2 December 1904: Love Locked Up

On this day in 1904, the Weekly Banner published news of a recent local marriage that required some persuasion of the bride's parents:

LOCKED

Up Young Bride, But Parents

Finally Give Blessings

to Happy Couple.

   Love laughs at locksmiths is true but sometimes love forgets and gets locked up again.

   The first part of the aphorism was proven true on Sunday afternoon when Mr. Pink Hilyard and Miss Ophelia Hughes were married at the home of a friend near Winterville.

   Mr. Hilyard brought his bride back to the city and they went to the home of the bride's parents. A stormy scene followed and the parents refused to let Mr. Hilyard see his wife.

   Later during the evening the refusal was still adhered to and not until yesterday morning did the parents of Mrs. Hilyard relent and give the young couple their blessing.

--Weekly Banner, 2 December 1904, p. 5, col. 7.

Alas, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes had good instincts. Robert Pink Hilliard was well known in town for being arrested as drunk or disorderly (or both) rather than for being an industrious young man with a bright future. He was also only 18 years old, and Ophelia had only turned 16 a month earlier. In the 1904 Athens City Directory, his profession is listed as painter.

(click to enlarge image)

According to the 1910 U.S. Census, Ophelia and Pink were living with his parents on Lumpkin Street, with Ophelia at home, caring for their two sons, Hughes, age 4, and Douglas, age 2, and Pink listed as now working as a "hackman," or public carriage driver. 

However, the 1909 Athens City Directory lists Ophelia as living with her sister on Oconee Street, indicating the marriage was already showing signs of strain. Pink continued to rack up fines from his frequent appearances the Mayor's Court, to account for his for disorderly drunken behavior, at a cost of $2.50 to $30.00 per conviction. In 1912, he and two of his friends were convicted of robbery and sent to prison. Pink was pardoned and released in 1915.

In the 1920 U.S. Census, Pink is found living in a boarding house in Augusta, Georgia, with an occupation of "painter" and marital status of "married." Ophelia and her boys are still living with her older sister, Alma, who worked as a bookkeeper for Bernstein Brothers Furniture Store and was active in the Y.W.C.A. Extension Club. Though Ophelia lists her marital status as "divorced," she would not officially file for divorce from Pink until August, 1928. 

Neither Ophelia nor Pink would ever remarry. Pink would live out his days in boarding houses and Y.M.C.A. rooms in Augusta, dying in 1958 at the age of 70. Ophelia spent her life in Clarke County, dying in 1965 at the age of 77.


Learn More: 

• Clarke County, Georgia, Ordinary Records. Marriages, Book K, 1901-1906 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 1900 - 1940 U.S. Censuses in Ancestry Library Edition in GALILEO.
• Clarke County Marriages 1803-1909 by Faye Poss Stone in the Heritage collection.
• Athens City Directories, 1889 - 1927 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia Death Certificates, 1919-1998 in Ancestry Library Edition in GALILEO.

Third 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 third class at the Athens Community Council on Aging will be on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012, from 1:00pm to 2:30pm in the Harris Room's ACCA Hoyt Street location. The title of the class is The Genealogical Benefits of Bureaucracy: Government Records.

If you missed the earlier classes, don't worry! Each class is independent, so if you want to know more about court records or using wills in research, just sign up now for the March 21st 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 third installment, we'll discuss how to use for our own research needs the records created by local, state, and federal levels of government. We will cover the types of records available, how to use them, and where to find them, including tax records, deeds and land records, wills and estate records, other court records, and much more. 

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.

28 October 1918: Athens Quarantine Partially Lifted

On this day in 1918, at 7 o'clock in the morning, the quarantine that had been imposed on the city of Athens and the county of Clarke for the previous three weeks, was partially lifted. County schools, the Lucy Cobb Institute, the University of Georgia and State Normal School, and church services would be allowed to meet, but "city schools, movie houses, theatre, pool rooms, shooting galleries, soda founts and ice cream parlors will remain closed." Sunday schools were also asked to refrain from meeting.

The quarantine had first gone into effect October 7th, when Athens had only a few cases of influenza reported, but wanted to avoid a larger outbreak. Mayor Andrew Erwin had the Chief of Police notify the management of a carnival scheduled to come to town that they would have to cancel their visit, and strict enforcement of the anti-spitting ordinance was put into effect. 

The Board of Health met and immediately closed gathering places such as movie theatres, pool halls, soda fountains, and other "amusements." Physicians or the head of a household where the flu struck had to report the case to the Board of Heath within 24 hours, and city schools were closed. The University of Georgia shut down, and all students who lived off the campus were told to stay at home. The Superior Court also delayed their October session. The only exceptions for meetings were for "necessary war work."

Despite the drastic procedures, the Athens Banner took a measured tone, telling its readers that "there is no need for fear, precaution and proper care from exposure will do more to wipe out the disease than anything else." People were generally asked to stay home, and most were willing to comply. In order for students to return to school, they had to present a letter from a physician stating they had not been exposed to the disease for the previous seven days.

Upon partial removal of quarantine, the chairman of Athens Board of Health, Dr. McKinney, did ask for everyone to "continue to exercise the greatest of care for we are not yet out of danger of a further spread of the contagion." Though only 5% of Athens was thought to have contracted the flu, the epidemic was harshest on those ages 15-34, and was so severe "that the average lifespan in the US was depressed by 10 years." 

By early November, it was news that the Colonial had booked entertainment for two weeks out,  but there is no article that notes the official date quarantine was fully lifted from the city. When Armistice to end World War I was declared on November 12, hundreds of citizens and students gathered in the streets to celebrate the event, with no thought of the flu.


Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1918 - Nov. 1918 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Daily Herald 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.
• The 1918 Influenza Pandemic page on Dr. Robert Siegel's Human Virology website.
• History of Public Health in Georgia, 1733-1950 by T. F. Abercrombie in the Heritage collection. 
• This Time of Dying by Reina James in the fiction collection.
• The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry in the general collection.
• Blessing's Bead by Debby Dahl Edwardson in the young adult collection.
• The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds and Flu by Neil Schachter in the general collection.

25 October 1892: Outsmarting the Jailbreakers

On this day in 1892, the Weekly Banner  explained the problems faced by Sheriff John W. Wier in his jail:

At the time, the courthouse and jail were on Prince Avenue; the jail Sheriff Wier was trying to secure is still standing on Meigs Street, where it now houses offices for the Oconee River Land Trust, the Georgia Land Conservation Center, and the studio for artist Charles Pinckney. The bars are still on the windows.

John W. Wier was elected Sheriff of Clarke County in 1880, and served a total of 26 years. He died while in office, and was replaced in a special election one month later by Walter E. Jackson. His family was allowed to stay in the Sheriff's house on the courthouse square during the election period. Wier was also known for keeping several pets in the jail, including a frog.

Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Jul. 1892 - Dec. 1893 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Banner, Mar. 1906 - Dec. 1907 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage collection.
• Athens, Georgia: A Pictorial History, 1801-2001 by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society, edited by Norval Morris in the general collection.
• Mastering Hand Tool Techniques by Alan and Gill Bridgewater in the general collection.
• Civil War Prisons and Escapes: A Day-by-Day Chronicle by Robert E. Denney in the general collection.
• A Museum of Early American Tools by Eric Sloane in the general collection.
• The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill in the general collection.
• The Great Escape in the DVD collection.
• Voices from a Southern Prison by Lloyd C. Anderson in the general collection.
• Getting the Most Out of Your Abrasive Tools by Rockwell Manufacturing Company in the general collection.
• Escape from Davao: The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific War by John D. Lukacs in the general collection.
• Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons by Stephen King in the large print collection.
• The Shawshank Redemption in the DVD collection.
• You Got Nothing Coming: Notes from a Prison Fish by Jimmy Lerner in the biography collection.
• Tools: A Tool-By-Tool Guide to Choosing and Using 150 Home Essentials by Steve Dodds in the general collection.
• Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War by Bruce B. Henderson in the general collection.
• Miracle at Sing Sing: How One Man Transformed the Lives of America's Most Dangerous Prisoners by Ralph Blumenthal in the general collection.
• Handy Manny's Pet Roundup in the children's DVD collection.

19 March 1914: "Want a Baby?"

On this day in 1914, the Athens Banner asked the following question of its readership:

 

The baby was the daughter of Mrs. Nancy Rosser, 19, who had died not long after giving birth. She was buried at Oconee Hill Cemetery on March 18th, 1914, in a lot owned by her aunt, Mrs. Temperance Parks. She is buried near her cousin, Cleaveland Levrett, who died at age 17 in 1911, and her grandmother, Rebecca Burns, who died at age 90 in 1912.

In June, the Banner ran a story about Mrs. Parks' attempt to gain custody of her niece's baby, by then called Ethel Luena by the hospital staff and "the young women of the neighborhood" who devoted time and care to her, and held the sleeping infant during the court proceeding. According to reports from the court, Mrs. Parks had gone to claim the child from the hospital and was turned away by the head nurse, who Mrs. Parks believed was planning to take the baby out of state. 

The attorneys for the head nurse admitted that Mrs. Parks was a blood relative of the child, and that the head nurse had denied Mrs. Parks custody. Their argument was that "for the health, the care, the progress and general food of the little one," Ethel Luena would be better off in an orphanage. There were no orphanages in Athens, so the child would be sent to another town that would have a place for her. Augusta, Hapeville, and Macon all had orphanages that took girls at this time.

The newspaper noted that Mrs. Parks lived near the Southern Mill, which indicates she and her husband were not wealthy people. Judge Charles Brand presided over the case, and ruled in favor of the head nurse, Miss Elizabeth Slaughter. 

The fate of the child is unknown, but by 1921, Mrs. Parks had left Athens and moved to Macon.  She appears as a patient at Central State Hospital in Milledgeville in the 1930 U.S. Census, and though she has a joint marker with her son at Oconee Hill Cemetery, she is not buried on the lot he shares with his cousin and grandmother.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, Feb. 17, 1914 - May 31, 1914 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Banner, Apr. 1914 - Jun. 1914 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery Record of Interments in the Heritage collection.
• 1912-1913 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• History of St. Mary's Hospital, Athens, Georgia by Jack Martin in the Heritage collection.
• Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption by E. Wayne Carp in the general collection.
• Nolo's Pocket Guide to Family Law by Robin Leonard in the general collection.
• The American Bar Association Guide to Family Law, available from the Watkinsville or Danielsville libraries in the Athens Regional Library System.
• Your Right to Child Custody, Visitation and Support by Mary L. Boland in the general and Reference collections.
• Quick and Legal Will Book by Denis Clifford in the general collection.
• Clarke County Probate Court Finding Aid to Probate Court Records in the Heritage collection.
• But for the Grace of God: Milledgeville by Peter Gordon Cranford in the Ivy Room collection at the Watkinsville library, part of the Athens Regional Library System.
• Athens Historic Newspaper collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 1930 U.S. Census in Footnote Library Edition in GALILEO.