Are You Reading Our Heritage Room Newsletters?

On this day we'd like to remind you to subscribe to our two fantastic Heritage Room newsletters. They will be delivered to your email Inbox, and are a great way to keep up with all that is going on in genealogy and history throughout the year, and especially during the busy holiday season.

Our Genealogy and History Events newsletter covers everything from Haunted History tours in Athens and Macon to free webinars about Irish ancestor brick walls and getting started with Native American genealogy. Find out where to hear historians talking about their latest books, or when the dedication ceremony for a new historical marker will be held. Autumn is a busy time for cemetery tours, and with the newsletter, you can take your pick of tours in Athens, Cartersville, Atlanta, and McDonough. The commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War continues apace, with a variety of symposia, lectures, programs, and book-related events. Don't regret not doing something because you didn't find out in time--just read our newsletter!

Our Genealogy News and Tips newsletter makes sure you will not miss out on the information you need for your research, even as everyone's schedule speeds up this autumn. We cover practical information, such as the increase in copying fees at all National Archives locations and updates about the status of the Georgia Archives, to new resources online such as Mercer campus newspapers from 1920-1970 and Scottish post office directories. We even include information on how to fit your research into a busy schedule, such as Family Tree magazine's list of "Weekend Warrior" genealogy projects.

Click here (or either newsletter link above) to subscribe. It couldn't be easier, so sign up today!

Heritage Book Collection Reprieve!

On this day, we are happy to announce that during this last phase of construction, the available Heritage Room book collection will not be closed stacks, and you will have access to far more books than were noted in the last post.

The Heritage Room books are currently upstairs on two shelves that run along the far wall you'll see as you come to the top of the staircase. They are on the other side of the computer desks, on either side of the entrance to the new restrooms. The small cart for books that you are done using is next to the Athens-Clarke County books.

The temporarily smaller collection has a much closer focus on Georgia, including any Georgia county books that cover marriages, wills, cemeteries, deeds, or other abstracts taking priority in the collection. Some county histories have moved, if they provided this type of information. 

Also, all Georgia newspaper abstracts are available, as well as books with multiple counties of marriage or will records, land lottery books, the Pioneers of Wiregrass collection, Christian Index obituaries, U.S. Census indices, Georgia English Crown Grants, and Georgia Governor & Council Journals. 

For North Carolina and South Carolina, no county-focused books will be available for the time being, but there are U.S. Census indices, tax, will, marriage, deed records, as well as North Carolina Colonial Land Entries and South Carolina Royal Land Grants. 

For Virginia, you have access to Adventures of Purse and Person, Cavaliers & Pioneers, Colonial Abstracts, both sets of Genealogies of Virginia Families, Virginia Wills, and Wulfeck's Virginia Marriages. 

Still available for Civil War research are These Men Wore Grey, Rosters of Confederate Graves, Roster of Confederate Soldiers from the Official Records set, two rosters of Georgia Confederate Soldiers, and Sifakis's Compendium of the Confederate Armies. 

For the Revolution, we have Virgil White's collection of military pension and service record abstracts, Pierce's Register, the DAR Patriot Index, some Elijah Clark Chapter records, Helen Lu's Revolutionary War Period set, among other items. White's indices covering the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Indian Wars are also available.

There are also some general genealogy books for those who are getting started, need to know where to look for out of state or county records, or are trying to figure out where the heck the marriage record they need could be, such as the Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, and Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Census, 1790-1920. 

 
We are so happy we were able to make more available than anticipated, and in a way that allows you pursue your research at your own rate, picking the book you want or think you need from the shelf. If you find the book in PINES, we should have it available for you in the current Heritage collection. 


If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to call us at the Reference Desk, at (706) 613-3650, ext. 356, or email us at Heritage.Room.Blog@gmail.com or heritageroom@arlsmail.org. We are still here to help you with your research! 

