The
Meriwether Historical Society met on Sunday, September 29th at the
National Register Home of Ibby, Dan, and Ros Gabriel outside of Greenville on
LaGrange Highway. Known as the Hiram
Warner-Clark-Gabriel Home, the Federal antebellum home and grounds was a lovely
venue for a fall picnic.
Sallie
Mabon welcomed the eighty members and guests attending and made several
announcements concerning our upcoming Expressions of Meriwether event on October
19th and the paver sale for Greenville’s Streetscapes Project which
begins its second phase of construction this winter.
Mabon
and Sally Neal recognized Rod and Linda Wilburn and Mando Corporation for their
outstanding contributions to our county.
In 2012 Mando Corporation contributed to the “facelift” given the county
courthouse’s exterior. Rod and Linda
Wilburn have been instrumental in making Greenville and Meriwether a vibrant
bright spot through the economic downtown with projects like the animal
shelter, Habitat for Humanity, Rails to Trails, the arts, restoration of
commercial and residential historic buildings, and more. Two pavers were
purchased through Greenville’s Better Hometown program in honor of the two
benefactors.
Before
touring the house and grounds Sally Neal gave a brief history of the house and
its builder. Hiram Warner was born in 1802 in Massachusetts in a family that
had been the first settlers of Martha’s Vineyard. Educated in the local schools
he was a favorite of his teacher Leavitt Thaxter who moved to Sparta, GA to
teach and asked Warner to come be his assistant. The trip south took 36 days as Warner left in
December of 1821 but the ship was overcome by a gale that drove it toward Cape
Hatteras.
From
Warner’s diary we know the livestock were thrown overboard and that Warner and
two sailors’ longboat was capsized by the waves and they swam to shore.
Shipwrecked and walking for hours, they hired a boat to take them to Ocracoke then
to Charleston and on to Savannah. During this time Warner was in his bunk as he
had contracted the measles.
Not
long after Warner arrived in Sparta he began reading law and was admitted to the
bar in 1824 and began practice in Crawford County. The frontier climate forced the
non-brawling Warner into a fistfight where his imposing size and strong
physique flattened the bully that accosted him.
Respect was earned and the public incident brought him into the limelight
faster than anything he could have done.
The next year he was elected to the legislature.
In
1832 Warner became law partners with George Washington Towns-later a Georgia Governor.
Their office was in Talbotton and from there Warner was elected judge of the
Coweta Circuit. In 1845 the first session of the Georgia Supreme Court was held
in Talbotton with Warner as one of its first judges. Salary was $2500 yearly, there were no travel
expenses, and judges took their own notes as there were not stenographers.
Warner
served a number of years as judge and in Congress in the years leading up to
the war. As a land owner (1800 acres) and farmer he owned 74 slaves and took
the position that slavery should be allowed in the expanding territories of the
U. S. As the war neared he was against secession.
Warner
is best known for the hanging story. He was caught at his plantation in 1865 by
members of Wilson’s Raiders that came through Meriwether and pillaged from
landowners. Robbing Warner of his cash,
they demanded more of his gold and wealth. They bent a tree and wrapped a
lariat around his neck. The subsequent
jerk into the air rendered him unable to speak for days. The soldiers cut him down and demanded more
money and two more times strung him up to a tree. They set fire to a nearby buggy before riding
away. The flames spread and were near
Warner’s limp body. A servant cut the
judge down and he lived to tell the story.
When
Warner and his wife Sara and daughter Mary Jane came to Greenville from
Talbotton in 1835, they rented a house while he acquired land and built a one
and a half story plantation home. Over thirty years later, Warner’s daughter Mary
Jane purchased the nearby Abner Callaway home, dismantled it and added it to
make the Warner home a full two story, 4 over 4 imposing antebellum house. Mary Jane Warner Hill designed the parterre
garden of English boxwood. She died in 1925 and her son Alexander Franklin Hill
Jr. lived in the home until 1933.
Louis
and Laura Clark purchased the home in 1934 and they restored the beautiful
formal gardens rooting the boxwood and planting bulbs. Their welcoming family enjoyed
the home and pastoral setting for many years.
The
Gabriel family acquired the home in the late 1900s and did extensive
renovations. Removing the shed porch to
the rear, they built a rear double verandah that matched the front porticos.
Resizing the bedrooms allowed for the addition of indoor plumbing, and downstairs a large family room and kitchen were added. Several buildings such as
the Obadiah House exist and are enjoyed by the family today.
The
historical society members were treated to more family history during their
tour of the home as Warner’s descendent, Sally Estes, set up family paintings and
photographs of him as well as his diary.
Most interesting were the pressed and dried flowers sent to him by his
future wife that were wrapped in a locket of her hair.
The
society enjoyed the tour and finished with a barbecue catered by Stanley
Wheelus from St. Marks.
