Turner County GaArchives History .....History of Turner County, Chapt 8 1933
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CHAPTER VIII.
IN THE DAYS OF SECESSION.

   In 1860, when the clouds of an impending war hung heavily over the nation,
and the distant roar of artillery could be heard on the political horizon, our
territory was not immune from such a contagious sentiment, as spread from ocean
to ocean.

   Three political giants lived in our territory, who frequently represented
their respective counties in the Georgia legislature-Mitchell Fortner, of
Wilcox, who lived at Cool Springs, Nas Henderson, of Irwin, who lived two miles
east of Ashburn, and Dan Henderson, of Worth, who lived three miles west of
Ashburn.

   They, with many others, frequently heard the matchless Toombs speak
eloquently of his contempt for the Northern ideas about "States Rights" and also
the silver tongued Stephens speak convincingly against any rash acts of
secession. All equally believed in "States Rights." One faction believed
secession was the only remedy and the other believed it best to stay in the
Union and fight it out in Congress and the higher courts.

   In our territory the fiery secessionists were Nas Henderson, Abe Clements,
Berrien Hobby, Jonathan Smith, George Young, Joseph Rainey, perhaps Mitchell
Fortner and Daniel Henderson and others. The men who believed it best to stay in
the Union and thresh it out in the United States Congress were James Pate, E. B.
Pate, Benjamin Rainey, Mark Rainey, William Cravey and probably Lott Whiddon,
Elias Whiddon, Henry Gorday, Zarah Paulk and others. Many took one side or the
other, and the sentiment was about even.

   Party lines were fiercely drawn in electing delegates to the convention which
was to meet, January 16, 1861, to say whether Georgia should secede or not.
Manassas Henderson and George Young were two from our territory to represent
Irwin, probably Mitchell Fortner was one from Wilcox and doubtless Daniel
Henderson was a delegate from Worth. The convention was presided over by George
W. Crawford, former governor of Georgia. The convention was a veritable "battle
of giants." E. A. Nesbit, T. R. R. Cobb, Robert Toombs, and Francis Bartow were
the champions of the cause of secession. Those who spoke in favor of the Union
were Hershel V. Johnson, Alexander H. Stephens and Benjamin Hill.

   But at 2:00 o'clock on January 19, 1861, the convention voted to secede by
208 to 89. Bonfires, torch parades, firing of cannons, gave notice to the
inhabitants that Georgia had at last seceded and in no section of Georgia were
the people more ready to respond than the backwoods section of what is now
Turner County. The "muster grounds" for the Irwin County boys were at Abe
Clements; for the Dooly guards at Bay Springs Church; for Worth County somewhere
west of Ashburn. Companies were quickly formed and drilled and were ready for
first action in the war. The backwoods young men rushed to arms, with fiery
ambitions and high born hopes, bade their heart-broken mothers goodbye and some
of the mothers were to see their sons no more until the roll is called up yonder.

   Many of their graves "dot the old Virginia hills" and many of them sleep
beneath the chilly snows of the North. Many sons of this section know not how
their fathers died, nor where they are buried. Widowed mothers and orphan
children are the terrible tolls of war. War is as cruel as the grave. Then may
the time hasten as foretold by the prophets of old "When nation shall war
against nation no more. When they shall ‘beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks,’ " "When the lamb and wolf shall lie down
together and a child shall lead them," "When the knowledge of the glory of the
Lord shall cover the land as the water doth cover the sea."

SOLDIERS OF THE CIVIL WAR FROM THL TERRITORY OF TURNER COUNTY.

   Those Killed in Action: 
William Allen Pate, killed at Gettysburg; 
George Young, killed at Petersburg; 
Virgil Chandler, killed at Petersburg; 
James Haman, killed at Gettysburg.

   Those Wounded: 
George W. Haman, wounded at Gettysburg; 
Joseph Rainey, of the Georgia Reserves, wounded at Atlanta; 
Lawson Smith, lost a leg at Gettysburg.

   Those Who Died from Disease Contracted in the War: 
Francis Chandler, died at Winchester; 
Mark Rainey, died a prisoner at Elmira, N. Y.; 
Elias Whiddon, died at home, but from measles contracted in the war; 
Late Eldridge, died in the war; 
Jesse Eldridge, died in the war; 
Walter Bailey, died in the war; 
Steve Key, died in the war; 
John Whiddon, died in the war; 
Lott Whiddon, died in the war.

