8 November 1913: Veteran "Plainly and Harmlessly Drunk" Not Charged

On this day in 1913, the Athens Banner relayed this story about a police officer who took pity on one of their arrested men:

 

(click to enlarge image)

The "iron badge of honor" likely refers to the Southern Cross of Honor bestowed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, starting in 1900. Few Confederate medals were awarded during the Civil War due to metal shortages, and at veterans reunion in Atlanta in 1898, Mary Ann Lamar Cobb Erwin proposed the UDC bestow honor medals to veterans. Sarah E. Gabbett of Atlanta designed the medal, which was approved the following year by the UDC. 

The first medal was awarded to Mrs. Erwin's husband, Judge Alexander S. Erwin of Athens, who had fought at Gettysburg during the war. The Cobb-Deloney Confederate Veterans passed a resolution that the Judge receive "the No. 1 medal," "this gift of honor to southern heroism and true Confederate gallantry."  

The UDC awarded crosses to 78,761 men between 1900 and 1913. It was against the law in some states (and still in Virginia) to wear a Southern Cross of Honor not bestowed to you, so the "unknown man" was probably a veteran of the Civil War, one who, like many, fell on hard times in the following years. 

Typically, a 360 violation cost the offender a $5.00 fine plus $1.25 in court costs, equivalent to $146.00 today. Many violators would pay such a fine over a period of weeks, $1 or $2 at a time. Those who did not have a steady income would be forced to work off the fine at 50 cents per day on public works projects in town, such as paving roads or installing the city's sewer system.


Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Oct. 1913 - Dec. 1913 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• History of Athens and Clarke County by H. J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I, by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• Roster of Confederate Graves, Georgia Division by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the Heritage collection.
• Gettysburg: Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill by Harry W. Pfanz in the general collection.
• The Civil War: The First Year by Those Who Lived It by Brooks D. Simpson in the general collection.
• Mothers of Invention by Drew Gilpin Faust in the general collection.
• Southern Cross of Honor history page.

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 April 1861: The Troup Artillery Departs for Savannah

On this day in 1861, the city of Athens had a festive send off of their local Troup Artillery, which had been called up to assist in the protection of Savannah. Their train departed at 11 o'clock in the morning, with stops in Greensboro and Augusta. 


Once in Savannah, "the men pitched their tents in two rows of ten each, leaving a space fifty yards wide for the guard tent" in parade ground near Bull Street. They named their cannons for Athens ladies back home, Sallie (for Sallie Craig), Helen (for Helen Newton), and Olivia (for Helen's sister).  They would stay in Savannah until June 26th, when they went north to Richmond, Virginia.


In what was called "the grandest civic and military display Athens has ever witnessed," the men of the Troup Artillery were escorted to the train depot by the Oconee Cavalry, the Athens Guards, the Athens Fire Department, the Lumpkin Law School Cadets, many citizens of the city, and students from the University. A band played music at the front of the procession.


At the depot, speeches were given and prayers "to protect those who were about to leave us" were made in front of an estimated crowd of 2,000-3,000 people. According to the Southern Banner, "There was scarcely a dry eye in that vast assemblage. Many were unable to even to utter the last good-bye, and gave the last warm pressure of the hand, which spoke more eloquently the anguish within, than words could have conveyed."


The local papers in Savannah reported on their arrival, stories that were reprinted in local Athens papers, such as this one:

Though initially, the Athens papers had only a partial list of men in the Troup Artillery, a more complete report of officers and privates came from the Savannah News and reprinted the following week in the Banner:

Captain--Marcellus Stanley.
1st Lieutenant--Henry H. Carlton.
2nd Lieutenant--Alexander F. Pope.
3d Lieutenant--Edward P. Lumpkin.
Ensign--Pope Barrow.
1st Sergeant--George J. Newton.
2d Sergeant--Columbus W. Motes.
3d Sergeant--George A. Homer.
4th Sergeant--Ruel K. Pridgeon.
5th Sergeant--Baptist H. Swan.
1st Corporal--Lee Lyle.
2d Corporal--Lafayette C. Cooper.
3d Corporal--Thomas F. Baker.
4th Corporal--Wm. H. P. Jones.

