Early Settlers in Union County with Ledford Surname

A search of the 1834 (first) census of the newly-formed Union County (founded 1832) did not yield any citizens listed in the 147 households and 903 population with the surname Ledford.

However, by the 1840 census, when Mr. John Butt, Jr. made his way to all the households he found to register heads of household and number of males and females with the general ages within those residencies, he located four households with the name Ledford.

Ledford is an interesting name, seems to be English in origin, and is what is termed a “habitational” name, with those bearing it having come from a particular location in the old country known by the name. The “ford” part is easy to determine. People would have lived by or near a ford in a stream. We wonder, then, was Led, the first syllable, from the name of a stream? Actually, yes. The Lyd River flowed through Somerset and Devon in England, and was known as “a noisy stream.” The Old English Lyd meant just that. But in Surrey, people were called Latchfords who lived by the stream there. Eventually, through the standardization of English spellings, the surname settled into Ledford, those who lived by the ford by the River Lyd.

The first of the Ledford ancestors of some of those who eventually settled in the new Union County, Georgia seem to be descendants of the John Ledford who came from England to North Carolina about 1763.

By the 1840 census in Union County, Georgia, there were four households of Ledfords enumerated. This writer was not able to learn the relationship, if any, between these four Ledford households. They could have been brothers, cousins or otherwise related.

Benjamin Ledford had nine in his household in 1840—six males and three females. He and his wife were both listed in the age category of “40 and under 50.”

Thomas Ledford had six males and two females in his household. He and his wife were “thirty and under forty.”

William Ledford had three males and six females in his household. He was “forty and under fifty” and his wife was “thirty and under forty.”

The fourth Ledford household was that of George, who had five males and three females. He was “thirty and under forty,” and his wife was in that same age category. Therefore, we count and find that 20 males and 15 females, or a total of 35 Ledfords made their home in Union in 1840.

Moving to the 1850 Union County census, it is interesting to note whether the same households are listed again, and if any other Ledford households have been set up within the ten-year period. It is noteworthy, too, that by the 1850 census, the government had made the decision to list not only the heads-of-households, but the spouse and children, the ages, and where each member of the household had been born.

Let’s take a look at Ledford households in the 1850 Union Census, from which we learn much more information. The only household with the same-named head of household in 1850 as in the 1840 census was that of Benjamin. Whether Thomas, William and George were going by another given name by 1850 is not known. But households, according to the information given to Mr. Butt, the census taker in 1850, were headed by Silas, Porter, David, Benjamin, and James.

Silas Ledford and his wife, spelled Deilly (Delia ?) lived in household # 53. He was 28, had been born in North Carolina, his wife, 29, had been born in South Carolina, and they had been in Georgia at least five years, because their oldest child and the three others listed were all born in Georgia. Their children were Thomas, 5, Benjamin, 4, Caroline, 2, and Louisa, 1. We learn from other research that Silas was a son of Benjamin and Grace Owenby Ledford, the one settler from the 1840 census who had remained in Union County. My curiosity turned me to the Union County marriage records where I found this listing: Silas Ledford married Dolly Elmiry Bowling in Union County on December 19, 1841, with the Rev. Elisha Hedden performing the ceremony. The census-taker’s spelling, “Deilly,” therefore should have been “Dolly” for Silas’s wife’s name.

Household # 54, next door to Silas and Dolly, had the family of Porter Ledford, age 23, born in North Carolina, his wife, Temarina, age 20, also born in North Carolina, and their four-month old baby, Marion. Again, the Union County marriage records yielded the date of this couple’s marriage—August 28, 1848, when Thomas Ervin, a justice-of-the-peace performed the ceremony. The bride’s name was Damaris A. Rogers. Again, this helps us correct a misspelling from the census record of “Temarina” to Damaris. Porter Ledford was the sixth child of Silas and Dolly Ledford, and was given the name Porter after his maternal grandfather, Porter Owenby.

Household 87 was home to David Ledford, age 31, born in North Carolina, and his wife Jane, 35, also born in North Carolina. They had been in Union County less than two years in 1850, for their four listed children, Rachel, 9, Marion, 6, Hardy, 4, and Madison, 2, had all been born in North Carolina.

In 1850, the household of Benjamin Ledford, age 50, born in North Carolina, was listed as # 133 in the enumeration. Living there were his wife, 51, born in North Carolina, and listed as “Racy,” an unusual name, to say the least. Make that an error in entry, which probably should have been Gracy, or Grace—Grace Owenby Ledford, whom Benjamin married in North Carolina before moving to the Ivy Log section of Union County, Georgia sometime before 1840. In Benjamin and Grace’s household in 1850 were two children still at home, Vianna, age 20 and Benjamin (Jr.?), 11, both born in North Carolina. Registered in their household was another female, Caroline Brown, age 19, born in North Carolina.

A young man, Jacob Ledford, age 20, was listed as living in Household 475 with Eli Henson and Elizabeth Henson and their three children, James, 7, Archibald, 5, and Jacob, 1.

In household # 619 were James Ledford, 35, born in North Carolina, his wife, Nancy, 32, also born in North Carolina. Their first three children, Caroline 10, LaFayette 7 and Lucious, 6, were born in North Carolina, but Asberry, 4, and Jane, 1, were born in Georgia.

The last of the Ledford households appearing in the 1850 Union census was that of the family or Hiram Ledford, 47, and his wife, Mary, 47, both born in North Carolina. They had seven children listed as still living at home in 1850, all born in North Carolina: John, 25, Spencer, 22, Marion, 15, James, 12, George, 10, Hiram, 8, and Alexander, 5. They had evidently moved to Union County after 1845 since Alexander was not born in Georgia.

These families were the beginnings of the Ledfords who remained in Union and Towns counties of upper Georgia. We will follow some of them in subsequent accounts.



c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Aug. 18, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Honoring an Ancestor--Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr.

The designation “Jr.” was not attached to Bluford Elisha Dyer’s name when he came into Union County, Georgia to settle in the early 1830’s. We who are descendants of his added the “Jr.” to show that his father before him had the same name. To our knowledge, Bluford Elisha Dyer and his wife, together with the children still living at home at the time, were the first Dyer settlers along Cane Creek, Choestoe, in Union County. In the especially-ordered 1834 census, the first of the county, his household was made up of five males and four females. Those, in 1834, to the best knowledge we have, would have been Elisha, Jr. and Elizabeth and sons Elisha, James Marion, Bluford Lumpkin, and grandson Micajah Clark and daughters Lucinda, Malinda and Matilda.

We’ve finally located a place we are fairly certain Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr. was buried. Thanks to Harold Dyer who explored the land and remembered what his father and grandfather told him, the knoll on which we firmly believe Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr. was buried has been identified. The land has a long record of being “passed down” through the generations. Harold received it from his father, William Edward. Before him James C. Dyer, Harold’s grandfather, owned it. It came to him from James Marion Dyer, who was one of the sons living at home away back in 1834, when the household of Elisha (Jr.) was listed in Union County.

We’re erecting a monument to mark the “spot near where” the burial took place. We will remember this ancestor and his beginnings in Union County in our annual Dyer-Souther Heritage Association Reunion on July 17, 2010.

The lineage of Choestoe Dyers is a bit hard to trace. But some facts are rather well established. John Dyer (Sr. ca. 1710 – 1773) was first in Virginia, having come from the Somersetshire vicinity of England. There is evidence that he was married twice, first to Elizabeth Bluford (or Bleufort) [ca. 1712-ca. 1750] and second to a Dinah, last name unknown. It is important to note the last name of John Dyer’s first wife, anglicized to Bluford, for this name was passed down in the family through many generations.

John Dyer moved from Caroline County, Virginia to Halifax County Virginia where he died in 1773. His known children were James Dyer, John Dyer, Jr., Joshua Dyer, Nancy Dyer and Elisha Dyer, Sr. (ca. 1745-1816) who married Amey (or Amy) Laws (ca 1748-1812).

Elisha, Sr. was our ancestor. He migrated from Caroline County, Virginia to Wilkes County, North Carolina, next moving to Pendleton District, SC, and then finally to Warren County, Kentucky, where he died in 1816.

We wonder why Elisha Dyer, Sr. moved so much. He and his wife, Amey Laws Dyer, were patriots in the American Revolution. We do not have a record of his serving as a soldier, but this couple is recognized as rendering “material aid” during the war. This may mean that they provided horses or mules for soldiers, provisions of food, clothing and “provender” for animals, or other significant aid to further the effort to win America’s independence. At any rate, they were not Tories (faithful to the British), and they probably were strongly involved in the Over Mountain Men movement that helped to win the battle at King’s Mountain and other significant victories that saw the eventual defeat of British General Cornwallis. Elisha, Sr. and Amey’s moves may have been due to his being rewarded with grants of land for his Revolutionary War service. A more thorough examination of land deeds is needed for authentication of this theory. Or maybe a new location and the spirit of adventure called the Dyers to locate in new and untrammeled areas.