  Other Soldiers who Escaped Injury are as Follows: 
Bennett Pate, 10th Confederate Cavalry; 
Lt. James D. Pate, Higginbottom County; 
J. S. Pate, 
Allen Smith, 
Arch Hamans, 
John Eldridge, 
James Eldridge, 
Robert Lambert, 
Raiford Lambert, 
G. W. Harrell, 
Capt. Nas Henderson, Jr., 
William Henderson, 
Dave Clements, 
William Ross, 
James Ross, 
H. A. J. Gorday, 
Silas Townsend, 
William Brock, 
Reuben Brock, 
Jesse Hobby, 
William Hammonds, 
Berrien Hobby, 
Griffin Smith, 
Ross Fortner, 
Fred Fortner, 
Elijah B. Pate, Ga. Reserves; 
J. G. B. Hancock, 
Lewis Hancock, 
Walton Clements, 
John Henderson, 
Wm. Cravey, Ga. Reserves; 
James Luke, Ga. Reserves; 
Aaron Chandler, Ga. Reserves; 
Capt. Daniel Henderson, Ga. Reserves; 
Reuben Haralson, Ga. Reserves; 
John Chandler, Ga. Reserves; 
John McRaney, Ga. Reserves; 
James D. Pate, Co. E, 5th Ga. Reserves; 
Andrew Hobby, 
James Hobby, 
Chas. Hammonds, 
Alfred Newell, 
George Spring, 
George Young, 
John G. Roberts.

THE CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS.

   On May 8th, Jefferson Davis separated from Robert Toombs and John C.
Breckenridge at Big Creek seven miles southwest of Hawkinsville. Toombs and
Breckenridge took to the right hand and Davis and his party to the left. Toombs
and Breckenridge escaped.

   The Davis cortege, about seventy-five in all, traveled in their heavy
lumbering wagons on down the river road, by Abbeville late at night and paused
long enough to make a complete search of the court-house, for the Confederacy in
its last days exacted one-tenth of all farm products for the army and it was all
stored at the county seat. This is why Mr. Davis stopped and made the search,
but Mr. G. F. McLeod, now living, had the day before given it all away to feed
the poor people.

   Davis and his cortege continued on down the Irwinville road and about day
break they stopped and cooked breakfast and fed their stock at the ford on House
Creek; and after they had traveled a little farther, they got stuck in an old
pond, through which the road ran at that time. This part of the road was so torn
up that it was never traveled again. This accident delayed them many hours.

   Traveling in those three path trails winding through beautiful forests of
towering pines, I sometimes wonder if none of the party called to mind Dr. E. M.
Pendleton's beautiful poem, "The Land of the Long Leaf Pine."

   The roads had been poorly kept up during the Civil War and traveling was done
with great difficulty, and it was nearly night when the tired party of Davis
struck camp, a few miles north of Irwinville, in a sappling thicket a few
hundred yards below a ford of a branch.

   As Mr. McLeod knew nothing about Mr. Davis' having passed through Abbeville
the night before, started back to Hawkinsville and met Lieut. Col. Pritchard and
a detachment of the Yankee army. They stopped to ask if he had received his
parole and he replied that he had not, and they told him he had better get it
and also asked about the wagons ahead, and he replied that he had not seen them,
but when he got to Hawkinsville he saw great placards offering $100,000 for the
capture of Davis and $50,000 each for the capture of Toombs and Breckenridge.

   Uncle Josiah Keen, now living, was then a boy of thirteen years, went to
Player's old water mill that day and passed by Davis that morning and on corning
back in the later afternoon, met the Yankee Cavalry in pursuit. The officers
inquired of him diligently about the wagons ahead and if he had seen them,
telling how hungry they were and that they wanted to overtake their wagons, as
they claimed them to be, as soon as possible. They examined Uncle Josiah's sack
of meal, but did not take it as Yankees were not fond of corn bread.

   At Abbeville the Yankees had divided their number, three hundred took one
road by Bowen's mill and got to Irwinville ahead of Davis and turned back to
meet him. The other three hundred following behind Davis met by accident or
probably by providence, at the ford of the branch where Davis was camping a
short distance below.

   It seems that each party of Yankee soldiers must have been determined on the
destruction of the Davis crowd, as they met between daylight and sun up and
instantly opened fire and Uncle Josiah Keen said there were two killed and
fourteen wounded Uncle Berry Turner says the Yankees next day said there were
fourteen killed and wounded. It seems to me that providence so provided that
they could give vent to their feelings and take their vengeance on each other,
and that Davis should be free from harm.

   In what is now Turner County people heard the guns, as they aimed their
deadly weapons at each other, and Uncle Jonathan Smith, who was then living
where Rebecca now is, on horseback swam Alapaha River to find out what had
happened and came back and made his report. Uncle Joe McHancock, our venerable
ordinary, heard the guns at the old Hancock place at Cool Springs, several miles
away. It is said that Davis himself stopped the fighting, by stepping out and
calling to them saying: "No need of more blood to be shed, I am the man you are
wanting."