PRIVATES:
Samuel T. Aaron,
George B. Atkisson,
Joseph A. Blackman,
Thomas A. Barrow,
George P. Bennett, Richard G. Bearden,
John M. Bostick,
James M. Brown,
Benjamin Culp,
Robert Childers,
Bartholomew R. Cain,
Hedges C. Conger,
Hinton C. Dillard,
James F. Dillard,
Robert F. Dorsey,
Albert S. Dorsey,
John C. Davours,
William H. Dicken,
John W. Edwards,
E. T. England,
Lorenzo D. Furgusson,
John O'Farrell,
Robert Flournoy,
Joseph Gerdine,
John J. Griffith,
Wm. Hemphill,
John H. Hughes,
James M. A. Johnson,
Charles M. Lumpkin,
Frank Lumpkin,
Absalom E. Lee,
Howard L. Mullins,
Edward M. Maxey,
David McDonald,
John J. McConnell,
Wm. P. Meeler,
Isaac S. Moore,
Robert Moore,
H. D. C. F. D. Muller,
John F. Murray,
Almon L. Nance,
Joseph A. Moore,
Edward Pittman,
Augustus C. Patman,
John A. Parks,
John Patrick,
Edwin W. Porter,
Anderson W. Reese,
Edgar Richardson,
James Pledger,
James T. Sansom,
Thomas H. Shaw,
Joseph C. Strickland,
Benjamin Pope Taylor,
Obediah Vincent,
Isaac Vincent,
John O. Waddell,
Henry F. Winn,
George C. Williams,
T. D. Williams. 

The unit was part of the 2nd Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, and joined Cobb's Legion in December, 1861. Among the battles they participated in were Antietam (17 September 1862), Fredericksburg (16 December 1862), Chancellorsville (1-3 May 1863), and Gettysburg (1-3 July 1863). They disbanded after the end of the war, in April, 1865, having lost 47 men.

Learn More:

• Southern Banner, Mar. 11, 1858 - Jul. 1862 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 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.
• These Men She Gave: Civil War Diary of Athens, Georgia by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Southern Watchman, Athens, Georgia: Civil War Home Front Coverage, 1861-1865, abstracted by Faye Poss in the Heritage and general collections.
• Compendium of the Confederate Armies: South Carolina and Georgia, Volume 7, by Stewart Sifakis in the Heritage collection.
• Campfires of Georgia's Troops, 1861-1865 by William S. Smedlund in the Heritage collection.
• Rebel Georgia by F. N. Boney in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia Civil War Historic Markers by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in the Heritage collection.

Fourth Heritage Room Genealogy Class at the Athens Community Council on Aging

On this day, we'd like you to know that the Heritage Room's fourth class at the Athens Community Council on Aging will be on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012, from 1:00pm to 2:30pm in the Harris Room's ACCA Hoyt Street location. The title of the class is Finding Those Who Served: Military Records.

If you missed the first class, don't worry! Each class is independent, so if you are set on the basics, but want to know more about service records or using draft cards and pension records in your research, just sign up now for the April 4th class.  The class is free to members of the ACCA's Center for Active Living. Though free for members of CAL, pre-registration is required.

In our forth installment, we'll demonstrate the width and breadth of the war-related information available and useful for genealogical research. Our overview will cover what the records are, what sort of information they contain, and where they are located going back to Colonial times.

For more information about the classes, please call us at the library, (706) 613-3650, extension 356; to register, please call the Athens Council on Aging at (706) 549-4850 or consult their online program catalog, Senior Center Scene.

1 October 1918: Student Army Training Corps at UGA Take Oath at Noon

On this day in 1918, five hundred University of Georgia students who registered to enlist in the Student Army Training Corps were sworn in with a program "essentially military in its nature, with patriotic features." 


According to the Athens Banner, the ceremony plan sent by the War Department was as follows:

In compliance with these orders, all the membership of the corps will be assembled on Herty Field promptly at noon. The flag will be raised, with military ceremonies, and every man will repeat after the commanding officer the oath of allegiance. The general and special orders of the day will be read by the adjutant, and the special messages which will be transmitted by the Secretary of War. Four minute addresses will be made by Chancellor Barrow, Dr. E. L. Hill, Mr. W. T. Forbes, and Judge A. J. Cobb. The soldiers will then pass in review and the ceremonies will be concluded.

