Tracing the Souther Genertions ~ Those Who Remained Behind in North Carolina: Jesse Souther’s Will and His Children

I ended last week’s article by promising a look at the will of Jesse Souther (1784-1858), whose children Joseph, John Jesse, Kizziah Souther Humphries, Jesse and Hix moved to Union County, Georgia in the mid-1830’s. What about their father and other children who remained in North Carolina? His will reads:

Fall Term 1858
State of North Carolina

This the twenty-second day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-Seven

McDowell County

I, Jesse Souther, of the county and state aforesaid, Being of sound mind and Memory, Thanks to God for His mercy, do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and form as follows:

First of all, I will my soul to God who first gave it to me. Then I will that my just debts be punctually paid with all burial expenses first.

Then I will to my son James Souther to have all the notes I hold against him together with all the notes and judgements where I am security for him.

I do will to my three daughters to wit: Nancy and Lucinda and Rosa J. Hogan all my perishable property, only Rosa J. Hogan to pay Nancy and Lucinda thirty dollars out of her part of the property.

Further, I will that Lydia Jane Justice have one cow and calf, one bed and furniture. I further will that Hix Souther’s three children, to wit: Catherine Saphronia, Jesse William, and John Jefferson have thirty dollars each when they arrive at the age of twenty-one, to be paid out of my perishable property.

I also will to Jesse Souther and Nancy and Noah and Lucinda Souther and Rosa J. Hogan all my lands to be equally divided between the five above-named.

Further, that my daughter Mary Elliott is to have one hundred dollars out of my estate.

Also, my daughter Kizziah Humphrey to have thirty dollars to be paid out of my estate.

All the above property to be paid over to my Executor and also applied my two sons Jesse Souther and Noah Souther Executors to this my last will and testament.

I set my hand and seal in the presence of:
Jesse (X) Souther, Seal
Testators:
John Ross, Juratt
John P. Fortune, Juratt Court of pleas, Quarter Session, Fall Term, 1858.

The foregoing Will and Testament was presented
To open court for probation in due execution.
These were proven in solemn form by the oath of
John P. Fortune and John Ross, Executors.

Subscribing openly these and ordered to be recorded and registered together with the certificate. J. M. Finley, Clerk

Some observations about the will of Jesse Souther will be made while listing his known fourteen children:

1. Joseph Souther (1802-died in Stone County, Missouri, married Sarah Davis.
2. John Jesse Souther (1803-1889) married Mary Combs. He died in Union County, Georgia. He is not mentioned in his father’s will; could he have given John his inheritance before he moved to
Georgia?
3. Mary Souther (1805-?) married an Elliott; she was mentioned in her father’s wil to receive $100. Had he given her property already at the time of her marriage? Or perhaps at that time that amount of money was equal to several acres of land.
4. Elizabeth Souther (1805), is believed to have died young; she is not listed in her father’s will.
5. James Souther (1809-?) married a Logan. According to the will, James owed his father money, and therefore his inheritance was the money he had not repaid. Two of James’s sons, James Logan and John “Rink” Souther moved to Union County, Georgia, married there, then moved to St. Charles Mesa, Pueblo, Colorado.
6. Kizziah Souther (1811-?) married John Humphries. They moved to Union County, Georgia between 1840 and 1850. They had thirteen children and lived awhile in Blount County, TN. Kizziah died in Cherokee County, NC. See their story in a separate “Through Mountain Mists” article.
7. Jesse Souther (1830-1869) moved to Union County, Georgia and established the Souther Mill in Choestoe. He married Malinda Nix (1829-1894), daughter of William Nix and Susannah Stonecypher Nix. They had eight children. Their stories are traced in previous “Through Mountain Mists” articles. Note that Jesse Souther (the elder) appointed son Jesse and son Noah to be Executors of his will. His second son (my great, great grandfather) was named John Jesse. It was not unusual in those days for two children to have one of the names of their father or their mother.
8. Hix Souther (1815-1840?) married Caroline Burgess. They, too, settled in Union County, Georgia. Hix died, leaving a wife and three children. Notice that Jesse Souther was thinking of his three minor grandchildren, Hix’s children, and gave them $30 each. Later, Caroline married Roland (or Rollin) Wimpey. Their story is in a previous “Through Mountain Mists” article.

Children

9. Martha Souther (1817-?),
10. Nancy Souther (1818-?) and
11. Sarah Souther (1820) never married and continued to live in the old Souther homeplace in North Carolina. Nancy was the only one of these three mentioned in Jesse’s will. Martha and Sarah had perhaps died before 1858, the date of the will.
12. Noah Souther (1821-1883) married Sarah Gilliam, a daughter of Maynard Gilliam. In the will, he was to receive land, which was to be equally divided between Noah, Jesse, Nancy, Lucinda and Rosa J. Souther Hogan. He also was named one of the executors.
13. Lucinda Souther (1824-1875) never married. She, too, continued to live in McDowell County. She received equal parts of Jesse’s lands with sisters Nancy and Rosa and brothers Jesse and Noah.
14. Rose Jane Souther (1828-?) married William C. Hogan. I have no record of her family. She received a five-way division of Jesse’s land with two sisters and two brothers.

Who was Lydia Jane Justice mentioned in the will as receiving a cow and calf, a bed and furniture? Was she a married granddaughter, or was she someone who lived with and took care of Jesse Souther after his wife Jane Combs died? Were the heirs of Jesse Souther pleased with his distribution of property or were some offended and complained? Family records available do not show this aspect of his descendants’ reactions.

[Resource: Dyer, Watson Benjamin. Souther Family History. Self-published. 1988. Pp. 52-53.]

cFebruary 9, 2012 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published online by permission of author at GaGenWebProject All rights reserved.

Tracing the Souther Generations ~ Some Who Stayed Behind in NC

I have written much in these pages about five siblings who came to Georgia in the 1830s and settled in Union County, Georgia, at least for awhile until two of them (Joseph and Kizziah) moved on elsewhere. These were sons and a daughter of Jesse Souther (1784-1858) and Jane Combs Souther (1782-d. before 1858), namely Joseph Souther (wife Sarah Davis), John Jesse Souther (wife Mary Combs), Kizziah Souther (husband John Humphries), Jesse Souther (wife Malinda Nix), and Hix Souther (wife Malinda Burgess). If you desire to review information on any of these five siblings, please refer to their stories in past articles in this “Through Mountain Mists” series. We now begin with a series on those in this Souther family who remained behind in North Carolina or who moved elsewhere other than Union County, Georgia. It is this writer’s hope that you will find this further information about the Jesse Souther family of interest.

Jesse Souther was born on June 6, 1784, only eight years after America declared its independence from England. He was a son of Stephen Souther (1742-ca 1780) and Mary Bussey Souther (ca. 1745-after 1790). Family legend holds strongly to the story that Stephen Souther enlisted with the soldiers from Wilkes County, North Carolina who were launching an attack against the British and Tories at the famous Battle of King’s Mountain. However, either due to a wound or from some other calamity, Stephen Souther developed a severe nosebleed (he was believed to be a hemophiliac) on the way to or in the battle and bled to death. Descendants of Stephen Souther (of whom I am one) have done much research to try to certify his Revolutionary War service, but we have not been able to go beyond the story passed down in our family concerning his joining the Wilkes County soldiers. No trace of his service has been clearly documented. However, Mary Bussey Souther was living on a 200-acre land grant which seems to have been given to Stephen Souther and recorded first in 1778, and again in 1782 (after Stephen’s death). Could this have been a grant for his Revolutionary War service? The description of the land in each entry (# 234, July 4, 1778 and # 482, October 23, 1782, Wilkes County records) were the same, reading: “Grant Stephen Souther 200 acres both sides Hunting Creek above William Carnes improvement…between Souther and Osborne Keeling.” With no proof of ancestor Stephen Souther’s enlistment in the Revolutionary Army, we who would like to claim him as a patriot have not been able to prove his service registration.

Mary Bussey Souther seemed to be a good wife and mother. Stories come to us of her having driven an ox cart herself, after her husband Stephen’s death, “to the west” (probably to settlements in Kentucky or Tennessee on the frontier) to visit her relatives, and the report was that “she was gone a long time.” She and Stephen had these known children: Michael (1760) who married Elinor (maiden name unknown) who lived in Buncombe County, NC; Elizabeth (1765) who married Alexander Gilreath; Jesse Souther (1774) who married Jane Combs [her name is also given as Joan in some records] and reared their family in Wilkes County, NC near Old Fort, with five of them migrating to Union County, Georgia and the others remaining in NC; Joshua Souther (1777 ?) who married Libby Profitt; he served in the War of 1812; Joel Souther (17?) married Patsy Brown; and Sarah Souther (17?) married Elijah Hampton. In the 1782 tax list of Wilkes County, Mary (Bussey) Souther was listed as head-of-household. In the 1790 census, she was again listed as head-of-household with two males under sixteen, two males over 16, and 3 females. It is not known if some of these were Mary’s married children and grandchildren. Stephen Souther may have died intestate, since no will is listed signed by him in Wilkes Court records.

Stephen’s son, Jesse Souther, is the ancestor whom we want to trace. Since we know that his children Joseph, John, Kizziah, Jesse, and Hix migrated to Union County, Georgia, and since these “Mountain Mists” articles have traced those stories, we will concentrate on those who remained behind in North Carolina. Jesse Souther’s will probated in 1858 gives insights into how he distributed his property.

Our next entry will examine his will and some of his children who remained in North Carolina.

[Resource: Dyer, Watson Benjamin. Souther Family History, Self-published, 1988. Pp. 45-60]

cFebruary 1, 2012 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published online by permission of author at
GaGenWebProject All rights reserved.

A Tribute to Congressman Edgar Lanier Jenkins

Union County, Georgia can be justifiably proud of one of her native sons, Congressman Edgar Lanier Jenkins. He grew up in the county, was educated in the elementary and high schools at Blairsville, and went out to make his mark in the world. We salute him, pay tribute to his memory, and extend condolences to his family.

