Schley County Georgia Bios Tondee Family File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by LDSED@aol.com Linda Snow Davis Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/schley.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm BIOGRAPHY OF TONDEE FAMILY Peter Tondee 1723-1775 Linda has a photo of a genuine likeness of Peter Tondee. The portrait was a water color medallion and was owned by Mrs. Julia Doty De Puis, Peter Tondee's great-great grand daughter who inherited it from her mother and her mother before her. The original medallion was damaged by moisture. My copy was given to my a cousin, Martha McCorkle of Dalton, Ga. PETER TONDEE' S FATHER Pierre Tondu born in 1684, in Chatillon-sur-Loire, one year prior to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, fled France and went to England. It is believed he settled near Leicester Square, in London. His son Peter Tondee was born in 1723, in London. His younger son Charles, was baptized in Ryder's Square Chapel, where Pierre and his wife Jeanne had registered their faith as Protestants. It is not known what happened to Jeanne, but Peirre paid passage for himself and his two sons, age ten and five, to come to America, boarding the James at Rotherhithe docks on January 24,1733. They arrived in Savannah, Ga. in February, after the first Colonist on the Ann. Sometime between leaving France and coming to Savannah, Pierre Tondu changed his name to Peter Tondee, Sr. Shortly after arriving in Savannah, Peter, Sr. died leaving his two sons orphans. Peter Tondee grew up among many youths who were to become men of affairs in the critical period which changed the course of world history. More about Peter Tondee,Jr. Peter and his brother Charles were placed as orphans with Paul Amatis, and Italian silk maker for a period in 1734 until early 1735, when Amatis expressed his wishes to have the Tondee boys be taken off his hands. Later, they were placed with Henry Parker, a linen maker and magistrate. Then, when Reverend George Whitefield came to Savannah with dreams of building the first orphanage, he would seek out the Tondee boys to be a part of that dream. Peter had learned the carpentry trade and not only helped build the Orphange, Bethesda, but lived there as an orphan. He was employed by the Colonial Council to build, in 1765 a house to hold the Courts of Province. Also in 1767, was appointed culler and inspector of lumber for the port of Savannah. Peter had acquired several land grants and between 1766 and 1770 he built his tavern. Tondee's Tavern, located on the corner of Broughton and Whitaker Streets in Savannah, was the chief rallying place of the town for social as well as business activity for the last decade of the Colonial era. The Tavern was built at the time of the British tax oppression. As a result of the Stamp Act, the secret organization, Sons of Liberty, was formed. Peter felt the weight of the oppression when a tax was levied on him for a slave, thus he was in the secret organization. Georgia members of the Sons of Liberty turned to the Tavern for the secret meetings. He continued in carpentry and on the eve of the Revolution in 1773, he was employed by the Colonial Government on repairs to the Court House windows and drawing a salary as messenger to the Commons House of Assembly. On July 27,1774 with the news of the closing of the port of Boston, the Liberty Boys openly rallied at Tondee's Tavern, intent upon placing the Province of Georgia within the lists of Revolutionists. At the Tavern, many patriots made speeches among whom was George Walton who was to be immortalized as a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Time passed without further demonstration until January, a meeting was held in the Tavern to prepare a petition to the King for the repeal of the acts of parliment imposing taxes without representation. At another meeting on January 23, Peter Tondee was one of the 45 delegates in his tavern who elected delegates to represent Georgia in the Continental Congress. News of the battle of Lexington reached Savannah May 10,1775 and the Liberty Boys rallied again at Tondee's Tavern and formally severed allegiance to England. At the Tavern the Plan was concocted that the Liberty Boys seized from the kings magazine in Savannah five hundred pounds of powder part, which they shipped to Boston, and was used by the patriots there at the battle of Bunker Hill. On the 5th of June, 1775 the patriots erected the first liberty pole in Georgia in front of Tondee's Tavern and on the 21st summoned the people of Savannah to choose a committee to enforce association with other colonies in the cause of freedom. After all business transactions, the liberty flag was hoisted upon the liberty pole and several of the gentlemen dined in the Tavern and drank thirteen patriotic toasts. On the 4th of July, 1775 the sitting of the first Provincial Congress of Georgia took place in the long room of the Tavern, the occasion of passing measures of importance, framing the bill of rights proclaiming the priviledges for which it was to contend, and the introducing of Georgia into the fold of the conferated provinces were the purposes for this meeting. It also chose its president, Archibald Bullock. Peter Tondee's involvement in the Revolution came to an end, as on October 21, 1775 he took ill at his Tavern, growing worse, until he died the next evening. His wife, Lucy