John's Mountain Overlook, near intersection of Walker, Chattooga, Floyd, & Gordon Counties
© Linda Woodward Geiger. All rights Reserved.
Aug 28
Museum Talk: Old Pickens County Jail
Old Pickens County Jail
The Pickens County Jail served Pickens County, Georgia, as a jail from 1909 through 1982. The building, now on the National Historic Register, served two purposes—to house the county inmates on the upper level and to serve as the residence of the county sheriff or his deputy on the first level.
The building continues to be owned by Pickens County, but it is the Marble Valley Historical Society that maintains the facility and the heritage cabin on the property.
The Mission of the Marble Valley Historical Society
- To gather and record the history and happenings of Pickens County
- To promote an interest in and appreciation for local history
- To promote exhibits and recordings of the history of the area
- To encourage a strong, active interest among our youth in the history of the area
- To solicit and receive funds for the accomplishment of these goals
The Society operates a museum stressing the heritage of Pickens County. The museum is opened for limited hours. Call 706.253.1141 for hours of operation for the Old Pickens County Jail Museum and the Heritage Cabin.
Bean Hole
© Linda Woodward Geiger. All Rights Reserved.
Aug 17
Faulkner Family Cemetery, Pickens County
In late October of 2008, Tony Poss (a long time Pickens County resident) contacted me about a family cemetery not far from Four Mile Baptist Church, in the southeastern part of the county. He took me to visit the long abandoned cemetery that was still marked by a wrought iron fence. The fence enclosed a square area of about 36 x 36 feet. Within the area we found one sunken grave marked simply with a field stone.
The gate to the little cemetery is unique. As seen in the accompanying photographs, the gate is clearly marked with the surname Faulkner. Just above the name plate the manufacturer is identified—The No Nelson Iron Works, Knoxville, Tennessee.
The iron wok is exquisite and its sad to see that no one has taken care of this little burial plot.
© Linda Woodward Geiger. All rights reserved.
Aug 15
Military Monday: Sloan H. Abbott, Confederate Veteran
The family of Salome Abbot was enumerated in the Dug Road District (Jasper Post Office), Pickens County, Georgia on 6 June 1860.[1] The household consisted of Salome Abbott, age 27, born in S.C. farmer, real estate valued at $200, and personal estate valued at $150; Anna Abbot, age 30, born in S.C.; and Georgia Abbot, age 1, born in Georgia.
S.H. Abbett appear on the muster roll of Pickens County Militia on the 4th of March 1862.[2] On that same day Sloan Abbett enlisted in the 43d Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry. His service record[3] indicates that he served in Company C, lead by Captain Benjamin T. Hanie’s. Abbott appears on the company muster roll for 10 March to the end of Augusst 1862 with a remark stating that he died of fever on the 28th of June [1862].
Anna Abbott filed for a Confederate Pension on the 18th of January 1899.[4]
According to her pensaion application her husband, Sloan Abbott, died of typhoid fever on the 29th of June 1862. [5] Sloan H. and his wife, Anna, are buried at the Four Mile Baptist Church Cemetery in Southeastern Pickens County. His headstone has the dates 27 November 1832 to 29 June 1862.[6]
© Linda Woodward Geiger. All Rights Reserved
[1] 1860 U.S. Census, Free Population Schedule, Pickens County, Georgia, page 885, dwelling 65, family 47; NARA micropublication M653, reel 133.
[2] Tate, History of Pickens County, 224
[3] 43d Inf. Service Records, M266, Reel 460
[4] Confederate Pension Application of Anna Abbott, Widow of Sloan Abbott, Pickens County, Georgia; Georgia Archives micropublication GCP 372.
[5] Pickens County, Georgia, Confederate Pension Records, 1890-1910; Georgia Archives microcopy RHS 4108. Hereinafter cited as Pickens Co. Confederate Pension Records, 1890-1910.
[6] Tombstone of Sloan Abbott viewed and read by Linda Woodward Geiger, 15 February 2002.
Jul 26
Tombstone Tuesday: Some Early Burials at Price Creek Cemetery
Price Creek Baptist Church and Cemetery are located in northern Pickens County, Georgia, near the Gilmer County Line.
One unusual burial site is that of “Two Little Indian Boys.” The marble stone appears to be rather modern and the identity of the boys is a mystery.
Elizabeth Wheeler, wife of Absolum Wheeler
Thomas Grizzel
Octaver Bradley
Jul 25
Military Monday: War of 1812 Widow’s Pension & Beyond
Rebecca A. Tatum, widow of Edward Tatum, applied for a War of 1812 pension under the Act of 9 March 1878. Edward served as a private in Capt Cannon’s Company in the South Carolina Militia. Copies were made of all of the documents in Rebecca’s pension application file #36382 (certificate #27906), at the National Archives, Washington, DC.
Rebecca was last paid $12 to 4 August 1908 and was dropped from the pension roll at her death on 16 August 1908. The pension records also tell us that Edward Tatum died 5 April 1870.
It is interesting to note that the 1870 U.S. Mortality Schedule for Pickens County, Georgia; National Archives microfilm series T655, reel 9 (viewed and abstracted at the National Archives Southeast Region in East Point, Georgia, in September 1997) shows an Edward Tatum, born in NC, died in April 1870 at the age of 78. The household reporting the death was family 612.
© Linda Woodward Geiger. All Rights Reserved
Jul 13
Scudders Bones or Not?
