Mayme Collins Aydelotte, educator and genealogist

Sisters Goldie and Mayme Collins always seemed to have their names linked together when any news of them came back to Choestoe. They had both gone out from Union County in their adult years and both were noted teachers in their own right in the Atlanta vicinity.

Their parents were Ulysses Thompson Collins (07/16/1879 - 03/15/1964) and Nora Della Jackson Collins (09/15/1883 - 07/17/1911). Both Goldie and Mayme were interested in their ancestral roots which they could trace back to early settlers Thompson and Celia Self Collins on their paternal side and to William Marion Jackson and Rebecca Goforth Jackson on their maternal side. Thanks to Mayme, who became an avid genealogist and compiled and published the family history book entitled Descendants of Thompson and Celia Self Collins (1971), we have much information about our common roots.

Mayme's parents, Ulysses Thompson Collins and Nora Della Jackson were married in Union County, Georgia on January 2, 1903. Uley, as he was known, and Della had three children: Goldie Ada was born July 1, 1904. She never married and became an educator. Mayme Arma was born June 23, 1905 in Colorado where her parents had migrated. The third child, a son, Theodore Ralph, was born July 5, 1907 in Colorado.

The family decided to return to Choestoe and were on the journey back when Nora Della Jackson Collins got sick. She died on July 17, 1911 and was buried in Verden, Oklahoma. It was a sad Uley Collins who came back to his father's house in Choestoe. There under the loving care of his parents, William Dallas Collins (1846-1938) and Sarah Rosannah Souther Collins (1846-1929), the three small motherless children were nurtured and educated in the country schools of Choestoe before going to Young Harris and other colleges.

Mayme and Goldie’s father, Ulysses Thompson, married, second, to Pearl Townsend in 1939. To this union were born three sons, Archie Benjamin Collins (1940), Garnet Eugene Collins (1942) and James Elias Collins (1945). Pearl Townsend was younger than her husband Uly by 22 years. His older daughters, Goldie and Mayme, were already away from home when he married Pearl.

Great sadness entered the Collins family when Theodore Ralph Collins was struck by a hit-and-run driver on a Ponce de Leon Avenue near Georgia School of Technology while he was a junior at that college. He died immediately from severe injuries November 8, 1930. C. Roscoe Collins, a cousin of the young Ralph, wrote in an eulogy to the young electrical engineering student: "I have seen him tried in almost any kind of circumstances. He never failed. He was a staunch bulwark for better manhood. Strong in his efforts to raise the standard of his community and rapidly gaining the goal he had set to reach." At age twenty-three, full of potential and zest for life, the young man was laid to rest in the New Liberty Church Cemetery in sight of his Grandpa Dallas Collins's house.

Mayme Collins Aydelotte (1905-2000)

Mayme tells a delightful story about a time in Colorado when she and her older sister, Goldie, were assigned the task to look after their baby brother Ralph when the family still lived in Colordo. Their mother Della left them in charge of the baby for only a short period while she took water to Uley Thompson and others working on an irrigation ditch in the fields. Baby Ralph went to sleep, and Goldie and Mayme decided they could go exploring to find some flowers in the field. They kept going on, finding more and more flowers to pick. They lost their way.

In the meantime, their mother returned from her errand of mercy of taking fresh drinking water to the fields. She was very surprised that the girls had left the baby. They were nowhere to be found. She returned to the field, this time with Ralph in her arms, to tell Uley that his daughters were missing. Not finding them easily, he engaged the help of field workers and neighbors to help search for the little girls, who were about four and five at the time. At 2:00 a. m. the searchers found the girls curled up together in the sagebrush, sound asleep. They were tired and scared from their flower hunting adventure, but were unharmed, either by animals or wandering people. That adventure taught Goldie and Mayme never to wander away from their home again.

Goldie and Mayme Collins were fortunate in their teaching careers in that their cousin, Dr. Mauney Douglas Collins, became state superintendent of schools. He had contact with systems all over the state and knew about openings for teachers. He was able to assist both sisters in getting good positions as classroom teachers. Mayme later became a principal for many years in Fairburn, Georgia where she and her husband, also an educator, lived until their deaths.

In 1939 she married William Henry Aydelotte who was born and reared in Delmar, Deleware, This couple did not have children, but they spent their lives teaching and encouraging students. In addition to being an educator, her husband also was a research scientist and a certified audiologist.

Mayme Arma Colllins Aydelote died December 30, 2000 in Fairburn, Georgia. Her body was returned to the New Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery, Union County, for burial amidst her forebears who had preceded her in death. We still miss dear Mayme at our large family reunion gatherings. She was the one who kept us straight on who was related to whom and the "cousins, once, twice, thrice (and the like) removed". We miss her wit, her humor, her knowledge of family, and her principled approach to life.

c 2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 19, 2008 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The poor man's friend (A story of Christmas past)

The wind whipped around the side of the boxcar as Cyril Townsend jumped from the open doorway. He hoped none of the railroad workers at the Blue Ridge, Georgia depot would see him as he alighted. He had boarded the northbound train in Atlanta under cover of early morning darkness without benefit of ticket.

In fact, if he had been caught as a stowaway, he might have been immediately returned to state prison where he had spent the last three years of his life. He did not want another prison sentence, especially one not deserved. Because he would not turn state's evidence, he had been blamed for a crime he did not commit. Three years of convict labor was enough to do him for a lifetime. But then again, loyalty to friends was a long suit he wore with pride, even during the burning days of summer and the frigid days of winter as he worked on the chain gang.

The year was 1910. The time was December 24, Christmas Eve. Cyril Townsend had lost track of time, but he learned the date as he read the headline of the paper in the Atlanta depot. He was eager to get back to the mountains of North Georgia. Maybe there he could find refuge and some work that would help him to get readjusted to his freedom.

As he moved nonchalantly through the regular passengers that alighted from the train in Blue Ridge, he could not help but note their apparel, warm and appropriate for the winter weather that even now threatened snow. Most of them had trunks that were unloaded from the baggage cars. Black porters from the local hotels and some servants from the more notable residences in Blue Ridge were there with carriages to meet the travelers.