   The next day the Yankees stopped at Mr. Lewis Ball's and ate dinner and fed
their stock. He lived eleven miles southwest of Abbeville. Mr. Ball was the
grandfather of Mr. Berry Turner, who was then a small boy and says they fed away
every ear of corn, every bundle of fodder and took all of their provisions
except one bushel of corn meal that Mr. Ball had left at the mill that day.
While they were eating dinner one friendly inclined soldier came in the house
and got to fooling with an old flint and steel rifle, which accidentally
discharged. An officer, he said instantly leaped into the building and knocked
the soldier down and kicked him out of the house. During all of this time it is
said Davis silently sat in the wagon.

   Some of the soldiers said they had sent Mr. Davis' family back on another
road under a military escort. That night they camped in Abbeville and the old
oak is still towering high, in whose boughs spring zephyrs sang a sad political
requiem over the bowed heads of a hero of Monterey and Buena Vista, who had
occupied both a seat in Congress and in the Senate, who had been Secretary of
War under President Pierce, and also leader of the Democratic party in the House
prior to the Civil War, and was the president of a republic and now a lone
prisoner in the hands of the government that he had fought to defend on
extraneous soil.

   Four acres of ground where Davis was captured, belongs to the Federal
Government donated by Judge Jimmie Lee and Judge J. B. Clements with the
stipulations that no monuments shall ever be erected there. Although sixty-eight
years have passed yet the battle scarred trees tell the sad tale of this bloody
fraticide of the long ago.

   Mr. Davis was put in prison and even in shackles of iron, but Mr. Horace
Greely finally stood Mr. Davis' bond and when the bitterness began to die out
and a fraternal feeling between North and South began to grow stronger, Davis
remained free and was never tried for he had really violated no established law.

   This was the last fight of the Civil War and was fought between Yankee
soldiers. The bugles of Wheeler shall sound no more and the war drums have beat
their last Confederate charge.

SOME NOTABLE REFUGEES WHO PASSED THROUGH TURNER COUNTY.

   When Lee surrendered and many of our leaders fled, seeking places of refuge
to save themselves from imprisonment, some evaded their pursuers while others
were captured. Among those captured was Ex-President Davis of the Confederate
States of America who was captured near Irwinville. Among those in the Davis
cortege was a tall handsome man who had been a soldier in the Mexican war, Vice
President of the United States, a defeated candidate for the presidency of the
United States in 1860, and a United States Senator from Kentucky, the State of
his nativity. He followed the South into secession and was appointed a Major
General, and was afterwards elected Secretary of War in the cabinet of President
Davis of the Confederate . States. This man was John C. Breckenridge. Another
member of this party was a former United States Senator from Georgia, and was
perhaps the brainiest orator of the old South, if not of the entire United
States. He was a brilliant and fearless Confederate Major General of the brave
Southern army and was for a time Secretary of State in the Confederate cabinet.
This man had been a fiery secessionist, and was none other than our own Robert
Toombs.

   These distinguished men, superbly mounted, separated from the Davis cortege
at the Big Creek bridge, near Hawkinsville, and both insisted that their
ex-chief magistrate should go with them, but Davis declined and continued on by
way of Abbeville and was captured the next day. These two equestrians came on
down the Troupeville road (this old road was cut out by Indian fighters in
1815), by James Pate's and Benjamin Rainey's and spent the night in the home of
Nas Henderson, known then to travelers as the mansion of the backwoods. This
home was commodious enough, well furnished, painted, and was ceiled and papered
on the inside. It was built in 1855 of lumber hauled from Vienna, Georgia, in ox
carts. The house is still standing and is well preserved. They eluded their
pursuers and Robert Toombs got on an English ship and went to England and became
a British subject and practiced law in the courts of England. He finally
returned to Georgia, but died a citizen of Great Britain.

   A few days later another honorable fugitive, Gen. G. T. Beauregard, came
through. He was once Superintendent of the West Point Military Academy, a
brilliant fighting Brigadier General of the Confederacy, who defeated McDowell
at Bull Run and would have routed. Grant at Shiloh, had not Buell reinforced
him, and at Charleston defeated Gilmore and Admiral Dahlgreen and resisted
General Butler and held Petersburg against Grant until Lee arrived and contested
with Sherman and his cruel devastators in their Prussianized march to the sea.

   This distinguished gentleman, shorn of his wealth, office and honors, on this
journey drank water out of the well in the lane on the farm of James Pate, and
that night, like a babe, he nestled in the gentle arms of sweet morpheus, and
was sheltered from April's dews by the same old roof that had protected the
other ex-Southern leaders, only a few nights before.

   Champions of a righteous cause, men who had won laurel leaves that had faded
and lost their lustre, you fought a fair fight and wore yourselves out whipping
northern armies. You lost your wealth and position in the Government, but won
for yourselves an everlasting place in the history of a nation born of pure
motives, short lived and died in defeat, but you shall live forever in the vivid
memories of all true blooded Southern men and women of all ages to come.

FLIGHT OF GEN. JN0. B. GORDON THROUGH WIREGRASS GEORGIA.