Congressman Edgar Lanier Jenkins who served as the United States Representative from the Ninth US Congressional District, Georgia, passed away Sunday, January 1, 2012, three days shy of his seventy-ninth birthday. He was born in Young Harris, Georgia on January 4, 1933, the second son of six children born to Charles Swinfield Jenkins and Evia Mae Souther Jenkins. He served in the United States House of Representatives for sixteen years, from 1976 through 1992 when he retired.

He and I were, as we say in genealogical terms, double-first cousins twice (or thrice) removed. We both descend from stalwart early settlers to Union County, Georgia (where Ed and I both grew up). As John Donne so aptly stated in one of his poems, Ed’s death “diminished me.” I was deeply saddened that he could not recover from the cancer he so bravely fought and that took his life three days before he reached his seventy-ninth birthday.

I will miss his presence at our annual Dyer-Souther Reunions in July. I will miss sending him “The Chronicle,” the newsletter I write and send out to about 300 descendants of Ed and my common ancestors, John and Mary Combs Souther and Bluford Elisha and Elizabeth Clark Dyer. Edgar’s connection back to them is through his mother, Evia Souther Jenkins, the granddaughter of William Albert and Elizabeth “Hon” Dyer Souther. This couple’s first-born son, Frank Loransey Souther (1881-1937) who married Nancy Elizabeth Johnson (1886-1967) was Edgar’s grandfather, his mother Evia’s parents. Edgar’s great, great grandparents were John Combs Hayes Souther (1827-1891) and Nancy Collins Souther (1829-1888)—and through the Collins line Edgar and I pick up still another relationship, for we share the same Collins ancestors as well. But all these ancestral connections get to be a bit confusing, especially if you don’t deal with them on a regular basis. Suffice it to say that the family connections are back there, strong and with definite influence upon both of us.

Edgar Lanier Jenkins perhaps got his penchant for public service in an “honest” way, as we say in the mountains. His grandfather, Frank Loransey Souther (1881-1937) was what we call in Appalachia a “revenooer.” That is, he worked for the U. S. Government to find, break up, and arrest perpetrators of the law who made “moonshine liquor” in the coves and hollows of this mountain region. When Edgar was a slip of a boy only four years old, his grandfather Ransey (as we called him) was killed in the line of duty. Maybe that Grandfather’s death made such an impression on Edgar that he resolved at an early age to do what he could in future to treat people well and to make a difference with his own life.

Ed graduated from Union County High School and then attended and graduated from Young Harris College in 1951. His faithfulness to his junior college Alma Mater led him in later years to set up a scholarship fund there which has assisted many with tuition. His first job out of Young Harris was with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (was this in remembrance of his late grandfather, Ransey Souther?). He then joined the U. S. Coast Guard and served ably from 1952 through 1955. Following his honorable discharge, he entered the University of Georgia to receive his bachelor’s degree and then his law degree in 1959.

From 1959 through 1962 he served on the staff of U. S. Congressman Phillip M. Landrum of the Ninth Congressional District. That experience helped the young Jenkins get a feel for serving in our U. S. capitol and set the stage for his later direction in life. From 1962 through 1964, Edgar Jenkins was Assistant District Attorney for Georgia’s Northern District, and he practiced law in Pickens County, Georgia, where he and his wife, Bennie Jo Thomasson Jenkins made their home at Jasper. Their two daughters, Janice Kristin and Amy Lynn came along in the 1960’s to give them much joy and grace their home. Later he would rejoice in two grandsons, Sam and Drew Dotson, sons of his daughter, Amy Jenkins Dotson.

Ed Jenkins was elected as the Ninth District U. S. Congressman in 1976, the same year another Georgian, Jimmy Carter, was elected President of the United States. Since Ed had the experience of being on the staff of Congressman Landrum, he was not to be considered a rookie in Washington politics. His sixteen year tenure (he did not run for reelection in 1992) saw many achievements by this legislator from Georgia who served a total of eight terms. It is interesting that “The Almanac of American Politics” in 1990 described Jenkins as “one of the smartest operators on Capitol Hill.”

This article could not possibly enumerate all the bills he sponsored or the legislative committees on which he served. Some of his major roles in Congress were serving on the House Ways and Means Committee, on the very volatile Joint Committee on the Iran-Contra which had the task of investigating and dealing with trading weapons to Iran. Ed Jenkins’ main value to the area he served was his strong stands for the textile industries within the Ninth District, holding that these jobs should not be parceled out to other countries. This had to do not only with the carpet industry of Dalton, but all the once-profitable sewing shops that made clothing throughout the mountain region. What do we see now on labels? “Made in-----” with the name of another country named.

Jenkins likewise stood up for conservation in supporting our National Forest bills, and for the farmer and small business owner. He authored bills for soil and water conservation and wilderness areas. Having come from salt-of-the-earth ancestors, he recognized the value of hard work and of holding on to ideals of integrity and fairness. He also worked hard to bring about tax revisions to give more equity in the tax structure. He believed in education and in his retirement served on the Board of Regents of the University of Georgia and as a trustee (emeritus) of Young Harris College. He and his family demonstrated as well their Christian influence and were active in First Baptist Church, Jasper, where his memorial service was held on January 7, 2011. His body was returned to Union County where he was interred at the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery.

To honor this long-time member of Congress, a bill passed on December 11, 1991 to name an area of the Chattahoochee National Forest the “Ed Jenkins National Recreation Area.” This 23,166 acre spread of north Georgia forest is a tribute to an humble man who studied hard, set goals and reached them, and lived nobly. In researching for this article, I accessed a beautiful photograph taken by Alan Cressler (photostream) of the Lovinggood Creek Falls in Fannin County, Georgia. This is one of the beautiful, sparkling falls in the Ed Jenkins National Recreation Area that lies generally within the Blood Mountain Wilderness area and the Blue Ridge Wildlife Management area. As I saw the image of the tumbling water, I thought of how Ed Jenkins’ influence is still flowing on, still making a difference now and into the future. He made “footsteps in the sands of time” and in our hearts.

My condolences go out to his beloved wife, Jo, children Janice Anderson and Amy Dotson, grandsons Sam and Drew Dotson, brothers Charles and Kenneth Jenkins, sisters Ella Battle, Marilyn Thomasson and Patti Chambers. I thought of nephew Rick Jenkins (Charles’s son) and his wife, Cindy Epperson Jenkins (of Epworth, Ga—one of “my” children whom I taught) serving as missionaries in Panama who could not attend the memorial service because of the distance. I thought of all of us many cousins—twice, thrice removed—who people this planet. We will miss you, Ed, but we salute you for the life you lived.

Edgar Lanier Jenkins, our ancestors would be proud of how you carried on the tradition of serving others. You “preached your funeral while you lived,” as our great grandparents liked to say as they sought to teach us how to live. I thought of Ed’s father, Charlie Jenkins, the barber of Blairsville for so many years, talking politics and expressing his wisdom to customers on the country’s situation as Edgar probably played quietly in the barber shop. I thought of Edgar’s grandfather, Ransey Souther, and his unselfish giving in the line of duty as a federal agent. So many influences combined to make Ed what he was. I thought of our wonderful mutual teacher, Mrs. Dora Hunter Alison Spiva, at Union County High School—and so many more people, kin and friends, who wielded their influence. Now we will look back on Edgar Jenkins’s life and say, with poet William Winter:

“On wings of deeds the soul must mount!

When we are summoned from afar,

Ourselves, and not our words will count—

Not what we said, but what we are!”

cJanuary 19, 2012 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Kizziah Souther Humphries and Her Family

The name Kizziah given to my great, great aunt has fascinated me since I first heard it. Kizziah Souther was born at Old Fort, McDowell County, North Carolina on March 27, 1811. She was the sixth child of fourteen born to Jesse Souther (1774-1858) and Jane Combs Souther (1782-1858). I began to wonder where Jesse and Jane Souther came up with the name “Kizziah” to give to their baby in 1811.

Searching for the name Kizziah, I found that it was a surname, not usually a given name. I thought that perhaps someone in either Jesse or Jane’s family might have had the name Kizziah. My search did not reveal an ancestor with the name, but I did learn that Kizziah seems to be a Tuscarora Indian name, and that there were families in the area of North Carolina where the Southers lived that had the Kizziah surname. My search did not reveal why the name Kizziah for the new baby born to the Southers in 1811, but it sounds pretty, and still holds a fascination even now. Maybe the beauty of the name also fascinated my great, great, great grandparents.

Kizziah Souther married John Humphries (b. 1810) on December 27, 1831 in Burke County, North Carolina. She was 20 and John was 21. He no doubt was a farmer, and perhaps a trapper and timber cutter. Four of the thirteen children who were born to this couple were born before Kizziah’s brothers who had already migrated to Union County in North Georgia enticed John and Kizziah to leave Burke County and find their fortunes on land available in Union County after the exodus of the Cherokees. Her brothers, Joseph and John Souther, had already secured land holdings in District 16 (Choestoe).

By the time of the 1840 Union County census, John and Kizziah Humphries were living in their adopted county. In their household in 1840 were 3 male children under 10 and 2 female children under 10. A next-door neighbor to John and Kizziah were her brother Joseph Souther, and a little farther away, her brother John Souther (my great, great grandfather).

By 1850 we learn in the census the names of the children born to John and Kizziah Humphries, and their ages. Jesse, 17 (named for Kizziah’s father Jesse Souther), Jane, 15 (named for Kizziah’s mother, Jane Combs Souther), Catherine, 14, and Willis, 11, had all been born in North Carolina. Since Willis was born in 1839, this gives us a date of their leaving North Carolina, after Willis’s birth, but before the census enumeration in Union County in 1840. Other children in the Humphries’ household, all born in Georgia, were James, 10; Philip, 9; John, 7; Noah, 5; Sarah 3; and Mary, 2.

Whether the farm in Union County could not yield enough to support his growing family, or whether the desire to go to other more promising places hit John Humphries, sometime before the 1860 census they had departed from Union County. By 1860 John and Kizziah Humphries and the children remaining at home were in Monroe County, Tennessee. Three other children, bringing the total to 13, had been born to Kizziah; these were Nancy Ann, Joseph F. and David.

They moved on from Monroe County to Blount County in Tennessee where some of the family lived. By the 1880 census, Kizziah had died (her death date is unknown to this writer), and her husband John was listed as a widower, living in the household of his next-to-youngest son, Joseph. However, before John Humphries died, he moved to Cherokee County, NC to live with one of his children there, and died in Cherokee County.

