Clay County GaArchives Obituaries.....PETERSON, VALLONIA October 1931
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REBECCA STEWART RSTEWART@ENERVEST.NET December 20, 2011, 12:33 pm

SOUTHWEST GEORGIAN, FT. GAINES, OCT 22 1931
SPINSTER’S DEATH RECALLS BURIED TREASURE LEGEND
TRAGEDY SEALED THE FINAL CHAPTER OF  A STRANGE LIFE MONDAY WHEN MISS VALLONIA 
PETERSON, 85 YEAR OLD SPINSTER, SUCCUMBED TO BURNS WHICH SHE SUSTAINED WHEN 
HER CLOTHING BECAME IGNITED AT HER HOME IN THE SEVENTH DISTRICT.  SHE LIVED 
SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE ACCIDENT, PASSING TO THE GREAT BEYOND ABOUT FIVE 
O’CLOCK MONDAY EVENING.  FUNERAL SERVICES WERE CONDUCTED TUESDAY MORNING BY 
REV. A.B. HAWKES, PASTOR FO THE BAPTIST CHURCH HERE.
ALONE, SAVE FOR HER BED RIDDEN SISTER, MISS EVE PETERSON, WHO HAS BEEN A 
HELPLESS PARALYTIC FOR MANY MONTHS, MISS VALLONIA HAD ARISEN AT HER USUAL HOUR 
MONDAY AND AFTER THE MORNING FIRE WAS ATTEMPTING TO DISLODGE SOOT FROM THE 
CHOKED FLUE.  AS SHE REACHED UPWARD TO TAP THE STOVE PIPE HER SKIRT CAME IN 
CONTACT WITH THE LITTLE SPURTING BLAZE AT THE STOVE GRATE.
HER SCREAMS, AS SHE RUSHED FROM THE HOUSE ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF A COLORED 
MAN, WHO HURRIED TO HER RESCUE, BUT HER CLOTHING HAD ENTIRELY BURNED AWAY 
BEFORE HE COULD REACH HER SIDE.   THE CLANGING OF THE OLD DINNER BELL BROUGHT 
HER NEIGHBORS HURRIEDLY TO THE SCENE, BUT THE INJURED WOMAN WAS BEYOND HUMAN 
AID.
THE DECEASED WAS THE PRODUCT OF STURDY IRISH ANCESTORS WHO IMMIGRATED MANY 
GENERATIONS AGO TO AMERICA AND TO THE PLANTATION ON WHICH MISS VALLONIA LIVED 
AND DIED.  LEGENDS THAT SMACK OF HIBERIAN FOLK-LORE , RECOUNT TALES OF BURIED 
TREASURE, POTS OF IRISH GOLD HIDDEN IN AMERICAN SOIL AND SUPPLEMENTED BY AN 
ACCUMULATION OF AMERICAN SPECIE, THE VOLUME OF WHICH WAS PURELY A MATTER OF 
CONJECTURE.
FEW HAVE VISITED THE QUINT HOMESTEAD, BURIED IN THE DEEPS OF THE PINE WOODS IN 
NORTHER CLAY COUNTY.  NO ONE HAS SEEN THE GOLD, EXCEPT PERHAPS A SNEAK THIEF, 
WHO, THE LADIES ALLEGED, ROBBED THEM A FEW YEARS AGO OF MORE THAN A THOUSAND 
DOLLARS OF THEIR HIDDEN STORE.
FOLLOWING THE FUNERAL OF MISS VALONIA TUESDAY, AN OLD CHEST WHICH HAD BEEN 
TIGHTLY NAILED AND PADLOCKED WAS OPENED IN THE PRESENCE OF RELATIVES AND 
COUNTY OFFICERS.  IT WAS FOUND TO CONTAIN SOMETHING MORE THAN $600 DOLLARS, 
$460 OF WHICH WAS IN GOLD COIN.  THE SPECIE WAS IN TWO CONTAINERS, ONE 
BELONGING TO MISS EVE, THE SURVIVING SISTER; THE OTHER, THE PROPERTY OF MISS 
VALLONIA.  THE CONTAINERS THEMSELVES WERE BADLY RUSTED BEARING THE EVIDENCE OF 
HAVING BEEN BURIED IN THE EARTH.  AMONTH THE POSESSIONS OF THE WOMEN WERE 
ALMOST HALF A HUNDRED BED SPREADS, HAND SPUN AND HAND WOVEN, AND THE OLD 
SPINNING WHEEL ON WHICH THEY HAD BEEN MADE.  THESE WERE DIVIDED AMONG THEIR 
RELATIVES ALONG WITH OTHER ANTIQUE HOUSEHOLD FURNISHINGS.


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