An Afternoon at the Museum

This column first appeared in the Douglas County Sentinel on May 5, 2013.

I took a little time Tuesday to visit the Old Courthouse Museum for the “Keep Calm and Shop Local” Networking event.  All of the museum rooms were open for browsing, and I wanted to make sure I checked out the new and improved exhibit regarding town father Ephraim Pray. 

Ephraim Pray is one of Douglas County’s earliest settlers arriving in the area as early as 1828.  Along with a few other early settlers he holds the distinction of being a man who lived in three different counties – Carroll, Campbell and Douglas – without having to move even one stick of furniture.  County borders shifted twice during his lifetime.

When Pray moved to this area he purchased nine land lots on both sides of today’s Highway 5 at the Dog River Bridge.  He cleared the land himself and built a cabin.  He dammed the Trout Creek/Dog River and using the water power from the river he operated a flour and grist mill as well as a saw mill.  He also farmed, and the second floor of his mill was used by two male slaves, as well as by Pray himself, to make furniture.

Pray donated twelve acres for the purpose of building a church that would become Pray's Mill Baptist Church. His only stipulation was the church had to remain Baptist or the land would revert back to the Pray family. The new congregation wanted to name the new church for Pray, but he refused. Of course, they ended up naming the church for his mill instead.  Pray become a constituent member of the church and attended there until he passed away.

During Reconstruction, Ephraim Pray was one of several men who were tired of having to travel so far to Campbellton to conduct business. They wanted a new county.  In 1870, Pray traveled to Atlanta to listen to the state legislature approve the act for Douglas County. He was named one of the first county commissioners by the Georgia General Assembly, and he is one of the few charter citizens of Douglas County.

The new museum exhibit contains dozens of artifacts evidencing Mr. Pray’s life donated by Pray family member Joe Phillips. There are pictures, farm equipment, furniture Mr. Pray made, and more personal items such as pipes and a fiddle evidencing a man who lived during the Nineteenth century.

Museum volunteers have spent the last few months organizing the artifacts into an entertaining and educational exhibit. I encourage everyone to visit the Old Courthouse Museum at 6754 Broad Street in the historic downtown district. They are open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday.

Stop by and see what they have to offer.  You won’t be disappointed!

Puzzle Pieces from the News Archives

When I'm asked about what I do I often use the puzzle analogy. I put together puzzles. Not the 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles you purchase at Wal-Mart, but puzzle pieces involving history.

The puzzles I put together involve missing pieces, torn pieces, and ragged pieces, but all are important, and all of them have their place in the story. My job is to find the place where they fit.

I want to share some of my stray pieces of history with you. Some of the pieces add on to stories I've already shared, and some of the pieces present a quandary. I'm not sure where they go. I hang onto them hoping that eventually I'll find the right fit for them within the Douglas County story.

The resources I use in my research involve family histories, published scholarly articles, books, deed records, photographs, interviews and newspapers. Sometimes I run searches through the Library of Congress database just to see if any mention of Douglas County or Douglasville rise to the surface in hopes I might find a missing puzzle piece.

The database contains hundreds of newspapers that were published all over the United States going back to the early 1800s. Of course, my target year for a beginning point with Douglas County is 1870 since that's when the county was born. It is always amazing to me to find a mention of an event in Douglas County published in some newspaper from Arkansas, South Carolina or even California.

Sometimes the news I find mentions things I am already familiar with.

From the Marietta Daily Leader published in Ohio comes this story from April,1896:  Eden Park cotton mill was destroyed by fire at midnight at a loss of $125,000 and one hundred hands were thrown out of employment.

The Eden Cotton Mill was in town before the cotton mill we are so familiar with that finally and sadly succumbed to fire last year. The Eden Mill was located on Factory Street -- today's Church Street. You can read more about it here.

