21 December 1906: Heavy Sleet Takes Out Trolley

On this day in 1906, news of long delays in service for the Athens Electric Railway's trolley service was published in the Weekly Banner:

"Quite a while" in this case was until early January, 1907, when the company began installing new poles and stringing "heavier" and "much better" wire throughout the system. It was promised that "there would be no further delays caused by broken wire." (This promise was kept until a severe sleet storm in February, 1908.)

The first successful electric railway system was developed by Frank J. Sprague, who created the suspension and pulley system that became the standard for cities all over the world. It was installed over 12 miles of tracks in Richmond, Virginia, in 1887, and by 1895, 900 U.S. cities had electric railways, with 11,000 miles of rails. 

Most cities had privately run systems, such as Athens Railway & Electric company, which ran the trolley system until March, 1930, when they changed over to a short-lived city bus system.


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.
• A Postcard History of Athens, Georgia by Gary L. Doster in the Heritage and general collections.
• History of Athens and Clarke County by H.J. Rowe in the Heritage and general collections.
• Buses, Trolleys, and Trams by Charles S. Dunbar in the general collection.
• The Electricity Story: 2,500 Years of Experiments and Discoveries by George deLucenay Leon in the children's collection.
• Electricity: From Faraday to Solar Generators by Martin J. Gutnik in the general collection.
• Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity by David Bodanis in the general collection.
• Frank J. Sprague article on the Inventor of the Week Archive on the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology website.
• Richmond Union Passenger Railway, 1888 article in the Milestones section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Global History Network 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.