Warren, Hancock and Troup COUNTY, GA - Bios - Thomas Lewis Norman 1841-1919 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Jenny Cummins jenny@epiphanyschool.org Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/warren.htm Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm The Life and Times of Thomas Lewis Norman 1841-1919 By Virginia Norman Fisher Cummins 20 June 2002 Dedicated to my parents: Lila Pinkston Norman Fisher and George Burch Fisher TIMELINE The Life of Thomas Lewis Norman 1841 May 17 Thomas Lewis Norman born in Wilkes County, GA to John Lewis Norman and Mary Stovall. 1850 Appears with his family in the 1850 census in Wilkes County. 1860 Listed as living with the Sims family in the Goshen District of Lincoln County. 1862 March Joined the Irvin Guards at Orange County Court House in Virginia 1862-1865 Fought with the Confederate Army (The original Irvin Guards became Company C ("Irvin Artillery) of the Sumter Artillery Battalion.) 1865 April 9 Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox April 10 T.L. Norman's group disbanded at a nearby churchyard and began the long walk home to Georgia. 1870 Listed as living with his parents and "working on the farm" in the Barnett, P.O. district of Warren County. 1880 Listed as a "farm laborer" and living with his now widowed father and family in the Goose Pond district of Warren County. 1884 Feb. 14 Marries Mary Frances Pattillo in West Point, Troup County, GA. 1886 First son, Frank Pattillo Norman, born in West Point. 1889 Second son, Lewis Grady Norman, born in West Point. 1898 Daughter, Mary Alice Norman, born in West Point. 1900 Census lists his family as living on Bridge Street in West Point. They own their own home and his occupation is listed as "traveling salesman." 1910 Still living in West Point with wife and three children. 1916 Applies for a Confederate Soldier's Pension. 1917 Appointed Trustee of Georgia Soldiers Home. 1919 Sept. 17 Dies at home in West Point, Georgia The Life and Times of Thomas Lewis Norman I had always heard the story of my Confederate ancestor who had "fought in every battle" and "walked home from Appomattox." I knew he was a 'Norman' of some description but could not have even told you his whole name before this past year. As I started to unfold all of the papers and memorabilia that my parents handed over to me, I kept running across copies of his memoirs. At first, I thought there was just one set of memoirs. Then I realized he had written two different accounts of his life at two different times. Somewhere there are the original handwritten memoirs, but for now the carefully typed and occasionally edited versions are all I have. I have chosen to put those copies directly into the report because they are the most original ones available. As you read through the first memoir, written in 1910, I hope you will wonder as I did what was his life really like? What was he like as a person? Was he a self-educated man? What did he think and care about? Why did he give up farming and move across the state in 1884? How did he become a traveling salesman? What did he sell? Was he a kind and gentle person? Did his Civil War experiences haunt him? Did he have a sense of humor? Did his family love him? What were his political views? There are, of course, no answers to most of these questions. But the journey back into time is well worth taking. Let us start by reading his first memoir . . . As stated, Thomas Lewis Norman was born on 17 May 1841 to John Lewis Norman and Mary Stovall in Wilkes County. John and Mary were married on 4 July 1837 by John W. Reed, Minister of the Gospel, in Lincolnton, Georgia, her home. The license was recorded on 5 September 1837 in Marriage Book 2, page 56, Lincoln County, GA. Lincoln and Wilkes counties are contiguous, and, in fact Lincoln was once part of Wilkes County. Some places list T.L. Norman has having been born in Lincoln county, but he says Wilkes County in his memoirs. This may not seem like a particularly important point, but as you will see, Thomas L. Norman, had a penchant for living on county, even state, lines. He was the third of thirteen children (ten of whom survived to adulthood) and must have had a typical country boyhood for that day. Georgia at that time was still a very agricultural state, even still the frontier in part. As recently as 1836, John L. Norman had taken part in the Indian Wars and received a lot of land in Gwinett county. Why did he not take it, when it seems he did not own land in either Wilkes or Lincoln counties at that time? Perhaps, he and his family wished to stay in the more eastern part of Georgia where they had lots of family. There is evidence that John L. Norman of Wilkes County owned three slaves in 1850. There are many references to Normans owning and selling property in Wilkes County from the late 1700's until well into the 1800's. How did they all get there? The "Westward Movement" so well documented across the plains of America had long since been exercised in many different ways in the original thirteen colonies. Normans