We will trace what we know of Kizziah and John Humphries’ thirteen children. The oldest, Jesse (b. 1833, NC) served in the Civil War. He married Charlotte, known as “Lottie” Duckworth. This marriage record is entered for this couple in Union County marriages: Charlotty Duckworth to Jessee Umphris, March 11, 1855, performed by H. J. Scruggs, minister. The 1910 census shows that they were living in Union County then. Later Jesse moved to Walker County, Georgia. He and Lottie had four known children: Rosetta who married a Martin; their marriage is entered, with this spelling in Union records: Roseta Umphas to T.H. Martin, by C. N. Davis, JP, on May 6, 1878. Ellen, their second child, married Juan Jones on November 17, 1882, with A. B. Harkins, JP, performing the ceremony. Her last name in the record was spelled Umphres. The other two children of Jessie and Lottie were Sarah and John E.

Catherine, nicknamed “Katie” Humphries was born in 1837. Katie married John Hix, their ceremony performed by William Pruitt, minister, in Union County on November 2, 1854. In the record, Catherine’s surname was spelled Umphris. As Katie’s next-to-youngest brother, Joseph, recalled his memories of his family and gave information to Tennessee genealogist, Mr. Will Parham, in 1931, he noted that Katie and John Hix moved from Union County to White County, Georgia. They had several children.

John and Kizziah Souther Humphries’ fourth child, Willis, born in 1839 in North Carolina, married May Johnson on October 14, 1866 in Union County, with Thompson Collins, Justice of the Peace, performing the ceremony. By 1870, this young couple had moved to Cherokee County, North Carolina, where they were recorded as having two children, but the children’s ages indicate that Mary may have been married before she and Willis married, and she had two children, Elizabeth, 11 in 1870, and Hugh, 9. They were listed, however, under the last name Humphries. Joseph Humphries in 1931 stated that his brother Willis moved west to Arkansas where he “was killed” (no indication of whether his death was by accident or confrontation). Willis Humphries’ wife and children moved on to Texas after his death and settled there.

We will continue the account of John and Kizziah Humphries’ remaining nine children in a subsequent article. This family provided an example of the migrations that occurred in the mountain regions of North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee in the 1800’s. Nearly always, moves came because the head-of-household was looking for better opportunities for his family. It is interesting that the surname Humphries (with its various spellings, Humphreys, Humphrey, Humfries, Umphries, Umphres) is Welch in origin and is from “Hun” meaning “bear cub,” plus the suffix “frid” meaning peace. In the 9th century, the Bishop of Therouanne, named Hunfrid, was named a saint, known for his peace-keeping skills. He was very popular among the Norman settlers of England. In 1854, Blanche and Edward Humphries settled in Virginia. They may have been ancestors of John Humphries who married Kizziah Souther in Burke County, NC in 1831. The Humphries coat-of-arms motto is “L’homme vrai aime sons pays,” and, translated, means “The true man loves his country.”

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published August 25, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Hix and Caroline Burgess Souther’s Second Child and His Family:Two Southers Joined—Jesse Wilburn and Mary Delia

Last week we looked at “A Dream Deferred,” how Hix and Caroline Burgess Souther moved to Union County, Georgia from North Carolina about 1840, and how Hix died not long after they settled here. His widow, Caroline Burgess Souther, married Rollin (Roland?) Wimpey, combining their families, moving on to Gilmer County, Georgia where they had three children born to them, thus combining her family of three children and his family of three children with their own children, Martha, Robert and Andrew Wimpey.

The focus of this story will be that of Hix and Caroline Burgess Souther’s second child, Jesse Wilburn Souther, born November 11, 1840 in McDowell County, North Carolina who died March 6, 1920. Both he and his wife, Mary Delia Souther (May 1, 1858 – Nov. 15, 1915) reared their family in Union County. Interment for this couple was at New Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery on land that Mary Delia’s father, John Souther (he was also Jesse Wilburn’s uncle) gave for a cemetery and church site.

When Jesse Wilburn Souther’s widowed mother, Caroline Burgess Souther, married Rollin Wimpey on August 25, 1844, Jesse Wilburn was not quite four years old. We know that the couple moved, with her children and his children, six, all very young, “little stair-steps” as we would say, six and under. They moved to Gilmer County, Georgia and settled in the Gates Chapel section of that county where Rollin Wimpey farmed. From there, some of the Southers later moved to Whitfield County, Georgia and settled in the Deep Springs section north of Dalton.

Jesse Wilburn Souther joined the Confederacy in May, 1862 and fought in the Civil War in Company F, 60th Regiment of Georgia, Gordon’s Brigade. He was wounded in 1864, losing one of his fingers. A family photograph with his wife and four of their eight children shows a finger missing from his right hand. He was on the pension list of 1893.

We have no record of the courtship of Jesse Wilburn Souther and his first cousin, Mary Delia Souther, daughter of J. W.’s uncle and aunt, John and Mary “Polly” Combs Souther. Perhaps they became attracted to each other as Jesse Wilburn visited his uncle after his mother moved to Gilmer County. After the Civil War, and following Jesse Wilburn’s recovery from his wound that took a finger, we learn from Union County marriage records that he and Delia married on September 17, 1868. They made their home on Choestoe near New Liberty Baptist Church, probably on land where Jesse Wilburn’s uncle John had settled in the 1830’s. Jesse Wilburn and Mary Delia Souther had eight children as follows:

William Leason Souther (1869-1948) married Elizabeth Goforth

Johnathan Hix Souther (1871 – 1957) married Julia Vesta Woodring 1869-1950)

Bailey William Souther (1876- 1956) married Lydia Plott (1882-1969)

Jesse Benjamin Souther (1876-1964) married Dovie Caroline Townsend (1883-1975) Emory Spier Souther (1878 - ?) married Iowa Nicholson

James Henry Souther (1881 - 1958) never married

Daniel Loransey Souther (1883 – 1961) married (1) Alice Collins and (2)Dora Collins

Mary Elizabeth “Mollie” Souther (1886-1910) never married

Several of Jesse Wilburn and Mary Delia Souther’s children moved to Colorado and other points west. Leason and Elizabeth Goforth Souther homesteaded in Upper Disappointment Valley near Norwood, Colorado. But they got to that location by moving first from Choestoe to Mulberry, Arkansas, then to Montrose, Colorado and finally to Disappointment Valley. Despite its name, that area proved to be a good place for Leason and Elizabeth to homestead. They raised cattle there and Leason had a postal route from Norwood to Cedar, Colorado for sixteen years in addition to his ranching operations. Leason and Elizabeth had seven children, three of whom died in infancy and four of whom lived to adulthood, married and had families.

Johnathan Hix (Hicks) Souther and his wife, Julia Vesta Woodring Souther, also went to the Upper Disappointment Valley near Norwood, Colorado and settled there around 1900. However, they did not remain in Colorado but moved back east to Towns and/or Union, County, Georgia with their children Garnie (?), Ambrose, Esta and Gordon. His obituary (clipping, undated by person who saved it, 1957) stated that he was “a life-long resident of Union County,” but this statement was in error. His funeral was held at New Liberty Baptist Church with the Revs. Henry Brown, Tom Smith and John Thomas officiating. There is not a marked tombstone for him at New Liberty. His son Gordon and Gordon’s wife Thelma Ensley Souther were both interred at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Union County.

Bailey William Souther (1873-1956) migrated to Pueblo, Colorado in 1890. He worked as a carpenter and farmer. He cut and sold the first crossties used for laying the rail line to Telluride, Colorado. He returned to Towns County and married Lydia Plott (1882-1969) in Young Harris on February 2, 1901. Their children were Vernon, Arnold, Elizabeth Lillian and Mary Delia. They went back to Colorado where they made their home in Eaton. They were buried in the Eaton Cemetery.

Jesse Benjamin Souther (1876-1964) married Dovie Caroline Townsend (1883-1975) in Union County, Georgia on July 30, 1903. Like his siblings before him, Ben Souther went west as a young man, and the first child, Bertha Edna, was born in Telluride, San Miguel County, Colorado in 1904. They returned to Georgia where son Paul Wilburn was born in 1906, Pearl Iowa was born in 1909, Mary Lee was born in 1911. They went back west for another few years and Gladys Delphane was born in Colorado in 1913. About the time World War I ended, Ben Souther moved his family back to Georgia, settling in the Gum Log section of Union County. Gladys died at age six in 1919 and was buried at Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery. Ben and Dovie Souther were buried at Old Union Cemetery, Young Harris.

Emory Spier Souther (1878 - ?) married Iowa Nicholson. They had one child, a daughter born about 1911, named Emorie for her father. Emory Souther was a dentist and a pianist. This family lived in Cheyenne Wells, Colorado and later at Eads in the same state. Emorie had made application to teach school in Georgia, evidently wanting to live in the state where her father was born. However, she got a bad boil on a thigh and contracted blood poisoning. She died January 5, 1937 and was buried in Eads, Colorado. Emorie, with her father’s penchant for music, was a good pianist and singer. Family reports are that Emory Souther died in the Murphy, NC Hospital while visiting his brother, Johnathan Hicks Souther, and was buried in New Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery. However, there is not a marked tombstone there for Emory Souther.

James Henry Souther (Dec. 4, 1881- Oct. ?, 1958) never married. He went to Colorado and was living in Eaton when he died in 1958.

Daniel Loransey Souther (1883-1961) was married twice and had children by each spouse. Alice Collins (1893-1919), daughter of Joseph Newton Collins and Sarah Melissa Nix Collins and Daniel Loransey Souther were married August 31, 1913 in Union County, Georgia. Their children were Thomas Roy Souther (1915-1994) and Jesse Clyde Souther (b/d August 26, 1918). Alice died in 1919. “Ransey” Souther married Dora Iowa Collins (1900-1989), daughter of Isaac and Josephine Hunter Collins in Union County on March 26, 1922. Their children were Blain, J. D., Reba, Mamie Eulene and James Ralph. Like his siblings, Daniel Loransey Souther lived and worked in the area of Weld County, Colorado. He died January 17, 1962 and was buried in the Eaton, Colorado Cemetery. [Note: This Ransey Souther should not be confused with Frank Loransey Souther (1881-1937) son of William Albert Souther and Elizabeth “Hon” Dyer Souther, who served as a US Marshal in North Georgia, Alcohol and Tax Unit, from 1920-1937.]