Sometimes far-flung news stories have more information than I was able to find out locally. Take my post regarding the poor unfortunate Italian peddler a few months ago. The Austin Weekly Statement published in Texas on May 10, 1883 advised:

In Douglasville, Georgia, about a year ago, the sheriff of the county, an ex-member of the legislature and several other prominent and enlightened citizens attacked a poor Italian image vendor, spat upon him, rolled him on the floor and then sat upon him, singing ribald songs and [telling] rude jokes. A jury recently gave the Italian $1,250 damages.

In my original post about this incident I didn't get a clear picture of what had been done to the peddler nor had I been able to ascertain if he received any monetary compensation.

Some situations where I find more information just leads me to another mystery. The Memphis Daily Appeal dated August 25, 1873 advised the people of Douglasville had succeeded in capturing and lodging in jail two noted desperados, murderers and horse thieves named James and Robert Seals. The article went on to note that Robert Seals was supposed to be an escaped murderer from North Carolina.

The name jumped out at me because back in January I wrote about a man who was murdered in 1875 by the name of James Seals. Had he gotten out of jail at some point, stayed in the area only to be murdered two years later?

Well, that's a story thread I'm holding open for sure.

Sometimes I find news we wouldn't consider real news, but I don't discount any puzzle pieces. They are all important or might be.

From the Hickman Courier in Kentucky dated March 25, 1887 we discover that Judge Massey of Douglasville killed eleven partridges at one shot. I have already written a little about Judge Massey here.

The Constitution in Atlanta advised on May 10, 1882 via the Douglasville Star Ephraim Pray had a cow on his farm that gave birth to twin calves the week before. One was male and the other a female.

April of 1894 must have been a slow news month because someone in Douglasville figured out there were 40 beautiful marriageable young ladies in town. The problem was that the town also was home to 28 ugly old bachelors and two men referred to in the article as "dudes". This bit of news reporting was also in the Constitution via the Douglasville Star.

Sometimes the news I find is just downright frustrating. The Worthington Advance for August 1, 1889 advised, near Douglasville, Georgia a few days ago a man was arrested on a warrant for whipping his wife. When the case was called for trial he filed a plea that since their marriage, ten years previous, he had only whipped her once, and then with his left hand. The justice of the peace trying the case sustained the plea and dismissed the warrant holding that a husband has the right to whip his wife once in ten years if he does it with his left hand. This decision settles very important marital rights.

Marital rights?  I'm hoping the good judge in Douglasville who was not named was just being funny, but attitudes toward women were a bit off the mark back then.

Another story regarding a judge in Douglas County was published in The Morning Call out of San Francisco on June 20, 1891. The case in question involved a lawsuit for damages to a tobacco crop. The paper didn't advise how the crop was damaged, but did explain the judge took some of the weed [let's keep things straight here...weed refers to the tobacco] and chewed it. He decided that [the crop] was damaged to the amount of 13 cents per pound and gave judgment accordingly.

In 1892, the Edgefield Advertiser from South Carolina ran a story involving the fastest courtship in history on September 15, 1882.  A man stopped at a house in Douglasville and asked the lady who answered the door for a glass of water. When he had quenched his thirst he asked her if she was married or single. She replied she was a widow. The man advised he was a widower in search of a wife. The woman then invited him in the house to talk the matter over. One hour later the twain were made one by the nearest minister.

Who was that woman?

On August 14, 1887 the Constitution captioned a story "Ten Rattles and a Button" which stated..., Mr. S.W. Smith who lives here brought to town a live rattlesnake six feet and two inches in length, and having ten rattles and a button. Mr. Smith captured the snake by throwing a noose over his head. The snake is now at Sweetwater Park Hotel on exhibition.

I have to wonder if the snake still had a noose on its neck when Mr. Smith took it to town, and I would hope he kept it on its leash.

Finally, from the Constitution in December, 1883 came the notice that English sparrows had become residents of [Douglasville] and their lively chirp can be heard at anytime.

Think of that - sparrows in December!