24 March 1904: "Corpse" Actually Just a Lady Who Fainted

On this day in 1904, the Athens Banner ran this sensational headline on their front page:

Consumption typically referred to pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease that would cause severe weight loss, fatigue, and pallor on top of the obvious respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and chest pain.  


In 1904, there were no antibiotics or other anti-bacterial medications available to treat the disease, and the illness was understood to be fatal. Obviously, however, the woman had not yet succumbed to the disease, so she was not yet a "corpse."


Fear of being buried alive was given the label taphephobia in 1890. Though incidences of premature burial were rare, it was still a commonly used device in fiction of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century, and so remedies were often sought to ease the concern that existed in the culture. 


In 1843, a patent was filed in Baltimore, Maryland for a "life-preserving coffin in case of doubtful death," where the coffin would pop open if any movement occurred inside. However, it only worked above ground. In 1896, the London Association for the Prevention of Premature Burial was formed in England to stop "premature burial generally, and especially amongst members." They managed to pass laws, such as requiring the corpse be held in a mortuary prior to burial, that are still observed today. 




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Feb. 1904 - Nov. 1905 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear by Jan Bondeson via PINES.
• Buried Alive: The Gothic Awakening of Taphephobia by Andrew Mangham, Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.10-22. (pdf file)
• The Sky Is Falling: Understanding and Coping with Phobias, Panic, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders by Raeann Dumont in the general collection.
• Grave Matters: A Lively History of Death Around the World by Nigel Barley in the general collection.
• Buried by Bad Decisions by Daniel Gilbert, Nature, Vol. 474, No. 7351 via GALILEO. (abstract only)
• Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: The History of Burial by Penny Colman in the general collection.
• The Mourning Dance: What We Do When People Die by Katherine Ashenburg in the general collection.
• Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allen Poe in the fiction collection.
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens in the fiction collection.
• Collected Short Stories by H. G. Wells in the fiction section.

21 December 1906:"Many Improvements In and Around the City of the Dead"

On this day in 1906, news of plans to upgrade the home of the sexton of the Oconee Hill Cemetery, and change the entry site to where it is currently located was published in the Weekly Banner. 

The new burial lots were made available when the sexton's house was moved in February, 1908.


Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Jan. 1906 - Dec. 1908 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• Oconee Hill Record of Interments in the Heritage collection.
• Friends of Oconee Hill Cemetery Newsletters in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia Cemetery Directory and Bibliography of Georgia Cemetery Resources by Ted O. Brooke in the Heritage collection.
• Your Guide to Cemetery Research by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack in the Heritage collection.
• Cemetery Research by Nancy Ellen Carlberg in the Heritage collection.
• The Cemetery Book: Cemetery Preservation, Restoration, and Recording by Ted O. Brooke in the Heritage and general collections.

13 November 1867: "with a view to matrimony"

On this day in 1867, the following personal ad was run in the Southern Watchman:

The names used by the young women placing the ad are likely pseudonyms, since they are engaging in somewhat forward behavior for "refined and accomplished" ladies "of good family." However, the war had changed the social world and expectations for many young southern women. Even before the end of the conflict, "changed attitudes and often changed strategies proved necessary as women recognized that men were becoming ever scarcer resources."

Due to poor record keeping during the war, the exact numbers of casualties on either side of the hostilities are unknown.  Of the estimated 1.2 million men who served in the Confederacy, approximately 250,000 were killed in action or by disease, and another 90,000 were wounded.  Estimates for Georgia were that of the approximately 120,000 men who served, between 11,000-25,000 men died in the war. It is generally believed that the country lost nearly 25% of military age (also marriageable age) men. 

Though there is record of some women embracing "spinsterhood" has a patriotic endeavor, "more common...were those single women who remained committed to increasingly impossible hopes." 

