My column that ran in the Douglas County Sentinel this past Sunday mentions that little dash that falls between someone's date of birth and the date they passed from this life. I mention how I run across little social columns all the time regarding folks from Douglas County, but in the past I've not paid much attention to them.
However, I'm beginning to think that they could have real value to people doing family research. These little details might help someone fill in the "dash".....to see how an ancestor lived their daily life.
Once you read through some of these I think you will see my point......
From "The New South" dated March 21, 1901 in a column headed with "Local and Person":
Mr. A.A. McLarty, a popular justice of Winston was seen in Douglasville Saturday.
Mr. E.R. Stewart has become somewhat changed in facial appearance y the hirsute attachment that has come forth to adorn his upper lip. .....This might possibly be Eldorado "Rader" Stewart, brother to Dr. F.M. Stewart, but I have not verified this.
Mr. W.W Johnson was here Monday from Winston. Mr. Johnson is a successful farmer and citizen of worth to his community.
Marshal L.O. McElvey spent Saturday and Sunday seeing the sites of Atlanta. He returned Monday morning and his many pleasant things to relate concerning his stay in the capitol city.
Judge J.E. Phillips turned loose a good deal of money amongst the teachers of the county Saturday and sent them away feeling much better than they did when they came.
Mrs. D. P. Webb of Austell spent a few days this week as guest of friends here. We learn that Mr. Webb and family are contemplating moving back to Douglasville some time in May.
The machinery for the flour mill will be here sometime between the first and tenth of April, and it will be speedily arranged for service. The enterprise promises much to the town and county.
The courthouse janitor is giving his attention to the yard surrounding the temple of justice and is making it look decidedly better. It will be an improvement that will add much to the town's appearance.
Work on the new residence of Colonel W.T. Roberts was begun Monday morning and a number of carpenters are busy getting the structure in shape for occupation. It will have nine rooms and will be a handsome building. The foreman in charge is Mr. Armstead of Atlanta. The Roberts home, of course, is home today to the Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville and Douglas County. This article gave me vital information regarding the exact date construction started, and named the foreman!
Mr. R.J. Darnell was attending business in Douglasville this week. Mr. Darnell says that he doesn't feel like he can begin farming until he has cashed up for his newspapers and guano. He is one of the county's most thrifty husbandman and always makes his harvest fields yield him a profit.
Miss Johnnie McLarty, daughter of Mr. Sam McLarty died at her home near Douglasville Saturday night. Pneumonia was her trouble, and she had been sick with it several days. Miss McLarty was about the middle of her teens and was a young lady much beloved. Some years ago she cast her lot with Christ and has since kept in close touch with the Master. She was buried here Monday. The funeral was preached at the Methodist Church by Rev. John Spier.
The canning factory project is still talked about. There are several men who are willing and ready to take stock when they meet up with a sufficient number of others inclined the same way. A canning factory outfit wouldn't cost much and properly conducted it would pay the investors and prove a great benefit to farmers and merchants.
The next little blurb was added from the "Villa Rica Hustler".....
Douglasville is to have a very costly roller flour mill. The money is all subscribed and the machinery will be shipped from some point in Pennsylvania in a few days. This is good for our sister city as Villa Rica has nothing of the kind....guess our farmers will have to take their wheat to Douglasville.
It has been a good long while since the farmers were so well up with their work on the 21st of March as they are this year. The soil has been pretty thoroughly stirred much of the guano to be used has been put to its place and there has been some planting done. The indications are that the yields this year will be large and if the production of cotton is not overdone, the prosperity of 1902 will be much in excess of the present
Little Miss Mattie Hunt came home with Miss Minnie Dorris Friday and remained here Monday. Miss Mattie is a daughter of Mr. J.C. Hunt who resides several miles from Douglasville and is a bright attractive little girl. She is a natural musician and entertains quite well with the guitar and voice. She has two junior sisters, Misses Nellie and Ludie , the youngest only three years of age and both can pick the guitar to nice advantage. Indeed it seems that the entire family is a musical one for there is not a member of it but what can handle some instrument in an artistic way.
There may be one column from this article that my scanner missed........
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Showing posts with label Roberts-William T.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roberts-William T.. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2015
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Visit 8 Historic Sites Without Leaving the County
Historic places often add a little excitement and variety to a vacation. Who hasn't visited a lighthouse while at the beach or toured a museum or two when away from home? What we often forget, however, are the historic locations in our own backyard.
How many of us head off to Atlanta or some other nearby location when we want to "SEE" something?
What about the historic locations right here in Douglas County?
We have eight different history hot spots of our own that are worthy of being “SEEN” and all have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. This week I thought I’d share a few details about each location.