Jacob Scudder was a early white trader in the Cherokee Nation (now Forsyth County) and ultimately the first State Senator of Cherokee County. The family cemetery now being restored by the Forsyth County Historical Society had been damaged by vandals. Very recently bones were discovered at the site. Are they really the bones of Jacob Scudder, the bones someone else buried in the family cemetery, or bones of someone meeting foul play in the area many years ago? The Forsyth County Historical Society claims the bones to be those of Jacob Scudder, but the recent article in the Forsyth News (read the article), leads one to believe they are Scudder’s bones. Apparently no testing will be applied to the remains.
Color me skeptical, but the remains in Blackburn Cemetery in Forsyth County announced to be those of James Vann, murdered Cherokee, were not!
© Linda Woodward Geiger. All Rights Reserved.
linda@LindaGeiger.com
Jul 12
Guyequoni-Time of the Ripe Corn Moon
Friends of New Echota (FONE) Announces Guyequoni-Time of the Ripe Corn Moon
DATE: July 30, 2011
TIME: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
LOCATION: New Echota State Historic Site; 1211 Chatsworth Hwy 225; Calhoun, GA 30701. One mile east of I-75, exit 317 on GA Hwy. 225
COST: $ 6.00 adults / $5.50 seniors age 62 and over / $4.00 youth ages 6-17
INFORMATION: 706-624-1321 or visit our website.
DESCRIPTION: Guyequoni-Time of the Ripe Corn Moon at New Echota, Sat. July 30, 2011, 10am to 4pm. During the Ripe Corn Moon, the field plants begin to produce, and wild plants like black berries and mulberries begin producing ripe fruits in good quantity. Traditionally, Cherokee stick ball games and dances were held in earnest to celebrate the earth’s bounty and to thank the Creator for blessing the people. Come celebrate with us as New Echota State Historic Site comes alive with historic demonstrations, featuring Cherokee watercolor artist, Billy Mack Steele, who will create a special painting depicting the Cherokee storytelling tradition. The historic buildings will be open with volunteers from Friends of New Echota available to answer your questions. Admission fee allows access to museum, film, and self-guided tour of historic grounds, buildings, and nature trails. All proceeds support programming, preservation, and education at New Echota State Historic Site.
ABOUT NEW ECHOTA: New Echota State Historic Site attracts 10,000 visitors and generates almost one million dollars for the local economy annually. The site is located one mile east of I-75, exit 317, on GA Hwy. 225. Admission is $4 – $6. For more information, call 706-624-1321 or visit our website. Georgia’s state historic sites are operated by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
#####
Donna J. Myers, PhD
FONE President
Jun 28
Tombstone Tuesday: Gail O. Lance
“She was an angel unto us & now in heaven” is the inscription on the grave marker of Gail O. Lance. She was buried in Bethel (former Shoal Creek) Baptist Church Cemetery in Dawson County, Georgia.
Bethel Baptist Church is located on Georgia Highway 136 near the intersection of Ga. 136 and and Shoal Creek Road about 2.7 miles north of Dawsonville.
These photographs were taken16 April 1999.
© Linda Woodward Geiger. All rights Reserved.
Linda@LindaGeiger.com
Jun 27
Breaking the Heartland: The Civil War in Georgia
Press Release courtesy of Robert Scott Davis, Jr.
The Confederate flag of Pickens County's Company E "Tate's Guards," 23rd Georgia Confederate Infantry, is now in the Chicago Historical Society
PICKENS COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR FEATURED IN NEW BOOK
One of Georgia’s most popular legends has been the story of how a group of citizens in Jasper raised a United States flag in front of the courthouse in 1860 in protest to Georgia seceding from the Union. That incident begins the first chapter of John D. Fowler and David B. Parker, eds., Breaking the Heartland: The Civil War in Georgia, published this month by Mercer University Press in Macon. That essay, “War on the Edge: Civil War Politics and Its Legacy in an Appalachian County,” is by Robert S. Davis, a former resident of Pickens County with deep in roots and many ancestors in the area’s Confederate and Union Civil War past. Professor Davis teaches History and operates a genealogy program at Wallace State College in Hanceville, Alabama. He has recently appeared on the History Channel concerning lost Confederate gold and interviewed on Georgia News Network concerning his books on Civil War Atlanta and Andersonville Confederate prison. His mother Elizabeth Holbert Forrester lives in Hickory Flat.
Davis begins his story with the documented facts of the flag incident to illustrate how the county rigidly divided. Pickens County eventually gave 500 volunteers and conscripts to the Confederate army, 100 men to three Union companies, and other citizens to local home defense units. A Pickens County doctor helped men to escape the draft by falsely declaring them unfit. During the last years of the Civil War and afterwards, differences became deadly and men walked the streets of Jasper with guns and others fled to the West. In 1864, Sheriff David S. McCravey even formed a permanent posse to protect the citizens from Captain Benjamin Jordan’s Confederate Conscript Bureau Company.
Opposition to the secession or to the war or to both could be found in many parts of Georgia but Pickens County’s dissention became the most famous, perhaps because it remained to modern times. Until recently, the funeral home for a local resident would depend upon the politics of the deceased and politicians ran as independents so as not to offend voter sensibilities. Pickens County has the oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration in Georgia. This history of local remembrance received notice in numerous histories and television shows.
Breaking the Heartland: The Civil War in Georgia, published in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, stands as a landmark work because so many prominent scholars contributed chapters to it. Much of the book deals with North Georgia including Keith S. Hébert, “`The Bottomless Pit of Hell’: The Confederate Home Front in Bartow County, Georgia 1864-1865.”