   During the last years of the Civil War, from Chattanooga to Atlanta was a
veritable battle ground.

   Joseph E. Brown, then the Governor of Georgia, bought the home of Mr. Ben
Hamilton one of the wealthiest pioneer citizens of Dooly County, and immediately
moved his family into this home, which stood on the site of the Suwanee Hotel in
Cordele, Ga.

   About twenty-five miles or more southeast from this home was the residence of
Mr. Ned Mixon. About one mile east of Rochelle, and about four miles southeast
of Mr. Mixon's home, Mr. Simon Wilson lived. There may have been one or two
residences between where Cordele and Rochelle are now located, but otherwise it
was a wilderness of towering pines, and only traversed by cow hunters and trails
with no particular road connecting these two sections.

   In May, 1865, when the Union soldiers were scouring the country to capture
Davis, Breckenridge, Toombs, Beauregard and many others, one night, some one,
probably Oliver Farnell of Dooly County, piloted General John B. Gordon to the
home of Mr. Ned Mixon. General Gordon was anxious to get a communication to
Governor Joseph E. Brown.

   Mr. Mixon went over to his neighbor, Mr. Wilson, to get his son, Andrew, who
was only twelve years old, to deliver the message. Andrew was the proud
possessor of the fastest pony in the country. It was a perilous journey for one
so young, as all pioneer children were taught myths to make them behave or "the
boogy man would get them."

   Little Andrew mounted his steed, with as brave a heart as any seasoned
veteran ever mounted his war charger. Little Andrew knew according to the myth
of boogy men, that the woods were infested with them, but he conquered his fear.

   Although Uncle Andrew is now old, and well stricken with years of hardship
and toil, as he relates the story, you can see the brave little boy astride his
pony, that he loved better than any-thing on earth except his own folks,
galloping over strange trails leading through unfamiliar forests.

"Have you passed through the shades of dark green trees 
Of a clear, cool night, and heard the wild breeze, 
As it comes like the sound of the distant roar
Of, the billowy tread on the lone sea shore?

'Tis a solemn hour for the traveler, then,
When he feels he is far from the haunts of men, 
And the wind still moans in sad minstrelsy
Through the towering pines like the murmuring sea.

Have you heard the owl hoot from his lofty nest, 
With his large fierce eyes and his feathered crest, 
And the green frog laugh in his swampy bed, 
And the screech owl chant a dirge for the dead?

'Tis a lone hour for the traveler, then, 
As he dashes on through bog and fen, 
And the terrible screech of the dismal owl 
Still breaks on his ear like wild wolf's howl.

And the fire flies flit in his feverish face,
To show him the terror and gloom of the place 
And the whip-poor-will wakes up a mournful strain. 
Which echoes back over valley and plain.

And the traveler thinks of the robber's den, 
And he starts at the fancied tread of men, 
And reins up his steed for a desperate race 
With the fire flies flashing still in his face."

   From reading these lines you can see what a brave heart it took to make this
journey. The screams of wild cats and the howl of wolves hunting their prey were
familiar sounds in his ears.

   The whip-poor-will's evening lullaby and the hoot and the screech of the owls
added to the fear and loneliness of the trip, but was he not on a mission for
his country? How important it was he never knew, but no veteran courier ever
felt more determined to deliver his "dispatch" than did this pioneer youth.

   How the pony's hoofs would resound on the hills and as the echoes came back
our hero often thought he was pursued by men, 'till he was at last at the
governor's gate, and his hello! brought out a soldier to see what he wanted. The
letter was proudly de-livered and he was told to wait for a reply. It was nearly
day when he had retraced his journey and delivered the reply to General Gordon.
Tired and sleepy, for he had traversed on horseback more than three-score miles,
and modestly passed out of our story.

   The next morning Mr. Mixon escorted the gallant General Gordon, who had been
wounded eight times in the defense of his country, as far as Mr. Willis
Dorminy's, east of Fitzgerald and Mr. Dorminy, who was the father of "Capt."
Jack Dorminy of Fitzgerald, escorted the battle-scarred hero on south to places
of safety.

BEAUTIFUL CRYSTAL LAKE HAS TRAGIC HISTORY.

   Many of the places of South Georgia have an interesting history that is being
forgotten. I shall endeavor to tell the true history of Story's Silvan Lake,
where woodland nymphs have played hide and seek, along the banks of the
Alappahains streams and lakes ever since the world was young.

   Willis I. Bone, after whom the lake was named, till a few years ago when it
was changed to Crystal Lake, was born in Taylor County, Georgia, not far from
the old stage road from Macon to Columbus. It is suggested that the name Bone is
a contraction of Boone, and as he was of an adventurous nature, that he was
probably a descendant of the Boones, made famous by the settlement of Kentucky.