Jesse Wilburn and Mary Delia Souther’s eighth and last child, Mary Elizabeth (1886-1910) never married. She preceded her parents in death and was buried at the New Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery, Blairsville, dying before her 24th birthday.

Resources for information on the family of Jesse Wilburn Souther and Mary Delia Souther were Watson Benjamin Dyer’s “Souther Family History” (1988) and Dianalee Reynolds Gregar’s “Souther Lines,” (1998), covering especially the “Western” Southers. It takes special people and careful research to dig through countless records to compile family histories.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Aug. 11, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

On Cemeteries and Burial Customs: Remembering Uncle Dallas Collins’s Death, 1938

New Liberty Baptist Church sits in the 16th District and is located where land lots 161, 162, 149 and 150 converge. From the will of John Souther (1803-1889) signed and declared January 24, 1889 and recorded in County Ordinary E. W. Butt’s records on May 6, 1889, is this notation: “It is my will that this be deeded to the Church, of No. 161 (land lot), one acre of land where the Church House now sits—with privilege of wood to lands belonging to the estate to have and to hold the same to her own benefit and behoof.” And so from great, great grandfather John Souther, the property for the church and cemetery began in that long ago time. At our Dyer-Souther Reunion on July 17, 2010, we will have a service of commemoration for this donated property and the monument placed by a descendant of his, Georgia Souther Citrin, which indicates that the gift was made by him in 1889.

Going back to records of the Choestoe Baptist Church of February 18, 1843 and April 15, 1843, in minutes of church conference hand-written by John Souther, church clerk, we discover that Choestoe was instrumental in helping “the church at Brass Town” (which we believe to be the church later called New Liberty) in the process of organizing, and receiving three members. Whether these transferred from Choestoe Church was not made clear in the minutes. But from its beginning the New Liberty Church was supported, both by gift of land and membership from John Souther and members of his family. As several of them who remained in Choestoe died, their resting places were in the cemetery at New Liberty. John was buried there following his death on February 2, 1889 and his wife, Mary Polly Combs Souther following her death on May 1, 1894, as well as several of their children, and members of subsequent generations.

As I view graves in the old section of New Liberty Cemetery, containing the remains of my ancestors, I began to think about burial customs that were common to our people in this mountain region long before professional funeral homes, crematories and the rites and ceremonies currently associated with death and dying were practiced

Because embalming had not been introduced here in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the body of the deceased had to be quickly readied for burial and the funeral was usually the next day (or sometimes the same day) after death occurred.

My first recollection of participation in community burial rites was at the death of my great Uncle William Dallas Collins (03/05/1846-07/18/1938) who married a daughter of John and Mary Souther, Sarah Rosannah Souther (06/13/1846-02/01/1929). My father, J. Marion Dyer, was very handy with tools. He often led in designing and making the casket for deceased persons in our community. With help from neighbors, my father soon had a presentable coffin made to receive the body of Great Uncle Dallas who had been a solid citizen, beloved farmer, church leader and justice of the peace in his community. Uncle Dallas had lived right in the shadow of New Liberty Baptist Church, in which cemetery his body would be laid.

Tolling the death on the church steeple bell was also a practice when a death occurred. It was customary to toll the bell the number of years the deceased had lived. The announcement via the bell went throughout the valley, and whether people counted the 92 tolls or not before losing count, at least they would know that “Uncle Dallas” (as he was respectfully called by many) had died because they knew of his serious illness. The bell message was a sign to stop work in the fields and prepare a grave for the burial and make other funeral arrangements.

While the men worked to fashion the casket, line it with cotton, and place over the padding a brocaded white cloth which had been purchased in advance and saved for the purpose, the body was being readied for the wake. First came the bathing and dressing in the very best clothes the deceased had available. For Uncle Dallas, it was his Sunday suit, made of homemade woven wool cloth from his own sheep, and a white shirt, also homemade.

To dress a woman for wake, the process might have been a bit more complicated. Some of the women, anticipating death, would have made in advance a “burying dress,” and saved it ready for the occasion. But for others, the neighbor women would bring together appropriate cloth they might have and make a shroud for dressing the deceased’s body. Haste always seemed to be necessary in preparing the body before rigor mortis set in. Coins were placed temporarily over the deceased’s eyes to insure their closing.

When the casket was finished, the body, which had been laid out on boards across the bed frame, was transferred to the casket and placed in state. The all-night wake began. Women prepared (or brought from their own homes) food for the occasion. In these all-night vigils, people talked of the life and work of the dearly departed. It was all a closely-knit process of dealing with grief and loss.

Then came the funeral service itself. I remember Uncle Dallas’s was held in his home. Sometimes the body was taken to the church for the funeral. Men in the community had already dug the grave. In case a pastor was not available, for very few of them in those days lived in the community but were itinerant, then someone with the ability to read and speak well would give the Scripture and eulogy and offer the prayer. If singing were in order, gospel songs that told of resurrection, hope and heaven were sung by those whose voices could harmonize. One of the favorite hymns in my community was “O Come, Angel Band.”

The short trip from Uncle Dallas’s house to New Liberty Cemetery was made with his casket loaded on the farm wagon drawn by his two faithful mules. We marched in procession behind his casket and, upon arriving at the cemetery, saw the lowering into the grave by means of ropes the men had stretched across the open grave on a sort of scaffold. Homemade bouquets of flowers or those made from crepe paper were placed on the closed grave. Death, the great leveler, had come into yet another household in our Choestoe Community. How many times would I see this repeated before I would move on to other places, and see more modern means of care for the dead and burial.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her “On Death and Dying” wrote: “Watching a peaceful death of a human being reminds us of a falling star; one of a million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever.” But somehow, Great Uncle Dallas, and others who passed like a falling star, did not move on into endless night. We remember, even until now, their lives and example, their values and principles, their faith and hope. He and they loved us and gave us an anchor, sure and steadfast. And that has made all the difference in who we are.

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 10, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

My Brother, My Hero, Francis Eugene Dyer

When death comes near a holiday, such as Christmas, it seems to hold an extra measure of sadness. My brother, my hero, Francis Eugene Dyer, drew his last breath on December 21, 2009 and was released from suffering and earthly restrictions. In reviewing his life, I was extremely proud to call him my brother, my hero. He will live in my heart and memory as long as I myself have breath—and, even beyond this life; I hope to rejoin him in Paradise.

He was born on February 25, 1921 in the farmhouse of his parents, Azie Collins Dyer (1895-1945) and Jewel Marion Dyer (1890-1974). In his ancestry on both sides of the family he descended from pioneer settlers who were in Union County in the early 1830s when the county was formed. Azie’s parents were Francis Jasper Collins (1855-1941) and Georgianne Hunter Collins (1855-1924). Azie’s grandparents on her father’s side were Frank Collins (1816-1864) and Rutha Nix Collins (1822-1893) and on her mother’s side were William Jonathan Hunter (1813-1893) and Margaret Elizabeth “Peggy” England Hunter (1819-1894). And Azie’s great grandparents were Thompson Collins (abt. 1785-abt. 1858) and Celia Self Collins (abt. 1787-1880) and John Hunter (1775-1848) and Elizabeth (last name unknown).

On his father’s side, Eugene’s ancestors were grandparents, Bluford Elisha (“Bud”) Dyer (1855-1926) and Sarah Eveline Souther Dyer (1857-1959). His great grandparents were James Marion Dyer (1823-1904) and Louisa Ingram Dyer (1827-1907); Little Ingram (1788-1866) and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram (abt. 1793-abt. 1830); John Combs Hayes Souther (1827-1891) and Nancy Collins Souther (1829-1888). His great, great grandparents were Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr. (abt. 1785–1847) and Elizabeth Clark Dyer (abt. 1788-1861); John Souther (1803-1889) and Mary “Polly” Combs Souther (1807-1894); John Little Ingram (abt 1755-1828) and Ruth White Ingram (abt 1758-abt 1849). John Ingram was a Revolutionary War Soldier.

With this list of ancestors, all of whom pioneered and settled land and became landowners, solid citizens, farmers, and some businessmen and teachers, we should not wonder that Eugene himself became a World War II soldier with a heroic and distinguished career, a businessman, a farmer and for 36 years a member of the Union County Board of Education. Family matters. Family helps to make us who and what we are. And he was, indeed, from “solid” stock.

Eugene Dyer served in the Army Air Force during World War II from September, 1942 through the end of the war. He was a bombardier in the famed Flying Fortress, B-24, serving in the Liberation Group of the 15th Army Air Force. He saw action in the European, African and Italian Theaters of War, participating in more than 400 combat missions. He was awarded the Soldier’s Medal of Heroism when he saved the life of a fellow flyer. He and the one he saved were the only survivors of the plane’s crew when its oxygen system was bombed out. Other decorations included the Purple Heart, the Air Medal with oak leaf clusters, the Good Conduct Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater War Ribbon with five campaign stars, and the Distinguished Unit Badge with two oak leaf clusters. He attained the rank of Staff Sergeant. He spent fifteen months in Italy, much of which was in an army hospital recovering from severe injuries, the results of which were present with him the remainder of his life in the form of shrapnel in his legs. He can truly be termed a “hero,” a member of “The Greatest Generation.”

As a merchant, he operated a grocery, gasoline, feed, seed and fertilizer store from 1947 through 1989. He was known for his credit to farmers that badly needed his help to get their crops planted. In this respect, he followed the practice he had observed from his grandfather, Francis Jasper “Bud” Collins, who also had extended credit to hurting families during the Great Depression, and before and after.

As a school board member in Union County for 36 years, an elected office, he helped to make decisions that brought the school system from scattered country schools to strong consolidated schools, adequate and state-of-the-art buildings and equipment, and well-qualified teachers and administrators. Education was high on his list of priorities.

He was a family man. His wife Dorothy, his children Connie, Ivan and Tim, his grandchildren Jason, Alexandra and Emily, and his brothers and sisters and a host of cousins can all attest to his love, respect and reverence for family ideals and priorities.