Elisha Dyer, Sr. and Amey Laws Dyer had ten known children, a daughter (name unknown who married a Barber), Josiah who married Sarah Whittingdon, Rosannah who married Benjamin Hubbard, Anna who married William Johnson, Abner who married Nancy Jane Moore, Manoah who married Rebecca Tremble, Caleb who married Rebecca Howard, Elizabeth who married Bollin Clark, Bluford Elisha, Jr. who married Elizabeth Clark and John who married Sophia Young. We will concentrate on Bluford Elisha, Jr., our ancestor, who moved with his father from Wilkes County, NC to Pendleton District, SC. Elisha, Jr.’s next move was to Habersham County, Georgia and on into what became Union County, GA in 1832.

Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr. was born about 1785 in Wilkes County, NC. After he had moved to Pendleton District, SC with his mother and father and siblings, he met a young lady there whom he married in 1802. Her name was Elizabeth Clark (ca. 1787 - June 1861). She was a daughter of Micajah Clark and wife, Lurinna Johnson Clark. The Micajah Clark name was passed down to generations of Dyer descendants.

To Elisha and Elizabeth were born these children: Mary Elizabeth (called Sallie) Dyer (1803 – ca. 1860) who married Eli Townsend; two or three girls, first names unknown; Lucinda Dyer (1811-1870) [note this name may have been Lurrina, not Lucinda, as Watson B. Dyer listed it in his Dyer Family history book] married William Crow; Joseph Dyer (1814-1874) married Narcissa Crow; Elisha Dyer (1816-1870) married Mary Jane Younce; Micajah Clark Dyer (1817-1889) married Harriet Logan Hall; Elijah Dyer (1819-1870) married Mary “Polly” Kettle; James Marion Dyer (12 Oct. 1823-27 Apr. 1904) married Eliza Ingraham (5 Mar. 1827 – 7 Mar. 1907); Lucinda Dyer (1826-1902) [note possible error—it is not likely they named two daughters Lucinda] married James Monroe Crow; Malinda Dyer (ca. 1827-?) married William B. Harkins; Matilda Dyer (ca. 1830 - ?) married Francis M. Swain; and Bluford Lumpkin Dyer (1832-1907) married Ruthie Turner.

Note that eldest daughter Sallie had a son, also named Micajah Clark Dyer (13 July, 1822 – 26 Jan. 1891) who married Morena Elizabeth Owenby (24 Dec. 1819-25 Sept. 1892). Elisha, Jr. and Elizabeth reared Sallie’s son, their grandson, as their own. He grew up in the household with his uncle, five years younger than he, having the same name. We believe the son was called Micajah (or Cajer) and the grandson Clark. The grandson became the inventor of “The Apparatus for Navigating the Air.”

After living in Habersham County for awhile, Bluford Elisha, Jr. and his family moved across the mountain and took up residence at a homestead along Cane Creek in the Choestoe District of Union County and carved out a good life there, entering into the development of the community. Since they were in Union before the major exodus of Cherokee in 1838, they probably still had Cherokee Indian neighbors and perhaps traded with them and learned secrets of growing maize and other crops along the cleared bottom lands. The first of Elisha, Jr. and Elizabeth’s children to marry in Union County was son Micajah Clark whose wedding to Harriet Logan Hall took place on June 25, 1832. Daughter Lucinda (or Lurinna?) married James Crow when the family still lived in Habersham County.

It is good, finally, to identify a spot where Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr. was buried. It is believed his wife, Elizabeth, was interred in the Old Choestoe Cemetery, but that gravesite, too, has been lost to the ravages of time, even though it may once have been marked by a field stone. A brief tribute program and dedication of the new stones followed by a tour of the gravesite will occur at the reunion on July 17, 2010.

c2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 15, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

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.

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.

Family of War Soldier John Nicholson

Pvt. John Nicholson
Revolutionary War Soldier
Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery

In this four part series about Revolutionary War Soldier John Nicholson, we have looked, first, at his record in the war to free America from England. We traced his involvement with Old Walton County, the "Orphan Strip" on the Georgia-North Carolina- South Carolina border, and his representing that county in the Georgia Legislature. We saw him move from Buncombe County, NC to Hall, Habersham, Cherokee and finally Union Counties in Georgia and learned that his grave is at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Union County, where he was laid to rest.

This column will list what we know of his children and family, although this information has been hard to document. At best, there may be omissions and errors in listing what we have found of his children.

Tradition holds that John Nicholson, Sr., Revolutionary War soldier, was married three times. The name of his first wife has not been found. Neither is it known whether this first wife was the mother of some of his children. According to a marriage record in Warren County, NC, John Nicholson and Nancy Freeman were married there on February 22, 1794. His third marriage (date unknown) was to Susan Brown.

Ten children are listed for John Nicholson, Sr. As nearly as possible from available sources, the children were James, Mary, Walter, Elizabeth, William Harrison, Alfred, a daughter (name unknown), Luvicia (called Vica), John Nicholson, Jr., and Sarah.

It is not know whether James Nicholson remained in North Carolina when other members of the family relocated to Georgia.

Mary Nicholson, called "Polly" (1791-1868) married Rene Chastain (1793-1889) on March 17, 1814. This marriage to the Chastain joined the Nicholson family to the famous Pierre Chastain, first Huguenot immigrant, who was Rene's great grandfather. Rene's grandfather was the famous Rev. John "Ten Shilling Bell" Chastain, Baptist minister and leader in church planting in Virginia and other states. Rene's parents were Edward and Hannah Brown Chastain.

Walter Nicholson (1795- 1850) was born in South Carolina and married Dorcas Hogsed in Buncombe County, NC. This family moved to the Fodder Creek section of old Union County, a portion of the land that became Towns County in 1856. A farmer and orchardist, Walter Nicholson grafted apple trees and produced a variety called the "Watty" apple, using his nickname for the fruit. Walter and Dorcas Nicholson were in Union County, Georgia in the 1840 census. They had four children before moving from Buncombe County: John, Leander, Sarah and Elizabeth. Children with them in Georgia were Easter, Samuel and Logan.

Elizabeth Nicholson, called "Betty" is believed to have married Benjamin Burke.

William Harrison Nicholson (1797-1864) married first Jane Duckworth, a daughter of Jonathan and Kesiah Duckworth. He married, second, Jane Blocker. This family of Nicholsons made their home in the Cathey's Creek section of Transylvania County, NC. Unfortunately, William Harrison lost his life at the hands of bushwhackers during the Civil War.

Alfred Nicholson (April 28, 1799-Jan. 31, 1874) married Mary "Polly" Chastain (July 10, 1797-July 22, 1865). She was a daughter of Edward and Hannah Brown Chastain, a sister of Rene Chastain who had married Alfred's sister, Mary Nicholson. Thus two of the John Nicholson children were linked in marriage to the noted Chastain family. The 1834 census of Union County, Georgia enumerates the family of Alfred Nicholson with five females and eight males. A well-known descendant of this couple is Dr. James M. Nicholson, grandson, and son of Jackson Van Buren Nicholson and Barbara Anne Etris. Dr. Nicholson, better known as "Professor" was principal of Union County High School from 1929 until his retirement in 1943.

A daughter, name unknown, married Porter Owenby. This family moved to Union County, Georgia.

Luvicia ("Vica") married Lewis Akins and they also moved to Union County, Georgia. Vica's father, John Nicholson, was living in her house when he passed away at age 96 on December 20, 1858.

John Nicholson, Jr. (1802- 1884) married Elizabeth Allred. They had settled in Hall County, Georgia by 1830. Later, they relocated to Cherokee County by 1850. The senior John Nicholson lived with this couple for a portion of his years in Georgia.

Sarah Nicholson (1803- 1882) married John Erwin (1801-1885).

Many bearing the surname of Nicholson in Union County and elsewhere are proud to trace their ancestry back to John Nicholson, Sr. (1762-1858), Revolutionary War soldier.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 26, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Union County Butt(s) family legacy

The Butt family in Union County, descendants of John Butt, Sr. and his wife Sarah Rider Butt, have influenced many generations in Union County.

As we saw in the two previous columns on the Butt family, the first to arrive in Union County was John Butt, Jr. and his wife, Sarah Gordon Butt. Then came John, Jr.'s father, John Butt, Sr. and his wife, Sarah Rider Butt. From these two "first families" a number of descendants lived and worked in Union County or went out from Blairsville to make a difference in the world.

In researching the family, one can quickly see how many times the female name Sarah appears in descendants of these two first families. Each of the John Butts had a Sarah for a wife. The name Sarah was given to a female child in several of the succeeding generations. A common nickname for a girl named Sarah was "Sallie."

The column for May 22 listed the twelve children of John Butt, Jr. and his wife, Sarah Gordon Butt, and the two children of John Butt, Jr. by his second wife, Rebecca Fleming, bringing John, Jr.'s total number of children to fourteen. Tracing some of these children a bit further to subsequent generations reveals some of the legacy left by the Butt family.

Eugene W. Butt was the sixth child of John, Jr. and Sarah Gordon Butt. He had the reputation of being the wealthiest man in Union County and had extensive land holdings. The story is told that his children often played with gold coins to entertain themselves. His daughter, Cora, married Dr. Juan Wellborn, a well-known medical doctor who practiced from their home on the square in Blairsville. His son Jewel Butt was known for his witty sayings and quick answers to questions, a philosopher of sorts.

