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.

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! 

14 April 1911: New Bakery Opens in the Morton Building

On this day in 1911, Sidney J. Thompson opened Thompson's Bakery at 280-282 Hull Street, in the Morton Building. The Athens Banner even announced the opening and the day's specials:

Most African-American businesses did not receive front page notice in the Athens Banner when they opened, but Sidney Thompson was married to Dr. Blanche Thompson, a stockholder of the E. D. Harris Drug Company, and practicing physician who treated both black and white patients, according to the Athens Daily Herald's Business Supplement from 13 August 1914. She was the first African-American doctor in Athens to perform a surgery, and established her own sanitarium for tuberculosis treatment.


Unlike other African-American businesses at the time, Thompson's Bakery would advertise daily specials, such as 5-cent sweet cream biscuits, in the pages of the Athens Banner, alongside ads for white businesses such as Erwin & Company Real Estate, fire pails from Hardeman & Phinizy, and paint offerings from Bondurant Hardware Company.  For many years, the Thompson's Bakery was included in the Banner's lists of factories when boasting of Athens' manufacturing prowess.




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1911 - Jun. 1911 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• A Story Untold: Black Men and Women in Athens History by Michael L. Thurmond in the Heritage, general, and YA collections.
• Athens: A Pictorial History by James K. Reap in the Heritage and general collections.
• 1910 U.S. Census for Athens, Clarke County, Georgia in Ancestry Library Edition via GALILEO.
• Blacks in Science and Medicine by Vivian O. Sammons in the Reference collection.
• A Taste of Freedom: A Cookbook with Recipes and Remeberances from the Hampton Institute by Carolyn Quick Tillery in the general collection.
• The Soul of Success: Inspiring Quotations for Entrepreneurs by Janet Cheatham Bell in the general collection.

18 February 1890: Not Every "Romantic Marriage" Has a Storybook Ending

On this day in 1890, the Weekly Banner told this story of a local wedding ceremony held in town the previous week:

A ROMANTIC MARRIAGE.

Mr. Albert Henley Weds Miss Lula Crawford.

       Wednesday witnessed one of the happiest, as well as one of the most romantic weddings that Athens has seen for some time.

       Sudden in its ceremony and romantic in its nature, it caused no little interest to be aroused all over the city.
       Mr. Albert P. Henley, a prominent attorney of this city wedded Miss Lula Crawford, one of the pretiest [sic] and most estimable young ladies in Classic Athens.
       The wedding took place at 12 o'clock at the house of Mr. C. D. McKie, on Hancock avenue, Rev. W. D. Anderson performing the ceremonies. It was conducted in haste, as it is said that the Wedding had not met with general favor from relatives of the happy couple. Immediately after the marriage the couople were driven to the C. & M. train and left on a trip to Florida and the tropic lands, by orange trees shaded.
       Both parties are too well known to enter into narrations of their lives. They were popular and much beloved by those who knew them intimately. The congratulations and good wishes of hosts of friends attend through life.   

--Weekly Banner, 18 February 1890, p. 7, col. 3.

The day the announcement appeared in the newspaper, the couple's marriage license was recorded in the Clarke County Ordinary Court:

(click to enlarge image)

Sadly, when looking in the 1900 U.S. Census to see how the couple was faring a decade after they wed, Mrs. Henley was listed as a widow, living with her two daughters, 9-year-old Frances and 4-year-old Hiram (who was named for her uncle).  


By checking the Heritage Room's Guide to Microfilmed Records and the Digital Library of Georgia's Athens Historic Newspaper Archive, the fate of Albert Henley was revealed to be suicide by pistol on or about 3 February 1896. The account in the Weekly Banner paints a sad story of a promising life cut short:

       Then came the tempter to the young man in the shape of the wine cup and he yielded to its blandishments. The thirst for strong drink got the advantage of him and he went from bad to worse, despite his own efforts and those of friends to save him. His wife and two little girls were compelled to separate from him on account of his habits.

--Weekly Banner, 7 February 1896, p. 1, col. 7.

In a note he left for his law partner, former Athens Mayor and Clarke County Representative Henry C. Tuck, Albert Henley asked that his clothes be given to his servant, his pocket watch to his brother in Greene County, and that he be buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery. He also "wrote in the tenderest manner of his wife, and ended up by writing, 'God bless my children.'"


