Lard Pail Lunches and Shared Knowledge (or Life in a Country School ~ Part 3)

Through the past two columns, I have shared memories of attending and teaching my first year in the same country school. I hope this journey back in time brought to mind some good memories of your “grade school” years, wherever you attended. It is good to remember foundations in life that helped to mold and make us into life-long learners. I was fortunate to gain a good education even under what may seem now a rather outdated system. To conclude this series on life in a country school, I will pinpoint some memorable incidents that made a lasting impression on me.

We had in the corner of each of the two classrooms at Choestoe School a wooden cabinet with doors. This book cabinet was the “library” for that particular classroom. When we finished our assignments, we had freedom to go to that cabinet, select a book from the shelf, take it to our desk and read it quietly. It was a great achievement in first grade to have learned phonics and “sounding out” words well enough to become competent to select a book to read from our “library” resources. The teachers, to encourage good reading habits, kept a chart with students’ names on the wall beside the book cabinet. A colored star was placed beside the name of each student who successfully read and reported to the teacher on books from this cabinet. These “star” awards seemed to work well as motivational devices to encourage reading. I often wondered how the library was furnished with books. That old classroom library was there in 1936, and it seemed to grow more books year by year—even before the days when Dr. M. D. Collins led state schools to have library resources and before the bookmobile from the regional public library began to make its regular monthly stop at Choestoe School. The bookmobile was an innovation by the time I taught there in the 1948-1949 school year. My life-time love for reading and books was encouraged by that library cabinet in a reading corner of Choestoe classroom long ago.

I recall a memorable field trip. When I was a seventh grader in 1943 at Choestoe School, and just prior to going to high school by riding the bus the next school year, we had our first-ever field trip. Mrs. Florence Hunter was my teacher, and she was known for getting things done. Her husband, Mr. Joe Hunter, was a county school bus driver. So Mrs. Florence and he made arrangements and got permission to take the fourth-through-seventh graders to Atlanta on a Saturday. All who could go loaded on that old bus early, early on a Saturday morning while it was still dark. We had a most memorable trip to visit the State Capitol building, the Atlanta Zoo, and the Cyclorama. I had never been to Atlanta before that notable trip, and that was probably true of the other children on that bus trip. Mrs. Florence managed to take snacks and drinks, and we had been instructed to bring our own lunch as we would have a picnic at Grant Park. What a notable building was our capitol where state government was conducted. How interesting to see all the strange animals at the zoo, some we had only read about and seen pictures of in books at Choestoe School. Then the panorama and story of the Civil War in Atlanta in the Cyclorama display was a first-hand, up close lesson in history.

We were a group of exhausted young children, sleeping on the long trip from Atlanta back to Choestoe after a full and exciting day. I’ve thought many times about how meaningful that trip was for us children, and of the sacrifice in time, money and influence expended by Mr. and Mrs. Hunter. They were able to give us a first-hand view of life beyond the confines of our mountain community. And to look back now and realize that in 1943 when we made that field trip during World War II, there was gasoline and tire rationing. For Mr. Hunter to be able to use some of his allotment of scarce items to take country school children to Atlanta was indeed a notable happening.

Graduation from that country school was a memorable occasion. We had a graduation program, not only with the two top graduates speaking with valedictory and salutatory addresses, but we had a program in which other grades participated with music and recitations. In fact, some of the programs we had for parents at that school during my seven years of learning there were so poignant that I can remember even now lines of poems I memorized to recite. Even though our teachers had few resources, they managed to make learning challenging and interesting. They gave us opportunities such as “Parents’ Night” or “Parents’ Day” when we could “show and tell” some of the things we had learned.

When I graduated from seventh grade country school, my future career as a teacher was already in my mind. I knew I wanted to be a teacher. In that way I could somehow repay Mrs. Mert Shuler, my own sister, Louise Dyer, Miss Opal Sullivan, Mrs. Bonnie Snow, and Mrs. Florence Hunter who had been my able teachers in my seven years as a student at Choestoe School. And so it was that in 1948 I returned to that same school, armed with two years of college and a provisional Georgia teacher’s certificate, ready to teach. As I greeted the twenty-five students in seven grades—for the school, by the time I returned to teach there—had a drop in student population and only one teacher could be hired for the seven grades. Talk about a challenge—a first-year teacher and twenty-five eager students scattered in every grade from first through seventh! I conducted classes much as my own teachers had done in the seven years when I was a student in that school. I had an excellent helper in a very brilliant seventh grade student named Shirley. Without neglecting her own instruction, I allowed her to help me mentor some of the younger students with their math, spelling and reading.

Looking back, I count that year as a teacher in country school as one of my happiest and best, although it was hard, with all the responsibilities falling to me. In that first year of my thirty-year teaching career, I learned to be teacher and administrator, how to cultivate parental support, how to instruct with enthusiasm and how to motivate students to achieve. I had learned to teach by having been taught myself by exemplary role models.

Education has gone through many changes since those days from 1936-1943 when I was a student in country school and took my lunch in a lard pail and had the privilege of shared knowledge because students learned from each other as well as from the teacher. And my year of teaching there, 1948-1949, was foundational to who I became as a teacher. Have we lost some significant aspects of education in these modern days? Then we had the privilege of learning from and being challenged by upper classmen whose recitations we heard. We had concepts drilled into us until the learning became second nature. There is much to laud and praise for our heritage of “lard pail lunches and shared knowledge.” Then eager students gathered at a country school under the auspices of ones called and dedicated to the important role of teacher.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published November 10, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

She Has Worn Many Hats: Saluting Loujine Young Shuler on Her Birthday April 10

Loujine Young Shuler (left) is shown with two of her Class of 1947, Union County High School, classmates at their golden anniversary class reunion June 14, 1997 at Blairsville. Loujine traveled from Walden, CO to be present for the event; Elbert Dennis Wilson from Wales, Michigan, and Ethelene Dyer Jones from Epworth, GA (where she lived at that time). Friends in high school--friends in the "golden" years!

Something as simple as telephone calls can renew an avalanche of memories and launch a simple project that will eventually result in much happiness.

I speak of recent telephone calls, one from a mother and one from her son. Neither knew the other was calling me. Both calls precipitated this column about my Union County Classmate, then Loujine Young, now Loujine Young Shuler, who went out from Union County and did well as wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and professional woman.

Let me quickly note that neither Loujine nor her son Carl remotely suggested I write about Loujine. They are too humble and unpretentious to seek publicity at all. To write about her is my own idea, my choice. But let me get on with the subject at hand, that of noting some of Loujine Young Shuler’s accomplishments and why Union County can be proud of this just-about-to-turn octogenarian.

And if you are a friend to Loujine, know her now or knew her in the past when she lived and grew up in Union County, will you please take the time to send her a birthday card. Loujine’s son Carl Shuler and her daughter Gwendolyn Shuler Hanson are both hoping a virtual “shower of cards” of good wishes will be sent to their beloved mother on or before her 80th birthday on April 10. Right now, Loujine is temporarily in Arizona with her granddaughter Jodie and may be addressed at Mrs. Loujine Y. Shuler, 21875 West Casey Lane, Buckeye, AZ 85326. Loujine will be returning soon to her home in northern Colorado where she spends the “warm” months of the year and may be addressed there at P. O. Box 296, Walden, CO 80480-0296.

Loujine Young was born April 10, 1930 to Joseph Benjamin Ezekiel Young (Dec. 18, 1891-May 3, 1931) and Birdie Maybelle Ingram Young (Sep. 25, 1896-Jul. 15, 1997). She was the youngest of five children. Her siblings were Ray Alan Young (1920-1941) who married Juanita Thomas; Clara Pauline Young (1922 - 1999) who married Howard McCarter; Joseph Benjamin (J. B.) Young (1924-1994) who married Dortha Pauline Henderson; and Floyd James Young (1927-1984) who married Alice Kathleen Freeman.

Loujine’s father, Zeke Young, died when Loujine was just a year old. Her mother worked hard to keep house and home together and rear the children to be solid, productive citizens during the hard times of the Depression, World War II, and the children’s “growing up” years.

I met Loujine first when we both became students of Union County High School, Blairsville, in our “Fabulous Class of 1947”. I was a country girl who had gone to Choestoe Elementary School. Loujine was a “town girl,” having grown up in Blairsville, attending Blairsville Elementary. We enjoyed having classes together and developing a lasting friendship. Loujine stated in memoirs for the Class of 1947’s 50th Reunion Book distributed when we had a grand reunion in 1997 that she liked mathematics best of all her subjects, as “it helped her much in her later work.” We both have the late Mrs. Dora Hunter Allison Spiva to thank for our love for and whatever proficiency in math we have. Loujine was also athletic in nature, and played on the Union County girls’ basketball team.

In those years from 1943 through 1947 when we were in school, any basketball we played was on an outside court, for our school did not then have a gymnasium for our practice, games or athletic gatherings. In recalling those days of playing basketball, Loujine wrote, “When we went to schools with hardwood gym floors, our ball did some strange things. It was a challenge, but we still won games.”

Loujine and Vester Eugene “Gene” Shuler, son of Murphy Jane Fortenberry Shuler and Marion Shuler, were married July 17, 1948. The young couple settled down in northern Colorado in a town called Walden. Eugene worked as a maintenance supervisor and Loujine began her career as a postmaster at Walden in 1959, continuing that job for 33 years until her retirement on October 4, 1992.

