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.

The Rev. Edward Leander Shuler—mountain lad

Rev. Edward Leander Shuler (March 15, 1886-October 21, 1959)
Pictured at Mercer University, 1914

In the Mercer University, Macon, Georgia college yearbook of 1914, underneath the picture of Edward Leander Shuler who received his AB degree from that institution that year was this quotation which he had chosen as representative of his life to that point:

"A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Has ta'en with equal thanks."

One of fourteen children born to William Jackson Shuler (1830-1936) and Elizabeth Townsend Shuler (1861-1947) of Ponder, Georgia, a section of Upper Choestoe along the Logan Turnpike, Edward Shuler knew it was through "buffets and rewards" of fortune and the grace of God that he had succeeded in completing his college degree. He would go on to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky for a master's degree, and then return to Georgia and Florida where he completed his career as a minister and teacher. Born March 15, 1886 in Choestoe, Edward Leander Shuler died October 21, 1959 in Jacksonville, Florida.

I have just reread Edward L. Shuler's book, Blood Mountain, his memoirs, published in 1953 by the Convention Press of Jacksonville, Florida. The subtitle of his book is "An Historical Story about Choestoe and Choestoeans." He says in his foreword: "This is a rambling tale, combining the deeds and sayings of Choestoeans who lived in a small rural district in the Georgia mountains, which was called Choestoe." (iii)

Written in a folksy manner, with avid use of the mountain vernacular language in the dialogue, Edward Shuler recalls a time past when frugal and hard-working parents, even though limited themselves in formal education, held a strong ambition for their children to go to school and make a difference in the world of their day. The wisdom he quotes from his Uncle Enoch Shuler, his father, Jack Shuler, and his mother, Elizabeth, is well-embedded in the book's story line and shows how the author benefited from their sage advice.

Edward Leander Shuler received his education at Hood's Chapel School in his community with inimitable teachers Bud Miller, John Twiggs, Silas Chambers and others. With this foundation in his one-teacher country school, Edward went to "boarding and batching" school at Hiawassee Academy, the school founded by cousins and great men who went out from the mountains to make a difference. These founders of the mountain school were the Rev. Dr. Fernando Coello McConnell and Rev. Dr. George W. Truett. Edward remembers how he went with his mother and father to the home of Henderson Dyer to borrow money for Edward to pay his fees and set up his "batching" room in Hiawassee. At Hiawassee Academy, Edward was introduced to Latin and Greek and the classics of literature. He was also on the Truett Society debating team and learned to become a good public speaker through that experience. His years of learning at Hiawassee Academy, a Mission School in the mountains, were basic to all he did in his succeeding years.

While studying at Hiawassee Academy, Edward Shuler and Laura Collins began their courtship. She was a daughter of Archibald Benjamin Collins (1863-1897) and Mary Louise Jackson Collins (1862-1934). Her brother, Mauney Douglas Collins (1885-1967), was a good friend of Edward Shuler. Mauney Collins would become Georgia's state superintendent of schools and served in that capacity from 1933-1957. Laura Collins and Edward Shuler married August 18, 1906.

The next step in Edward Shuler's education was at Young Harris College. In his memoirs, Rev. Shuler describes Young Harris as "in that pasture was the tree of knowledge, and it had only good fruit on it, and it was ripe…That nearly every one who attended the little college did eat of the good fruit was shown by the life each one lived later on. In half a century, the college sent forth a hundred and forty young men as gospel preachers." (p. 95, Blood Mountain). At Edward's graduation from Young Harris, he heard the famed preacher, the Rev. Sam Jones, deliver the graduation sermon.

The next step in education for Edward Shuler was Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He and his wife Laura and their little girl, Ruby Jane Shuler (born March 7, 1908) went across the Logan Turnpike to Gainesville, caught a train to Atlanta, spent a day or two seeing the capitol and other sights there, and then on by train to Macon. Her brother, Mauney Douglas Collins, who was already a student at Mercer, accompanied the Shulers on this trip. Thanks to the president of Mercer, Dr. Jameson, who managed to find money from endowment scholarships, the Shuler family was able to live frugally with enough to eat in one of the Mercer cottages specifically set aside to house married Mercer ministerial students. Edward's account of how he studied hard for his first sermon at a church of any size outside those at which he had preached in the mountains before going to Mercer, the Wrightsville First Baptist, recalled both the anticipation and the nervousness of the encounter on Mother's Day. As it happened, all turned out well and the people welcomed the "preacher man" who had grown up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Edward's seminary degree was earned at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky.

Edward and Laura Shuler had two other children besides Ruby Jane: a son, Paul Edward Shuler, was born November 12, 1909 and Mary Elizabeth Shuler was born November 23, 1915.

Edward Leander Shuler was ordained to the gospel ministry at Oakwood Baptist Church in Hall County, Georgia in 1910. Laura continued her education and graduated from Florida Southern College. In addition to rearing their children, she also became a teacher with a thirty-year career. She loved poetry, both reading and writing it, and some of her poems are included in Edward's book of memoirs.

Even though much of their work was in the Jacksonville, Florida area, Edward and Laura Shuler never lost the desire to return to the mountains. The serene valleys and hills and the mountain people remained dear to their hearts. Edward, as well as Laura, wrote poetry. In his "The Old Nottely" he lauds the tumbling river that cascades through Union County. The river became for this couple, moved away, a symbol of how life itself flows and cascades, touched by and touching a multitude of people.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 7, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

John Andrew Wimpey, farmer and merchant

Many still living may remember going to the John and Nellie Wimpey store located on Highway 129 South in Blairsville across the street from the old United Methodist Church just a block from the old courthouse. As I recall, customers could purchase clothes, shoes, piece goods, staple groceries, and other personal, farm and household needs at the Johnny Wimpey Mercantile Store.

