Digging through deeds for early Maysville businesses

I was able to spend two days at the Banks County Superior Court Deed Room during my Christmas vacation.  My goal was to try to identify the chain of ownership on the buildings on North Main Street in Maysville, Banks Co, GA, running from the current post office down to the Community Club.  However, the post office lot itself took me almost one day.

Although the more recent deeds reference some previous deeds, once you get further back in the chain of ownership, references are usually not found.  For example, I was able to trace ownership of the post office lot back to 1896 but no further.  I suspect the lots along that row were originally laid out by the railroad surveyer and recorded in Jackson County.

The deeds refer to lot numbers from an original survey made by J. M. Edwards, ex-superintendent for the Northeastern Railroad.  Land for the railroad was originally donated to the railroad by local landowners, such as the Sherman Sims estate.  After the railroad tracks were laid in 1876, and the route established, there was land leftover on the right of way, which the railroad chose to section off and sell by auction.  These lots were numbered beginning with Lot No. 1, the current location of the Maysville Post Office.

At the end of day two, I had started working on the old Regions Bank lot, which is actually five of the original lots.  Original lots were only 25 feet wide and ran about 90 feet back to Oak Alley.  The deed to the Regions Bank lot provided considerable insight into the location of some of the older Maysville businesses I had read about but could not figure the location of.  These include J. Tom Smith, W.C.J. Garrison and Yarbrough.

As I complete more research, I'll be able to share some of my findings.  Superior Court Clerk Tim Harper was extremely helpful to me, as well as his staff, which was much appreciated.

The Six-Hour Marriage Records Marathon

I took a day off work today from my job as admissions counselor at UGA.  I'm probably the only person in Clarke County that wanted to spend my day in the Banks County Courthouse pouring through marriage records, but that's what I did for six hours straight.  My feet are killing me from standing on that hard, tiled floor for that long period of time.  I'm so glad I'm in there doing this research now when I'm 45, rather than 20 years down the road when I won't even be able to probably stand for over an hour at the time.

Let's just say the Probate Court records office is not that user friendly when it comes to having a place to sit and work.  The large marriage ledger books are not only heavy but also not easy to maneuver around.  The reading area is about chest high so a chair won't even reach high enough if you did want to sit down.

I was much more organized on this visit.  As I had been working on my Maysville Family Tree, I had placed couples into a marriage lookup file to look for their marriage records next time I was at the courthouse.  I had even recorded an approximate date range and the corresponding marriage ledger for that year range to speed things up.  I was able to find probably close to 40 matches out of the 250 or so I had put in the lookup file.

I also wrote down nearly 150 marriages that I thought would be good to add in a list on my VictorianMaysville.com website.  I know there are a lot of folks like me that love to find transcribed court records on the internet if possible.

I left the courthouse at 5 p.m. and called up Pete Mintz to see if I could stop by on my way from Homer to Maysville.  I had all the photographs of Maysville in my collection in a box in my trunk and wanted him to see them.  We sat for about 30 minutes looking through them.  Pete has told me a lot about the store buildings and things he remembers from being a boy growing up around Maysville at the Crossroads at Mintz Store.

The time always flies by when I'm researching, so it was back to Athens to my apartment to start entering some of these marriages into my database.  Look for them to be added to my site in the future.

Hambrick - Sheridan connection

While working on the 1930 Banks County census today, I ran across the following:
1930 US Census Banks Co GA Anderson GMD Saville & Burns Road HH 140 144:
Hambrick, William H. head m w 70 wd 21 GA GA GA farmer
Hambrick, Rosa A. dau f w 35 s GA GA GA farm laborer
Sheridan, Ellen M. dau f w 27 m 27 GA GA GA farm laborer
Sheridan, Samuel son in law m w 26 or 20 m 26 or 20 GA GA GA farm laborer
Hambrick, Margaret gr.dau f w 8 s GA GA GA
Hambrick, Otha T? nephew m w 5 s GA GA GA

This caught my attention because there are Hambricks buried at Grove Level and Silver Shoals and I knew Sheridans were also in the Maysville area.  I can somewhat remember Sam Sheridan (listed above) living in Maysville on Wilson Street not too far from Perino Boswell and directly behind Bobby Crane's house on North Main.  The Sheridans had a simple place not much improved.

