April 22, 2013 at 12:31 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: Andrew J. Harris, Ann Baillie Davies, Ann McIntosh, Augustin Harris Hansell, C. W. Fulwood, Charles J. Paine, Charles Paine Hansell, Constitutional Convention of 1877, Edward Davies, Frances B. Hansell, H. B. Peeples, Indian Wars, Iverson L. Harris, J. R. Singletary, J. W. A. Sanford, John A. Wilkes, John Mohr McIntosh, Mary Ann Baillie, Mary Anne Baillie Paine, Mary H. Hansell, Mason, Milledgeville Lodge, O. M. Smith, R. G. Tison, R. K. Hines, Robert G. Mitchell, Sally H. Hansell, Susan Byne Harris, Susan V. Hansell, W. B. Bennett, W. M. Hammond, William Davies, William Young, William Young Hansell
Judge Augustin H. Hansell spent 50 years on the bench of the of Southern Circuit of Georgia during which he tried many, many cases in Berrien County (see The Misadventures of Mr. Stewart, The State vs Burrell Hamilton Bailey, and Trial and Incarceration of James Thomas Beagles.) He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the of 1877, along with Ray’s Mill (now Ray City) resident Jonathan David Knight.
1907 Memorial to Judge Hansell
Tifton Gazette
Feb. 8, 1907
Memorial to Judge Hansell
Memorial services in honor of the late Judge Augustine H. Hansell were held at Thomasville Monday afternoon. Judge Hansell presided over the Southern circuit for fifty years, and there was a large attendance of lawyers from all over the section. The memorial committee appointed by Judge Robert G. Mitchell to have charge of the exercises consisted of W. M. Hammond, of Thomas, chairman; W. B. Bennett, of Brooks; O. M. Smith, of Lowndes; H. B. Peeples, of Berrien; John A. Wilkes, of Colquitt; J. R. Singletary, of Grady; C. W. Fulwood, of Tift, and R. G. Tison, of Echols.
Captain Hammond, as chairman of the committee, delivered an eloquent eulogy – reciting the long public service of the honored judge. A handsome portrait of Judge Hansell adons the court room, where the service was held.
Augustin H. Hansell
The following sketch of the life of Judge Hansell is a composite of the memorial given in the Report of the Twenty-fourth Annual Session of the Georgia Bar Association, 1907 and biographical material contained in A History of Savannah and South Georgia, Volume 2, 1913.
JUDGE AUGUSTIN H. HANSELL.
Augustin H. Hansell was born in Milledgeville, Georgia,, on the 26th day of August, 1817. He died in Thomasville, Georgia, on Sunday morning, February 11, 1907. If he had lived until August 26, 1907, he would have reached the age of ninety years. While it is rarely the case that the allotted life of man is extended to the extreme age which Judge Hansell reached, it is still more rare, even to being remarkable, that one who lived for a period approaching a century should have spent nearly the entire time of so long a life in constant activity and service. Judge Hansell was practically “in harness” from his early manhood until the date of his death. From the time he was eighteen years of age until within a few years of his death he was actively and constantly engaged in service to his State and to his people.
******
The father of Augustine Harris Hansell was William Young Hansell, a native of the Greenville district of South Carolina. When William Young Hansell was a child he lost his father, and at the age of twelve came to Georgia to make his home with his uncle, William Young. Making the best of his opportunities he acquired a common school education and then studied law in Milledgeville, and after admission to the bar engaged in practice there. He was one of the eminent attorneys of his time, and his name appears in the Georgia supreme court reports. His active practice continued until 1860, and he then lived retired until his death in 1867. The maiden name of his wife was Susan Byne Harris, representing another prominent family of this state. She was born on a plantation about two miles from Milledgeville, and her father, Augustin Harris, a native of Burke county, was directly descended from one of four brothers who came to America during early colonial times and settled in Virginia. Augustin Harris was a Baldwin county planter, having numerous slaves and being one of the prosperous men of his section. Susan (Harris) Hansell survived her husband until 1874, and she reared two sons, Andrew J. and Augustin H., and five daughters.”
*****
Augustin Harris Hansell… being reared in one of the prosperous homes of Georgia, was given excellent advantages. Prof. Carlisle Beaman was one of his tutors in general subjects, and he studied law under R. K. Hines and Iverson L. Harris. After admission to the bar he began practice at Milledgeville, and for a time served as private secretary for Governor Gilmer.
*****
At the age of eighteen Judge Hansell served with distinction in the War of the Creek Indians of 1836. He was on the staff of General J. W. A. Sanford, of Baldwin county, and by reason of meritorious service was offered the promotion to a Major by General Sanford, but declined such appointment.
*****
Judge Hansell’s family relations were ideal. He was married to Miss Mary Anne Baillie Paine, of Milledgeville, on May 20, 1840. For sixty-six years they lived a perfectly happy married life. Her father was Charles J . Paine, a native of Petersburg, Virginia, and a physician. As a young man he came to Georgia and was engaged in practice at Milledgeville until his death in 1857. Her mother was Ann Baillie Davies, the daughter of William Davies, a native of Savannah, and granddaughter of Edward Davies, a native of Wales, who was one of the early settlers of Georgia. William Davies also conferred honor upon the legal profession of Georgia, and served as judge of the superior court and was mayor of the city of Savannah during the War of 1812. William Davies married Mary Ann Baillie, the maiden name of whose mother was Ann McIntosh, a daughter of John Mohr McIntosh, the immigrant ancestor of the noted McIntosh family.
The five children of Mary Anne Baillie Paine (1826-1906) and Augustin Harris Hansell (1917-1907) were as follows:
- Susan V. Hansell
- Charles Paine Hansell
- Mary H. Hansell
- Frances B. Hansell
- Sally H. Hansell
*****
Judge Hansell was elected to the Georgia Legislature in 1845 and represented the County of Pulaski.
*****
In 1847 he was elected Solicitor-General of the Southern Circuit and served for two years, at the end of which time he resigned to accept the position of Judge of the Superior Court of the Southern Circuit of Georgia, then embracing the greater part of south Georgia. Railroads had not yet penetrated to this region, and he journeyed from court to court in his private carriage.
For some years, until 1850, he was a resident of Hawkinsville, then in Scottsboro two years, and in November 1852 came to Thomasville, being one of the most prominent among the early settlers of this locality.
He resigned the position of Judge of the Southern Circuit in 1853, But went back on that bench in 1859.
*****
Judge Hansell was a member of the Georgia Secession Convention in 1861 and took a prominent part in that historic body. He did not enter the Confederate service in the War between the States on account of the fact that he was Judge of the Superior Court of the Southern Circuit during such war. He, however, gave to the Confederate cause his earnest sympathy and support and actively rendered efficient service and help as Chairman of the Relief Committee from Thomas County. During the siege of Atlanta he went to that city and aided in the relief of the sick and wounded. He was a tower of strength to his people during the stormy days of Reconstruction.
*****
He remained as Judge of this Circuit continuously until 1868, when he was removed from the bench by the Reconstruction Governor of Georgia, Rufus B. Bullock. He resumed private practice for four years, but in 1873 he was again elected Judge of the Southern Circuit and continued to serve in such capacity, being elected term after term without opposition, until January 1, 1903, a period of thirty continuous years in the service of his State.
*****
He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1877 and did efficient work in that Convention in framing the State Constitution.
He took an active part in the various Conventions of Judges that compiled the rules of procedure and practice for the Superior Courts of the State. He was always present at these Conventions and was President of the last Convention held.
*****
At January 1, 1903 he voluntarily resigned from the bench and retired to the well-earned quiet and rest of his home. During his long career on the bench he made many important decisions and such implicit confidence did litigants repose in his learning and his integrity that appeals were very rarely taken from his decisions. An examination of the cases where appeals were taken, shows that a very small percentage were reversed by the higher Courts.
