Wayne Putnal & family were long time residents of Ray City, GA.
Wayne Putnal and Lawson Fountain at the Ray City, GA Post Office shortly after it opened.
According to U.S. Census records, Wayne Putnal was born and raised in Florida. He was born November 22, 1889 in Jasper, FL, a son of Eliza and Hayden Putnal.
Some time after 1910 Wayne Putnal moved to Georgia, where in 1916 he married Ellen Gaskins in Berrien County, GA. Wayne was a man of 26 years, of medium height and slender build, with blue eyes and dark hair. Ellen was the 16 year-old daughter of Mary E. Strickland and Levi J. Gaskins of Rays Mill, GA; their youngest daughter, born August 4, 1899. Ellen Gaskins and Wayne Putnal were married on March 18, 1916. by J.W. Moore, Justice of the Peace.
Wayne Putnal and Ellen Gaskins, 1916 Marriage License, Berrien County, GA
Shortly after marriage, the couple moved to West Green, Coffee County, GA where Wayne Putnal went to work as a barber, self-employed. Wayne’s father had passed in 1913, and his widowed mother came to live with the young couple. They were living in West Green when Wayne Putnal registered for the WWI draft on June 5, 1917. He was not called to serve in that conflict.
Wayne Putnall, WWI Draft Registration
By the Census of 1920, the couple had relocated to Willacoochee, GA where Wayne took a wage position in a local barbershop. Wayne’s mother, Eliza Putnal, died in 1929, and was buried at Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, GA. In 1930, the Putnals, now with six young children, were living in Georgia Militia District 1329 near Ray City, GA. In the census that year, Wayne gave his occupation as farming on his own account.
Children of Ellen Gaskins and Wayne Putnal:
- Leston Putnal
- Grace Putnal
- Clifford Earl Putnal
- Nelda Putnal
- Carry W Putnal
- Dorthy E Putnal
- Glen H Putnal
By the 1940s, the Putnals had a big farm out on Park Street extension on the south side of Ray City. Wayne Putnal was known as a very industrious man. During the week he worked his farm, and on Saturdays he worked as a barber, cutting hair at a barbershop in Ray City. ( Other Ray City barbers have included Lyman F. Giddens, Leon Bradford, Marion Guy Parrish, Remer Martin, Hayne A. Bowden and his employee Matthew A. Hendley. In 1976, the town’s present barber was Carson Boyd.)
In their later years, the Putnals moved from their farm place to a house in town. They spent the rest of their lives in Ray City.
Wayne Putnal died June 9, 1980 and Ellen died December 2, 1992. They are buried at Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, Berrien County, GA.
Wayne and Ellen Putnal, gravemarker, Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, GA.Eliza Putnal, gravemarker, Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, GA. Eliza Putnal, gravemarker, Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, GA.
Eliza Putnal, gravemarker, Beaver Dam Cemetery, Ray City, GA.
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- Putnal Family ~ Town and Country
- Obituary of Leston L. Putnal
- Ray City Girls run R-C Motor Lines
- Victory Soda Shop ~ Ray City, GA
- James F. Fountain ~ Postmaster & Pecan Planter
- Ray City Post Office Wrecked By Dynamite
- David Jackson Rigell ~ First Postmaster of Ray’s Mill? Maybe Not!
- Big Thumb McCranie was First Postmaster of Lowndes
Ray City History Blog 