Others waited to board the train for its journey on to Murphy, NC and into burgeoning towns in Tennessee. "Coming home for Christmas or going away for Christmas," Cyril Townsend said to no one in particular. His main aim was to keep away from public notice and gain a little perspective about his next move.

He was hungry. And cold. What would he do for food? Steal again? He did not relish the recollection of stealing from a clothesline down in Georgia the overalls and shirt he wore or the coat he had found hanging across a seat in the Atlanta depot. He was too near home to risk arrest from stealing, a practice his upbringing had always taught him was wrong. Even the dire circumstances he had been in did not calm his conscience from the thefts he had committed.

He decided to go to the back door of the Blue Ridge Hotel. Maybe there they would have a handout of leftover food for a starved traveler. As he approached the rear of the hotel, he was met by a large black man. Dared he ask him for food? He hoped he would not get the porter into trouble by doing so. Cyril devided he wouldn't lose anything by asking.

"I've come a long way and I don't have any money to buy food," Cyril Townsend said. "Do you have any leftovers in the hotel kitchen that you could give to a poor, starving traveler?"

"We've just had a big banquet," the hotel worker said. "Wait a minute. Sit here on the porch and I'll bring you a plate."

Within minutes the porter returned with a steaming plate of ham and yams, cranberry sauce and beans, bread and hot coffee. Cyril Townsend bowed his head in gratitude and thanked the Lord for such provision. This act o fkindness was restoring his faith in mankind. Maybe life on the outside of prison wouldn't be such a hard road, after all. He thanked the porter for his kindness. After eating, Cyril decided to wander back to the railroad depot.

No sooner had he walked to the rail yard than he saw a farmer with a covered wagon. The farmer was unloading gallons of sorghum syrup onto a boxcar and still had sacks of grain in his wagon to unload. A clerk on the boxcar was keeping a record of the produce.

"Hello," Cyril said to the farmer. "Could you use some help transporting your goods to the boxcar?"

"As a matter of fact, I could," the farmer replied. "Grab these and begin to tote," he said, pointing to the produce remaining on the covered wagon.

The two men worked, soon warming to the job in the cold December wind. When the task was finished and the farmer had settled with the clerk on satisfactory bill of lading, the farmer turned to Cyril Townsend.

"You leavin' on the train?" he asked.

"No. As a matter of fact, I came in on it." The farmer didn't need to know that he, Cyril, was a free-loading passenger, fearing all the way from Atlanta that he might be discovered in his hiding place in a boxcar.

"Where ya headin', then, on Christmas Eve?" the farmer asked.

"I was hoping to go to Blairsville, Georgia," Cyril Townsend said. "I used to live in a community near there several years ago."

"Well, climb on board," the farmer said. "I'm going there as fast as these mules can take us."

Again feeling gratitude well up in himself at his good fortune, Cyril Townsend climbed into the wagon.

"My name's Thomp Collins," the wagoneer said. "And who might you be?"

"I go by the name of Cyril Townsend," the hitchhiker said.

"Pleased to meetcha," Collins said. The two men did not talk much as the mules drew the wagon along the narrow road that ran from Blue Ridge to Morganton, through Hemp Town, and on toward Blairsville. All the while Thomp Collins was trying in vain to remember where he'd heard the name Cyril Townsend. And likewise, Cyril Townsend was trying to recall if he had previously known Thomp Collins.

The rhythm of the wagon over the bumpy road did not deter Cyril Townsend, tired as he was, from falling asleep as they traveled. He awakened after a long nap when he heard Thomp Collins saying "Whoa," to his mules. Cyril took in the form of a substantial barn in the dusk, and a short distance away on a rise a farmhouse with lights at the windows.

"Welcome to my place," Thompson Collins said, his hand extended for a shake.

"But I did not intend to come all the way to your house and make a nuisance of myself to your wife and children," Cyril Townsend protested.

"It's Christmas Eve," Thomp Collins said. "Come and share our Christmas Eve meal with us. Susie, my wife, always has plenty to spare. And besides, I think you and I have something to talk about."

Cyril helped Thomp stable and feed the mules. All the while Cyril felt a bit uneasy. Would this man know about his trial and sentencing? After all, the trial did take place over three years ago in Union County. As he pondered these questions, his tired body seemed somehow to be drawn to the warmth and welcome of the nearby farmhouse. What did he have to lose from sharing a Christmas Eve meal?

At the house, Thompson Collins introduced his wife Susan and his children to the stranger. The children, polite and quiet, were named Roe, Virge, Joe and Bob. "And at Christmastime, we always remember our little ones we lost at an early age, and we've placed a holly wreath on their graves at Old Choestoe Cemetery," said Susan Thompson. "Their names were Avery Cordelia, Charles Luther and Mary Rebecca."

The Thomp Collins family did not seem at all surprised that a wayfarer would share their Christmas Eve meal. Thomp showed Cyril to a side room with a small bed, and asked the older children to bring him a basin of warm water and fresh towels. Thomp himself laid out clean clothes of his own for Cyril to put on after his bath.

Refreshed and clean, Cyril rejoined the Collins family. Soon they were seated at a table laden with good food from the garm. All bowed heads while Thomp asked the blessing. While they ate, the question Cyril feared came.

"Are you returning from prison?" Thomp asked Cyril.

"Yes. Is it that obvious? How did you know?"

"All the way from Blue Ridge to Blairsville, as you slept, I kept thinking that I knew the name, Cyril Townsend. Then I remembered that you had taken the rap for some of your friends and were imprisoned even though you were not guilty of the crime for which you were charged. Your case is similar to mine," Thomp Collins continued.

"Back in 1875 I would not turn state's evidence. I was sent to Federal Prison in New York. Upon my release and return two years later, after a long, hard journey, I told Susie that as long as we had a house and food and clothing to share, we would never again turn anyone in need away from our door. That is why you are welcome tonight in this house and at our table."

"Neighbors call my husband 'The Poor Man's Friend,'" wife Susie Collins said. No matter the need, whether at Christmas or all year long, he is quick to respond when he meets someone whose pain and suffering he can relieve."