No better or more accurate statement can be given of his service as a lawyer and Judge than the following, which was written by one who knew him and loved him as a life-long friend:
“Judge Hansell was one of the ablest lawyers in the State, and stood easily among the foremost of Georgia’s great judicial lights. With an unfaltering and unerring hand he held the scales of justice evenly poised, meting out justice without fear or favor to all, to rich and poor alike. With a mind richly stored with legal lore, he made the law so plain that all grasped and comprehended it as it fell from his lips. He was an upright and a just Judge. No higher encomium could be pronounced. He wore the ermine for half a century and laid it aside without blur, blot, blemish or wrinkle. The bar and people of the Southern Circuit, over which he presided so long, venerated and loved him as but few men have been venerated and loved. The highest type of the old-time Southern gentleman, he impressed juries and litigants with the purity of his motives and the fairness of his rulings and charges. To the younger members of the bar he was ever ready to lend a helping hand, ever ready to advise and guide them.
To the officers of his Courts he was courteous and kind at all times.”
*****
During his life, Judge Hansell was chosen for office under every form of appointment and election that has existed in Georgia; gubernatorial, legislative and popular.
In the Report of the Twenty-sixth Annual Session of the Georgia Bar Association, 1909 , John D. Pope wrote, “I venture the assertion that any lawyer, who will undertake to look over the list of Judges appointed by Governors in time gone by, will agree with me that they were among the best that Georgia ever had, and these men were not changed on the Bench after their appointment except by their own will. Look at the lamented Judge A. H. Hansell on the Superior Court Bench for more than a half century! Where is the man in that circuit, or out of it, that knew him personally, or by reputation, who would have opposed him? Why? Because he was just and fearless, and every man knew, when he went before Judge Hansell he would get just what the law gave him, no more, no less: There was no politics there; it was a case of a great man administering the law!”
*****
At the time of his death Judge Hansell was the oldest Mason in the State of Georgia. He always took a marked and active interest in the work of this great order. He was made a Master Mason in the Milledgeville Lodge in 1838. A few years later he became a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar at Macon, Ga. He served as Master of the Hawkinsville Lodge, was High Priest in the Thomasville Chapter and was an officer of the State Grand Chapter. Just a short while before his death he attended the Thomas County Convention of Masons and made a speech that greatly affected his Masonic brothers.
*****
The private life of Judge Hansell and that side of his character, which was known to his friends and his neighbors, is well expressed in the following tribute to his memory, written by the same friend referred to above:
“No citizen of Thomasville was ever held in higher regard or more universally esteemed. For half a century he lived here, going in and out among his neighbors, holding and retaining to the last hour of his earthly existence the respect, esteem and love of all, young and old. His kindness of heart, gentleness of spirit, and never-failing regard for others won for him, during his long and useful life, the sincere affection of all. His life was an inspiration to the young and his precepts and example all point to the loftiest type of good citizenship. He made the world better by having lived in it, and leaving it, left countless thousands to mourn his loss. Few men have left behind a more spotless record, or one more worthy of emulation. The golden rule was his guide through life. His memory will long be cherished by those who knew him, and cherished longest by those who knew him best. The good that he did will still live. It can not be entombed. The rising generation will be pointed to the life and character of this model citizen as an example to be followed, as an incentive for correct and upright living. Surely this is a rich legacy he has left behind him, a legacy far more valuable than sordid wealth.”
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February 28, 2013 at 12:19 am (Families of Ray City, Uncategorized)
Tags: Alapaha River, Amy Walker Drawdy, Berrien County GA, Captain Jesse Carter's Company, Charles R. Green, Christina Drawdy Wetherington, Daniel Drawdy, Delilah Ann Hinson, Delilah Drawdy, Elijah Carter Sr, Elizabeth Green, Elizabeth Green Touchton, Fairiby Drawdy, Frances Steward, Frankie Angeline Green, Houston H. Green, Indian Wars, J. H. May, James Green, John B. Green, John Drawdy, King Hinson, Kiziah Drawdy Rhoden, Levi Drawdy, Levi Drawdy Jr, Little Saltketcher Creek, Milltown GA, Noah Green, Perry Drawdy, Rays Mill Georgia, Rebecca Carter, Sarah Ann Green, Sarah Drawdy Chitty, Sarah Green Cox, Sparks Eagle, Susannah Green, Sylvester M. Drawdy, Union Church, William Green, William Hiram Green
Tifton Gazette
Feb. 28, 1913
Berrien News Item, Feb 28, 1913 – Delilah Drawdy
Berrien county boasts of a lady resident 102 years old, Mrs. Delilah Drawdy, says the Sparks Eagle. She has over three hundred grand-children and moved to Georgia from North Carolina. She can thread a needle without glasses; has a good number of quilts she made herself; is able to do house work; goes whereever she wishes; enjoys her meals, and can talk very interestingly of the changes in the modes of travel during her century and more of life.
Dr. P. H. Askew and Delilah Hinson Drawdy, circa 1904. Image courtesy of berriencountyga.com
Ridin’ in a REO–In what is believed to be the first car in Berrien County, Dr. P.H. Askew and Mrs. Delilah Drawdy ride in style in a REO two-seater. Dr. Askew wanted Mrs. Drawdy to be his first passenger in his new car, and when asked if she was afraid to go for a ride in the REO, she replied, “Why should I be? I’ll have a doctor driving?”
The photo was taken about 1904, the first year the REO Motor Car Company produced automobiles.
Delilah Drawdy died in March, 1914
Obituary of Delilah Drawdy
Tifton Gazette
March 27, 1914
Died at Age of 102.
Adel, March 17. Mrs. Delilah Drawdy, who died at the age of 102 at Rays Mill Sunday, removed one of the most remarkable women in the state. She married Noah Green when she was 15, and to them was born 10 children, five of whom are still living. The oldest child is eighty-four years of age, and the youngest is sixty-four. Mrs. Drawdy was twice married, her second husband being Levy Drawdy, with whom she lived twenty-five years. Two sons were born to them, one of which survives her. Her grand children, great grand children and great great grandchildren number over 400.
Mrs. Drawdy was a grand mother of sheriff J. M. Shaw’s first wife. She retained her faculties well, despite her age and remembered when the “stars fell.”
Other remembrances included:
Mrs. Drawdy, probably the oldest woman in the State of Georgia died at her home in Rays Mill Sunday. She was 102 years old, and was the grandmother of J. H. May and Mrs. J. M. Shaw of Adel…. She was able to sit up and sew until a few weeks before her death , and at the age of 101, she made a quilt for her grandson, J. H. May. Her eyesight and hearing were good and she maintained her metal faculties until the last. She joined the Primitive Baptist Church in 1852. Burial took place at Milltown Monday. She was born in North Carolina and moved to Georgia when she was 15 years old. Surviving children, William Green of Stockton, Mrs. Baten of Sparks, Mrs. D. M. Drawdy of Rays Mill, H. H. Green of Rays Mill, Mrs. H. Cox of Dupont and S. M. Drawdy of Hahira.
Affectionately known as “Dillie, her maiden name was Delilah Ann Hinson. She was born on Christmas Day, 1812 in Anson County, North Carolina a daughter of Frances Steward and Charles “King” Hinson. As a young woman she came with her father to Pulaski County, GA. About 1827 she married Noah Green, also of North Carolina. Census records for Noah Green show he and Dillie made their household in Captain Lenam’s District, Pulaski County, GA.
Children of Delilah A. Hinson and Noah Green:
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- William Hiram Green (1834-1916)
- Elizabeth Green (1834-1886)
- James Green (1836-)
- Frankie Angeline Green (1840-1922)
- Charles R Green (1842-)
- John B Green (1843-)
- Susannah Green(1846-)
- Houston H Green (1849-1925)
- Sarah Ann Green(1853-1945)
Family tradition says about 1854-55 Noah Green relocated his household to that part of Lowndes county which was soon to be cut into the new county of Berrien. But almost at the moment of arrival at the new homestead, Noah Green suffered a heart attack and died, leaving the widowed Dillie to raise a family on her own.
Within a year or two Delilah Hinson Green married again. Her second husband was the widower Levi Drawdy, a prosperous farmer in Berrien County. He was a son of John Drawdy, born October 15, 1803, in the Barnwell District of South Carolina. His uncle Daniel Drawdy was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Drawdy’s first wife, Rebecca Carter, was a daughter of Elijah Carter, Sr., who lived on Little Saltketcher Creek on the Barnwell-Colleton line in South Carolina. Levi and Rebecca Drawdy made their home in Barnwell county until 1834 when they moved to settle on land on the west side of the Alapaha River in present day Lanier County, GA. Many of the Carter family connection had already come from South Carolina to settle in the same area. On June 7, 1834 Drawdy and his wife Rebecca were baptized into the membership of Union Church. He served as a private in 1838 in the Indian War, in Capt. Jesse Carter’s Company of Lowndes County militia. In 1853, Rebecca Carter Drawdy died and was buried at Union Church near their home. She was survived by her husband and ten children.
