Dr. Thomas Newton Berry, Mountain Doctor

"If the hat fits, wear it!" might well have been the advice to young medical student Claude Hemphill III from his grandmother, Mrs. Stella Berry Hemphill, as she gave her grandson the black Stetson hat that belonged to his great grandfather, Dr. Thomas Newton Berry, when the younger man entered Emory University School of Medicine in 1986.

It is unlikely that Dr. Claude Hemphill III ever wore the old black Stetson, but it became a beloved symbol to him of the legacy left to him from his ancestor, Dr. Thomas Newton Berry. The younger doctor wrote about the old hat, and told about how it reminded him of his grandfather's service and compassion as a country doctor in Union County following the turn of the twentieth century. The essay by Hemphill won second place in the Emory University School of Medicine's 1990 Class. A copy came into my hands, and I began some avid research to seek to find out more about this doctor of the mountains and how he inspired a grandson to follow in his footsteps in medical studies and practice.

Who was Dr. Berry, and what was his life like as a country doctor?

Thomas Newton Berry (01/31/1870 - 12/11/1927) was the oldest of six children born to John Johnson Berry (1846- 10/12/1921) and Caroline Swim (Swaim, Swain) Berry (1848- 03/08/1923). This family lived in the Shady Grove section of Union County. Thomas Newton's father, John Johnson, was a son of early Union County settlers Elias Berry (1812-1885) and Sarah Johnson Berry (1814-1901). Thomas Newton's mother, Caroline, was a daughter of Enoch and Cynthia Griffis Swim (Swaim, Swain).

Besides Thomas Newton, their firstborn, John Johnson and Caroline Swain Berry had five other children: William Jefferson Berry who married Ila Jane Frady; Martha Lee Berry who married Festus Nelson; James Franklin Berry who married Nora Rich; Mary J. Berry who married Herschell Fields; and Sarah Alice Berry who married Sherman Brown.

Thomas Newton Berry may have been named for relatives, so far as this writer knows. But his father may also have read about the famed English archaeologist, Thomas Newton (1816-1864), who played an important part in discovering one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the mausoleum of Halicarnassus. At any rate, Thomas Newton Berry early-on demonstrated an alert mind and a love for knowledge, much like the English scientist for whom he could have been named.

Thomas Newton Berry married Ora L. Reece, a granddaughter of Solomon Rich, Sr. by his daughter, Elizabeth Rich Reece (her husband's name currently unresearched).

To Thomas Newton and Ora were born five children: Bessie W. Berry (1894) who married Carl Rector; Fernando A. (called "Ferd", 1890) who married Myrtle Coker; Eula M. (1900) who married a McCall; Stella (1907) who married Claude Hemphill; and Christina (1904-1905).

Thomas Newton Berry enrolled in the Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons (this later grew into Emory University School of Medicine). He graduated in 1902. He returned to Blairsville to set up his general practice in medicine and served citizens from 1902 through 1927 when he contracted a form of cancer and could no longer continue his practice.

Dr. Berry looked smart in his black Stetson hat, his trademark, to distinguish him from other citizens who wore maybe coonskin caps or "rusher" (straw) hats. Dr. Berry rode astride a stately jet-black horse throughout the mountains to visit his patients. He was there for delivery of babies at $10 per birth. He treated all manner of disease, farm accidents, diphtheria, other contagious diseases, pneumonia. If the farmers had no money to pay the doctor, they would give him corn and grain to feed his horse, live chickens to bear back to Mrs. Ora, potatoes, apples, chestnuts in lieu of money. If they had none of these with which to pay, their bill was conveniently forgotten.

In 1917 when the plague of influenza was rampant, he made house calls with his medical bag, saddle bag and pockets full of medicines he had secured from a pharmacy in Atlanta. Even his most valiant efforts in combating the spread of the disease saw many people, young and old alike, succumb to the disease.

Not only did he make house calls, but patients came from outlying communities to see the doctor in his office in town. Oftentimes, Dr. Berry and his kindly wife, Ora, would give the patient a bed and board for the night at no extra charge, where they could more fully nurse them back to health.

Dr. Thomas Newton Berry died December 11, 1927 and was buried in the New Blairsville Cemetery. His beloved wife, Ora Reece Berry, died four months later on April 16, 1928. The Berry legacy is rich in good deeds and rich memories

Stella Berry Hemphill told her grandson, Claude Hemphill III, in 1986 when she gave him his grandfather's hat (according to the prize-winning essay): " I hope you appreciate it (the hat) and keep it in a special place."