Mary Lou, or "Lula" Henley took over her brother's part in the wholesale grocery business Webb & Crawford after his death, and lived on Cobb Street until a fire destroyed her home there in August, 1902. She remarried in December, 1902, to William D. Beecham, and in 1903, after selling her part in the grocery business, joined the Athens Women's Club. 


With her new husband, Mary Lou had two sons, William D. Beecham, Jr. in 1904 and Jack G. Beecham in 1906. Her daughter Frances had a lively time as a student at Lucy Cobb Institute, often appearing on the Athens newspapers' society pages until her marriage to Harry Woodruff of Columbus, Georgia, in 1913. 


To trace the family over time, it was important to look for Mary Lou in the 1900 Census when Albert could not be found. In later years, tracing with the children's names became useful, when William was listed simply as "W.D." and "Beecham" often spelled as "Beacham." 


The 1910 U.S. Census gives the Henley daughters' last name as "Beacham," even though they are listed as step-daughters to William, but a quick scan of the Athens newspapers from that time indicates this was a mistake by the census taker, not that William had adopted the girls. In 1920 and 1930 Censuses, Hiram is properly listed as "Hiram Henley," still living with her mother and step-brothers. Hiram would never marry. 




Learn More:

• Weekly Banner, Jan. 1890 - Dec. 1890 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Ordinary Court. Clarke County, Georgia. Marriage Book H, 1881 - 1890 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 U.S. Censuses in Ancestry Library Edition via GALILEO.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I, by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• For Our Mutual Benefit: The Athens Women's Club and Social Reform, 1899-1920 in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Clarke County, Georgia Marriage Records, 1803-1909, compiled by Faye Stone Poss and Ted O. Brooke in the Heritage and general collections.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Returns and Mixed Records, Book GG, 1881 -1956, on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Records of Clarke County, Georgia, 1801-1892 in the Georgia Department of Archives and History, compiled by Robert Scott Davis in the Heritage collection.
• Red Book: American State, County, & Town Sources by Alice Eichholz in the Heritage collection.
• Courthouse Research for Family Historians by Christine Rose in the general collection.
• Unpuzzling Your Past by Emily Anne Croom in the Heritage collection.

9 January 1910: "When Milady Goes Shopping"

On this day in 1910, the following suggestion was made to the married men of Athens:

Athens Transfer & Livery Co. was owned by the Deadwyler family, who also were in the cotton broker business, also on Clayton Street, approximately across the street from where the Last Resort Grill is today. The Deadwylers had sold mules and horses in Athens for years, as well as feed and some other livestock-related supplies. 


Their ads in the 1909 Athens city directory indicate that they offered "The Best Livery Teams in Town" and could do "All kinds of hauling," including "Household Goods," not just taking potentially cranky women into town to gather provisions for the home.




Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1910 - Jun. 1910 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 1909 Athens City Directory on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Athens, Georgia, in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• For Her Own Good: 150 Years of the Experts' Advice to Women by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English in the general collection.
• Women in the South: An Anthropological Perspective by Holly F. Mathews in the general collection.
• The Truth About Women by Georgia Witkin in the general collection.
• You Just Don't Understand: Men and Women in Conversation by Deborah Tannen in the general collection.
• The Complete Horse Book by Elwyn Hartley Edwards and Candida Geddes in the general collection.
• When Difficult Relatives Happen to Good People by Leonard Felder in the general collection.
• Love Is Never Enough by Aaron T. Beck in the general collection.
• Myths of Gender: Biological Theories about Women and Men by Anne Fausto-Sterling in the general collection.
• International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds by Bonnie L. Hendricks in the Reference collection.

7 June 1908: "For June Weddings"

On this day in 1908, the following ad was the front page of the Sunday Athens Banner:

(click to enlarge image)

