Greene County GaArchives Biographies.....Geer, James Frederick September 21, 1824 - March 1, 1905 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Samuel Taylor Geer http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00016.html#0003769 June 2, 2007, 11:09 pm Author: Samuel Taylor Geer Capt. James Frederick Geer of Greene Co., Georgia James Frederick Geer, the only child of David Geer (b. April 5, 1791, d. October 22, 1855) and Sarah "Sally" Greer (b. December 18, 1805, d. November 20, 1826), was born September 21, 1824 in Greene County, Georgia. His father and uncle, William Geer, were early settlers in Greene County, coming from the Wake County area of North Carolina before 1820. He was the grandson of Frederick Geer (b. Bef. 1755 - d. 1840) and Sarah Reeves (b. aft. 1755 - d. Bef. April 15, 1822) of Wake County, North Carolina and James Greer (b. abt.1773 - d. Bef. March 12, 1812) and Ann Nancy Haynes of Greene County. Interesting to note of the Geer and Greer families in Greene County is the marriage of James Greer’s widow Ann Nancy (nee Haynes) Greer to William Geer, James Frederick Geer’s uncle. William Geer was made guardian of James Greer’s minor children: Elizabeth, Sarah (James Frederick Geer’s future wife), Vinson, Henry and Nancy Greer, in the Greene County Court of Ordinary May 3, 1813. William Geer and Ann Nancy (nee Haynes) Greer Geer later became the parents of James Madison, John L., Emily and Evaline C. Geer, whose families are noted in the records of Morgan and Walton Counties, Georgia. This is just one complicating factor to disseminating the Geer and Greer families in Greene County and in the records of the neighboring counties of Wilkes and Oglethorpe. The Geer and Greer surnames are often misspelled or transposed in these records with the names variously spelled Geer, Gear, Gier, Greer and Grier. The research task is further complicated by the fact that both families used identical first names of David, James, William and Frederick in descendant lines. James Frederick Geer, most likely named for his two grandfathers, is noted in numerous county and church records in Greene County, serving on the grand jury, as trustee for Woodville Academy, member of the Democratic Club, a Commissioner for the Poor and member of the Baptist church at Bairds where he was ordained a Deacon. James’ marriage to Mary Bethany Callaway on January 18, 1844 is recorded in the Ordinary Court in Wilkes County, Georgia. Mary was the eighth child of Rev. Enoch Callaway (b. September 14, 1792, d. September 12, 1859) and Martha “Patsy” Reeves, a second cousin to James’ grandmother Martha Reeves of Wake County, (b. April 08, 1796, d. March 10, 1879) of Rayle, Wilkes County. She was born February 23, 1825 in Wilkes County and died May 04, 1908 in Athens, Clarke County, Georgia at the home of her daughter, Mrs. William H. (nee Alice Angela Geer) Weatherly, at 83 years of age. James had died three years earlier on March 01, 1905 at the home of his son Enoch Callaway Geer in the village of Penfield, Greene County located four miles southwest of the Geer homestead and seven and a half miles northeast of the County seat of Greensboro. James was just over eighty years of age and had shared 61 years of marriage with his beloved wife. James and Mary Callaway Geer resided on a plantation located along Fishing Creek in Greene County that consisted of some 316 acres. Commonly known as Captain Geer’s farm, the central point of the homestead was the 8-room farmhouse, built between 1828 and 1833 by James’ father David before his second marriage to Mrs. Helena (nee Ligon) McWhorter (b. October 05, 1793, d. September 24, 1853) on July 26, 1833 in Oglethorpe County. Helena was the widow of Hugh McWhorter (b. August 24, 1788, d. May 11, 1825) of Oglethorpe County and daughter of Joseph Ligon, III (b. 1740, d. 1828 in Winterville, Clarke Co., GA) and Mary Church (b. Bef. July 29, 1759 in Hinton Waldrist, Berkshire, England, d. in Halifax County, Virginia). Today