Young Dr. Hemphill wrote of this legacy, and his own "calling"—like that of his grandfather to be a doctor—"I hope (as I start my medical education) to be able to use technological and scientific understanding to improve the treatment of many medical problems. I hope that I can make contributions in research, both basic science and clinical. Yet, I feel that all these things must be tempered with honesty and compassion in the treatment of patients. My great grandfather's hat doesn't fit too well now. As I go along, I plan to break it in and hope it will fit a little better as each year goes by."

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published August 28, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Dr. Thomas Jackson Lance, President of Young Harris College, 1930-1942

Dr. Thomas Jackson "Jack" Lance (31 Jan 1886 - 27 Jan 1880)

President, Young Harris College, 1930-1942

Among great persons who have gone out from Union County and served mankind with dignity and unselfishness, we must applaud Dr. Thomas Jackson Lance, educator and humanitarian, who was president of Young Harris College during the difficult times of the Great Depression Years, 1930-1942.

Thomas Jackson Lance was the first of twenty children born to his father, James Washington Lance (1861-1940). Jim Lance, as his father was known, was a farmer at Wolf Creek, north of Vogel State Park in Choestoe District, Union County, Georgia. The mother of Thomas Jackson, better known as Jack, was Virginia Jane L. Henson (1863-1916). Jack, their firstborn, was born January 31, 1886. It is possible that the young boy had a memory of his grandfather, the Rev. John Lance (1834-1890), who was brutally murdered by moonshiners after returning from a preaching assignment. Jack's father, Jim Lance, spent much time and effort trying to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice. That story has been adequately covered in Charles Hill's excellent book entitled Blood Mountain Covenant.

Since Jack Lance's family was so large, it seems somewhat of a miracle of the mountains that he was able to get an excellent education and become the shining light among educators that was his calling. After a long and useful life of 94 years, Dr. Thomas Jackson Lance died January 27, 1980. I was able to access the eulogy given at the time of his memorial service by the Rev. Edgar A. Padgett of the Calhoun, Georgia United Methodist Church. From this tribute I learned much about the man whose life was marked by selfless service to others.

Being from a large family, and the eldest of the children, early on Jack Lance learned to bear his weight around the farm on Wolf Creek. His full siblings, born to his mother, Jane, were Juan Bascomb (1888-1958), Lena Mabel (1891-1946), Sarah Theodosia, "Docia" (1894-?), Luther Edgar (1897- ?), Fannie Lee (1900-?), Carter Paul (1903-?), Homer E. (1906-?) and Mary Emma Louis (b/d 1908). Jack's father, when Jack's mother, Jane, died, married Melissa Spiva. Jack's half-siblings from this marriage were Elbert, James C. known as Jay, Auburn, Champ C., Bruce M., Charles F., Johnny W., Donald Ray, Grace Jane and Betty Jean (died as infants), and Bobby Gaynell. From his early life Jack Lance was taught the virtues of hard work, honesty, kindness, good manners, and a love for education.

After having learned what he could in the one-teacher schools of Choestoe, and at the knees of notable teachers and preachers there, Jack Lance went to Young Harris College for further education. The college took him in, giving him work on the farm to earn his way. He was an exceptionally gifted student. He graduated from Young Harris in 1908, with high honors.

From Young Harris, he continued his education at the University of Georgia where he earned both the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa National Scholastic Society. His doctor of philosophy degree came later, but the information of where he earned it is not presently available to this writer.

He wanted to teach. His career as an educator included classroom instruction at Hopewell High School, at Richmond Academy in Augusta, at Young Harris College, and then as an administrator for 13 years, serving as superintendent of schools in Waynesboro, Georgia.

His Alma Mater, Young Harris College, having already his record as a student and as a professor there, tapped him as president of the college. He served admirably in that capacity during some difficult years, beginning in 1930 and continuing through 1942. I wish the span of this short article could list all the hardships he faced in keeping the small mountain college above-board financially and operable during some of the darkest years of America's Great Depression. Suffice it to say that his hard work, faithfulness and industry during that span of his career saw him inducted into and honored by the Kappa Phi Kappa National Honor Society for Distinguished Educators.

Of that period of Dr. Jack Lance's career, the Rev. Edgar A. Padgett wrote: "He lived with deficits as his daily companion, but managed to keep Young Harris alive, serving the needs of so many who without it would have had little, if any, chance for a college education… Dr. Lance always found a way to help a deserving student stay in college. Many of our most distinguished citizens of Georgia have testified that they owe their start in life to Dr. Lance who inspired and encouraged them to keep trying, with the assurance of his help."