James Allen Butt, Sr., fourth son of John, Jr. and Sarah Butt, served in the Confederacy in Smith's Legion and then transferred to the 65th Georgia Calvary.

He received wounds in the war during the battle of Atlanta, and suffered consequences health-wise for the rest of his life. However, he was able to render public service as County Commissioner when the courthouse on the square was erected in 1899.

James Allen Butt, Jr. married Ellen Owenby. He became a merchant and had a popular general mercantile store on the square in Blairsville. This store building later became a drug store, operated by James A. Butt, Jr.'s son, Sylvan Butt, pharmacist. Perhaps many remember, as I, going to the drug store as children and having an ice cream which Dr. Butt kept on dry ice until better means of storing ice cream came with electrical freezers.

Other children of James A. and Ellen Owenby Butt became educators. Their son Hubert Butt was a teacher and administrator at Young Harris Academy. Their daughter, Grapelle Butt Mock was a teacher at Union County High School and at schools in East Tennessee. I was privileged to have Mrs. Mock as a high school teacher, and appreciate the good instruction and positive influence she had on my life. The Grapelle Butt Mock house is now an annex to the Union County Historical Museum (the old court house) and is serving a good purpose as an interpretation center for mountain ways and life of past years.

Mr. Ira Butt was the grandson of John Butt, Jr. His father was Thomas Butt. Ira Butt was the owner and editor of The North Georgia News for about seven decades from the early 1900's to the 1970's. His column "Did You Know?" was a popular feature, giving both historical and contemporary vignettes of happenings. During World War II, Editor Ira Butt was diligent in reporting on military men who had gone out from Union County to serve their country.

Other notable Butt descendants have been public servants. Archibald Blucher Butt, son of Jacob and Ruth Collins Butt, was a justice of the peace in Blairsville. His son, Claude Butt, was Union County Clerk of Court for over three decades. Dr. James A. Butts is a noted medical doctor in Gainesville. These three columns are but sketchy summaries of the contributions made to Union County and beyond by the descendants of John Butt, Sr. (1780-1843), farmer and miner.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 5, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Nix connections, Part 6- John Washington Nix

My last column on Nix connections was in the August 23, 2007 "Sentinel." In that article, we saw that six sons of James "Jimmy" Nix and Elizabeth "Betsy" Collins Nix served in the Civil War (Thompson Nix, John Nix, James Bly Nix, Jeffrie Nix, Jasper "Grancer" Nix, and Newton Nix).

Of these six, Thompson, John and Newton died in the War, and possibly Jeffrie, as well, for no further trace of him is found in census records. The father, James Nix, also enlisted and served in the Georgia Militia.

Near the end of the war, Jasper "Grancer" Nix married first to Harriet Carolina "Tina" Duckworth, on April 2, 1865. "Aunt Tina" was a well-known midwife in the mountain area of Choestoe, traveling on horseback in all kinds of weather to assist in birthing and to attend the sick. She often brought very sick or premature babies to her house to tend them. She made them a bed before the fireplace in rocking chairs made by Jasper, and carefully nursed them until they were able to go back to their own mother.

Grancer and "Tina" Nix had twelve children whose names were Mary "Molly", John Washington, Benjamin, James, William "Bill", Martha, Albert, Emma Lena, Alonzo "Lon", Frank, Joseph, and Jerry. Their first son and second child is the subject of this column.

John Washington Nix was born to Jasper "Grancer" and "Tina" Nix on July 19, 1867. He was married three times and had children by his first two wives.

It is an interesting story how John Washington Nix met his first wife, Mary Dover. He was in White County, and suffered an accidental gunshot wound to his shoulder in the late 1880's. He stumbled into the Dover house, suffering greatly from his wound and thinking he would die.

Mary Dover and her mother devised a way to clean the gunshot wound by hanging a water bucket over him as he lay on the bed. They punched a hole in the bucket, and the cool spring water dripped onto the wound, partially numbing the pain. He recovered, and the good Samaritan Mary Dover became the wife of John Washington Nix on August 30, 1887. He moved her to his farm on Choestoe. There were born their three children: William Arzie Nix on July 10, 1888; James Lester Nix on February 13, 1891; and Wilburn, who died young. The cause of Mary Dover Nix's death is not known; it may have been in childbirth when her third child, Wilburn, was born.

John Washington Nix married second to Catherine Clarenda Dyer on December 29, 1895. She was a daughter of Henderson Andrew Dyer and Adeline M. Sullivan Dyer. Her paternal grandparents were Micajah Clark Dyer (inventor of "An Apparatus for Navigating the Air", 1874) and Morena Owenby Dyer. It is reported that Henderson Andrew Dyer, Catherine's father, was the "richest man" in Choestoe, loaning money to many people who migrated west in the late 1800's and early 1900's, as well as helping young couples to get established on a farm or in business. When they married, he gave each of his children acreage for their own farm.

John Washington and Catherine Dyer Nix had eleven children: Harvey (1897-1916) never married; Dora Lou (1899- 1966) married Franklin Hedden Dyer; Magnola "Nola" (1900- 1987) married John Jarrett Turner; Mary Elizabeth (twin, 1902-1904); Martha L. (twin, 1902-1904); Joseph Spencer (1905-1982) married Doris E. Nix and Cathryn Clark Birgel; Roy Walter (1906-1971) married Idell Nelson; Maver Clarenda (1908-1990) married General Pat Harkins and Edward Collins; Howard Benson (1911-1979), married Ellen Erwin; Florida "Flo" Lee (1911-2007) married Carlos Turner; and Cleo Inez Colorado (1917-2003) married Rouse King.

When her youngest child, Cleo, was only ten years old, Catherine Clarinda Dyer Nix died September 7, 1927 and was interred in Old Liberty Cemetery. John Washington Nix married the third time to Maggie Rice on December 25, 1928.

John Washington Nix was known as an excellent blacksmith. He was also quite a musician. He owned a genuine Stradivarious violin, a valued heirloom owned by one of his great grandsons today. To the delight of neighbors, friends and family, the strains of "fiddle" tunes and lilting mountain arias often came from his Stradivarious which he played from his front porch. The old gunshot wound tended by Mary Dover and her mother had left his right arm and hand with limitations, but since it was his "bow" hand, he could still produce excellent music. After a long and eventful life, he died July 14, 1942, and was buried beside his second wife, Catherine, at Old Liberty Baptist Church.

John Washington Nix was noted as an excellent marksman with the gun. A grandson, Eric England, often went with him on hunting trips and learned from his grandfather how to be a sure shot. This knowledge Eric employed as a member of the United States Marine Corps as a scout-sniper and has earned the title of "the greatest marksman in world history."

Resources for this article are "The Nix Family Tree" by Wanda West Gregory, 1980, and Dr. Joseph Blair Turner who answered questions about his great grandfather by e-mail.

(Ethelene Dyer Jones is a native of Union County. She is recovering well from five bypasses heart surgery performed August 30.)

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones. Published October 4, 2007 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Ivy Log and some of its early residents

On Saturday, June 9, I attended the fourth annual meeting of the Byron Herbert Reece Society in Young Harris. As attendees were visiting in the lobby of the Goolsby Center after registration and prior to beginning of the meeting in the Wilson Lecture Hall, a fine citizen of Union County commented on this weekly column and assured me he was a regular reader. I thanked him and told him I was glad to hear I do have readers. He gave me a little reprimand that I have dwelt so long on my home district of Choestoe without branching out to other sections of Union County. "Why not write about Ivy Log?" he asked. And to that dear gentleman, I appreciate his question, and will try in future to hop about the county to find worthy historical subjects for this column.

Look at a map of Union County and you will find the militia district of Ivy Log bordering North Carolina on the north, with Gum Log District on the east, Dooly district on the west, and Lower Young Cane on the south. I turned to my excellent ready resource, The Heritage of Union County, 1832-1994 (p. 28) to find if and when Ivy Log had post offices. These federal stations tell us much about some of the activity and people in a district from its early days.

Rock Hill post office in the Ivy Log Militia District received its grant for operation with the appointment of Joseph Patterson as first postmaster on May 21, 1838.

The first census of Union County in 1834 listed Joseph Patterson as having eight males and four females in his household. Other Patterson families, which seem to have been living adjacent to each other in 1834, were Amos Patterson (five males, two females), John Patterson (four males, three females), and George Patterson (four males, three females). According to the Patterson family articles in the county history book, John Patterson, his wife Margaret Black Patterson, and some of heir children migrated to what became Union County in 1829. Although not specifically indicated, Joseph may have been one of their sons, or maybe even a brother to John. The twins, Joseph Elijah and William Elisha Patterson, sons of William Harden Patterson and Rebecca Chastain Patterson, were born in 1871 and were too young for one to be the Joseph Patterson who founded Rock Hill post office at Ivy Log.

Rock Hill post office operated under that name and with Joseph Patterson as postmaster until October 4, 1842 when Richard W. Roberts got the contract as postmaster. He changed the name to Ivy Log and the post office went by that name until it was discontinued September 15, 1910. As Rock Hill and Ivy Log, the community gathering place, probably in a store run by its postmasters, had an operational life of 70 years, quite a long tenure for mail depositories of that era. For two years, the post office charter was not renewed, as seen in the following listing of postmasters.

