Thomas County GaArchives Biographies.....Whaley, Ezekiel Ramsey 1862 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 19, 2004, 8:08 pm

Author: William Harden
p. 808-810

   EZEKIEL RAMSEY WHALEY. The prosperity and enterprise of the south Georgia
agriculturist are well represented in Mr. E. R. Whaley, who for many years has
directed the production of extensive lands in the Boston district of Thomas
county, and is one of the well known and progressive citizens of that county.

   Ezekiel Ramsey Whaley was born in the Boston district of Thomas county on the
19th of June, 1862, and represents pioneer families in this section of the
state. His grandfather was named Ezekiel Whaley, who when a young man came from
his native England to America, his brother being his companion on the voyage,
and after arriving in this country joined the Revolutionary army as a fifer in
General Washington's command, with which he served throughout the war. Later he
became a settler in Lenoir county, North Carolina, where he bought land
bordering on the Neuse river. He married a Miss Jarman, and both spent their
last years in Lenoir county. They were the parents of three sons and several
daughters. One of the sons, John, came to Georgia and lived in Hawkinsville, but
as his only son died unmarried he left no descendants. Another son, Evans,
settled in Florida and reared a large family.

   Jarman Howell Whaley, the father of Ezekial R., was born in Lenoir county,
August 10, 1809, was reared and educated there, and at the age of twenty-one
came to Georgia and spent two years with his brother John in the central part of
the state. He then moved to Thomas county, where he was one of the early
settlers. Previously he had acquired the trade of clock maker, and was also
possessed of considerable musical talent. So for some years after his location
in Thomas county he gave his service to the community in repairing clocks and in
teaching music, being the pioneer music teacher in this part of the state. After
his marriage he lived two years at Grooverville, and then bought land in the
Boston district. A log cabin was his first home, and with the aid of his slaves
he cleared land for one of the early farms in that district. With subsequent
prosperity he built a log house containing nine rooms, ceiled inside, making a
very comfortable residence. For many years after his settlement here the country
was without railroads, Newport and Tallahassee, Florida, were the nearest
markets, and he hauled his products to those points. He remained a resident on
his farm home until his death on the 30th of August, 1878. In 1864 he had joined
the Georgia Reserves and participated with them in the defense of Atlanta.

   Jarman H. Whaley married Eliza Ramsey, who was a native of Bladen county,
North Carolina. Her grandfather was Mathew Ramsey, a native of England, who came
to America in colonial times and served in the Revolution. William Ramsey, her
father, was born, reared and married in North Carolina, and in 1829 came to
Georgia, using teams and wagons to carry all his movable property and family and
slaves, and driving his stock. He was one of the first settlers in what is now
the Boston district of Thomas county. The land which he purchased was heavily
timbered and he built a log house and cleared a farm from the midst of the
wilderness. He was a devout Methodist, the first of that faith to settle in this
vicinity, and he put up a commodious log building which was used as a church
until one was erected in Grooverville. His death occurred on his homestead at
the age of eighty-four. He married Dorcas Bivens, who survived him, and they
reared a large family of children, one of whom was Eliza Ramsey, who became the
wife of Jarman H. Whaley. The latter couple were the parents of eight children,
namely: Julia, Laura, Ida, Ezekiel R., William, Anice, Olive and Birdie. Julia
now makes her home with her brother Ezekiel and her sister Birdie. Ida married
R. C. McMurray, and after her death her sister Laura became the wife of Mr.
McMurray. William is deceased. Anice, also deceased, married P. P. Joiner. Olive
is the wife of Dr. J. E. Watkins, a sketch of whom is found elsewhere in this
work. Birdie is the wife of I. S. Futch.

   Ezekiel R. Whaley received his early education in the common schools of the
home neighborhood. When he was sixteen his father died, and that event threw the
management of the entire home farm upon his shoulders, a responsibility he
discharged with faithful effort, and with his mother helped to keep the family
together until all became independent. He has been a successful and enterprising
farmer from the beginning, and finally bought out the interests of the other
heirs in the old homestead, which he continued to occupy until 1909. In that
year, in order to give his children the advantages of the town schools, he moved
to Boston, where he had built a fine large residence, with wide verandas and all
the modern improvements. Mr. Whaley owns about nine hundred acres of the good
farming land about Boston, and is still engaged in farming and stock raising on
an extensive scale.

   April 27, 1892, lie married Miss Minnie Clauzelle Williams. Mrs. Whaley is a
native of Eufaula, Alabama. Her grandfather, Zachariah Williams, spent all his
life in the vicinity of Augusta, Georgia, and her father, Gazarway Williams, was
born there, but when a young man went to Alabama and became one of the early
settlers at Eufaula. With the aid of his slaves he conducted a large farm there
and lived there until his death. His first wife was a Miss Abercrombie, who died
leaving several children, and he afterwards married a Miss Lucy Belle Puryear,
who was the mother of four children, namely: Minnie C. (Mrs. Whaley); Waller C.;
Gazarway Davis; and Fay Belle.

   The children of Mr. and Mrs. Whaley are Eldred Williams, Clauzelle, Rebecca,
Julia, Mary Louise, Minnie Lee and Waller. Mr. Whaley and wife are members of
the Methodist church South, at Boston, and he has served the church as steward
and also as teacher in the Sunday-school. In politics he has taken an active
interest in the Democratic party and in public affairs. He was elected county
commissioner in 1894, serving until 1899, and was again elected to this office
in 1909. Fraternally, he affiliates with Horeb Lodge No. 281, F. & A. M., and
with J. M. Rushin Chapter No. 23, R. A. M.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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