Learn More:

• Southern Watchman, Sep. 1864 - Dec. 1867 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Civil War Cemeteries article on the New Georgia Encyclopedia website.
• This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust in the general collection.
• Mothers of Necessity: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust in the general collection.
• These Men She Gave: Civil War Diary of Athens, Georgia by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Confederate Athens by Kenneth Coleman in the Heritage and general collections.
• A Woman's War: Southern Women, Civil War, and the Confederate Legacy, edited by Edward D. C. Campbell in the general collection.
• The Civil War as a Crisis of Gender: Augusta, Georgia, 1860-1890 by Leann Whites in the Heritage collection.
• Southern Watchman, Athens, Georgia: Civil War Home Front Coverage, 1861-1865 by Faye Stone Poss in the Heritage and general collections.
• Confederate Cemeteries, Volumes I & II by Mark Hughes in the Heritage collection.
• Scarlett Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Southern Women in the Civil War Era by Laura F. Edwards in the general collection.
• Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner in the general collection.
• Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, edited by Ann Short Chirhart and Betty Wood in the Heritage collection.

1 November 1831: Quinsy Strikes the Carr Home

On this day in 1831, the Athenian newspaper announced the sad death of Charles Nelson Carr, age 5:

Quinsy, now known as a peritonsillar abscess, is a disease not often seen in our modern world of antibiotics. It is a complication of a throat infection, usually caused by the bacteria group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus. According to Webster's New World Medical Dictionary, "If left untreated, the infection can spread deep in the neck, causing airway obstruction and life-threatening complications."


Medical practices of the 1830s were likely one aspect of the complications for anyone diagnosed with quinsy. Few formal training schools for doctors existed; the Medical College of Georgia had been chartered in Augusta three years earlier. In 1831, doctors would have used emetics and purgatives to rid the body of any ill humors, applied blister plasters to the outside of the child's throat, and used "leeches to draw out the congested blood causing inflammation" to treat quinsy. For a patient who also had a high fever, it was generally assumed he or she would survive for only three to seven days after diagnosis. 


Such treatment likely hastened the death of the patient, but germ theory, the idea "that many diseases are caused by the presence of micro-organisms within the body" would not be developed until the 1860s with the experiments and discoveries of Louis Pasteur and later, Joseph Lister and Robert Koch. Antibiotic treatment that would have cured the throat infection would not be discovered for another 100 years by Alexander Fleming.


Sadly, the Athenian reported in their next issue one week later that Charles' older sister, Mary Eliza Carr, age 11, had also succumbed to the same diseases that killed her brother:

Both children's graves were eventually moved with the rest of their departed family members to Oconee Hill Cemetery after it opened in 1856.


Learn More:

• Athenian, January 26, 1827 - March 13, 1832 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens, Georgia Newspaper Clippings, Volume II, 1831-1834 by Elizabeth Evans Kilbourne in the Heritage collection.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collection.
• History of Athens and Clarke County, Second Edition, Georgia by Frances Taliaferro Thomas in the Heritage and general collections.
• The History of the Medical College of Georgia by Phinizy Spalding in the Heritage collection.
• Webster's New World Medical Dictionary, Second Edition in the general collection.
• Medicine in Jacksonian America web page on the Conner Prairie Interactive History Park website.
• Medicine and Biology web page on the Science Museum (UK) website.
• Timetables of Medicine, edited by Gill Davies in the general collection.
• Western Medicine: An Illustrated History by Irvine Loudon in the general collection.
• Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood by Bill Hayes in the general collection.
• Pasteur and Modern Science by Rene J. Dubos in the biography collection.
• The Mold in Mr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle by Eric Lax in the general collection.

Heritage Room Newsletters Keep You in the Loop!

On this day, we'd like to remind you to subscribe to our two Heritage Room newsletters. They will be delivered to your email Inbox, and are a great way to keep up with genealogy and history throughout the year.

