weeks. We will continue with some more early post offices that once operated in Union County, a series I began earlier.

Let me digress here to thank those who attended the Souther Mill Site and Historical Marker Dedication service on Saturday, April 30. Despite the inclement weather, we did not have rain at the time of the meeting in the afternoon. A large crowd gathered to pay tribute to Jesse Willliam Souther, Jr. who founded the grist mill and sawmill. We thank John Paul Souther, grandson of the mill’s founder, and Theodore Thomas, great, great, great grandson, for their hard work in making the program possible and Mr. Thomas, in particular, for building the shelter that houses the historical marker and pictures at the old mill site. Another marker has been placed with the display of turbines from the mill at Union County Museum Annex, the Butt House. If you did not attend the program, you are invited to see the markers and pictures of the mills.

Today Union County has two post offices—Blairsville and Suches. With all the modern means of transporting the mail, it is hard for us to imagine that in post office history since Coosa, the first, was founded in 1833, the year following Union’s founding, the county has had a total of sixty-four named post offices at fifty-nine sites throughout the county.

Oftentimes in pioneer days, the post office was in a store or in a home. And both the post office and the store could have been in a room of the post master’s home.

Several post offices operated in Canada District. The first, according to record, was named Gaddistown to honor early settlers there, a family named Gaddis. The application was approved June 15, 1848 with John D. Cavender as first post master. Mail came to the new post office from Dahlonega. Gaddistown operated for a total of 107 years under the same name but moving to locations within a mile-square area of the first post office. Several men and women were in charge of the post office for its more than a century of operation: John D. Cavender, Newton K. Williams, A. H. Pitner, Lewis W. Gilreath, Squire E. Jones, John C. Cavender, Essie Brookshire, :Lottie Cavender, Arthur Grizzle, Lottie Cavender (second time), Mrs. Alma M. McDougald. The Warren McDougald’s rock dwelling house was the last location of Gaddistown postoffice.

Quebec post office was named as a complement to the name Canada for the district. Quebec was established August 31, 1881 with Eli P. McGee as first postmaster. The next postmaster at Quebec was Grant Woody. He operated the post office in his Service Spring Hotel at Miller Gap. The hotel, more like a boarding house, was the mountain vacation location of wealthy planters from the south. There in the basement of the hotel was a bar dispensing mountain moonshine and also an ingenious water trough reputedly carrying mineral springs water good for health. Later when all signs of the hotel were removed, the new owners of the land found the mineral water gum log water trough containing old iron implements over which the “mineral water” had passed, probably to give the water its “mineral” or iron content. Following hotel owner Grant Woody’s term as postmaster, two more men served at Quebec as postmasters: John Holloway and William E. Burnett. On April 30, 1907, Quebec post office was closed and the mail routed through the Suches station. Quebec had operated almost twenty-six years.

A wholesale grocer of Dahlonega, Georgia had a good idea for increasing his business and making products not grown on the farms of Canada District more available to citizens. John Cannon, Wholesaler, had a line of groceries, dry goods and hardware. It was very likely that John Cannon helped Eli McGee set up the Gaddistown post office and establish a store there. Bill Davis had opened a store and John Cannon persuaded him that he should send application to open a post office in his store. Suches opened March 6, 1886. Suches was the name of an Indian chieftain who once lived in the valley near the Bill Davis store site. Interestingly enough, John Cannon himself was first postmaster listed with the US Post Office Department. It is very likely that the store owner, Bill Davis, did the postal work. On July 20, 1887, Bill Davis was officially made the postmaster. During its one-hundred twenty-one years of operation, a long list of postmasters have served. The office moved several times. The Lunsford Store owners operated the post office.

The present location near the intersection of Highways 180 and 60 has a stately brick building near the Woody Gap School. Rural routes operate from Suches to take the mail to families living in the valleys once ruled over by Indian Chief Suches.

(Next week: More on other Canada District post offices.)

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 3, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

What We Learn From Early Post Offices

Even though we live in an age of electronic communication and e-mail is the mode of today’s exchange of letters, there still is a fascination about receiving mail by post. If you have a post office box and go there to check your mail, no doubt you spend time to greet someone in the lobby or in the parking lot. You exchange pleasantries, news of the day, and talk of the world situation, politics or the weather (none of which we can change much by talk alone).