Basket Creek Cemetery is adjacent to on Capps Ferry Road not too far from the Chattahoochee River. The first burial was in 1886, and it’s still in use today with approximately 110 burials to date. At the turn of the century the Capps Ferry Road area was a thriving African American community including single-family houses, saw mills, tenant farms and churches.
The Basket Creek Cemetery is a prime example of the West African custom involving grave mounding to honor deceased family members and friends. Poorly maintained mounds are seen as insults to the dead and are poor reflections on the community as a whole.
When you visit the cemetery you quickly notice each grave is represented with a mound of earth, and the entire yard appears to be swept. Twice a year for the last 123 years the congregation at Basket Creek have maintained the graves and continue to pass along the skills to the next generation.
The Douglas County Courthouse built in 1956 and located at 6754 Broad Street is also on the National Register. Since 2002, the Old Courthouse building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building passed muster to be added to the prestigious list because it was built in the International Style of architecture, a style that emerged in the 1920s and 30s and matured following World War II.
Today, the 1956 courthouse houses the Old Courthouse Museum which exhibits a wealth of artifacts and information regarding the settlement of Douglas County and the growth of Douglasville.
Beulah Grove Lodge No. 372, Free and Accepted York Masons and Pleasant Grove School is owned by Pleasant Grove Baptist Church . A Times Georgian article found here states, “Pleasant Grove was a rural community where most of the residents were sharecroppers. Members of the church’s Board of Deacons were trustees for the lodge, and Jack Smith—who donated the land—was believed to be a Mason. Smith was a freed slave, born in 1832, who purchased 50 acres of land in 1868 and another 50 acres in 1889, giving two acres of land to the church, school and cemetery.”
The building had a dual purpose in that it served as a lodge building and school beginning about 1910. Currently there are plans to restore the building.
The John Thomas Carnes Family Log House can be found at Clinton Nature Preserve, and is one of the best maintained log cabins in the Atlanta area. The approximate date for its construction is 1828. Members of the Carnes family actually lived in the home through the 1950s.
In the 1980s the family donated 200 acres to Douglas County with the provision that the land is to remain in its natural state as much as possible. The Old Courthouse Museum on Broad Street has an excellent collection of items that belonged to the Carnes family on display.
The William T. Roberts House was added to the National Register in 1989, and today it serves as the headquarters for Douglas County’s Cultural Arts Center . In a previous column I quoted a source stating the Roberts home is “one of the few structures in Douglasville which embodies the characteristics of a period style…with its air of classic Greek architecture, the low sweeping line of a grand front porch, and an entrance of mahogany doors enriched with the serenity of stained glass….”
The Sweetwater Manufacturing Site has been on the National Register since 1977, and its historical significance dates from before the Civil War. The Sweetwater Manufacturing site is also known as the New Manchester Mill. It was built along Sweetwater Creek in 1849.
The building was five stories tall and was powered by a waterwheel. Towards the end of the Civil War Union soldiers were ordered to shut the mill down and arrest the employees who were then shipped north. Today all that remains of the mill are the brick walls and millrace that led to the factory’s waterwheel.
Douglasville Commercial Historic District has been on the National Register since July, 1989. While some are very quick to dismiss the commercial area of downtown Douglasville as just another railroad town, it is one of the best examples we have in the state of Georgia.
Most of the buildings in the district are original and exhibit various styles of architecture including Victorian, Queen Anne, Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Romanesque, Italianate, Beaux Arts Classicism and Tudor Revival. When you delve into the history of the downtown area and the backgrounds regarding a large majority of the men who were featured so prominently in its development it cannot be denied that Douglasville was a “New South” town following Henry Grady’s call for the development of industrial capitalism to replace the plantation system.
The Pine Mountain Gold Mine is located on Stockmar Road in Villa Rica, Georgia. While most students of Georgia history learn about the gold discovered in Dahlonega they are told that it is considered to be the beginning of Georgia’s gold rush. It was actually Villa Rica that led the way with gold being discovered in 1826, four years earlier than Dahlonega.
The miners who discovered the gold in Villa Rica elected to be a bit quiet regarding their find since Georgia had a law at the time declaring any discovery of minerals including gold would have to be handed over to the state. Once the law was repealed in 1829 the mining operations went public. The mine was active until 1936.
The discovery of gold in Villa Rica was significant historically because the knowledge helped to speed up the settlement of the lands previously controlled by Creek Indians.
So, the next time you are in the mood for a little history think about exploring Douglas County first.
You never know what you might find!
This column first appeared at Douglasville Patch on July 11, 2011.
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