Our Genealogy and History Events newsletter covers everything from seminars on using land records and deeds for your family research to the latest Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation tours and twilight tours of Oakland Cemetery.  Our area has many fantastic educational and research opportunities, and we also let you know about distance learning opportunities with webinars and online courses provided by other historical and genealogical societies.

Our Genealogy Tips and News newsletter makes sure you will not miss out on newly available resources and discoveries. With information and links to how to organize a box of inherited family records, new newspapers added to free resources such as the Library of Congress's Chronicling America site, the name change of Footnote to Fold3, and what is available in our Heritage Room collection during construction (quite a lot!), we make sure you know what is new, what is available, and what can be helpful for the family researcher.

Click here (or either of the above newletter links) to read the current newsletter and subscribe to have them delivered. It couldn't be easier, and is a great time saver, so sign up today!

27 April 1905: Frightening Accident at the Cemetery

On this day in 1905, the following story ran on the front page of the Athens Banner:

INJURED

Miss Susie Gerdine Badly Hurt Yesterday by Her Horse Falling at Cemetery.

     Yesterday afternoon about seven o'clock Miss Susie Gerdine sustained painful and serious injuries in Oconee cemetery, while riding her horse across teh river bridge.
     The horse wanted to come back towards the city and Miss Gerdine wanted to cross into the new part of the cemetery.
     In attempting to make the horse cross the bridge the animal became unmanageable and reared on its haunches. Miss Gerdine slipped from the horse's back and the animal fell across her body.
     Mr. Edward Bancroft was near by [sic] and went to her assistance and in a moment several ladies were present. She was carried to the residence of Mr. J. H. Bisson and as soon as possible Dr. Carlton was summoned. It was deemed advisable to remove her in her home on Hancock avenue. This was done and as soon as she reached home, the physician made a careful examination of her injuries.
     Below her waist she had no use of her body for several hours, and the indications are that she is suffering from a severe shock to the spine.
     Late last night Miss Gerdine had partly recovered the use of one side of her body.

Athens Banner, 27 April 1905, p. 1, col. 5

Miss Susie Gerdine was, at the time, a teacher in the Athens city schools and a charter member of the Athens chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Her accident occured on Confederate Memorial Day, April 26th, where there were commemorations at Oconee Hill Cemetery for the veterans of the war buried there.

The next news of Miss Gerdine in the Athens papers comes on 3 May 1905, as part of the Society page, simply noting that "Miss Susie Gerdine is very much better." 

In 1908, Miss Gerdine was hired with Anne Wallis Brumby to be co-principals for a three-year term of the Lucy Cobb Institute, of which both women were alumnae. The women gave academics at Lucy Cobb Institute an upgrade, requiring math and Latin in order to graduate with a diploma, though other special certificates of completion were offered for those focusing on music or other areas. Those given demerits had to memorize long stanzas of poetry, with Miss Gerdine picking a different poet each year. They also introduced basketball to the school, and encouraged both mental and physical fitness in their students.

In 1916, Anne Brumby decided to resign as co-principal, and Susie Gerdine chose to follow her lead rather than give up teaching in order to handle the demands of running a large school alone. In June, 1919, they would both be part of the first class of women to graduate from the University of Georgia while continuing to teach at Lucy Cobb.

"Miss Susie," as she was known to the students, taught history, physics, and swimming until 1931, and "was universally admired" by her students. It was Miss Susie who would preview movies when they came to town, and, if deemed appropriate for her students, would then chaperone them on their walk downtown to and from the theatre in two straight lines on the sidewalk. Decades later, her students would remember her as "our favorite" and "the best teacher I ever had...(she) made history live then and it continues to live for me now,"  and that her classes "made the past and its people real."

Miss Susie Gerdine died on 8 October 1932, at the age of 59. She is buried with her family in Oconee Hill Cemetery.
 