Revisiting Ephraim Pray

Back in January I wrote this post regarding Ephraim Pray...one of our earliest settlers.  

After having a few e-mail conversations with Pray's descendant...Joe Phillips...I feel it's time....actually it's a little past time for me to revisit my post and make a few clarifications.  

At the heart of this is something that I wrote about last week....family history....history that might contain embellishments.

Sometimes stories handed down from family member to family member contain details that can't be verified through legal documents such as birth certificates, land deeds or court cases, and newspapers or even old family photographs are nonexistent.

Sometimes the stories become muddled over time.   Details get taken away...other things are added.  The stories are interesting, but we don't know where the facts end and where the fiction begins. 

Some family stories can be eliminated as embellishments because they just don't add up to the puzzle pieces we have, and then other stories...most of them in my opinion...fall into the range of..."We just don't know".

We might hunt for verification, but can't find it.

As  I stated in my post from last week I think family history is a valid resource, but when I use it to write about Douglas County history I should make very clear what is family history and if it has  been validated or not.  

The website for Prays Mill Baptist Church gives a rather detailed history of Ephraim Pray.  Fannie Mae Davis provides similar details in her book Douglas County, Georgia: From Indian Trial to I-20 and Heritage of Douglas County:  1870-2002 published by the Douglas County Genealogy Society is filled with information regarding Ephraim Pray.

The main source of information for these publications were Pray family members, of course...Joe Phillips' father and uncle who heard the stories from their father, but a few years ago Joe began to search to verify the story...to see what could be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt regarding Ephraim Pray's story.

In some instances verification was found...in some instances he came up short, and that's why I want to revisit Ephraim Pray...to set the story straight as we know it this very minute.  

Of course, a missing puzzle piece could be found tomorrow and then we would need to readjust all over again.

History is a little funny like that, but it's one of the reasons I enjoy it so much.

As I stated in the original post while many of our earliest settlers came from the Carolinas it is said Pray came from up North.  Family history tells us he migrated south from Augusta, Maine, however, there is no verification of this to date and to further muddle the mix there happens to be an Ephraim Pray who owned a plantation in Liberty County, Georgia.

Of course...the Douglas County Pray and the Liberty County Pray are NOT one and the same.

No matter where Pray came from at some point he did arrive in Georgia.

In my original post I mention how he might have traveled to Georgia....by steamship to Savannah and then overland, however again...this is pure conjecture since we don't have ticket stubs, a journal entry or even a newspaper clipping.

Our first real proof of Ephraim Pray living in Georgia involves Greene County.   Joe Phillips is in possession of an account book Pray used to record where he worked and how much his pay happened to be.

We know that Pray built a mill and possibly a bridge for Dr. Thomas Poullian at Scull Shoals.

The account book  also verifies Pray worked for Mr. Shivers at Rock Mill Plantation.

Mr. Phillips advises me the account books also indicate while at Scull Shoals and Rock Mill Pray built churns, bedsteads and a house to make extra money.   Relevant pages of the day books have been sent to the Friends of Scull Shoals and the current owner of the Rock Mill  Plantation for their records.

In my prior post I advised that in 1828, Ephraim Pray arrived via stagecoach in the Campbellton-Fairburn area, and before setting out for his property he bought a slave woman to serve as his cook.

The year is an educated guess more or less it seems, and Mr. Phillips has not been able to verify the purchase of a slave woman, but it is more feasible that Pray would have been in Campbellton as it was a far more established town than Fairburn around that particular time period.

I advised in the next part of the story that Pray met up with the Owl brothers at Bear Creek.  Supposedly Elijah and Ezekiel Owl were two Cherokee brothers who had a grist mill and ran the post office at Fout's Mill, but to date I have found no factual evidence to back up the Owl Brother's existence.  

I'd love to...it's a great story, but so far we have no real proof.  

Joe Phillips advises he has not found anything to document the existence of the Owl Brothers owning Empire Mill.  He also advises Fout's Mill was at one time Crumbie's Mill providing the name of "Crumbie's District."