Mr. Wimpey was a small man of stature, quiet and unassuming in nature. But he stood tall as a citizen and a respected gentleman about town and even throughout the county. He and his wife, Nellie Duckworth Wimpey, operated their "town" store in a friendly and helpful manner. Customers would go to trade and leave feeling that they had been treated to the news of the day, warm hospitality and friendly conversation as well as a good deal for the purchases they made at the Wimpey store.

John Andrew Wimpey was born December 7, 1887 in the Choestoe District of Union County. His parents were James A. Wimpey (08-15-1856 - 02-15-1894) and Morena Dyer Wimpey (09-14-1859 - 04-09-1903). On his father's side, his grandparents were Jehu and Mira Jackson Wimpey. On his mother's side, his grandparents were Micajah Clark Dyer and Morena Elizabeth Owenby Dyer.

Readers may recognize his maternal grandfather as being the famous inventor who received a U.S. patent in September, 1874 for his "Apparatus for Navigating the Air." One of John Andrew Wimpey's favorite stories to tell was about seeing his grandfather's flying machine invention. For any who doubted that a plane had been made at Choestoe years before the Wright Brothers' flight in Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903, they referred to Johnny Wimpey's story, and reasoned, "It must have been true; Johnny Wimpey never tells a lie."

Like most boys born in the mountains in the late nineteenth century, Johnny Wimpey did not have an easy childhood. His father, Jim Wimpey, died when Johnny was six years old. His mother, known as Rena Wimpey, died when the lad was fifteen years old. Johnny had two brothers, Bill and Virge. The boys' uncle, Jasper Washington Dyer (1843-1913) and his wife, Emaline E. Lance Dyer (1843-1915) took the Wimpey boys in after their mother died. Johnny worked hard on the farm and leaned to blend with the extended family.

Johnny Wimpey had a notable and dedicated instructor for his elementary education at the one-teacher school at Pine Top. Known as "Bud" Miller, this upright citizen of Choestoe was William Jasper Miller (1848-1919) whose wife was Jane Malinda Collins (1861-1931). Johnny's education was received between obligations on the farm, but he learned to "cipher" well, a skill with numbers that would fit him admirably for his future as a merchant. In fact, his teacher, Mr. Bud Miller, may have influenced the young lad toward the mercantile business, for Mr. Miller operated a country store at his home, farmed, and taught the short-term sessions at Pine Top School.

John Andrew Wimpey and Nellie Jane Duckworth (12-29-1896 - 02-06-1968) were married on December 14, 1911. Nellie was a daughter of John Francis (known as Jack) Duckworth (1869-1910) and Laura Jane Noblet Duckworth (1875-1956). The Duckworth family lived on a farm east of Old Liberty Church in the Choestoe District.

Nellie's father, Jack, died of a gunshot wound on Christmas Day, 1910, from a "friendly" shooting match. Nellie saw her father fall over from the shot, a traumatic event in the life of the then almost fifteen year old. Just weeks before her sixteenth birthday, Nellie married the love of her life, Johnny Wimpey.

At first, Johnny and Nellie Wimpey farmed the land. They continued farming after Johnny opened his first store in 1922 located in the Town Creek section of Union County. Johnny would be gone for days to Gainesville to trade items the couple had taken in for barter in their store. At the wholesale houses, he purchased new merchandise for the store. In the days before the Neel Gap Highway (now GA 129) opened for travel in 1925, Johnny had to go over the Logan Turnpike to Tesnatee Gap at Cleveland and on to Gainesville. The Choestoe store at Town Creek burned in 1922, a blow to the young couple. He kept farming, but one of Nellie's brothers, Frank Duckworth, had a store in Blairsville. He invited Johnny to come to work for him and they formed a partnership.

Then, in 1928, Johnny bought out Frank Duckworth's store and it became known as the Johnny Wimpey Store in Blairsville.

The fact that he bought the store in town just prior to the Great Depression was a venture of faith within itself. Fortunately, he still had farm acreage he could till which produced food for the family in the lean years of the 1930's when people did not have money to buy even what they needed at a store. Barter was again the way of dealing with the shaky economy. The records show that Johnny and Nellie took as barter sorghum syrup for which they allowed 40 cents per gallon in trade; corn was bartered at 50 to 75 cents per bushel; cured pork was traded at 5 to 7 cents per pound. Labor on the farm was no more than 50 cents per day, or, if the farmer did not have to provide the noon meal for workers, the day's hard labor was 75 cents, lunch brought by worker. Johnny would take day labor on his farm as "trade" for items from his store. With diligence to work and kindness to customers, the Wimpeys weathered the storm of the Great Depression and their store stayed open through the years of World War II and beyond until Johnny Wimpey decided it was time for him to retire.

The Wimpeys were active in Old Liberty Baptist Church at Town Creek where he was ordained a deacon and became a Sunday School teacher. When they moved to Blairsville, they joined First Baptist Church and were active there as long as their health permitted attendance.

Four children were born to John Andrew and Nellie Jane Duckworth Wimpey: Ethel (1913) who married Claude Rawlins; Charlie (1914) who married Grapelle Wimpey; Ruby (1917) who married Howard Parks; and Charlene (1930) who married Harold Ash. During our high school years, their daughter Charlene and I were best friends. My visits in the Wimpey home were always met with the motherly care of Nellie who became a surrogate mother for me after my own mother died when I was fourteen. It was a great blow to me when their daughter and my friend Charlene died of a then incurable disease in 1952 at age 22. Ruby Parks is the only one of the four Wimpey children surviving at this writing. She recently celebrated her 90th birthday. She and Ethel had long careers as teachers and Charlie was a farmer and cattleman.

John Andrew Wimpey died March 18, 1980. His wife Nellie preceded him in death on February 6, 1968. Their graves are in the Blairsville Cemetery across from First Baptist Church. Both descended from early settlers of Union County and all, including ancestors, themselves and their children, left a distinctive mark as farmers, merchants, educators, business persons and salt-of-the earth solid citizens.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published April 23, 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.