Learn More:

• Athens Historic Newspaper collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Remembering Athens by Susan Frances Barrow Tate in the Heritage and general collections.
• Higher Education for Women in the South: A History of Lucy Cobb Institute, 1858-1994, edited by Phinizy Spalding in the Heritage collection.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• 1904 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• These Men She Gave: Civil War Diary of Athens, Georgia by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Medicine for the Outdoors: The Essential Guide to Emergency Medical Procedures and First Aid by Paul S. Auerbach in the general collection.
• Medicine for the Backcountry by Buck Tilton and Frank Hubbell in the general collection.
• Fundamentals of Horse Handling: A Guide to Owning a Horse by Barbara Ely in the general collection.
• The Athletic Horse: His Selection, Work, and Management by Carol Foster in the general collection.
• The Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary, edited by James Morwood in the general collection.
• Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women's Basketball by Pamela Grundy and Susan Shackelford in the general collection.
• The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz in the general and children's collections.

22 March 1904: Free Cake for the Ladies

On this day in 1904, the Athens Banner ran this announcement from local ice cream vendor, W. D. Bowden:

The cake was part of a promotion by Gold Leaf Flour. Over the course of the week, in a newly vacated office on the corner of College Avenue and Broad Street, the Cape County Milling Company of Jackson, Missouri, would be holding blind comparisons of flour brands and flour demonstrations to show bread made of their product was "whiter than any flour manufactured. Comparisons and investigation solicited." 

The company also offered to add to their exhibit any locally produced bread made with their flour, and distributed free slices of "Aunt Laura Billups cake" and coffee to those who attended, noting that  "Ladies are requested to bring their friends."

The Cape County Milling Company went out of business in 1953, but the mill is now a Missouri state park.

W. D. Bowden is listed in the 1904 Athens City Directory as an ice cream manufacturer, though he was also active in real estate. Bowden did not have his own store, so likely sold his products to the many cafes, department store lunch counters, diners, and local grocery stores in Athens and surrounding areas. He lived in Athens until his death in 1920, and is buried at Oconee Hill Cemetery.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Feb. 1904 - Nov. 1905 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• 1904 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Great American Ice Cream Book by Paul Dickson in the general collection.
• The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz in the general collection.
• Ice Cream by Mary Goodbody in the general collection.
• Ice-Cream Larry by Daniel Manus Pinkwater in the children's fiction collection.
• New Southern Baking: Classic Flavors for Today's Cooks by Damon Lee Fowler in the general collection.
• BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes by Shirley O. Corriher in the general collection.
• Chocolate Cake by Michele Urvater in the general collecion.
• The Complete Book of Pastry, Sweet and Savory by Bernard Clayton in the general collection.
• Everybody Bakes Bread by Norah Dooley in the children's collection.
• The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum in the general collection. 
• Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins and More by Carole Walter in the general collection.
• Tea Breads and Coffee Cakes by Elizabeth Alston in the general collection.
• The Cook's Encyclopedia of Cookies by Hilaire Walden in the general collection. 
• C is for Cookie Monster by Emilio Delgado in the DVD collection. 

27 September 1833: Legislator Madison Davis Is Born

On this day in 1833, Madison "Mat" Davis was born a slave in Athens, Georgia. He was owned by a local carriage maker, but was freed at the end of the Civil War at the age of 31. He spent some time as a U.S. Customs Surveyor in Atlanta, and in 1866 was Captain of Relief No. 2, Clarke County's first black fire company. Davis was "involved in" the purchase of land for the Knox Institute school that opened in 1867, named for Major John J. Knox, the Athens Sub-District Assistant Commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau.

In 1868, Davis and another former slave, Alfred Richardson, were elected to represent Clarke County in the Georgia House of Representatives. That September, members of the Georgia Legislature decided that while it may be legal for black men to vote, there was nothing in the state constitution that made it legal for them to serve as representatives. Of the 29 black men elected to the Georgia House, 25 were ejected, with a committee appointed to investigate the backgrounds of the four representatives who could not immediately be proven to be more than one-eighth African-American, including Madison Davis. After the investigation, two more representatives were expelled, but Davis and former Union officer and Wilkes County representative Edwin Belcher, were not "because of their light complexions." In 1869, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled black legislators did have the right to hold office, and the expelled representatives were reinstated.