About 1854, the widower Levi Drawdy and the widow Delilah Ann Hinson Green were married. The couple made a blended household out of their large families. At the time of marriage they had 18 children between the two of them. Their union produced two more.
Children of Delilah Hinson and Levi Drawdy:
- Sylvester M. Drawy
- Perry Drawdy
Mr. Drawdy was buried at Union Church. He left a will dated July 25, 1864, which was probated August 25, 1881, in Lowndes Court of Ordinary. His son, Daniel, was designated as executor. His home place and farm, Lot of Land No. 389 in 11th district of Lowndes, was divided among the wife and surviving children: Daniel Drawdy, Levi Drawdy, Jr., Sylvester M. Drawdy, Mrs. Christina Drawdy Wetherington, Mrs. Elizabeth Green Touchston, Mrs. Kiziah Drawdy Rhoden, Mrs. Sarah Drawdy Chitty, and Fairiby Drawdy.
Delilah Ann Hinson Green Drawdy died in 1914. She is buried along with other members of the Green and Drawdy families in cemetery at Union Church.
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February 17, 2013 at 8:45 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: Amanda Clements, Captain Levi J. Knight's Company, Elender Wetherington, Indian Wars, John Levi Lee, Moses C. Lee, Moses Corby Lee, Moses Lee
Moses C. Lee (1853-1926) was a outstanding farmer of Berrien County, GA
He was a son of John Levy Lee and nephew of Moses Corby Lee (1808-1884), both pioneer settlers and prominent land owners of old Berrien. His father and uncle were veterans of the Indian Wars of 1838 and fought with Levi J. Knight’s Militia Company in the last Indian fight in Berrien County, GA. His mother was Elender Wetherington (1813-1889).
Born July 12, 1853, Moses C. Lee (1853-1926) was sometimes referred to as M.C. Lee, Jr. to distinguish him from his uncle. Moses C. Lee, the subject, first appears at age six in Census records in the 1860 enumeration of his father’s household in Berrien County, GA. His father’s real estate was valued at 3500 and personal estate at $3800.
On November 1879, Moses C. Lee married Amanda Clements in Berrien County, GA. The newlyweds made their home in a house on the farm of Moses’ father, John Levi Lee, where they were enumerated in the Census of 1880.
After the death of his father, John Levy Lee, in 1884, Moses Lee carried on working his Berrien County farm. Moses Lee’s residence was known as “Stoney Hill,” according to William Green Avera. The Lee place was situated on the road “from Milltown to Tyson Ferry on the Alapaha River just east of the present site of Alapaha.” This road passed the residences of John Studstill, first Sheriff of Berrien County; Judge J. H. Rowan; and, Keefe and Bullocks Turpentine Still.
By 1896 Moses Lee was recognized as one of the leading farmers in this section.
Tifton Gazette, March 7, 1896 praises the work of Berrien County, GA farmer Moses Lee.
Well, I have the results of what Mr. Mose Lee, has stored away, for another specimen of what can be obtained in the wiregrass region. Will take corn first. On his farm he housed between 1500 and 2,000 bushels of “little cob” corn, and some where near 11,000 pounds of well cured fodder. He dug and housed 12,000 bushels of sweet potatoes, and left enough in the patch to fatten 100 head of hogs. Cotton! cotton! He raised nineteen bales of cotton, averaging four hundred pounds each, which amounts to 7,600 pounds, and has jugged and barreled 750 gallons of syrup, of the finest that can be made. He killed enough porkers to amount to 12,000 pounds and from them he obtained about 1,650 pounds of lard. Hay he housed enough to winter 50 or 60 head of cows, beside old “Buck”. As it was a bad year for oats and rice he only housed about 5,000 bundles of oats and 80 or 100 bushels of rice.
He has enlarged his farm this year, by adding 40 acres of new land. He is only going to use ten tons of guano this year.
We hear some folks crying hard times, but all they have to do is to work with energy and vote for Hammond. If anyone thinks that I have exagerated in stating the above facts, I can only refer them to Mr. Lee, Milltown, Ga.
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November 19, 2012 at 12:59 am (Register Family)
Tags: Levi J. Knight, Ray City GA, Thomasville GA, Troupville GA, Moses C. Lee, Samuel E. Register, Alapaha River, Indian Wars, Battle of Brushy Creek, Stockton Georgia, William Parker, Zachariah Lee, patten, William Patten, War of 1812, John Tomlinson, Young Johnson, James B. Johnson, Seminole Indian Wars, Appling County GA, Guilford Register, Thomas Mathis, Seminoles, Bulloch County GA, Phoebe Register, Jesse Shelby Shaw, Dock Shaw, Joseph Henry Pascal Johnson, Atlantic & Gulf Railroad, Samuel Register, Possum Branch, Dorcas Register, John Register, Elizabeth Skinner, Lowndes, Dade Massacre, Francis Langhorn Dade, Battle of San Felasco Hammock, Fort Gilleland, Newnansville FL, John Jumper, Jacksonville Road, Bellamy Road, David Register, John J. Johnson, Samuel Register Jr, East Florida Volunteer Militia, Savannah Albany & Gulf Railroad, Screven GA, Registerville GA, Stockton GA, Zilpha Register, Eady Register, Priscilla Ann DeVane, Matilda McDaniel, Seaborn Lastinger, Martha Register, Hillery P. Mathis, Reubin Register, Harriet Brown, Elizabeth Register, Josephine Guthrie, Mary Hutto, Seneth Lee, Ivy Register, Leta Lee, Lavinia Arnold, Jincy Register, Hillery Cowart, Rebecca Register, Mary Ann Fiveash, Elizabeth Cowart, Luraney Harnage, William Register, Clay's Landing, Thomas J. Jessup, William J. Mills, W. Wall
According to Folks Huxford, Samuel Register came from Appling County to Lowndes County about 1826 and settled in the 10th Land District near Possum Branch, not too far from the homestead of Levi J. Knight and the future site of Ray City, GA. Samuel Register’s place later became the farm of Jesse Shelby “Dock” Shaw.
Samuel Register was born in Sampson County, North Carolina on December 1, 1786, almost three years before that state would ratify the U.S. Constitution. He was a son of Dorcas and John Register.
Some time before 1804 Samuel Register came with his family to Bulloch County, GA where he apparently made his home for some 20 years, although there is no records to show that he ever owned land there. In April of 1806 he married Elizabeth Skinner, a native of South Carolina.
When the U.S. went to war with Britain from 1812-1815 in response to British actions against American expansion and trade, it appears that Samuel Register, like other Wiregrass pioneers (see Dryden Newbern) joined the Georgia Militia. In the War of 1812 the Georgia Militia was occupied with three main theaters of operation: the Creek War of 1813-14, the British blockade, and the British occupation of St. Marys and Cumberland Island in 1814-15. British control of St. Marys, GA would have disturbed the economy of the entire Wiregrass region, interrupting trade on the Alachua Trail which ran from the Altamaha River through Centerville, GA, then across the St. Marys River and into East Florida. The resistance of the Georgia Militia against the British incursions is described in the New Georgia Encyclopedia article on the War of 1812.
After the War of 1812, Samuel and Elizabeth remained in Bulloch county until about 1824 when they moved to Appling County, and then on to Lowndes county in 1826. In 1827, Samuel Register received a draw in the land lotteries for his service as a soldier in the War of 1812.
The land lotteries, legitimized by questionable and coercive treaties, continued the encroachment by settlers on the ancestral lands of Native Americans in Georgia, inevitably leading to conflict. In Florida, hostilities were greatly escalated in December 1835 by the Dade Massacre, where Seminole Indians resisting forced removal to the West wiped out a force of 110 regular army troops under the command of Major Francis Langhorn Dade. When conflict between the Wiregrass pioneers and the resistant Indians erupted in 1836, local militia fought engagements in Berrien county.