That night on the clean bed in Thomp Collins' house, Cyril Townsend resolved that as soon as he was on his feet again, he would adopt the same motto as that of Thomp Collins: "The poor man's friend," and seek to make it his life principle.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Dec. 20, 2007 in The Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Ivy Log as a bustling settlement

"It is evident and conceded that the center of activity of early Ivy Log was near the mouth of Ivy Log Creek. Here creaked the Casteel Mill. Here rang the iron foundry operated by R. W. Roberts and last by David Thompson prior to the Civil War. Here was Hunt and Cooley's store. Here Lovell made chairs. Here George Patterson fashioned hats from lambs' wool. Here was a school on the east side of the creek. Here is the Casteel Cemetery, numbering twenty-four graves, not far distant from the pioneer cabin site. Here on the west side is unmistakable evidence of a church--a cemetery where forty or more are sleeping that last, long sleep. Today in this vicinity all is quiet and still, save the murmur of waters, the sighing of the wind in the pines and the night bird's croon--a requiem for the slumbering pioneers awaiting the resurrection."

The above is from the pen of Union County Historian, Mr. Edward S. Mauney, written in 1948, and reproduced in the compendium entitled "Sketches of Union County History III" edited by Teddy J. Oliver and published in 1987. Mr. Mauney's history of Ivy Log is on pages 85-87 of the book. If you have a copy available to you, please read his flowing language and listing of people who made up the early census records of that north central district of Union County numbered Militia District 843.

"Here creaked the Casteel Mill," Mr. Mauney wrote. Barney Casteel not only established a mill for the convenience of settlers in Ivy Log District, but he also served as a minister of the gospel and as a "practical doctor." This designation probably indicates that he knew the value of herbs as medicinal plants and could prescribe certain treatments for common diseases. This first Casteel family migrated from East Tennessee. Mr. Mauney writes that they lived in their covered wagon under a large tree "for a season until a cabin could be hewn from the primitive forest."

Barney Casteel was listed as 63 years of age in the 1850 Union County census, and his wife, Mary, was 60 that year. His native state was Tennessee and hers was Virginia. Among their known children were James who married Minta Ellege. Robert married Nancy Simpson. Hastings married Sarah Lance. William married Emily Rabun. John G. Casteel married Rachel Byers. This couple had three children who became doctors- Dr. Lewis Casteel, Dr. William J. Casteel, and Dr. Van D. Casteel. John Casteel became a judge. The other four were Lafayette, Robert, Mary and Adelaide.

In the Ivy Log District are two Casteel Cemeteries. The one known as Casteel Cemetery No. 1 has one marked tomb with the name Ann Casteel, 1833-1861. She may be a daughter of the first settlers, Barney and Mary Casteel. Also buried in the Casteel 1 cemetery, according to Historian Mauney, are George Patterson and his wife, without marked stones, the "hatter" or milliner of Ivy Log District. Mauney states that this family lived at "the Ned Chastain place," and were the forebears of most of the Pattersons in Union County. Casteel 1 cemetery has at least fifteen unmarked graves.

An interesting story is told of the Casteel 2 Cemetery which is located south of Casteel 1 and across Ivy Log Creek from the first burying ground. None of the graves in this cemetery have stones with names. But buried apart from the graves which were of the early Casteel family and their descendants is a known grave, though unmarked. It is that of Gentry Taylor who met his death in 1876. He was killed at a moonshine still because he resisted arrest. The community, due to the circumstances of his business and his death, would not allow him to be buried in the Antioch Church Cemetery. His final resting place was at the Casteel 2 Cemetery, but distant 50 feet east of the other graves in the cemetery.

Mr. Mauney touches on moonshining as a business in his history of Ivy Log: "From many a sheltered nook on the tiny streams rose wisps of smoke that gave evidence of the pioneers brewing their own spirits without fear of God or man, in the days when it was not considered a sin. But they were rigid in their belief of honesty. One patriarch [was] "churched" for taking whiskey from his own "stillhouse" that belonged to someone else" (p. 87).

Space precludes telling of other early settlers, but family names passed to the present generations show that many hardy settlers had children in subsequent generations that made this mountain district and other parts of Union County their permanent home.

For example, there was Robert B. Conley and his wife Susan Kincaid Conley who migrated from Clear Creek in Buncombe County, NC to the Chester District of South Carolina and then to Ivy Log. But tragedy came to them on the move from South Carolina. Their young son, John Lawrence Conley, age two, died at the Tugaloo River at the South Carolina line. They brought the little corpse on into Georgia and buried him at the first cemetery they found on their route within Union County, Old Choestoe. This family lost another son, Elisha, in the Battle of Chickamauga during the Civil War.

Solomon Chapman and his wife, Adeline Odom Chapman were early Ivy Log settlers from Wilkes County, NC. Reece Creek in Ivy Log was named for early settler John Reece. And the list goes on.

Mauney ends his Ivy Log history with these pensive words: "Today the crude wheels and the distaffs are still. The hands that turned them are mouldered to clay. Today there is a new generation - their descendants - living in a bustling world of modernization." He wrote that in 1948. What would he say today? Housing developments extend even to tops of high hills and roads are busy with traffic all hours of the day and night. Small farms have virtually disappeared but some corporate farms are master producers of the products they specialize in. And, dotted here and there throughout the district are spires of churches with modern buildings, begun as log cabin places of worship by the early settlers. The one-room school houses are no more, long since consolidated into the modern graded school complexes at the county seat of Blairsville. Someone aptly wrote: "The only thing certain is change."

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 28, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The mountains of yesteryear - Jefferson Beauregard Dyer and Rhoda Jane Souther Dyer

The Mountains of Yesteryear is the title of a delightful little book that came to my desk recently. A gift from Ronald Eugene Miles of Minnesota, it was written by his mother Ruby Lee Sergeant Miles.

Thanks to Jane Berry Thompson of the Union County Historical Society and Museum, Ron Miles, a kinsman of the far-flung Dyer-Souther Heritage Association whom I had not met before, got in touch with me. We have enjoyed making connections and sharing genealogical information.