Loujine and Eugene had two children, son Carl who married Patty Hines (a teacher) and Gwendolyn Shuler who married Kirk Hanson. Loujine delights in her grandchildren, Matthew Allen, Joie, and Adam Shuler and Jodie and Deanna Hanson. I haven’t a current count or names or number of great grandchildren (sorry, Loujine!).

Eugene, Loujine’s companion of more than sixty years, died October 30, 2007. Eugene was known for his hunting trips, they both liked to travel, and Eugene played his fiddle for many a gathering, especially the famed “Georgia Picnic” in Eaton, Colorado the last Sunday of August each year.

As postmaster at Walden, Colorado for 33 years, Loujine was well respected in the community and earned many rewards for her service as both postmaster and citizen. In 1990, the great Christmas Tree that was taken to Washington, D. C. to be placed on the White House lawn was gathered from near Walden. Loujine assisted with fundraising to get the tree transported and was able to go to Washington for its placement and lighting.

She also was active in preserving local history in Walden and received recognition for the special stamps, dyes and other items she promoted to help Walden be known throughout Colorado and even in the United States. This lady, well-reared by her beloved mother Birdie Ingram Young, and well-grounded in principles of faith, family and work ethic, went out from Union County and lighted up another place, a town called Walden. She and Eugene were active in Walden Baptist Church, and reared their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In talking to Carl, their son, I find that he and his wife Patty enjoy providing music at worship services, Carl on guitar (having perhaps inherited his father’s love for producing instrumental music) and his wife Patty playing piano. So the talent goes on from Gene (and maybe Loujine, too) to the next generation.

In giving advice to the Class of 1947, Loujine said: “Enjoy life to the fullest each day you live. The golden years will be so full of fond memories you won’t have time for sadness.” My life has been enriched since 1943 by knowing Loujine Young Shuler. I am glad to call her friend, and happy for the fellowship we have enjoyed at class reunions and through other means in our “golden years.” Congratulations, Loujine, on reaching the milestone of 80 years. Best wishes for good health and continued happiness for you and yours. (And, as a reminder, remember to send Loujine a birthday card; we want to “shower” her with cards on her 80th!)

c 2010 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Apr. 8, 2010 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Silas Chambers, Country School Teacher Extraordinary

Seated: Teacher Silas Chambers holding their first child and his wife, Laura Hood Chambers, about 1899.

Standing, Laura's younger sister, Jessie Mae Hood (1886-1902), who died at age 16 with a fever.

We read this account about early country schools in Edward Leander Shuler’s book, Blood Mountain (Convention Press, Jacksonville, FL, 1953, p. 48):

“ ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child,’ had long been the rule both parents and teachers had followed in Choestoe. The rule was used, they said, by the Cherokees in bringing up their children throughout the Georgia mountains before the white people went to Choestoe to live. But a new age of learning was destined to change the people of Choestoe. It would change their thinking first and then their ways.”

That ‘new age of learning’ came when young Silas Chambers from “the other end” of Union County went to Hood’s Chapel School to be the teacher. Edward Leander Shuler’s father, William Jackson Shuler, had a voice in hiring the young, aspiring teacher. So did Mr. Theodore Saxon, another prominent man in the community. The Reverend John Twiggs, who had been the teacher at Hood’s Chapel, had moved on to White County across the mountain to preach and teach, leaving the local school on the Logan Turnpike without a teacher. Maybe Silas Chambers had heard the news that the community was without a teacher. He went, seeking the job as the schoolmaster.

Silas Chambers was minus a right hand and a portion of that arm. In inquiry, he told Mr. Shuler that he had lost his arm in an accident while he worked on the railroad in North Carolina. In damage settlement from the railroad, the young man had received money with which he went to Bellevue Academy to learn to be a teacher. He came well-qualified, with credentials in science, mathematics, the classics of literature and language, history and philosophy. He also enjoyed sports and proposed to teach the pupils how to play baseball, wrestling, “town” ball, and swimming.

The parents of Hood’s Chapel Community welcomed the young teacher who got a place to board in the community and began the summer school term as soon as crops were “laid” by. He was a brilliant conversationalist, and even before school began, the people knew that he had worked not only on the railroad, but that he had experience in the mines at Copperhill, Tennessee and on the log trains that loaded at the Culberson, NC railroad depot. Even though he had lost an arm, he compensated with strength and power in his body, and the dexterous use of his left hand and arm.

In baseball and town ball, he taught the students coordination and good sportsmanship. After school hours, he took the boys hunting on the mountains. He taught many to swim in the mill pond or in the deep hole of the Nottley River. School was an exciting place, for learning was active and interest was high. He made available more books than the students had known before, and he taught research methods and through experiments.

Then Silas Chambers met a young lady, already out of school, but who would pass by the school building going to her care-giving job at Tom Alexander’s house, where she helped LeEtta Alexander with her new baby and the other children. This young lady’s name was Laura Hood, daughter of Mary Reid Hood and Richard Jarrett Hood. She lived up near the Helton Falls along a mountain trail from Hood’s Chapel School.

The young couple began to see each other at church meetings. Later, as no surprise and to the delight of the Hood’s Chapel people, the couple announced a date for their wedding. Then, on a Sunday in the early springtime, while dogwood trees were in full bloom, Silas Chambers and Laura Hood were married in a beautiful ceremony at the home of her mother, Mary Reid Hood, with the Rev. John Twiggs performing the ceremony. This was in 1896. The festivity was complete with a reception with good food for all guests and a serenade to the new couple. It was a typical mountain wedding celebration in the late nineteenth century.

How long Silas Chambers continued to teach at Hood’s Chapel School is unknown to this writer, but sometime later, the young couple decided to go west for better job opportunities for the excellent teacher who had opened up the vistas of learning for many in the Choestoe section around Hood’s Chapel School. Many who themselves became teachers, ministers, doctors and lawyers as well as farmers and housewives testified to the lofty influence this teacher had on their early learning experiences at the little country school.

The couple settled near Denver, Colorado in a township called Brighton. Silas Chambers was born in 1867 and died in 1938. His parents were Juan Roswell Chambers and Mary A. Shields Chambers. Silas’s brother, J. W. Chambers, married Laura Hood’s older sister, Ida Hood. J. W. and Ida Chambers remained in Union County when Silas and Laura went west. Occasionally the younger couple would return to visit relatives in Union County.

Laura Hood Chambers died March 23, 1938 at the Presbyterian Hospital in Denver, Colorado. Her death certificate lists causes of death as pneumonia and cardiac hypertrophy. She was 58 at the time of her death. Her husband died the same year as she. He was 71. Their triple tombstone at Brighton, Colorado has the names Silas Chambers (1867-1938), Laura L. Hood Chambers (1880-1938), and son Ferd Chambers (1905-1920). Other known children of this couple were Mercer, Peter, Emma, Grace and Florence.

Edward Leander Shuler writes of this teacher extraordinary, “Silas Chambers was the chief actor in the drama of life that unfolded at Hood school house” (p. 57).

[Resources: Edward Leander Shuler, Blood Mountain. Jacksonville, FL: Convention Press, 1953. Pp.48-57. Carol Thomas Alexander, Mary Reid Hood and Richard Jarrett Hood Families. Compiled 2001.]

c 2009 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Oct. 1, 2009 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Rev. Edward Leander Shuler—mountain lad

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

William Harrison Jackson- from Choestoe to Colorado

This true episode is how a person born near the end of the nineteenth century went out from Union County seeking his fortune. His name was William Harrison Jackson, born September 1, 1889 in Choestoe, Union County, Georgia. His parents were William Miles Jackson (1853- 1910) and Nancy Souther Jackson (1853- 1899).

William Harrison Jackson was the eighth of nine children born to Bill and Nancy Jackson. It is interesting to note that seven of the nine children left Choestoe to find work elsewhere. His sister Camilla (1873-1925) married H. L. Henson and they moved to Copperhill, Tenn., where H. L. worked at the Tennessee Copper Company. His sister Lydia (1875-1956) married Virgil Collins and they moved to Laramie, Colorado. His brother Oscar Jackson (1879-1901) died before reaching his twenty-second birthday and was a teacher in Choestoe. Harrison's brother, Ira Jackson (b. 1881) died as a seven month old baby. Della Nora Jackson (1883-1911) and her husband, Ulysses Thompson Collins, moved to Verden, Oklahoma. After Della's death in 1911, Ulysses returned to Choestoe with their three children, Goldie, Mayme and Ralph. Cora Bessie Jackson (1885-1951) married Thomas L. Hood and they moved to Eaton, Colorado. Florida Kate Jackson (1891-?) married Jasper Shuler and they lived in Greeley, Colorado. Oliver Grady Jackson (1893-?) moved to Greeley, Colorado, where he met and married Anna Jensen who was born in Denmark. With so many of his siblings migrating west, William Harrison Jackson at a young age also got the urge to "go west, young man," but his was not a straight trek there.

From his own memoirs written in January, 1969, we learn how William Harrison Jackson left Choestoe and eventually settled in Colorado. He expressed thoughts about his growing-up years in poetry:

"My mother's name was Nancy,
My father's name was Bill.
We lived in a pleasant valley
Close by the Blue Ridge hills.
Some things to me were a marvelous wonder;
Thoughts to my heart were great to ponder:
God, Creator of all life, the Giver,
Creatures, meadows, rills, rivers.