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jan. 1908 - Dec. 1908 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• You Are Cordially Invited to Weddings: Dating and Love Customs of Cultures Worldwide by Carolyn Mordecai in the general collection.
• Vintage Weddings: Resource and Guidebook, 1910s-1950s by Daniela Turudich in the general collection.
• How to Buy Your Perfect Wedding Dress by Ronald Rothstein in the general collection.
• Vera Wang on Weddings by Vera Wang in the general collection.
• Emily Post's Wedding Planner for Moms by Peggy Post in the general collection.
• Mother of the Groom: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy the Best Wedding Ever by Sharon Naylor in the general collection.
• Pretty Weddings for Practically Pennies by Catherine Yarnovich Risling in the general collection.
• The Elegant Wedding and the Budget-Saving Bride by Deborah McCoy in the general collection.
• Miss Manners Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding by Judith Martin in the New Books collection.
• Get Married Without a Hitch by Lisa Helmanis in the general collection.
• The Wedding Guide for the Grown Up Bride by Shelley Christiansen in the general collection.
• The Engaged Groom: You're Getting Married, Read This Book by Doug Gordon in the general collection.
• E-Plan Your Wedding: How to Save Time and Money with Today's Best Online Resources by Crystal Melendez and Jason Melendez in the general collection.
• The Green Bride Guide: How to Create an Earth-Friendly Wedding on Any Budget by Kate L. Harrison in the general collection.
• How to Plan an Elegant Second Wedding by Julie Weingarden Dubin in the general collection.
• The Anti-Bride Etiquette Guide: The Rules and How to Break Them by Carolyn Gerin in the general collection.
• Let's Elope: The Definitive Guide to Eloping, Destination Weddings, and Other Creative Wedding Options by Scott Shaw and Lynn Beahan in the general collection.
• A More Perfect Union: How I Survived the Happiest Day of My Life by Hana Schank in the general collection.

15 May 1856: "In plentitude, and even splendor..."

On this day in the Southern Watchman, the following paid announcement was published on page 4:

John Flournoy was a frequent "correspondent" in the Athens newspapers of the 1850s. Approximately six weeks later, he published another notice on this topic:

NOTICE.

THE public will be re-assured to observe that I will pay nothing not cognisable by me as a debt! My wife alternately leaves me and returns, and is now re-absconded--uncertain whether or not to come home any more. My offence is inability to support her in the extravagance she wants.  I can scarcely call a dollar my own.  The genius of woman is the talent of Satan. She it is, as a tool--that brought all our woes; and she it is that MUST be overmastered! I would not give a thrip for such a society or liberty as we now have, until it be reformed in a thousand condign ways . So, no farther advice on this point.

J. J. FLOURNOY

Beyond requests for local merchants to ignore his "wife, ANY wife, or wives," Mr. Flournoy also had run-ins with local businesses and neighbors that would be aired in overwrought prose amongst the ads for patent medicines, mills for sale, new shipments of goods, and county legal notices. Athens newspapers were not alone; he regularly wrote to papers all over Georgia, including Augusta and Macon, and religious publications.

Mr. Flournoy was a resident of Jackson county. In Jackson county record abstracts, there is reference to both "J. J. Flournoy" and "John Jacobus Flournoy,"never a "John James Flournoy," but they appear to be the same person.

According to Historic Notes on Jackson County, Georgia, John Jacobus Flournoy had been a native of Clarke, but moved to Jackson County in 1839. He lost his hearing and speech when he was young, and is considered instrumental in having the Georgia General Assmbly create the School for the Deaf at Cave Springs, Georgia in 1846; the school still operates today. In the book, Mr. Flournoy is described as "quite eccentric," and notes that he "wrote various articles expressing his dislike for society in general."

In 1858, calling himself "Dr. J. J. Flournoy," he offered a cold preventative method for winter colds only; he admitted he had not yet found a way to prevent summer colds. In 1859, he requested that people not call him "old Flournoy," but rather "old Mr. Flournoy." By the start of the Civil War, his notices were no longer quite so florid, advertising for a lost horse, watch, and a runaway slave, and later being noted by the paper with other contributors to the Sick and Wounded Soldiers Wayside Home in Athens. 


In March, 1874, the Macon newspaper noted that J. J. Flournoy had "perhaps, written more letters, on more subjects, to more people than any man that ever lived or will live to the end of time." By the 1870s, his letters to the Athens papers were somewhat less frequent. An editorial in an 1886 Banner-Watchman mentions Mr. Flournoy as "lately deceased," and calls him "a gentleman of immense personal courage." His exact date of death is unclear, but his age is listed as 61 in the 1870 U. S. Census, so he was approximately 77 years old when he died.