Blairsville, Union’s county seat

In 1926, W. L. Benson, evidently hired by the state of Georgia to do surveys and reports on counties and county seat towns, reported on Blairsville and Union County in the "Combined Agricultural-Industrial Report.

In that report, Mr. Benson stated that Blairsville was named for "Franklin P. Blair who was an ardent supporter of Andrew Jackson."

Mr. Benson gave a wrong first name for the person for whom Blairsville, county seat of Union County, was named. His report should have noted that it was "Francis Preston Blair," namesake of the town of Blairsville, incorporated by an act of the Georgia Legislature on December 26, 1835. Mr. Benson was correct in stating that Mr. Blair was "an ardent supporter of Andrew Jackson," for that he was. Let us look briefly at what we know about this man for whom Blairsville was named.

President Jackson appointed Francis Preston Blair as first editor of The Washington Globe in 1830. The publication was definitely an administration journal, promoting the views and positions of Andrew Jackson, and of his successor as president, Martin Van Buren. When James K. Polk became president, Francis Preston Blair was forced out of his longtime editorship of The Globe, and went back to Kentucky to farm, to support the Free Soil party and to oppose slavery. He joined the Republican Party and went to the Chicago convention and supported the nomination of President Lincoln in 1860.

Francis Preston Blair (1791-1876), Blairsville's namesake

Looking for a representative and idealistic person for whom to name Union's county seat town in 1835, three years after the county was formed, the name of Francis Preston Blair, noted journalist and supporter of Jackson, was suggested and adopted. All that was needed was to add "ville" after his last name, and the town of Blairsville was born. The town's namesake died in 1876 after a long and involved political career.

And now to the court houses in Blairsville, the county seat town. Where the government met prior to the naming of the county seat town in 1835, is, to this writer's knowledge, unrecorded. Common sense imagines that it was in a store building or maybe even in one of the existing post offices near what became Blairsville.

Official pamphlet # 113 about Union County states that the public buildings were laid out in 1835 (not in 1832 when the county was formed). The first was a log courthouse. This served the county until a fire destroyed it in 1859.

The second courthouse was a two story structure, on the architectural style of the plain Federal made with hand-fashioned bricks fired in a kiln. This courthouse stood "on the square" in Blairsville and served the populace well until 1898. Mr. W. L. Benson fails to mention in his report of 1925 how the second courthouse met its end. Perhaps the brick structure burned, too, as had the first log courthouse.

In 1899 the third courthouse was erected. It was more elaborate and boasted a clock tower, as well as two sturdy stories and even attic areas with windows on the third story. This proud edifice was "saved" by the Union County Historical Society and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Its service as the Union County Historical Museum is re-telling the story of the past to interested visitors from far and wide whose genealogical roots rest in the hills and valleys of Union County.

Presently, Union County has a sole commissioner, Mr. Lamar Paris, who, himself, is interested in and works to preserve Union's rich history. But back in 1899 when the "courthouse on the square" was built, the county was governed by a Board of Commissioners and an Ordinary.

Jesse Washington Souther, County Board of Commissioners, 1899

The Board of County Commissioners in 1899 was composed of these elected leaders: Jesse Washington Souther, James A. Butt, Sr., W. W. Ervin, and Ordinary John T. Colwell. As we look at the restored courthouse on the square, it is hard for us in the twenty first century to imagine that the cost of building it in 1899 was $12,000.

With the willing work and cooperation of the Board of Commissioners, the task of building the courthouse in 1899 was not without its problems.

The commissioners agreed that the best way to finance the proposed courthouse was to have the county vote bonds. But when that proposal was brought before the people, it was defeated.

They also wanted to relocate the building slightly to the southwest and purchase a lot for which the owners were asking $800.00. But they could not get that measure passed.

A generous offer was made by a Mr. Stephen Major, citizen of the Fairview section of Union County in the Coosa District. He wanted to donate land for the courthouse and other public buildings and move the location of the county seat to Coosa.

Again, a petition circulated and a referendum was called. But the proposal was defeated because it did not get a 2/3 majority of the voters. (One wonders, if this had happened, would the county seat have been called Coosaville, or maybe just Fairview?)

With these hurdles over, the Commissioners buckled down and made a decision to increase taxes to pay for the new courthouse and to build it on the same site as the first and second edifices. Amazingly, within one year of increased taxes, the $12,000 cost was raised. But it was not an easy task. In 1899, farmers (the major occupation of the populace) did not have much money. When taxes came due, some of them had to sell the family milk cow to get enough money to pay their increased levy.

A young boy named Richard Miller (called "Dick") was an errand boy during the building of the courthouse. His work netted him thirty cents a day. Several of the men of the county gave free labor as carpenters and brick layer helpers.

Throughout its history, the old courthouse has been a favorite gathering place. At first, farmers brought their wares to trade or sell during spring and fall terms of court. And court was nearly always a drawing card for crowds who came to hear arguments about landlines and other disputes, thefts, and, to top the agenda, murders. When court was not in session, the courtroom became an auditorium for Sacred Harp singing conventions; Grand Ole Opry stars appearances and fiddling contests. Even weddings and family reunions have been conducted within the confines of the stately old courthouse.

Today, Union County has a spacious, fairly new, modern building in which to carry on county business, located just off APD Highway 515 on the west side of town. But most of us who grew up in Union still think of "the old courthouse on the square" when we hear a reference to the Union County Courthouse.

Edgar A. Guest wrote in one of his poems: "It takes a lot o' livin' in a house to make it home." We could paraphrase the poet's words and say "The old courthouse in Blairsville has seen a lot o' livin' in its 109- year history."