as well as many other families had made their way down through New England into the Southern colonies/states and in increments across those states. Even today in Georgia, many people say, "Oh, my people came from Wilkes County (or North or South Carolina)." The migration patterns were southwestward for them. In the same vein, after the Civil War, many persons, black and white, moved west to Arkansas or Texas. The reasons were as similar and as disparate as every one else's in America. They were always looking for new cheaper land and a better way of life or maybe they were leaving failure and lost hopes behind. When I first started this project, I foolishly thought that my research would just involve a few counties in west Georgia. In the life of this one man, Thomas L. Norman, I discovered how wrong I was. In the 1850 census, Thomas is living with his family in Wilkes county. At age 9 he is NOT listed as attending school, even though his older sister, Victoria, and brother, William Franklin, do seem to be attending. In a rural economy of that time, I assume that every child worked on the farm in some capacity. School was probably at best a few months a year. However, this is another salient feature in his life. Nowhere is there any evidence that he ever attended school, though it is possible that he did so for sometime between 1850 and 1860. By the time of the 1860 census, John and Mary Norman are living in the Goshen District of Lincoln County. John is listed as a farmer with a worth of $1000 in Real Estate and $200 in Personal Estate. That would lead me to assume that he owned a farm in Lincoln County though I cannot find land records to confirm that. (His son says in the first memoir, "My father engaged in farming all his life in Lincoln County until 1864 when he sold (italics mine) his farm and moved to Warren County, GA.") At this time, 1860, the three oldest children are evidently gone from the home. Thomas, age 19, is listed as living also in the Goshen District, but with a family by the name of Sims. Leonard and Amanda Sims and their three small children have a Real Estate Value of $6000 and a Personal Estate Value of $22,000. Presumably, they were much better off than the John L. Norman clan. I think that Thomas might have been a farm hand or helper of some type in return, perhaps, for room and board. Now, of course, huge and catastrophic changes are coming to the United States of America. It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the Civil War, its causes, events and conclusions. However, there is no doubt that the Civil War changed everything and everyone, for better or worse, forever. Thomas Lewis Norman was but one person who fought and lived through it. I cannot help but wonder what the effects were on him, and that is, in part, what this paper is about. Interestingly enough, he did not enlist at the time of the firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861. For whatever reason, he waited until the next spring. On February 27, 1862 Lt. John Wingfield signed him up in Washington, GA. T.L. Norman was 20 years and nine months. In March, 1862 he traveled to Orange County Courthouse (Virginia) and joined the Irvin Artillery as a private. The reasons for waiting could have been very simple. Spring planting would have started in Georgia in April of 1861. Perhaps the Sims had persuaded him to stay on and help with that year's crops. Maybe, he like many others, thought all the fighting would be over quickly. He could not have had any idea of the titanic struggle that lay ahead for him as well as everyone else. The Irvin Guard(s) "were formed prior to the war as a militia unit in Wilkes County, GA, and originally entered into Confederate service as an infantry company (Company A of the 9th GA). In December, 1861 they were transferred to the artillery (thus the name change to Irvin Artillery). They were linked with several other artillery companies from Sumter County, Georgia which became known as the Sumter Artillery Battalion--- basically Company A was known as the 'Sumter Flying Artillery,' Company B was the 'Sumter Heavy Artillery,' and Company C was the 'Irvin Artillery.'" I have also found references to 'Cutts Battalion' as his particular group. Here is his soldier's picture; time and place taken are unknown. This page includes some scenes of battles where T.L. Norman was involved. He must have seen incredible carnage. Yet if you look at his compiled service records, he never missed a muster. Even in August, 1863, he is listed as "present sick," which means he wasn't sick enough to be hospitalized. Following the pictures is his second memoir, written in 1917 for the Ft. Tyler Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Over fifty years later, his memories are still strong and powerful. After the Civil War, after Appomattox, after burying their guns in Red Oak churchyard Thomas L. Norman did indeed walk home. It must have been a pathetic trip. Yet he remembers all those years later how people fed him along the way. These were people who could