Thomas Jackson Lance married Annie Rose Erwin who graduated from Young Harris in 1913. To them were born four children: Thomas Jackson, Jr., Robert, Alice Rose, and Thomas Bertram, "Bert." Many will recognize the name of Bert Lance as a cabinet member during the time Jimmy Carter was president of the United States. From Young Harris, in 1942, the Lance family moved to Calhoun, GA and there the children were reared. He was superintendent of schools at Calhoun for two years, 1942- 1944, and then he began a sixteen year tenure with the State Department of Education in Atlanta as a state school supervisor, having as his goal improving the quality of education for every public school student in the state of Georgia.

It was said of Dr. Lance that he had a phenomenal memory, even into his later years. He never forgot a name, a face, a favor, a verse of Scripture, an experience. From his rich well of experience he could recall where he had met people and what they did.

He loved his family, his home, and the classroom. Although many years of his illustrious career were spent in school administration, his first love was teaching. It has been said of him that the "moments of illumination" when a student "sees" through a problem and has an epiphany of insight were, for him, thrilling and emotional experiences.

Considering the "opportunites" this country boy had to become "somebody," they were slender, indeed. But mountains were a challenge to him, and doing good was his second nature. "Lives of great men all remind us, /We can make our lives sublime,/ And, departing, leave behind us / Footprints on the sands of time." So wrote poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. So lived Educator Dr. Thomas Jackson Lance.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published August 21, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

A Light in the Window--Ros's Story

The late Charles Roscoe Collins of Choestoe in Union County, Georgia, about whom I have written recent articles, told me the following story. In fact, he wrote the story June 2, 1991, and hoped it would survive to give hope and encouragement to any who heard or read it. I give you Ros's story here, with some explanations and additions to give fuller meaning to the account he told of that long-ago time in 1926.

Charles Roscoe Collins was a student at the Blairsville Collegiate Institute. The year was 1926. The mountain school had been opened in 1904, sponsored by the Notla River Baptist Association. Later, the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention also began support of the school, adding it as one of the Board's mountain schools. Students could board there and go to school, or else live in cabins or rooms in town, do their own cooking and laundry, and go to classes at the Collegiate Institute. To be able to go to this school was a privilege, indeed, as education beyond the seventh or eighth grade of one- and two-teacher country schools was about the extent of educational offerings then in Union County.

Mr. W. P. Lunsford, a man of deep piety and well-qualified as a school administrator and teacher, was headmaster at the Blairsville Collegiate Institute in 1926. Mr. Lunsford, wanting the students to have opportunities in drama, had cast a play with several boys and girls as actors. The play was well-received in its debut at the school when performed there. Mr. Lunsford got the idea that the drama should go "on the road."

In his recollections, Mr. Charles Roscoe Collins did not remember the title of the play, but he did remember the names of all the male characters. He said there were roles for the girls, too, and several of them starred in the play. The male actors were Joe Brackett, Tom Conley, Walter Hyatt, and Roscoe Collins.

With their hometown's hearty reception of the play fresh in their minds, the cast eagerly loaded into the two Model T-Fords that would transport the actors to the Lumpkin County High School in Dahlonega, Georgia where they were scheduled for a performance. One of the cars in which they traveled was Mr. Lunsford's Model-T. Another was rented from the Ford Dealership in town owned and operated by Mr. Pete Henson. This vehicle was to be driven by one of the students, Walter Hyatt, an actor in the drama.

The entourage arrived in Dahlonega on time and without incident. They performed the play to a responsive audience. By the time the play was over, it was night time, and snow had begun to fall.

The two cars loaded with the cast carefully made their way over the mountainous road from Dahlonega. As the Wyatt-driven, rented car, loaded with the male cast members, arrived at Cain Creek, the slippery condition of the road (and perhaps the inexperience of the student driver) caused the rented Model-T to go out of the road. Wyatt lost control and the car turned over. Fortunately, none of the riders or the driver were injured—just badly shaken up.

Mr. Lunsford and the girls were traveling behind the rented car. They stopped to lend aid to the overturned vehicle and the shaken-up passengers. They turned the car upright and got it back onto the road. The wreck took the top and windshield from the car. Mr. Lunsford went to town to get gas and oil, for the wreck had spilled those necessary items from the Model-T. They refilled the radiator with water from Cain Creek.