William R. Utter succeeded Richard W. Roberts on May 4, 1847. He remained until the post office was discontinued at the end of his term June 27, 1866. His was the longest tenure of any of the officers.

There must have been an appeal to reestablish the office, for on June 9, 1868, William A. Cobb became postmaster. William Alfred Cobb married Charlotte Henson on May 22, 1861. This couple had nine children: Reuben Francis; John Franklin.; Rebecca Leona; Joseph Jasper; Louise Jane; James Wesley; Rufus Alexander; Elbert Lorenzo; and Harrison Taylor.

Both William A. Cobb and his wife, Charlotte Henson Cobb, were children of Revolutionary War patriots. His father was John Paul Cobb who fought with the famed "Swamp Fox," Francis Marion, at the Battle of King's Mountain, York County, NC. Charlotte's father was Daniel Henson who served in the Revolution and fought the Tories.

Before moving to Georgia about 1848, William Alfred Cobb was sheriff of Haywood County, N.C. He was also a Methodist minister. Charlotte Henson Cobb died May 23, 1861 in Union County and was buried in the New Hope Cemetery, Ivy Log. William Alfred married his second wife, Lavinia Roberts, on February 2, 1862. His second wife probably assisted Rev. Cobb with duties at the post office. When he gave up duties as Ivy Log's postmaster, he and Lavinia moved to Beaver Dam, Cherokee County, N.C., where he died August 5, 1886. He was interred at the Unaka Cemetery there.

William A. Cobb was succeeded at the Ivy Log post office by Pleasant Short, appointed postmaster April 21, 1873. The remaining postmasters and their dates of appointment were William W. Chapman, June 7, 1883; Jasper L. Owenby, March 29, 1887; Frank E. Conley, August 9, 1887; Ulysses Sidney Cobb, May 18, 1897; and Elizabeth C. Cobb, March 15, 1899. Ms. Cobb kept the office open until Ivy Log was permanently closed on September 15, 1910.

Space in this article precludes tracing family connections of these last six postmasters at Ivy Log. However, Ulysses Cobb was a grandson of William Alfred Cobb, son of Harrison Taylor Cobb. The last postmaster at Ivy Log, Elizabeth C. Cobb, was Harrison Taylor Cobb's wife, Elizabeth Caroline Neece Cobb (09-27-1845 - 10- 07-1933). She and Harrison Taylor Cobb (06-14-1846 - 05- 31-1920) were buried at the New Hope Methodist Cemetery in the Ivy Log Militia District. An interesting aside is that the oldest marked grave at the New Hope Cemetery is that of Lydia Keys Cobb (1773-1848). She was the second wife of Revolutionary War soldier John Paul Cobb and the mother of William Alfred Cobb (1809- 1886). W. A. Cobb was fourth postmaster at Ivy Log.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 14, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Respected mountain doctor, Herbert Monroe Edge

Dr. Herbert Monroe Edge (1892-1974) was a respected mountain doctor whose care for many people throughout Union County was memorable.

I remember Dr. Edge as a kindly man who attended my mother in the last period of her life. Making house calls was still in vogue in the years when he practiced. If he was at our house near mealtime, my father always invited him to eat with us. I can remember that I, as a "child cook," would feel that our country fare, and especially my inept cooking, would not be good enough for this noted man, our family doctor. But after he prayed the blessing, he always ate with relish and appreciation whatever we served him from our garden and farm.

I was often beset with sore throats (needing a tonsillectomy which I had several years later). My father would instruct me to get off the school bus at Dr. Edge's house and have him "paint" my throat with iodine, a procedure I dreaded with a passion. But with that treatment, and other medications Dr. Edge would administer, I would walk the distance to the high school from his house and my sore throat would be bearable. Dad would, in turn, stop later to pay Dr. Edge for my doctor's visit. It was just such a trusting relationship that Dr. Edge had with his patients and their families.

Dr. Edge was not born in Union County, but he had Union County ties. He was born in Lake City, Fla., September 21, 1892. His father was John B. Edge and his mother was Laura Ann Owenby Edge. John Edge was a businessman, operating a large store in Lake City. He also had business interests in Blairsville. It was at Ivy Log that John Edge met his second wife, Laura Ann Owenby. John Edge's first wife had died, leaving him with seven small children. When he married Laura Ann, she assumed the care of her husband's older children, five boys and two girls. John and Laura Ann had six children, Herbert Monroe (1892), Belle, Ethel, Johnnie (a girl), Mae, and Homer.

When Herbert Monroe was 6, the family moved to Union County, Ga., and settled at the Owenby farm in Ivy Log. Herbert Edge's first education was in the country school near Ivy Log Creek where he finished the fifth grade and then dropped out to help on the farm.

At age 20, Herbert Monroe Edge had the strong impression that there was more he should do in life than walk behind a plow. He enrolled in Blairsville Academy where he was the oldest student. He was willing to take the jibes his fellow students gave him at being so old and back in school. He graduated from Young Harris College and entered Emory University to study medicine. On June 7, 1921, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He was then 29 years of age, not so old considering how many years he had been out of school and how much he had gained, educationally, in the past nine years.

Dr. Edge did his internship at Knoxville General Hospital, Knoxville, Tenn. There he met registered nurse Chloe Philmon, but she went a different way, to Denver, Colo. She married John Arrowood, and their son, John Arrowood Jr. was born. Then John, Sr. died in 1927. Dr. Edge and Nurse Chloe Philmon Arrowood were reunited and married. Dr. Edge reared her young son as his own, but never changed his name or adopted him.

Dr. Edge's medical career spanned over 50 years. He was a compassionate doctor and held the care of his patients as a sacred trust. He attended the birth of babies and stood beside a bed when a patient was near death. From 1936 through his death in 1974, he was a loving doctor to Blairsville and Union County, going when he was called to the humblest homes.

When Dr. Edge died May 31, 1974, he was laid to rest at Antioch Cemetery in Union County, near the graves of his parents, John B. and Laura Ann Owenby Edge, and his sister Mae who had died of typhoid in 1905 at age 20.

Dr. Edge enjoyed collecting antique clocks and had them scattered throughout his house. I can remember admiring some of them as I stopped by his office to get help for my ailing sore throat when I was a teenager. Much time has passed since those days in the 1940s when he cared for my sick mother and when the clocks ticked and chimed from rooms near his office in his home on Pruitt Circle. Time has moved into another dimension since then, and the days of the doctor making house calls has passed.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Jan. 18, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

No Coincidence: To Learn of the Late Emma Lena Nix Dyer (1889-1955)

Webster defines “coincidence” as “the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection.”

Notice that coincidence is “by accident,” but that the events can also “seem to have some connection.”

Writer Haddon Chambers in the early twentieth century in his drama, “Captain Swift,” spoke of “The long arm of coincidence.” The English poet Lord Byron wrote, “’A strange coincidence’ to use a phrase/ By which such things are settled now-a-days.” Thomas Hardy, writing on the destruction of “The Titanic,” likened the glacier and the giant liner being “on paths coincident—twin halves of one august event/’Till the Spinner of the Years/Said ‘Now!’.”

So far, nothing as cataclysmic as the wreck of the Titanic has occurred, and we would hope that it would not. But indeed, it was “the long arm of coincidence,” and, we believe, intervention by the “Spinner of Years” that Bruce Dyer of Dalton and I came to have a telephone conversation a few weeks ago, and it was from him I began to learn of his beloved grandmother, the late Emma Lena Nix Dyer, about whom he wanted to know more information.

It happened like this, in a string of “brought together” coincidences (or, as Bruce and I now believe, it was no ‘accident’). Someone in Dalton where Bruce Dyer owns and operates several carpet-tufting mills took him a copy of “The Union Sentinel.” It was the issue when we were pleading with Dyers and Southers everywhere to attend the July 15 Dyer-Souther Reunion, and especially to attend the 3:00 p.m. ceremony that day that would review the contributions of inventor Micajah Clark Dyer (1822-1891) as a portion of Georgia Highway 180 was named in his honor.

“This has something about the Dyers,” the donor of the paper said to Bruce Dyer. “I thought you would like to read it.”

And with that coincidental giving of the paper, Bruce Dyer was furnished with my telephone number. This was after the reunion happening on July 15, but he called me and we talked a long time. He didn’t know much about his connections to the Dyers, except that his grandmother, Emma Lena Nix had married David Marcus Dyer. Beyond that, he had no inkling of whether or not he was in the direct line of Micajah Clark Dyer. I told him I had a few resources I could check, and I would be back with him in a few weeks. With that one telephone conversation, we struck a rapport, and I wanted, if possible, to help Bruce Dyer, businessman, connect with his ancestors.

To make a long story short, I had great success in tracing Bruce Dyer’s roots back to his great, great grandfather, Micajah Clark Dyer, and even beyond the inventor to the first known Dyers in the line. Furthermore, I was able to trace the roots of his grandmother, Emma Lena Nix, back to the earliest known Nixes in America. I had help, of course, from online sources, from genealogy buffs like myself, Linda Trader Jordan of Gainesville, Dr. Joe Turner of Gainesville, and the five books of genealogy my cousin Watson Benjamin Dyer published from 1967 through 1988, and a helpful tome, “The Nix Family Tree,” published by Wanda West Gregory in 1980.