The Student Army Training Corps were created by the War Department the previous summer in order to conduct "emergent war education through the medium of colleges." Students who enlisted were inducted en masse across the nation on October 1st, 1918, and were considered soldiers on active duty.  There were two tracks of enlistment: 

High school gradutes of 18 years and over will be eligible to the ranks of the collegiate training division of the S.A.T.C. Grammar school graduates are eligible to the vocational section. Transfers will be made from one branch to the other in keeping with the ability shown by individuals.

All students would be monitored to see if they exhibited any sign of being "officer material," and if so, would be recommended for the Central Officer Training Corps. The War Department was also interested in students with scientific and technical skills who could be given "an opportunity to complete intensified courses of direct military value."


The S.A.T.C. program went into effect just a few months before World War I came to an end. By the middle of December, 1918, both Company B and Company A at the University of Georgia had been demobilized and its soldiers given honorable discharges. In late December, the University's Naval unit was demobilized, but those soldiers were placed into the Naval Reserves. 

All members of the S.A.T.C. were encouraged to keep their military insurance policies, but were not entitled to the Victory buttons distributed to veterans in spring of 1919.




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1918 - Nov. 1918 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The University of Georgia: A Bicentennial History by Thomas G. Dyer in the Heritage and general collections.
• The University of Georgia Under Sixteen Administrations, 1785-1955 by Robert Preston Brooks in the Heritage collection.
• The Ghosts of Herty Field by John F. Stegeman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Athens: A Pictorial History, 1801-2001 by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage, Reference, and general collections.
• The Dictionary of the First World War by Stephen Pope and Elizabeth-Anne Wheal in the Reference and general collections.
• The Great War: A Guide to Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers by Christina K. Schaefer in the Heritage collection.
• The Yanks Are Coming: The United States in the First World War by Albert Marrin in the general collection.
• An Illustrated History of the First World War by John Keegan in the general collection.

Footnote Is Now Called "Fold3"

On this day, we'd like to alert you to a change to the Footnote History and Genealogy Archives available to Athens Regional Library System cardholders via GALILEO. Their new name is Fold3, and when you first enter the site, you will receive this announcement of the change:

The name change is in honor of their new focus, which is primarily United States military records. As this is the vast majority of what they already hold, and why many use their site, the change is merely cosmetic for most history and family researchers who use this database. 

The site will not be eliminating their current non-military collections, such as city directories, U. S. Census documents, Native American records, and naturalization files. However, the site will not be adding new collections to these categories, as they move their focus to their military collections. Among the incomplete military collections that will benefit from the new focus are the War of 1812 Pension Files and several World War II collections.

When you visit the database now, the primary difference is the title of site and collections, as seen here:

Please let us know if you run into any problems, but so far, we've found the site is operating as normal. You can contact us at the Reference Desk by calling (706)613-3650, ext. 356, or emailing us at heritageroom@arlsmail.org.

Learn More:

• Fold3 link from the Athens-Clarke County Library's Genealogy & Georgia database list.
• Footnote is now Fold3 blog post announcement by the company on Thursday, 18 August 2011.
• Questions you may have about Fold3 blog post by the company on Friday, 19 August 2011.
• Footnote.com Announces New Focus on Historical U.S. Military Records and Changes Name to Fold 3 by Dick Eastman in his Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.
• Footnote.com gets a new focus and a new name article by Examiner.com local news site.

Learn about Using Military Records from the National Archives on June 18th!

On this day, we'd like to invite you to the library Auditorium on Saturday, June 18th, 2011, at 2pm to learn about the military records available from the National Archives and how you can use them in your family research.


Athens resident Dr. Wally Eberhard will share his research experiences, and discuss the many types of military records that can shed light on your family's history. There American military has kept all types of documentation over the centuries: service records, draft cards and enlistment sheets, pension applications, prisoner of war registers, medical claims, and soldier's home registers. These records can be a boon to tracking members of your family. 