Mr. Lunsford told the boys it was their job to get the car back to Blairsville, and to be more careful. He proceeded ahead of them with his car loaded with the female cast members. The boys got to Quillian's Corner, but not without more car trouble. The motor would die, and with each incidence of the car stopping, one of the boys would take turns turning the crank in front of the car to get the motor going again.

They finally saw Neal Gap looming ahead. At the sharp curve south of the Gap, the car ran out of gasoline. Wyatt and the other boys thought it best to leave the car and walk the rest of the distance. Snow was building up on the ground. It was not an easy journey, climbing up the mountain, crossing it on foot at night, and starting the descent on the north side.

North of Vogel State Park, at Goose Creek, they saw ahead a welcome sight. A light in the window. It was coming from the home of Juan and Emma Lance Reece.

Tired from a long day before, the performance of the past evening, the misadventures of an automobile accident, and the walk over a rugged mountain at night, the four boys were exhausted. Dared they make their presence known to the Reece family and seek a little respite from their problems?

Emma Reece was cooking breakfast. Roscoe, who knew the Reece family, was appointed the one to knock on the Reece door and explain the boys' plight. Mr. Juan Reece answered the door, and invited the cold, tired cast inside.

By then Mrs. Emma Reece had come from the kitchen to welcome the unexpected guests. She assured them she could easily add to the Reece breakfast fare and would soon have them food that would squelch their hunger and last them until they got back to the dormitory at Blairsville Collegiate Institute.

Four boys sat down to a hot breakfast: hoecake bread made from flour milled from the Reece's home-grown wheat, fatback bacon fried to a crisp, thick sawmill gravy and scrambled eggs. "Four boys had never had a better breakfast," wrote Collins in his memoirs 65 years later.

At the time of the intrusion at the Reece family's breakfast, Byron Herbert Reece, who would grow up to be a noted poet, was nine years of age, a shy boy looking on as the ravenous high school lads ate the breakfast his mother prepared. His little sister, Jean, was about three at the time. Sister Eva Mae and brother T. J. were older.

In recalling the welcome of the Reece family, Roscoe Collins wrote, 65 years later: "There was the warmth of the open fire and shadows on the walls from the flickering oil-burning lamps. I am sure the mother and father gathered the children around these scenes and read from the Treasured Volume stories that helped to shape the life and thoughts of Byron Herbert Reece."

A collegiate institute, a drama to share, a rugged trip over mountains, and, finally, a light in the window welcoming weary travelers. Is it any wonder Charles Roscoe Collins remembered this story vividly 65 years after it happened?

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published August 14, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Our heritage –the story of Tillman Gooch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 31, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Reunion Reflections: Basking in the Afterglow

Sentinel photo/Janie Holbrook Authors displaying their books at the 2008 Dyer-Souther Reunion:

Seated: Dr. Eva Nell Mull Wike (The Matheson Cove in the Shadow of the Devil's Post Office); Ethelene Dyer Jones (The Singing in the Wood and Mother and Child Reunion); Dr. Tom Lumsden (Nacoochee Valley); Sylvia Dyer Turnage (Micajah ClarkDyer and His Amazing Flying Machine; Choestoe Story and other books);

Standing: Dr. Joe Turner (High Humor of the Hills); Charles H. Souther (From the Mules and Wagon to the Space Shuttle); Keith Jones (Mother and Child Reunion, with his mother, Ethelene and an 8-disk CD recording of the collected poems of Byron Herbert Reece). Not pictured (absent because of his mother's illness), William Clyde Collins, Jr. (The Last Deer Trapper.)

The annual Dyer-Souther Reunion is now history, an event of Saturday, July 19, 2008.

Held at Choestoe Baptist Church that some of our ancestors helped to found in 1832, the gathering of 163 people rejoiced at being together, at seeing new faces joining our number, at the sheer pleasure of family and roots and heritage.

The theme of this year's reunion was "Meet Our Authors." We invited those we knew in the "clan" who had written books. Seven were present to sign their books and to talk about the stories that had inspired them to write history, comedy and poetry.

Absent was president of the association, Bill Collins, whose book, The Last Deer Trapper, also was featured, by vice-president Keith Jones reading a story from "The Deer Trapper." Dr. Joe Turner, Dr. Eva Nell Mull Wike, Dr. Tom Lumsden, Sylvia Dyer Turnage, Charles Souther, Keith Jones and Ethelene Jones were present and folks enjoyed talking to them and getting signed copies of the author's books. Reports coming in by e-mail since the reunion term the event "fun and enjoyable," and "I loved hearing the authors."