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 12, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

When Union became a county in 1832

This past December 3, 2007 was Union County's 175th birthday. By an Act of the Georgia Legislature, signed into law by then Governor Wilson Lumpkin, Union became one of ten counties carved from the vast territory once known as Cherokee County, and the eighty-third county in Georgia. This northern reach of Cherokee, Georgia was so named because it was still the dwelling place of the Cherokee Indians that inhabited the coves, mountains and valleys of the beautiful land.

In the late 1820's, gold was discovered in the vast Cherokee County, with deposits found along Duke's Creek in what would become White County, Yahoola Creek in the Lumpkin County area, and Dooly in the future Union County. Drawings for the 40-acre gold lots and the 160-acre land lots were conducted. Many who drew the lots for land did not want to settle in the remote mountainous areas of North Georgia. Therefore, they sold their land lots, making them available to more hardy pioneers mainly from North Carolina. Ancestors of these, in turn, had first settled in Virginia and were of sturdy Scots-Irish descent. Some of these pioneers had already made their way into what became Union County in 1832 and had settled on small farms along the creek and river bottoms, with the mountains stretching above them as a veritable fortress against the outside world.

Citizen John Thomas was a representative from this mountain region to the Georgia Legislature meeting in 1832. Whether he was the one to introduce the bill to form the county of Union is not known to this writer. However, it is a matter of public record that, when asked what to name the new county, John Thomas was quick to respond: "Name it Union, for none but Union-like men reside in it!"

We are not to confuse John Thomas's suggestion for a name for the newly-formed Union County as being indicative of the later pro-Union and pro-Confederacy political leanings. The Civil War was some thirty years in the future when Union County was formed in 1832. Rather, Representative Thomas had in mind the Union Party, a political group that held, "Our federal Union--it must be preserved!" In the fairly young and struggling nation, having won its independence from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, and reinforced that freedom from Britain's over-lordship in the War of 1812, America's independence was dear, but seen as strong only if citizens could uphold the Union itself.

In 1832, Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States, serving his second term. Jackson hailed from the frontier state of Tennessee. Vice-president was John Caldwell Calhoun of South Carolina. Jackson and Calhoun were often at cross-purposes in their philosophy of government. Jackson was the first president elected from among "the common people," not from the group of well-know Revolutionary War supporters. Jackson had distinguished himself as a general in the War of 1812, the Indian Wars, and in the famous Battle of New Orleans.

Jackson signed the "Indian Removal Act" into law in 1830. The famous US Supreme Court case of Worcester versus Georgia occurred in 1832, in which the Cherokee Nation challenged the Removal Act. The Supreme Court upheld the Cherokee position to maintain their mountain stronghold, but Jackson did not try to enforce the court's decision, giving his answer as "John Marshall (Supreme Court Justice) has made his decision. Now let him enforce it!" We know the succeeding story. By 1838, when Union County was less than six years old, the Trail of Tears occurred, and the Indians that remained within the confines of Union County were moved west.

The first officers of the new county of Union in 1832 have evidently been lost in a courthouse fire or lack of preserving public documents. In all my research for the first county officers, I could not find names or dates of service of the first leaders of the county. It is unfortunate that we do not know to whom to give credit for Union County's beginning government.

The first census of Union County was ordered by an Act of the Georgia Legislature of 1833 for the ten new counties formed in 1832. The census was completed March 24, 1834 by William B. Gilliland. It showed a population in Union County then of 903 persons living in 147 listed households. An examination of last names of many of these householders in 1834 shows that descendants of these first settlers have remained as citizens of Union County for the past 175 years. I am proud to name among them my own ancestors of Dyer, Collins, Hunter and England and others.

By the time of the 1840 Union County census, the population had increased to 3,152, showing that Union had become a popular place to settle in the eight years of the county's existence. In the 1840 census, slaveholders were listed as being eighteen of the total population, and slaves numbered eighty-seven. The smaller farms of the mountainous Union County terrain did not foster great plantations as found in the Piedmont and Southern areas of Georgia. The largest slave-owner in 1840 was Morton Saunders who owned twenty-three slaves. It would be interesting to know where his land holdings were located.

More than 175 years have passed since Union County's founding. Political leaders have come and gone, many making their mark in local, state, national and even world affairs. But still nestled within one of the most beautiful stretches of earth is the 323 square-mile area of Union County, still drawing population to its pristine forests and fields, developments and tourist areas.

Now the Appalachian Development Highway (also known in places as the Zell Miller Parkway) has replaced the Logan and Unicoi Turnpikes and the Indian Trails of lore. But the call of the hills is ever present. The days of the "daring horsemen" (Naduhli - Nottely) have long passed. But we should hope that the lure of "Tsistu-yi"- dancing place of rabbits- and the land of the "Ani-yun-wi-ya," "peaceful people" will never fade from our beloved North Georgia map.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published January 10, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Miracle of Brasstown Valley: a Book Review

Governor/Senator Zell Miller has done it again. He has written his seventh book, and has managed within its pages to turn history into a page-turner.

I gratefully received a copy early as a Christmas gift from a very dear friend. I want to recommend that you go out to a nearby bookstore in these days remaining before Christmas and either purchase a copy for yourself or get a copy as a gift for someone special. You will be glad you did.

The Miracle of Brasstown Valley is the story of the founding of Young Harris College in 1886 by an itinerant Methodist preacher, the Rev. Artemas Lester. But it is more than history, more than a realized dream of Lester whose life was touched in a unique way, both by his calling and his mission. Through his keen imagination, the Honorable Zell Miller has brought to life people, places and events in the mountains of North Georgia. He gives us a front-row seat to happenings as if we are there. Sharing Miller's love for history, and being mutually tied, as he is, to some of the same places and people who make up the colorful pages of this book, I find it a privilege to recommend his book to your reading.

In his foreword, Mr. Miller states:

While all the people, places and most events are real, in some instances I have filtered their undocumented words spoken long ago through my imagination. So be forewarned: this history is not pure and perfect; it's padded. But, as we say in the mountains, this is 'pert near' how it all happened." (page 4).