not have had much food themselves. Descriptions of Georgia at this time include words like "ruined" and "devastation." In 1864, John L. Norman had sold his farm in Lincoln County and moved to Warren County. I have found no records of land ownership by John L. Norman in Warren County. There is also no documentation of how his family fared during the War, but this is an area that Sherman's armies would have marched through. Even though the Union forces were supposedly more destructive in South Carolina, every Georgia source says the destruction in Georgia was immense. When or how Thomas returned to his father's farm in Warren County is unknown. By the time of the 1870 census, John and Mary Norman along with Thomas, Louisa, Matilda, Stephen, Emma, Susan, John and Prudence are all living within the Barnett Post Office district in Warren County. Neither John nor Thomas are listed as having any Real Estate value, but John has a Personal Estate value of $1000 and Thomas's Personal Estate value is $200. One would assume these amounts are roughly estimated. Were they possibly tenant farmers? Now the family is trying to live through a time of even more upheaval. The Civil War has destroyed the economy. The Reconstruction Period will destroy the old political and social order, or at least temporarily throw it into turmoil. There are as many different perspectives on Reconstruction as there are writers. The idea that the Radical Republicans took over the South, elevated Freedmen (Negroes) and suppressed all rights of white southerners does not even come close to explaining the enormous flux of the time period between 1865-1877. There is certainly evidence that some white southerners accepted the both the injustice and the end of slavery. There is also plenty of evidence that others would never accept the changing of the social and political systems. Undoubtedly, many people, black and white, northerner and southerner, took advantage of this post-war situation for their own gains, whether they were 'carpetbaggers' or not. There were also people who tried desperately to help the Negroes and just as many who stood in their way. It is not a pretty picture of our national history in any sense. Few heroes or heroines stand out. Many people were simply struggling to survive and were willing to compromise their principles in order to do so. One of the most chilling accounts of this time period comes from Warren County, GA, the very same place that Thomas lived with his family. "Warren County, in Georgia's eastern Black Belt, descended much further into terrorism in 1869 than most southern counties ever got." A local person, John C. (Chap) Norris, had been elected sheriff in 1868, and for the next two years he attempted to 'keep the peace' in Warren County. "Ku Klux Klan violence began seriously in the summer of 1868. Night riding, with accompanying whippings and shootings, became an almost nightly occurrence, and the Klan murdered its first Negro in September." But whites in Warren County were also intimidated and even at times, tortured or killed, if they disagreed with the Klan's precepts. Sheriff Norris failed in his mission, may have eventually succumbed to bribery himself and by 1870 was no longer in any position of power. The Democratic party in Warren County and in all of Georgia had found more subtle means to regain control of the government. One wonders where the Norman family stood during these brutal times. I can only imagine that it must have been like living under Nazi occupation; only who were the 'Nazi's?' It all depended on what the color of your skin was and who you perceived was taking away your rights and was persecuting you. Since John L. Norman owned 3 slaves before the War and Thomas fought for the Confederacy, I would assume that they supported the Democratic Party and suppression of Black rights. Yet, the more history one reads, the more diversity of opinions one finds. It was a time when good men and women frequently kept silent out of fear, no matter where your political sympathies lay. I believe that many compromised their principles simply to stay alive. By 1880, John L. Norman is a widower. (Picture courtesy of Jewel Thompson, Devereux, GA) Mary had died in 1879, supposedly of a 'nervous complication' according to her son's memoir. She would have been about 63 years of age. Even thirty years later, Thomas writes about her with undisguised affection. This woman had lived through frontier times, the loss of three of her small children, many moves, the daily strains of farm life, the Civil War, and Reconstruction in one of the most violent areas of the South. She never gave up her Presbyterian faith even when her family all joined the Methodist Church. Thomas describes her as "energetic, full of resources, meeting every emergency that arose, cheerfully, and at this distant date, nearly a third of a century since her passing away from us, I am lonely without her." Here is a person I would have loved to have known. What effect did she have on her son, Thomas? Is their obviously strong