All the long journey back to my present home in Milledgeville gave me four hours to reflect upon the reunion. Many thoughts went through my mind.

I thought of the "In Memoriam" period of our reunion program. Each year the list of our honored dead who have passed in the last year seems to increase. It is a solemn time of remembering. We recall going to school and church together, keeping in touch spasmodically as the years roll by, enjoying a once-a-year reunion when family ties are renewed. Maybe seeing them as "looking over the windows of heaven" to see us below is only a fanciful idea I have of re-identification with our beloved departed. But I imagined that "great cloud of witnesses" Paul the Apostle writes about. I see them applauding us. They are happy that we still remember the important virtues of family togetherness. The reunion was a little preview of heaven right here on earth.

Our honored dead who passed during the last year were James Perry Dyer (1923-2008), Anna Mae Dyer Burnett (1922- 2008), Harry Vaughn Dyer (1929- 2007), Carolyn Collins Kelly (1950-2008); James Vaughn Dyer (1916-2008), Connor Andrew Brock Carmichael (3 months, 2007), Dr. Howard Van Ness Morter (1916-2007), Opal L. Sullivan (1917-2007), Clara Belle Collins Duckworth (1919-2008), Raymond Sullivan (1919-2007), Robert Edward Moose (1970-2008), John Chester Dyer (1932-2008), Clinton Samuel Kelly (1927- 2007), Pearl Souther Smallwood (1919-2007) and Francis Homer Hunter, Jr. (1922-2007). These had a relationship to members of the Dyer-Souther family: Mildred Ensley Brown Turner Haigler (1930-2007) and Ruby Gibson Shook (1916-2008). We sang together "Amazing Grace" after standing in tribute as names were read.

I missed people who were not present. Mrs. Dora Hunter Allison Spiva has been our "oldest present" since the death of our historian emeritus, Watson Benjamin Dyer. Had she been present this year, at age 103, she would have received again the "eldest present” certificate. Mrs. Dora, Aunt Dora, Teacher Dora, know that we missed you. The reunion just wasn't the same without you. Several of her nieces and nephews, usually present, were not in attendance. This segment of our family line was sorely missed.

The oldest present was Mrs. Irene Coker Brown, widow of Emory Brown. At age 99, she amazed us all by her keenness and ability to walk on her own. She is a tower of fortitude and inspiration.

The youngest present was little Maddox Kidd, two-and-one half week old infant of Jessica Kidd. Proud grandmother Deborah Rich Leach and proud great grandmother Ann Rich were present to see this newest member of the clan receive a certificate. This family descends through Nancy Dyer Rich.

Roma Sue Turner Collins, having recently sustained a fall and serious bone breaks, was in the Northeast Georgia Medical Center at Gainesville in intense therapy section. Her husband Clyde, and her son, Bill (president of our Association) were in Gainesville visiting Sue. We missed you - and prayed for you. Edna Ruth England Rich was thoughtful enough to bring a huge "get well" card to be signed to take to Sue.

The "farthest distance" people were from Hawaii- our cousin Linda Nahser Beadle and her husband Wes. They came by way of Wetumpka, AL where Linda's sister, Sandra Nahser Gilley and her husband, Scott, joined in the entourage to bring the girls' mother, beautiful Kathleen Dyer Nahser to the reunion. I needed a camera in hand when mother and daughters stood together talking to me. They formed a trio of classic beauty, poise and love. Thank you, Linda, for traveling so far to the reunion!

My "children" from Liberia, West Africa were present, Magdalene and David Sunday-gar. But we could not count them as "traveling farthest." They have lived in Gainesville since 2000. David earned an AA from Gainesville College and a BS in Business Administration from North Georgia College. He is now in seminary working on his master's degree. They plan to return to Africa after David completes his education. Ethelene and Grover met David when they went to Africa for a mission trip in the summer of 1986, and they have kept in close contact with David since. "It's a small world, after all."

Many were present for the first time, and we heartily welcomed them to the gathering. We expect to hear from them and to see them back in forthcoming years.

The food was unbelievable. Thanks to those who volunteered to get the tables spread with the most delectable-looking food imaginable. Somehow, a food serving committee was not appointed this year. Volunteers, you know who you are, thank you! You came through with flying colors.