In the summer of 1836, a company of militia under Capt. Levi J. Knight of near Ray City was sent to protect the settlers from marauding Indians on their way to join the Seminoles in Florida. When a party of Indians plundered the plantation of William Parker, near Milltown, the militia pursued them N. E. across the county overtaking them near Gaskins Pond not far from the Alapaha River. Several were killed and some injured as the Indians fled across the river. A few days later the militia encountered more Indians at Brushy Creek and ran them off. That was the last real battle with the Indians in this section.
Across the state line in Florida, actions against Indians were being fought by militia on a regular basis. The Battle of San Felasco Hammock was fought September 18, 1836, when a force of 25 US Army Regulars and 100 horse-mounted militia from Fort Gilleland, with 25 armed residents of Newnansville, FL engaged and routed about 300 Indians led by Seminole Chief John Jumper. Fort Gilliland, a picketed fortification located south of the Santa Fe River at Newnansville in present day Alachua County, FL, was one of a string of forts stretching from Jacksonville, FL to Clay’s Landing, at the mouth of the Suwanee River. Newnansville, the largest inland town in East Florida, was strategically located at the junction of the Jacksonville road and the Bellamy Road which ran from St. Augustine west to Tallahassee and Pensacola. Newnansville was about about 80 miles southeast of Troupville, in Lowndes County, GA.
In the spring of 1837 militia troops from Lowndes county were sent across the state line to join the forces at Fort Gilleland:
Jacksonville Courier
Jacksonville, May 11, 1837
—Extract of a letter from Col. Mills, to the Editor, dated Fort Gilliland, May 8.
“Major Staniford, with two companies of the 2d Infantry, arrived here yesterday in obedience to orders from Maj. Gen. Jesup, from Lowndes county, Georgia, and are here encamped, awaiting orders.”
The following summer, in 1837, Samuel Register and other Lowndes county men went south to join the East Florida Volunteer militia to fight against the Indians on the Florida frontier. According to the records of the Florida Department of Military Affairs, Register traveled first to Fort Palmetto, on the Suwanee River at Fanning Springs, FL.
Samuel Register and his sons, David and John, served with “Captain John J. Johnson’s Company of the 2nd Regiment, East Florida Mounted Volunteers, commanded by Colonel William J. Mills, ordered into the service of the United States by Major General Thomas J. Jessup under the Act of Congress approved May 23d 1836, for six months from the 16th day of June 1837 to the 18th day of December 1837. Company enrolled at Fort Palmetto, Florida, and marched sixty miles to place of rendezvous at Fort Gilliland, Fla. Company mustered in by Lieutenant W. Wall, 3d Artillery.”
His son-in-law, John Tomlinson, and two other Registers in this same service and company: Samuel Register Jr and John Register, Jr.. Seaborn Lastinger, of Lowndes County, served as a private; he would be shot for desertion during the Civil War. James B. Johnson and Young Johnson , grand uncles of JHP Johnson of Ray City, served in the Florida Drafted Mounted Militia.
Muster Roll of East Florida Volunteers
http://archive.org/stream/floridamilitiamu05morr#page/n71/mode/1up
Muster Roll of Captain John J. Johnson’s Mounted Company of the 2d Regiment of East Florida Volunteers, 2d Brigade of Florida Militia, Commanded by Colonel William J. Mills.
http://archive.org/stream/floridamilitiamu05morr#page/n72/mode/1up
Muster Roll of Captain John J. Johnson’s Mounted Company of the 2d Regiment of East Florida Volunteers, 2d Brigade of Florida Militia, Commanded by Colonel William J. Mills.
Samuel Register was honorably discharged at Newnansville in December, 1837. He subsequently “served another enlistment in the Indian War under the same Capt Johnson (April 1, 1838-July 31, 1838). He also served a third term under this same Capt Johnson in the Georgia mounted Militia (Aug 25, 1840-Oct 18, 1840). On his Bounty Land application dated Nov 23, 1850, he was granted 160 acres of land for this service. His son-in-law John Tomlinson (husband of Zilpha) who served in the same military unit was granted 80 acres of land for his services”
Between 1840 and 1842, Samuel Register sold out his home-place in the 10th District, and moved from Possum Branch to the 11th Land District where he acquired Land Lot 500. This lot was in that part of Lowndes county that was cut into the new county of Clinch in 1850, and in 1920 was cut out of Clinch into Lanier County.
In 1856, it was a great boon to Register when the Atlantic & Gulf railroad was charted to run from a connection with the Savannah, Albany & Gulf railroad at Screven, by way of his land to Thomasville. But when the surveyors for the new railroad selected a route through Valdosta bypassing Troupville, that old town was doomed. Register had a portion of Lot 500 platted into town lots and founded the town of “Registerville.” Although when the railroad people came through, they changed the name to “Stockton”, in honor of one of their contractors, a Mr. Stockton, who had charge of the road construction.
Children of Samuel Register and Elizabeth Skinner:
- Zilpha Register, born Feb. 4, 1807, married her first cousin John Tomlinson.
- Eady (Edith) Register, born Mar. 1, 1809, married Thomas Mathis Nov. 1, 1826 in Lowndes County.
- Guilford Register, born Jan. 7, 1811, married Priscilla Ann DeVane.
- David Register, born Apr. 10, 1813, married Matilda McDaniel of Bulloch County.
- William Register, born Sept. 24, 1814, married Luraney Harnage from Liberty County.
- John Register, born June 10, 1819, married 1st Elizabeth Cowart, 2nd.Mary Ann Fiveash.
- Rebecca Register, born Apr. 5, 1821, married Reverend Hillery Cowart of Echols County.
- Phoebe Register, born Aug. 15, 1823, married Zachariah Lee of Clinch County.
- Jincy Register, born June 15, 1824, married Moses C. Lee of Berrien County.
- Ivy Register, born Apr. 22, 1825, married 1st Leta Lee, married 2nd Lavinia Arnold
- Samuel E. Register, born Sept. 16, 1826, married 1st Seneth Lee, married 2nd Mary Hutto, married 3rd Josephine Guthrie, lived in Berrien County.
- Elizabeth Register, born Aug. 21, 1828, married William Patten of present Lanier County.
- Reubin Register, born Nov. 25, 1830, married Harriet Brown, lived in present Berrien co.
- Martha Register, born Dec. 18, 1831, married Hillery P. Mathis of present Lanier co.
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March 11, 2012 at 12:23 am (Gardner Family, Johnson Family)
Tags: Celeta Gardner, Charles Leon Bryan, Chloe Ann Folsom, Chloe Gardner, David H. Stewart, Dupont GA, Elroy Langdale, Emma Gardner, Floyd B. Johnson, Hamilton County FL, Indian Wars, J. D. Langdale, Jennie Gardner, Joseph Flournoy Gardner, Joseph Henry Pascal Johnson, Joseph Wallace Johnson, Lawton Walker Johnson, Martha Ann McCall, Martha Leona Gardner, Mary Gardner, Mildred Lee Johnson, Nashville GA, Pennywell Folsom, Ponce de Leon Gardner, Ray City GA, Rowan Glenn Johnson
Chloe Ann Gardner Johnson
Chloe Ann Gardner Johnson and her husband, Joseph Henry Pascal Johnson, were residents of Ray City, GA for more than 40 years. They were well known in the community and operated businesses in Ray City and Nashville.
Chloe Ann Gardner and Joseph Henry Pascal Johnson on their wedding day, December 17, 1899. They were married at the Methodist Church in DuPont, GA. Image courtesy of Julie Hutson.
Chloe Ann Gardner was born November 11, 1879, a daughter of Martha Ann McCall and Joseph Flournoy Gardner. She was named after her grandmother, Chloe Ann Folsom. Her great grandfather, Pennywell Folsom fell at Brushy Creek during the Indian War of 1836.
Chloe’s father, Joseph Flournoy Gardner (1856-1947), was from Alabama. As a young man he moved to Bartow in Hamilton County, FL. This community, now lost, was perhaps about 50 miles south of Ray’s Mill, GA. There, he married Chloe’s mother, Martha Ann McCall (1856-1932).