I could hardly pull the wonderful information together fast enough and send to Bruce Dyer. On August 28 I had the second telephone call from him, thanking me profusely for my efforts and assuring me that he and his two sons, Mark and Jeff, who are in the carpet business with him in Dalton, were delighted with the results of my findings and were trying to absorb the various family connections I had unraveled for them.

Since the subject of this column set out to be about Emma Lena Nix Dyer (1889-1955), I will continue with that subject, and a lofty subject she turned out to be, indeed.

Emma Lena Nix was born November 22, 1889 in Union County, Georgia, the fifth of eight children of John Wesley Nix (1-5-1863 – 10-13-1896) and Minty Lavada Reece Nix (2-12-1863 – 8-6-1933). Emma Lena married David Marcus Dyer (1885-?) on January 6, 1907 in Union County. The couple lived in the Owltown District of Union County. David (“Dave”) was a son of Robert F. Dyer (1856 - ?) and Elizabeth Fortenberry Dyer (1856-?). And Robert F.’s parents were Micajah Clark Dyer (1822-1891) and Morena Owenby Dyer (1819-1892). Indeed, I had easily traced Bruce Dyer’s lineage on the Dyer side back to the nineteenth century inventor of the “Apparatus for Navigating the Air.” And on the Nix side, back through John Wesley, Archibald Carr, James, William “Grancer”, and John Nix.

Bruce knew some information about his grandmother whom he loved dearly. He told me when they held her funeral in Whitfield County, Georgia following her death on July 12, 1955, that “crowds of people came out of the mountains (around Owltown, Union County) to pay their respects. She and David Marcus Dyer had lived in Owltown until they moved to Dalton about 1946. She had been a noted mid-wife in the era before doctors were readily available to attend births around the countryside in Owltown. Those who came to her funeral were some of the grown-up children she had delivered, and their elderly parents who appreciated what this good woman had done for their families.

Emma Lena Nix Dyer was a devoutly religious woman. She and her family attended the Church of God in the Owltown Community. One summer, a Rev. Woody was leading a revival, and Mrs. Dyer got “in the Spirit,” and in her state of spiritual ecstasy, she walked around inside the church building with her hands raised, praising the Lord. Rev. Woody fell in behind her, and so did most of the congregation. When Mrs. Dyer sat down, the preacher went back to the pulpit and resumed his preaching and the congregation seated themselves and sat listening.

She did most of her trading with traveling peddlers who came by the Dyer house in Owltown. She saved up eggs, and caught fryer chickens to barter for goods from the peddler’s wagon (or, in later years, his truck). She also was noted for the produce she canned from her garden and orchard, and often traded pickles, jams, jellies and vegetables for the peddler’s wares. When the peddler got back to town, people rushed to his wagon to see what Mrs. Emma Lena Dyer had traded. They wanted first choice of her goods, knowing that they were “put up” with care and attention to detail.

After World War II, the Dyer family moved from Owltown District to Dalton, Whitfield County. David Marcus Dyer was a carpenter by trade. He worked for awhile in Atlanta, building houses, until they moved to Dalton. There both of Bruce Dyer’s grandparents died and were buried. The lineages on “both sides” of this family, Nix and Dyer, show a line of stalwart pioneers, salt-of-the-earth people who lived by high moral and religious standards, treated their fellowmen with respect, and left a legacy of hard work and stability.

c 2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Aug. 31, 2006 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The mystery surrounding William Townsend

William Townsend was the sixth child and fifth son of Elisha (Eli) and Sarah Elizabeth (Sallie) Dyer Townsend. He was born in 1840 or 1841 and appeared in two census records of 1850. He was listed in Union County in the home of his mother Sarah when he was 9, together with siblings Andrew, 24; Thomas, 18; Polly Ann, 14; Caleb 12; and Sarah, 5. Nearby is a married son of Sallie Townsend, Elisha, age 23, and his wife, Caroline Anthony Townsend, and their one-year old child, Martha.

The Cherokee County, Ga., census of the same year lists William Townsend as 10 years of age along with his sister Mary Ann, age 13. In the Union census Mary Ann had been listed as Polly Ann, age 14. Polly was a common nickname for Mary. These two were evidently visiting in the home of their aunt, Serena Townsend, who had in her care when the census taker called, three other children, also her nephews: David Townsend, age 8; Ezekiel Townsend, age 6; and Kimsey Townsend, age 3.

The mystery of the elder Eli Townsend’s whereabouts in 1850 is unknown. After the transaction to sell the grant of land received for his service in the Mexican War in 1849, he does not appear on census records either in Union or Cherokee County (where his father, Edward, lived).

Some of the descendants of Eli Townsend believe that the three younger children in his sister Syrena’s care in Cherokee County when the 1850 census was taken were the children of the elder Eli Townsend by “another woman” other than his wife, Sarah Elizabeth (Sallie) Dyer Townsend. Thus begins one of the mysteries surrounding the life of William Townsend, sixth child of Eli and Sallie. Did he live part of the time in his early years with his Aunt Serena in Cherokee County, Ga.?

He returned to Union County and to the home of his mother Sallie, for it was in Union County where he married Eliza Bower on July 15, 1860. Thompson Collins, Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony. With the Civil War brewing, William Townsend enlisted for service with the Confederacy.

And with his enlistments came another mystery. War records show that William Townson (the spelling used) enlisted in Company G, 52nd Regiment of the Georgia Infantry on March 4, 1862 in Captain Lewis B. Beard’s unit. He signed up at Blairsville and received $50 for his enlistment. However, the Muster Roll lists him as “deserted” August 1, 1862. The same company shows him “absent without leave” for January and February 1863. However, in November and December of 1863, the roll shows him present. The archives records show that a William Townson, Private, in Company I, 6th Regiment of the Georgia Calvary enlisted on February 1, 1863 for a period of three years by Colonel J. S. Fain. Did he leave one company and enlist in another? Apparently so.

He signed the Oath of Allegiance to the United States, subscribed on March 5, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tenn. We get a physical description of the 24-year-old man from this record. He was five feet eleven inches in height, had a fair complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes.

His wife, Eliza, remained in Union County with their young children while William Townsend served in the Civil War. The 1870 census lists William, age 27 (which age poses another mystery about the birth date of William Townsend). In 1870, their children were Sarah, age 10; Elizabeth, age 8; Thomas, age 5; Andrew, age 3, and Rosa, age 1.

Between 1870 and 1880, four more children were born to William and Eliza Townsend: Newton (age 9 in 1880), Laura (5), Alice (2), and Virgil (11 months).

But William Townsend was not listed in the 1880 census with his wife Eliza, then age 42. And this brings us to the fourth mystery surrounding William Townsend—his death which occurred on January 5, 1880.

The Grand Jury of May term of court in Union County drew up a true bill declaring that William Townsend had been murdered. Arthur Owenby, Thomas Owenby “and others” were charged in his murder. Arthur Owenby was William Townsend’s brother-in-law, the husband of William’s sister, Mary Ann, called Polly. Thomas Owenby was probably his nephew, a son of Mary Ann and Arthur. The “others” were listed as Columbus Teague, Malinda Teague, James Colly, Joseph Colly and Jehue Dean.

These “unlawfully and with force and arms did with malice aforethought unlawfully against one William Townson (sic) with knives, their hands and fists and other weapons to the jurours (sic) unknown with intent unlawfully to kill and murder him…cutting, stabbing, holding, pulling, hitting, knocking, beating and wounding him, the said William Townson…and thereby inflicting many mortal wounds…The said William Townson then and there died.”

What caused such a mortal fight? Stories of the murder of that cold day January 5, 1880 say that the fracas was an argument about “the other” family of Eli Townsend and its denial by the family. Another story hints of disagreements over gold holdings and diggings. At any rate, a young man with a large family of nine children lay dead.

Union County Court Records show that the trial was completed on March 28, 1881 and that Thomas Owenby, evidently the main perpetrator of the crime, pleaded not guilty. The panel of traverse jurors found Owenby not guilty of the crime. Accessories to the crime went free as well.

With no 1890 census records to check the whereabouts of Eliza Bower Townsend and her nine children, this writer does not know how long she may have remained in Union County. However, after the heart-breaking incident of her husband’s murder, she evidently moved away, taking her children with her, for she is not listed in subsequent Union County census records. Three of her children could have married in Union County: A Rose Townson (sic) married an Owen on August 2, 1890; Alice Townson (sic) married Samuel Colley June 17, 1894; and Andrew Townson (sic) married Mary Duckworth June 2, 1895. It is difficult to tell whether these are the Rose, Alice and Andrew, children of Eliza and William Townsend, for first names were common and often the same among the various Townsend families. I did not find a marked gravestone for the murdered William Townsend in cemetery records of Union County.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Sept. 1, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

William Marion Jackson and Rebecca Goforth Jackson

Continuing the saga of the Jackson Family in Union County, today's account will look at a son of William Jackson and Nancy Stanley Owenby Jackson. William Marion Jackson was born, as he recounted to his children "near Yonah Mountain in Habersham (now White) County, Georgia on May 9, 1829. He died March 12, 1912. On December 19, 1850, he married Rebecca Jane Goforth who was born in Burke County, North Carolina on March 3, 1833 and died June 5, 1901. Those interested in seeing the graves of these two early settlers in Union County can find them in Old Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery, Choestoe District.