The book his mother wrote was edited and published by Ron Miles in 1999 prior to his mother's death in 2000. In novella form, Ruby Lee Sergeant Miles wrote of the life and times of Jefferson Beauregard Dyer (1861-1944) and Rhoda Jane Souther Dyer (1863-1942), her grandparents.

The "Foreword," by the author's son and editor of the book, is a lofty and eloquently written tribute to the way of life and the people whose story is revealed in the book. Ronald Miles writes: "Ultimately, this family trail would wind from the foot of Yonah Mountain in the newly-formed Habersham County, across the spectacularly wild Tesnatee Gap route, to arrive at Choestoe in the early 1830's. In a rickety wagon, on horseback, and afoot over this ancient Indian trail, the Dyers brought with them all the accoutrements of mountain living to settle by a bountiful and crystalline spring on Cane Creek. As of this turning to the twenty-first century, the Dyer name remains on a mailbox there. The oaken latch from the crumbled springhouse is a precious relic in my Minnesota cabin home, a hand-touch across years and miles." (pp. i-ii)

Ruby Lee Sergeant Miles (6-22-1916 - 2-22-2000) was a daughter of Laura Canzady Dyer, the sixth of twelve children of Jefferson Beauregard and Rhoda Jane Souther Dyer. Her mother was better known by her nickname, Cannie Dyer. Ruby Lee's father was Lonnie Sargent. It is amazing that Ruby Lee, who had to quit school at age twelve because of her mother Cannie's failing health, could write a book with, as her son Ron's introduction states, "such importance, integrity and transcendent beauty." (p. iv) The author was, indeed, gifted with ability with words and with insight and imagination.

The book was illustrated by a friend of Ron Miles, artist Gregory R. Wimmer of Rochester, Minnesota. A replica of the cabin built for Rhoda Jane Souther by her fiancé, Jefferson Beauregard Dyer on land given to his ninth child by James Marion Dyer (1823- 1904), looks amazingly like the log cabins so carefully constructed after the Civil War.

Jefferson and Rhoda Jane were married December 14, 1879. The story is an imagined romantic account of how Jeff met Jane and how their courtship proceeded, with the genuine approval of Jeff's parents, and the cooperation of Rhoda Jane's father, Jesse Washington Souther (1836- 1926).

Rhoda Jane's mother was Sarah E. Collins (1840-1872), daughter of Frank and Rutha Nix Collins. Sarah died when Rhoda Jane was only nine years of age, and being the second child of seven and the oldest girl, it fell her lot to help take care of her siblings who ranged in age from eleven years to six months when her mother died. On March 12, 1876, Rhoda Jane's father, Wash Souther, married the second time to Nancy Sullivan. From this union came eight children, half-siblings of Rhoda Jane Souther. She helped her step-mother care for the two new step-siblings born before she and Jefferson Beauregard Dyer married December 14, 1879.

Ruby Lee Sergeant Miles imagines that Jefferson Beauregard and his bride-to-be took picnic lunches and visited the land he received from his father, James Marion Dyer. I am not sure that young people of that day would have been permitted that much unsupervised time away from elders. But in the granddaughter's account of their courtship, she allows for time for the young couple to dream of their future life together:

"On Sundays, Jeff would take Jane up for the day, to picnic and plan a life in their new home. These times were very thrilling for them. They could almost see the morning glory vines growing over the end of the long porch." (p. 23).

With much hard work, Jeff finished the cabin before Christmas, 1879. The couple had their marriage ceremony at the Souther home. And on Christmas Day that year, Jane and Jeff invited their parents to their cabin and served a typical mountain feast to celebrate their marriage and to show their home.

Ruby Lee Sergeant Miles follows the year-by-year life of the Jefferson Beauregard Dyer family--filled with hard work and births of their twelve children, four sons and eight daughters.

The family moved from Choestoe to Cleveland, Georgia in White County in 1892 and lived there thirteen years. From there they moved to New Holland in Hall County, Georgia where Jefferson got a job working in the cotton mill.

The older children were also employed in the mill. Jefferson built four houses there, three of which he rented. Although life was filled with hard work, the family had genuine love for each other and a sense of togetherness. Ruby Lee says of the family: "Jeff continued to try new and prosperous things to better the life for Jane. His family always had about as good as the best of families." (p. 31).

The last half of Mrs. Miles's book has vignettes about "Yesteryear in the Mountains," including myths, early homes, producing and preserving food, animals, people caring for one another, and plants and herbs. She included recipes for some of the dishes prepared at the fireplace in an iron pot or in an iron Dutch oven covered with coals.

Thanks to Ronald Eugene Miles, retired from his career with Minnesota State Parks, for editing and publishing his mother's book. It is an excellent addition to our written mountain history. The Book Nook in Blairsville has some copies or one may be ordered from Grassroots Concepts, 9980 Ponderosa Lane Southwest, Lake Shore, MN 56468-2005 for $15 which includes cost and shipping and handling.

On the back cover is an "Afterword" written by poet and essayist John G. Neihardt. He states: "This story will not turn back the hands (digits?) of time, but it does advocate lessons the earth still has to teach us. And when mists lift off the mountains, is there a more fulfilling, refreshment than a long draught of pure, cool spring water bubbling from the Giving Earth?"

For those of you who enjoy reading about mountain ways and families of yesteryear, this insightful book will be an excellent addition to your library.

c2006 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Nov. 30, 2006 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Considering Some Black History in Union County on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

I am writing this article on Monday, January 17, 2005, a national day to honor black civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. His life was brief. Born January 15, 1929, he met death by an assassin’s bullet on April 4, 1968. On January 20, 1986, the first nation-wide observance of a day in his memory was held in America. Thinking of this man who was named the Nobel Peace Prize winner on December 10, 1964 aroused my curiosity about black history in Union County, Georgia.

At best, history of blacks in Union County is sketchy. In the 1850 census of the county, twenty-four landowners were listed as slaveholders with a total of about 91 slaves. Some of the slaveowners’ names were illegible in the listing, and likewise the number of slaves held. By 1860, just prior to the Civil War, blacks in the county numbered 116 and all of them were slaves.