   Bone was probably living in Albany when the Civil War came on, and at his age
would be in the first draft. To avoid going to the war, be purchased a steam
engine and grist mill which he hauled by ox-teams from Albany to Crystal Lake,
where he set the outfit up and became miller, as all necessary millers were
exempt from military service.

   How it must have astonished the near by settlers, stampeding deer and cattle,
sending wild cats, wolves and foxes to their lairs, as the shrill, unexpected,
and to them unearthly sounds of the whistle, scream after scream, as its echo
would reverberate and would seem to come from several different directions at
the same time, that no one knew in what direction to flee for safety. Some
doubtless thought of the familiar story of Gabriel and his trumpet as the
fireman would pull his whistle cord.

   The lake in Bone's day, according to many of the old timers, was much smaller
and the water level was many feet lower than it is at the present time. There
was then as yet a big well or hole several hundred feet in circumference and was
thought to have no bottom. Several years ago, Mr. D. H. Davis and another man by
the name of Will Thomas sounded with a line over three hundred feet long without
finding any bottom.

   After Bone's death at the hands of a vigilance committee, the pond rose to
great dimensions, and at certain periods would over-flow its banks and run off
in a current to the creek and when the waters would subside the settlers would
go out into the woods and get all the fish they wanted. After a few years the
lake ceased to overflow and for years the water has been receding.

   It seems that the subterranean passage has been partially closed up, or the
mountain source has been diminished of its supply, by numerous artesian wells,
or other causes. For more than thirty years the waters have been ebbing away,
leaving a great sandy beach, as beautiful as can be found on many parts of the
sea-shore.

   The lake has become a great resort and may some day be the great Chautauqua
grounds of South Georgia. At any rate it has wonderful possibilities for the
future, if developed. The sands once rippled by the waves of the lake, have
become trysting places for many spooning youngsters and in the years to come
many a southern beauty will be wooed and won, while strolling along its sandy
shore, or lounging on its shimmering beach. The lake gained much notoriety on
account of the awful tragedies enacted there.

   Bone was a married man and besides his wife, there were two small children.
One of the boys was named Taylor. Mrs. Bone was also a native of Taylor County,
and I understand she was a cousin to the wife of the late Jack Fountain of Irwin
County.

   The cause of the terrible tragedy was that Uncle Samuel Young of Wilcox
County, who lived two or three miles east of where Rebecca now is, had a negro
to run away and couldn't be found.

   Bone didn't bear a good reputation, as he was thought to have cut dams of
competing water mills and at one time had beaten up an old white-haired man
named McRae, and as he had not made any effort to fight for his country, he was
an easy suspect. These circumstances probably caused Mr. Young to request his
friend, Mr. Jack Walker, to look out for the negro. It is said that Jacob and
Walton Clements had been over to Jack Walker's and he came to the river to ferry
them across in a bateau. It was then that Mr. Walker saw the tracks of the negro
plowing in Bone's field. The negro had a missing toe from one foot that made him
easy to identify. Mr. Walker, being a powerful man physically, laid his gun down
and proceeded to tie the negro, but the negro resisted and while Walker was
struggling with the negro, Bone came up with the negro's dinner. Seeing the
situation, it is said that he took Walker's own gun and shot him in the back.
Walker was then thrown over the fence and partially buried in leaves and trash.
When Mr. Walker failed to return home and the alarm was given, Bone was
naturally suspected by the neighbors, who at once took Bone in charge. Bone
protested his innocence, saying Walker was a good man and his best friend. When
no evidence could be found, they arrested his son, Taylor, a boy probably ten or
twelve years of age, who finally told the gruesome story. They found the body as
the lad had said, partially buried and the blood stained fence, all of which
they had overlooked in their former search.

   As this was in the last days of the Confederacy and no hopes of a speedy
trial they quickly formed in this case of emergency a vigilance committee, and
put Bone on trial. He maintained his innocence. They finally pulled him up with
a rope around his neck upon an improvised scaffold of poles. As he stood on the
scaffold some of the poles of which the scaffold was built rolled out and Bone
fell and was choked to death.

   It was a long time before the negro was heard of again, and the people
thought Bone killed the negro and put him in the lake. Many superstitious ones
thought that the spirit of the negro was doomed to ride alligators and to train
terrapins to nibble the fisherman's baited hook till the end of time and
attributed the rising of the waters to the turbulent spirit of the negro
disturbing the fountains of the deep.

   Mrs. Bone left and tried to get the Yankees to take the matter up but failed.
After returning to her native county she married a Mr. Whatley and finally moved
to Texas. Taylor Bone, the boy of the story, became a preacher and seems to have
lived a very honorable life.

COPY OF THE DEED TO THE NEGRO ABOUT WHOM BONE KILLED WALKER.