His elementary school years were at the old Choestoe Church house, with slat benches for seats. The building was heated with pot-bellied stoves. In 1896, his first teacher was Joseph Collins who had been to the Hiawassee Academy. Harrison was happy to follow the career of his first grade teacher, noting that he became a prominent lawyer in Gainesville. The Jackson children, including William Harrison, all did their share of work on the Choestoe farm of his parents.

Harrison's mother died when he was ten years of age in 1899. In 1905, his father married again to Jane West. He tells how he left home by "Shank's Mare" (walking). He carried his clothes and other meager possessions "in a valise" and made his way to Mineral Bluff, Georgia, where his sister, Camilla Henson lived. There, and in nearby Copperhill, Tennessee, he found "odd jobs" to earn money until the spring of 1906.

His brother-in-law, Thomas L. Hood, husband of Harrison's sister, Cora, invited him back to Choestoe to help him work on the farm he had rented from an aunt, Mary Collins. In the fall, Aunt Mary paid Thomas $300 in gold for the crops produced that season. Thomas paid William Harrison $15 for each month he had worked with him on the land. Tom and Cora then moved to Colorado. It was back to Copperhill, TN for William Harrison Jackson. There he worked in the copper mines until March 7, 1907. He had saved enough money for a train ticket to Eaton, Colorado, where he went to work in the potato fields and sorting houses at $30.00 per month and board. This work occupied his time from 1907-1913.

William Harrison Jackson's next move was to Blackfoot, Idaho. There he met and wooed Hazel Edith Thompson. They were married August 11, 1913. Her parents, Tommy Thompson and Hilda Edge Thompson, were born in Norway. At Blackfoot, Harrison and Hazel settled down to farming. Their five children were born in the Rose Precinct about five and one-half miles north of Blackfoot. The children were Barton Grady Jackson ( US Marine and professional dance instructor), June Hilda Jackson (US Navy, and educator), Thelma Edith Jackson (twin to June Hilda, died at age six months), Zelma Nancy Jackson (communications and radio operator during World War II, and administrative assistant) and Dwain Thompson Jackson (music educator and employee of Horace Mann Insurance Agency for teachers). The Jacksons bought a ranch at Cedar Ridge, Colorado. There Hazel died with cancer in 1935.

After his children were grown and left home, Harrison Jackson married his second wife, Nora Miller, in 1937. She was a daughter of Andrew Miller and Carrie Young Miller, early pioneers in Arkansas. In 1957, Harrison and Nora sold out their ranch in Cedar Ridge and moved to Delta, Colorado, where he continued to work, even to age 80 and above. He described himself and his wife, Nora, as "happy, busy, and continuing in the faith of the Disciples of Christ." He always liked to tell stories--of his growing-up years in Choestoe, of moving away to find work, of life on the farm or ranch in the west, and of semiretirement and still active. His poem about his life ends: "Those childhood days are gone forever, But such memories we cannot sever."

[Personal note to my readers: At 7:00 a. m. on Thanksgiving morning, November 22, 2007, I received a call from the nurse at Memory Support Unit, Georgia War Veteran's Home, Milledgeville, that my husband, the Rev. Grover D. Jones, had fallen and was in great pain from the fall. He was taken by ambulance to the emergency room of the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon where he underwent extensive examinations and preoperation treatment. His left hip operation (replacement of the ball and socket joint) was on Sunday, November 25. He came through surgery well, and today (Monday) was up on the "new hip" for a short time. His physical/ mental condition is now classified as "Advanced Alzheimer's". Admittedly, the past several days have been stressful- and extremely tiring for me. Less than three months ago, as my readers will recall, I myself underwent five bypasses heart surgery. We learn to meet emergencies and life's challenges "one day at a time," and there is always miraculous strength to walk through them. These, to me, are results of strong faith and God's presence. Thank you for your concern.]

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Nov. 29, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved

Some Nix connections (part 5 Serving in the War Between the States

Before I launch on this week's topic of Nix men (and boys) who served in the War Between the States, I want to clarify items from last week's article on Aunt Jane Nix Wilson Hood.

Betty Jane Shuler called my attention to the caption under the picture. Thanks to her keen observations, the caption should have identified the picture as taken in 1905 (the year Jane's husband Isaac Thornton Wilson died). The baby Sophronia Jane Nix Wilson holds on her lap is Estelle, last born of her children, not Garnie, who lived only about two years and died in 1900.

Seven children of Jane Nix Wilson and Isaac Thornton Wilson are shown in the picture. The second girl from the left, standing, is a neighbor and friend who was visiting in the Wilson home and wanted to "get in" on the picture (Callie Clark?).

To properly identify the Wilson children in the 1905 photograph, they are Tom (1902), Estelle (1904) in Jane's lap, Benjamin (1894), Granny Evaline Duckworth Nix, James Isaac "Jim" (1896); second row: Verdie (1887), friend (Callie Clark ?), Hattie (1889) and Gertrude (1892). Who would know better how to identify these than history buff Betty Jane Shuler? Sophronia Jane Nix Wilson Hood was her grandmother, and the one for whom she was given her middle name, Jane.

Another item to clarify is the statement about Jane Wilson not joining Union Church when it was constituted in October, 1897, although she gave the land on which the church building was erected. She wished to remain a member of the New Liberty Baptist Church where she was a member from her youth. This was not uncommon in those days, to keep one's membership with relatives and friends in the church where one had grown up.

With those items clarified, we move to today's topic in the Nix saga. We trace briefly six sons of James "Jimmy" Nix and Elizabeth "Betsy" Collins Nix who served in the War Between the States. Five of them enlisted in the 23rd Georgia Regiment, Infantry, enlisting at Camp McDonald. The sixth, Jasper, enlisted in Ben Ledford's Regiment. Their father, James, himself enlisted on December 14, 1863 in the Georgia State Militia, Company 2. Betsy Nix therefore had six sons and a husband to be concerned about as they actively upheld the Confederate cause. What happened to these Nix men?

Jimmy Nix may not have left Union County for his service, as the Georgia Militia was charged with protection of home territory. Not much that I can find was written about his service other than his date of enlistment, December 14, 1863.

The sons, in order of age, served as follows: Thompson Nix was born in 1838 and named for his grandfather, Thompson Collins. He married Mary C. Hix in 1860 and they had one son, James Bly Nix, born June 1, 1861. This son was given the same name as Thompson Nix's brother. Thompson was a private in Company K of the 23rd Regiment, Georgia Infantry, enrolling on November 9, 1861. He became ill with a fever and was hospitalized in the "New Hospital" in Yorktown, Virginia, where he died March 4, 1862. It is reported that his body was returned home to Choestoe by W. L. Howard. I found no gravestone for him listed in the Cemeteries of Union County book.

John Nix, the fourth child of Jimmy and Betsy Collins Nix was born in 1840. He, too, was in the 23rd Georgia Regiment, enlisting August 31, 1861 at Camp McDonald. He was killed in battle at Sharpsburg, Maryland in September, 1862. His father filed for death benefits, but it is not known whether his applications were rewarded.

James Bly Nix was the fifth son and seventh child of Jimmy and Betsy Collins. Born June 2, 1844, he was a twin to Isabella, who may have died as an infant. At the age of 17, James Bly Nix joined Company K, 23 Georgia Regiment on August 31, 1861 at Camp McDonald. He was in the Battle of Frericksburg, VA, where he was wounded. He was treated at the Jackson Hospital in Richmond for a wound in his right leg on October 1, 1864. He saw much action during the war and was captured by the enemy and exchanged for a Union prisoner. James Bly returned from the war and married Millie J. "Polly" Henson on November 5, 1865. He was a farmer in the Owltown District. He also had gold mining rights on Coosa Creek and pursued mining with a passion. He and Mollie had nine children.

Jeffie Nix was born in 1846. It has been hard to trace his history, but it is believed that he also enlisted in Company K when his brothers did. Since he is not shown in subsequent census records after 1860, he may have died in the Civil War.

Jasper "Grancer" Nix, ninth child of Jimmy and Betsy Collins Nix, was born in 1847, a twin to Newton. He departed the tradition his older brothers had set and joined Colonel Ben Ledford's Regiment, John Souther's Company, from September, 1864 through May, 1865. His enlistment and discharge papers are not in the National or Atlanta Archives, but a soldier's pension application was found in the Atlanta Archives. He married Harriet Carolina "Tina" Duckworth and they had twelve children. After "Tina's" death, Jasper married Margaret Ballew.

Newton Nix, twin to Jasper, and tenth child of Jimmy and Betsy Collins Nix, joined Company K, 23rd Georgia Regiment at Camp McDonald on August 31, 1861. At the age of fifteen, he died of erysipelas and fever in Richmond, Virginia.

From the military records of these six sons of Jimmy and Betsy Collins Nix, we can imagine the impact of enlistment practices to get young men to join the Confederacy.

Of the six, we know that Thompson, John, and Newton died in the War. It may be that Jeffrie also lost his life during the war, for no further record has been found of him. Six sons fighting, and four lost is a heavy price to pay for war. What grief that mother bore.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones. Published August 23, 2007 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Nix connections (part 4 Aunt Jane Nix Wilson Hood)

Sophronia Jane Nix Wilson

This 1905 picture shows Sophronia Jane Nix Wilson with seven of ther children and Granny Evaline Duckworth Nix.