I noticed on the above census entry that Sam Sheridan and Ellen Hambrick were newly married in 1930, and living with Ellen's widowed father.  Interestingly, I had ran across Ellen Hambrick's name when transcribing Georgia death certificates for Maysville from the 1920's.  I didn't know who she was at the time, but noted that her infant son died in 1923 and no father was listed on the death certificate, indicating she did not marry the father.  I now believe she had two children while unmarried before marrying Sam Sheridan.  The Margaret Hambrick, age 8, above, is likely her child as well.  I cannot figure out who the father is of Otha T. Hambrick, age 5, listed as a nephew of William H. Hambrick.  I have been unable to verify William Hambrick having a brother, so Otha may have been the child of one of his unmarried daughters.

I would love to correspond with any Hambrick or Sheridan researchers!

Richard Watson Redmon line

Today I spent a lot of time working on working on the Redmon family. Basically all I knew was that Daisy Lou Shubert's maiden name was Redmon and she had a brother named Richard Henry Redmon, whose obituary I had recently come across from 2007 on the internet.
Working with that I was able to locate her parents: Elige S. Redmon and Bessie Smith, buried at Grey Hill Cemetery in Commerce. I was able to trace Elige S. Redmon back to Richard Watson Redman (1848-aft 1920) and Mary Jane Kinsey (1858-circa 1897). I am stumped as to where Richard and Mary Jane are buried, but suspect it could be White County GA.
The Richard Bud Redmon (1866-1927) buried at Grey Hill seemed like an obvious match for Richard Watson Redman at first; however, the Richard I'm looking for was born nearly 18 years earlier. Of course tombstones are frequently wrong, so I'll need to interview some descendants to see where Elige's parents are buried.

Will, Coon & Ed Ward

I enjoyed sitting and chatting with Pete Mintz at the Maysville festival recently. Pete is my first cousin twice removed. In common terms, he's my third cousin. Lula Hooper Wilbanks, my late great-grandmother, and Bessie Hooper Mintz, his late mother, were sisters.

Pete knows I love history and he always asks me when I'm going to have that book done on Maysville's history. It's a project I've said I wanted to get done for years now, yet keep finding out more and more and more as I research census records and property records.

We were discussing Will, Ed and Coon Ward, all of whom once lived in Maysville. Pete said Will Ward had a grocery, Ed Ward was a watchtinker and "Coon" Ward was a blacksmith. The only part of that I had heard before was that "Coon" was a blacksmith.

I knew "Coon" was a nickname but wasn't sure what his real name was. I called Pete back up today and asked him if he knew "Coon's" real name. He started naming off Hubert or Hulett, and I asked Pete if it could be Hulon. I had a Hulon G. Ward in my database that is buried at Grove Level Baptist. When I read the dates off, Pete confirmed that was "Coon." So I searched the census database for Hulon G. Ward and was lucky enough to find him in 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Here is the breakdown:

1900 US Census Banks Co GA Anderson GMD: Hulon Ward, age 11, living with his widowed mother.

1910 US Census Banks Co GA Homer GMD: Hughlon Ward, age 21, married to Etta with two children at home

1920 US Census Banks Co GA Homer GMD: Hulon G. Ward, age 33, married to Etta with four children at home

1930 US Census Jackson Co GA Minish GMD: Hulon Ward, age 41, married to Etta with two children at home

I was also able to find his 1917 World War I Draft Registration Card online and it revealed his middle name of Guy and his full birthdate. He was living in Horton, Marshall Co AL at the time.

Next I searched for Will Ward. He was already in my database as William Jepthy Ward (1879-1965) and buried at Sunrise Cemetery in Maysville. Buried next to him is his second wife, Faye F. Ward (1905-1982). Will was 44 years old when he married 21 year-old Faye, thus the big age difference between the two.