Chloe grew up in Hamilton County, FL. Some time before 1900 her parents had moved farther south to central Florida. In 1899, Chloe married Joseph Henry Pascal “Joe” Johnson of DuPont, GA. They were married in the Methodist Church in Dupont.
Chloe Ann Gardner Johnson with her children, parents and siblings, circa 1909. Left to right, top row: sisters Emma Gardner Langdale, Celeta Gardner, Jennie Gardner. Middle row: Elroy Langdale with son J. D. Langdale, Joseph Flourney Gardner, Ponce de Leon Gardner, Martha Ann McCall Gardner, Chloe Ann Gardner Johnson with son Lawton Johnson. Front row: Martha Leona Gardner, Charles “Charlie” Leon Bryan, Chloe’s children – Floyd B. Johnson, Rowan Glenn Johnson, Mildred “Dish” Lee Johnson, Joseph Wallace Johnson. Then David H Stewart, his son Elton Stewart, and Mary Gardner Stewart. Image courtesy of Julie Hutson.
For several years, the Johnsons, JHP and Chloe, made their home in Dupont, but some time before 1918 moved to Ray City, GA where they remained for the rest of their lives.
50th wedding anniversary of Chloe Ann Gardner and Joseph Henry Pascal Johnson, 1949. Image courtesy of Julie Hutson.
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February 10, 2012 at 12:58 am (Law and Order)
Tags: Augustin H. Hansell, Augustin Harris Hansell, General J. W. S. Sanford, Indian Wars, James Watt, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Mason, Sallie Hansell
Judge Hansell.
Judge Augustin Harris Hansell, who for 50 years heard the legal matters, criminal and civil, of Berrien county and the Wiregrass region, died on February 10, 1907. A notable Ray City case was the trial of J. T. Biggles, who shot his brother-in-law in 1887 then fled the county for 12 years before his arrest.
The Atlanta Constitution
Feb 11, 1907 Page 1
DEATH CLAIMS JUDGE HANSELL
Distinguished Georgia Jurist Passes Away at Thomasville.
OLDEST MASON IN STATE
Funeral Will Take Place Today at Thomasville and Six Grandsons Will Act as the Pallbearers. Judge Hansell Eighty-Nine Years Old.
Thomasville, Ga., February 10. – (Special.) – Judge Augustus H. Hansell died today at half past 1 o’clock at his home here. The immediate cause of his death was a fracture of the hip bone, caused by a fall ten days ago.
He was born in Milledgeville in 1817, and was 89 years old at the time of his death. He was the oldest Mason in the state having joined in 1838 at Milledgeville, and the Masonic lodges of Thomas county will all attend his funeral at the Presbyterian church tomorrow at 3 o’clock. Six of his grandsons will act as pall bearers.
Judge Hansell was admitted to the bar in 1838. He was elected solicitor general of the southern circuit by the legislature of 1847, and judged of the same circuit in 1849. He served as judge until January 1, 1903, with the exception of six years from 1853 to 1859, when he refused to serve. He was removed by reconstruction in 1865, but was reelected in 1873, and served continuously until 1903. He was a member of the secession convention in 1861 and of the constitutional convention in 1877. He served in the Indian War when but 18 years of age on the staff of General Safford, of Milledgeville. He did not serve in the confederate war on account of his position as judge, but was on the relief committee, which was sent to Atlanta during the siege to relieve sick and wounded.
He joined the Presbyterian church in 1837. He came to Thomasville in 1852, and was a charter member and elder in the church here since 1854.
In 1840 he was married to Miss Annie B. Paine, of Milledgeville, who died six months ago.
He leaves five children, C. P. Hansell, judge of the city court of Thomasville and assistant secretary of the senate; Mrs. James Watt, Miss Sallie Hansell of Thomasville; Mrs. B. L. Baker and Mrs. J. S. Denham, of Monticello, Fla.
The stores of the town will close during the funeral hours tomorrow.
Augustin Harris Hansell is buried in the Soldiers Circle plot at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Thomasville, Thomas County, GA.
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February 7, 2012 at 12:06 am (Knight Family, Sirmans Family, Uncategorized)
Tags: Anne Donald Clements, Annie B. Sirmans, Berrien County GA, Berrien Superior Court, Butler Lodge No 211, Captain Levi J. Knight's Company, Christiana Sirmans, Clara Sirmans, Dick McGowan, Elizabeth Knight, Empire Church, Hardeman Sirmans, Indian Wars, Jay Sirmans, Jonathan D. Sirmans, Jonathan Sirmans, Joseph O Sirmans, Josphine Knight, Levi J. Knight, Levi Winfield Sirmans, Lott W. Sirmans, Lowndes County GA, Martha Elizabeth Sirmans, Martha Patsy Rouse, Mason, Milltown Georgia, Nancy Elizabeth Clements, Nancy R. Clements, Populist Party, Ray City GA, Richard McGowan, Sarah Malissa Sirmans, Swindle, Thomas Hardeman Sirmans, Valeria Sirmans
Hardeman Sirmans and Elizabeth Knight
Hardeman Sirmans and Elizabeth Knight , Berrien County, GA
Ray City History
Hardeman Sirmans (1821 – 1896) Elizabeth Knight (1830 – 1912)
Hardeman Sirmans was born October 25, 1821 in Appling County, Georgia, the son of Jonathan Sirmans and Martha “Patsy” Rouse.
During the Indian War in 1838-39 Hardeman Sirmans and his father served as privates under Captain Levi J. Knight (later General Knight) in the Lowndes County militia. They both appear on the 1838 Muster Roll of Captain Knight’s Independent Company.
In 1847 Hardeman married Elizabeth Knight, daughter of General Levi J. Knight and Ann D. Herrin. She was born in 1830.
According to Folks Huxford,
“Mr. Sirmans served in the Indian War as a private in a volunteer company of Lowndes County militia commanded by his father-in-law, Capt. (afterwards General) Levi J. Knight, August 15th to Oct 15 1838. He was 1st Lieutenant of the 664th militia district, Lowndes County, 1845-46, then served as Captain in same district 1847-1851. For nearly twenty years Mr. Sirmans was a member of the Masonic order, receiving his degrees in Butler Lodge, No. 211, F. & A.M. at old Milltown (now Lakeland) in 1858. He withdrew and was granted a demit Dec. 8 1877, on account of his church’s attitude toward secret orders. He united in 1877 with Empire Primitive Baptist Church and was baptized. On Jan. 21, 1888 he withdrew from the church, but was restored Nov. 21, 1888. On Nov. 26, 1892, charges were preferred against him in his church for voting the Populist ticket in the preceding General Election; however, the church minutes state he ‘satisfied’ the church, Dec. 24, 1892, and the charges were dropped. He remained a member until his death Sept. 21, 1896. His children seemed to have disagreed over the division of his estate, and it was finally divided by arbitration in Berrien Superior Court, March 8, 1897. Mrs. Sirmans died Sept. 6, 1912, and was buried by her husband in the cemetery at Empire Church.”
Before the Civil War, Hardeman Sirmans was a slave owner. One of his slaves was Richard McGowan. For a time after the war, Richard McGowan continued to live on the Sirmans farm, working as a farm laborer.
Children of Elizabeth Knight and Hardeman Sirmans:
- Levi Winfield Sirmans 1848 – married Nancy R. Clements
- Jonathan D Sirmans 1850 – 1926 married Nancy Elizabeth Clements
- Sarah Malissa Sirmans 1852 – 1898
- Lott W. Sirmans 1854 – 1898 married Josephine Knight
- Thomas Hardyman Sirmans 1860 – 1931
- Martha Elizabeth Sirmans 1862 – 1935 married Joe S. Clements
- Joseph O Sirmans 1862 – 1848 married Olive Pearl Matheny
- Jay Sirmans 1864 – 1916 married Rachel Allifar Smith
- Clara Sirmans 1868 – 1928 married Frank Gallagher
- Christiana Sirmans 1869 – 1943 married Joseph Bartow Gaskins
- Annie B. Sirmans 1872 – 1963 married John Chilton Matheny
- Valeria Sirmans 1874 – 1961 married James Isaac Lee
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January 26, 2012 at 5:43 am (Battle of Brushy Creek, Uncategorized)
Tags: Alachua Trail, Artie Hardeman, Axson Georgia, Beaver Dam Creek, Berrien County GA, Betsey Newbern, Blackshear GA, Cassie Newbern, Center Village Georgia, Centerville GA, Charles A. Griffis, Clinch County GA, Dred Newbern, Elizabeth Sirmans, Etheldred Dryden Newbern, Five Mile Creek, George N. Sutton, George Peterson, George W. Newbern, Indian Lake, Indian Wars, Jack Lee, James Sweat, John Fender, John Newbern, John Sweat, Josiah Sirmans, Kizzie Collins, Knights Independent Militia Company, Levi J. Knight, Lucretia Newbern, Martin Nettles, Nancy Christian, Ray City GA, Short-arm Bill Parker, St. Mary's River, St. Marys Georgia, Thomas Newbern, Thomas Newbern R.S., War of 1812, Ware County GA, William C. Newbern, William Parker
Etheldred Dryden Newbern was a pioneer settler of Berrien County and a noted participant in the last Indian encounters in Berrien County (see Martha Guthrie: Babe of the Indian Wars).