And as a church man, he was quiet and often did not say much, but when he spoke on matters of building decisions, church finances, and expansion, he was heard and heeded. His devotion to Choestoe Baptist Church where he was a faithful member extended from boyhood through all of his adult life.

I wrote the following poem for my hero, my brother, in December, 2008, for Christmas. I am glad he was able to read it and know how I felt about him. I read it as a tribute to him at his funeral on December 23, 2009.

Going Out a Boy, Returning a Man
(For my hero, my brother, Eugene)

The call to arms came when he was but a lad,
A farm boy following the plow.
Defending one’s country couldn’t be bad;
That duty in patriotism called him now.

Hardly had he been beyond the hills
That tied him closely to his home;
Dearly he loved the farm, its rocks and rills,
And the seeds planted in the fertile loam.

Out beyond the mountains duty lay,
To boot camp, training, assignments read;
A gunner in a B-24 was to be his way,
And into European combat his path led.

Soon he learned what courage meant
Through sleepless nights and anxious days;
The enemy like a blast of locusts sent
Volleys into the blue untrammeled ways.

Came then the day when the plane crashed
And many were the casualties of war;
A boy no longer, a brave man lashed
Onto life and fought another kind of war—

A war to readjust when peace was signed,
Seeking to reestablish a solid way of life,
A way to make a difference, be refined
Amidst whatever came of peace or strife.

-Ethelene Dyer Jones

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Jan. 7, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Appreciating Revolutionary War Patriots--Stephen Souther and William Souther

The annual Dyer-Souther Heritage Association Reunion will be held Saturday, July 18, 2009 beginning at 11:00 a. m. at Choestoe Baptist Church, eight miles south of Blairsville just off Highway 180 ("The Micajah Clark Dyer Parkway).

As historian for the organization, it has been my privilege to delve into the ancestral history of our known Revolutionary War patriots. Telling their stories will be the focus of the afternoon program at the reunion. Those with ties to early settlers Bluford Elisha Dyer and Elizabeth Clark Dyer and John Souther and Mary Combs Souther are invited to attend. Friends of these descendants are also welcome. We will have a grand time of renewing acquaintances and remembering our ancestors and their contributions to America's freedom.

The historical focus of this column will be two of several honored patriots, Stephen Souther (1742-1780) and William Souther (about 1732- 1784).

Stephen was a son of Henry Souther (about 1712-May, 1784) and Juliann (last name unknown - about 1715- about 1783). William Souther was Stephen's uncle, brother to Stephen's father, Henry. Both were born in Culpepper County, Virginia. The Choestoe early settler, John Souther, was a grandson of Stephen Souther.

The five known children of Henry and Juliann Souther migrated from Virginia to Surrey County, North Carolina (from which Wilkes County was formed). So did William Souther, Stephen's uncle and Henry's brother, who was only ten years older than Stephen. William's wife was Magdalena Vernon whom he had married in 1755.

We will examine first, our ancestor, Stephen Souther, first son of Henry, and trace what we know of the story of his service to his country. It is unrecorded (yet) in annals of patriot history, mainly because he may have died before his volunteer service was recorded. A story well-founded in Souther family history and recorded by historian Watson Benjamin Dyer states that Stephen Souther (1742-1782) married Mary Bussey (1745-1790) before they left Culpepper County, Virginia to move to Surrey (later Wilkes) County, NC in 1778. At the time, much unrest brewed as Tories (those loyal to the British) attacked settlers in the remote mountain areas, led on by the British Captain Ferguson who promoted their loyalties and attacks.

Stephen Souther signed on with the militia led by Benjamin Stephens. The story of Stephen's military service, passed down in family stories from that time, is that Stephen Souther, suffering from severe nosebleed, for he was afflicted with the disease of hemophilia, died in 1780. It is not known definitely whether his death occurred at the Battle of King's Mountain where he may have suffered a wound and the bleeding could not be stopped or whether he died somewhere enroute to the Battle. His widow, Mary Bussey Souther, was granted 200 acres of land on Hunting Creek in Wilkes County on October 23, 1782 in appreciation of his service to the country. Already, Stephen had received a grant previous to his death on February 5, 1780.

Stephen and Mary Bussey Souther had seven known children, Elizabeth, Jesse, Michael, Joshua, Joel, Sarah and Frank. The second-born, Jesse Souther (about 1775-1858) who married Joan Combs, was the father of John Souther, first Souther settler in the Choestoe District of Union County, and for most in the Souther kinship line, our link back to Stephen, whose Revolutionary Service is not proven through records. Even though there is not yet an official documentation of Stephen Souther's patriotic service, we his descendants hold confidently to the belief that he lost his life at King's Mountain where the British leader Patrick Ferguson and his army were defeated by hill country militia in late 1780. Stephen's widow, Mary Bussey Souther did not apply for a pension but accepted the land grant as recompense in recognition of her husband's service.

Documentation for the service of William Souther (1732 -1794) is clear, found in his application for pension which was made September 14, 1833. It was approved and payment made retroactive to March 4, 1831 of $27.00 per year.

In his application for pension William Souther (# S-7575) stated he volunteered for the militia in Surrey County, NC under Captain William Merritt. In his first three months tour he was at Salisbury under General Rutherford, at Rutgers Mill near Camden, SC, and with General Compton at the rout of British soldiers, Tories and Indians at the Catawba River. Then, joining General Gates at the Catawba, they were defeated in August, 1780 at the Battle of Camden and returned home.

His next term of service was by draft in Surrey County. He was at Richmond, NC under Captain Arthur Scott, at Haw River, where he became sick and was discharged to go home and recover. His next draft was under Captain David Humphries at Old Richmond in Surrey County. The unit went to Guilford Court House in March, 1781, and won a decisive victory against the British. He joined with Colonel James Martin's forces and went to Wilmington, NC in November of 1781. There they were ordered to line up for a proclamation. William Souther and his fellow soldiers heard the grand news that Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown in Virginia and that General Washington was victorious in battle on October 17, 1781. The British officially surrendered on October 19 and asked for terms.

These brave ancestors gave time, energy, courage and loyalty to winning of America's freedom.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 16, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Letters tell of family travels—Combs, Hendren, Souther Families

Thomas Hicks Combs (ca. 1765 - ?) married Kizziah Hayes (1782-?) on February 3, 1801. Their daughter, Mary Combs (1807-1894) married John Souther (1803-1889) on December 7, 1824 in Wilkes County, NC. Mary and John Souther would eventually settle in the Choestoe District of Union County about 1836, but not before they and some of Mary's brothers and sisters and parents migrated to Indiana.

Thomas Hicks Combs and his wife Kizziah lived in the Brushy Branch section of Wilkes County, NC on Hunting Creek. One of their daughters, Nancy Combs (1808-1888) who married Jabez Hendren in 1829, did not migrate to Indiana but continued to live on the farm at Hunting Creek. In the early 1830's, the mother and father and several of their married children set out for Indiana. It is said that Kizziah walked the distance to Indiana. A letter sent to North Carolina stated that after she arrived there, she fell out the door of the house and broke her leg and could never walk again, although otherwise she was in good health.

It is interesting to read some old letters preserved in family archives to learn of the travels of these couples who left Wilkes County to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

A letter written November 29, 1835 was postmarked in Lewisville, Indiana, Rush County, December 11, 1835. From a younger sister of Mary Combs Souther, Elizabeth Combs (1814-1836), who married Jehu Hendren in Wilkes County January 9, 1833, the letter was addressed to Jehu's father William Hendren in Wilkes County. The Combs and Hendren families must have lived close enough together in Wilkes to visit each other, for the letter asked that members of the Combs family be given news from Indiana.

I reproduce here sections of the 1835 letter, which gives information about how those who went to Rush County, Indiana to settle were faring:

"…We are well at present, through the kind mercy of God. We received your letter the 21st day of this month (November, 1835) and were glad to hear that you are all well.

"I made a tolerable crop of corn and flax. My corn was injured a good deal with the frost. All late corn planted in this country is frost bitten. I can pay fifty bushels of corn toward the mare I bought. The man says he will wait 'till next fall for the balance, or take it in work and allow two bushels for a day's work. Corn is selling for 25 and 50 cents per bushel. Wheat is selling for one dollar and 12 and ½ cents per bushel. Pork is selling for 3 to 4 dollars per hundred. I have engaged 3 hundred weight at 3.25 per hundred. I have ten head of hogs. I have two head of cattle and we get more milk than we can use three times a day. I have a first-rate young horse. I am a little in debt, but I can pay when due, I believe."

A child named William, after his grandfather William Hendren, had been born since the couple arrived in Rush County, Indiana. They have this to say about their child:

"William H. could walk before he was a year old, and began to talk tolerable smart. He is a tolerably large child for his age.”

Health is important, as they write in the letter:

"I (Jehu) have been as well as ever in my life since I left North Carolina. I weigh one hundred and sixty-five pounds. There has been a great deal of fever and ague in this county this year. It is enough to scare a fellow."

"We had prospects for a very great harvest but the frost destroyed most of it. I expect to move onto my own land next fall if I live."

Several of the Indiana relatives put their own pages in the letter. Asenath Ellis Combs, who had married William Combs in Wilkes County January 10, 1822, wrote in her portion of the letter:

"William and John Souther have gone to Cincinnati to haul goods for one of the neighbors for one dollar per hundredweight."

Asenath also urged William Hendren to hurry to Indiana to buy the rest of the Souther property, telling what good farm and pastureland it was, and stating the purchase

"would make William Hendren a rich man if he would come and buy it." She stated Souther was willing to sell it for $300 "and the land is well worth $1,000."

Jehu Hendren wrote news about his brother in law:

"John Souther moved to this country and bought 180 acres of land and sold 80 acres to (Thomas) Hicks Combs (his father-in-law). He says he will sell the balance and move from this country, for there is too much mud and cold and ague for him. He talks of moving to Georgia."