I was able to find Will Ward on 1900, 1920, and 1930 censuses as well. Here's the entries:

1900 US Census Banks Co GA Anderson GMD: Willie Ward, age 19, living with his widowed mother.

1910 US Census:  Where is Will?

1920 US Census Banks Co GA Anderson GMD: Will Ward, age 40, living with Louella, his sister.

1930 US Census Banks Co GA Anderson GMD: Will Ward, age 48, living with Fay and one child at home.

Pete Mintz tells me that Will's son, Will, Jr., is still alive and living near the Jackson - Hall County line near Holly Springs Church. Pete sees Will Jr. at Ryan's Steak House on Sundays on occasion. Oh how I would love to talk to him!

Next I searched for Ed Ward, the clock repairman. Pete says Ed had a shop where Regions Bank is now located. He says the shop was open in the 1920's or 1930's when Pete was a boy, and that it was later that Bill Smith moved that cabin and built the block shop on the same site.

I could not find a burial record for an Ed Ward at Grove Level or the Maysville Sunrise Cemetery, but there is one for an Eddie C. Ward (1878-1948) at Grey Hill Cemetery in Commerce. Buried next to this Eddie Ward is Mamie L. Wilson Ward, his wife.

I do find a Charles E. Ward (1884-1950) buried at Grove Level. Buried next to him is Lila Bell P. Ward, his wife. I do not know how this Charles Ward fits into the bunch, but feel certain he does.

I should also state that these three brothers (Will, "Coon," and Ed) are not the only children of William Jept Ward (1849-1892) and Cynthia L. Dodd (1849-1911), both buried at Grove Level. In fact, there are at least eleven children from that union, including: Lawrence, Effie, Oneal, Henry, Wayne, Luella, Will, Alice, Roscoe, Eddie and Hulon (Coon).

If anyone can add to this, I'd love to hear it!!

Richard Lewis in Jackson Co GA

I was back on the never-ending hunt again today for the origin of my great-grandfather, Richard Lewis. I have only been able to trace him back to 1910, when he first appears as a 60 year-old, widowed, laborer on the farm of John Thomas White in Maysville, Jackson Co GA. Richard Lewis married Minnie Bell (widow of Bill Cochran) shortly thereafter, and my grandfather, Sharp Lewis, was born to this union in 1911. It's a hard pill to swallow when you hit a brick wall with your great-grandfather. That just doesn't seem like that long ago, but Richard Lewis was 60 years old when he fathered my grandfather.

The only clue I've ever had to his parentage is his 1931 death certificate which lists his parents and Richard and Sallie Lewis, born in GA.

Today I decided to double-check the Ancestry.com census records again for any Lewises in Jackson County GA prior to 1900. I quickly found a hit where a 21-year old Richard Lewis was enumerated on the 1870 census on the farm of J. A. Braselton in the Cunningham District - Jefferson Post Office area of Jackson County. How could I have missed this earlier, I thought. My Richard Lewis was born circa 1850 and this would line up perfectly.

The excitement would be short-lived as soon as I noticed that this Richard Lewis was listed as a BLACK male. Now I know census enumerators make mistakes, but how many write down the wrong race?

I'm still going to keep the record as a possibility since the name and age are so in line with my great-grandfather's statistics.

Here is the household enumeration:

1870 US Census Jackson Co GA Subdv 71 Jefferson PO HH 349:
Braselton, J.A. 48 m w farmer $2000 $300 GA
Braselton, Sophia 41 f w keeping house SC
Braselton, James 22 m w at school GA
Braselton, Antnett 17 f w no occupation GA
Braselton, Benjamin 15 m w laborer
Braselton, Alfred 13 m w laborer GA
Braselton, Julia 9 f w at school GA
Braselton, Arena 6 f w at school GA
Braselton, Robert 5 m w at home GA
Braselton, Osker 2 m w at home GA
Lewis, Richard 21 m b laborer SC

Although I was initially reviewing this entry for my own family line, I was able to add several of these Braseltons to the Maysville tree. Some are buried at Pendergrass Baptist. Not all of the Braseltons were on the Braselton town side of Jackson County. John Amos Braselton and his brother Titus V. Braselton were both farmers near Maysville prior to 1900.

Wheeler Cemetery

I wanted to take a few photos of Wheeler Cemetery and Chandler Cemetery since I
was headed to Maysville to visit my family Saturday. On my trip down Wheeler
Cemetery Road, I was amazed at all the houses that had been built in the Beacon
Hill subdivision near Baker Hill. As a child, I rode the school bus all through
that area for years. We'd stop to let out all theBakers that attended
Maysville Elementary, thus the name Baker Hill.
When I got to the cemetery, I noticed the grass had recently been cut. It's
good to know there'sfamily that still cares for the burial ground. The
wrought iron "WHEELER" sign that rests on the ground on a concrete pad was a
sure bet for a great photo. I ended up photographing all the graves and even
some of the unmarked field stones. I realized there are at least two and maybe
even four footmarkers that just have initials on them with no headstones, such
as"L.J.N." for Linton J. Nicholson and "F.V.N." for Frances Victoria
Nicholson, his wife. Those footmakers were simply laying on the ground, and it
made me realize just how easy it is for a marked, or partially marked grave, to
become an unmarked grave in a few years. This is why it is so important for
inventories to be taken of cemeteries. Fortunately, Don Sailors inventoried all
of Jackson County's cemeteries circa 2002 and photographed all he could. I have
a copy of the Jackson County Cemetery CD that Sailors created, and it is the
best $60 I have ever spent on research media. I have used that CD hundreds of
times to look up burials. The CD can be purchased at the Commerce Library.
Today I spent several hours uploading the pictures of Wheeler Cemetery
headstones to VictorianMaysville.com.

Chandler Cemetery

Recently, I had an email from someone asking about the Chandler Family Cemetery. She stated that my directions were about the best she could find on the web. She wanted to photograph the cemetery for the FindAGrave.com website. Many of you may not have ever tried to find this cemetery, but it is not easy giving directions since the cemetery is on pastureland in the middle of nowhere about half way down Chandler Cemetery Road.

I personally refer to this area as the William Burns plantation, since Revolutionary soldier William Burns originally had the land in a land grant back during the early 1800's. Much of the land became the Stig Morris estate and the Allen Moses Chandler place. Allen Moses Chandler (1839-1915) and Louisa Jane Culberson Chandler (1842-1924), his wife, are buried at the Chandler Family Cemetery, along with several descendants.

First, Chandler Cemetery Road is also known as Smith Street in Maysville. In fact, the street sign off of Georgia Hwy 98 near Short Stop Convenience Store has both a Smith Street sign and a Chandler Cemetery Road. It runs from Maysville towards Dry Pond, somewhat parallel to Hwy 82 Spur.

Drive down Smith Smith/Chandler Cemetery Road from GA SR 98. The road will turn from pavement to dirt road, and thus Smith Street to Chandler Cemetery Road, where the Maysville city limits end near Brad Morris' house. (Brad is the grandson of William Franklin "Stig" Morris, Jr. 1861-1952). At this point you will begin to notice the trees lining both sides of the dirt road. This will continue for a couple of miles. You'll pass Old Miller Road on the right. Continue down Chandler Cemetery Road until you pass Bingham Road on the right. At this point you'll be able to see pastureland on both sides of the road. Chandler Cemetery is in a stand of trees in the pasture on the left side of the road very close to the intersection at Bingham Road.

Although I photographed the headstones several years ago, my pictures are not very good quality and need to be retaken. Calvin Cooper currently owns the land around the cemetery. I need to make arrangements with him to get access to the cemetery.

Free Access to Ancestry.com Library Edition at Commerce Public Library

When I woke up Saturday morning, a trip to the Commerce Public Library entered my mind. I had spent most of the week researching my Wilbanks ancestors from Oconee Co SC via online
census records. But, those South Carolina reference books I remembered seeing in the Commerce Library were calling my name. After a visit to the Ryan's Breakfast Bar, I felt ready to
spend the next four hours working on genealogy. The library is open on Saturdays from 10 am - 4 pm, and I was there by 11 am.

I quickly started going through the SC reference books, which were marked with a green
dot on the spine. There was a book on the Pendleton District in SC, and some books on misc SC wills and court records. Most of the books covered really early time periods, such as 1790-1810, and I found no mention of Wilbanks.
While I struck out on getting any information on my Wilbanks line, I noticed that a couple of
visitors to the library's genealogy room were using the Ancestry.com Library Edition database with free access to do family searches. As soon as the computer was free, I sat down and began to search the 1930 census for Oconee Co SC. Although I can access Heritage Quest (census records) through the Georgia Library Galileo System at my apartment in Athens, the 1930 census records have not yet been added to Heritage Quest database. Also, the 1850 census is not indexed on Heritage Quest, yet is on Ancestry.com. I was able to add some additional relatives to
my family tree.
While I was there, I also wanted to conduct some limited research on any obituaries I could find for persons in my Maysville tree hosted by Rootsweb. The Jackson County Historical
Society has gone through some of the old microfilm of The Jackson Herald and printed out obituaries and placed those in binders for reference. One binder includes the obituary index. I was able to find two or three obits I needed, but soon realized it was time for the library to close.

"Brick Store" -- Maysville's earlier name

I have known for many years that Maysville was once known as "Wall Street" and "Brick Store." I learned this from a 1906 newspaper article written about Maysville's history. I have never been able to find the source of the name "Wall Street" but suspect it may have been in old postal records which I have yet to research.

As for "Brick Store," Abraham Atkins, Maysville's first merchant, can be credited with that name. In the early 1850's, Atkins built two brick structures--his home and his store -- which were the first brick buildings north of Athens in this area. The store was known from Athens to the mountains of North Carolina as the "Brick Store of North Georgia." Soon the village took on the name "Brick Store" and is even mentioned as such on 1870 census records.

It is believed that Atkins' brick store once stood where Maysville City Hall is presently located. It was apparently destroyed by fire and replaced with new brick store buildings which still stand today as 4, 6, and 8 Homer Street (currently Maysville City Hall and the former Maysville Fish House). Abraham Atkins' son, Hugh Atkins, continued the mercantile business and eventually opened Atkins National Bank at 4 Homer Street. Much of the original bank design has been kept in Maysville City Hall offices.

The Northeastern Railroad came through the village in 1876, following an old stagecoach route from Athens to Clarkesville. According to the late Mrs. Daisy Shubert, the house she lived in at 41 Bacon Street, in Maysville, served as the stagecoach stop for the village. The foundation of the house is made of logs.

Maysville would soon have a depot, although not as large as the one built at Harmony Grove (later Commerce). It would later be replaced with a larger, and nicer, depot, which burned in the 1950's. It was located behind the 1920's-era filling station which now sits at 2 Homer Street. The Stephens Hotel, still standing at 5 South Main, was directly behind the depot, and quite convenient for traveling businessmen and visitors to town.

When railroad mapping was updated, "Brick Store" was changed to Maysville, named for the Mayes family who came to the area from Hebron Church in Franklin County.

Athens historic newspapers added to Digital Library of Georgia

I was excited to find an article entitled "Old news now in modern format" in the Athens newspaper this morning. (see http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/012911/new_777772143.shtml )

The University of Georgia's Georgia Newspaper Project and UGA's Digital Library of Georgia have teamed up to provide historic Athens newspapers in a searchable format online.

Being someone who has spent many hours searching through old newspapers on microfilm, this tool is a great time-saver and research aid. Now I no longer have to visit the basement of the UGA Main Library during business hours to load microfilm to scroll through page after page hunting for Maysville mentions. From the comfort of my own home, I can now type in a keyword and have the database return results that would normally have taken me months, and even years, to find.

I wasted no time this morning trying out the database, and already I have found information which I'll be sharing with you in future blogs!

You can view the Athens newspapers search page in the Digital Library of Georgia at:
http://athnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/athnewspapers/search