Chambers County AlArchives Photo Tombstone.....McGinty, Sr., Wiley Patterson 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Gerald McGinty http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00021.html#0005198 April 28, 2005, 8:12 am

Cemetery:           Fairview Cemetery, Valley, AL
Name:               Wiley Patterson McGinty, Sr.

Date Of Photograph: April 12, 2000
Photo can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/chambers/photos/tombstones/fairview/mcgintys530ph.jpg
Image file size: 36.8 Kb

Wiley P. McGinty
January 22, 1865
March 30, 1957


Additional Comments:
Wiley was born in 1865, in the final days of the Civil War. The last Confederate fort to fall to the northern armies 
was Ft. Tyler in West Point, GA, very close to Wiley’s birthplace.  After the war, the Valley was farm country with 
the property in the hands of a few large landowners.  Wiley documented most of the farm locations, their owners and 
what happened to this land during his lifetime.  In a 1941 article that he wrote titled 76 Years in the Valley, he recalls 
that when he was born in 1865, this area was a farming community with all of the land in the hands of a few large 
landowners.  The land where the River View village is now located was owned by Jim Campbell.  The Riverdale mill 
was built here in 1866. Prior to this, the Campbell gristmill was on the site, about 100 yards from where the mill is located. 
Adjacent to this farm on the northwest was the Tyre Freeman place; and to the north was the Holly Weaver land.  
To the west of the Campbell place was the land owned by his grandfather, Levin Moore.  Farther west in the direction 
of Fairfax, was the farm of his father, William Pitts McGinty.  It is there that he was born.  It is there that the McGinty 
cemetery (Fairview) is located.  The next plot of land was owned by the famous Irish peach grower, John Parnell.  
F.W. Shank(s) owned the next farm, and it is on this land that the Fairfax mill is located. This mill was built in 1915.  
Just east of the land where the mill is located was the Alex Jarrell (or Jarrett) property.  Next was the Elisha Trammel 
farm, on which the Langdale mill is located.  This mill began operations in 1867.  Prior to this, Trammel's gristmill was 
located on this property. Then came the Todd farm.  Next to it was the Sharp land.  Adjoining was the Tom Nolan 
place, and it is on this land that the Shawmut mill is located.  This mill was built in 1908. In front of the Shawmut 
property was the Dave Robinson farm.  Next was the Calloway farm, on which a large part of the Lanett mill was 
built in 1894. At the time, there was only one house in Lanett.  Wiley was standing on this property, observing the 
initial grading for this new mill. 
He started school in 1872, at the Center schoolhouse, located halfway between Langdale and River View.   It was a 
one-teacher school and there were about forty students.  He finished the tenth grade at Beulah, AL, and started working 
on the family farm.   When he was twenty-one, he worked for Smith Brothers of River View.  He worked at their cotton 
gin, planning mill and gristmill. 
Wiley lived at a time when the economy of the entire Valley, AL area changed from a farming community to an industrial 
driven economy. With the coming of all the new cotton mills, people found secure employment without all the headaches 
and risks of farming.
Wiley witnessed this industrial revolution in the area.  He was an excellent carpenter and helped construct some of the 
mills as foreman of the carpentry department at Batson Cook Co., in West Point.  Around 1891, at age twenty-six, he 
constructed the family home at McGinty Crossroads where all of his children were later born and raised.  He became 
an independent contractor, and built many homes in the small towns that now make up Valley, AL.  Later in life he 
operated a general store at the crossroads. He was elected justice of the peace in 1896, and served in the position for 
forty-eight years.  He was then a notary public until 1953. He married Mollie Hinton Redd, December 14, 1893.  
The consent letter from her father reads as follows: "River View, AL, Dec. 9, 1893. You are hearby authorized to issue 
marriage license for the marriage of W.P. McGinty to Mollie H. Redd of said county and state.  Mollie H. Redd is my 
daughter and is under age but I hereby give my consent to the marriage.  Respectfully, H.J. Redd."  In 1910, he is shown 
on the federal census form as being responsible for taking and recording the census in Bethlehem, precinct 13 in Chambers 
Co.  He is listed on the census form as the "Enumerator." The census index shows his name as Wily, age 45, ED 36, 
house 177/181. In 1920, he helped construct the new River View Baptist Church building and the census shows him as 

a farmer. He had was a charter member of this church in 1897. He received many tributes in recognition of his outstanding life. 
 The Valley Daily Times/ News, in 1953, on his eighty-eighth birthday said "He has spent his entire life here, ever exerting an 
influence for good, and it is to him and those like him that we owe a deep debt of gratitude.  Mr. McGinty, throughout his life, 
has lived simply and sincerely, quietly and modestly, but always positively and helpfully as churchman, citizen, neighbor and 
friend.  Since his retirement, Mr. McGinty has demonstrated in a magnificent manner the fine art of ‘growing old gracefully.’  
Possessed of an alert mind, he keeps abreast of the radio and television sets.  Of a bright, cheerful disposition, he is still an
inspiration to his many friends."  In 1953, Wiley donated to the H. Grady Bradshaw Chambers County Library and 
Cobb Memorial Archives in Valley, AL, a man’s dress coat that was made by his grandmother, Penelope Moore for his 
grandfather, Levin Moore.  According to Wiley, the coat was made in about 1828.  He related that the cotton lint was hand 
picked from the seed, carded, spun, copperas dyed and woven by hand.  It is of the cut-a-way style with long tails. This is one 
of the oldest articles in the library collection.  Already in his nineties, Wiley was moved to the Emory Convalescent Home in Atlanta, 
close to several of his children, and passed away peacefully in 1957, at the age of ninety-two.  His funeral was held back at the 
River View Baptist Church, and he was buried with his family in the McGinty plot at the Fairview Cemetery in Valley, AL.  


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