First row: Tom (1902), Estelle (1904) in jane's lap, benjamin (1894), Granny Nix, James Isaac "Jim" (1896)

Second row: Verdie (1887), friend of family (Callie Clark?), Hattie (1889) and Gertrude (1892)

The determination and bravery of some women could be the subject of a book of virtues. The life of Jane Nix Wilson Hood would fall into this category.

Sophronia Jane Nix was born October 20, 1867 in Union County, Georgia to James "Jimmy" Nix and his second wife, Carolina Elizabeth Duckworth Nix. From past articles in this series, you will remember that Jimmy Nix was a son of William and Susannah Stonecypher Nix. Jimmy married first Elizabeth "Betsy" Collins. They had fifteen children. Betsy died in November of 1859. When the Civil War was raging, Jimmy married Carolina Elizabeth Duckworth, who became a loving stepmother to his children. Jimmy enlisted on December 14, 1863 in Company 2 of the Georgia State Militia. To Carolina and Jimmy, four children were born: Mary Eveline, Nancy, Buddy and Sophronia Jane. She would be the youngest to live of Jimmy's twenty children. Her mother died before 1870 when Sophronia Jane was a little over two years old. Jimmy Nix, Jane's father, married the third time to her aunt, her mother's younger sister, Rebecca Evaline Duckworth, in 1872. Jimmy and Evaline's one child was stillborn.

Now we come to the story of Sophronia Jane Nix, and how she came to incorporate the attributes of a sturdy, determined mountain woman.

The Nix homestead, on which James Nix had settled on the 160 acres of land he had secured in the land lottery when Union County was new, was in the area of Choestoe where the present-day Richard Russell Scenic Highway intersects with Fisher Field Road. Here the Nix children grew up, going to the local one-room school at Hood's Chapel for their education. Being the youngest of nineteen children, Jane would have had as much fellowship growing up with her nieces and nephews, being about their same age, as with her own siblings. That's how life was back in the mountains of that era.

At age 18, three months before she reached her 19th birthday, Sophronia Jane married Isaac Thornton Wilson on July 27, 1886. Isaac and Jane had the following children: Verdie (1887), Hattie (1889), Gertrude (1892), Benjamin (1894), James Isaac (1896), Thomas (1902), Estelle (1904) and Garnie (1898). Garnie died in 1900 at age two. Seven of their children grew to adulthood.

Times were hard and work scarce. Isaac Thornton Wilson sought employment in the Copper Mines of Copperhill and Ducktown, Tennessee. He found a place to board there, and would return to his wife and children on weekends. He was a miner, going deep within the rich veins bearing copper and other ores around Isabella, Ducktown and Copperhill. But as was common, Isaac developed a serious lung condition from his work in the mines. He died of what was commonly called consumption on June 3, 1905. His birthdate was February 22, 1858. He was interred in what is now called the "Upper" Cemetery of Union Baptist Church.

While Isaac Wilson was away working in the mines, his wife, Sophronia Jane, managed their farm. She continued this work after the death of her husband. She added acreage by buying land from some of her brothers who decided to go west.

She had learned much about farming from her father, Jimmy Nix. She had apple trees and the bottom lands along the river yielded good crops. The family survived and managed due to Jane's industriousness. Not only was she a good farmer, she was skilled in the mountain household crafts of spinning, weaving, making quilts and "making do" with whatever was available. She worked with a will.

A family portrait which has survived shows Jane Nix Wilson, seated, with her eight children about her, and "Granny" Rebecca Evaline Duckworth Nix (Jane's aunt and her step-mother), in her bonnet seated on the front with Jane. On her lap Jane holds little Garnie, her last baby, who died very young. Having Granny Nix in her household was a big help to Jane as she adjusted to widowhood and had Granny's help in rearing her children.

Union Baptist Church was constituted on "the fourth Saturday in October, 1897" as stated in the church's constitution. Why Jane Sophronia Nix Wilson was not listed as a charter member is not known, for she gave the land on which the church building was erected. Granny Rebecca Evaline Duckworth Nix was one of the founding members. In the community and in the church, Evaline and Jane were stalwart leaders. The women hosted "quilting bees" in their home, and the ladies of the community would "quilt out" a new quilt for a needy family or a new bride in one day of work, sharing a country mid-day meal, and catching up on news. Though work, the quilting bees were also a common form of entertainment and relief from harder work.

Jane Nix Wilson was determined that her children have the best education she could possibly provide for them. In the wintertime, she would actually move the family to Young Harris, rent a place for them to live there, and put the children in school at the academy or in the college. At crop-planting time, the family moved back to their farm near Union Church in Choestoe and began the work required for the year's crops.

Jane's determination yielded from her children a dedicated homemaker, a nurse, a farmer who moved to Colorado to purchase land and become successful, a mechanic and three teachers. One of her daughters, Gertrude (1892-1980), who married Benjamin Franklin Shuler, better known as Frank (188-1978), was an excellent teacher at Union County High School. In my high school years, I was fortunate to have instruction from this gentle, compassionate lady whose mother, Sophronia Jane Nix Wilson, had worked so hard to see that her children were well-educated. Gertrude's husband, Frank, served as Union County School Superintendent for twenty years during a period of change and challenge in the system's schools.

After several years of widowhood, and after her children were grown, Sophronia Jane Nix Wilson married Enoch Chapman Hood, a widower and a neighbor. The marriage was short-lived, not because of any problems between the two, but due to his death. His tombstone in Union Baptist Church Cemetery shows his birth as September 1, 1855 and his death as April 10, 1932. Jane Nix Wilson Hood died August 15, 1956, and was laid to rest in the Union "Upper" Cemetery beside her first husband, Isaac Thornton Wilson. Dying two months shy of her 89th birthday, this noble mountain lady could well be called a heroine of her time.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones. Published August 16, 2007 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Frances Verdie Miller, Teacher Extraordinary

Frances Verdie Miller

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Salute to Mothers

Women in this present age often wear many "hats"- career, community activist, wife, mother, grandmother. This time of year we set aside a day to salute mothers and give credit where due to the women who have made a difference in the role of child-nurturing.

I recall a time back in 1948 when I had accompanied Rev. Claude Boynton and Mrs. Boynton on a speaking engagement to represent the then new and struggling Truett McConnell College. Rev. Boynton, one of the first trustees of the college, had been very instrumental in calling the first meetings to get the college organized. As a charter student there in September, 1947, and one of the students selected to go on "deputations" in the interest of the college, I had the privilege of going with Rev. and Mrs. Boynton on a speaking engagement to First Baptist Church, Fairburn, Ga.

"How does this relate to Mother's Day?" you ask. No, it was not Mother's Day weekend, but as we approached Atlanta and saw the capitol building's golden dome reflected in the light, I remember Rev. Boynton's observation: "We say the seat of Georgia's state government is within that capitol building. But my contention is that 'the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.'" He then went into a discussion of how much influence good mothers have upon society in general.

I learned later, by using the "Oxford Dictionary of Quotations," that Rev. Boynton's statement on "the hands that rock the cradle" was the only quotation of a little known writer named William Ross Wallace who died in 1881. He made that insightful two-line saying in "John o'London's Treasure Trove." I concluded that Rev. Boynton must have been well-read, indeed, to remember and quote the cradle/ruler adage, and to launch upon a lecture about it. Maybe already he was preparing for his Mother's Day sermon which would not be too many weeks in the future.

The scene of Atlanta, not so busy on a late afternoon in early spring 1948 as it is today, and the quotation made an indelible impression on me. The rest of the way back to college at Cleveland, Georgia, I thought about the importance of mothers and their roles in society.

I also engaged in some self-pity on the remainder of that trip, thinking that my own mother had to make her contribution to the lives of her four children early-on, because she had died on Valentine's Day in 1945. There were so many things I wanted to ask her, to learn from her before I myself was launched out on my particular journey into life. What were her dreams for me? Was I in any way fulfilling them?

Then I thought of many who had stepped in after her demise to be a surrogate mother to me. There were my mother's sisters, Avery and Ethel Collins, spinsters, with no children of their own. Yet they had the "mothering instinct" and spent much time with nieces and nephews, giving them advice, teaching them practical lessons on life and living. From them I learned much about cooking, sewing, ironing and house-keeping, tasks that fell to me in my own home when I was a lass of fourteen. Add another name to my surrogate mother list, Aunt Northa Dyer Collins. She lived in sight of me, and it was but a brief walk to her farmhouse from ours. She was my father's sister and her husband, Uncle Harve, was my mother's brother. From them I learned multiple lessons in living, one of the main ones of which was to have ambition and dreams and to work toward those dreams. I don't think "impossible" was in their vocabulary.