Rebecca Jane Goforth was a daughter of Miles Goforth. This family of Goforths migrated from Burke County, NC to Union County, Georgia about 1840. It is believed that the Goforths and Jacksons were neighbors in North Carolina and also in the new county of Union.

When they married in 1850, there was already talk of secession from the Union. The Jacksons were pro-Unionists and he would prove his loyalty by joining the U. S. Army.

William Marion and Rebecca began to rear their family. They had a farm, probably on acreage his father owned at Town Creek, Choestoe. William Jackson (1798-1859) and Nancy Jackson (1793-1861) died a few years after William Marion and Rebecca married. The grandparents Jackson saw some of William Marion's children before death claimed the first-generation paternal grandparents. These children were born to William Marion and Rebecca:

(1) Nancy Jackson (named for her grandmother), born November 21, 1851. She married John W. "Rink" Souther (b. June 15, 1833). Nancy and John moved to Pueblo Colorado and reared their family there.
(2) William Miles Jackson (August 30, 1853-January 8, 1910) married on February 24, 1873 to Nancy Souther (December 25, 1883 - May 8, 1899), daughter of Jesse and Malinda Nix Souther. Second, Miles married Nancy West (March, 1863 - February, 1939). Miles and his first wife Nancy were buried at the Old Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery.
(3) Sarah Catherine Jackson (October 12, 1858 - March 21, 1909) married on February 17 to James M. Hood (September 23, 1856 - February 6, 1913). Sarah Catherine was buried in Old Liberty Church Cemetery, but James Monroe Hood moved to live near Rome, Georgia where he married again. He was buried in Aragon, Georgia Cemetery.
(4) Mary Louise Jackson (January 14, 1861 - February 13, 1934) married on January 1, 1881 to Archibald Benjamin Collins (October 19, 1862 - April 4, 1897). These were the parents of Dr. Mauney Douglas Collins, for 25 years Georgia's state school superintendent. This family's story has been recounted in earlier articles.
(5) Martha Ann Jackson (1866-1916) married first William Hunter on August 18, 1889. Following his death, she married John Pruitt Collins. Martha Ann and William Hunter had a son, Vanus, who became a dentist and practiced in Commerce, Georgia and a son, William (1894-1952). Martha and John Pruitt Collins had three children, Watson, Parker and Rosa.
(6) Thomas Kimsey Jackson (1867-1951) married Mary Jane Collins (1869-1887) and Mary Caroline Collins (1872-1952). Their family history was recounted in last week's column.
(7) Frankie Jane Jackson (February 6, 1870 - November 18, 1962) married James Eli Collins (October 3, 1868-January 8, 1938), a son of Dallas and Roseanna Souther Collins. Frankie Jane and James Eli helped Archibald Benjamin Collins in his store at Choestoe until after A. B.'s death and the store was closed. Frankie Jane and James Eli then migrated to Weatherford Texas.
(8) Fairlena Dorothy Jackson (August 4, 1873 - September 9, 1962) married on December 29, 1889 to Joseph Souther (April 24, 1870 - September 21, 1922). He was a son of Jesse Washington Souther (1836-1926) and Sarah E. Collins Souther (1840-1872). Fairlena and Joseph went to Taos, New Mexico where he worked in copper smelting. They had nine children. After Joseph's death, Fairlena married George Harris.

William Marion Jackson enlisted in the U. S. Army during the War Between the States. His enlistment was from October 1, 1863 through August 16, 1865 with Company D, 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Volunteer Mounted Infantry commanded by Colonel Bartlett. In his application for pension, he stated that at Cumberland Gap in August 1864, he was "taken sick with rheumatism and dysentery and sent to the hospital at said Gap." There he remained until March, 1865, when he received a "sick furlough." He was to be given a medical discharge, but told his commander he lived in Georgia "within the rebel lines," and could not, therefore, safely return to his home. In his pension statement, he declared he was "a farmer by occupation," but due to his "illness and physical incapacity was unable to perform manual labor." Records show that finally $379.00 were received for his nursing care, physician's charges, and undertaking charges following his death.

After Rebecca died in 1901, William Marion Jackson married again to Jane Davis who lived only a short time. He married third to Mandy Seabolt. He outlived her. His final days were spent with his youngest son, Thomas Kimsey Jackson and T. K.'s wife, Mary Caroline Collins Jackson.

Living through the Civil War years and struggling to make a livelihood when the chief breadwinner was disabled from the war was not an easy task. It is reported by family members that William Marion and Rebecca Goforth Jackson were staunch Christians, and "devout Baptists." They found ways to "make do" with what they had.


c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published April 22, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Family of Thomas Kimsey Jackson

Thomas Kimsey Jackson
Teacher, Merchant, Farmer, Minister
(1867-1951)

Two weeks ago this column presented the family of early Union settler William Jackson and his wife, Nancy Owenby Stanley Jackson. Many avenues can be pursued on the Jackson families and how they spread from Union County to many states. This column will focus on Thomas Kimsey Jackson, grandson of William and Nancy Jackson, and son of their son William Marion Jackson (05/09/1829-03/12/1912) and Rebecca Goforth Jackson (03/03/1833-06/05/1901).

Marion Jackson and his wife Rebecca lived on Town Creek, Choestoe District, where he farmed. They lived near his parents, William and Nancy Jackson. Marion joined the Union Army during the War Between the States and served as a private in Company H, 2nd Regiment, North Carolina Mounted Infantry from October 3, 1863 through August 16, 1865. He saw action in the Cumberland Gap Campaign. He received a medical discharge for severe rheumatism. His pension application stated that he was unable to perform manual labor because of his disability.

Thomas Kimsey Jackson was one of eleven children born to Marion and Nancy Jackson. Three of T. K.’s siblings died young. Eight of them lived to adulthood, married and had families. Thomas Kimsey Jackson was born December 17, 1867 and died February 2, 1951.

In an account of his life and family, T. K. Jackson wrote: “I was educated for a school teacher and for seventeen years I taught school.” He does not say where he received his education, but perhaps he went through the Gap to the Hiawassee Academy where he received as good an education as was available for aspiring teachers in the late nineteenth century.

He taught at the country schools at New and Old Liberty Churches. Among his famous pupils was his nephew, Mauney Douglas Collins, son of T. K.’s sister, Mary Louise Jackson who married Archibald Benjamin Collins. A letter dated October 9, 1936 from T. K. Jackson, Young Harris, Georgia, and written to a niece (name not specified) states: “Yes, we are all proud of M. D.’s success and his ability to do things. I hope others of our people will make high marks.” By this time, that nephew whom T. K. Jackson probably taught to read was Georgia’s School Superintendent.

Thomas Kimsey Jackson married twice. His first wife was Mary Jane Collins (11/26/1869-01/17/1887), daughter of John P. and Fronia Duckworth Collins. T. K. and Mary Jane had one child, Thurman Sylvester (known as Vester, born 01/15/1887 - 01/19/1922). Mary Jane evidently died with complications following childbirth, for her death occurred two days after her baby boy, Vester, was born. Mary Jane was buried in the Six Oaks Cemetery near Old Liberty Baptist Church about which I wrote last week. Jumping forward in time, this first-born son of T. K. Jackson married Lola Souther, daughter of William Albert and Caroline “Hon” Dyer Souther. Vester and Lola had five children: Elma Clara, Donald Clifford, Worth Oliver, Adele Marie and Ruth Lavesta. Vester Jackson met a tragic death on January 19, 1922 from a gasoline explosion at his store and filling station at Town Creek, Choestoe. His last child, Ruth, was born August 31, 1922, seven months after her father’s death.

Thomas Kimsey Jackson married his second wife, Mary Caroline Collins (04/09/1872-07/03/1952) on January 13, 1889. She was a daughter of Elijah Kimsey and Rosetta Sullivan Collins. To T. K. and Mary Caroline were born fifteen children. They were:

Iowa Rosetta Jackson who married Bluford Vasco Dyer
Sarah Christine Jackson who married Frank Calloway Duckworth
Thomas Watson Jackson (10/21/1893-01/19/1910)
Elma Jackson (08/01/1895-10/01/1895)
Martha Nevada Jackson who married Robert (Bob) L. Jackson
Fannie Jane Jackson who married Earl Penland
Ollie Mae Jackson who married Benjamin Frank Sargent
Lillie Bell Jackson (08/22-1902 - 08/30/1921)
Mary Leona Jackson who married McKinley Pruitt
Margaret Viola Jackson who married Anson Ray Geckler
Pat Marion Jackson who married Louise D. Macon
Pearl Jackson, a twin to Pat (03/23/1909-06-?-1909)
Annie Maude Jackson who married Roscoe McGaha
Thomas J. Jackson who married Lucy Inez Aderhold
Hugh Dorsey Jackson (03/12/1917-04/26/1917)

The Thomas Kimsey Jackson House and Store at Town Creek, Choestoe

In addition to his seventeen years of public school teaching, Thomas Kimsey Jackson operated a country store at Town Creek, Choestoe. The store was in the front ell of the house, accessible by steps from the front. The large family lived in the back wing of the house.