Not long after the letter was written, John and Mary Combs Souther did leave Indiana and move to Georgia, for they had purchased and settled on a farm in Choestoe District by 1836.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published April 16, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Aunt Dora reaches 104

Dora Anne Hunter Allison Spiva

Her name is Dora Anne Hunter Allison Spiva. Today, February 10, 2009, she reaches the milestone of 104 years of age. If we could string together a multitude of adjectives of a positive nature to describe this centenarian-plus, we could not come close to telling of her broad influence as a teacher, church woman, community worker, advisor and friend.

Saturday, February 7 from 2:00 to 4:00 p. m., relatives and friends gathered at Choestoe Baptist Church to celebrate the milestone of her 104th birthday. All the crowd who attended came bearing love and praise for this influential woman who has been blessed with beauty, compassion, wisdom and long life.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Dora! Whether you are aunt-kin to us or not, you hold this honorable title, gifted to you because God has granted you long life and a gracious spirit. We came from far and near on February 7 to say "thank you" and "you were a great influence on my life."

Just who is Dora Anne Hunter Allison Spiva?

First, let's look at her family roots. She was born on February 10, 1905 to James A. Hunter (1847-1912) and Martha Souther Hunter (1867-1937). She was the first-born of James A., but Martha had been married previously to James's brother, Jasper F. Hunter (1863-1897), also known as "Todd." To them had been born seven children: John Esther, William Jesse, Nancy, James Hayes, Francis Homer, Hattie and Jasper Grady. These first children of Martha ranged in age from 13 to a baby when Todd died in 1897.

Stepping up later like an Old Testament patriarch, James A. Hunter married his brother's widow and began to help his dear wife with his nieces and nephews who became his own children. To Martha and James were born Dora Anne (1905), Joseph D. (1906) and Daniel (1907), bringing the number of Hunter children to ten. James Hunter's parents were William Johnson Hunter (1813-1893) and Martha England Hunter (1819-1897). Martha's parents were John Combs Hayes Souther (1827-1891) and Nancy Collins Souther (1829-1888). Family ties on "all sides" stem back to early settlers in the Choestoe District with names written in the annals of that area's history: John and Elizabeth Hunter, John and Mary Combs Souther, Thompson and Celia Self Collins, and Daniel and Margaret Gwynn England, to name a few of Aunt Dora's early-settler ancestors.

James A. Hunter died in 1912 when Dora Anne was seven, Joe was not quite six, and Dan was not quite five. Her mother Martha somehow managed, with the older children helping on the farm, and the younger children, likewise, sharing their load of work as they grew up to the responsibilities of farm and family life.

Dora Hunter Allison was educated in the country schools, Old Liberty and Choestoe, whose excellent teachers managed to produce students that stood on their own wherever they went for subsequent education. She went on to Young Harris and became a teacher in the Blairsville Collegiate Institute in 1927 when she was twenty two. Her 40-year career as a mathematics teacher, principal and counselor was mainly in the Union County Schools where she distinguished herself as an apt and caring teacher and one well-beloved by all her students. She continued her own education, earning degrees from Young Harris, Piedmont and the University of Georgia.

In Choestoe Baptist Church where she has been and still is an active member, she was one of the founders of Woman's Missionary Union, served as a teacher in Sunday School, known for her knowledge of the Bible, and as Superintendent of the Sunday School even in the days before women took active roles in the major leadership of the church. She has been active in Georgia's Woman's Missionary Union, serving in past years on the Board as Divisional Vice-President. When telling her niece, Doris Hunter Souther, what her main wish for her birthday is, she said, "I would wish, before I go, that the indebtedness on Choestoe's Family Life Center can be paid." And so, on Saturday, people honored her by making a donation to that cause which is dear to her heart.

To honor this stately lady, Truett McConnell College in nearby Cleveland, Georgia, which she worked actively to establish in 1946 when her pastor at that time, the Rev. Claud Boynton, served on the first Board of Trustees, the college has named a division the Dora Hunter Allison Spiva School of Education. The first four year graduates in education are now serving in schools, a continuing tribute to this notable teacher who has touched so many lives. Donations can be made in her honor to further equip and endow this School of Education which will be touching lives and training teachers for many years to come.

And the beat goes on. A great life is like a widening ripple. It touches deeply where the impact is first made, but it circles outward to reach far beyond the initial target in an ever-widening circle.

Mrs. Dora Hunter Allison Spiva, you have had great impact on so many touched by your caring nature and your dynamic personality, your ability to teach and your dedication to leadership. Saturday's party was beautiful, with her friends from the Blairsville Garden Club (which she helped to found years ago) making attractive decorations for every table and even the "throne-like" place where she sat. The food prepared by her fellow church members was exquisite and tasty, and the huge birthday cake fashioned by Judy Hood Rogers was a lovely centerpiece enjoyed by all. But Dora herself was definitely the center of attention and attraction--amazing, delightful Dora!

Thank you is too small a word to wish you a wonderful 104th birthday! But we do thank you. You did make more difference in our lives than you will ever know.

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published February 12, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Della L. Vandiver Zieske's long life

Della Vandiver was born in Choestoe, Union County, on February 1, 1886. Her parents were John Floyd Edward Vandiver (1849-1923) and Rhoda Lucinda Souther Vandiver (1853-1947).

The span of Della's years was 102. She put a lot of living into the century and more of her life.

When Della Vandiver was a young girl of nine, in 1895, her parents decided to "go west." This call of western land opportunities was strong in that era, and John Floyd Edward Vandiver, grandson of the famed Adam Poole Vandiver (1787-1876) and son of George Vandiver (1812-?) and Frankie Wheeler Vandiver (1816-?), took the challenge to move westward. As review, you may access my accounts about this family's move westward in previous articles now in The Sentinel Archives online. See, in particular these articles: "From the Memoirs of John Joseph Vandiver” (May 3, 2007); "Continuing the Saga of Vandiver's Life in the West" (May 10, 2007); and "John Joseph Vandiver Settles Down in Washington State" (May 17, 2007).

But this is the fascinating story of John Joseph Vandiver's younger sister, eight years his junior. She was nine years old when her parents loaded the children who were going west with them (two of their children were already married in 1895) into their covered wagon and left the home of John Souther and Mary "Polly" Combs Souther on Choestoe, where Della was born that cold February 1, 1886. In fact, all their married life until this point when they decided to "go west," Rhoda Lucinda and her husband had lived with her parents near New Liberty Baptist Church, Choestoe, Union County. The farm, though containing several acres along Town Creek, was still not large enough to support John Joseph and Rhoda Lucinda Vandiver's growing family.
But this is Della L. Vandiver’s story…and I will move on to highlights in her long life.

Imagine the excitement of a nine year old girl leaving the only home she had known in the shadow of Bald Mountain in Choestoe to set out to unknown places with her parents and siblings. She was sad to leave her friends and relatives, and especially her cousins about her own age with whom she liked to play when they visited at her grandparents' house. But Della had deep anticipation for what she would find as their exciting adventure unfolded.

The family went to Gainesville, Georgia in 1895 where they took a passenger train westward. "Our first major stop was in Asher, Arkansas," Della Vandiver wrote. There her father got work and Della's brother, Jesse Edward Vandiver, was born there on March 17, 1897. This sibling was thirteenth and last of the children born to Della's parents. The Vandiver family remained in Arkansas until 1900. Again the urge to move farther west propelled John Floyd Edward Vandiver to move his family on to Back Creek, Wyoming.

A sad day came for Della and her family on June 17, 1900 when her brother, Thomas Marion Vandiver, died at Back Creek. He had been born, as had Della, in Choestoe, Union County, on March 30, 1884. He died at age 16 on June 17, 1900.

Della L. Vandiver Zieske poses at age 100 showing the large fish

she caught at Port Townsend, Washington.

Della Vandiver celebrated her sixteenth birthday on February 1, 1902 in Wyoming. She and her brother John Joseph, to whom she was especially close, decided they would go to Medicine Bow, Wyoming. They got the family buckboard and the horses and started out early on that cold February morning. They had only traveled 15 miles when one of the sudden snowstorms of that part of the west began. The temperature suddenly dropped to about 15 degrees above zero. (How did they measure temperature in 1902?). The snow was blinding them, and the horses could not travel. Besides, Della and John Joseph were freezing in the buckboard, even wrapped up as they were in woolen blankets. Finally, they found a house along the way and the kindly people took the Vandiver siblings in. When the storm abated, not to be outdone by the weather, Della and John Joseph went on to Medicine Bow and celebrated Della's birthday late. She remembered into her old age that her sixteenth birthday was one of the best.

A few years after Della's birthday celebration, she was able to pursue education for the career she had dreamed about. Her beloved brother was living in Washington State at the time. He invited Della to come and begin her nurse's training. She became a student nurse at Seattle's Wayside Emergency Hospital. It was then located aboard a hospital ship docked in the harbor. She enjoyed her training and graduated in the class of 1908 with her nurse's certification. For the next fifty years of her life, she was a caring and hardworking nurse.

Her nursing career was not confined to Washington state. She was called to assist in Treadwell, Alaska when a gold mine there collapsed, leaving several miners dead and many severely injured. She went there as a nurse relief worker and sought to minister to the men whose lives hung in the balance.

During the Great War, or World War I, Della served as a military nurse. She didn't like to talk about this period of her life. Perhaps what she experienced was too traumatic to tell in accounts of her -nursing career. Mainly, she worked in hospitals and as a private nurse in the Seattle area.

Della Vandiver was married five times. Her first three husbands died, leaving her thrice a widow. Her last two marriages, unfortunately, ended in divorce. Her first marriage was January 1, 1913 to Joseph McDonald. After his death, she married Chaney Canning. After his death, she married a Carl Zieske. Unknown to this writer are the names of her last two husbands, unions that led to divorce. When Della Vandiver visited Union County, GA in April, 1986 to see one more time the place where she was born, she was going by the name of Della Vandiver Zieske. Della had no children of her own, but her nieces and nephews loved her, her stories, her zest for life.

She enjoyed fishing and reading. At age 100 she went out in her aluminum boat to her "bigger" fishing boat in Port Townsend Harbor, Washington. Boarding the larger boat, she steered it to the "saltchuck" where the big salmon ran. One of the largest she caught there was a 28-pound salmon. One weighed in at 17 pounds; still another at 11 pounds, and one was a 35-pound lincod that had an 8-pound silver she had hooked, it had gotten back into the water, the lincod swallowed it, and Della hooked the big fellow with the silver fish in its mouth. And these are no "fish tales." They're true experiences of a seasoned seawoman who plied the waters of Straight Juan de Fuca to find and hook the big fish.