Since the farms were relatively small, and most of them were settled by independent Scots-Irish who migrated from North Carolina, few of the landowners had been accustomed to slavery and did not bring slaves with them to the lands they claimed, received mainly from the land lottery, along the creek and river valleys of Union County.

A look at names of slaveholders in 1850 reveals that citizens with these last names owned slaves: Butt, Hughes, Barclay, Reid, Haralson, England, Watkins, Addington, Erwin, Turner, Collins, Flowers, Hunter, Thompson, Hudgins, and at least four more whose names cannot be determined from the census taker’s handwriting.

The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. After this major document that changed the lives of blacks throughout the United States, most of those living in Union County remained as farm workers for their former owners, the women did housekeeping and laundry, some found work in the few hotels in town, and those with trades like carpentry or blacksmithing found work in those lines. Blacks also worked in the mines during the heyday of gold mining in Union County.

Two communities of black settlements were located in the Blairsville militia district. One was near the foot of Welborn Mountain. The other was about a mile east of Blairsville off Highway 76. This settlement was said to have houses located in the hollow there, with the black school and church on a rise above the dwellings.

Cemeteries reveal clues to the history of a people. From the old courthouse square in Blairsville, the Black Cemetery is located 1.5 miles east on Highway 76, with a turn south on Shaw Road for one-fourth mile, then southwest to the top of the ridge and westward for about one-fourth mile. Although there are more than 100 graves in this old cemetery, only seven have names still decipherable. The first person buried there with a name on the stone was Samuel Morris, born in 1839 and died March 26, 1901. Others and dates were: Lester Butt, June 10, 1900-March 13, 1904; Whalen Butt, April 27, 1875 – May 13, 1905; Ollie Butt, July 15, 1881-February 16, 1906; Mary Addington, 1812-June 12, 1919 (note her long life of 100 years); John T. Trammel, October 15, 1857-September 3, 1928; and Eliza Trammel, December 24, 1868 – November 17, 1945.

Records show that Eugene Butt gave land for the black church, school and cemetery following the Civil War. Church and school were held in the same building. Rev. Tom Coke Hughes, a noted white Methodist preacher of the nineteenth century held services at the black church on occasion. It is said that he had an agreement with Glenn Butt that if the congregation got “caught up in the Spirit,” he would escort Rev. Hughes safely from the church amidst the shouting and charismatic celebration.

The black school was still in operation in 1924, although M. L. Duggan, Rural School Agent who did a survey of Union County Schools in 1916 did not list the black school as one of the public schools. By 1938 the church had only the families of Glenn Butt and Eliza Trammell attending. Most of the black families had moved elsewhere to find employment.

When I was a child, my parents showed me graves in the Old Choestoe Cemetery that had fieldstone markings. I was told they were graves of former slaves of Collins, Hunter and England slaveowners in the community. Many of the blacks took the last name of their former owners after the Emancipation Proclamation. The 100-year old Mary Addington in the black cemetery near Blairsville no doubt bears the last name of March Addington who owned five slaves in 1850. Mary could have been one of them, or have married one of his male slaves.

I have been inspired again by reading several of the speeches and writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Among his famous words are the “I Have a Dream” address delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on August 18, 1963. In it he stated: “I have the dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” And in that same speech: “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”

His advocacy of non-violent social change has brought about many actions that have helped his dreams to be realized. I can imagine that from the 1830’s through about the mid-1940’s before the remaining black population left Union County, they held similar dreams. The blacks were here for awhile, having come through no choice of their own. They lived and worked and then went elsewhere, along with their dreams and their history, like the mists that lift from the mountains. We see vestiges of their habitation here and wonder how life must have been for them.

[I am indebted to these publications for information for this article: “Sketches of Union County History,” (1987), edited by Teddy J. Oliver, pp. 38-41; “Cemetery Records of Union County, (1990), pp. 296-297)].

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published January 20, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Humble Beginnings to Chief Justice: Honorable William Henry Duckworth

William Henry Duckworth was the third of ten children born to John Francis (called Jack) and Laura Jane Noblet Duckworth. He was born on the Duckworth farm just east of Old Liberty Baptist Church, Choestoe, where his grandparents, General Jackson and Celia Emaline Collins Duckworth had lived. His birthday was October 21, 1894. Grover Cleveland was serving his second term as twenty-fourth president of the United States. Times were hard. A depression was sweeping the country (not the Great Depression of three decades later, but a time when many were without work and the economy was shaky). The Duckworth family on Choestoe had food grown on their farm, and like their neighbors, managed the best they could.

When Henry was fifteen years of age, his father, Jack, met an untimely death in a shooting match near his home on December 10, 1910 at the hands of a cousin, Jeptha Collins. Henry’s mother, Laura Noblet Duckworth, was left to rear eight children (two had died in infancy). By sheer determination and hard work, Laura Duckworth was able to see the eight children turn into fine, productive citizens.

William Henry Duckworth got his early education in the one-teacher schools in Choestoe. A bright lad, he was invited by Dr. Joseph A. Sharp, then president of Young Harris College, to take a job working there to help defray his tuition. A great uncle of Henry’s, Francis Marion Duckworth, who, with his wife, Nancy Davis Duckworth had taken Henry’s mother into their home to rear when she was a small child, loaned the young student some money for college. In 1917, William Henry Duckworth graduated from Young Harris with honors. Later in his life he would ardently support the college through donations and service. The library at the college is named Duckworth Library, honoring William Henry and his brother, James Lon, also a lawyer.

During World War I, Henry Duckworth joined the U. S. Navy where he served as an Ensign.

His desire to become a lawyer was not thwarted due to lack of finances to attend law school. He read law, a practice generally followed then, in the law office of his friend, E. D. Rivers. He took a correspondence course in law from LaSalle University, Chicago, where he earned the LL. B. degree in 1919. He successfully passed the bar examination. He went to south Georgia where he met and courted Willabel Pilcher, daughter of John Preston and Ida Singletary Pilcher. They were married July 2, 1922 in Thomas County. Three children were born to them: Dorothy, Mary and William Henry, Jr. He practiced law in Cairo, Georgia for several years.