The next part of the story is where I introduced the mythical Abraham Owl.....

Supposedly Abraham Owl is Elijah and Ezekiel's brother, and he lived on the land Ephraim Pray had purchased.

In her book, Fannie Mae Davis advises Pray "had compassion for the old Indian and told Abraham he would have a home with him until the day he died."  This is what prior members of the Pray family had told her.

Phillips has been unable to find any verification that Abraham Owl and a wife ever lived on the land with Pray and freely admits that the stories consistently told to him by family members was most likely embellished by his grandfather.

We just don't know, and at this point I would have to say that the Owl Brothers....all three of them could be a myth.

Part of my original post dealt with a Baptist minister by the name of Humphrey Posey and the founding of Prays Mill Baptist Church.

Mr. Phillips advises years ago a page from one of Pray's "day books" which was more or less like a journal....was copied by Mr. Winn when he was the Ordinary of Douglas County.

Today the book cannot be found, bu the page Mr. Winn copied referred to the founding of Prays Mill Church, which was shown in early maps as "Pray's Chapel".

The narrative tells of Pastor Posey arriving with his horse ill, and of the weather that day.  He also stated that there was the Jared Smith family, which was buried near the spring, not having the benefit of a Christian burial. 

Mr. Phillips remains on the hunt for the missing daybook. 

During the Civil War, I had advised that Pray worked as a superintendent of a salt peter mine in Montgomery, Alabama, but there is no record of this to date.  The only salt peter mine found so far in Alabama was near Huntsville, and the archives do not have a listing of Pray int he Confederate civil servant index.

I also discussed that towards the end of the Civil War someone burned down Pray's mill hoping to gain favor with the Union soldiers who were advancing on the community.  The sources I had available at the time advised the man was lynched in Montgomery, but Philips has found other information.

Phillips advises the man who burned Pray's Mill was a local "Clinton" man, and he was hanged beside the Dog River in a place where he could see the remains of the mill.  His grave is unmarked, but I'm told the current owners of the property know the location.

We do know that Ephraim Pray served as postmaster of Campbell County during the war.  Phillips has located a copy of the petition for pardon to President Johnson in which Pray states he served as postmaster  and pledges to support the Constitution of the United States on September 21, 1865.  The oath was taken before Rueben Crawford Beavers, Ordinary of Campbell County.  

Images of the pardon are posted below.  You can click on the images to isolate/enlarge them.

I still propose Ephraim Pray was an amazing man, and as I stated in the original post he has the distinction of being a man who lived in three different counties - Carroll, Campbell and Douglas - without having to move even one stick  of furniture due to county boundaries shifting during his lifetime.

Ephraim Pray: An Amazing Man

Currently, I have the number twenty on the brain–as in twenty years. When I was twenty I was working as a paralegal for law firm in Marietta. Looking back on it now I had it made. I had my own money, but I lived with my parents. Mother was available as my cook and laundress while Daddy served as my advisor and back up banker. My main activity when not working or sleeping was hanging out with my friends.  

Even though I worked it wasn’t back-breaking labor. I was in a very nice air-conditioned office with machines such as a word processor and a copy machine to help me with my job which basically consisted of drafting complaints and researching case law. The attorney I worked with never came in before twelve each day, so twice a week I’d venture over to the courthouse and answer a calendar call on his behalf. I ate lunch out every day in places that had real waiters and cloth napkins. 

Even though I was great at my job and took it very seriously the words cushy, charmed and spoiled come to mind, but it wasn’t lost on this student of history I was experiencing a much different lifestyle at twenty than many of my female counterparts who had gone before me. I had more opportunities than my aunts had experienced, much more than either of my grandmothers, and my great-grandmothers would have been shocked I didn’t already have three or four kids trailing after me and one on my hip while I took care of the house, the garden full of produce and a yard full of chickens outside my back door. 