After the presentation, there will be a meet-and-greet reception with light refreshments in the Small Conference Room. This program is free and open to the public, and co-sponsored by the Clarke-Oconee Genealogical Society and the Athens-Clarke County Library Heritage Room. We hope to see you there!

Come Peruse the New Books in the Heritage Room

On this day we'd like to let you know a few of the new additions to the Heritage collection, and hope you'll come in to take a look before our collection downsizes during construction.

• In Pursuit of the American Birthright: A Quarter-Century of Unitarian-Universalist Involvement in Athens, 1954-1979 by Horace Montgomery in Local History.
• Military Service Records at the National Archives, compiled by Trevor K. Plante.
• Lugenia Burns Hope: Black Southern Reformer by Jacqueline Anne Rouse in Biography.
• Works Projects Administration Historical Records Survey: Sources for Genealogists by John W. Heisey.
• Oglethorpe County, Georgia, Newspaper Extracts, The Oglethorpe Echo, 1895-1899 by Fred W. McRee, Jr. in the Newspaper Abstracts.
• Georgia Governor and Council Journals, 1768-1771 by Mary Bondurant Warren.
• Ty Cobb by John D. McCallum in Biography.
• The History of Euharlee by the Euharlee History Committee.
• History of St. John's Episcopal Church, Macon County, North Carolina by A. Rufus Morgan.
• Sidney Lanier, Poet and Prosodist by Richard Webb and Edwin R. Coulson in Biography.
• Virginia in Maps: Four Centuries of Settlement, Growth and Development, edited by Richard W. Stephenson and Marianne M. McKee.

We  hope to see you soon!

Stones & Scorpions for Fish & Chips This Sunday

On this day, we'd like to invite you to Stones & Scorpions for Fish & Chips: U. S. Peacekeepers on the Oconee and Civil Rebellion in Georgia, a program co-sponsored by the Athens Historical Society and Athens-Clarke County Library Heritage Room.

In the library auditorium at 3pm on Sunday, May 15, 2011, historian Steven Scurry will draw from 18th century archives to describe the early frontier along the Oconee River and the complex challenge Georgia presented for the fledgling United States of America during the Washington administration. Beginning in 1791, federal troops were garrisoned on the Georgia border, but that didn't stop Elijah Clarke from establishing the Trans-Oconee Republic or the scandal of the Yazoo Land Fraud that led some bribed legislators to flee the state for their own safety.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information, call us at (706) 613-3650 or email us at heritageroom@arlsmail.org. We hope to see you there!

7 April 1918: Light the Torch of Liberty

On this day in 1918, the following full-page ad appeared on page 8 of the Athens Banner:

 

 (click on image to enlarge)

The third "Liberty Loan" offered $3 billion in bonds at 4.5% interest, and was issued on April 5, 1918. Created to fund the First World War, Secretary of the Treasury W. G. McAdoo had a wide-ranging publicity program. He embarked on an extensive speaking tour, and commissioned  artists such as James Montgomery Flagg, H. C. Christy, Charles Dana Gibson for an aggressively patriotic poster campaign. Secretary McAdoo also hired movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and America's Sweetheart, Mary Pickford to tour the country encouraging Americans to purchase bonds.

Anyone and everyone, including troops of Boy and Girl Scouts, could and were encouraged to sell Liberty Bonds. Ads encouraging the purchasing of bonds were placed by local financial businesses, but also Athens Railway & Electric Company, Martin Brothers Shoe Store, Palmer & Sons drug stores, and the Davison-Nicholson department store. Athens also had a local "Libery Bond Committee," which would promote Liberty Bonds as a patriotic duty before showings of movies or other performances, and sent letters to pastors to read to their congregations, encouraging them to buy bonds to "do your part to stamp out Prussian autocracy."

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1918 - Nov. 1918 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia by Anne Cipriano Venzon in the Reference collection.
• The Yanks Are Coming: The United States in the First World War by Albert Marrin in the general collection.
• Over Here: The First World War and American Society by David M. Kennedy in the general collection.
• America Enters the World: A People's History of the Progressive Era and World War I by Page Smith in the general collection.
• Victory, 1918 by Alan Warwick Palmer in the general collection.
• Wake Up, America! World War I and the American Poster by Walton H. Rawls via PINES.
• Miller's Collecting Prints & Posters by Janet Gleeson in the general collection.
  