Getting it 'pert near' right is good enough for me. Not only does the book give the history of the founding of the college in the mountains, which has stood as a shining light for students educated there since 1886, but within these pages we get lessons on geology and theology, politics and religion. The people of yesteryear, whose names are well documented in family histories, in county records of land holdings, in church and cemetery records, in stories of their deeds passed on from generation to generation are mentioned in the book as Artemas Lester makes his way from Yatesville, Georgia, where he was born, to Brasstown Valley in Towns County, Georgia, learning what he can from residents he meets along the way. He wants to know about the land and the people, the sturdy stock who have taken up residence in the mountains. The literary technique is a travelogue. The impact is that of having been there, experienced that.

In the pages of Miracle we meet people who have a role to play in the background of Young Harris College's founding. The itinerant Union County preacher, the Rev. Milford G. Hamby, was responsible in part for the conversion of Artemis Lester in a revival at far-away Yatesville, Georgia. He heard the young man's dream and set him on his way toward the north Georgia mountains.

We meet William Jasper Miller, better known as "Bud," teacher at Hood's Chapel School in Upper Choestoe. Artemas Lester observed this country school teacher's methods in action and thought them good. He also heard that Bud Miller planned to take unto himself a second wife, Jane Malinda Collins, following the death of his first wife, Florence Edmundson Miller. Jane Malinda's ancestors were the first Choestoe settlers, Thompson and Celia Self Collins, her grandparents. She was a daughter of Francis and Rutha Nix Collins. With this background, Jane would be a good step-mother for Bud Miller's six children, left motherless by his first wife's death.

We see Artemas Lester's first view of Track Rock Gap as he travels from Dahlonega to Brasstown Valley.

We meet Widow Nancy Louise Haynes Stephens Sanderson, whose help in establishing the school in Brasstown Valley ranged from knowing the right people for the Rev. Artemas Lester to see to loaning him her horse and buggy in which to travel, and making available the abandoned store building where the first classes opened in January, 1886.

This book is full of mountain lore and culture. It is a book about a dream and the price one man paid to see it fulfilled. It is about moving on, even before the school Lester worked so hard to establish, was fully functional.

The book expresses appreciation for a solid way of life and for the faith that seeds planted will eventually sprout and bear fruit. Credit is given to many people who figured prominently in the founding of Young Harris College. You will meet them in the pages of this book, and rejoice that they were faithful to fill in the gap in their years of service. To name them all would take away some of the mystery of your meeting them for yourself in the book's pages. Prominent among them, however, besides the Rev. Artemas Lester, were the Rev. Marcus Hale Edwards, the Rev. Joseph Astor Sharp, Young Loften Gerdine Harris for whom the school eventually was named, and many others, presidents, professors, supporters.

Governor/Senator Zell Miller and I trace our roots back to Thompson Collins and other people who, although not well educated themselves because of limited academic offerings in those pioneer days, wanted a better way of life and accelerated opportunities for their children and succeeding generations. It was on this principle that the Rev. Artemas Lester set about to found the school in the mountains that became Young Harris College. Mr. Miller's chronicle will make you proud to be of sturdy mountain stock.

He has Artemas Lester asking Teacher Bud Miller this question:

"Where do they (the students) go when you've taught them all you know?"
Bud stared straight into his friend's eyes. "Ah, that's the question. You tell me."

At Christmas, this book will be rich reading as you discover and rejoice in the answer.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Dec. 13, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Continuing with some Nix connections (part 2 in a Series on the Nix Family of Union County, GA and surrounding counties)

Sarah Elvira Williamson Nix (12 Dec 1842 - 01 Jun 1927),

wife of Archibald Carr Nix (07 May 1842 - 25 Sep 1906)

Last week’s column began a series which I am calling “Nix Connections.” James “Glancer” Nix (1812-1882), son of William Nix and Susannah Stonecypher Nix, had twenty children and three wives as you saw from last week’s column. Many descendents have continued to live in Union County, Georgia, and many moved elsewhere. It would require several books of genealogy to trace this large family line. My intention is to be selective and give information on some of Jimmy Nix’s descendants.

Our focus today is on the fifth child of James “Glancer” and Elizabeth “Betsy” Collins Nix, Archibald Carr Nix, born in Union County May 7, 1842 who lived here all his life, a farmer, dying September 26, 1906. Archibald married Sarah Ann Elvira Williamson, born December 26, 1842. The marriage was performed on April 4, 1862 by Thompson Collins (a son of Thompson and Celia Self Collins) who was a Justice of the Peace for the Choestoe District. Sarah Ann Elvira Williamson was the youngest of seven children born to John Wesley Williamson, Sr. (abt. 1800-abt. 1880) and his first wife, Sarah Elvira Curtis Williamson (1801-1871).

Archibald Carr Nix and his beautiful wife, Sarah Ann Elvira Williamson Nix, made their home in Choestoe, Union County, Georgia. There they reared a family of eight children, all of whom grew up to be stalwart citizens. The children and their spouses are listed as follows:

1. John Wesley Nix (1-5-1863 – 10-13-1896) married Minty Lavada Reece (2-12-1863 – 8-6-1933). Their children were Izabeth and Lizabeth (twins, b/d 1885); Mary Ann (1886-1956) married Arvel Hayes Brown; Arie (1888-1890); Emma Lena (1889-1955) married David Markus Dyer; Callie (1891-1893); David (b/d 1894); Aaron Jacob (1895-1969) married (1) Ethel Elizabeth Ensley and (2) Annie Lucille Johnston.
2. Laura J. Nix (3-30-1864 – 3-23-1892) married Joseph Brown Reece (6-1-1860 – 2-24-1930) on September 25, 1879. They had a family of ten children.
3. Ruth Alice Nix, called “Nelle” (3-19-1866 – 3-24-1898) married in January, 1889 to Joseph Denson “Doss” Henson (6-26-1856 – 11-9-1926).
4. Adeline E. “Addie” or “Naomi” Nix (4-8-1868 – 2-?-1907) married on August 30, 1891 to Frank L. “Will” Prater.
5. Ariete “Etta” V. Nix (2-17- 1872 – 4-1-1936) married on December 7, 1890 to Amicus N. Miller.
6. Columbus Hannibal “Lum” Nix (4-1-1874 – 9-22-1950) married Lillie Henson (12-15-1881 – 1973) in Union County, GA on January 28, 1912. Lillie was Lum’s niece, a daughter of his sister, Ruth Alice Nix and Joseph Denson Henson. Lum and Lillie had the following children: Alice Pearl, Roy Carl, Corene Etta, Nellie, and Jack Columbus. Each of the five children were brilliant, earning degrees in education and/or engineering.
7. Arthur H. Nix (6-25-1877 – 5-24-1898) died at age 20 and was interred in the Old Choestoe Cemetery. He did not marry.
8. Minnie M. Nix (5-1-1881 - 1-28-1954) married Juan Dupree Miller (1-21-1883 – 5-23-1955).

I can remember visiting in the Miller’s home when I was a child. I did not know then Mrs. Minnie’s connection to me through our common ancestors, William and Susannah Nix Stonecypher and James “Grancer” Nix and Elizabeth “Betsy” Collins Nix. Years later, when I became interested in genealogy, she was no longer alive for me to ask her questions about her parents, Archibald Carr Nix and Sarah Ann Elvira Williamson Nix. Mrs. Minnie always had home-baked cookies for my brother Bluford and me when we visited as children. It is little wonder that we went as often as we dared. Another fond memory of Mr. Dupree Miller is his active role in Salem Methodist Church. He served as Sunday School Superintendent and song leader. We attended Choestoe Baptist Church, but were only “part time,” having services on the second and fourth Sundays. Salem Methodist, also “part time” had services on the first and third Sundays. I remember walking the trail through the woods from Choestoe Church to Salem after Sunday School and arriving at Salem Church in time for the church service on the Sundays Choestoe did not have preaching. Several of Salem’s members did the same, attending Choestoe on the 2nd and 4th Sundays. Mr. Dupree Miller had a mustache. As a child, I was fascinated by his debonair looks and his ability in leading congregational singing. Both Minnie Nix Miller and Juan Dupree Miller were buried in the New Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery.

Archibald Carr Nix and his wife, Sarah Elvira Williamson Nix were buried in Old Choestoe Cemetery where their faded tombstones can be found today. If I did not list children born to any of the seven married children above, I did not have available to me in the resources I used for this article the names of all of Archibald and Sarah’s grandchildren. Next week we will explore another branch of the large Nix family of Union County. Stay tuned.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones. Published Aug. 2, 2007 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. All rights reserved.

Frances Verdie Miller, Teacher Extraordinary

Frances Verdie Miller

When another baby girl was born to William J. "Bud" Miller (1849-1919) and Jane Malinda Collins Miller (1861-1931) that cold day, December 4, 1895, on the Choestoe farm owned by her father, the parents gladly welcomed their fourth of eight children. Little did the parents realize then that the daughter they called Verdie would grow up to be an outstanding educator.

Here is a brief story of the life of Frances Verdie Miller, educator.

Verdie's mother, Malinda Jane, was a granddaughter of Thompson Collins (ca 1785-ca 1858) and Celia Self Collins (ca.1787-1880), among the first settlers in Union County. Verdie's grandparents were Francis ("Frank") Collins (1816-1864) and Rutha Nix Collins (1822-1893). Unfortunately, the young Frances Verdie did not get to know her Grandparents Collins, for both had died before she was born in 1895.

Frances Verdie Miller's siblings were James Francis "Frank" Miller who married Addie Dean; Gordon Spence Miller who was born and died February 3, 1889; Ruth L. Miller who was born and died September 5, 1890; Stephen Grady Miller (1891-1932) who married Birdie Bryan and became the father of Jane Miller and Zell Bryan Miller, (the latter a long-time Lieutenant Governor, then Governor of Georgia, and U. S. Senator); Lannie R. Miller who married Dr. S. Vanus Hunter; Benjamin Dwight Miller (1898-1965) who married Laura Saxon; Bascom Hedden Miller, better known by his initials, B. H. (1900-1967), a noted barber of Union County, who married Idell Sampson Everett; and William Fletcher Miller who married Fannie Mae Shuler.

To earn a living for his wife and family of six living children, "Bud" Miller farmed his bottom land in Choestoe District and owned and operated a country store.

Devout in their living and practice of their faith, "Bud" and Jane Miller were regular church attendees and made sure their children were likewise regular in activities of the Salem Methodist Church.

Verdie and her siblings attended Choestoe School, a school which normally had a large enough enrollment for two teachers, one for the primary grades and another for the upper grades. She was apt at learning and had no trouble continuing her education at Young Harris Academy where she went for her high school studies. She graduated from Young Harris College where she excelled in the study of mathematics. She later graduated from the University of Georgia where she received a double major, one in mathematics and the other in English.

Although a beautiful lady, Verdie chose a teaching career over marriage and family. Remaining single all of her life, she devoted herself to educating students.

She was always close to her brother, Stephen Grady, who was four years her senior. When Dr. Joseph A. Sharp, a beloved teacher at Young Harris College, became president of Emory-at-Oxford, both Stephen Grady and Verdie took jobs teaching at that academy and junior college.

