Monroe County GaArchives History .....Thurmond Mill November 1 1989
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FORSYTH-MONROE COUNTY, GA. 31029 - NOVEMBER 1, 1989

Mrs. Sappington, 94, recalls Thurmond Mill
BY SHERRI ELLINGTON
       Allie Means Sappington, 94, gre up in the Redbone district of Monroe 
County; the granddaughter of William Harrison Thurmond, who built and operated 
Thurmond Mill.
       Thurmond Mill was just off Culloden Road on Tobesofkee Creek.  There is 
nothing left now, said Mrs. Sappington, a Barnesville resident.
       "It was a grain mill," she said.  "They ground different kinds of flour, 
such as whole wheat flour for bread and biscuits."
       The mill ground two grades of wheat flour and bran.
       "The house was on the hill toward Forsyth," she said of the home where 
her mother, eight aunts, and nine uncles grew up.  "The family cemetery is on 
the left across the road."
       One uncle, William David Thurmond, invented a washing machine and an 
improved water wheel.  He operated the mill after his father's death on Aug. 
28, 1905.  Mrs. Sappington has a photograph of the 18 children taken that day.
       Another uncle, Jim Thurmond, also ran the mill despite being almost 
completely blind.
       "My father used to say it was a different kind of mill."  she 
said.  "There were more things that it could do than the average mill."
       The difference was related to the wheel "Uncle Billy" invented, which 
changed the way water flowed over it so more power was generated.
       In fact, the Thurmond and Means homes had running water using a system 
based on his water wheel.  One had water piped to the second floor.
       Mrs. Sappington told of the automatic railroad coupler her uncle and 
grandfather-both inventors-developed but never saw profit from, despite forming 
a company to sell them.
       "Uncle Billy went to  Washington to patent it, but never heard 
anything."  she said.  The lawyers patented it in their own names; they cheated 
him out of it.  That's a family story."
       Thurmond Mill's most notable event occurred during the Civil War.
       Owner of the only grist mill in Monroe County, young W. H. Thurmond was 
not allowed to fight.  It was more important to stay home and grind feed.
       "When Sherman's people came through Atlanta on the way to Savannah, they 
came right through here, "said Mrs. Sappington.  "The troops went into his home 
and took what they wanted and gave them to the commanding officer, who was 
waiting in the road."
       Items stolen included her grandfather's gold watch.  The officer 
inspected it, turning it over to discover a Masonic symbol engraved on the back.
       "He was a Mason himself," she said.  "He ordered everything returned to 
the home, and ordered that the house and mill not be burned.  He didn't let 
them bother a thing they had."
       "the family had heard (the Union soldiers) were coming," she 
said.  "They had driven the cattle and horses away and hidden them where the 
soldiers couldn't see them.  I've heard that story a long time."
       Picnics held at the mill were family reunions.
       "It was a big, big family, "she said.  "Two brothers were dentists in 
Columbus.  They would circulate the word when they were coming.  Other 
relatives would meet at Thurmond Mill and dine up on the hill."
       In her childhood, bees lived in the mill's third-story attic.
       "some of my uncles or the workers put a beehive up there so they could 
rob the honey," she said.
       Several years ago she painted the back of the mill from memory and 
stories heard in childhood.
       Her information on the mill since it was sold is sketchy and she looking 
for records of when it was built.
       "The family sold the mill a long time ago," she said.  "I don't have a 
record of it.  Uncle Tom was living in Griffin when he sold the place;  I don't 
remember who to."
       After the sale, its timbers, in good condition from refurbishment and 
installation of W.D. Thurmond's machinery in 1929, were stripped by local 
builders, leaving only the heavy wheel.
       W.D. Thurmond died in an accident on his 80th birthday while running the 
mill with his brother Jim.  In addition to being an inventor, he was a 
schoolteacher.
       In 1918 Allie Means married Home Sappington, an Army veteran of the 
Spanish American War and WW I.
       He served in WWII, was a training officer in Oklahoma, and retired as a 
Brigadier General.
       The Sappingtons had two children, four grandchildren and two great-
grandchildren.  On Aug. 28 they celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary.

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