At high school I had experienced the love of teachers who went the second mile and sometimes were in the role of surrogate mothers. I can name several: Mrs. Grapelle Mock who taught me, among many other things, that I could do public speaking without letting stage fright overtake me. Mrs. Elizabeth Elliott, Mrs. Flora Nicholson, and Mrs. Elizabeth Berry taught me the beauty of words and the joy of putting them together in readable, incisive poetry and prose. Mrs. Geneva Hughes, who taught and was librarian as well, planted in me a life-long love for good books. She also invited me to spend nights in her home on Hughes Street within walking distance of the school when I was a character in the school drama and would not have been able to participate because of distance and no transportation. Mrs. Gertrude Shuler, a paragon of patience as well as an excellent teacher, taught me that if we work through problems without making rash decisions the answers will truly come. Mrs. Lucile Cook was my home economics teacher at the time of my mother's death. Her understanding and ability to help me with housekeeping situations I faced at an early age have been invaluable to me throughout life. Mrs. Dora Hunter Allison (now Spiva) was a stunning example of requiring excellent grooming and good deportment from her students, but at the same time she made hard mathematics problems come alive. Like a problem in arithmetic, life problems can be solved with persistence and faith, she taught.

And at college I had other surrogate mothers. Mrs. Staton, English and journalism teacher, nurtured my desire to be a writer by making me editor of the college newspaper and co-editor of the college yearbook. She, too, invited me to her home and made me feel a special part of her life. Dr. Pearl Nix, psychology teacher, knew how to "pour on the work" to her students, but made us realize that there is no limit to our ability to learn except through our own limited desires to accomplish. Miss Edith Sayer was our librarian and taught mathematics, too. She was an example that even with a mild handicap, one's life can be fulfilling and an inspiration to others. Miss Charlotte Sheets lifted my level of appreciation for good music as she led the college chorus to be good enough to be invited to sing at the Georgia Baptist Convention and notable churches throughout Georgia. Miss Lounell Mullis brought history alive for us, but she also had a faculty residence in our dormitory and advised us girls on proper etiquette, life goals, and, yes, even behavior on dates!

As I think back on William Ross Wallace's quotation, "The hand that rocks the cradle/Is the hand that rules the world," I am grateful I heard this when I was eighteen, and that it lingered with me throughout life. Rev. Boynton may not have realized that the quotation would sink itself into his young parishioner's memory. What we say does make a difference.

I am grateful for my mother's influence on my life, and for all of those who stepped in, relatives, teachers, others, to be strong surrogate mothers to me when I needed a helping hand and direction in life. One of the greatest honors that has come to me in this life is not my career as a teacher, but that I was entrusted to be a mother of two wonderful children, a grandmother to seven fine grandchildren, and now, just this April, the great-grandmother to Gavin and Brenna. "The hand(s) that rock the (cradle)s" of these two have heard my evaluation: "They are the most beautiful great grandchildren ever, and they have a significant role in the future!"
Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy your memories. Tell some mother she is special.

c2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 11, 2006 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Through mountains mists a light in the mountains, Part 2 Truett McConnell College, 1946-2006 Holding Forth The Flame of Knowledge For Six Decades

We continue the exciting story of how Truett McConnell College, Cleveland, GA, grew from the foundations of the Hiawassee Academy (1886-1930) and the Blairsville Collegiate Institute (1904-1930). In this 60th year of the college’s founding, we celebrate the fanning of the flame of knowledge that sprang up and kept growing because people nourished the vision.

The George Truett Junior College, Inc.

From 1930 through 1944, the flame of an institution of higher learning lay dormant. But many people remembered the Hiawassee Academy and the Blairsville Collegiate Institute. The flame was there, awaiting another ignition.

Another Mountain Preachers’ School was held at Blairsville in July 1944.

Who preached the sermon that ignited the flame as Rev. Ferdinand C. McConnell had done in 1886? The person’s name is not known to this writer, but several factors were present to remind the gathered preachers that the time was right to propose a new Christian college in the mountains.

Dr. George Washington Truett died July 7, 1944. He had become a model for visionary ministers who set aggressive goals and worked to reach them. The ministers talked about establishing a college in his memory.

The Great Depression was past. America’s involvement in World War II, although taking a toll on young lives, had brought a raise in economic levels through work associated with the war effort. Many of the young men who would be returning from war when it ended would desire an education.

The vision was born in the hearts of several men. Among them were the Rev. Claud C. Boynton, Rev. L. Clinton Cutts, Dr. W. A. Taliaferro, John B. Payne (layman), Dr. Leslie S. Williams, Dr. James M. Nicholson, Mr. Frank Shuler (Union County Superintendent of Schools and a layman), and Rev. Clarence Voyles. Mountain preachers and mountain laymen seized the vision, fanned the flame.

After the Preachers’ School had ended, the above-named men met for prayer and discussion in the basement of First Baptist Church, Blairsville, where Rev. Claud C. Boynton was pastor. The dream was turned into a plan. The flame of knowledge was again ignited.

After several meetings, a committee drew up a charter and the men approved it.

The charter named the new school the George Truett Junior College, Inc. It was legally filed in Superior Court of Union County, Ga., on September 15, 1944.

A Firm Foundation and Founding

Desiring that the college have a firm foundation and adequate sponsorship, the next step was to present the plan to the Georgia Baptist Convention. Dr. Leslie S. Williams, professor at Tift College, Forsyth, gave the resolution at the Georgia Convention on November 13, 1944. The recommendation was referred to the Convention’s Executive Committee for study. Rev. Claud Boynton and others spoke in favor of the resolution.

At the 1945 Georgia Baptist Convention, the resolution to establish Truett Junior College passed and an appropriation of $25,000 was designated from the convention’s educational funds. A committee was appointed to “recommend…the best location and plans for securing additional financial support.” (from Georgia Baptist Convention Minutes, 1945, pages 80-81).

A “Committee of Ten” was appointed by the Convention’s Executive Committee to do preliminary work relative to site and fundraising. From November, 1945, through March, 1946, various north Georgia towns vied for the college’s location and pledged land, money and endowment. Blairsville was among the towns vying for the location.

At the March 12, 1946 meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, the announcement was made that Cleveland, Georgia would be the site.

Several factors entered in. The location was still within a mountain county. The college would draw students from a broad area of Georgia and elsewhere, and having the college south of high mountains such as Unicoi Gap and Neel Gap would facilitate access at a time when the state and nation were still recovering from effects of World War II, scarcities in tires and transportation. Citizens of Cleveland had pledged more in acreage, building materials, money and utility services.

The Christian Index, newspaper of the Georgia Baptist Convention, announced in its July 11, 1947 issue that the new college to honor the late Dr. George W. Truett and Dr. Fernando C. McConnell would be located at Cleveland, Georgia.

A massive area-wide rally was held in Cleveland, Georgia on July 23, 1946, the official founding date of Truett-McConnell Junior College. Rev. L. Clinton Cutts, then pastor of First Baptist Church, McCaysville, Ga., temporary chairman of the Interim Board of Trustees, presided. A large crowd of Convention officers, ministers, and citizens of a broad area attended the rally. Five persons who had attended the Hiawassee Academy when the Rev. George W. Truett taught there were present. They were Mrs. J. Miles (Maggie) Berrong of Hiawassee; Mr. B. R. Dillard of Dillard; Mr. and Mrs. Andrew P. Ritchie of Clayton; and Mr. John A. Earl of Lakemont.

Sixty years had passed since the Rev. F. C. McConnell had ignited the spark for education on the courthouse steps in Hiawassee. From Cleveland, Ga., the flame was kindled and the vision was stirring toward reality.

A New College Opens Its Doors

Much work ensued from the July 23, 1946 founding date until the college opened doors to students on September 15, 1947. Facilities for classes and administrative offices had to be arranged. A curriculum and faculty had to be assembled. Plans for accreditation had to be drawn up. Arrangements for boarding students to live with citizens in the town were made.

Fifty-four charter students and eleven faculty and staff met in convocation with the first president, the Rev. Dr. Loomis Clinton Cutts leading the processional. In a little more than a year, Dr. Cutts and others had formulated plans and the word was “Go!” Much cooperation had brought about a miracle in little more than a year.

I was in that first group of students meeting on September 15, 1947. We had a vision. I had a distinct sense of mission and calling to be in that place at that time in a brand new college. It was exhilarating and motivating. And so has it been in the sixty years since to remain closely associated with the “light in the mountains.” In this sixtieth anniversary year, the vision continues. The flame still glows brightly, has taken on a new aura. “Veritas liberat” is the motto, “Truth liberates.”

c2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 2, 2006 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Tracing more Townsend ties

With the disaster of Katrina and that hurricane’s aftermath, the thousands dislodged from their homes, the hundreds injured and killed, and with statistics and losses still rising, it is difficult to pull away from reports of the present catastrophe long enough to return to a quieter time and trace connections through the mists of time.

The ties to Eli Townsend and Sarah Elizabeth (Sally) Dyer Townsend’s descendants are so numerous that to trace them all would take a long book. For the benefit of this short column, I will focus today on a child of Eli and Sally’s first child, Andrew (Andrew Crockett Townsend, Sr.) and trace connections through Andrew’s sixth child, Elizabeth, who married William Jackson Shuler.

Elizabeth Townsend Shuler (Feb. 1, 1861-June 9, 1947) grew up in a household of seven children. They were the children of Andrew Townsend (1826-?) and Malinda Ingram Townsend (1829-1903). Malinda’s parents were John Little Ingram and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. The marriage of Andrew and Malinda brought together two early-settler families of Union County.

Elizabeth’s siblings were Thompson L. (known as “Bud”) Townsend; Thomas Simpson (known as “Simp”) Townsend who married Ruthie West and Wilda Hood; Nancy J. Townsend (who married Thomas N. England); Amanda Jane (who married Enoch Chapman Hood).; Andrew Crockett Jr. (who married Myra Anne Duckworth, Mary Duckworth, and Mary Hunter); and Clarasie Townsend (who married Joshua Columbus Fortenberry).