the location is identified as County Road 146, or Geer Road. The symmetrical exterior of the home highlights the architectural transition from the Federal to the Greek revival period. Double front doors with sidelight windows and transom lights lead into a foyer with French doors leading to another hallway, both with walls of horizontal boards. All the rooms have horsehair plaster walls and heart pine floors. Six rooms have built- in cabinets, an unusual feature for the time period. The eight fireplaces, each with a different mantel motif, add warmth to the five bedrooms, parlor, dining room/library and kitchen. The original kitchen, which stood behind the main house until the late 1930’s, was connected to the house by a raised open breezeway. A new kitchen was incorporated into the main house when electricity was added to the home in the late 1930’s. Water, however, still comes from a brick lined well that was expanded from it original twenty-five foot depth to 360 feet in the 1980’s. Under the house, a corner was dug out to form a root cellar and enclosed with a wattle and daub combination of hand-hewn beams and clay. These beams set on pillars of hand-made brick and fitted with pegs, hold the entire house together like a giant puzzle. The clapboards on the outside of the house were also hand hewn. In the attic rest the mortise and tenon supports for the hipped roof. They form an “X” under the main part of the roof, while smaller supports fit under the outlying portions of the roof. The original roof was made out of pine shakes. In front of the house lies the six-acre north pasture containing a four- stall barn with hay storage, tack room and the Family Cemetery where James and Mary are buried along with other family members. The homestead remained in the Geer family until 1980 when the last family occupant, granddaughter Nora Aleene Geer (b. February 25, 1897, d. May 15, 1980), passed away and the farm was sold. The original farmhouse and some 60 acres, however, remain intact and continues as a private home with the addition of a fenced bricked patio, an 18 x 36 pool, separate heated spa/Jacuzzi, sunroom, central heat and air-conditioning to the house and barns and a 1-acre pond stocked with bream and bass. James ran a farming operation that included crops of cotton, tobacco and vegetables as well as horses, cattle, sheep and pigs. Cotton, however, was the main cash crop. James enlisted in Company "C," 3rd Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Wright's Brigade (known as “The Dawson Grays”) during the War Between the States where he was elected 2nd Lieutenant. He fought briefly on the North Carolina coast in October 1861 before moving to Virginia and fighting at Malvern Hill (July 1, 1862). He was elected Captain April 28, 1862, but resigned July 22, 1862 due to disability. James Frederick and Mary Callaway Geer raised twelve children on their antebellum plantation: 1. Sarah Martha “Sallie” Geer; 2. Mary Helen Geer; 3. David Paul Geer; 4. Anne Elizabeth Geer; 5. Lydia LaBelle “Belle” Geer; 6. Ella Caroline Geer; 7. James Frederick Geer, Jr.; 8. Julia Alline Geer; 9. Enoch Callaway Geer; 10. Joseph Jefferson “Joe” Geer; 11. William Brantley Geer; and 12. Alice Angela Geer. Additional Comments: Sources - Genealogy.com: Family Archive Image, Early Georgia Settlers, 1700s-1800s: Index to the 1830 Census of Georgia, (Fremont, CA: Broderbund Software, Inc., 2002), "Electronic," p. 183. - Wake County, North Carolina Wills, Inventories & Estates, pp. 484-485, May 18, 1840 & February 1841. - Wake County, North Carolina Deed Book 5, p. 184, April 15, 1822, Estate of William Reeves. - Greene County, Georgia Minutes of Ordinary's Court, March 12, 1812, November 19, 1827 and January 14, 1828. - Oglethorpe County, Georgia Marriages "White" 1831 - 1877, (Atlanta: Georgia Department of Archives & History, Microfilm 46 / Box 5), p. 10. - Lucas, Rev. Silas Emmett Jr., Index to The Headright and Bounty Grants of Georgia 1756 - 1909, p. 