When Dr. Sharp made the decision to return to Young Harris as president of the college, the Miller brother and sister were elected to the faculty. Grady Miller was head of the Department of History and served as Academic Dean at Young Harris until his death in 1932. Verdie Miller taught Mathematics, English and Latin at Young Harris. During her early years of teaching, Verdie's beloved father, "Bud" Miller died on July 7, 1919. Her mother, Jane Malinda Collins Miller, died January 4, 1931. They were buried in the Old Choestoe Cemetery where their gravestones may be viewed today.

In 1942, Frances Verdie Miller made a move to LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. Although it is unusual for a person to have expertise in both mathematics and English, these were the subjects for which Verdie was qualified to teach. Noted as an expert professor, she touched many students during the five years she was a classroom teacher at LaGrange College.

In 1947, LaGrange College officials named Verdie Miller as Dean of Women. She held that position for ten years until 1957. Longing for the classroom, she returned to teaching until her retirement in 1964.

Her achievements read like a "Who's Who Among Famous Women." She was a member of the American Association of University Women, the Georgia and National Deans of Women, the Delta Kappa Gamma National Women's Educational Society, and the LaGrange Women's Club.

But foremost in her achievements was her faithfulness to First United Methodist Church in LaGrange. There she led women in Sunday School from 1947 through 1966. A room at the church bears her name as the "Verdie Miller Sunday School Class."

When the portrait of Miss Miller was unveiled at a special ceremony, the then pastor of the church, the Rev. Dr. Reynolds Greene, praised her for her contributions to education. But her humility and leadership as a teacher of the Word of God prompted Dr. Greene to conclude: "Her Christian character is a living example for the class named in her honor."

From her retirement in 1964 until her death on September 30, 1968, Frances Verdie Miller continued to make her home in LaGrange, to visit family and friends, and to be an example to others.

From humble roots on a farm in Choestoe, Frances Verdie Miller went out to make a difference in the lives of countless students and others touched by her influence.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 31, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved

Dr. S. Vanus Hunter, dentist

Dr. S. Vanus Hunter and his wife, Lannie R. Miller Hunter

From Union County have gone out some outstanding citizens to make a difference in places they chose to live and work outside these mountains and valleys. Such a person was Dr. S. Vanus Hunter, Dentist, who spent twenty-seven years of his years of practice in Commerce, Georgia.

S. Vanus Hunter was born September 14, 1890 in Union County, Choestoe District. His parents were William "Bill" Hunter (1871-1894) and Martha Ann "Mat" Jackson Hunter (1866-1916). Both his parents were descendants of early settlers.

Bill Hunter's parents were John A. Hunter (1844-1913) and Elizabeth Collins Hunter (1844-1924). Through her lineage, Vanus' grandmother Elizabeth was a daughter of Francis Collins, known as Frank (1816- 1864) and Rutha Nix Collins (1822-1893), and his great grandparents were Thompson Collins (1785-1858) and Celia Self Collins (1787-1880), first Collins settlers in Union County.

S. Vanus Hunter's mother, Martha Ann "Mat" Jackson was the fifth of eight children born to William Marion Jackson (1829-1912) and Rebecca Jane Goforth Jackson (1833- 1901) who lived in the Old Liberty section of Choestoe District, Union County. During the Civil War, Vanus's Grandfather Jackson served in the Union Army from December, 1863 through July, 1865. His service was in Tennessee and North Carolina.

When S. Vanus Hunter's father died in 1894, Vanus was only four years old. He lived most of his growing up years with his grandfather, William Marion Jackson. Vanus's mother married again to John Pruitt Collins following her first husband's death. From his Grandfather Jackson he learned a strong work ethic and a love for education. He was educated in the local one-room schools of Choestoe and New Liberty, and probably (though not proven) received his high school diploma either at Blairsville Collegiate Institute or Hiawassee Academy. While going to school, he worked on his grandfather's farm and did odd jobs to earn money.

On September 27, 1914, Vanus married beautiful Lannie R. Miller (1894-?), daughter of Jane Malinda Collins (1861-1931) and William J. "Bud" Miller (1849-1919).

Lannie Miller was a sister to Stephen Grady Miller (1891-1932), father of the Honorable Zell Miller, Governor of Georgia and US Senator. Lannie and Vanus were related through their Collins lineage. Her mother, Jane Malinda Collins Miller, was a daughter of Francis "Frank" Collins and Rutha Nix Collins.

After their marriage, the couple moved to Atlanta. Vanus got work first on the railroad and then in the post office. While still a clerk at the post office, he enrolled in Southern Dental College in Atlanta and graduated in 1917.

He opened his dental office and practice for awhile before the couple decided to move to Commerce, Georgia. Maybe the lure of that northeast Georgia town was the railroad track which cuts through the middle of Commerce. His dental office where he practiced for twenty-seven years was near the railroad track.

Vanus and Lannie Miller Hunter did not have children of their own. Each had a compassionate heart. Vanus was active in First Baptist Church, Commerce, where he served as the Men's Bible Teacher for years. He served in civic organizations, helped to organize the Commerce Kiwanis Club, was active in the Georgia Dental Association and was a member of the Commerce Board of Education and the Commerce Building and Loan Association.

Dr. Vanus Hunter died August 26, 1970 and was interred in the Gray Hill Cemetery, Commerce. When his wife Lannie died several years later, she was buried beside her husband.

From a rocky childhood on a hard-scrabble farm, Vanus Hunter went out from Union County to make a difference in Jackson County, Georgia.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 22, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Thompson Smith Collins - "The Poor Man's Friend"

Mountain families (as well as others) have the tradition of passing down a family given name through the generations. In my research on the Thompson and Celia Self Collins family, I have noted that the name of this first Collins settler in Union County has been a favorite to pass on. Several male descendants to the present generation have the honor of bearing the name of this worthy ancestor.

This week we view the life and times of one in the third generation, Thompson Smith Collins. He was a grandson of the original settler and a son of Francis (Frank) and Rutha Nix Collins. Thompson Smith Collins was born July 5, 1850. His parents lived on a portion of the elder Thompson’s 22,000 acres in a house near the vicinity of where William Clyde Collins, Sr. and Jr. now have residences on Collins Road, Choestoe.