Davis was re-elected in 1870, and was considered "an efficient lawmaker." He introduced bills to build a new Georgia Railroad line through the city of Athens, and in the 1870-1871 session passed a measure to provide assistance to a prominent white family in Athens that had fallen on hard times after the war. He was, however, considered a black politician, and both of his electoral wins were dependent upon the black vote. He chose not to run again in 1872, and pursued a career in real estate. Davis remained active in Republican politics, and in 1890, he was appointed Postmaster of Athens by President Benjamin Harrison.

In the 1870, 1880, and 1900 censuses, and the 1889 Athens City Directory, Madison Davis is listed as living with his family, his wife Ella Church Davis and their children and sometimes their grandchildren, on Newton Street. The couple was married for 44 years, and several of their children were also engaged in serving their communities. Their daughter Elizabeth married A.M.E. Bishop Archibald J. Carey, Sr., and daughter Mattie Beulah married C.M.E. Bishop James A. Bray and was president of the black Women's Club of Athens. Their son James P. Davis was an administrator in the Federal Department of Agriculture, and an informal advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the "Black Cabinet" in the 1930s.

Madison Davis died in December, 1902, at the age of 69. Athens newspapers of that time are incomplete, so it is unclear if his death was acknowledged. He is buried in Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery in Athens.

Learn More:

• A Story Untold: Black Men and Women in Athens History by Michael Thurmond in the Heritage, general, and young adult collections.
• Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery: An African-American Historic Site by Al Hester in the Heritage collection.
• Black Politicians & Reconstruction in Georgia: A Splendid Failure by Edmund L. Drago in the general collection.
• The Republican Party in Georgia: From Reconstruction Through 1900 by Olive Hall Shadgett in the Heritage collection.
• Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 by W.E.B. Du Bois in the Heritage collection.
• A Constitutional History of Georgia 1732-1945 by Albert Berry Saye in the Heritage and general collections.
• 1889 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• 1870, 1880, and 1900 Censuses via HeritageQuest Online in GALILEO. (please call for password)
• Expelled Because of Color sculpture on the grounds of the Georgia State House.
• The forthcoming book, Enduring Legacy: Clarke County, Georgia's Ex-Slave Legislators Madison Davis and Alfred Richardson by Al Hester.

3 August 1864: Union Prisoners Held in Athens

On this day in 1864, at approximately 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Colonel William Campbell Preston Breckinridge's Kentucky Cavalry escorted into Athens over 200 Union prisoners. The men were members of Colonel Horace Capron's brigade, captured during an early morning raid after a day of fighting at Barber Creek. The prisoners were held on the University of Georgia campus for several days while other Union soldiers, scattered during the fighting, were caught and processed as prisoners of war. A total of 431 men were temporarily interned at UGA.

The Southern Watchman described the men thusly:

The prisoners presented a sorry spectacle. Ragged, some of them bare headed, some bare-footed, and all very dirty, we have never seen an equal number of men looking so badly. The great mass of them appeared to be the "rag, tag and bobtail" of the communities from whence they came. We recognized "the Irish brogue and sweet German accent" among them. It is true that, now and then, a respectable looking man was to be seen among the officers and men. The great mass of them, however, looked like "hard cases."

The University was not in session, and some buildings on campus had been put to use as hospitals. Phi Kappa Hall was used as a quartermaster depot and New College as shelter for refugees driven from their homes around the south. Prisoners of war were kept outdoors in open, fenced areas. The day after the prisoners arrived, the citizens of Athens gave an afternoon banquet for the cavalrymen, complete with a musician-led parade through town to lead the Breckinridge brigade to the banquet site in the campus Chapel.