• The Poster in History by Max Gallo in the general collection.
• Poets of World War I by Harold Bloom in the general collection.
• The Great War: A Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers by Christine K. Schaefer in the Heritage collection.
• American Posters of World War I online exhibit on the Georgetown University Library website.
• Images of Liberty Bonds from a collector's website.
• Original Liberty Bond posters available for sale.

15 January 1954: The Navy Supply Corps School Has Commissioning Ceremony

On this day in 1954, Mayor Jack Wells declared it to be "United States Navy Day" in Athens in honor of the official commissioning of the new Navy Supply Corps School. Local businesses would fly the American flag outside their establishments to welcome the dignitaries arriving in town for the ceremony, and many also purchased ads in the Banner-Herald to welcome the school, faculty, and cadets to Athens.

The noon ceremony was moved indoors to Pound Auditorium due to weather, and the featured speaker was Navy Assistant Secretary Raymond H. Fogler. Secretary Fogler discussed "the immensity of the Navy as a business," noting that supply corps ensure that every possible need for 400 combat vessels, 10,000 planes (with approximately 8,000 parts each), and 600,000 Navy men is met, from toothpaste to spatulas to replacement parts for jets and vessels. Mayor Wells noted that after hosting students of the Navy Pre-Flight School during World War II, "there is a soft spot in the heart of Athens for the Navy," and "We are glad to have them in our city."

The efforts of Georgia Representatives Carl Vinson and Paul Brown to bring the school to Athens were acknowledged by all speakers.

The Navy Supply Corps School was moved to Athens from Bayonne, New Jersey. It began with 400 students and 41 staff, with many of the officers bringing their entire families to Athens. Outside of training and classes, the school also had recreational athletic programs, an Officers Wives Group to organize and sponsor social events, a pistol team, a Philosophy Club, the Supply Line campus newspaper, the Oak Leaf school classbook, a debating society, and a choir.

The Navy Supply Corps School officially closed on October 29, 2010, as part of the graduation ceremony for the 82 men and women who are the last graduates of the Athens campus. Over the years, the school on Prince Avenue graduated 22,455 Navy "businessmen." Said Captain James Davis, NSCS commanding officer, "it is now our duty to bring the Athens spirit north and continue the Supply Corps legacy established during our 57 years in the Classic City."


Learn More:

•  Athens Banner-Herald, Jan. - Apr. 1954 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Naval Supply Systems Command website, part of the U.S. Navy website.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• Ready for the Sea: A Bicentennial History of the U. S. Navy Supply Corps by Frank J. Allston in the Heritage collection.
• American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-present by Jack Sweetman in the general collection.
• Keepers of the Sea by Fred J. Maroon in the general collection.
• Carl Vinson: Patriarch of the Armed Forces in the Heritage collection.
• A Measureless Peril: America in the Fight for the Atlantic, the Longest Battle of World War II by Richard F. Snow in the general collection.
• Flights of Passage: Reflections of a WWII Aviator by Samuel Lynn Hynes in the biography collection.
• If By Sea: The Forging of the United States Navy from the Revolution to the War of 1812 by George C. Daughan in the general collection.

Learn All About the Military Records in Morrow and How to Use Them

On this day, we'd like to invite you to a program at the library's auditorium on Saturday, November 20th, 2010, at 2pm. From the National Archives and Records Administration's Southeast regional office in Morrow, Georgia, Nathan Jordan will discuss the military records available at the facility and how to use them when researching your family tree.

Mr. Jordan is a graduate of West Point, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Public History at Georgia State University. He recently wrote about his own family research on NARA's blog, NARAtions.

This program is free and open to the public, and is co-sponsored by the Athens-Clarke County Heritage Room and the Clarke-Oconee Genealogical Society. A meet-and-greet with light refreshments in the Small Conference Room will follow the program.

For more information, call the Heritage Room at (706) 613-3650, ext. 350. We hope to see you there!