Della Vandiver Zieske's 100th birthday cake had this inscription: "Della - 100 Extraordinary Years." She died in Seattle, Washington at age 102.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 26, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Spivey/Spiva and Related Families

Before I launch into today's article, please accept this correction from last week's story about "Some of the Descendants of Leason Spiva." When I make a mistake, I am eager to clear it up, because many of you read this column and if it is on family history, you often add the information to your file.

I heard from Linda Spivey Bjorklund of Baker City, Oregon, regarding her father's siblings and where they were born. As you recall, last week's article was about Claude Raymond Spivey, the 92-year old whose hobby is woodworking. The first six children of Luther Adniram Spivey and Ora Ellis Spivey were born in Monroe County, Tennessee. The seventh, Clyde Spivey, was born in Graham County, NC on July 10, 1927 at the home of Ora Ellis Spiva's aunt, Renie Ellis Blevins near Yellow Creek and the town of Robbinsville. Then in September, 1929, the twelve-day trip in a 1928 Buick took the large family across country to Baker City, Oregon where the last three children were born: Della Lavelle in 1931; James Henry in 1933; and Glenn Duane in 1937. (Note: If you have Geraldine Spiva Elmore's family history book, "Descendants of Adaniram Spiva and Evaline Souther Spiva," Linda Spivey Bjorklund asks you to please make the above corrections to the family of Luther Adniram and Ora Ellis Spivey on page 15.)

For this week's story of a member of the family of Adaniram (1827- 1898) and Eveline Souther Spiva (1826- 1865) we will take a look at their first-born of nine children, John Spiva, who was born in Union County, Georgia on April 25, 1851. John Spiva was only fourteen when his mother died. In the fifteen years his mother and father had been married, she had borne nine children, seven sons and two daughters. There is no information about Nancy Jane except the listing of her name; it is assumed that she died young. John's youngest sibling, Stephen Adrian Spiva, was born November 12, 1865, and was less than a month old when his mother Eveline died on December 4, 1865. You will recall from last week's story that the Souther grandparents, John and Mary Combs Souther, took the infant Stephen and reared him. That still left John Spiva, as the eldest of the children, great responsibility in helping his father Adaniram with the other children until the father married Sarah Haseltine Corn on October 28, 1873.

John Spiva was a blacksmith and a barrel-maker (cooper). In addition to farming his acreage, he used these two trades to help bring in some money at a hard time after the Civil War was over. John Spiva began to court a young lady who lived on Wolf Creek about where Vogel State Park and Lake Trahlyta are now located. John's sweetheart was named Margaret Louise Reece (b. 08/16/1856). They were married earlier in the same year John's father married for the second time. John and Margaret's wedding date was February 13, 1873. Rev. R. M. Hughes performed the marriage ceremony at the home of Margaret's parents, William "Billy" Reece and Mary "Sarry" Daniel Reece. Her parents' wedding date was June 18, 1839 in Union County and their officiant had been Thomas M. Hughes, a Justice of the Inferior Court.

Billy Reece was the son of Jacob Reece and the grandson of William Reece. The earliest Reece settlers in America had migrated from Wales. The name had gone through several spellings: Rays, Rhy, Rys, Reys, Rees, Reese and Reece. Billy Reece's earliest known ancestor was Valentine Reece who was in Watauga County, NC as early as 1790, and came to America from Wales in 1750. Billy and his brother James migrated together from North Carolina to South Carolina, into Habersham County, and finally to Union County before 1837 (they were in the 1840 but not in the 1834 census).

"Sarry" Daniel moved to Union County from Alabama. Her father was Josiah Daniel who came to Union prior to 1837.

John Spiva no doubt learned much from his father-in-law. Billy Reece was an early teacher at Choestoe School, and John may have been one of his students. He was also a farmer and a prospector. Billy found gold deposits in Helton Creek. He would work to get enough gold to take to the mint in Dahlonega, and on Saturdays he would go by horseback to take his findings to be assayed.

John Spiva and Margaret Louise Reece Spiva had ten children, nine of whom lived to adulthood. Their children were: Mary Jane "Mollie" Spiva (12/13/1874-06/05/1962 who married James Asbury Curtis; Eliza E. Spiva (09/08/1876 - ?); Mintie Caroline "Callie" Spiva (06/04/1878-12-06/1974) who married Arlie Knox Waldroop; William Henry Spiva (02/20/1881-12/13/1922) who married Elizabeth Jones; Margaret Emma Spiva (01/28/1883-09/09/1979) who married Joseph Reuben Brown; Frank H. Spiva (01/14/1885-01/18/1880) who married Ada Gertrude Ledford; Jewell Wilburn Spiva (02/16/1887-07/25/195?) who married Grace Mae Swain; Gardner Coke Spiva (12/31/1893-08/18/1988) who married Ethel Susanna McClure; Josiah Haygood Spiva (12/15/1895- 02/08/1988) who married LaFarest McGarity; and Guy Cook Spiva (04/25/1900-03/12/1973) who married Bessie Lee Duckworth.

John Spiva died at age 82 on November 3, 1933. His wife Margaret Louise Reece Spiva lived to age 84, dying June 20, 1941. Both were interred at Shady Grove Methodist Church Cemetery, Union County, Ga.

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

Some Descendants of Leason Spiva

When the Union County Census of 1834 was taken, the first after the county was formed in 1832, one of the families listed was that of Leason Spiva. His name was spelled by the census taker, Lecen Spivey. He had come into Union County from Habersham, and to Habersham from Rutherford County, NC where he had married Jane Jackson. Leason Spiva became clerk of the first inferior court of Union County. It seems that Leason liked to live in new counties, for by 1860 he and his family were residing in Towns County which had been formed in 1856 from a portion of Union. His property near the Hiawassee River on Mill Creek in Towns County was distributed to heirs. He died sometime before April 1, 1889.

Leason and Jane Jackson Spiva had at least eight children. I will focus on Adnirum, born in 1828 in Habersham County, who married Eveline Souther, daughter of John and Mary Combs Souther. They made their home on a farm near her father's home in Choestoe. Their children were John (1851-1933), Jesse (1852-1918), Joseph L. (1855-1940), William Washington (1857-1931), Rhoda Caroline (1859-1930), Thomas Newton (1862-1918), James Alfred (1864-1950), Nancy Jane (?), and Stephen Adrian (1865- 1960). Eveline Souther Spiva died December 4, 1865 when her baby Stephen was less than a month old. She was buried on her father's farm and her grave has been lost to the ravages of time. Her parents, John and Mary Souther, took her small child Stephen and reared him. In his will, John Souther bequeathed to Eveline's heirs $300 to be divided between them, except for "Stephen whom I raised." To him he gave $100.

Claude Spivey, age 92, stands before some of his model trains that he makes in his woodworking shop.

Adniram Spiva married, second, Sarah Haseltine Corn of Towns County and they had five children, bringing the total born to Adniram to fourteen. Adniram and Sarah's children were Evaline (1875), Sarah Rose (1876-1943), Louis J. (1880-1954), Luther F (1883-1955) and Benjamin H. (1885-1925).

James Alfred, seventh child of Adniram and Eveline, chose to use the spelling Spivey for his last name. He was the only one of the children by Eveline who ventured out of Union County and went first to Tellico Plains, Tennessee and eventually to Baker City, Oregon. He married Mary Elizabeth Rhea at Tellico Plans. They had eight children: William Finley, George Thurston, Luther Adniram, Maggie Beatrice, James Wiley, John Henry, Harvey Ethridge, and Charles. All the children were born in Monroe County, TN at Tellico Plains, so it was perhaps after their third child, Luther Adniram, left Tellico Plains in 1931 to go to Baker City, Oregon to make a living that the other family members followed him. All of James Alfred and Sarah's children lived in Oregon until their deaths.

Luther Spivey

Luther Adniram Spivey was the third child of James Alfred and Mary Elizabeth Rhea Spivey. He and his wife Ora Lee Ellis Spivey had a large family of ten children. The eldest of these was Claude Raymond Spivey, born December 2, 1915 in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. He is now 92 years old, in good health, and is eagerly awaiting spring in Baker City, Oregon, so that it will be warm enough for him to go into his shop and resume his hobby of woodworking. A feature article in the "Living Well" section of the "Baker City Herald" told of this zestful senior citizen who looks forward to each day.

He tells of his family's trip to Baker City in a 1928 Buick. He remembers it as in 1929. However, noting the birth dates of his siblings, it must have been 1931, for his sister, Della LaVelle, was the last born in Tellico Plains on June 14, 1931. With seven children and two grownups in the car, they learned to pull some subterfuge at toll gates to avoid paying twenty-five cents per head for every child. They "hid" the younger ones to save some payment in tolls.

Claude Spivey served as a cook in the US Army from 1941 to 1945. His tour of duty took him to Trinidad, Curacao, Puerto Rico and other places. After the war, he returned to Baker City, Oregon, but went to Brooklyn, New York to marry the girl whom he had met in service in Puerto Rico. He married Ernestina Gomez Quinones on July 5, 1947. Known as "Tina" because of her petite 4' 11" stature, she and Claude had four children, all born in Baker City, Oregon: Diana Lynn, Linda May, Evelyn Sue, and Ronald Steven. Tina passed away in 2005 and Claude now lives with his daughter Linda May Bjorklund.

Among his prizes in his woodworking collection are six trains which he has fashioned simply by "thinking about them," from his years of work on the railroad. He began woodworking in 1977, a year after his retirement from Union Pacific. One of his favorites is the steam locomotive made after #4449 "American Freedom Train." When the weather warms up in Oregon, he will put the finishing touches on this seven-foot replica.

Trains are not his only forte. In their home are gun cabinets, a secretary desk, a table, creative picture frames, stools, a stock for an old .22 caliber rifle, and knife handles. Linda says lovingly of her father: "If I don't have something and need it, Dad makes it."