GEORGIA,
IRWIN COUNTY,

   This indenture made this the 6th day of Jan'y. in the year of our Lord,
eighteen hundred and fifty-two. Between Geo. W. M. Young of the state and county
aforesaid duly constituted Adm. of the Estate of Jacob C. Young, late of said
county deceased of the one part and Samuel Young of the same place of the other
part. Witness whereas by virtue of an order of the honorable Inferior Court of
said county when sitting for ordinary purposes previous notice having been given
of application agreeable to the statute made and provided on the first Tuesday
in Jan'y. to the said Sam’l Young, a certain negro boy named Tony, warranted to
be sound in mind and body and a slave for life, after the said negro was duly
advertised in conformity to the law.

   The same being put up and exposed to public outcry to the highest bidder at
the door of the court-house at Irwinville in said county, within the legal hours
of sale on the first Tuesday in Jan'y. by said Geo. W. M. Young, Admr., as
aforesaid when said negro was knocked off to Sam'l Young at the price of six
hundred and eighty-six dollars and 50/100 cents, he being highest and best bidder.

   Now for and in consideration of the sum of six hundred and eighty-six dollars
and 50/100 cents to him in hand paid at and before the sealing and delivery of
these presents. The receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged by the said Geo. W.
M. Young, Adm., as aforesaid.

   Together with all the rights, members and appurtenances thereto belonging or
in any wise appertained unto him and the said Sam'l Young his heirs and assigns
to his and their own proper use benefit and behalf forever in fee simple.

   In testimony whereof the said Geo. W. M. Young, Adm., as aforesaid hath
hereunto set his hand and affixed his seal the day and year first above written.

                         GEO. W. M. YOUNG, Adm. (L. S.)

Signed, sealed and delivered in 
the presence of Fort Luke, 
L. M. Cotheret, J. P.

Clerk's office Irwin Superior Court.

  Recorded the foregoing Bill of Sale in Book No. 4, Page 152. August 18th, 1852.
                     JACOB YOUNG, Clerk. 

EARLY INDUSTRIES.

   As early as 1850, Benjamin Rainey had a blacksmith shop.

   Prior to the Civil War, David Fitzgerald ran a cotton gin by horse-power,
about two miles from Turner County over in Wilcox.

   As early as 1850, John Hart ran a grist mill over in what is now Crisp
County, where the pioneers from this section got their meal ground.

   In 1870, H. A. J. Gorday ran by water-power, a grist mill, a saw mill and
cotton gin. About 1875, Bennett Pate, J. J. Davis, W. A. Davis and D. H. Davis
built a water mill, afterwards known as the Thomas mill.

   In 1878, Bennett Pate began operating a cotton gin by horse-power.

   A few years later, G. W. Haman began to operate a horse-power gin near Ashburn.

MAIL ROUTES.

   Prior to 1877, the people on the western side of Turner County received their
mail at Warwick or Isabella, those who lived on the eastern side at Abbeville,
and those on the southern side at Irwinville.

   In 1877, a star mail route was established between Vienna and Tifton, with
the following post offices: Sycamore, J. J. Henderson, postmaster; Peckville, W.
Rabe Williams, post-master, afterwards, W. A. Davis, postmaster; Arabi, W. A.
Bed-good, postmaster. J. M. Ward was-the mail carrier.

   In 1882, another star mail route was established from Sycamore to
Hawkinsville, via Wolf Creek.

   The following postmasters served at Wolf Creek: H. A. J. Gorday, Bennett Pate
and James M. Rainey.

   This route was discontinued and a star route was established from Wolf Creek
to Abbeville via Grover (now Rebecca) and Ashley.

   Rev. Lawson Smith was postmaster at Grover and Bennett Pate at Wolf Creek.

   About 1888, another star route was established from Seville to Julia via
Jincy. Bennett Pate was postmaster at Julia and B. S Pate was postmaster at Jincy.

   In 1889, when Ada, Sycamore and Ashburn post offices were established star
routes were soon discontinued.

   Names of citizens of what is now Turner County who held offices in their
respective counties:

   Mitchell Fortner, State Senator from Irwin County in 1857, who was also
representative in the Legislature from Wilcox County in 1858-60.

   Daniel Henderson represented Worth County in the Legislature in 1863-4.

   Abe P. Clements represented Irwin County in the State Legislature in 1875.

   J. G. B. Hancock was Sheriff of Irwin County in 1875.

   L. D. Taylor was Tax Collector of Irwin County in 1879-81.

   D. J. Newton was Tax Receiver of Irwin County in 1889-91.

   R. W. Clements was elected Clerk of the Superior Court of Irwin County in 1873.

   Lawson Smith was Tax Receiver in Wilcox County in 1880.

   J. B. Smith was Treasurer of Wilcox County in 1904.

   F. H. Taylor was County School Commissioner in Wilcox County for a number of
years.

ASHBURN BAPTIST CHURCH.