In business session, Reid Dyer was elected vice-president. The other officers remain the same: Bill Collins, President; Janice Lance, Secretary; Marie Knight and Lee Knight, Treasurers of New Liberty Cemetery Fund; Ethelene Jones, Historian and Newsletter Editor; and these named officers are also trustees, as is Keith Jones, who has served for several years as vice-president. Joe Dyer remains as an advisory member of the Trustees. A committee appointed to draw plans and implement the monument honoring Elisha Dyer, Jr. was given to Reid Dyer, Harold Dyer, Lee Knight, and Ethelene Jones, Historian. We heard that $11,000 is now in the cemetery fund drawing interest for upkeep and care of the cemetery, and the newsletter/ reunion fund has a balance of $2,600, with some bills current for postage and newsletter distribution. Edward Dyer reported that the Dyer Family Bible is now on display at the Union County Historical Society in a lovely display case. Edna Ruth England Rich told the group of the Historical Society's latest project, the "history cards."

The miles rolled away and I left the beloved mountains of Choestoe behind. But the reflections of a day at the reunion will remain as a sweet aura surrounding me for the next year. I will bask in the afterglow- until we meet again.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 24, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Pinnacles of the Past: The Railroad went to Blue Ridge, not Blairsville Blue Ridge, Mecca of the Mountains

The railroad, when it came to the mountains, went to Blue Ridge, Georgia and not to Blairsville, to the disappointment of many in the 1880s. Folks from Blairsville had to go to Blue Ridge to the train station, or to Culberson, NC, when the tracks extended on to there, or to Murphy, NC to catch a train or to ship their farm goods.

Blue Ridge, Georgia was incorporated by an Act of the Georgia Legislature on October 24, 1887.

But the history of Blue Ridge, named after the azure peaks, part of the Southern Appalachian Range that surround the town, had a much earlier beginning than that October day in 1887.

Cherokee Indians had a village and stronghold at the site of the future town. They cleared fields for cultivation and grew maize and other crops. One of the five "civilized tribes" of Native Americans, the Cherokee were advanced in agriculture, a written language and governmental practices.

The first post office in Blue Ridge was established before the Indians were forced west on the Trail of Tears. Seventeen years before Fannin County was formed by an Act of the Georgia Legislature and the bill signed by Governor Herschel Johnson on January 21, 1854, William L. Buchanan was appointed first postmaster of the Blue Ridge station on March 30, 1837. It is likely that Mr. Buchanan was also an Indian agent, dealing in land transactions with the Indians as white settlers moved into the area prior to the Indian removal. Tuckahoe Post Office, which later became Tacoah and then Morganton, was established fifteen days before the one at Blue Ridge, on March 15, 1837, with Benjamin Chastain as first postmaster and Indian agent.

The founder and "father" of Blue Ridge was Michael McKinney whose father, James Isaac McKinney, had settled at Chestnut Gap to the west of Blue Ridge in 1853. There the McKinney family established a mill, a store, a stagecoach stop on the old Ducktown to Ellijay Road, and various other enterprises. Because of serious damage to the McKinney store and mill during the Civil War, the McKinneys returned to their former home in Tennessee at Horseshoe Bend in Roane County. Michael McKinney joined the Confederacy and served in the Civil War, earning the rank of Colonel. He was known as Col. Mike McKinney upon his family's return to Chestnut Gap after the war and until his death in 1925.

In 1886, Colonel Michael McKinney sold out his Chestnut Gap holdings to his eldest son, Robert McKinney, and he and his wife, Hepsey Adeline McClure, and their younger children moved to what would become the town of Blue Ridge. There Michael McKinney established the first business, with a general merchandise store, a sawmill with sale of lumber and building materials, and a real estate business. The McKinney residence was the first built in the newly formed town of Blue Ridge.

Land for the town of Blue Ridge had belonged to an early settler, John Green, a farmer who raised corn and other crops on the location where the Fannin County Courthouse now stands. Mr. Green's son, Elisha, donated land to establish the town of Blue Ridge and worked with Mr. McKinney to survery and plat the town.