The arrival of the prisoners in Athens was, according to the account in the Southern Watchman, "great excitement, as this was the first squad of Yankees who had visited us since the beginning of the war." Many of the local residents ventured to campus to see and talk to the prisoners; one man cursed a prisoner roundly, ending his verbal attack with a firm kick. An young observer noted that, "Boy as I was I boiled over with indignation and I felt like apologizing to the prisoner for the whole State of Georgia; and I never saw that man afterwards--and he lived twenty years after the war--that I did not say to myself 'there goes a coward.'"

The Union prisoners spent their time in Athens under the guard of an Athens home defense unit known as the Mitchell Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts consisted of mostly well-established, well-educated professional men who were too old for the Confederate draft. Confederate law had recently allowed such local "minute-man" style companies to be formed whose only role would be to defend their home towns if attacked, and could not be co-opted by the Confederate Department of War. They were allowed to make their own rules and elect their own officers, and were not under orders of any higher military authority.

The Mitchell Thunderbolts, named for Private William L. Mitchell, were widely known as more independent than most home guards, much to the consternation of General Howell Cobb, who was Georgia's commander of reserve forces. One member of the Thunderbolts, John Gilleland, invented the double-barreled cannon. Though it's intended use was not successful, it may have been used as a regular cannon to defend Athens at Barber Creek the day before the prisoners arrived in town.

According to the Watchman, Athens held the prisoners for only a few days before they were shipped "to Andersonville, where they will be properly cared for." However, by August of 1864, the 26 1/2-acre Andersonville held more than 33,000 Union prisoners of war, far more than the space was built to allow. The site is now a National Cemetery and home to the National Prisoner of War Museum.

Learn More:

• Southern Watchman, Aug. 1861 - Aug. 1864 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Southern Banner, Aug. 1862 - Dec. 11, 1864 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• These Men She Gave: Civil War Diary of Athens, Georgia by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Confederate Athens by Kenneth Coleman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Athens, 1861-1865: As Seen Through Letters in the University of Georgia Libraries, edited by Kenneth Coleman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Annals of Athens, 1801-1901 by Augustus Longstreet Hull in the Heritage collection.
  
• College Life in the Old South by E. Merton Coulter in the Heritage and general collections.
• Hell's Broke Loose in Georgia: Survival in a Civil War Regiment by Scott Walker in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• The Confederate Nation, 1861-1865 by Emory M. Thomas in the Heritage and general collections.
• Camp Sumter: The Andersonville Chronology, October 28, 1863-November 21, 1865 by Ken Drew in the Heritage collection.
• This Was Andersonville by John McElroy in the Heritage collection.
• Andersonville Journey by Edward F. Roberts in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• Ghosts and Shadows of Andersonville: Essays on the Secret Histories of America's Deadliest Prison, edited by Robert Scott Davis in the Heritage collection.
  
• Civil War Heartland Leader's Trail website.
• Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System website.
• The Southern Homefront 1861-1865 web page, part of UNC Library's Documenting the American South website.
• Battle of Barber Creek website.

11 May 1902: Short Notes of Interest

On this day in 1902, the Athens Daily Banner published these in their Short Notes of Interest column:

Best line of Cigars in the city. The Orr Drug Co.

________________

Illicit Distiller,
J. M. Butler, a white man from Oconee county, was bound over to appear at the next term of the U. S. court on the charge of illicit distilling.

________

For Sale,
My home place, corner Baldwin and Jackson streets. H. T. Huggins.

________

18 Granulated Sugar,
For $1.00 at J. H. Massey's.

________

Death of Engineer,
The remains of Mr. J. L. Greer, an engineer employed by the Seaboard at Abbeville, S. C., were brought to Athens yesterday at noon, and taken over the Georgia railroad to Woodville, Ga., for interment.

________

Royal Etchings,
C. W. Motes, the photographer, invites the attention of the public to the very latest style of picture, the Royal Etching, which he has on display at his studio. For enlarged pictures nothing equals this style in beauty, finish or durability.