Monument for Etheldred Dryden Newbern, buried at Wayfare Church Cemetery near Statenville, GA. Newbern was one of the pioneer settlers of Berrien County.
The Newbern’s homestead was located on the east bank of Five Mile Creek, perhaps about eight miles northeast of Ray City. This was probably somewhere in the present day vicinity of the Highway 168 bridge over Five Mile Creek.
The Newberns were the nearest neighbors of Short-arm Billy Parker. The Parker place was located a few miles further to the east, at a spring on the Alapaha River. When marauding Indians came by the Parker place in 1836, Mrs. Parker and her daughters fled to the Newberns:
…the women ran through the field , a back way, a distance of five miles to the home of Dread Newborn.
Arriving there she related what she had seen, as fast as her fright and exhaustion would allow, for she had run every step of the way, and she was almost overcome with heat and fatigue. On learning this Mr. Newbern realized that the cause of their own experiences of the night before when the horses had become greatly frightened, snorting and breaking out of the horse lot and coming back the next morning. It was supposed that they had become frightened at the sight of the Indians who were prowling around the neighborhood to steal.
A company of men soon collected together, under the command of George Peterson, Dread Newborn, William Parker, and others. The Indians were overtaken at the Allapaha river and three were killed, others made their escape but were overtaken at the St. Illa river, at what is now known as Indian Lake, about two miles northeast of the town of Axson, Ga. They were all shot and killed, except one squaw; it was reported that she was captured and shot. Dread Newborn, the son of Dread Newborn, who followed the Indians, informs me that the Indian woman was kept in prison for a while and then by direction of the government was returned to her own people.
Etheldred Dryden Newbern, called Dryden or Dred by some, was born 1794 in South Carolina. He was the eldest son of Thomas Newbern. Folks Huxford said the name of Dryden’s mother was not known, but some Internet genealogies indicate she was Nancy Christian. Dryden’s grandfather, also called Thomas Newbern, was a revolutionary soldier.
About 1798 Dryden’s father, Thomas Newbern, brought the family from South Carolina to Georgia, Thomas Newbern served as a lieutenant and captain in the Bulloch County militia.
Dryden’s mother died about 1803 when he was a boy, probably nine or ten years of age. His father, a widower with seven young children, quickly remarried and Dryden was raised into manhood by his stepmother, Kizzie Collins. Some time prior to 1815, Thomas Newbern moved the family to Tatnall County, where he was elected Justice of the Peace.
It is said that Dryden Newbern served in the War of 1812, although no documentation is known to exist other than the testimony of his son, Dred Newbern. Dryden would have been 18 years old at the time the war broke out, and considering the military legacy of his father and grandfather, his service in the Georgia Militia seems reasonable. In 1814, the British forces occupied St. Marys, GA, which would have disrupted the economy of the entire region. The British occupation certainly interrupted trade on the Alachua Trail which ran from the Altamaha River through Centerville, GA, then across the St. Marys River and into East Florida. The resistance of the Georgia Militia against the British and St. Marys and other coastal Georgia incursions is described in the New Georgia Encyclopedia article on the War of 1812.
About 1823, Thomas Newbern relocated the family again, this time moving to Appling County and homesteading on a site about five miles northwest of present day Blackshear, GA. Dryden Newbern, now a man of 29, apparently came along with his father to Appling county for there, in 1823, Dryden married. His bride was Elizabeth “Betsy” Sirmans, a daughter of Artie Hardeman and Josiah Sirmans, Sr. Of her father, Huxford wrote, “According to the best available information, the first permanent white settlers in what is now Clinch County were Josiah Sirmans, Sr., and his family.”
About Dryden’s father, Huxford’s History of Clinch County relates the following:
OF the Clinch County Newberns, Thomas Newbern was the progenitor. This old pioneer came to this section from South Carolina and settled in what is now Ware County, about 1820. He was married twice. By his first marriage he had three children, viz. : John, William C, and Dryden Newbern. By his second marriage he had five children, viz. : George W. Newbern ; Cassie, who first married Martin Nettles and later Chas. A. Griffis; Lucretia, who married Jack Lee ; also a daughter who married James Sweat, and one who married John Sweat. Thomas Newbern was a prominent citizen of his time. He was elected surveyor of Ware County and commissioned February nth, 1828. Two years later he was elected a justice of the Inferior Court of Ware County, to which he was commissioned April 28th, 1830. He was also commissioned justice of the peace of the 451 district of Ware County, April 3d, 1833. He is the fore-father of many of Clinch’s prominent citizens.
After their marriage in 1823, it appear that Betsy and Dryden Newbern for a time made their home in Appling County, near the homestead of Dryden’s parents. In 1825, their farms were cut into Ware County into the 584th Georgia Militia District. From 1825 to 1827 Dryden Newbern served as the First Lieutenant of the militia in the 584th district.
About 1828, Betsy and Dryden moved their young family to Lowndes County (now Berrien) to a site on Five Mile Creek. They established a homestead about seven or eight miles northeast of the home of Levi J. Knight, who had settled a few years earlier on Beaver Dam Creek at the site of present day Ray City, GA. In Lowndes County, Dryden was elected First Lieutenant of the militia in the 664th district. Levi J. Knight was the Justice of the Peace in this district.
At that time the land was still unsettled , and the Native Americans who had occupied the territory for so long in advance of white settlers where being driven out of their ancestral lands. As Wiregrass historian Montgomery Folsom said, ” The Indians were goaded into madness.” When open conflict with the Indians emerged in 1836, Dryden Newbern was one of the first responders in the area. Sending out the alarm when the Parker place on the Alapaha River was raided, he was among the leaders in the skirmish that routed the Indians (see Short-Arm Bill Parker and the Last Indian Fight In Berrien County). In the Indian Wars, Ethedred Dryden Newbern served as a private in Captain Levi J. Knights Independent Militia Company.
Huxford says the land on Five Mile Creek where Betsy and Dryden Newbern established their Berrien County homestead later became the property of John Fender. The Newberns acquired land a few miles to the east and moved there, making a home on the west side of the Alapaha River. Then about 1865 they sold this property, which later came into the hands of George N. Sutton, and moved east to Clinch County. They purchased Lot 256 in the 10th Land District and made their home there for several years. When their youngest daughter and her husband, Sarah “Sallie” Newbern and William Franklin Kirkland moved to Echols County, the elderly Newberns moved with them. In Echols county, the Newberns purchased land and a herd of cattle; the late 1860s and early 187os were a time of expansion in Georgia livestock production.
In 1874 Etheldred Dryden Newbern suffered a “rupture” and died. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Wayfare Church, Echols county, GA. A monument has been placed in the cemetery in his memory.
Children of Etheldred Dryden Newbern and Elizabeth “Betsy” Sirmans:
- Benjamin Newbern (1825-1895) married Nancy Griffin, daughter of Noah H. Griffin.
- Rachel Newbern (1826-) married Ashley Winn and moved to Florida.
- Thomas “Tom” Newbern (1828-1877) married Elizabeth Moore, daughter of John Moore.
- Caroline Newbern (1829-1891) married Edward Morris.
- Joseph Newbern (1834 – ) married Emily Gaskins, daughter of John Gaskins.