The story of Elizabeth Townsend Shuler and William Jackson Shuler is told in the book by their third child, the Rev. Edward Leander Shuler, entitled Blood Mountain: An Historical Story about Choestoe and Choestoeans. To the union of Elizabeth and Jack Shuler were born 14 children, all but two of whom grew to adulthood and married. Two sets of twin girls were among the 14 children. The children grew into productive citizens, two becoming ministers, five choosing to be teachers and the others following other vocations.

In order of birth the 14 children were: Allen Candler Shuler (April 19, 1883-Sept. 1, 1967) married Lillian Lipscomb and Louise Rogers. William T. (Sept 8, 1884-April 16, 1901) died at age 16; Edward Leander (March 15, 1886-?) married Laura Collins (sister to Dr. M.D. Collins, Georgia’s long-time State Superintendent of Schools); Benjamin Franklin (Feb. 14, 1888-March 7, 1978) married Gertrude Wilson (March 27,1892-March 6, 1980). They were educators, she teaching mainly at Union County High School and Frank serving for 20 years as Superintendent of Union County Schools. He was a founding director of the Union County Bank. Andrew Harve (1889-?) married Ophelia Maddox. Della (1891 ?) married J. M. Chastain. Lydia Jane (1893-1967) married Lester Stovall. Ruth (1894-1948) married Epp L. Russell. Ada and Ida, twins, (born April 21, 1897, death dates unknown); Ada married Ralph Cavender and Ida married Herbert Jones. Alice (March 27, 1899-March 21, 1989) married James I. Wilson, a brother to her sister-in-law, Gertrude Wilson Shuler. Henry Grady (Dec. 31, 1900 ? June 16, 1901) was buried at Union Baptist Church Cemetery. Twins Myrtle and Bert, known as Mert and Bert, were born February 10, 1904. Mert married Watson Collins. She was a teacher. She died January 29, 1988. Bert married Joseph Warnie Dyer. She died May 31, 1987. The twins Mert and Bert and their spouses were interred at the Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery.

In his book recounting life at the Jack Shuler farm along the Logan Turpike, Edward Shuler tells about the Ponder Post Office being in a portion of their house and of travelers stopping by to spend the night and take the supper meal and breakfast with the Shulers and rest their mules or horses before going on to Blairsville or to Cleveland, depending on whether they were traveling north or south. The Shuler boys helped their father keep the Logan Turnpike, the major trade route in those days, in repair by removing brush, filling in potholes, and shoring up the roadbed. Never knowing when guests might arrive unannounced, Elizabeth Townsend Shuler always seemed ready to give them a good mountain meal of cured meat, vegetables, cornbread and biscuits, and fruit cobbler or apple stack cake for dessert. Jack Shuler also had a country store. He and his wife were founding members of the Union Baptist Church.

Even though their formal education was only in the oneteacher schools of the communities where they grew up, they were ambitious for their children to get an education. The girls went to the Blairsville Collegiate Institute. The boys attended Hiawassee Academy. Beyond these institutions, the children on their own pursued further college education. Two sons, Allen Candler and Benjamin Franklin served in World War I and were deployed to France.

When surveying was in progress for the right-of-way for Highway 129, Jack Shuler “walked many miles with the surveyors over the hollows and around the cliffs out in the Blue Ridge…on Oak Mountain …above Harkins old fields over in White County…at Tesnatee Gap…by Cow Rock and Camp Branch to Frogtown Gap…northward along Wolf Creek and down under Blood Mountain.” (Shuler, “Blood Mountain,” p. 142) The road was finished and opened in 1925. It took the place of the old Logan Turnpike, and the laborious work Mr. Shuler and his boys had done to keep the old road open was no longer necessary. Jack Shuler built his third house in “Lower Choestoe” close to the new highway, but he always longed to return to the Hood Chapel and Union Church Community where he and Elizabeth Townsend Shuler had reared their large family. They were interred in the cemetery at Union Church. Their tombstones read: Elizabeth Townsend Shuler (Feb. 1, 1861Jun. 9, 1947); William Jackson Shuler (June 14, 1860-July 4, 1936).

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published September 8, 2005 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

More Observations From 'The Pioneer'

“The Pioneer” Union County High School newspaper has held my attention for three columns now. Before I leave its fascinating pages, I will share some more thoughts about that important era in school life.

What did the Class of 1936 do for social activities? According to Bennie Lee Helton, editor, and valedictorian, her column describes some of the events that were outstanding. She notes that “social affairs have not been numerous,” but those enjoyed have been “oases in the desert of our daily routine.”

Twenty-two were present for the Senior Party held January 5, 1936 in the Candler-Ledford Hall (a name carrying over from the days when the high school was the Blairsville Collegiate Institute, and probably in what was known as the “dormitory” building). They enjoyed games and refreshments and an “evening stamped indelibly on our memories.” On April 18, every senior, 27 in number, went to Blowing Springs for the senior trip. [Where was Blowing Springs? How far did they have to travel and what conveyances were used? A bus? No word is given on transportation.] “It was a cold day,” Bennie Lee writes, “but it did not keep us from enjoying the day.” They had a “delicious picnic lunch” and made “many pictures.”

On April 23 “our class was entertained by the Class of 1937 in the annual Junior-Senior Prom.” The event was held in the Candler-Ledford Hall. Prom cards provided sign-ups for seven partners. These were not “dances” as we know them today at junior-senior proms, but promenades about the campus. Dr. and Mrs. Nicholson led out in the first prom, and for the next hour and a half the campus was full of happy couples enjoying their walks. Afterwards came punch, skits for entertainment of which “Ted Weaver and his hill-Billy orchestra” without instruments won first prize. To cap off a delightful prom night, a bounteous banquet was served. Bennie Lee ended her report on “Social Activities” by writing: “There was a feeling of sadness in the heart of each of us as we left, realizing that in just a few weeks our life at UCHS would be a memory and no longer a reality.”

A previous column referred to the Senior Class picture and names of the members of the Class of 1936. Pictures of the junior (Class of 1937), sophomore (Class of 1938), and freshman (Class of 1939) were included in “The Pioneer.”

Mrs. W.C. Hughes was junior class sponsor for these students: Hazel Bruce, Virginia Jones, Ruth Jackson, Mildred Sullivan, Kathleen Henson, Mary Addington, Patricia Waldroup, Helen Cearley, Kathleen Wakefield, Billy Deaver, Betty Baskin, Wilonell Collins, Louise Dyer, Hazel Smith, Irene Hunter, Leon Colwell, Wayne Petty, Ira Kelley, Mary McCravey, Christine Ledford, R. M. Ash, Charles Conley, R. E. Whitmore, Robert Martin, Harold Killian, James Collins, Hubert Rich, Sylvan Plott, Charles Meeks, Clifford Shuler and Harlan Duncan. Through my sister, Louise Dyer, a member of that class, I was able to meet many of the Class of 1937 and see them at their 50th class reunion in 1987. It was interesting to note that in the “School’s Who’s Who” list, Harlan Duncan who became the fearless sheriff of Union County received the honors of “Noisest Boy” and “Biggest Pest Boy.” Maybe within those not-too-complimentary titles in 1936 were the makings of a fine sheriff who married his classmate, Ruth Jackson, who, herself, became a very fine teacher.

Mrs. Frank (Gertrude) Shuler was sponsor for the Sophomore Class. Listed were Ford Tanner, Eloise Killian, Reba Tanner, Lucille Jarrett, Latha Carpenter, Corrine Burnett, Bonnie Thompson, Maxine Wakefield, Cora Lou Martin, Edna Souther, Edna Smith, Pearl Morgan, Ruby Jones, Edward Swain, Edward Young, Joe Akins, Bruce Hood and Clyde Collins. I expected to see my brother, Eugene Dyer, pictured and named with this class. Maybe he was absent on the day for picture-taking.

The Freshman Class was by far the largest, and no faculty sponsor was listed. Members pictured included Dartha Morgan, Josephine Miller, Ellen Jackson, Cora Bowling, Sarah Penland, Anna Joe Cook, Maggie Roberts, Blanche Hunter, Audrey Akins, Sara Nell Conley, Lillian Moss, Madeline Shuler, Lorraine Ash, Julia Jackson, Eugene Truelove, Mrs. Jim Parker (Could she have been the class sponsor? She was not pictured with the faculty), Lillian Tarpley, Nell Nicholson, Anna Belle Brackett, Ruby Morgan, Ruth Lance, Robert Stephens, Dewey Raper, Rufus Bullock, Luther Brown, Edward Jones, Nell Collins, A. J. Ledford, Ervin Dyer, Ford Burns, Garnett Davenport, Kelley McGlamery, John Berry, Randall Mason, Cecil Hamby and Eugene Colwell.

I sent a copy of the 1936 “The Pioneer” to the Union County Historical Society Museum where those interested may go to read it. I also sent a copy to Mrs. Dora Hunter Allison Spiva, sponsor of the Class of 1936 and of “The Pioneer.” As is typical of this unusual teacher, now a centenarian, she thanked me profusely and wrote, “I’m so fortunate the Lord called me to be a teacher. I was fortunate to have a part of my life spent with so many lovely, smart, good students. I have so many good memories of my teaching days with lovely kids.”