He was elected senator from the 7th District of Georgia in 1931. This launched his career in state government. He successfully managed the gubernatorial candidacy for E. D. Rivers when he was elected Governor of Georgia. They had been classmates at Young Harris College.

He became assistant Attorney General of Georgia and served in that capacity during 1937-1938. He was hoping to be appointed to the next vacancy on the Georgia Supreme Court, only to be told by the incumbent governor that he was “too young” for the position. He ran for the position in a three-man race and won. From October 18, 1938 through January, 1956, he was an associate justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. He was presiding justice from January 1, 1947 through September 10, 1948 when he was installed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, a position he held until his death August 9, 1969.

Keeping his deep-seated integrity and his fearlessness, he wrote some noteworthy decisions in the annals of Georgia law. One was when Governor Eugene Talmadge died before taking office. The Georgia Legislature appointed Herman Talmadge, Eugene’s son, to become governor on the basis of a few hundred write-in votes. The two other contenders for the office of governor were incumbent Governor Ellis Arnall and Lieutenant Governor M. E. Thompson. Chief Justice Duckworth declared M. E. Thompson as the next governor by “majority opinion.” It was said to be the “most explosive” political decision up to that time in Georgia history.

Known for his intensive questioning and his search for truth, Supreme Court Justice Duckworth was adept at finding weak points in arguments and lack of evidence.

During the last sixteen years of his life, he suffered with and was treated for chronic leukemia. In 1953 he had a heart attack that slowed his work for several weeks while he recuperated. It was a heart attack that brought his demise on August 9, 1969.

He had fulfilled his youthful dreams of becoming a lawyer and a Georgia Supreme Court Justice. In 1955 he was elected as chairman of the National Conference of Chief Justices, made up of the top jurists from all the states of the union.

His pastor at Druid Hills Church, Decatur, the Rev. Louie D. Newton, sometimes known as the Dean of Georgia Baptist pastors, conducted his funeral at Spring Hill Chapel, Decatur, on Monday, August 11, 1969. Interment was at Decatur City Cemetery.

Another man went out from the hills of Union County and made his distinctive mark in history.

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

The Harvey Alfonso "Bud" Twiggs Family

Harvey Alfonso, better known as “Bud” Twiggs, was the youngest of six children born to the early Union County settlers, Willis (1804-1880) and Margaret England Twiggs (1812-1886). Harvey A. was born at Choestoe, Union County, Georgia on June 1, 1848 and died there March 6, 1932. He married Elizabeth Johnson on July 21, 1876, and to “Bud” and “Lizzie” Twiggs were born five children reared on the farm, part of which was inherited from Bud’s father, Willis.

Margaret M. Twiggs (August 2, 1871-May 28, 1949) married Mancil Pruitt Dyer, a son of Choestoe’s inventor of the “Apparatus for Navigating the Air,” Micajah Clark Dyer and his wife, Morena Ownbey Dyer. Mancil Pruitt had the nickname “Mant”. He and Margaret had seven children: Nellie Naomi who married Dallas Nix; Herbert Carter who married Pearl Duckworth; Patrick Henry Lee Dyer who married Cleo Hix; Celia Wilhemina “Minnie” Dyer who married Marshall J. Nix; Harriet who died at nine years of age; and Chartiers McMillan Dyer who married Pearl Parker and Sibyl Franks. When Margaret died in 1949, she was at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Marshall Nix, in Waverly, Colorado where she had lived during a period of ill health. Her body was returned for burial at Pine Top Cemetery, Choestoe, where her husband was buried in 1916.

Bud and Lizzie Twiggs’ second child was James Willis Twiggs (June 15, 1879 – February 1, 1966) known as Jim, this son had a distinctive career as a teacher, public servant, educator and benefactor. He married on December 28, 1910 to Helen Cordelia Collins (March 1, 1886-December 10, 1981), daughter of Dallas and Rosannah Souther Collins. The Rev. Charlie Rich performed their wedding ceremony at the home of the bride’s parents near New Liberty Baptist Church. They had one daughter, Clarice Lorraine Twiggs who married Thomas Jefferson Stephens. Helen Collins was a teacher when she and Jim Twiggs married. During the first years of their marriage both taught school at Talmo, Georgia (Jackson County) for three years, then to South Georgia for three years, and northward to Gwinnett County for three more years. Then they returned to Union County. In 1920 Jim Twiggs was elected County School Superintendent in Union County where he served two four-year terms (1920-1928). He next was with the sales tax unit of the Department of Revenue. He was elected state senator from the ninth congressional district for one term. Following that service he was a supervisor with the Georgia Department of Education until his retirement at age 72. Jim and Helen Twiggs were known for their Christian compassion and community spirit. I personally will ever be grateful to Mr. Jim Twiggs for loaning me the money to complete my AA degree at Truett McConnell College in 1948-1949 at a time when my father had a not-so-good crop year and did not have the money, even with my working at a campus job, to pay my college tuition. Mr. Jim Twiggs came to my rescue with a loan which I repaid during my first year of teaching.

Bud and Lizzie Twiggs’ third child was John Milford Twiggs (June 9, 1881-September 5, 1960). John married Celia Sarah “Sallie” Collins (October 8, 1884 – October 4, 1972), daughter of Ivan Kimsey and Martha J. Hunter Collins on March 1, 1908. John was a farmer on Choestoe, tilling the land settled by his grandfather Willis Twiggs and passed on to him by his father Bud Twiggs. John and Sallie had two sons, Roy Willis Twiggs (1909-1987) and Mercer Franklin Twiggs (1912-1990). Educated at Young Harris and North Georgia Colleges and Oglethorpe University, Roy taught school for several years. Roy became director of Union County’s Department of Family and Children’s Services (then called the Welfare Department) in 1938. World War II came and he served for four years in the U. S. Army. Following military service, he again assumed directorship of the Department of Family and Children’s Services from 1946 through his retirement in 1971. He was named to the Georgia Welfare Hall of Fame in 1985. Quiet, efficient and unassuming, Roy Twiggs is remembered as a compassionate social worker who sincerely had the welfare of his clients uppermost as he sought to help those who really needed aid. Mercer Twiggs had a career of thirty-seven years with the Georgia Highway Department. He married Ruby June Little in 1942 and they had one child, Sarah Rebecca Twiggs who married James Matthew Thompson. John and Sallie Twiggs were buried in the Old Choestoe Cemetery and Roy Twiggs and Mercer Twiggs in the New Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery.

