Ware County GA Bios Remshart Family File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Winge barbarawinge@yahoo.com http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/ware.htm Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm Georgia Table of Contents: WAYCROSS JOURNAL-HERALD, Waycross, Georgia Monday, April 22, 1974 REMSHART FAMILY PLAYED ROLE IN HISTORY OVER YEARS By Mrs. Henry B. Bell The name Waycross. Family history said that Mr. Haines, the then superintendent of the railroad, invited Miss Isabella Remshart and Mrs. Wm. Foster Parker, her sister, to ride with him on his car out a little way towards Brunswick where he was to review some work being done by a crew. Arriving at the destination Mr. Haines remarked, "I don't see the gane," to which Mrs. Parker responded, "I think I see them 'way across' there." Mr. Haines remarked that would make a good name for our then coming into being town. Another account records this differently but I have the feeling both are right with one conversation leading to another. But no matter how the name came to be, the town has come a long way from Station No. 9, as it was first called, then Tebeauville, then the now Waycross. My contribution to the history of our town which is being written during this centennial celebration, will be taken from documented or hand written records which have come to me from my family and will deal only with that part which involves my family. Other names will be mentioned but only when involved with those of my family. In downtown Waycross one travels over the following streets: Alice, Mary, Isabella, Jane, Margaret, Ann, Elizabeth, Parker, Remshart, and Jenkins. These names were given to these streets honoring members of the Remshart family. There were eight children born to the Rev. John Walthauer Remshart and his wife Jane Bryan Remshart. The forefathers and ancestors in this family included two members of Georgia Provincial Congress and two colonial governors of Georgia, and the oldest will on record in Savannah is that of Mary Bryan, mother of Jane Bryan Remshart. When Sherman began his invasion of Georgia in 1864, the Remshart family left Savannah and migrated to a point near Quitman where they remained until the close of the war. When the war ended the family started back to Savannah and stopped where later Waycross would be located. Finding land cheap, they, with other refugee families, decided to locate here. At that time Ware County, named for U. S. Senator Nicholas Ware, had as its county seat the little village of Waresboro, it being the only town or village in the county and which had been created by acts mbf December 15, 1824 and December 20, 1924. Waresboro remained the county seat between 1825 and 1875 when the then growing town of Waycross became the county seat of the county. In 1868 the four families residing in Tebeauville were John Baschlot, who was post master, and his daughter Mrs. M. M. Grovenstein and her children John, Lizzie, Kate, Rosa, Farley, and Joe; the Rev. Lewis Tebeau and mrs. Tebeau and their children Emma, Eddie, Minnie, and Charley; the Rev. John W. Remshart and Mrs. Remshart and their daughters Isabella, and Mrs. Mary Ewen Remshart Parker and her husband William Foster Parker and their children Orville D., George Foster, Sumter B., Lucy M., and Maggie M. who became Mrs. Lucius G. Jenkins, my grandmother. Mr. Remshart was the first railroad agent. George Rollings the first telegraph operator, and Orville Parker became telegraph operator in 1872. In 1870 there were five dwellings, one boarding house, one store, the warehouse and the water tank in Tebeauville. Mr. John Lucius Cary was an engineer and Mr. Dave McGee was a conductor on a construction train on the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad. A marker now stands where Tebeauville was located, the small settlement giving way to progress when negotiations were entered into with the railroad for property needed for its growth. The first home owned by Capt. Parker and his wife Mary was on property now owned by the SCL where the shops and switching yard are located and this property was a part of the deal negotiated which included two large lots on Elizabeth Street where the Bunn Building is now located. Here the Parker's built a second home this property later becoming a part of a deal which was to make way for the Bunn Building. This house was moved from that site to its present location at 806 Isabella Street and is now owned by Mrs. B. D. Finn. Though the house has been covered with asbestos siding and other improvements made, the general structure of the home is the same. Among the families who have lived in this home was H. F. Youmans, 1923, Mrs. Violet E. Sirmans, 1939, Mrs. Irma Peters, 1941. This house is surely one of the oldest, if not the oldest house in Waycross. Though I have not been able to find exactly the year the house was built, it is known to have been prior to 1894 when a part of the lot belonging to Capt. Parker was sold, his widow retaining the part on which the house stood. Capt. Parker died in 1893. Mr. H. S. Haines who was Genearl Manager of the S. F. and W. RR was a member of the same Haines family that later lived on Reed Street in Waycross. Mr. Haines made his home in Savannah and had a successful career with the railroad. Haines Avenue was named for him and the first depot which was painted the old identifying railroad color, was built below where the present station stands. I well remember when this station was torn down. I was just a girl at the time but remember my father, William P. Sims, and other men living nearby, sitting in the afternoons with loaded shotguns and killing the large field rats which were scattered as the building came down. I am the fifth generation member of the Remshart family in Waycross, and I was born in Waycross in the home of my grandfather, Lucius G. Jenkins, and I grew up in the home at 306 Williams Street, which still stands and was next door to the Jenkins family home at then No. 1 Brunel Street. Mr great grandmother, Mary Ewen Remshart Parker lived for many years and died at 89 years, in the Jenkins home on Brunel Street. I spent many hours listening to her as she told of her childhood, girlhood, and early life in Savannah. As she taught me to knit, crochet, and tat she told me of the time she left Savannah. Her husband Capt. Wm. F. Parker, was at Fort Sumter, and for a short time she believed he had been killed during that battle, however the report she received proved to be in error. One of their children, born near that time was named for that historic battle. Capt. Parker was with Lee at Appomatox and this is inscribed on his tombstone in Lott Cemetery. I vividly recall the meetings of the Daughters of the Confederacy at my grandmother's home where they made wreaths of magnolia leaves which were placed each year on the graves of the Confederate dead, April 26th, Southern Memorial Day. My grandmother told me, and I have her written record of the building of the First Episcopal Church in Waycross. This church was later torn down and replaced with the present structure where services were held for the first time on Easter Day 1905. Though offices and a parish house have been added the sancturary remains unchanged since then. Among the earliest Episcopalians in town were a Mrs. H. C. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. V. L. Starr, and their daughter Miss Annie Starr. Later Miss Hattie Oleman took up residence in Waycross and taught school in her home. The Wright sisters also had a school and many of us remember Miss Bessie Wright's kindergarten which continued after the town provided a public school. My mother went to this school and recalls marching, with other school children, over for the laying of the corner stone in the old First Methodist Church, a structure which was recently torn down and replaced with a beautiful modern building. [Contributed by Barbara Walker Winge, ] ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for FREE access. ==============