I also sent a copy to Barbara Ruth Nicholson Collins Sampson, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. James M. Nicholson (he was principal [called superintendent] and English teacher and his wife was Home Economics teacher). Barbara had never before seen a copy of “The Pioneer” and was extremely grateful to receive it. She filled me in with many details of persons in the senior class and what became of them.

In the faculty picture were six teachers: Mrs. Allison (mathematics), Dr. and Mrs. Nicholson (English and Home Economics), Mrs. Frank Shuler (Biology and Latin), Mrs. W. C. Hughes (History), and Mr. Clarlence Shuler (Typewriting). Of the six, five were still teaching at Union County High some of the time when I was a student there from 1943-1947. Typing was not offered during my years there, and Mr. Clarence Shuler had gone on to other pursuits. I count it a great honor to have studied under the other five, although their areas of instruction had changed and several other faculty members had been added by the 1940s.

To close out this series from “The Pioneer,” I will end with a portion of Mrs. Frank (Gertrude) Shuler’s message to the Class of 1936. She reminded them that all of life would not be “ease and pleasure, and you’d be no good if it were.” On finding their life work, she advised, “Even though all places of service seem to be overcrowded, remember this: there’s always room at the top, but it isn’t a ‘Rest Room.’ ”

Mrs. Shuler ended her message by quoting from poet Edgar A. Guest’s “My Creed.” This seems to be the best way to end this series from a delightful look back at 1936:

To live as gently as I can,
To be, no matter where, a man;
To take what comes of good or ill;
And cling to faith and honor still;
To do my best and let that stand*
And then should failure come to me,
Still work and hope for victory.
To have no secret place where-in
I stoop unforeseen to shame and sin.
To be the same when I’m alone
As when my every deed is known.
To live undoubted, unafraid
Of any step that I have made;
To be without pretense or sham,
Being just what men think I am.
To leave some simple work behind;
To keep my having lived in mind.
If enmity I ought to show,
To be an honest, generous foe.
To play my little part nor whine,
That great honors are not mine.”

[*The next line seems to have been omitted here to keep rhyming sequence in order in the two-line pattern of the verse. I could not readily find a copy of Guest’s poem to check for the missing line. –EDJ]

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published July 28, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Some Ingrams and Their Spouses

We have, for two weeks, written about the families of John Little Ingram (1788-1866) and his father, Revolutionary War soldier, also named John Little Ingram (1755-1828). It is interesting to note some of the marriages of descendants of these Ingrams and see how the marriages linked Ingrams to other early settler families of Union County, Georgia.

Sarah (better known as Sally) Ingram (1820- ?) was the fourth child of John Little Ingram (1788-1866) and his first wife, Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram (1793-1829-30?). Sally Ingram married Thompson Collins, Jr. (1818- ?). “Thompie,” as he was known, was a son of early settlers Thompson Collins (1785-1858) and Celia Self Collins (1787-1880). Thompie and Sally did not have any children; at least, not any who lived to adulthood. Thompie Collins had a large portion of farmland near the Notla River from holdings his father had claimed in the 22,000 acres that once belonged to the elder Thompson Collins.

Thompie developed the land and had one of the largest apple orchards known then in the Choestoe District along what is now Collins Road on a rise between the present Wilonell Collins Dyer property and what was the Jewel Marion Dyer property.

Thompie Collins was, for many years, a justice of the peace for the Choestoe District. In viewing early Union County marriage records, the name of Thompson Collins appears often as officiant of marriages in the community.

Nancy Ingram (1823-1897) was the sixth child of John Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. She married Athan England (1815-1893), a son of William Richard England (1770-1835) and Martha “Patsy” Montgomery England (178-1865). Richard England’s parents were Daniel (1752-1818) and Margaret Gwynn England (1758-1847). During the Revolutionary War, Daniel England performed patriotic service by operating his iron foundry at his large plantation on Hunting Creek near Morganton, NC, for the war effort. When some of the England children migrated to what is now White County (then Habersham) during the gold rush of 1828, Margaret, widowed, went with them. When Richard and Martha England settled in Choestoe, Union County, in the early 1830’s, Margaret England moved with them. Margaret’s is said to be the first grave in the old Choestoe Church Cemetery. Athan and Nancy Ingram England had these children: California E. England, Tom P. England, Richard Little England, William H. England, and John E. England. Athan and Nancy lived on a farm in the area that is now the Georgia Mountain Experiment Station off Highway 129/19 south of Blairsville.

Eliza Louisa Ingram (1827-1907) was the eighth child of John Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. She married James Marion Dyer (1823-1904) on June 18, 1846. They lived on a farm on Cane Creek, Choestoe, where James Marion’s parents, Bluford Elisha Dyer, Jr. (1780-1845) and Elizabeth Clark Dyer (1785-1861) had settled in the early 1830’s. James Marion and Louisa Ingram Dyer had a large family of twelve children: Harriet Emaline who married Carr Colllins; Joseph G. who married Polly Turner; Micager C. (“Buck”) who married Josephine Henson; Archibald C. Young who married Hannah Jane Wimpey; James C. Dyer, died at age two; Bluford Elisha Dyer who married Sarah Evaline Souther; Nancy “Sis” Dyer who married William Hunter; Elizabeth Caroline “Hon” Dyer who married William Albert Souther; Jefferson Beauregard Dyer who married Rhoda Souther; Francis Marion Dyer who married Molly Dyer and Helen Dann; Mary Dyer, died young; and James C. Dyer who married Malissa Swain.

Malinda Ingram (1829- ?) was the ninth child of John Little and Mary “Polly” Cagle Ingram. She married Andrew Townsend, son of Eli and Sarah “Sally” Dyer Ingram. Andrew Townsend, along with his father, Eli, served in the Texas War for Independence against Mexico, and was honorably discharged from the service of the United States on July 13, 1848 at Mobile, Alabama. For his service, Andrew Townsend received 160 acres of bounty land. Malinda and Andrew Townsend had these children: Thompson L. “Bud” Townsend who never married; Thomas Simpson “Simp” Townsend who married Ruthie West and Wilda Hood; Nancy J. Townsend who married Thomas N. England; Amanda Jane Townsend who married Enoch Chapman Hood; Andrew Crockett Townsend, Jr., who married Myra Anne Duckworth, Mary Duckworth and Mary Hunter; Elizabeth Townsend who married William Jackson Shuler; and Clarasie Townsend who married Joshua Columbus Fortenberry.

Since these daughters of John Little Ingram (Sally, Nancy, Louisa and Malinda) are only four of the twenty-one children of John Little Ingram who grew to adulthood, these families comprise only a small portion of Ingram descendants. If you can make your own kinship connection back to any of these, you share in a rich heritage of Ingrams who reach back to England, Wales and Scotland before migrating to the New World in the late 1600’s.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 16, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Going to Market in 1895 (As Remembered by Walter Mondwell Twiggs)

Walter Mondwell Twiggs was the second of three children born to the Rev. John Wesley Twiggs and his second wife, Georgia Elizabeth Westmoreland. Walter grew up to be a noted Methodist minister in Georgia. After his retirement, he wrote his memoirs. These were never published but some were made available to relatives and friends. Barbara Allison Crawford, a niece who compiled “The Old Homeplace: A Twiggs Family Saga” (1994) had a copy of her Uncle Walter’s “Memoirs,” and shared some of them in her book.

Marvin M. Twiggs’ account of going to market in 1895 gives insight into how the farmers of Choestoe Valley took produce to the market in Gainesville and bartered for items not available to them on their farms.

Marvin Twiggs, born March 27, 1888, was only seven years of age when he was allowed by his father to go in 1895 on his first wagon trip to the market at Gainesville some forty-five miles from their Choestoe farm. His excitement built daily as they readied for the trip which would be the highlight of the boy’s life to that point.

Although Marvin Twiggs does not mention this in his memoirs, it was customary in those days for a wagon train to form and travel together across the Logan Turnpike, crossing Tesnatee Gap by way of Cleveland, Georgia. Even though Mr. Jack Shuler of Upper Choestoe and his sons had a contract to keep the north side of the road in good repair from rock slides and wash-outs, the road was still somewhat rough and special care was needed in driving the mule teams along the narrow mountain road. Being in company with other wagon teams was a safety measure for they helped each other if a break-down or other trouble occurred.

The Twiggs family gathered fall apples from their orchard and filled the bed of the wagon with the luscious fruit. This was to be one of their major items of trade at the market in Gainesville. They added sacks of shelled corn and threshed rye to the load, and even a butchered hog that had been cured in the smokehouse.

The first night the wagon with its load arrived just south of Cleveland, Georgia where they lodged at the home of Marvin’s Great Uncle Ben Allison, brother to his Grandmother Westmoreland. He remembers the gentleman’s goatee and the hospitality with which the Twiggs caravan was received. The Allisons lived in a large house occupied by the old gentleman and his son and family. They arrived at the Allison house in time to go into the town of Cleveland and see the sights before dark.