Michael McKinney was the mover and shaker in getting the railroad to Blue Ridge. McKinney and Georgia state legislator from the county, Mr. Ben Duggar, negotiated with officials of the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad. Engineer C. R. Walton worked to find the best right-of-way for laying the railroad tracks through Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin Counties and on into Murphy, North Carolina. Through convict labor secured by Representative Dugger, the grade for the tracks was finished in 1885. Col. McKinney and Col. R. L. Herbert of Cherokee County, NC, drove the ceremonial spike linking the northward bound track at Ellijay on January 1, 1886 amidst much festivity and celebration. The engine named "Little Mary" roared into Blue Ridge in 1886, pulling the train into the depot. The railroad shops were located at Blue Ridge from 1886 through 1906, providing jobs for repairmen and other railroad workers. The railroad was a boon to population growth and commercial and residential building.

Blue Ridge soon became a tourist attraction. Mineral Springs, with health-giving chaleate water, was touted as a place where health could be restored. Hotels sprang up in the new town along the twin main streets east and west of the railroad tracks. Homes were opened as boarding houses. Blue Ridge quickly became a bustling town. Horses, buggies, carts and farm wagons crowded the streets. Railroad whistles, the sound of cars switching on the tracks, the sights and smells of steam and smoke combined to produce an atmosphere of prosperity and productivity.

A problem arose concerning county government and judicial business. Lawyers, judges and others coming to the county for "court weeks" traveled by train and lodged at Blue Ridge hotels. They had to hire buggies or other conveyances to travel the dirt road to Morganton, the county seat, to conduct court. This seemed a waste of time and was a great inconvenience to them.

A proposal came to move the county seat from Morganton to Blue Ridge. The vote was taken on August 13, 1895. Two-thirds of those voting favored the referendum. However, those who had long cherished having Morganton as the county seat town did not easily give in to the vote. The dispute was settled by the Georgia Legislature and the vote upheld.

A stately brick courthouse with two stories and a clock tower was completed in Blue Ridge in 1901 at a cost of $14,000. That building burned July 3, 1936. The replacement was completed in 1937. The present new court house was entered in January, 2004.

A lengthy article published in 1887 in The Ellijay Courier described the rapid growth of Blue Ridge. stating that people were moving "from Atlanta, Marietta, Michigan and other places." The climate, land, healthy environment and future prospects of prosperity hailed Blue Ridge as the "mecca of the mountains." The writer further stated that "Messrs. McKinney and Walton, who own the real estate, intend to make a town of that place whether fate so decrees or not."

Although the heyday of the railroad subsided when passenger trains ceased to pull into the depot in 1951, and freight transportation ceased in the 1980's, the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway short run between Blue Ridge and McCaysville draws thousands of sightseers each season. Downtown Blue Ridge has undergone massive renovation and could well be renamed the "mecca of the mountains" for antiques and specialty shops.

Citizens in each generation since the town's founding in 1887 to the present have left a legacy of hard work, entrepreneurship, and determination. "Mecca of the Mountains"? The torch of hope and determination is still flaming, ready to be transferred to those, who like Colonel Michael McKinney, are yet to dream of what Blue Ridge can become.

And it's still a pretty good place for folks at Blairsville to travel to, even though the only train operative there now is the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 17, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Charles Roscoe Collins: His Life and Times (Part 2)

Paying tribute to a man whose life was characterized by service to others is easy. Such a life was lived by Charles Roscoe Collins (1907- 2000). He wore many hats: son, husband, father, teacher, school administrator, lover of history and preservationist. On the other hand, writing such a tribute is hard. Everything can't be included, and there's the outside chance that some of the most important contributions of the person will inadvertently be omitted.

Go back to this column for July 4 to read the beginning account of this man, born in the hills of Choestoe to James Johnson Collins and Margaret Ann Nix Collins, the youngest of their six children. Charles Roscoe, better known as "Ros," made his appearance in the Collins home on September 20, 1907. He lived a full and productive life of over nine decades. He didn't stumble over obstacles but saw them as challenges to overcome.

By way of education, he went to Choestoe School near his home, walking from his home over a mile in all sorts of weather. He often recalled some of the outstanding teachers who early-on influenced him to be studious, pursue knowledge, and consider teaching as a career for himself. Following Choestoe, he boarded at the Blairsville Collegiate Institute. There he played on the basketball team, practicing on an outside court, and going to competitions as their coach, the Rev. Harry Smith, could garner transportation to take the outstanding team to Dahlonega, Gainesville, Demorest and elsewhere. He graduated with honors from the Blairsville Collegiate Institute in 1927.