- Martha Newbern (1836-1925) married Samuel Guthrie.
- John Ashley Newbern (1839-) married Mrs. Sarah Ann Sirmans Gaskins, widow of John Elam Gaskins. Killed in the Civil War.
- Etheldred Dred Newbern (1844-1933) married Wealthy Corbitt, daughter of Elisha Corbitt.
- Berrien A. Newbern (1845-1863) never married. Killed in the Civil War.
- Sarah “Sallie” Newbern (1848-1921) married William Franklin Kirkland.
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January 5, 2012 at 12:29 am (Battle of Brushy Creek, Folsom Family, Uncategorized)
Tags: Anna America Folsom, Anna Jane Folsom, Ashley Lawson, Bartow Ferrell, Battle of Brushy Creek, Berrien County GA, Bryant P. Folsom, Chloe Ann Folsom, Coffee Road, Edieth Folsom, Edwin Shanks, Emily Folsom, Enocb Hall, Folsom Bridge, George Folsom, Hamilton Sharpe, Indian Wars, Isham Jordan, John McDermott, Kenneth Swain, Levi J. Knight, Lucuian Lamar Knight, Mary Ann McLeod, Montgomery M. Folsom, Morrison Fort, Norman Campbell, Orville Shanks, Pennywell Folsom, Penuel Folsom, Rachel Morrison, Ray City GA, Robert N. Parrish, Rountree Bridge, Rountree Cemetery, Skirmish at Cow Creek, Weston Rountree, William Folsom, William Parker
Penuel Folsom, the first soldier killed in the Battle of Brushy Creek, was buried in what is now known as the Rountree Cemetery, his being the first grave in it. – Lucian Lamar Knight
Grave marker of Pennywell Folsom, Rountree Cemetery (aka Evergreen Cemetery), Cook County, GA
Pennywell Folsom fell in the first volley fired in the Battle of Brushy Creek, fought in July, 1836. After the fighting was over, Captain Hamilton Sharpe carried Folsom from the battlefield on horseback, but the mortally wounded soldier could not long survive. Folsom was carried back to the fort at the Rachel Morrison place (now the property of the Rountree family) near the Little River, where he was buried in a lone grave. Sharpe’s Company fired a volley of gunfire over the grave in salute to their fallen comrade. As that final tribute sounded through the forest, Captain Levi J. Knight and his company of men arrived on the scene. (Levi J. Knight was the original settler on the site of present day Ray City, GA.) Knight’s company had marched 30 miles from the Alapaha River where they had skirmished with Indians at the homeplace of William Parker (see Short-Arm Bill Parker and the Last Indian Fight In Berrien County.)
Fifty years after the event, Montgomery M. Folsom reflected on the death of his kinsman:
The Atlanta Constitution
June 24, 1885 Pg 2
Down the River
The Folsom bridge, a noted crossing place, spans the [Little] river here. In the olden time a party of road cutters under the command of General Coffee passed through south Georgia from east to west. At this point they crossed the river. If you were to ask the old settlers they would show you the blazes on the pine trees that were made long ago. This road was a great thoroughfare and many a hardy settler has packed his traps in a cart drawn by a tough pony, and driving his flocks and herds before him has traversed the lonely pine barrens in search of a more generous soil and greener pastures. The hunters of Coffee’s party were Isham Jordan and Kenneth Swain. The song that was made by the hardy pioneers has been given to posterity as follows:
“Yonder comes ole Isham Jordan,
That ole ‘onest huntin’ man.
Glorious tidin’s he doth bring,
Swain has kilt another turkey hent.
We’ll allow the New Convention;
We’ll all allow the rights of men;
We’ll allay the Injun nation;
The volunteers and the drafted men.”
About a mile and a half from the bridge, eastward, the ancestor of the Folsom’s settled. It had been a populous Indian town, and there are in existence to day, a tomahawk, a sofka pestle, a small cannon ball, and innumerable arrow-heads and skinning knifes of flint that were found there. The old gentleman had erected a strong block house, and when there was an alarm of Indians, the women and children were carried there, and the old men and boys left to defend them while the ablebodied once sallied forth to meet the foe. From this fort they marched forth to the bloody encounter at Brushy creek. The Indians had been goaded to madness. They were concealed in the dark swamp, and awaited in silence the approach of the whites. Penuel Folsom had made his will before leaving home, and when the soldiers were all drawn up at a safe distance from the enemy, and the scouts were cautiously advancing, he and Orville Shanks dashed forward with a yell and received the fire of a dozen unerring rifles. Shanks fell dead, and Folsom desperately wounded, was carried from the field, after the battle was over, behind Captain Sharpe who rode a powerful horse. When they halted he was laid down on the green grass and breathed his last. Some years ago I visited his grave in a lonely spot in the heart of one of the gloomiest forests of Berrien county. – Montgomery M. Folsom
There is a more detailed account of the Battle of Brushy Creek given at the Early History of Lowndes County and Valdosta , Georgia website:
Levi J. Knight described the fight to the governor, who later commended Knight and his comrades for their bravery. Knight wrote that both Enoch Hall and Hamilton Sharpe were in charge of companies of militia. In the course of tracking the Indians through Lowndes, fifteen men commanded by Captain Sharpe formed a battalion with thirty-one men from Thomas County after they discovered Indians in the fork of the Little River and Big Warrior Creek. Following the trail for three miles down the east side of the river, Sharpe and his soldiers encountered about sixty warriors and their families. In the ensuing fight, Captain Sharpe lost one man, Mr. P. Folsom, and one wounded, when he was forced to retreat. Reinforced by the remainder of the battalion, the Lowndes men pursued the Indians for another three miles and found them on a pine ridge, their rear protected by a cypress pond, and in their front a wide, open, boggy meadow. A general engagement commended about 9 o’clock a. m. and after a severe fight for two hours, the Indians were completely routed, with a loss of twenty-two Indians and two Negroes killed, that were seen, and many wounded. Of the militia, Bartow Ferrell of Thomas County and Edwin D. Shanks of Lowndes County were killed and nine wounded.
Norman Campbell, John McDermott, Robert N. Parrish, Pennywell Folsom, Ashley Lawson, Edwin D. Shanks, West Roundtree and others were among those going to the battle from around Troupville.
Knight’s Company and other militia units would continue to pursue the Indians across Berrien county. A few weeks later, the militia caught up with an Indian band in southeast Berrien county at a place called Cow Creek.
THE ROUNTREE CEMETERY
Pennywell Folsom no longer lies alone in deep Georgia woods. Around his grave, the Rountrees placed their own dead, until this burying ground became known as the Rountree Cemetery. This cemetery is located in present day Cook county , on Evergreen Church Road (CR 99), near the intersection with Rountree Bridge Road (CR 251) (see map). Around 1945, the present Evergreen Church was constructed adjacent to Rountree Cemetery, the original church building located on Rountree Bridge Road having been destroyed by fire.
Notes on Pennywell Folsom:
Pennywell Folsom was born in 1810 in Hawkinsville, GA. He was a son of Edith Pennywell and George Folsom. His father served during the War of 1812 in the Georgia Militia under Captain Allen Tooke builing forts on the frontier of Pulaski County to defend against Indian attacks.
When Pennywell was about 10 years old, around 1919, his father died. Pennywell became a ward of his uncle William Folsom and moved to Lowndes County (then Irwin County.)
According to Internet histories, Pennywell Folsum married Mary Ann McLeod about 1827. Their children were:
- Anna Jane Folsom 1828 – 1830
- Chloe Ann Folsom 1830 – 1906
- Bryant P. Folsom 1832 – 1864
- Anna America Folsom 1833 – 1912
- Edieth Folsom 1833 – 1907
- Emily Folsom 1835 – 1908
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January 3, 2012 at 12:27 am (Battle of Brushy Creek, Uncategorized)
Tags: Alex Campbell, Battle of Brushy Creek, George Mitchell, Hamilton Sharpe, Indian Wars, John Delk, Magnolia Florida, Morven Georgia, Norman Campbell, Norman Campbell Jr, Phillip Hiers, Reverend John Hendry, Richard Scruggs, Robert Ousley, Sharpe's Store, Troupville GA, Zion Camp Ground
Norman Campbell, Wiregrass Pioneer, participated in the 1836 Battle of Brushy Creek, near present day Adel, GA.
