Ware-Wayne County GaArchives Biographies.....Folks, Gustavus P. unknown - living in 1913
************************************************
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:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 22, 2004, 12:18 am

Author: William Harden
p. 892-893

   GUSTAVUS P. FOLKS, M. D. Prominent among the best known and most highly
esteemed residents of Waycross, Ware county, is Gustavus P. Folks, M. D., a
retired physician, now carrying on a substantial business as an agriculturist,
horticulturist and real-estate dealer. A native of Ware county, he was born in
Waresboro, a son of Hon. William B. and Mary J. (Miller) Folks, and a brother of
Hon. Frank C. Folks, M. D., in whose sketch, which appears elsewhere in this
volume, further parental and ancestral history may be found.

   Having laid a good foundation for his future education in the public schools
of Lowndes county, and at Waycross, Gustavus P. Folks naturally turned his
attention to the study of medicine, acquiring his first knowledge of that
science under the tutorship of his father. Subsequently going to Louisville,
Kentucky, he was there graduated from Louisville Medical College with the class
of 1889. Locating at Dupont, Clinch county, Doctor Folks remained there ten
months, meeting with encouraging success in his profession. Returning to
Waycross, he was here actively employed as a physician for twelve years. Having
in the meantime become specially interested in matters pertaining to the
productions of the soil, the doctor retired from his professional labors and
turned his attention to farming and the growing of fruit, in that industry
planting the first peach orchard in Ware county. In addition to his agricultural
and horticultural labors, he deals extensively in real estate, principally in
timber lands, having now a well-established and profitable business. In 1910,
Doctor Folks erected his present fine home on College Hill, a new residential
part of Waycross, and there takes pleasure in welcoming his many friends and
acquaintances.

   Politically Doctor Folks invariably supports the principles of the Democratic
party by voice and vote. Fraternally he is a member of Wakefield Lodge, No. 27,
Knights of Pythias; of,Waycross Lodge, No. 99, Independent Order of Odd Fellows;
and of Waycross Lodge, No. 369, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He also
belongs to the Hoo Hoos, an organization composed of dealers in lumber and
timber lands. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

   Doctor Folks married, in 1889, Belle C. Knox, who was born in Wayne county,
Georgia, which was likewise the birthplace of her father, Capt. James Knox. Her
paternal grandfather, Reddick Knox, was born in Pitt county, North Carolina,
where his parents, who were of Welsh and Scotch ancestry, settled on coming to
America. Brought up in his native state, he migrated to Georgia in pioneer days,
he and his family making the removal with teams. At the end of two years of
frontier life, he and his family went back to their old home, but later returned
to Georgia, settling in Wayne county. Buying a tract of wild land, he improved a
farm and there spent the remainder of his life. He married Ruhanna Taylor, who
was born in North Carolina, and died on the home farm, in Wayne county, Georgia.

   Born in 1830, Capt. James Knox grew to manhood beneath the parental
roof-tree, and upon the breaking out of the war between the states offered his
services to the Confederacy. Being commissioned captain of Company G,
Twenty-sixth Georgia Volunteer Infantry, he went with his regiment to Virginia,
and as a part of the Army of the Potomac was at the front in many engagements of
importance. Being paroled at the close of the war, the captain turned his face
homeward, and walked, barefooted, the greater part of the distance. Resuming his
former occupation, he was for a while successfully engaged in farming, but later
embarked in mercantile pursuits at Lulaton, Wayne county. In 1879 the captain
came to Waycross, which was then a quiet village of about five hundred souls,
and, having opened a general store, was here a resident until his death, in 1899.

   Captain Knox married Mary Jane Jones, who was born in what is now Pierce
county, near Big Creek, not far from the birthplace of her father, James Jones.
Her paternal grandfather, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Folks, was born in North
Carolina, of Welsh ancestry, and came to what is now Pierce county, Georgia, in
pioneer times, when the Indians made such frequent raids upon the newcomers that
it was necessary to have in each county one or more large log forts to which the
settlers might flee for safety when the redskins became too troublesome.
Securing title to extensive tracts of land, he carried on farming with slave
labor until his death. James Jones, the father of Captain Knox's wife, became
owner of a large plantation near the east end of the Okefinokee swamp, and was
there profitably engaged in farming and stock-raising the remainder of his life,
passing away in 1850, being murdered by a slave belonging to one of his
neighbors. The maiden name of his first wife, Mrs. Folk's grandmother, was Sarah
Mizell. She spent her brief life in Georgia, dying in early womanhood. The wife
of Captain Knox survived him several years, her death occurring in 1907, at the
advanced age of seventy-five. She reared eight children, as follows: Sarah, who
married Rev. John Strickland; Kate, deceased, was the wife of J. L. Courson;
Mary died at the age of twenty-five years; Dora, wife of Andrew J. Miller; Belle
C., wife of Dr. Gustavus P. Folks; William L.; Edward W., and James J. Dr. and
Mrs. Folks have one child, Dorothy Mildred Folks.


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

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/ware/bios/gbs395folks.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/

File size: 6.2 Kb