Go back to the 1820s and 1830s and life was just plain hard–not just for women, but things were difficult for men as well when compared to today.  Folks didn’t have the ease of today’s modern fabric regarding clothing choices, education was lacking unless you had money and the right connections, and modern conveniences such as the phone, electricity, and modern travel just didn’t exist.

To reach a certain age such as twenty years old and venture off to make your way in the word was a hard thing to do. There was no constant contact with loved ones and friends like there is today. Striking out on your own meant being on your own–TOTALLY!  Once you left your family’s side a letter could take several weeks to reach its destination. Overnight postal service didn’t exist.

In fact, if you left your family and moved to another state or even more than fifty miles away it was very probable you might never see your family again. Yet, people did leave their families and did make their own way in the world including a very important man in Douglasville history. 

Ephraim Pray – one of the area’s earliest citizens even before Douglas County or Douglasville existed, and he actually hailed from the North.
  

Yes! A Yankee in our midst! All joking aside, Ephraim Pray became a model for hard work and responsible citizenship...

THANK YOU for visiting “Every Now and Then” and reading the first few paragraphs of “Ephraim Pray: An Amazing Man“ which is now one of the 140 chapters in my book “Every Now and Then: The Amazing Tales of Douglas County, Volume I”. 

Visit the Amazon link by clicking the book cover below where you can explore the table of contents and read a few pages of the book…plus make a purchase if you choose! 

Drinking in the Dog River

I never know where I'm going with these columns until my deadline looms. I get a little frantic, and I finally sit down to write. This week I've been thinking about historical myths - those bits and pieces of historical lore that get mixed in with actual facts - and how the myths and true facts become muddled in the first place.

The muddling is easy for historians and educators to do. We seem to perpetuate the myths Don't get me wrong - I don't think we intentionally do this.

One reason has to do with new primary sources and how they are constantly being located and examined. The new information counter what we previously thought was fact. Another reason is the structure and content of classroom resources over the last two hundred years does not always set things straight for various reasons.

I don't want this column to perpetuate myths. Therefore, I've agonized over every word, sentence and fact wanting to make sure everything I share here regarding the history of Douglasville and the surrounding area is factual. However, we don't have many scholarly published sources. Mostly, what we have is a plethora of stories that must be waded through and measured very carefully against what we know regarding the facts.

This week I want to discuss the Dog River - the source for our drinking water. For some people it is hard to describe the Dog River as a river because it's more of a creek in places. It begins south of Villa Rica in Carroll County and flows into the western side of Douglas County. Then it travels south and eastward until it spills into the Dog River Reservoir in the southern end of the county. Finally, the water flows into the Chattahoochee River.

However, don't let the fact the Dog River is used for drinking water, and a quick glance at the quiet lake to fool you. Riverfacts.com advises, "[The seven mile stretch of the Dog River from Highway 5 down to the reservoir] is according to American Whitewater, a Class 3+ section of whitewater."

Many a Douglasville has gone to shoot the rapids along the Dog River on transfer truck sized tire tubes in past summers. However, it is important to remember they are classified dangerous by the experts. Many other Douglas County residents enjoy the 300-acre Dog River Reservoir lake for fishing and boating

I became interested in the Dog River as I began reading about the various mills in Douglas County during the 1800s. I found it interesting to discover the original name for the river was not Dog River but Trout Creek, the name Native Americans in the area prior to the 1870s had given it.

Then I had to wonder - how does a creek, a river-creek change from Trout to Dog? There are a few stories, and here is where the historical myth connection comes into play...



THANK YOU for visiting “Every Now and Then” and reading the first few paragraphs of “Drinking in the Dog River“ which is now one of the 140 chapters in my book “Every Now and Then: The Amazing Tales of Douglas County, Volume I”. 

Visit the Amazon link by clicking the book cover below where you can explore the table of contents and read a few pages of the book…plus make a purchase if you choose!