Learn More:

• Southern Watchman, Jan. 1856 - Sep. 1858 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Historic Newspaper Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia.
• Macon Telegraph Archive collection in the Digital Library of Georgia. 
• 1870 U. S. Census in the Ancestry Library Edition database in GALILEO.
• Historical Notes on Jackson County, Georgia by Frary Elrod in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Southern Watchman, Athens, Georgia, Civil War Home Front Coverage, 1861-1865, abstracted by Faye Stone Poss in the Heritage collection.
• Confederate Athens by Kenneth Coleman in the Heritage and general collections.
• Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny by Suze Orman in the New Books collection.
• The Frugal Almanac by Melodie Moore in the general collection.
• Thrifty: Living the Frugal Life with Style by Marjorie Harris in the New Books collection.
• The New Frugality: How to Consume Less, Save More, and Live Better by Chris Farrell in the New Books collection.
• Women, Men, & Money by William Francis Devine in the general collection.
• What to Do before "I Do:" The Modern Couple's Guide to Marrige, Money, and Pre-Nups by Nihara Choudhri in the general collection.
• All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren in the general collection.

1 December 1910: The M. G. Michael Family of Athens Attends the Selig-Frank Wedding in Atlanta

On this day in 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Moses G. Michael and their daughter, Helen, attended the wedding of Miss Lucille Selig of Atlanta and Mr. Leo Max Frank of Brooklyn, New York.

The wedding was held at the East Georgia Avenue home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Selig. Rabbi David Marx of Hebrew Benevolent Congregation performed the ceremony before a small gathering of family and close friends. The Athens Banner described the evening as "a pretty event," noting that "the house was artistic with quantities of smilax and vases of pink carnations in all the rooms."

The paper reported that "Miss Michael sang several beautiful selections before the ceremony and was accompanied by Miss Regina Silverman, who also played the wedding march." The two young women also wore pink, with Helen Michael in "a white lingerie gown over pink silk" and Regina Silverman in "a pink chiffon cloth gown over silk, trimmed with lace and black marabou."

Other out-of-town attendants at the wedding included the groom's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Frank of Brooklyn, New York, and the best man, Mr. Milton Rice of Rochester, New York. The paper stated the couple would "spend several weeks at the Piedmont before going north for a wedding trip." They would live with the Seligs upon their return.

Leo and Lucille Frank would be married less than three years when the Atlanta media circus surrounding the murder of Mary Phagan at the National Pencil Factory on Confederate Memorial Day, 1913, would destroy their lives. Though the Atlanta newspapers published any rumor or innuendo that would sell extra editions, the Athens newspapers admonished the Atlanta media for such low behavior and published only the barest of stories about the case as it endured.

Leo Frank was murdered on 17 August 1915 by a mob that was angry his death sentence had been commuted to life in prison by Georgia Governor John Slaton. His body was returned to New York, where he was buried at New Mount Carmel Cemetery. Lucille Frank never remarried, and always signed her name as "Mrs. Leo M. Frank," until her death at age 69. Even then, in 1957, her family was unsure of burying her in Atlanta, and it wasn't for another 45 years, in 2002, that nephews buried her ashes between her parents' graves in Oakland Cemetery, but without a marker.

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles pardoned Leo Frank in 1986, based on the 1982 testimony of then-83-year-old Alonzo Mann, who had been a 14-year-old office boy in the National Pencil Factory in 1913. Mann had seen janitor Jim Conley carrying Phagan's body on the day of the murder. Conley threatened to kill him if he told, and Mann's mother told him to keep quiet. Over the years, Mann repeatedly tried to tell the story, but it wasn't until 1982 that a reporter from the Tennesseean took him seriously enough to publish his eye witness account, and give him a lie detector test, which he easily passed. Members of the Phagan family still believe Leo Frank was the murderer.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, Jul. 1910 - Dec. 1910 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Athens Banner, Feb. 1913 - Jun. 1913 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive via the Digital Library of Georgia.
• The Leo Frank Case by Leonard Dinnerstein in the Heritage and general collections.
• The Silent and the Damned: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank by Robert Seitz Frey in the general collection.
• Screening a Lynching: The Leo Frank Case on Film and Television by Matthew Bernstein in the general collection.
• Parade: The Original Broadway Cast Recording in the CD collection.
• Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America by Allen James  in the Heritage and general collections.
• On Lynchings by Ida B. Wells-Barnett in the general collection.
• The People v. Leo Frank: A Georgia Roundtable on the Georgia Public Broadcasting website.
• The Temple Bombing by Melissa Faye Greene in the general collection.
• The Nature of Prejudice by Gordon W. Allport in the general collection.
• Atlanta newspapers on Footnote Library Edition in GALILEO (call 706-613-3650 for current password)
• Images of the people and documents associated with the trial on the GPB Georgia Stories website.
  