If the mail is delivered to your home address and you are there near the time for the postman to come, you begin to watch the clock. If you are away at work when the postman arrives at your address, you most assuredly will check your box soon after arriving home. We may deplore the excesses of “junk” mail. We could wish our bills were not so prompt in delivery. But still there is the fascination for the mail. And so has it been through many a day of mountain mists.

In the last column we sought to locate where Polk, Union County might have been. Noting that the post office name changed from Polk, founded in 1844 to Choestoe in 1851, we listed the known postmasters until the Choestoe post office closed in 1938.

Other complications are noted about Polk as a post office. In the old Coopers Creek District were five post offices: Baxter, Clemeth, Polk, Seabolt and Shopes.

William L. Smith made application for a post office to be named Polk, Georgia on December 23, 1891. It was approved January 11, 1892 and Mr. Smith was the first postmaster. Evidently the authorities at the U. S. Postal Services considered that enough time had elapsed since September 25, 1851 when Joseph F. England “across the mountain” had requested that the Polk office there be changed to Choestoe. That was, after all, forty years in the past.

Polk post office opened in the Coopers Creek District. James H. Shope was appointed second postmaster at Polk on October 15, 1892, but his appointment was soon rescinded. Smith resumed the duties until James H. Cavender was appointed on April 14, 1893. Next was his sister, Mary A. Cavender, who began as postmaster on March 30, 1894. Samuel A. Dixon began duties on April 2, 1895. Polk, Georgia post office was discontinued on October 7, 1897. This Polk location for the U. S. mails lasted almost five years. When the last postmaster had the charge, it was located at his home on Dixon Branch, a mile south of Mulky Gap. When Polk was closed, the mail was routed to the Coosa post office, which closed March 15, 1907.

Baxter post office had an interesting history. It was the forty-fifth post office to be established in Union County. Dates of appointment and postmasters were: David M. Jarrard, June 16, 1900; James H. Cavender, April 15, 1901; Mary Ann Cavender (James’ sister), February 20, 1903; Nellie Cavender Grizzle (sister to James and Mary Ann), January 17, 1935; Mrs. Lillie Gurley moved the post office to her home January 26, 1944 and served until the office was discontinued April 15, 1953. Two of the postmasters served until their deaths: Ms. Mary Ann Cavender and Ms. Nellie Cavender Grizzle.

Clemeth post office in Coopers Creek District was opened June 21, 1880, with Clemeth Cavender the first postmaster. The office had the given name of its first postmaster. It had a short life until April 26, 1887, two months shy of seven years. Yet in that seven year period, there were seven postmaster appointments, some serving twice: Clemeth Cavender, Andrew B. Campbell, James A. Cavender, William Jones, William A. Jones, William F. Cavender and James A. Cavender.

Seabolt post office was located in the Coopers Creek District. The initial application asked for the name Mist, due to the mist from the waterfalls near Coopers Creek Bridge as well as the many morning fogs that left mist like a veil over the valley. The application was approved on May 25, 1903 but not the name Mist. Instead, Seabolt was the assigned name. Seabolt was designated in honor of the first settlers to the area. It lasted the first time until October 31, 1907 when it was discontinued and the mail routed through Suches. However, Seabolt was reopened July 22, 1922 by James Frank Seabolt and operated until July 31. 1924 and the mail routed to Baxter, GA.

The last of the five post offices in the Cooper Creek District was named Shope. The application requested Harkinsville as the name, but instead the U. S. Postmaster General chose Shope after early settlers. Opened August 8, 1880 with Charles W. O’Kelley as postmaster, he served until the office closed March 2, 1883 and the mail was routed to Clemeth.

Applications for new post office charters had to give approximate number of families that would be served by the office, the names of some citizens in the community, and occupations. Even being in close proximity to those the office served, postmasters could not always guarantee delivery for they depended on mail to arrive at their office by a carrier on horseback. The Pony Express of the west had a kindred tie to the station-to-station carriers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Through rain, flood, snow, sleet or sun’s burning rays, they sought to do their jobs and get the mail on its way.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 31, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.