It was a long distance from Choestoe in the mountains to Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Roscoe packed his meager belongings in a "cardboard suitcase" (as he termed his traveling bag). He wore, on that long trip, a "linsy-woolsy" suit made by his cousins, Avery and Ethel Collins, from wool sheared from sheep, and woven into cloth on their hand loom. Then they tailored a suit--pants, jacket and vest- out of the sturdy material. "I was warm in that suit," Ros said, and it served him well for years as his best dress-up suit. I once saw him hold up the brown pants, died that color from oak bark, as he made a talk on mountain ingenuity and crafts. That old wool suit and the pants became symbols for Roscoe Collins for the "make-do" road of his young manhood.

Mr. Charles R. Collins points out the memorial window at Choestoe Baptist Church honoring his parents, James Johnson Collins and Margaret Ann Nix Collins.

He rode on the top of a load of logs over Neal Gap to Gainesville, then caught the train on to Macon, Georgia and Mercer University. He said that the Rev. Harry Smith helped to arrange a scholarship for him at Mercer University to pay some of his tuition and board. Roscoe worked, too, as he studied, to make ends meet. He spent two years at Mercer, but did not get his Bachelor's degree. That was to come later. He had to stop his education for awhile and begin his teaching career to earn some money to continue. His first teaching job of consequence was in the Hall County Public Schools at Gainesville, Georgia.

Some of Roscoe's kinfolk had moved to Colorado seeking a more economically-secure way of life. There they worked on large farms or ranches, purchasing their own when they earned enough money. All of their stories sent back home by letters enticed the young man Ros Collins to go to Colorado. While there, he did odd jobs for a living and attended the Colorado State College of Education in Greeley, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938.

Back in Georgia, Roscoe taught school, becoming the first principal (and also a teacher) at the Town Creek Consolidated School. He told me of walking the several miles from his father's farm to get to Town Creek early enough to build the fires in the heaters in each of the four classrooms. He was still wearing that linsy-woolsy suit he took to Mercer away back in 1927. It kept him warm as he walked on cold days. His evaluation of his years of teaching and administering the Town Creek School was that he taught some of the brightest young lads and lassies there of anywhere in his 40+ years of teaching.

Ros enjoyed telling people that he had "taught in the four corners of Georgia and many places in between." He had a long stint in St. Mary's, Georgia. On his 90th birthday (September, 1997), I was present to see a large motor coach bus full of people who had been his students travel to Blairsville from St. Mary's to honor Mr. Collins, to testify to his influence on their lives. All had a good time remembering. It was exhilarating just to be a part of that big birthday party and to hear the heart-felt accolades.

On June 4, 1940, Charles Roscoe Collins and LaVerne Cheshire (a fellow teacher) were united in marriage in Lakeland, Florida. She was a daughter of Robert and Minnie Lemack Cheshire. Ros and LaVerne continued their careers as teachers, he clocking up more than 40 years at his retirement and she having 35.

Their daughter, Becky Ann, was born August 7, 1947, and adopted by Ros and LaVerne when she was a baby. When Becky Ann grew up, she married Garland Moose of Suches, Georgia. Ros and LaVerne delighted in their three grandchildren, Rodney, Robby and Carrie. Becky Ann, like her parents, became a teacher.

As he continued to teach, Roscoe took classes at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he earned his Master of Education degree in 1948. He went back to Mercer University in the summer of 1952 to take a course commonly called then a workshop for in-service educators. I was a student at Mercer University at the time, working on the last requirements for my Bachelor of Arts degree. As good fortune would have it, Roscoe and I were both students in that summer workshop. Roscoe, in his joking way, liked to call the workshop classes, which were over a three-week period from 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon with only a short break for lunch, the "Paw-Paw Patch" classes. That was because we had to come up every day with innovative ways to teach, and one day Roscoe and I together "performed" the song, "Way down yonder in the Paw-Paw Patch!" We could barely refrain from laughing as we sought to show how rhythm, music and action help to reinforce younger students' learning.

Although I had known Roscoe Collins all my life, and we were neighbors (and cousins) on Choestoe, that summer workshop at Mercer University made us life-time friends. We discovered our common interests in history and family roots, as well as education. He retired long before I did, but after my retirement, my husband Grover, he and I took many "historical" treks together so that he could point out significant milestones, like the Logan Turnpike and the Mule Springs Camp. We also made trips to visit the Rev. Harry Smith in Forsyth, Georgia. We had a lot of time to talk and to appreciate history.

He had a distinguished career in education in "the four corners of Georgia." His service to his home county of Union included being teacher, basketball coach, principal and county school superintendent. After 42 years as an educator, he retired in 1972.

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