Fourth child of Bud and Lizzie Twiggs was Naomi Belle Twiggs (May 17, 1886-August 14, 1941). She married Fulton Huey Gaddis and they lived to Barrow County, Georgia.

The fifth and youngest child of Bud and Lizzie Twiggs was Frank Densmore Twiggs (January 10, 1889-July 4, 1979) who married Margaret Lea Self on October 28, 1934. She was a daughter of Willis C. and Mollie Dyer Self. Lea and Frank lived in the Twiggs house that his father, Bud, built. The house is still standing on Collins Road just off Highway 80 and is now owned and maintained by Frank and Lea’s son, Ralph.

Frank taught school in one-teacher schools for a few years, among which was Pine Top. He became a full-time farmer, saying he “liked to be his own boss.” He and Lea had two children, Ralph (born in 1936) and Opal (1937-1944). Frank and Lea Twiggs were wonderful neighbors and extended such kindness to my younger brother, Blueford, and me after our mother died in 1945 when we were young.

Some interesting stories have been passed down in the Twiggs family about the escapades of Harvey Alfonso “Bud” Twiggs. A favorite is how he “broke” a new horse for his son Jim to ride. Determined to tame the horse, he bridled it up and took it into the field. The horse bucked and reared, but Bud held on for dear life. Finally, the horse reared and fell, with Bud Twiggs still holding on. Those who were watching feared that Mr. Twiggs was badly injured, but he got up and refused help in taking the horse back to the barn. A few days later, Bud Twiggs saddled up the horse and came out riding him, with the animal behaving, well-broken and taken to the saddle, ready for his Jim Twiggs to ride. Bud Twiggs was at the ripe age of 80 when he broke the untamed horse. He lived four more years after the horse-breaking incident.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published October 28, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Walter Mondwell Twiggs, Noted Methodist Minister

Many have gone out from the hills and valleys of Union County and made distinctive contributions in many professions. The Rev. John Wesley Twiggs of Choestoe had two sons who, like himself, became Methodist ministers. Last week we got an insight into the early life of Walter Mondwell as he went with his father at age seven across the Logan Turnpike to the market in Gainesville in 1885. Walter was the younger of the two preacher sons. Lovick Marvin, eight years older than Walter, became an ordained Methodist minister, outstanding in Georgia. Both Choestoeans contributed greatly through long lives of service. This week we will continue with the life and work of the Rev. Walter Mondwell Twiggs. Next week we will look at contributions made by the Rev. Lovick Marvin Twiggs.

When Walter Mondwell Twiggs was born March 27, 1888 in Choestoe, Georgia to the Rev. John Wesley Twiggs and his second wife, Georgia Elizabeth Westmoreland Twiggs, he had six half-siblings to welcome him. Their mother, Sarah Elizabeth Hughes, had died June 2, 1885. Rev. John Wesley Twiggs married Georgia Elizabeth Westmoreland of White County on February 4, 1886. She was a good step-mother to the “first set” of John Wesley Twiggs’ children: Edwin Paxton, Nancy Elmira, Emma California (Callie), Mary Frances, Lovick Marvin and Nellie Margaret.

Georgia Elizabeth and John Wesley Twiggs had three children: Kitty who was born and died in January, 1887; Walter Mondwell (1888) and Erwin Eugene (May 13, 1890). In his memoirs, Rev. Walter Mondwell Twiggs pays great tribute to the closeness between him and his half-sister, Nellie Margaret, whom he says was “like a little mother to me,” and to his brother Lovick Marvin who was an inspiration to him. The distinction of half- brothers and sisters went unnoticed. Mrs. Twiggs loved all the children. Walter, writing of her, noted: “At night mother would sit around the open wood fireplace, never idle, but patching garments, sewing on buttons, darning socks and otherwise providing for the large family.”

Walter Mondwell Twiggs graduated from Young Harris College. While there at the age of 17, he was strongly impressed with a call to the gospel ministry. But he says he resisted the call for several years, teaching school and then studying law. In 1913 at age 24, he was licensed to preach by the Rev. Bascomb Anthony, then presiding elder of the Dublin, Georgia District, where Walter had gone to teach school. He taught at Powelton, Georgia, an early consolidated schools. He was principal of the Stillmore High School in Emanuel County. It was there he met his future bride who was a member of the faculty.

He and Claudia Lenora Thompson were married June 8, 1916 in Lyons, Georgia. They had three children, two daughters and one son. Phronia Webb Twiggs was born September 9, 1917 in Monticello, Ga. Sara Elizabeth Twiggs was born August 7, 1919 in Atlanta, Georgia; and John Wesley Twiggs (named after Walter’s father) was born and died January 7, 1925 in Atlanta, Georgia. The places of the children’s births show some of the locations of churches where the Rev. Walter Twiggs was pastor.

Shortly after his licensing to the Methodist ministry, he entered Vanderbilt University in Tennessee where he studied theology during 1913 and 1914. He was able to pay his way by a scholarship and through working as a janitor and operating the dormitory telephones. While there, he gained experience as assistant pastor at a Methodist church in Nashville’s west end.

In 1915 he enrolled in the Candler School of Theology of Emory University. While there, he was assistant pastor of the Asbury Methodist Church, 1914-1915. After graduation from Candler, he was assigned to the Monticello Methodist Circuit in 1915 and served there until 1920. He was ordained an elder by Bishop Warren A. Candler. His subsequent charges read like a roll-call of Georgia towns. Some of the places he served and the dates were: Lithonia, 1920-24; Patillo Memorial, Decatur, 1924-29; Hapeville, 1929-1933; Trinity-on-the-Hill, Augusta, 1933-35; Presiding Elder, Griffin District, 1935-39; West Point, 1940-43; District Superintendent, Lagrange District, 1943-49; Cartersville, Sam Jones Memorial, 1949-1953; Bethany, Atlanta, 1953-56. He retired in 1956, lived in LaGrange, Georgia and worked for a time with the Manget Foundation.