Tondee became sole proprietress of the Tavern and continued the sersvice of the liberty. The Council of Safety resolved to meet at Tondee's long room every Monday at 10:00 a.m. and as emergency of affairs arose. Tondee's Tavern survived the fires of the British occupation of Savannah and the returned Government resettled itself in her tavern, as the House of Assembly on the 5th of Aug. 1782, resolved to allow her, for the use of the Tavern, monies to be paid out of the first money that would come into the pulbic Treasury. It occupied the room until 1784 and probably until the year after, when the Tavern ceased to be. Lucy Tondee died in Savannah in Oct. 1785. Lucy had also filled her mission serving the cause of the Revolution. Peter Tondee was known as the Tavern Keeper, Georgia's roster of the Revolution records him as Son of Liberty and Member of the Provincial Congress and he referred to himself as a "carpenter". This history was written by Linda Snow Davis and published in The First Families of Henry County,Georgia compiled by the Genealogical Society of Henry and Clayton Counties, Georgia,Inc. and was edited with an introduction by Joseph Henry Hightower Moore and copyrighted in 1993. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A little information on THOMAS MOUSE Thomas Mouse, clogmaker, and his wife Lucy and their five daughters departed London on the "James" on the 28th Sept. 1733 and arrived 14th Jan 1734. The Mouse family was among the first colonists to be placed at Skidaway Island, just up river from the Isle of Hope where Peter Tondee lived with Henry Parker. Thomas Mouse wrote Oglethorpe back in London after the first year, telling of his improvements of the land and hardships that he and the other families had to endure. Most of the settlers of Tybee and Skidaway had died within a year or two from disease. The Mouse family stayed for six years. August 17, 1742 Thomas Mouse died of the great fever. October 29,1742 one of his daughters Elizabeth,died. A letter from Mrs. Mouse dated Savannah May 15th,1747 was laid before the trustees stating that she had suffered many misfortunes since she had been there, and bred up a large family with great difficulty, her husband having died five years ago, her eldest daughter having lost her husband killed by the Spaniards, and having two daughters still dependent on her, that she was therefore obliged to quit her Plantation at Skeedaway and seek a livelihood in Savannah. She tells of the boards of her house having been stolen and put up in an adjacent Isle and the frame burnt by the Indians. The property on Skidaway in which the Mouse family lived was a gift to her grandson,William Norton,Jr., son of her daughter Katey Norton. William sold the 50 acres to John Milledge. Today there is an historical plaque, on this property called Modena, telling of Thomas Mouse being an original settler there and being remembered for his description of early hardships there. THOMAS MOUSE m LUCY Children: 1 Anne m Francis Brooks 2 Catherine m William Norton 3 Elizabeth m Isaac Young, Jr. 4 Lucy m Peter Tondee 5 Mary ================ PIERRE TONDU m JEANNE ? 1 Peter Tondee Jr m Lucy Mouse 2 Charles m ? PETER TONDEE JR M LUCY MOUSE 1 Lucy 2 Peter 3 Ann 4 Elizabeth m Nicholas Champaigne 5 Charles Robert Tondee m Harriette Parmenter 6 Mary 7 Sarah "Sally" m Frederick Shick CHARLES ROBERT TONDEE m HARIETTE PARMENTER m 2nd Elizabeth Nelson 1 Thomas S m Julia Ann Womack 2 Hester Frances 3 Elizabeth m Alexander Elkins 4 Maria Parmenter 5 Selina Anne 6 Charles Robert Tondee Jr m 1st Cenia Gaddy m 2 Valeria Womack(Cenia's niece) m 3rd Mary Bivins 7 Elsy Madtilda 8 Amanda Johanna CHARLES ROBERT TONDEE JR M 1ST CENIA GADDY 1 Infant (stillborn) 2 Robert Peter Tondee (CONFEDERATE SOLDIER, CAPT. 17TH GA INF. CO B) 3 Infant (stillborn) CHARLES ROBERT TONDEE JR m 2ND VALERIA WOMACK 1 Georgia Julia 2 Thomas m ? Wolf 3 Harriett C (Hattie) 4 William H (Billy) m Mary Williams 5 Virginia Jane (Jenny) m Dr Robert T Bivins 6 Celestia (Lessie) m Edgar Adams 7 Susan Valeria m Allen Aurelius CHARLES ROBERT TONDEE m 3RD MARY BIVINS 1 Charles Rufus 2 Millard Bartow (Pony) 3 Virgil Homer 4 Lawrence Elkins (Lon) 5 Thomas Chesterfield 6 James S (Jim) 7 Stonewall J 8 Edgar VIRGINIA JANE (JENNY) m DR ROBERT T BIVINS 1 Robert H 2 Jennie Lee 3 Clarence Chesterfield 4 Charles Tondee m Ethel Clyde Rainey 5 Mattie Ella 6 Samuel Tilton 7 Hattie J 8 Henry Cotton 9 James A 10 Georgia Julia CHARLES TONDEE BIVINS m ETHEL CLYDE RAINEY 1 Clifford Vivian Bivins m Willard S Snow 2 Willie Clyde Bivins m 1st Stoney m 2nd Paul Thomas 3 Emma Carrie (Tab) Bivins 4 Jim Bivins 5 Dorethea (Dot) m 1st Elbert Smith m 2nd Herbert Manley m 3rd William Richard Spann 6 Hoke Bivins 7 Hattie Estelle Bivins m 1st Edward Ward m 2nd Clarence Lane 8 Rainey Bivins CLIFFORD VIVIAN BIVINS m WILLARD S SNOW 1 Bertha Ethelene Snow m 1st Lauren Horsley Bishop III m 2nd Curtis Jones 2 Willard Eugene Snow m 1st Nellie Elizabeth Adams m 2nd Joyce S Williams m 3rd Frances Elizabeth Lee WILLARD EUGENE SNOW m NELLIE ELIZABETH ADAMS 1 Deborah Nell Snow m 1st James Kirk Rainwater Sr m 2n Terry ? m 3rd Bobbie Lee m 4th Bob Clark 2 Linda Snow Davis m Edward Thomas Davis Jr 3 Robert Eugene Snow m Debbie Ann Noga 4 John David Snow m Stacey Ann Hulsey 5 Joanie Denise Snow ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. 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