The family moved from Town Creek to Young Harris in 1907 where he also continued his work as a merchant. The twins, Pat and Pearl were born there. Pearl, one of the twins, was buried at Old Union Cemetery, Young Harris in 1909, as were the other children who died young. His reason for relocating to Young Harris was to give his children better educational opportunities at Young Harris Academy and College. Both Thomas Kimsey Jackson and his wife Mary Caroline Collins Jackson were interred at Old Union Baptist Church Cemetery, Young Harris. Jacksonville, the village near Young Harris on Highway 76/APD 515 was named for the Jackson family.

Thomas Kimsey Jackson was ordained to the ministry. This writer does not have information on where he might have been a pastor, but surmises that he probably preached at Old Liberty Baptist Church (Union County) and at Old Union Baptist Church (Towns County).

Descendants which are many of Thomas Kimsey Jackson and his sixteen children, fourteen of whom married and had families of their own, can be proud of the legacy left by this teacher/merchant/preacher.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Apr. 15. 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

William Jackson - Early Union Settler

Last week's column presented Andrew William Jackson and his wife, Minerva Goforth Jackson, their hardships during and after the Civil War and their move west to California. Today's column will go back a generation in time and explore the life of William Jackson, father of Andrew. He and his wife Nancy were in Union County when it was formed in 1832, having been first in Habersham County, going there about 1827 from Rutherford County, NC.

William was a very common first name among the Jacksons. The father of William Jackson has not been firmly established because of the frequent use of William as a given name. He could have been the son of Amos, of William, of Stephen, of John, of Joseph...the list goes on of men in the 1800 census of North Carolina with Jackson as the last name. Of Scotch descent and migrating to America from Northern Ireland, these early settlers were a hardy breed known to us as Scots-Irish.

William Jackson was born in North Carolina about 1798. He married in Rutherford County, NC on December 14, 1814 to Nancy Owenby Stanley, a widow with two sons, one of whom was named William and called Bill. She was born about 1793 and was five or more years older than her husband William who was only sixteen when he married.

About 1827 four Jackson brothers, William, Amos, Jehile and Joseph with their families migrated from North Carolina to Habersham County, Georgia. Were they caught up in the "gold fever" when gold was discovered there in 1828? Perhaps so, but no documentation is available to this writer about their prospecting. Settling in the beautiful Nacoochee Valley, they could look out daily and see the rocky face of Mt. Yonah where, legend held, the young Indian lovers, the fair maiden Nacoochee and the warrior brave Yonah, plunged to their deaths because they were from warring tribes and their parents would never approve their union.

When land lots became available in what was mapped as Union County in 1832, carved out of the old Cherokee lands, William secured land and settled in the shadow of the highest peak in Georgia, Bald Mountain, Choestoe District. William and Nancy Jackson and William's brother Joseph were all listed as members of Choestoe Baptist Church in 1834, the first year of extant minutes, although it is believed the church was organized in 1832. William Jackson cleared more land on his farm, adding to the acreage once tended by the Cherokee before they were driven from the property he purchased.

Besides Nancy Jackson's two sons by her first marriage, she had seven known children by her second husband, William Jackson. These were as follows: Rebecca Jackson (1816-1860) who married Jonathan Cook (1815-1861). They lived in the Arkaquah District of Union County and reared two sons and four daughters. Rebecca and Jonathan Cook were buried in the Six Oaks Cemetery near Old Liberty Church, Choestoe.

Armelia Jackson (1820-?) married William Neeley (1808-?). This couple moved to Tennessee and no information is known on their children.

Johile Jackson (1822-?), named for his uncle, married Jane Duckworth (1823-1896). They lived in the Arkaquah District and reared a family of four sons and five daughters. Johile and Jane Jackson were buried in the Jackson Family Cemetery on the Abercrombie Farm in Arkaquah District.

Susanna Jackson (1826-1889) married John W. Duckworth (1821-1913). They settled near Old Liberty Church on his father David Duckworth's property. They had a family of twelve children. Susie, as she was known, and John were interred in the Old Choestoe Cemetery but their gravestones have long ago disappeared.

Mira Jackson (1827-1902) married Jehu Wimpey (1829-1899). They had thirteen children, five sons and eight daughters. Their large family has many descendants still living in Union County. They were buried at Old Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery.

Kimsey Jackson (1828-1869) married Lucinda "Cindy" Thomas (1828-1909). At age 41, Kimsey had an unfortunate accident that took his life. He was driving a wagon pulled by oxen loaded with 300 feet of green oak lumber. On a hill near Old Liberty Church the brakes gave way and the wagon turned over, pinning Kimsey underneath it. Kimsey and Cindy had three sons.

William Marion Jackson (1829-1912) married Rebecca Goforth (1833-1901). Marion Jackson liked to tell that he was born near Yonah Mountain in what was then Habersham (now White) County, Georgia. He was the first of William and Nancy Jackson's children born after they moved to Georgia. During the Civil War, Marion joined the U. S. Army. He and Rebecca lived on Town Creek, Choestoe District, and reared six daughters and two sons. William and Rebecca were buried at Old Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery.

The youngest child of William and Nancy Jackson was Andrew William ((1835-1917) who married Minerva Goforth (1840-1915). Their story was recounted in last week's column. They went to California after the Civil War and never returned to Georgia.

William Jackson (1798-1859) and his wife Nancy (1793-1861) were both interred at the Six Oaks Cemetery near Old Liberty Baptist Church.

The Jackson name is still common in Union County among descendants of William and Nancy. The name means "Jack's Son". Jack was a nickname for John. Centuries ago in England, Scotland and Ireland John's Son and Jack's Son were common designations and from them the family name derived. The two first Jacksons registered in America were Isaac and John. Isaac Jackson was born in Ireland in 1664 and died at Londongrove, Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1750. His wife was Anna Evans and they had ten children. John Jackson was born in 1766 in Tipperary, Ireland and died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1826. John Jackson's ancestors have been traced back to Sir John Jackson, made a baron by King Charles II in 1660.


c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Apr. 1, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Andrew William Jackson

At times we read accounts of early settlers in Union County and learn of their subsequent adventures. We wonder how they lived through some of their exploits. Truth often looms larger than fiction. The story of Andrew William Jackson and his wife Margaret Minerva Goforth Jackson falls into the category of "truth stranger than fiction." I am grateful to Watson Benjamin Dyer and Belle Jackson Maury (she was a granddaughter of Andrew William Jackson) for this account of Andrew William Jackson. I have edited the account for structure, chronology and flow, but have kept to the facts as presented by Belle Jackson Maury.

Andrew William Jackson was born in 1835 in Choestoe District, Union County. His father was William Jackson (b. abt. 1798 in NC, died July 27, 1859, Choestoe, GA) and Nancy Owenby Stanley Jackson (b. ca 1793 in NC, died 1861, Choestoe, GA). They were in Union County when it was formed in 1832.

Andrew was the youngest of eight known children. The others were Rebecca who married Jonathan Cook; Armelia who married William Neely; Johile who married Jane Duckworth; Susan who married John W. Duckworth; Kimsey who married Lucinda Thomas; Mira who married Jehu Wimpey; and William Marion who married Minerva Goforth.

William and Nancy Jackson moved from Rutherford County, NC where they were married December 14, 1814. From there they went to Habersham County, Georgia and then to Union County near Bald Mountain. William and Nancy Jackson were early members--perhaps charter members--of Choestoe Baptist Church. Seeing the list of their children and their spouses indicates that there is a rich family history in each of the children and their descendants, many of whom still live in the vicinity. But the focus of this article will be upon Andrew William Jackson, the youngest of the children.

When the Jacksons were settling onto their Choestoe acres, there was much unrest in the nation. The majority of settlers in Union County were not slave holders and they did not want to participate in the Civil War. Many had Union leanings and went to Tennessee to join the U. S. (Northern) Army. Among these were Marion Jackson (Andrew's brother) and John Hunter, a Choestoe neighbor. Some in opposition to the South hid out in the mountains evading conscription. In the daytime deep caves were their hiding places. They ventured out at night and by the light of the moon worked their crops. Times were hard and fear was rampant.

Andrew William Jackson and Margaret Minerva Goforth were married on November 9, 1855, with the Rev. William Pruitt, Minister of the Gospel, performing the ceremony. When the war was declared, Andrew was in the vicinity of Atlanta. He was conscripted for the Confederate Army but did not like it and deserted.

The story is told that at one time when his pursuers were looking for him, he climbed up into the chimney of their home to hide. Minerva and her little children tried to be calm while the search went on. The men left the home and Andrew stayed several hours in the chimney before he came down. He and sixteen other deserters were captured and sent to a jail in Birmingham, Alabama.