It was always a joy to the people of Choestoe District and Salem Methodist when their native son, Rev. Walter Twiggs, returned to speak at homecoming or hold a revival.

Rev. and Mrs. Walter Twiggs became the first residents of the Wesley Woods Towers in Atlanta, a senior citizen retirement home which the Rev. Twiggs had worked diligently to establish. They lived there from April, 1965 through September, 1972 when they went to their daughter Phronia Smith’s home in Griffin. There Mrs. Twiggs died July 27, 1973. Rev. Twiggs spent his last years in Griffin writing his memoirs and speaking or teaching occasionally at churches.

Rev. Walter M. Twiggs was a gifted speaker, an evangelist and a fundraiser, with an unusual talent for raising money for benevolent and church causes. He served on committees in the North Georgia Conference which brought about innovations in ministerial pensions, establishment of Wesley Woods Towers, and erection of church structures. He was a trustee both of the Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church and of LaGrange College.

He died quietly in the Brightmoor Nursing Home, Griffin, Georgia, on October 13, 1984 at age 96. He was laid to rest beside his beloved wife at the Forest Lawn Cemetery, Newnan, Georgia.

The tall man from Choestoe, measuring well over six feet in height, cast a long shadow and touched many lives through his work and ministry. In one of his last “Memoirs” letters written to his niece Barbara Allison Crawford (his sister Nellie’s child) he noted a quotation that had helped him at an early age to shape his philosophy of life:

“To each is given a bag of tools –
A shapeless mass, a book of rules.
And each must make ‘ere life is flown
A stumbling block or a stepping stone.

Rev. Walter Mondwell Twiggs who went out from Union County made of his “bag of tools” many stepping stones to help others along the way of life.

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published October 14, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Rev. John Wesley Twiggs, Methodist Minister

In last week’s column we were introduced to Willis Twiggs (1804-1880), the first of the Twiggs family to move to Union County, Georgia from Rutherford County, NC by way of Habersham County, GA and then into the Choestoe District of Union.

We will trace today some of the life and times of John Wesley Twiggs, fifth child and first son of Willis and Margaret England Twiggs. He was born January 31, 1846 in the Twiggs’ Choestoe home.

Where the young John Wesley Twiggs received his education is unknown, except for the one-teacher schools in the Choesoe District. But evidently he was a learned man (no doubt much of it self-taught) for his day. According to testimony of his children and grandchildren, they were not allowed to speak incorrect English around him, nor even the “hill country lingo” so prevalent in the community. Some believe he was taught by his mother, Margaret England Twiggs, who came from a well-educated family. Her grandparents had migrated from Maryland into Virginia and had more education and refinement than most of the frontier families in the Rutherford, NC area where she and her husband Willis Twiggs lived before moving to Georgia. By whatever means educated, John Wesley Twiggs made good use of it and contributed well to his own community and beyond.

The date of John Wesley Twiggs’ ordination to the gospel ministry is not known. He did have an active part in churches within Union County, riding to his charges on his farm mule or horse. The Old Salem Church had been organized in the home of his father, Willis, where services were conducted for nine years until the first building was erected on Self Mountain in 1847 when John Wesley was about one. When this fifth child of Willis Twiggs grew up and married, first, Sarah Elizabeth Hughes (1847-1885), the family continued to attend Old Salem Methodist Church. Sarah Elizabeth, called Sallie, was from a Methodist family. She was a daughter of the Rev. Thomas M. and Nancy Bird Hughes. Both her father and grandfather were Methodist ministers (Her grandfather was the Rev. Francis Bird).

To John Wesley and Sarah Elizabeth Hughes Twiggs were born Edwin Paxton (1872-1954) who married Mary Elizabeth Dyer; Nancy Elmira (1874-1953) who married James Monroe Collins; Emma California (1876-1903) who married John L. Gillespie; Mary Frances (1874-1952) who married Milton Newton Nix; Lovick Marvin (1880-1962) who married Estelle Middlebrooks; and Nellie Margaret (1883-1974) who married John Gordon Allison.

Sarah Elizabeth Twiggs died June 2, 1885 and was buried at the Old Choestoe Cemetery. Her six children ranged from age 13 to not quite two years. Her obituary printed in the Wesleyan Christian Advocate on July 22, 1885 noted that she had suffered scarlet fever as a child which had left her lungs weakened. On her deathbed, she called all her family to her, gave them her last charge, kissed each one and bade them farewell. The writer stated: “Her face all aglow with the refulgent rays of the Great Shepherd of her soul, she began to repeat the 23rd Psalm, and with the ending of the Psalm God came and kissed her happy soul away, and left His ineffable smile on the brow.”

The Rev. John Wesley Twiggs married Georgia Elizabeth Wesmoreland on February 4, 1886 in White County, Georgia. To them were born three children: Kitty (b. & d. Jan., 1887); Walter Mondwell (1888-1984) who married Claudia Lenora Thompson; and Erwin Eugene (1890-1977) who married Alice Emily Wofford.

Two of Rev. John Wesley Twiggs’ sons became Methodist ministers: Lovick Marvin and Walter Mondwell.

Farmer, minister, and teacher were the three occupations followed by the Rev. John Wesley Twiggs. He kept up with the latest innovations in farming for his day and shared information of agricultural techniques with his neighbors and church members. He was a teacher at Hood’s Chapel School and at Old Liberty School, and perhaps at others in Union County. His ministerial charges ranged over both Union and White County. Known as a strict disciplinarian as a father and a teacher, he believed strongly in bringing up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He died July 30, 1917 at his Choestoe home and was laid to rest beside his first wife, Sarah Elizabeth, in the Old Choestoe Cemetery. Quoting from a resolution from Salem church published in the Union County paper August 14, 1917: “He was not only a father to the young but a dispenser of doctrines to the old…He always held out the bright side of life to us by his noble example and worthy advice. He ingrafted into our lives a deeper sense of love and a keener sight of right.”

c2004 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published September 20, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.