21 November 1843: Two Marriages in One Family

On this day in 1843, prominent local builder James R. Carlton attended the weddings of two of his children. In the morning, his oldest son, Dr. Joseph Barnett, married Thene Emma Moore in Jackson County. Reverend Alfred T. Mann, the minister of the First Methodist Church of Athens, performed the ceremony in Jackson County, then returned to Athens to perform a second Carlton wedding.

The second wedding of the day was for Mary Anne Carlton, who was marrying Dr. William H. Felton, who was about to graduate from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta after attending the University of Georgia in Athens. The couple later moved to Cass (now Bartow) County, where Dr. Felton gave up being a doctor to become a Methodist minister and farmer.

The two couples faced very different futures. Joseph and Theney (as she is listed on her Jackson County marriage certificate) remained in Athens and had five children, with two of their sons also pursuing careers in medicine. Jospeh would serve as surgeon  for Toombs Regiment during the Civil War, and represented Athens in the Georgia House from 1853-1856 and Georgia Senate from 1857-1858.

William and Mary Anne had only eight years together before she died, leaving a toddler daughter, Annie, who was born in 1849. William would marry future suffragist Rebecca Latimer in 1852, and both would have striking poltitical careers in Georgia and on a national level.

Learn More:

• Athens, Georgia, Newspaper Clippings (Southern Banner) Volume V 1842-1843 by Tad Evans and Elizabeth Evans Kilbourne in the Heritage collection.
• Oconee Hill Cemetery, Athens, Georgia, Volume I by Charlotte Thomas Marshall in the Heritage and general collections.
• Clarke County (Ga.) Ordinary. Marriages. Books A-C, 1805 - 1867 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Antebellum Athens and Clarke County, Georgia by Ernest C. Hynds in the Heritage and general collections.
• History of Bartow County, Georgia (Fomerly Cass County) by Lucy Josephine Cunyus in the Heritage and general collections. 
• Clarke County, Georgia, Marriage Records 1803-1909 by Faye Stone Poss in the Heritage and general collections.
• Jackson County, Georgia, Marriage Records 1805-1910 by Patricia Freeman Hardin in the Heritage collection.
• The First Methodist Church, Athens, Georgia: Some History and Recollections, and Its Trustees by John P. Bondurant in the Heritage collection.
• More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Georgia Women by Sara Hines Martin in the Heritage and general collections.
• Rebecca Latimer Felton: Nine Stormy Decades by John E. Talmadge in the Heritage and general collections.

New Books in the Heritage Room

On this day, we'd like to tell you about more of the new books now available in the Heritage Room.

• Sketch Pedigrees of some of the Early Settlers in Jamaica by Noel B. Livingston (originally published in 1909)
• Genealogical Resources in English Repositories (1996 Supplement Update) by Joy Wade Moulton
• Strangers In Their Midst: The Free Black Population of Amherst County, Virginia (Revised Edition) by Sherrie S. McLeRoy and William R. McLeRoy
• North Carolina Slaves and Free Persons of Color: Stokes and Yadkin Counties by William L. Byrd III and John H. Smith
• North Carolina Slaves and Free Persons of Color: Burke, Lincoln, and Rowan Counties by William L. Byrd III and John H. Smith
• North Carolina Slaves and Free Persons of Color: Hyde and Beaufort Counties by William L. Byrd III and John H. Smith
• Abstract of Account Information of Freedman's Savings and Trust, New Orleans, Louisiana 1866-1869 by Linell L. Hardy
• North Carolina Slaves and Free Persons of Color: Mecklenburg, Gaston, and Union Counties by William L. Byrd III and John H. Smith
• In Full Force and Virtue: North Carolina Emancipation Records, 1713-1860 by William L. Byrd III
• The African American Collection: Kent County, Maryland by Jerry M. Hynson
• Greene County, Georgia, Heritage 1786-2009 by the Greene County Heritage Book Committee
  
• Freedmen and Colored Marriage Records, 1865-1890, Sumter County, Alabama by Gwendolyn Lynette Hester
• People of Color: Black Genealogical Records and Abstracts from Missouri Sources, Volume 2, by Teresa Blattner
• Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Marriage Licenses 1865-1888 by Jerry M. Hynson

23 June 1810: Partnerships Created and Dissolved

On this day in 1810, the following two notices were published in the Georgia Express newspaper:

Athens, June 23. Married, on Tues. evening last by the Rev. Hope Hull, Mr. Thomas G. Lamar of SC, to Miss Martha L. Cary of this place.

and

Co-partnership Dissolved. The public are hereby informed, that the co-partnership of John Harwood, and Elizabeth, his wife, is this day dissolved by mutual consent; we therefore hereby forbid all persons trusting either of the said firm, on account of the other, on any conditions whatever, as we are determined to pay no debts for each other, from the date hereof.