________

Lost,
On Broad street, a small pin or badge, enameled, blue and gold, with letters "U.S." on face. Finder will be suitably rewarded by returning to Webb & Crawford.

________

Snap Beans,
Cabbage and New Irish Potatoes at J. H. Massey's.

________

Services at Catholic Church,
There will be services at the Catholic church this morning at 9:30. Father Rapier officiating.

________

$50.00,
I will pay fifty dollars reward with evidence to convict for the party or parties defacing public buildings or places by writing indecent words or otherwise. J. F. Rhodes, mayor.

________

For Rent,
Two nice front rooms, suitable for physician, dentist, or lawyers in the Hajos Studio, 21 Clayton street. Apply to C. O. Motes, Studio 10 1/2 College avenue.

________

Star Brand Hams,
at J. H. Massey's.

________

Burial of Infant,
The little infant of Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Yancey who died early yesterday morning in Atlanta was brought here yesterday for interment. The corpse was met at the Seaboard depot and the interment took place in Oconee Cemetery.

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Evaporated Apples,
at J. H. Massey's.

________________

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, May 1902 - Oct. 1903 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• 1902 Southern Bell Telephone Directory for Athens and Connections in the Heritage collection.
• 1904 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• Hajos' Athens Photo-Gravures by Albin Hajos in the Heritage and general collections.
• Moonshine: A Life in Pursuit of White Liquor by Alec Wilkinson in the biography section.
• Collector's Guide to Early Photographs by O. Henry Mace in the general collection.
• Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs by Maureen Alice Taylor in the general collection.
• Seaboard Air Line Railway: Steam Boats, Locomotives, and History by Richard E. Prince in the Heritage collection.
  
• The Cemeteries of Greene County, Georgia by E. H. Armor in the Heritage and general collections.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
  
• The Locavore Way: Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Food by Amy Cotler in the general collection.
• Tommy at the Grocery Store by Bill Grossman in the children's collection.
  

1 February 1901: Athens' Fine Health Record

On this day in 1901, the Athens Daily Banner published the following notice:

One thing that Athens is justly proud of is her magnificent health record. Much as been written and said about it but here is one of the strongest proofs which has ever been brought forward, viz, in one of the worst months of the year for deaths and fatalities from disease, there has not been a single interment in the Oconee cemetery.

This comes from the report of Mr. Bisson, the efficient sexton. The last interment was made there on December 29th when the burial of Mrs. M. J. Abney occurred.

This showing can hardly be equalled by any city of its size in the United States and she is justly proud of it.

While such accolades to the citizenry for surviving January might seem peculiar, for Athens, a focus on the city's "excellent health record" is a common theme in the newspapers, and is frequently featured in the city profiles found in front of city directories from the early 1900s.

In the 1904 directory, three of the first five paragraphs about Athens discuss how and why "youth and vigorous manhood and womanhood enjoy almost an immunity from death in this community." Such vital citizenry was attributed to the city's "magnificent water supply," "natural drainage advantages that very few cities can boast," and a "magnificent sewerage system that traverses more than thirteen miles of streets." In 1909, the city directory noted that of the sewer system in Athens "too high praise cannot be given."

Though the 1904 directory focuses on natural features as much as civic ones (average temperatures receive equal accolades to the education available), by 1909, the focus is industry, with whole paragraphs about various manufacturing companies in town. Clean water and sanitation are a basic fact of our modern life, but for Athens, in her first century, access to the Oconee and a decent sewer system was a quality of life draw for industry and point of civic pride.

Learn More:

Athens Daily Banner, Feb. 1900 - Dec. 1908 Supplemental on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
1904 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
1909 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Vol. I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
Oconee Hill Cemetery Record of Interments in the Heritage room collection.
Athens-Clarke County Public Utilities web page.
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene page for the World Health Organization.