222 - Lucas, Rev. Silas Emmett Jr., The Fourth or 1821 Land Lottery of Georgia, (Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, Inc., 1986), p. 84 - Cates, Vivian Toole Cates, Conference Minutes of Bethesda Baptist Church, Union Point (Greene County) Georgia - August 1817 to December 1865, (Tyler, TX: East Texas Genealogical Society, 1991), pp. 170-171. - Ingmire, Frances T., compiler, Greene County, Georgia Marriage Records 1788- 1875, (St. Louis: Frances T. Ingmire, 1985), "Residents of Greene County Who Drew Land 1832," p. ii; Bride Index p. 24; Groom Index, p. 26. - McRee, Fred W. Jr., Oglethorpe County, Georgia Inferior and Ordianry Court Records 1794 - 1920, Vol. 1, (Dahlonega, GA: Fred W. McRee, Jr., 2003), Guardian and Administrator's Bonds, pp. 51-52. - David Geer Family Bible - Swain, Bessie Lillian Paulk, "McCommons-Geer and Allied Families," 1971, pp. 38-41. - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index, (Salt Lake City, UT: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2002), "Electronic," http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp. - Genealogy.com: Family Archive Image, Early Georgia Settlers, 1700s-1800s: Index to the 1830 Census of Georgia, (Fremont, CA: Broderbund Software, Inc., 2002), "Electronic," p. 183. - 1850 United States Federal Census, p. 72 - 145th District, Greene County, Georgia #14/14. - "The Temperance Banner," Penfield, Georgia, Estate administration notice for David Geer appeared in Vol. XXI, #48, December 1, 1855, p. 192; Vol. XXI, #49, December 8, 1855, p. 196; Vol. XXI, #50, December 15, 1855, p. 200 and EXTRA, December 22, 1855, p. 1. - Greene County (Georgia) Marriages - Ordinary (1785 - 1873), December 19, 1822. - Smith, Mrs. Herschel W., compiler, Marriage Records of Greene County, Georgia (1787-1875) and Oglethorpe County, Georgia (1795-1852), Historical Collections of the Georgia Chapters National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Vol. V, (Atlanta: John T. Hancock, 1949), pp. 47, 57 & 168. - Freeman, Virginia McWhorter, Descendants of Helena Ligon and Hugh McWhorter, (Decatur, GA: Virginia McWhorter Freeman, 1991), pp. ii & iv. - Oglethorpe County (Georgia) Marriage Book C (1828 - 1862), p. 37 - GenealogyLibrary.com, Oglethorpe County, Georgia Marriages from 1794 to 1850, (http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/_glc_/2555/2555_20.html? Welcome=989934148), "Electronic," p. 20. - Oglethorpe County (Georgia) Marriages "White" 1831 - 1877, (Atlanta: Georgia Department of Archives & History, Microfilm 46 / Box 5), p. 7 - "The Christian Index," Georgia Baptist Convention, “Mrs. Helena (Lygon) McWhorter Geer,” Vol. XXXII - New Series, Vol. 21, No. 42, p. 167. - Overby, Mary, Editor, Obituaries Published by The Christian Index 1822-1879, (Macon, GA: Georgia Baptist Historical Society, 1975), p. 83. - Armor, E. H., The Cemeteries of Greene County Georgia, (Athens, GA: Agee Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 19, 24, 33, 37, 39, 109, 125. - GenealogyLibrary.com, Oglethorpe County, Georgia Marriages from 1794 to 1850, (http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/_glc_/2555/2555_20.html? Welcome=989934148), "Electronic," p. 20. - Henderson, Lillian, Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia 1861-1865, Vol. 1, (Hapeville: Longino & Porter, 1958), p. 457 - Lane, David A., editor, Georgia Division United Daughters of the Confederacy Ancestor Roster, Vol. 3 (E-G), (GA Division United Daughter of the Confederacy, 1992), p. 120 - Crosses and Medals Awarded by the Georgia Division United Daughters of the Confederacy, Vol. II (D - H), p. 109 - 1850 United States Federal Census, p. 124, 165th District, Greene County, Georgia #181/181. - Evans, Tad, Greene County, Georgia Newspaper Clippings, Vol. I, 1852 - 1873, (Savannah, GA: Tad Evans, 1995), pp. 40, 168, 191, 322, 336, 345, 349. - Hall, Judy "Restoration of Greene County Plantation," Georgia Journal, Winter 1987, Vo. 7, No. 2: pp. 