Sumter-Emanuel-Colquitt County GaArchives Biographies.....Council, Lee George August 25, 1869 - January 29, 1945 ************************************************ 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: LaVerne Carter http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00028.html#0006854 September 13, 2012, 3:28 pm Source: AMERICUS THROUGH THE YEARS Author: William Bailey Williford LEE GEORGE COUNCIL The most beautiful house erected in Americus in the first half of the twentieth century was erected by Lee Council soon after his marriage to Miss Florence Hildreth of Live Oak, Florida on 9 October 1900. Its site was a gently rolling tract extending from the north side of Church Street at the intersection of Brown Street through to Forsyth Street. The front of the property had earlier been occupied by the cottage of Mr. and Mrs. B. P. Hollis which burned in 1892. The Council establishment included a large brick stable and carriage house, a greenhouse, servants' quarters, a tennis court, and several lovely gardens set amid beautiful old trees. A great iron stag was a familiar ornament on the front lawn for almost forty years. The house itself featured a baronial hall which extended the entire width of the structure. At one end of the hall was a great Italian fireplace and at the other end was a "bride's stairway" which divided into two stair- ways at a wide landing dominated by Tiffany stained glass windows. In addition to the central hall, the downstairs area consisted of a reception hall, a drawing room, a library, a dining room, a private telephone room, a serving room, a large kitchen and a rear gallery. The lovely dining room was dominated by a continuous mural around the upper portion of the oval walls which had been painted by an artist from Holland. Floors throughout the house were of hardwood parquetry. Mr. and Mrs. Council were noted for their gracious hospitality, and some of Americus' most elegant social functions were held in their home. There the couple entertained their own friends, the friends of their daughters, Ruth (later Mrs. Stuart H. Prather), and Elizabeth (now Mrs. Griffin Crafts of New York), and eventually the friends of their grandchildren Florence and Stuart Prather, Jr. When Mr. Council lost his considerable fortune in the Crash of '29, he and his wife managed to continue living in their home only because it had been her personal property from the beginning. There Mr. Council died on 29 January 1945, and shortly thereafter the house became the home of the Americus Elks' Lodge. Mrs. Council divided her last years between her girlhood home in Florida and the home of her surviving daughter in New York. An alumna of Agnes Scott College, she had been for forty-five years a vital force in the social, cultural and religious life of Americus. Witty and charming when things went well, she was unfailingly gracious and courageous in adversity and sorrow; an inspiration and a delight to all who were privileged to share her friendship. She died in New York 23 May 1973 at the age of ninety-three and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery (in Americus, beside her husband.) When Lee Council was an aspiring young man the "power structure" in Americus was composed of such men as Major M. Speer, W. H. C. Dudley, Charles M. Wheatley, J. W. Wheatley, Dr. W. W. Bagley, Willis A. Hawkins, A. S. Cutts, T. M. Furlow and Charles J. Malone. Gradually these were replaced by the bold young men who conceived and directed the "SAM" empire: S. H. Hawkins, H. C. Bagley, P. C. Clegg, J. J. Williford, J. E. D. Shipp, Theron N. Hawkes, and B. P. Hollis; also William A. Black, John A. Cobb, John B. Felder, and John Windsor. When a group of aspiring leaders aided and abetted J. W. Sheffield in rendering the "coup de grace" to the SAM organization at a time when all it needed was time and a little money, Colonel Hawkins' toppled team was quickly replaced by Mr. Sheffield, U. B. Harrold, R. J. Perry, T. B. Hooks, G. W. Glover, W. A. Dodson, Lee Allen, Eugene A. Hawkins, and W.H.C. Wheatley. Time and attrition took their toll, and eventually these men gave way to Frank Lanier, Frank Sheffield, Frank and Thomas Harrold, Arthur Rylander, Carr S. Glover and a few others who remained largely behind the scenes pulling the strings which manipulated their chosen figureheads. It was between these last two groups that Lee Council inserted himself and, because he was financially secure and politically independent, he captured both the fancy and the votes of a substantial majority of Americus people. In his three terms as Mayor, beginning just before the first World War, Mr. Council won solid support from nearly every segment of the community by having the streets in the business section paved. He probably did more than any man of his time to make Americus progress, yet he was so conservative about such a thing as business activity on Sunday that it became necessary for thirsty folk who wanted a soft drink to meet an incoming train to get one. (Automatic dispensers and carry-out cartons were not then even imagined!) Lee Council was born near Americus on 25 August 1869, a son of George Washington and Martha (Barwick) Council. As a young man he worked for several years in the cotton warehouse owned by his uncle M. B. Council and J. J. Williford and later he formed a partnership with T. B. Hooks and bought the business. Subsequently he became secretary and treasurer of the Americus Home Mixture Guano Company and owner of the Windsor Hotel. He was the first president of the Americus Board of Trade. Meanwhile, he had also been associated with his father in the Planter's Bank of Americus since its founding in 1891, and when his father died on 17 December 1900, he succeeded to the presidency. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The above is from the book, AMERICUS THROUGH THE YEARS, by William Bailey Williford. The full name of Lee George's wife was Martha Caroline Barwick, she was the daughter of Stancil Barwick and Emma Blackshear Barwick and the granddaughter of John Barwick and Susannah Whiddon of Emanuel County, Georgia. She was also a cousin to Melissa Ann Barwick Humphries of Thomas and Mitchell Counties, Georgia. Melissa Ann married Robert Bostic Humphries and they were the great grandparents of LaVerne Carter of Americus. Malissa Ann named one of her daughters, Florence, after Florence Hildreth Council. The Lee Council House is located at 318 E. Church Street in Americus and after all these years, it is still referred to as the "Lee Council House". It is now the home of the Sumter County Historic Trust. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/sumter/bios/council402bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 7.1 Kb