It's a long distance to Choestoe in Union County where his great, great grandfather Adniram Spiva lived. And it's been a long time since that ancestor passed away. But some of the genes for a solid work ethic and a zest for life still remain with this 92-year old descendant, Claude Raymond Spivey, in Oregon.

[Thanks to Linda Spivey Bjorklund of Baker, OR for sending me the newspaper article about her father; to Geraldine Spiva Elmore of Tuscaloosa, AL for her book, "Descendants of Adaniram Spiva (1827-1898) and Evaline Souther Spiva (1826-1865)"; and for Watson B. Dyer's "Souther Family History" 1988, all of which I used as resources for this article.-EDJ]

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

Dyer-Souther Reunion

Saturday, July 14, 2007 marks the date for the annual Dyer-Souther Heritage Association Reunion. Choestoe Baptist Church's Family Life Center will be a-buzz with people, beginning with registration at 11:00 a. m. A bounteous covered dish meal will be enjoyed at noon. The reunion program will begin at 1:00 p. m.

If telephone calls and e-mails are an indication, many new "kin" who are just now finding out about the wonderful reunion are planning to be first-time attendees. My excitement begins to grow weeks before the event.

The reunion honors early settlers to the Choestoe Valley who began coming into the county about the time Union County was formed from the large Cherokee territory. Elisha Dyer, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Clark Dyer, and several of their children came from Pendleton District, South Carolina by way of Habersham County where they remained awhile, and then moved on across the mountain to Choestoe, "place where rabbits dance."

The Souther early settlers migrated from the vicinity of Old Fort, NC a few years later, about 1835, with John and Mary Combs Souther settling in the vicinity of present-day New Liberty Baptist Church. Altogether, five Souther siblings had settled in the area by 1850. These were John, Jesse William, Jr., Joseph, Hicks (or Hix), and Kizziah Souther Humphries. Jesse established a mill, with assistance from his brothers John and Joseph. The mill opened in 1848 and ground corn for meal and grains to bolt flour. A sawmill was operated on the site using the water power provided by a head of water passed through a chute to operate the turbines. The grist mill operated for 90 years.

Another family, in the valley by 1832, was Thompson Collins and Celia Self Collins. Her father, Job Self, also settled in Choestoe. Claiming other homesteads were the John and Elizabeth Hunter family. Daniel England married Elizabeth, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Hunter. The oldest house in the county still standing is the Hunter-England cabin, now in bad repair, which can be seen just off Highway 129/19 in the Choestoe District. There were other families: Nix, Jackson, Duckworth, Spiva, Henson, Vandiver, Brown, Townsend, Turner, Reece and more. By the time marriages were performed from one family to another, there soon came a rich fabric of kinship.

Saturday, present for the first time, will be Dan Smith of Raleigh, NC. He descends from Rhoda Lucinda Souther who married John Floyd Edward Vandiver. Dan is a musician. He will sing and will also lead reunion attendees in singing an old, old song.

On April 13, 1868 at New Liberty Baptist Church, Nancy Collins Souther, wife of John Combs Hayes Souther and daughter of Thompson and Celia Self Collins, sat writing the words of a song as the song "heister" lined them out to the congregation. In her own handwriting, these words have been preserved. Set to the tune of "The Good Old Way" found in Southern Harmony # 156, Dan Smith will lead reunion attendees in singing this old church song on Saturday. It is entitled "Come All Ye Righteous Here Below." Nancy Souther wrote nine stanzas of the song. Here are three:

"Come all ye righteous here below,
Oh, Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
Let nothing prove your overthrow,
Oh Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
Chorus:
But call on me both day and night,
Oh Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
And I'll visit you with delight,
Sing glory ha-le-lu-jah!
When the day of judgment doth draw nigh,
Oh Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
Poor sinners will lament and cry,
Oh Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
For the earnest deeds that they have done,
Oh, Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!
They will repent in time to come,
Oh, Ha-le, ha-le-lu-jah!

A solemn memorial service will honor those who have moved from this life to the next- a large number since the last reunion.

We will gladly welcome familiar faces, those who return to their roots year after year. We will help those who come for the first time to feel welcome through connections that have been made since July, 2007. And if you would like to come, too, and see what's up with this large family, you will find a warm reception.

In 1989 my cousin, the late Watson B. Dyer, nominated me to take his place as family historian. Without even asking me if I would accept the job, I was suddenly plunged into a task I didn't anticipate. But one of the great pleasures of my life since then has been contacting people throughout America to help them find their roots. I don't always succeed in giving them the right links, but I've made many new friends and have more "cousins" than I thought possible. The Russian writer in his famous novel, Anna Kerenina, wrote: "All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." We're one big happy family and that's a good way to be.

c2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 12, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved

From the Memoirs of John Joseph Vandiver

Several months ago I wrote about the famed Adam Poole Vandiver (1788-1877), a legendary man of the mountains of North Georgia known as "The Hunter of Tallulah."

Reportedly, Adam Poole Vandiver had a total of thirty-two children and three wives.

With that many children, he now has descendants from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to the Gulf Coast, and points beyond.

I recently have made contact through e-mail with a Vandiver descendant with a rather common name of Dan Smith who lives in Raleigh, NC. We have been exchanging interesting family information and he hopes to attend for his first time the Dyer- Souther Family Reunion to be held July 14, 2007 this year.

Adam Poole Vandiver is Dan Smith's fourth great grandfather. Dan's interest and relationship to the Souther clan is through his great, great grandfather, John Floyd Edward Vandiver (1849-1923), son of George, grandson of Adam Poole). Rhoda Lucinda Souther (1853-1947), twelfth and youngest child of John Souther (1803-1889) and Mary Combs Souther (1807- 1894) married John Floyd Edward Vandiver on January 9, 1872.

Rhoda Lucinda Souther Vandiver and her husband took up residence following their marriage in the home of her father, John Souther, near present-day New Liberty Baptist Church. In fact, Rhoda's father gave land for that church and cemetery site where his four land lots joined. Pictures of the couple show them as distinguished and handsome. They had thirteen children, twelve of whom were born at the old Souther homeplace before the couple decided to move west. The first of Rhoda and John's children was Mary A. Vandiver who married Frank L. Smith on May 7, 1894. This couple moved to White County, Georgia to make their home. New-found distant cousin Dan Smith of Raleigh, NC, descends through a child of the Smiths, Jesse Benjamin Smith. In seeking information for Dan Smith, I came upon a lengthy personal memoir written in 1959 by John Joseph Vandiver, fourth child born to Rhoda and John Floyd Vandiver. The memoir is valuable for the insights it gives about his early life in Choestoe and why that Vandiver family decided to move west.

John Joseph Vandiver was a New Year's gift, born January 1, 1878 at his grandfather John Souther's home. He was the fourth child born to Rhoda Lucinda Souther Vandiver and John Floyd Edward Vandiver. Old Bald Mountain (Enota) towered above the Souther home to the east. The major occupation of the family was farming the land along Town Creek, raising hogs to take to the market in Gainesville, and gathering chestnuts and chinquapins to sell.

John Joseph and his siblings, twelve of whom, like he, were born in the old Souther home, went to school at New Liberty that served as a schoolhouse during the week and a church house on Sundays. The teacher he remembers as being the best instructor was Rev. John Twiggs, "who taught us many good things." He recalled with sadness the death of his grandfather, John Souther, in 1889 and his grandmother, Mary Souther, in 1894. They were buried on land his grandfather gave as a cemetery at Old Liberty.

John Souther willed his house and a portion of his land to his youngest daughter, Rhoda Souther Vandiver. John Joseph wrote: "Our living was meager for we had to grow all that we had to eat on the farm. Apples were dried for winter, as were pumpkins and beans for winter use. Potatoes were piled in a heap on the ground, as were cabbages, and dirt rounded up on them to keep them from freezing. Kraut was made from cabbage and stored in large pottery churns. Green beans were pickled in churns for use in the long winters." From their sheep they got wool for socks and spun the thread to weave woolen cloth for clothing.

In 1895, John Floyd Eugene Vandiver decided to "go west." Others in the Choestoe Valley had gone west and found better paying jobs and more productive farm work in western states. By that time, John Floyd and Rhoda Lucinda had twelve children: Mary who was already married to Frank L. Smith; William J; Cordelia Jane who married Andrew Townsend on March 2, 1893 (son of Eli Townsend and Sarah Sally Dyer Townsend); John Joseph; James H.; Fankie Roseanne; Della L; Sarah Evelyn; Nellie May; Frank Hartwell; Calla B.; and Thomas Marion (born March 30, 1894), one year old when his family started west. Upon leaving in 1895, Rhoda Lucinda sold the old Souther homeplace to Eli Townsend who purchased it for his son Andrew, married to Cordelia Jane Vandiver. Rhoda Lucinda's child, then, was living in the place where Rhoda was born, and where Rhoda herself had given birth to twelve children. Cordelia Jane and Andrew Townsend had two children, also born in that house, before Andrew's untimely death at age 24 on November 27, 1897.

In his memoirs, John Joseph Vandiver did not tell how the large family traveled from Choestoe Valley to their first stop out west, Drake's Creek, Arkansas. It was after the Civil War, and the Vandiver family probably went by covered wagons, taking what they could of family belongings with them to the train station in Gainesville. From there they took passage to Arkansas. Neither does he explain why they chose Drake's Creek for their lodging place. Maybe other relatives had gone before them to that location.

"In 1895 there was a depression similar to the one of 1929, and we had to work hard to live," Vandiver remembered. "When Andrew Townsend died (in 1897), my sister Cordelia (Delia) came to Drake's Creek with her two children to live with us." The thirteenth and last child was born to Rhoda Lucinda Vandiver on March 17, 1897, with the birthplace listed as Asher, Arkansas. John Floyd Edward Vandiver found a farm on Lollard's Creek (the old Lollard place) for sale and bought it for $1,500. The family finally owned their own farm in Arkansas.

Whatever the size of the farmhouse, it was no doubt crowded with Rhoda and John Floyd, twelve of their children (after Cordelia Vandiver Townsend joined them), and two grandchildren, a total of 16 people.

But as was the custom then, they shared in the work and "made do" with circumstances.

(Next week: Continuing the saga of the Vandiver family's move west, we will trace their journey to other locations to find better work.)

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 3, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.