24-29. - Johnson, Carolyn L. Harper, Muster Roll of Company C, 3rd Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia, Greene Co., GA - Dawson Grays, abt.http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/greene/military/civilwar/rosters/coc 3reg.txt, Geer, James F - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, “Mr. J. F. Geer Dead,” Vol., 40, #5, Friday, March 3, 1905, p. 5. - Callaway, Rev. Timothy Walton, Callaway Baptist Preachers 1789 - 1882, (Dublin, GA: John Laurens Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1921), p. 9 - Geer, Samuel Taylor, "The Family of Mary Bethany Callaway of Wilkes and Greene Co., Georgia," Callaway Family Association Journal, Vol. XXIX/XXX, 2004/2005, pp. 33-36. - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Wilkes County (Georgia) Marriages - Ordinary Court (1806 - 1905), (Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958), International Genealogical Index: Batch #M713992 dated 1836 - 1871, Source Call #0163533. - Butler, Larry R. and Janice B. Turner, Wilkes County, Georgia - Marriages 1792-1925 (Georgia Genealogy, GAGenWeb Project: http://www.giddeon.com/wilkes/index2.shtml, © 2003-2005 by Keith Giddeon) - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, Vol. 43, #19, "Death of an Aged Lady," Friday, May 8, 1908, p. 1. - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Wilkes County (Georgia) Marriages - Ordinary Court (1806 - 1905), (Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958), International Genealogical Index: Batch #M713992 dated 1836 - 1871, Source Call #0163533. - Terry, Ralph, editor, Descendants of Hugh II, (http://www.parsonstech.com/genealogy/trees/rterry1/greer-d.htm) - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, Vol. 55, #46, November 14, 1919, p. 6. - The Augusta Chronicle, Augusta, Georgia, Two Richmond Veterans Leave for Battle Reunion," June 1938, - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, "Last Confederate Veteran Passes: Taps for J. H. McCommons, Sr., Who Dies at Age of 95," Friday, March 22, 1940, p. 1. - Rice, Dr. Thaddeus Brockett and Carolyn White Williams, History of Greene County, Georgia, (Washington, GA: Wilkes Publishing Co., Inc., 1973), p. 629 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index, (Salt Lake City, UT: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2002), "Electronic," Patron sheets, 1969-1991 - Batch Number: 8917705, Sheet: 18, Source Call No. 1553496. - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Greene County (Georgia) Marriages - Ordinary (1785 - 1908), Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1957, Batch No. M712965, Dates: 1866 - 1875 Source Call No. 0159054, Type: Film. - Greene Co., Georgia Deed Book 32, p. 23. - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Compiler, 1880 United States Federal Census, Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2002, Census Place: Penfield, Greene, Georgia, Family History Library Film 1254149, NA Film #T9- 0149, p. 332D. - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, "By His Own Hand: Mr. James F. Geer, Jr. Kills Himself," Friday, January 31, 1890, p. 1. - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, "Penfield," Friday, February 7, 1919, p. 4. - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, "Mrs. Lula A. Geer Dies At Penfield," Friday, May 19, 1933, p. 4. - The Augusta Chronicle, Augusta, Georgia, "Out-Of-Town Society: Notes of Thomson," Sunday, April 18, 1926, 1D. - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, "Mrs. Enoch Geer Passes Away at Penfield Tuesday," Friday, August 28, 1908, p. 2. - The Herald-Journal, Greensboro, Georgia, "Mrs. Alice Weatherly Is Buried In Athens," Friday, January 2, 1931, p. 1. - Geer Family Cemetery, Geer Farm, Greene Co., GA Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/greene/photos/bios/geer927gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/greene/bios/geer927gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 16.2 Kb