Evidently Andrew found a way to get a message to Minerva. He asked her to visit him at the Birmingham jail and to bring the horses, hiding them out near the jail. The men planned to escape that night. Imagine the bravery of this young woman (about 23 at the time--she was born in 1840) to go across the mountains of Georgia into Alabama to a Confederate prison to assist her husband to escape.

One of the men imprisoned with Andrew Jackson had lost a leg and walked with a wooden leg. Andrew asked him for his wooden leg so he could fashion a key to unlock the jail. The man, at first reluctant, said, "If I don't have my leg, I can't walk out."

The story goes that Andrew Jackson told him, "It's either your wooden leg or we'll be shot to death in the morning." How he had that knowledge is an untold part of the story. Andrew did take the wooden leg and carved a sort of key that worked to open the lock. Evidently the guards were asleep or not aware of what was going on within the jail. Andrew was successful with springing the lock and the men walked out. They set fire to the stockade and burned it down, escaping through the woods.

There in the woods was Minerva with the two horses and their children, waiting for her husband. They made their way from Birmingham northward to the old Jackson homeplace in Choestoe. Minerva and the children rode the horses and Andrew walked in the woods, trying to keep himself hidden. They miraculously made the long trip to Choestoe safely.

Just what year Andrew and Minerva and their by then four children decided to leave Choestoe is not certain. But evidently the unrest of the war years was still upon the land. They packed up their meager belongings and set out with their young family heading west. They had great difficulties along the way. Andrew still had to hide out because he was wanted for having escaped the Confederate jail. When they crossed the Mississippi River and arrived in Kansas, they felt safer because they were again among Union sympathizers who helped the young family to find food and provisions and temporary work for Andrew.

It was a sad journey. The two middle children died on the journey and were buried along the route. Their names are unknown to this writer. Milton Bert and Dicie survived the trip. The Jackson family arrived at the San Louis Obispo Valley, sometimes called the Creasy Plains, of California, and there they began farming. They were ready for a new life and gave themselves to it with a passion. There Minnie Matilda, their last child, was born on August 7, 1879.

Milton Bert was given the responsibility of herding sheep. He took the sheep to open range on the mountains near where they lived. The lad was only fourteen when he began this herdsman's job. Andrew went every week to take Bert food and to check on him. The lad did a good job of warding off wild animals and caring for the sheep.

Andrew liked seclusion. When other settlers began to move onto the Creasy Plains and get too close, Andrew would stake out another claim in a less-populated area. He did not like to talk of his Civil War experiences or of the hardships the family endured. One day Bert saw a large scar on his father's side and asked how he got it. Andrew told his son, "It's none of your business."

One day a group of men with winded, exhausted horses rode onto the Jackson ranch. They asked Andrew for his horses, as theirs were spent. He knew they would take them by force if he did not let them go willingly. They promised to send his horses back in a few days and quickly rode away.

Soon afterward, a sheriff's posse came by looking for the men. Noticing the many horse tracks near Andrew's barn, they wanted to know why. Ever the man of few words, Andrew told the sheriff that a lot of riding had been going on there the last few days. The sheriff explained that the Dalton Gang had robbed the bank the day before and the posse was trailing them.

A few days later, Andrew's tired horses reappeared at the ranch. He took off their saddles, and there under the blanket were fastened several $50 gold pieces. Whether Andrew kept the gold or turned it over to the authorities is unknown. Maybe he went by the old adage, "Finders, keepers."

Andrew and Minerva Goforth Jackson did not return to Georgia. They remained in California where their last place of residence was at Cholame. Andrew died there in 1917 and Minerva died in 1915. They were buried at San Louis Obisbo. Their adventures bespeak the independent spirit and work ethic so tightly woven into the character of early Union County, Georgia people.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published March 25, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

John Nicholson, Revolutionary War Soldier (Part 2)

In October, 2000, the Blue Ridge Mountains Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, held a ceremony at the Pleasant Grove Cemetery in memory of John Nicholson, Sr., Revolutionary patriot. Last week’s column recounted his four terms of Revolutionary service, each of three months, making a total time of one year as a soldier.

Patriot John Nicholson had an interesting life after his Revolutionary War experiences.

An article by historian Robert S. Davis, a descendant of Patriot Nicholson, recounts incidents involving John Nicholson, Sr. that took place in a disputed area sometimes known as Old Walton County. He, along with some other settlers, took out a land grant and settled in the area of the French Broad River Valley in Cherokee Indian Territory sometime before 1786. The land grant was possibly a reward for service in the Revolution.

The frontiersmen believed these were western lands belonging to South Carolina. However, that state had the grants annulled and withdrew claims to these “western” settlements. The grantees petitioned Congress for annexation to South Carolina. When their appeals failed, the settlers formed their own government in 1793. The area– much like the State of Franklin in Tennessee that John Sevier had settled–became known as “The Orphan Strip” because it was not claimed by South or North Carolina or Georgia.

In 1798, the Federal Government secured The Orphan Strip officially from the Cherokees, and, believing it to be below the boundary of the 35th parallel separating North Carolina from Georgia, ceded it to Georgia in 1802.

Settlers in The Orphan Strip had kept minutes of their official meetings. These were signed and submitted to Governor John Milledge of Georgia, together with a petition that their settlement be recognized. The Georgia Legislature acted on the Governor’s recommendation, and on December 10, 1803, the “Orphan Strip” became Walton County, named for George Walton who was then the last one living of Georgia’s signers of the Declaration of Independence, had been a Congressman, and was a former Georgia Governor.

This “old’ Walton County is not to be confused with the present-day Walton County, with Monroe as its capital, founded from a portion of Jackson County on December 15, 1818. The “Old Walton” was right along the North Carolina and Georgia border, and extended over to the South Carolina line.

Elected to represent Walton County in the Georgia Legislature were two citizens, John Nicholson, Sr. and John Akins. The county was described as very mountainous and “inhabited by an orderly and industrious people” numbering about 800. In the state census soon after Walton County was formed, the John Nicholson family was listed with eleven whites in the household.

We may not have read about “The Walton War” in the history books, but it was fought because of the confusion over who owned the Orphan Strip--North Carolina or Georgia. The two states could not agree with reports of the surveying team. Buncombe County claimed the land. The “bandittery” of the area had “taken arms” and were committing “depredations on the honest civil citizens of the county.” The citizens retaliated, and several skirmishes ensued.

John Nicholson himself was taken prisoner and put in jail in the Morgan District. When he came to trial, charges against him were that he refused to accept North Carolina’s claim to the contested Walton County.

In 1807, both the North Carolina and the Georgia Legislatures agreed to a new survey. That team found that Walton County was well above the 35th parallel. But Georgia did not want to relinquish claim so easily and so in 1811 hired a nationally-known surveyor, Andrew Ellicott, to run the disputed line. He found that the line extended even farther south than the 1807 team had determined. John Nicholson, who had served in the Georgia Legislature from Old Walton County in 1806, 1808 and 1809 had to give up his political representation by virtue of finding himself again a citizen of Buncombe County, NC. The “Orphan Strip” became a part of both Buncombe and Transylvania Counties in North Carolina.

In 1820, John Nicholson was enumerated in Buncombe County with his wife (both he and she above 45 years of age), and one son and one daughter, each between 10 and 16.

His next move evidently was to Habersham County, Georgia, where, in 1833, he sold 468 acres of his Buncombe County, NC land for $600 to Benjamin Wilson. A witness to the deed was John Erwin who married Nicholson’s daughter Sarah in 1823.

By 1830, John Nicholson, Sr. was in Hall County, Georgia with his son, John, Jr. (1802-1884). It was while in Hall County he applied for and received a Revolutionary War pension of $40 per year.

As an old man, he moved to Union County, Georgia, although, as we saw in last week’s account, he already owned land and paid taxes in Union in 1850. On March 26, 1855, records show that he applied for bounty lands in Union County available to Revolutionary War veterans. He was then living in the home of his son, Alfred Nicholson (1799-1874, who had married Mary “Polly” Chastain), in the Harmony Grove community, Arkaquah District. From there he went to live with his daughter, Vica Nicholson Akins, near Pleasant Grove, where he died December 10, 1858.

A landed gentleman, a patriot, a legislator, a farmer, a mover-and-shaker of his time, this 96-year old man had lived through almost a century of upheaval and change in America.

So far as is known , his children were: (1) James Nicholson; (2) Mary “Polly” Nicholson (1791-1868) who married Rene Chastain; (3) Walter Nicholson (1795-1859) who married Dorcas Hogsed; (4) Elizabeth “Betty” Nicholson who married Benjamin Burke; (5) William Harrison Nicholson (1797-1864) who married Jane Duckworth and Jane Blocker; (6) Alfred Nicholson (1799-1874) who married Mary “Polly” Chastain; (7) Daughter who married Porter Owenby and moved to Union County; (8) Luvicia Nicholson (1802-?), who married Lewis Akins; (9) John Nicholson, Jr. (1802-1884), who married Elizabeth Allred; and (10) Sarah Nicholson (1803-1882), who married John Erwin.

Genealogists who puzzle over how some of Nicholson’s children were listed on census records as having been born in Georgia and others in South Carolina or North Carolina can now know that it hinged on that Old Walton County dispute as to which state owned the “Orphan Strip.”

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 4, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.