Notes Regarding a Letter from Benjamin F. Moody Prior to 1862

As I was going through some of the boxes that were given to me containing the papers and notes of Fannie Mae Davis I found this. 

Someone (not FMD) took some notes regarding pioneer Campbell County settler Ephraim Pray in a mix of longhand and the not so much used today shorthand (Gregg's).

Deciphering it some…this information may have come from a letter B.F. Moody wrote to his mother referring to Ephraim Pray as “Uncle Pray.” Anyone knowing shorthand is welcome to transcribe for us! Benjamin F. Moody died in 1862 during the Seven Days Battle in Virginia. His home was at the present-day site of Prays Mill Baptist Church.

You can click on the image and the zoom feature on your device to enlarge it. 

Via: Papers of Fannie Mae Davis/Merrill and Tim Mason

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! 

Journey to a Town Center

Gather two or more people together in one community and it won't be long before the disagreements begin.

It's inevitable.

We are human.

Our great city of Douglasville began under a cloud of disagreement including a major lawsuit that went all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court. Head on over to the Douglas County Courthouse and find the very first court docket book dating back to the 1870s. The first entry will advise the first Defendants in the county happened to be the Douglas County Commissioners, and the lawsuit concerned the location of the county seat.

The Georgia General Assembly issued an act on October 17, 1870 creating Douglas County. Within the language of the act was a stipulation calling for an election to be held the first Monday of November, 1870 to elect an ordinary, sheriff, clerk of superior court and to choose a location for a county seat where all county business would be conducted.

Many thought it was a foregone conclusion that the Chapel Hill community would be considered. In 1870, Chapel Hill contained a general store and a few other businesses. There was both a Baptist and Methodist church and three different schools including a high school. The area was a very prosperous plantation community with several influential citizens.

Many others preferred the area up on the ridge known as Skint Chestnut where W.G. Black and his wife Sarah had located a trading post some years before. It wasn't just the draw of the ancient Chestnut tree or the trading post that enticed folks. It had a lot to do with the proposed rail site the Georgia Western Railroad (today's Norfolk Southern) wanted to create.

The 1870s was time when attitudes in Georgia were changing. Many of our town fathers understood the new "farm to factory movement" which would result in business opportunities, more industrialization and an established rail line.

The railroad had actually proposed building a rail line through the county prior to the Civil War, but the war delayed it. The right-of-way would cross the county for 19 miles, and at one point would parallel the old Indian trail where the road passed the ancient Chestnut tree. By 1870, the land had been cleared for the rail line from Atlanta to Skint Chestnut and beyond to Reuben Vansant's crossroads.

By the time the election rolled around thoughts of Chapel Hill as the county seat had been replaced by a group of folks wanting the center of the county chosen as the location. The geographical center is approximately where Pray's Mill Baptist Church is located today off of Highway 5.

The folks who supported this area were known as "center people" and included Moses M. Smith. He argued the railroads could be persuaded to run a line through the area and mentioned the area's water sources -- the Dog River, Bear Creek and Sweetwater Creek -- as the fuel to run a million dollars worth of machinery. He did have a few valid points, but many felt it would be too difficult to persuade the railroad to change their plans since much of the land had been cleared...



THANK YOU for visiting “Every Now and Then” and reading the first few paragraphs of “Journey to a Town Center“ 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!