   Rev. B. R. Graham, an almost illiterate country preacher, began to preach to
the saw mill hands; then B. A. Bacon, missionary of the Little River
Association, became interested. In 1889, the church was constituted. The
presbytery consisted of B. A. Bacon, J. T. Lee and T. B. Fuller, A. M. The
charter members were Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Wayne, Mrs. Z. J. Cowan, Mrs. Georgia
Pate, Mrs. B. R. Graham, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Williams, Mrs. Williams and Mrs.
Calhoun. The building committee was composed of Mrs. Z. J. Cowan, R. V. Ayres
and John H. Allen. The first protracted meeting was held August, 1891. Rev. O.
V. Fuller, pastor, was assisted by a Mr. Sullivan, a Mercer student. Twenty-two
by experience and four by letter were received, the writer being one of this
number and Mr. W. A. Murray another. In 1893, the church held meetings two
Sun-days each month.

   The pastors have been as follows: 0. V. Fuller, J. J. Hyman, Elim Culpepper,
J. F. Culpepper, G. B. Thrasher, F. M. Blalock, C. M. Gordon, C. C. Davidson, J.
P. McGraw, C. M. Leverett, W. M. Wear, Dr. Jenkins, T. M. Calloway, J. S. Wynne
and H. G. Wheeler.

   The present church was built during the pastorate of Rev. F. M. Blalock. This
church has always been quite prominent in its support of all denominational
enterprises.

ASHBURN METHODIST CHURCH.

   Rev. J. J. Williams held a mission station here. In 1889, the church was
organized with the following charter members: Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Betts, Mr. and
Mrs. J. T. McLendon, Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Judge, R. L. Betts, L. C. and Youlie
Killibrew, E. B. and Lawrence Judge.

   The first building was erected in 1891. The present edifice was built in 1911.

   The pastors have been: Rev. R. T. Brinkley, R. M. Booth, W. E. Towsen, T. D.
Strong, J. M. Glenn, P. H. Crumpler, J. C. Flanders, W. F. Hixon, H. P. Myers,
R. E. Bailey, J. G. Brooks, W. E. Towson, J. B. Thrasher, W. G. Alleben, T. E.
Davenport, J. P. Chatfield, C. G. Earnest, G. W. Matthews, R. S. Stewart, W. E.
Towson, J. S. Grahl, and M. P. Webb.

   Miss May Jenkins and her sister, Miss Kate Jenkins, worked for a number of
years as missionaries in Cuba.

   This church has been very liberal in support of all denominational enterprises.

THE RAILROAD, AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES.

   In the fall of 1888, the iron rails met at Deep Creek, the rail-road was
completed. Towns were laid out and the old wiregrass section was coming to the
front.

   J. S. Betts and W. A. Ashburn bought a body of land from D. H. Davis and
named their town Marion, which in a very short time was changed to Ashburn. J.
S. Betts & Company began at once to operate a large saw mill. John W. Evans
became a partner in the saw mill with Mr. Betts.

   J. S. Shingler became a manufacturer of Naval Stores and dealer in real estate.

   Mr. D. H. Davis remained in the real estate business and is perhaps the
largest undivided landowner in South Georgia.

   The first merchant in Ashburn was the late J. B. Chandler, under the firm
name of Chandler and Gorday, then changed to H. A. J. Gorday and Son, and later
to G. B. Gorday, who today is one of the leading farmers of this section.

   The next store was J. S. Betts & Company's Commissary. The third was Patton &
Wells.

   First Enterprises in Ashburn, 1889-90: Shingler and Lawrence; W. A. Murray
and Elias Paulk.

   First Doctors were: T. W. Tyson; Dr. Anderson.

   First Postmaster was John W. Evans.

   First Mayor was J. S. Betts.

   First Newspaper was "Ashburn Advance," publishers, Bennett Pate and J. F.
Meyers.

   First Hotel was run by either Mr. Holmes or Mrs. Lay.

   First Millinery Store, Mrs. Holmes Owens and the Misses Holliman.

   First Drug Store, Anderson & Brown.

   First Lawyer, Col. Aaron.

   First Barber, R. D. Law.

   First Dentist, George W. Cooper.

   First Methodist Preacher, Rev. Williams.

   First Baptist Preacher, Rev. Bacon.

   First School Teacher, Miss May Jenkins (Mrs. J. S. Betts).

   In 1889, R. B. Lutterloh & Brother began to manufacture naval stores products
where J. S. Geoghagan now lives. Mr. Geoghagan came to this section as a
woodsman for Lutterloh & Brother. In the same year W. W. Cowan began a saw mill
at Worth.

   Smith and Bussey at Sycamore were also manufacturers of naval stores
products. W. A. and James Greer, under the firm of Greer Brothers began a large
saw mill and turpentine business at Dakota.

   T. J. Shingler became associated with his brother, J. S. Shingler, in the
turpentine business near Amboy in 1890.

   Wallace Brothers had a saw mill at Worth in 1890.

   Enterprise Lumber Company began operations in 1894 and built the railroad
from Worth to Hawkinsville which was used in hauling logs and shipping lumber.