In a Cleveland store, Marvin Twiggs spied a one-bladed, horn-handled Barlow knife on display. He had no money, not even the five-cent price of the knife. But his desire to own that knife became almost an obsession. That night, before they retired, Marvin told his father, the stern disciplinarian Rev. John Wesley Twiggs, that he would like to have a nickel to spend. Questioning the boy as to whether he wanted to buy candy for the journey, Marvin was evasive, fearing to tell his father he really wanted a knife. But to his delight, his father gave him the nickel. The next morning he was at the store early and purchased the knife. But with his purchase he had a guilty feeling, and he kept the knife well-hidden in his pocket all of the journey and even for some time after they arrived back at home for fear of his father’s punishment. It never was forthcoming, and eventually Marvin began to use the knife.

In two days the Twiggs wagon arrived in Gainesville. They spent their nights there in the home of Bill Dyer, ordinary of Hall County, who lived on Green Street just off the square. Dyer had been a childhood friend of John Wesley Twiggs before moving away from Choestoe. Mrs. Dyer prepared excellent meals for the travelers.

In Gainesville young Marvin Twiggs heard his first train whistle and saw the large steam engine pulling the loaded boxcars behind. He was both excited and frightened by the train, fearing that it might jump the tracks and head in his direction.

Days were spent bartering the load of produce they had brought from the mountains and purchasing cloth and thread for his mother to make garments for the “first” and “second” family; shoes for winter; a barrel of flour; sugar; coffee; rice. They tried to have enough money left to pay taxes for the year.

It took two days to make the trip from Gainesville back to Choestoe. His father knew many families along the route and they always had a place to spend the night. As Marvin grew older and continued to accompany his father on those twice-yearly trading trips, he felt that they were in a sense “sponging” on the good nature of the friends and relatives where they stopped. They enjoyed their hospitality, meals and shelter without paying anything whatsoever. But those were the days when people were neighborly and glad to take in travelers. He remembered stopping in homes of relatives like Ben Allison and Bill Harkins, but also at Densmore, Huff, Allen, Reed and Richardson households along the way.

The journey northward across Tesnatee was another hard pull. When they arrived home with their wagon loaded with the purchases from far-away Gainesville, it was an exciting time for the Twiggs household. They would have to practice frugality to make the staples last until the next trip south for goods. And Mrs. Twiggs would begin right away to make shirts for the men and dresses for the girls from the yard goods.

There, in his pocket, Marvin Twiggs proudly fingered his five-cent Barlow knife. He would have many hours of pleasure using it to cut and whittle, make sourwood whistles and have the satisfaction of being a proud owner of his very own Barlow knife.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published October 7, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved

Happenings Along the Famous Logan Turnpike

Charles Roscoe Collins, who himself traveled with his father as a lad, and made his first solo trip on the Logan Turnpike at age 17, points to the site where two Runyon brothers were hanged by Confederate Home Guards during the Civil War. Mr. Collins shared many stories of happenings along the Logan Turnpike.

Mr. Charles Roscoe Collins was my guide in 1992 for a delightful day back into history as he pointed out where the Logan Turnpike was located and told me significant happenings along the famed toll road. I couldn’t have had a better mentor, for he himself had traveled the road as a lad with his father, James Johnson Collins. Then as a responsible teenager of 17, he was trusted to take his first wagon load of produce to Gainesville and return with goods to be sold in the Collins store.

“This is the place the Runyon boys were hanged from a strong limb of a large chestnut tree during the Civil War,” Collins stated as he pointed to the site. We could still see the old Logan Turnpike roadbed, but the chestnut tree had long since disappeared, hit by the blight that took those once-productive trees from the mountain soil.

“I used to be afraid when my father and I passed by here,” he said. “I was afraid the ghosts of the Runyon boys would come out of the woods to haunt us.”

He explained that the Runyon brothers met their deaths at the hands of the Home Guard, self-appointed vigilantes who hunted down and often disposed of those who hid out in the mountains to escape conscription into the Confederate Army. Mr. Collins also noted that many in the mountain region were pro-Union, siding with the North in “the late unpleasantness” as the Civil War was sometimes called.

I looked at the spot where the chestnut tree once stood and had a gruesome picture in my mind of a sad chapter in the area’s history as the young men met their deaths in such a cruel, untimely fashion.

“I’ll have to tell you about Jack Shuler and his boys and how they were hired to keep the north stretch of the Logan Turnpike passable,” Mr. Collins stated.

“Jack Shuler operated his farm and the Ponder Post Office near the present-day Union Baptist Church. Mr. Shuler received seventy-five cents per day for his labor to keep rocks, limbs and debris out of the road and to fill in the ruts after a gully-washer rain. When his strong sons worked, they received ten cents a day for their labor, even after they had grown nearly to manhood.” He pointed out rocks piled alongside the old roadbed, saying that, no doubt, they were some Mr. Shuler and his sons had piled there while clearing the turnpike.

“And this is Big Spiva Bend,” Roscoe Collins said. “Near here is the place where Newt Spiva hid out during the Civil War. The Home Guard found him and ordered him to surrender. He refused, preferring death to conscription. He was shot at a rock outcropping here. This place was named Spiva Bend after him.”

Spiva Bend was hard to manipulate with four-wheeled vehicles. Mr. Collins told of the time when his own older brother, Tom Collins, together with Perry Hood and Tom Calloway, had been hired by a Mr. Jarrard to transport a huge steam boiler from the gold mines of Coosa District in Union County to Cleveland, Georgia (across Tesnatee Mountain).

When they came to Spiva Bend, they had problems getting the large implement and the specially constructed four-horse wagon vehicle with extensions around the bend. The young men considered whether they would have to disassemble the engine and put it back together again. However, the men placed winches in strategic locations, and with their mountain ingenuity managed to get their load around the hazardous Spiva Bend without taking the engine apart. The next day the three men delivered the steam engine, all in one piece, to Mr. Jarrard at his place on Town Creek near Collins Mountain in White County, Georgia.

That day with Mr. Collins, we did not walk the seven-plus miles across Tesnatee Mountain to the south side of the old toll road. Instead, we drove Highway 129/19 southward across Neal Gap.

That route afforded more rich stories from Mr. Collins’s repertoire which I will retell at another time. Our destination was the south stretch of Logan Turnpike which we accessed by going Kellam Valley Road leading off Highway 129/19 north of Cleveland, Georgia.

Homer Nix and a Miss Satterfield are pictured in front of the old Logan Inn on the south end of the Logan Turnpike in 1920. Records show that the fiery South Carolina senator, and later vice-president of the U. S., John C. Calhoun of SC, made this inn his place to spend nights as he traveled to and from Lumpkin County to check on his gold interests there.

There, at the spot of the old Logan Inn, which today is the location of a private dwelling, we were welcomed inside by the owner, Mrs. Marion Crawford who looked after her 98-year old mother, Mrs. Sarah Mathis Ethier. They knew the history of the old turnpike and were glad to share their knowledge and show us pictures.

Shadows of trees make an "X" marking the beginning of the old Logan Turnpike, a toll road that crossed Tesnatee Gap mountain from White County into Union County. This picture shows the south access of the old road that operated from 1821 through 1925.

We went to a tree, still marked with a sign reading “Logan Turnpike. Pay tolls here.” We were told that John C. Calhoun, famous in South Carolina and U. S. history, and other notables made the old Logan Inn their place of rest when they traveled the turnpike. (Picture courtesy Union County Historical Society)

A milestone in deciding toll fees came as a spunky lady named Roxanne Durfee of Atlanta came chugging northward in her Overland Country Club Roadster in 1917. When she stopped to pay the toll, the gatekeeper didn’t know what to charge her because hers was the first car and driver to seek access to the toll road. Finally, a fee of fifty cents was set, and Mrs. Durfee paid and went along her way. She somehow managed the hazardous curves, overheated brakes, frequent stops and frazzled nerves to arrive later at the Christopher Hotel on the square in Blairsville. She was a pioneer, paving the way for other motorized vehicles to cross Tesnatee on the Logan Turnpike.

As I walked portions of the old Logan Turnpike, I sensed a strong touch, a nexus with the past. Over this same road my grandfathers, Francis Jasper Collins and Elisha Bluford Dyer, and my own father, Jewel Marion Dyer, had taken wagon loads of produce from their Choestoe farms to barter on the market at Gainesville and exchange for “store-bought” goods.

I thought back even farther to the Old Union and Unicoi Turnpikes, parallel roads into the mountain region, over which earlier ancestors had traveled to settle on 160-acre land lots in the early 1830s.

I thanked Charles Roscoe Collins for being my excellent guide on the journey back into history, a delightful time-warp.

I heard a faint rattle in the bushes, and there, hopping along the old roadbed, was a gray rabbit, intent on getting as far away from us as possible.

Choestoe in the Cherokee language means “the dancing place of rabbits.” Poet Byron Herbert Reece wrote in his poem about the place:

We could believe they danced and wish them dancing;

They came to sport forever in the name our country bears,

One that the Indians gave it.

Even more real than the dance of the rabbits was hope that ‘sprang eternal’ in the hearts of mountain men and women—my ancestors, your ancestors. An old roadbed lies as a symbol of their faith and optimism, of their dreams, of the harsh realities they faced. All combined to make us, their descendants, what we are today.

If you go to seek out the old Logan Turnpike roadbed, closed to traffic in 1925 when Neal Gap (now Hwy 129/19) opened, maybe you, as I, will have a deeper appreciation of your roots and the forces that made us uniquely a proud and industrious mountain people.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 12, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.