Norman Campbell was a Wiregrass Pioneer who came to south Georgia with his family in 1829. His parents had come to America from Scotland in 1788, the same year the U. S. Constitution went into effect.
Norman Campbell was the very first tax collector of Lowndes County, back when it included the present day counties of Berrien, Clinch, Lanier, Echols, Cook, and Brooks. Three times a year he made a circuit around the county, an eleven days ride, to collect the taxes.
At age 26, Campbell was among the troops who fought in the 1836 Battle of Brushy Creek, the last real Indian fight in the immediate vicinity. Some 65 years later, the Atlanta Constitution recounted Campbell’s role in the episode:
He also participated in the Indian fight here in July, 1836, when the Creek Indians passed through here in their attempt to reach the Seminoles in Florida. He tells of his encounter with were an Indian in that fight. It was a running skirmish through the woods and he became detached from his party. Suddenly his horse shied and he discovered an Indian behind a tree. The Indian attempted to shoot him, but the gun only snapped. Dismounting, he approached the Indian, slowly raising his gun to his shoulder. He said if the Indian had begged for his life he intended to spare him, but the man stood quite still, clinched [sic] his teeth and looked him in the eyes with no sign of surrender, so he shot him.
Norman Campbell came to the area about 1829 and first made his home in the area of Troupville, GA. He owned all of land lots #221 and #240, each consisting of 490 acres. That land was sold at auction to satisfy a debt in 1848:
Albany Patriot
July 15, 1848 pg 4
Lowndes Sheriff’s Sale.
On the first Tuesday in August next. Will be sold before the Court House door in the town of Troupville, Lowndes county, between the usual hours of sale, the following property to wit:
Also, 980 acres of land drawn by lots Nos. two hundred and twenty-one, (221,) two hundred and forty, (240,) all in the twelfth district, of originally Irwin now Lowndes county, levied on as the property of Norman Campbell to satisfy a fi fa from Lowndes Inferior Court, the Central Bank of Georgia vs Mary Graham maker, Dugald B. Graham, Norman Campbell and Moses Smith, adm’r., on the estatd [sic] of Ebenezer J. Perkins, Endorser.
A brief 1896 account of the early pioneers of Morven, GA remarked upon Norman Campbell’s early days in the county:
The Atlanta Constitution
May 25, 1896 Pg 3
GEORGIA PIONEERS: Morven Has a Number of Them in Her Borders
Morven, Ga., May 24. –(Special.)– There are some very old people in this district, among them being Mr. Norman Campbell, who came to this county in 1829. He was then a young man. Mr. Campbell is a full-blooded Scotchman. In 1846 he ran a wagon from Morven, then Sharp’s store to Magnolia, what was then a seaport town near the mouth of St. Marks river on the coast below Tallahassee, Fla. He hauled cotton down there and brought salt back. Cotton brought 3 to 4 cents per pound and salt brought in this county from $3 to $7 a sack, yet the people made some money and were contented. In this section are several other old men. Mr. George Mitchell is about eighty-six and so is John Delk. Mr. Mitchell came from Robeson county, North Carolina, and Mr. Delk from Liberty county, Georgia. Messrs. Campbell, Mitchell and Delk are the three oldest men in that section – all over eighty-five years old. Not very far behind these in age are Phillip Hiers, Rev. John Hendry and Richard Scruggs. Mr. George Mitchell gave Morven its name.
The 1902 article from the Atlanta Constitution gave a more complete account of Campbell’s life:
The Atlanta Constitution
October 13, 1902 Pg 3
PATRIARCH OF BROOKS MARRIED AT 63, NOW 92
Quitman, Ga., October 12. –(Special Correspondence.)– There are perhaps few more interesting characters in Brooks county than Norman Campbell. As the name indicates, he is of Scotch descent. His father and mother came to North America from the Isle of Skye in 1788, when they were children. He remembers that his grandmother could not speak a word of English and his parents invariably spoke Scotch with each other and their children spoke Scotch, Mr. Campbell not learning English until he was 8 years old. The Campbells came here in pioneer days from Telfair county. Mr. Campbell, who was born in 1910, is now 92 years old and has spent most of his life here and knows much of the early history of the country, and has played a part in all of it. He has now come down to a serene old age, as his picture shows.
These latter years he spends all of his time, winter and summer, when the weather is dry, under a giant chinaberry tree in front of his house.
It was here your correspondent found him one sunny afternoon recently in the very attitude of the picture. Mr. Campbell has lived in this house seventy-two years.
He was the only son of the family and he had seven sisters. He did not marry, and after his parents’ death took care of his sisters until they married and left him. Two of them died and he took their children and reared them. In time these nieces and nephews also grew up and left him, and at the age of 63 he found himself quite alone, so he decided to marry.
After three visits to Miss Wilkes, a young woman of 30 years, who lived in Berrien county, he asked her to marry him, and she did. When they got home they found a long table erected in front of the house with a wedding dinner on it, and everybody in the neighborhood present to welcome them. The couple had three children, and now there are three little grandchildren, all of them remarkably beautiful babies.
Naturally Mr. Campbell has a store of reminiscences. He was the first tax collector of the county when it included all fo the present Brooks, Berrien , Lowndes, Clinch and Echols counties. This was in 1836, and the taxes amounted to $332. He also participated in the Indian fight here in July, 1836, when the Creek Indians passed through here in their attempt to join the Seminoles in Florida. He tells of an encounter with an Indian in that fight. It was a running skirmish through the woods and he became detached from his party. Suddenly his horse shied and he discovered an Indian behind a tree. The Indian attempted to shoot him, but the gun only snapped. Dismounting, he approached the Indian, slowly raising his gun to his shoulder. He said if the Indian had begged for his life he intended to spare him, but the man stood quite still, clinched his teeth and looked him in the eyes with no sign of surrender, so he shot him. At that time this country, now so populous and cultivated, was virgin forests ans was overrun with bears and deer, ans well as Indians. In his hardy, outdoor life, Mr. Campbell contracted rheumatism when a very young man, and could not stand erect for several years. He heard of a doctor who gave steam baths for rheumatism, but being unable to go to him, he treated himself. He dug a pit and burned oak and hickory wood to coals - as for a barbecue. Over the pit he laid stout green poles and covered them with every herb he had ever heard of as possessing curative properties. Stripped of clothing, he wrapped himself in a heavy blanket and laid down on this, which, of course, induced heavy perspiration. After six or seven treatments he was practically cured, and has never been so badly afflicted with it since.
Long before the war Mount Zion campground, near the Campbell home, was known throughout south Georgia as a rallying place for the religious, and it was in 1827 that the Campbells assisted in organizing the first camp meeting held there. The old patriarch recalled the past very vividly as he talked. He is still in good health and attributes it to his continued outdoor life, even when activity is forbidden him. The thing most impressive about him is his entire serenity, the natural outcome of a well-spent and well-rounded life.
Norman Campbell died on Monday, April 9, 1906. He was buried at the Zion Camp Ground, near Morven, GA. His obituary ran in the Tuesday April 10 edition of the Valdosta Times, repeated in the Saturday edition:
The Valdosta Times
April 14, 1906 Pg 3
A PIONEER CITIZEN DEAD.
Uncle Norman Campbell Died Yesterday Near Morven.
(From Tuesday’s Daily.)
News has been received here of the death of Mr. Norman Campbell at his home near Morven yesterday after an illness of several weeks. Mr. Campbell was the oldest man in the county, being 96 years old and was prominent in the history of the county from the days of the earliest settlers. He was of Scotch descent and was a man of wonderfully fine character. No man ever lived in the county who was more generally beloved and esteemed and in his late years he has been surrounded by the tender care and veneration of friends and family. He retained his strength and faculties to a remarkable degree almost to the end of his long life.
Mr. Campbell is survived by three children, Mrs. Robert Ousley, Alex Campbell and Norman Campbell Jr, all of Morven.
The funeral and internment will take place today at three o’clock at the old Camp ground cemetery near Morven. Mr. Campbell was a devoted member of the Methodist church and a prominent Mason. – Quitman Free Press.
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