   Turpentine leases were sold for fifteen dollars per thousand boxes, or from
one to one and a half dollars per acre. Timber for saw milling was sold for one
and one-half dollars per acre.

FIRST ENTERPRISES IN SYCAMORE FROM 1889-1890.

   Smith and Bussey; Jack Horkan; Elias Paulk; Cage Tucker; J. J. Henderson,
Manager Alliance Stores, and W. R. Smith.

A. B. & C. RAILWAY.

   In 1901, the first train on the A. B. & C. Railway passed through what is now
Turner County and the old home of Rev. Lawson Smith became the town of Rebecca;
storehouses and homes were quickly and substantially built.

   Rev. Lawson Smith became the first mayor.

UNUSUAL WEATHER.

   In 1886, from February 12th till February 24th, streams, ponds and creeks
were frozen over, woods and fields werehidden by sleet and snow.

   In 1892, on Christmas day, there was a great blizzard and pines were laden
with icicles for many days.

WIREGRASS FARMER.

   Many newspapers have been published in Ashburn and there has been several
editors but in 1900, Joe Lawrence became publisher and established the Wiregrass
Farmer.

   In 1924, the Wiregrass Farmer won the "Sutlive Trophy" as the newspaper that
did the greatest service to its community.

   In 1931, also received the "Bankston Trophy" for giving the best local news.

   Mrs. Nora Lawrence Smith deserves much credit for the success of this
periodical.

   Mr. F. M. Tison, the business manager, has been with the Wiregrass Farmer
since its organization.

THE COW, HOG AND HEN PROGRAM.

   During the depression after the World's War, Turner County became well known
throughout the state, because of the publicity of the cow, hog and hen program
of diversified farming.

   The persons closely identified to this program were: Joe Lawrence, editor;
Nora Lawrence Smith, managing editor of the Wiregrass Farmer; Geo. T. Betts,
president of the Georgia Association; C. H. Bishop, H. B. Rawls and many others.

SCHOOLS.

   Turner County has five consolidated schools.

   Three accredited high schools, Ashburn, Sycamore and Rebecca.

TRIBUTE TO THE PINEY-WOODS COW.

   Those who, in the midst of summer, never saw the piney-woods "with its
magnificent distances" in the days of the pioneers, with its emerald meadows and
hills, towering forest and thousands of cattle, robed in their semi-tropical
garments of shimmering silk, certainly are unfortunate creatures.

   The old-fashioned piney-woods cow was symmetrical in form and lithe of limb,
though somewhat short in the production of milk and butter. But unlike her lazy,
clumsy, indolent, pampered, fully fed, registered sisters that many have today,
she was fleet of foot, full of energy, and always alert in the finding of food,
and paid but little attention to how the thermometer registered. She had no
shelter, expected none, and cared less, for she took the stormy blasts of winter
as they came.

   She had no pastures of carpet grass or lespedeza, that had to be bought and
sown for her, and if she in her ranch had found such a place, she doubtless
would have stamped her feet, sniffed her nose, raised her head in her bovine
pride, to go elsewhere for food, for was she not a wiregrass cow, after all?

   Piney-woods cow, in her day, had no rival, and in the points in which she
excelled she has none today. No barns were built for her protection, no fields
of velvet beans were sown for her winter feed, yet by her energy and
determination to live, she eked out a living and made wealth for her owner. The
old pioneers' lands were paid for, and homes were built, children largely fed
and clothed from the proceeds of piney-woods cows.

   The Romans, Roberts, Fitzgeralds, Lukes, Gordays, Chandlers, Davis, Craveys,
Storys, Raineys, Smiths, Pates, Pitts, Hobbys, Clements, Fletchers, Hendersons,
Whiddons, Branches, Youngs, Paulks, Hancocks, Hogans, and Covingtons, pedestrian
cow-gap boys of forty and fifty years ago, all lovingly remember her good
qualities; for in our lonesome hours, the bull yearlings, ram sheep, billy
goats, and two or three good cases of the ground-itch were our daily companions.
We were all too poor to wear more than two or three toe-nails at a time, but no
cow was ever too fleet for us and woe unto the lightwood knots that came into
damaging contact with our remaining toe-nails, and we hope the re-cording angel
was too merciful to remember all we said.

  Poor, old, weatherbeaten, and often neglected piney-woods cow; you were
characteristic of your day, in wealth and beauty. Gone are the wild woods,
likewise the forest, and your remnant too must go, but we, the old cow-gap boys
of the long ago, still cherish sweet memories of you and your virtues.


Additional Comments:
From 

HISTORY
TURNER COUNTY

By
JOHN BEN PATE
Author of The American Genealogy of the Pate Family
AMBOY, GA.
1933
STEIN PRINTING CO.
STATE PRINTERS
ATLANTA, GA.


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