John Harwood, Jun. Elizabeth Harwood.

Marriage records from this time were short two-line entries handwritten in the marriage book, and were easily lost. There is no record of the marriage of Miss Cary and Mr. Lamar in Clarke County's records.

Miss Cary was possibly a daughter of John Cary, who ran Athens' first hotel starting around 1803, and "housed a number of students before campus lodging became available." It is possible that is how Miss Cary met Mr. Lamar "of SC", as not all students at the early University of Georgia were from Georgia. Starting in 1811, Thomas G. Lamar's name appears on plats for Edgefield, South Carolina, approximately 100 miles from Athens.

The fate of the Harwoods is equally fuzzy. There is a marriage record from 27 October 1795 in Richmond County for John Harwood and Elizabeth Dawson, and they do not seem to have been living in Athens at the time. Divorce was complicated during the early years of the United States, and this sort announcement was an easier and cheaper way of alerting those with whom they might do business that they were no longer a single entity for the purpose of debts.

Despite the public announcement of their separation, five months later, on November 30th, a John Harwood from Richmond County, Georgia was issued a passport by Governor David B. Mitchell "to travel through the Creek Nation of Indians." The passport included "his wife, three children, and eight negroes." To gain a passport at this time, one had to provide character references and promise to behave well while in Creek territory, even though some of the purposes for entering the territory were "to view the country" with plans for later settlement.

Learn More:

• Clarke Co. (Athens), GA Newspaper Abstracts 1808-1820 abstracted by Faye Stone Poss in the Heritage and general collections.
• Antebellum Athens and Clarke County, Georgia by Ernest C. Hynds in the Heritage and general collections.
• Clarke County Marriages on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Edgefield County, South Carolina: Abstracts of Deed Books 1-12 by Ge Lee Corley Hendrix in the Heritage collection.
• History of Edgefield County from Earliest Settlements to 1897 by John Abney Chapman in the Heritage collection.
• 40,000 Early Georgia Marriages by Joseph T. Maddox in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia Marriages, Early to 1800 by Jordan R. Dodd in the Heritage collection.
• Passports Issued by Governors of Georgia, 1810-1820 by Mary Givens Bryan in the Heritage collection.
• Passports of Southeastern Pioneers, 1770-1823: Indian, Spanish, and Other Land Passports for Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North and South Carolina by Dorothy Williams Potter in the Heritage collection.
• Georgia's Virtual Vault on the Georgia Archives website.

13 December 1834 - "Has Left Me Without Any Provocation"

On this day in 1834, this Notice by Thomas J. Rawlins of Pulaski County appeared on page 3 of the weekly Athens newspaper The Southern Banner:

"This is to certify that my wife, Sarah Rawlins, has left me without any provocation; therefore I forewarn all persons from trading with her with the expectation that I will be accountable for her contracts, as I design to pay off none of her debts contracted since she left my house in April last."

While such a notice seems surprising today, they do occur occasionally in 19th century newspapers. Divorce in Georgia in the early 1800s was no easy proposition. Originally, a couple would have to appeal to the state legislature after they had already had a trial by jury in the Superior Court. After 1833, the Superior Court was given the power to grant final divorce decrees, but only after "two concurrent verdicts of two special juries."

It doesn't appear that Thomas married Sarah in Pulaski County. What happened to Sarah, or what would cause her to leave is unknown. Thomas's name is listed as a winner in the 1832 Land Lottery, and by 1840, he had remarried in Pulaski County, a Miss Elender Davis.

Learn More:

• Southern Banner, Mar. 23, 1833 - Mar. 17, 1836 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Marriage Records of Pulaski County, Georgia 1810-1885 by William R. Henry in the Heritage collection.
• The 1832 Gold Lottery of Georgia Containing a List of the Fortunate Drawers in Said Lottery by Rev. S. Emmett Lucas, Jr. in the Heritage collection.
• Marriage Records on Microfilm collection on the Georgia Archives Virtual Vault website.