Thompson Smith Collins was called “Thomp” to distinguish him from his uncle Thompson Collins (b. 1818) who was known as “Thompie,” long-time Justice of the Peace.

On October 21, 1869, Thompson Smith Collins (July 5, 1850-March 16, 1917) married Susan (Susie) Jane Cook (October 5, 1849-August 5, 1935). She was a daughter of Jonathan and Rebecca Jackson Cook. Susie’s last name was incorrectly entered as Crouch in the “Union County Marriages” record.

Thomp Collins’ main occupation was farming. He was also a part time blacksmith, cobbler and carpenter. He often did smithy work for neighbors in the community fashioning or honing small tools for farm use. From leather he had tanned, he mended or made shoes at his cobbler’s bench. Many houses and other buildings in the community were products of his building skills, a talent he passed on to his youngest son.

Both Charles Hill in his delightful “Blood Mountain Covenant” (Ivy House Books, 2003) and the Honorable Zell Miller in his autobiography, “The Mountains Within Me” (Cherokee Publishers, 1985) refer to an incident in the life of Thomp Collins that attests to his unrelenting loyalty to friends, even at great cost to himself. Thomp Collins lived by strict principles, practicing them in his daily life.

Sometime in the year 1875 two men came to Thompson Collins’ house. They asked him to use his mules to pull their loaded wagon to the top of Tesnatee Gap. Evidently their own mules could manage the wagon on the descent southward into Cleveland, Georgia on the Logan Turnpike, but the weight was too much for their mules on the ascent from Choestoe up Tesnatee.

The three men and the loaded wagon soon began the journey. About half way up the mountain, the entourage was overtaken by Federal Revenue agents. Quickly the two men disappeared into the forest, escaping. The wagon loaded with a fresh run of mountain moonshine was an easy target for the agents. The agents offered to free Thomp Collins if he would reveal the names of the two who escaped.

Thomp resolutely refused to reveal the men’s names. He himself took the charge of running contraband liquor. He was sent to Federal Prison in New York where he served two years. During his confinement, his family did not know of his whereabouts or whether he was alive or dead.

Then one day a travel-worn, more mature Thomp Collins returned to his home. He had walked the entire distance from New York. He told his wife Susie that due to the hardships he had endured on his return journey, they would never turn anyone away from their door who needed food, lodging, clothing or aid of any sort. Throughout the remainder of his life, Thomp Collins lived by this principle.

Thomp and Susie Collins had seven children but only four of them grew to adulthood. It is interesting to note, as the children wed, how the marriages joined families of other early settlers in Choestoe Valley.

(1) James Monroe “Roe” Collins (Jan. 16, 1871-June 30, 1954) married Nancy Elmira Twiggs (Feb. 17, 1874-Dec. 26, 1953). She was a daughter of the Rev. John Wesley and Sarah Elizabeth Hughes Twiggs. “Roe” and “Nan” married Jan. 2, 1896. He had been to Colorado where he was getting established as a farmer. They made their home in Eaton, Colorado where “Roe” helped to organize First Baptist Church and served as a deacon and treasurer. He also was instrumental in getting waterworks for irrigation of crops. In 1920 he ran on the Democratic ticket as governor of Colorado, but lost because he would not bow to the radical intrigues of some of the political bosses. It was said of “Roe” that he was too honest to become governor. “Roe” and “Nan” had six children.
(2) William Virgil Collins (1874-1944) married Lydia E. Jackson (1875-1956) on September 11, 1892. She was a daughter of William Miles and Nancy Souther Jackson. Lydia’s mother Nancy was a daughter of Jesse and Malinda Nix Souther. Virgil and Lydia lived in Ault, Colorado, near Virgil’s brother “Roe” in Eaton. Virgil became a successful farmer. They reared 11 children.
(3) Joseph Gordon Collins (1876-1958) married Susan Mason Smith (1889-1966). Joe studied law and graduated from the University of Virginia Law School. He passed the Georgia Bar and began practicing in Gainesville, Hall County, GA in 1903. He was Solicitor General of the Northeast Circuit of nine counties for a four-year term. He assisted with writing practices and procedures for appearing before the Supreme Court. He and Susan had no children.

Children (4) (5) and (6) of Thomp and Susie Collins died young. They were Avory Cordelia Collins (1880-1886); Charles Luther Collins (1882-1900); and Mary Rebecca Collins (b/d 1886).

(7) Francis Thurman Collins known as Bob (1890-1969) married first, Mary Viola Collins (1893-1937) on January 3, 1913, daughter of James Johnson and Margaret A. Nix Collins; and second, Pearl Fortenberry (1906-?) on February 2, 1939, daughter of LaFayette and Laura Fortenberry. Bob was a farmer and a carpenter. He built a house beside his mother and father and looked after his mother in her declining years. Bob and Viola had six children, all of whom had outstanding careers: Cecil, Hazel, James Thompson, Robert Neal, Mary Catherine and Betty Jane.

No one held Thompson Smith Collins’ stint in Federal Prison against him. Upon his return to Choestoe, his life could have been that described by the poet. He “lived in his house by the side of the road/and became a friend to man.”

At the mill one day, a man with a hungry family came by. Thomp Collins gave the man his last turn of meal and went out to buy a bushel of corn to have ground for his own family. One day a neighbor came to borrow Thomp’s mule. He asked the man to let him plow the row to the end before unhitching the mule for his neighbor’s use.

On his tombstone in Old Choestoe Cemetery is this epitaph: “The poor man’s friend.” At this Advent Season—and every day---would it not be well for us to remember the example of Thompson Smith Collins’ life and “be a friend to man,” helping those in need?

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published December 9, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved