MHS Fall Picnic at the Warner-Clark-Gabriel Home

The Meriwether Historical Society met on Sunday, September 29^th 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 19^th 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.

Paving the Way

The Meriwether Historical Society presented two awards to benefactors of our county at its September meeting and picnic held on the grounds of the Hiram Warner-Clark-Gabriel antebellum

home in Greenville. President Sallie Mabon, right, and Sally Estes standing beside her, paid tribute to Rod and Linda Wilburn who have been instrumental to many county improvements and  achievements: building our animal shelter, Habitat for Humanity, the Lovelight Program, their church,  the Better Home Town Program, Greenville Streetscapes, Rails to Trails, Court Square Café, the Print Shop Art Gallery, restoration of several historic buildings in Greenville, Meriwether Chamber of Commerce, and the Together in Meriwether Committee, and the upcoming Expressions of Meriwether. Because of their support for the arts, tourism, and economic growth for our area, the historical society honored them with a paver for our next streetscape building project is set to start soon. “The pavers are a wonderful way to remember someone for a long time,” said Better Home Town Manager Sally Estes, and we have been blessed and fortunate that the Wilburns have been so dedicated to our city and county.

 The Meriwether Historical Society purchased a paver in honor of Mando Corporation. In 2012 our county courthouse received extensive exterior renovations, repairs, and a “facelift” because of the generosity of Mando. Representing Mando was Terry Birdsong, Human Resource Manager, who said Mando believes in giving back to the community.

The Joys and Tribulations of Practicing Medicine

 

The Meriwether Historical Society met on Sunday, February 24, 2013 on the second floor court room of the historic court house. President Sallie Mabon welcomed members and guests to the special program to hear our local doctors. Mabon reminded everyone that membership to the MHS is not exclusive and individual dues were $30 and family dues $45.

Mabon thanked Sheriff Chuck Smith for opening the court house to the group for this special program that would have been standing room only in the MHS headquarters building.

Mabon introduced each of the four physicians participating in the panel: Dr. Martha Clements, Dr. Mack Clements, Dr. J. Harper Gaston, and Dr. Andy Wasden.

Dr. Martha was the first to speak and told a bit about her background. From Elberton and raised in Oconee County, Martha said her high school graduating class of 64 students marched in for the graduation ceremony in academic order.  The 64 students all attended and graduated from college. She met Mack at UGA in chemistry class (which he aced.)

As a young physician in Greenville, Dr. Martha was impressed by several local persons: Mary Alice Tigner who believed in and did her job, Miriam Strozier, and a most dedicated worker in the clinic: Dovie Head. Dovie had worked for Dr. Jack Whitworth washing test tubes and doing simple tasks, but Drs. Mack and Martha enlarged her job description and found she could do plenty.

Martha had amusing reminisces and mentioned the elderly couple who would walk down Stovall Road and stop at the clinic to tell them they were walking across town to the Welfare Office to get a ride to the clinic! Another patient always called his affliction “sickest cell anemia.”

Martha recalled an interesting 84 year old patient who was very ill and congested but insisted she had to go to a funeral and could Martha give her something? Martha insisted she come in and be examined and then encouraged her to go home and rest.  The patient insisted she had to go to this funeral. When Martha asked whose funeral it was, the patient replied, “My husband’s.”

Dr. Mack Clements said one of his first memories is that of Dr. Gilbert. The family property was overgrown with poison ivy so he was regularly in the clinic for a shot for the rash. When he went to the clinic because he cut his foot, the nurse, Florine, naturally gave him a poison oak shot and not the tetanus that he needed.

Mack reminisced about their internship in Rome in 1967 when towns did not have ambulance services but the local funeral home’s hearse was used. He said the oldest hearse was donated as an ambulance and that the driving job was given to moonshiners because they could drive anything!

Another tale was told of when Medicaid first became available.  Mack’s patient came on Day 1 to have him take a splinter out of his hand; Day 2 he came because his ears were full of wax; Day 3 he had a cold; and Day 4-just because he had a run-down constitution! When Mack said he did not know what to do for a run-down constitution, the patient replied, “That’s ok-you’re a country doctor and not supposed to know everything!”

Mack said one patient was not well and Dr. Mack had her transported in Wade Gilbert’s hearse to the hospital in LaGrange. When he went to see her she said, “Now you’ve kept me from dying, what are you going to do with me?”

A last tale Dr Mack told happened in 1972 when on a house call he met the patient in the swing in his yard. He had been seen by five doctors and told Mack every nerve was gone and he needed dope. Mack reminded him he was good friends with alcohol,l so why change? “It’s turned against me,” he said. Mack learned the man’s wife had been putting syrup of ipecac in his liquor!

Dr. Martha finished with a story on Mack. Martha attended most afterhours’ calls and took along the couple’s two daughters.  When Dr. Mack was available to help, the youngest said, “Daddy, I didn’t know you were a doctor!”

Mack finished with a story that happened the summer of the 1996 Olympics. Many athletes were in the Pine Mountain area there to train then compete.  One day a huge KGB Greco Roman wrestler sized athlete came to the office.  He had hurt his foot, broken the little toe. He asked if could drink his vodka in the waiting room to which Mack said, “Well, be discreet.” Mack treated him and then the office manager said there was no understanding his international insurance so Mack said there was no charge. Later an envelope appeared with tickets to the Olympics competitions in them which the Clements enjoyed.

Dr. J. Harper Gaston began by saying he was glad to be home in Greenville, retired here now for 25 years. His father was a physician and Harper and his wife Anne both worked as physicians after their graduation from Emory. While his father, a 1932 Cornell grad, at one time earned $25 a month, Harper and Anne earned $10 month in 1956. So much for the big bucks physicians earn!

Emory did not let females in as a rule, but Anne was Phi Beta Kappa from Alabama! Medicine allowed them to have a number of exciting years and their partnership led them to California after several years at Grady in Atlanta. Dr. Harper was also in the Air Force and rotated from dispensary, dermatology to the operating room. While serving as OB/Gyn, he delivered 234 babies in three months.

Dr. Harper told of Dr. Anne’s pregnancy and how the attending physician was frustrated by delivering to such a knowledgeable patient.  When Dr. Anne’s blood pressure was dangerously low, she asked him if she was going into shock before he acknowledged it.

Dr. Andy Wasden began by saying he was a student of history and a firm believer that if we don’t study it we are doomed to make the same mistakes.

Wasden pointed out that Henry Tombs designed Warm Springs and the cabin he built for himself is the core of Wasden’s current home. Wasden was born in Pavo, GA and grew up with a physician father. One of his earliest memories is of going on a house call to a small two room shack where he held the light while his father delivered a baby, and then he was allowed to cut the cord and wrap the baby in a blanket and keep it warm by the fire.

Wasden’s father died his senior year of high school and Andy wondered if he would work as hard as his father had done. Dr. Calvin Jackson was chairman of the state board at the time and allowed him to borrow the money for school and repay it in five years if he were working in a poor county-which Meriwether was.

Wasden remembered some of his first tests as a physician: radios were in the hospital vehicles and he was covering Dr. Jackson’s practice. Once was a child with a cut scalp. One 1978 call from Jo Thomas simply said, “Get down here. The patient was lethargic and holding the stomach, the blood pressure was 40/0. It was Wasden’s first operation as the patient would not make it to Columbus. The many split second decisions for Wasden plus the many things that could go wrong made for an unnerving story in light of today’s tendency to toward litigation.

Wasden finished by saying how much he loved serving Meriwether County with one special memory being a part of Flint River Academy family and helping coach.

Sallie Mabon thanked the physicians and told a story of her father, a country doctor, and her mother an anesthetist. When her father delivered a baby, her mother was told to make the baby breathe.  She took him outside to a horse tank, broke the ice with her elbow and dipped him in the icy water! The baby came out breathing!

The physicians answered questions from the floor: one concerned a low salt diet and yes, Dr. Mack said, a low salt diet helped with hypertension and blood pressure. Research in Africa showed that the people there did not have any blood pressure problems because they had no salt and when it was brought in by the Chinese, they began to have blood pressure problems.

When asked about exciting changes in medicine, Dr. Mack answered it was going to be interesting to follow the results of statins which became available in 1987 and have helped with elevated cholesterol and triglycerides.

A final observation was made that six citizens in Greenville living near the clinic lived to be over 100 years old. The conclusion was that Greenville and Meriwether are just great places to live!

 

 

Scanning and Mapping Cemeteries

November 2012

The Meriwether Historical Society met on Sunday, November 4^th, 2012 at its headquarters building on court square Greenville.  President Sallie Mabon introduced speaker Rev. Len Strozier to the members and guests who had come most interested in hearing about Strozier’s work of mapping cemeteries and preserving them for the future.

   Strozier and his son Ben have mapped cemeteries all over the Southeast with two notable Georgia jobs being historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta and the Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers.

   Strozier’s work consists of scanning lots in two foot swaths to find graves using ground penetrating radar that is 85-95% accurate. The radar waves are read by a computer which can distinguish cast iron from concrete from clay pipe to the remains of a body. A grave, after fifty years of moisture and rot, often leaves a depression and always an air pocket. They flag these pockets, do GPS records of the latitude and longitude of each, upload them, and print maps of cemeteries. The records they produce are of three types: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), GPS, and GIS, Government Information Systems.

   Many times they find forgotten graves buried under concreted driveways or parking lots. Seventy percent of the time graves lie with the head facing to the west and feet to the east. Strozier explained their interest in cemeteries not as macabre-appropriate for the historical society’s meeting date after Halloween-but really is a connection with history. Strozier’s first cemetery mapping occurred after he finished seminary and was in Bolingbroke, GA where he would eat his lunch in the cemetery and enjoy the quiet, contemplative atmosphere and the beautiful artwork of the grave markers. Recently, he finished scanning and mapping Milledgeville’s seventeen acre cemetery and found over 1230 unmarked burials. He also scanned a 100 acre cotton patch in Metter and found unmarked graves the owners had always heard were there. In Hartwell, GA the Stroziers mapped 1700 burials on seven acres.

   Members of Greenville’s Cemetery Committee (John Norris, Mel Adkins, Tom Tigner) were in attendance and scanning and mapping Greenville’s 10.5 acre cemetery is of interest because of the ongoing necessary expansion combined with the desire not to dig into unmarked graves. The grassy area at downhill right when you enter the cemetery is thought to have indigent burials and slave graves.  The historical society would like to record those graves and place a marker and memorial there. The original main entrance to the cemetery was probably elsewhere, but there are no records of it.

   Strozier showed the group aerial photos and satellite images of the cemetery and member Jane Morrison explained the newest and northwestern most part of the cemetery was sold to the city by her mother during Mayor Bray’s first term as mayor. Having information like this is such a bonus when research and fact finding starts a project.

   Strozier explained that unmarked graves may have a theological reason for being unmarked. Many poorer burials had wooden crosses which rotted or the graves were marked by field stones that were later removed for mowing. Slabs that are hard to read may be best determined by making etchings and recording the data. It takes him approximately five weeks to do 8000 marked and 1200 unmarked graves. Strozier’s costs run $2500 to $3500 per acre.  An MHS committee of Jane Morrison, Lelia Freeman, and Diana and John Norris was formed to look into mapping the cemetery in affordable phases.

   In other news the MHS chose to have its annual Christmas party at the Greenville Art Gallery possibly with Dimitri from the Greenville Café next door catering the event. Linda Dobbs passed on to the club the possible project of reprinting the History of Greenville 1828-1951 that several in the club were aware of as being a quaint collection of reminiscences of local events that was bound by ribbon somewhat like a bundle of old letters. Also the garden club asked that the historical society donate for the island maintenance that is being done weekly on court square.  The club voted to give $200 to the $1600 project.

Ranching and Rodeoing

The Meriwether Historical Society met at QC Arena at Quercus Farms in Gay on Sunday, September 9^th, 2012 for a special program on the history of ranching and rodeoing. Eddie and Melanie Paul and Susan Pritchett manage the farm and arena which is a 125’ by 250’ covered arena that hosts clinics and rodeos and a variety of equine events. The farm has a cottage, cabin and bunkhouse ranch accommodations that are handy when they host large events at the arena or for many riders on the trails.

   Program narrator Winston Neal explained to the group that rodeo events all evolved from the day to day activities on a ranch. Whether moving a herd to a rail line or doctoring the cow out on the range, the cowboy and his horse had to be handy and versatile.  Calf roping, team roping, sorting, and cutting were the fours areas demonstrated by local cowboys John and Austin Gordon, Clay Chapman, Link Mitchem, and Rob Singleton. Bob Perkerson and Georgia State Cowboy Poet Jerry Warren entertained as well with cowboy poetry and storytelling between the demonstrations.

   Neal began by telling the development of the quarter horse with its thoroughbred background and bloodlines of native horses shown to have the talents needed for working cows.  The American Quarter Horse Association began in 1940 and today encompasses horses known for their racing speed at the short quarter mile distance, as well as roping, cutting, and pleasure riding.

   The cowboy we think of today as the American cowboy evolved from the western vaqueros who taught men who migrated west to work on ranches after the Civil War. At that time thousands of feral cattle called mavericks roamed the US.  Worth $4 a head at the ranch, they became worth $40 a head if brought to the rail line in Kansas-so the cattle drives began. The cattle drive era lasted only about twenty years, Neal said, as train travel expanded throughout the U.S. and connected the larger towns.

   Neal pointed out the cowboys’ working clothes such as chaps and a hat and explained how useful chaps were for riding through the brush and a hat for feeding or watering your horse, but in the early years cowboys were as likely to wear a toboggan or sailor’s hat-it was all in what was available. Trivia about Charles Goodnight for whom the chuck wagon was named, Lonesome Dove, the Chisholm Trail and more were sprinkled through the program.

   John and Austin Gordon roped several calves to demonstrate calf roping and it was easy for the crowd to see how this afforded the ranch hand the opportunity to doctor or brand a calf. After dismounting to run down the rope and tie up the calf, the cowboy leaves his horse alone to hold the rope taunt. The need for a good horse cannot be overstated. Team ropers Clay Chapman and Link Mitchem showed how the header roped the horns and the healer caught the back feet to stretch out the larger steer or cow in order to be doctored.

   Moving the cows around the arena and sorting through them showed how a good horse makes the job easy. Cows gravitate toward a herd so the next competition that evolved was cutting. Rob Singleton worked several heifers showing the horse’s cattle sense and quick footed “dance” as his stallion kept the singled out cow from going back to the herd.

   Bob Perkerson who has a deep appreciation for cowboy poetry introduced special guest Jerry Warren who founded the Georgia Cowboy Poets Association and who was named the official Cowboy Poet of Georgia by the legislature. Warren delighted the audience with humorous poems filled with cowboy wit and sayings.

   The historical society program ended with a superb chuck wagon meal prepared by Eddie and Melanie Paul featuring barbecued briskets, homemade potato salad, cowboy beans made with seven different types of beans seasoned by ground beef, bacon, peppers and inions-all served alongside biscuits and finished with peach cobbler.  The meal was served from large and heavy cast iron cookware and eaten from old fashioned blue tin enamelware plates. Red and white checkered linens decorated the many wooden picnic tables at the arena. Those dining were charmed by the authenticity of the setting and accoutrements plus they enjoyed the delicious meal.

Boston Tea Party-Twas a Taxing Event

The Meriwether Historical Society’s entry into the July 4^th Sweet Land of Liberty Parade in LaGrange brought home a third place ribbon. “The Original Tea Party: ’Twas a Taxing Event” featured young patriots masquerading as Mohawk Indians to dump King George’s tea into Boston Harbour in 1773.  Greenville Patriots were Jagger Stephens, Hannah, Rebecca, Bethany, and Caleb Emberton, and Evie Sinotte.

With a little engineering, Sally and Winston Neal turned the backyard canoe-with-hole-in-the-bottom into a British frigate. Toots Hobson called in ideas for the slogan, costumes, and special effects and, voila, we had a winner!

Many thanks to April Emberton and Renee Jagger for pulling together last minute outfits for the young patriots/Mohawks.

Historical Society visits the Taylor's Mark Hall

The Meriwether Historical Society met on Sunday, April 22, 2012 at Mark Hall, the country home of John and Susan Taylor. The Taylors welcomed the club to the historic raised cottage structure that was the ancestral home built by Dr. James Stinson for his daughter.  Henry Crowder bought the house and moved it to its Hunter’s Crossroads location. Many members in the club remembered the various owners who had enjoyed the beautiful grounds and home, and told the Taylors stories of visiting, overnight holidays, and games and pastimes played there. 

   Sarah Sibley Ogletree, one of the early members of the society and owner of Mark Hall was a prominent member of the historical group and many remembered meetings and visits at the home during the 1970s and 1980s.

   Several years ago the Taylors purchased Mark Hall from Rick Bradshaw who did extensive renovation in the 1990s.  Many of the rooms reflect the work done then with the exception of the lower story or ground level floor of the plantation home where John Taylor has ensconced his wine.
   The wine cellar or Taylor’s “man cave” was architecturally breathtaking with clever attention to detail that highlighted the hand hewn beams, exposed brick made there on the plantation, plastered walls and original features of the farm office but left room for the proper storage of wine, Taylor’s hunting and fishing memorabilia, photography and artwork, and a comfy place for friends to gather.
   Taylor was asked, “In the event of fire, which bottle would you grab first to rescue?” Without hesitation Taylor whipped an ’84 Bordeaux from its nook and said he was waiting for the right occasion to pop the cork.

   The Taylors entertained the club members with a delicious variety of wines from his cellar plus refreshments, all while they enjoyed viewing the rooms and gardens.  Taylor encouraged guests to wander to the estate cemetery where Crowders and Clements were buried.

   Club members reminisced with the Taylors and told Meriwether tales under the green canopy of hardwood trees gracing the backyard.  A delightful breeze kept the afternoon cool while a short business meeting was held.  The MHS headquarters needs a new roof and three bids have been taken to do the work.  Locally Nash Roofing has a supplier making the pressed tin shingles that duplicate the older shingles.  Toots Hobson was named committee chair to head up finding a purposeful use or resale of the old shingles removed from the building-its only roof for 140 years!
   Mike Shaddix spoke about becoming a member of Georgia’s state parks and historical sites and by being a supporter of the parks, admission to all was free. By purchasing through the Little White House, a bit more money came its way.

   President Sallie Mabon presented a gift basket for the Taylors which included the book An Historical Account of Meriwether County and historical society stationery.