Troup County GaArchives History .....History - RiverView, Alabama (Chambers Co.) August 2005 ************************************************ 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: Valerie (Johnson) Freeman http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00009.html#0002248 August 26, 2005, 6:23 pm Book Title: Our McGinty Family In America *** (Note: I thought this haad enough ties to Troup Co., Georgia that it was good for cross-posting to the Troup Co., Georgia Archives. vjf) *** Chambers County AlArchives History .....RiverView, Alabama - History August 26, 2005 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Gerald K., Sr. McGinty mcgintyboy@aol.com August 26, 2005, 6:11 pm Book Title: Our McGinty Family In America RiverView, Alabama - History After the Civil War, when most of the south was in shambles, this area received some good news. A cotton mill was going to be built both at Campbell's gristmill and Trammell's mill further up the river. Confederate money was worthless, but a few men were fortunate enough to have the financial means to invest in these new mills. The Huguley family was the primary investor. It is said that, during the war, they had considerable cotton in their possession and were able to sell it to British buyers and ship it before it was conscripted by the North. During the war, cotton prices were over $1.00 lb. The Huguleys were said to be from northeast GA and SC and were familiar with the potential that cotton factories held. In 1853, George and Amos Huguley had purchased 1,920 acres of land from Milton M. Marcus for $17,000. In 1865, they purchased an additional 143 acres from James Campbell for $2,430, which included three islands in the Chattahoochee River. Part of this land was in Al and part in GA and is the site where the current Riverdale mill was built in the town that became, RiverView (originally spelled this way). Prior to the coming of these textile mills, this entire area of AL was strictly agricultural and cotton was the most important crop. There were several gristmills for grinding corn and wheat, cotton gins and sawmills all using waterpower from the river and creeks to turn the mill wheels. After the war, when these large textile mills were built, the economy quickly converted to textile manufacturing as the chief industry and major employer. RiverView had one of the first large mills, named the Alabama-Georgia Manufacturing Co. The plant was given this name because it actually spanned the state line, with part of the plant in AL and the other in GA. The plant was four stories high, 50 feet wide and 250 feet long. Manufacturing of course fabrics such as osanburg and single filling duck began here in 1866. Osanburg is an unbleached cotton cloth that was heavy and course. It was used for goods such as farmers clothing, overalls, sacking and bagging. Single filling duck was also a course fabric used for such things as tents, awnings, boat sails, tarpaulins and belts for machinery. One of the old timers, D. W. "Uncle Dan" Simms, who arrived in River View in 1879, gives an excellent picture of life there around 1880, when my grandfather, Wiley P. McGinty, Sr., was fifteen years old. He remembers that the RiverView of 1880 had no school in the village, "But there was a little schoolhouse at the cross- roads (McGinty), where the railroad crosses the dirt road. This school was operated only three months in the year. After the public funds were exhausted, parents would pay one dollar a month for each child. There were very few families that could afford to pay this tuition." By 1880, the population in RiverView was about 175 with most of the people in town living on mill property and working in the mill (note that most of the early McGintys, prior to the mill being built, were farmers in the outlying areas around RiverView). Exceptions were older people and children under seven years of age. "The mill used only waterpower from the river. There was no electricity, and it operated sixty-six hours per week. There was no sprinkler system. Water was kept in large barrels in each room in case of fire. The floors were made from pine boards and were full of splinters. The children went barefooted, so the foreman carried a sharp pocketknife to cut splinters out of their feet. Children were paid around $.60 cents a day for the menial jobs that they could fill such as sweeping. Top pay, for the more skilled weavers, etc. might be $6.50 per week. A colored man brought the drinking water in cedar buckets to the workers from a spring. Everyone drank from the same dipper. It would take the "water man" about three hours to make his rounds. The "hands" would get pretty thirsty, especially during the hot summer months. Cotton and other supplies for the mill were brought in from West Point by large mule drawn wagons (drays). Manufactured cloth goods were then returned to West Point on the same wagon (the railroad was extended to the plant at a later date). West Point was the shipping center for the entire area. Workers would go to West Point (seven miles away) on Saturday afternoon after they got out of work at 4:00pm. They would purchase their dry goods and groceries, then carry their supplies home in their arms and across their backs. On Saturday afternoon and night, the road would be filled with friendly, happy, congenial people that knew little about the outside world. Columbus, GA was thirty miles away, an all day trip, and seemed like a faraway country.” “The main forms of entertainment were swimming, fishing, marbles, town ball, fox and hounds, hunting and square dancing. Sometimes an entertainer would come to the village with something like a magic show. In 1880, there were no bicycles, no gasoline automobiles, no telephones, no short dresses, no bare legs, no powder and paint, no boy-and-girl going out at night alone, no girl's smoking, no bobbed hair and no "mixed" swimming pools. No young man stayed at his girl's house after nine o'clock. None of the girls wore silk stockings; they were all cotton.” “There were no cold drinks and no "bought bread". The farmers raised their own wheat and the flour was very dark, but very good. Lighting was from kerosene lamps and water from a well. People raised much of their own meat and poultry. Eggs sold at three dozen for twenty-five cents, butter was .10 to .12 cents per pound, and bacon was .04 to .05 cents per pound. Coffee sold for .10 cents per pound, it came in bulk, green, and the housewives had to parch and grind it. Flour was $4.00 per barrel. The women and girls made their own clothes or had help from the village dressmaker." Life was simple but good.” NOTE: The last McGinty family living in River View, Chambers Co., is that of Douglas Clairfield McGinty, b. October 2, 1922. My brothers and I visited him in June 2003. He is the son of William Grover McGinty and Era Waller McGinty and the grandson of William Levin McGinty. Doug is a young eighty-year-old and his memory is excellent. He worked in the local mill for eighteen years. Later, he repaired watches and for forty-five years, operated a television repair business, McGinty TV Repair. He can tell one interesting story after another about the old days in River View. His daughter, Teresa Ann McGinty Williams and her husband, Denny live with Doug at 1205 California St. in River View. Submitted by Gerald K. McGinty, Sr., from his book, "Our McGinty Family in America," August, 2005. Additional Comments: Additional Comments: Debra, RiverView was originally spelled this way. It's not a typo. Thanks, JMcG File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/troup/history/other/historyr262ms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.2 Kb