relationship what kept him a bachelor for so long? In the 1880 census, widower John L. Norman and his children, Thomas (now 39), 'Laura' (must be Louisa), Emma, Susie, John 'O' (G.) and Prudencia are still in Warren County but are listed as living in 'Goose Pond.' This is a place that no longer exists, but was clearly there in 1880 and not to be confused with the 'Goose Pond' in Oglethorpe County. Two interesting facts from the 1880 census: John lists his father, Elijah Norman, as being born in VA and his mother, Eleanor Beard, as born in SC. There is no indication of land ownership during this census. Thomas is listed as a laborer. What did they farm? Before the war this was the "cotton belt" of Georgia. After the war cotton, as well as corn is grown here, according to the George W. Howard diary of 1885. In nearby Hancock county, they are diversifying into wheat and oats also. The boll weevil has not arrived so farmers are still trying to grown cotton with a heavy reliance on the share cropper and/or tenant farming system. This is the time period I found most intriguing. Why would a fully grown man, a Civil War veteran, a person of some ability have stayed all these years on a farm that he did not own? Were the times so desperate that he had no other choices? Was his connection with his mother so strong? Did he feel such a responsibility for his family that he stayed on years into his own maturity? Was this typical? Those are the kinds of questions I would love to ask him. Change is in store for Thomas L. Norman, however. In 1883, he moves to West Point, GA in Troup County. This is on the other side of the state. We know from his memoir that his brother, John Green Norman, as of 1910, was living in West Point. Could he have moved there first and asked his brother to join him? Was he tired of farming and ready to move to a town, already starting to become a textile mill town? There are, once again, no answers. On 14 February 1884, Thomas L. Norman marries Mary Frances Pattillo. She was 27 years old, a graduate of Wesleyan College, a school teacher and the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Thomas Pattillo. The Pattillos had been in western Georgia about as long as the Normans had been in eastern Georgia. However, they do seem to have a more educated and socially prominent background. Many were ministers, teachers, and doctors. I doubt if there were pre-nuptial marriage agreements at that time, but it seems clear from later events that Mary Frances Pattillo brought property to the marriage. Or perhaps, she inherited it from her father later. There is no indication that Thomas Norman ever bought or sold land in Troup County, but there is a fairly long listing of properties that she sold between 1899-1916. How did these two get together? Did they meet through the Methodist church and its activities? He was 43 when they married; she was 27. According to the newspaper announcement, the two were married at the bride's residence by the Rev. S.P. Callaway. T. L. Norman is said to be from Mayfield, GA. After the wedding, the couple were driven to the train station where they took the train back to Mayfield to make their home. So, of course, I have more questions. Why Mayfield? What was his business there? Where did they live there? Mayfield is one of those vanishing towns in Georgia. I could find no one who knew much about it. The community there was quite old, dating from the early 1700's and was on the stage line from Augusta to Milledgeville. It is located right on the Ogeechee River, right on the Warren County/Hancock County line! The railroad came through there in 1871 and an assistant depot agent was one 'W.F. Norman,' the same initials as Thomas's older brother, William Franklin. At the time of 1884, it must have been a very small town, indeed, with only a depot, a store and a few houses. Of note to Norman family history is that Fulsom Creek Church was established there in 1792. This church later became Horeb Baptist Church and is the burial place of both John L and Mary Norman as well as other Norman kin. At some point Thomas and Mary Frances must have moved back to West Point, GA. In 1886 my grandfather, Frank Pattillo Norman, was born there. He was followed by his younger brother, Lewis Grady Norman in 1889. There is, of course, no 1890 Census extant (except for a very few Georgia Counties) so we have no record of where they were living at that time. In 1896 a very typical family photo was done by H.A. Jordan, Photographer. It shows a very serious looking family of four, well dressed and with the exception of the mother, looking straight at the camera. On the back is the inscription: "From Frank and Lewis to Aunt Lou. March 14, 1896." This 'Aunt Lou' must be Thomas's sister Ellen Louise of whom he speaks so fondly. She was deafened with scarlet fever as a child and never married, yet, according to him, "her greatest pleasure is in making children happy." How appropriate that these somber little boys send their family picture to her. (courtesy of Jewel Thompson, Devereux, GA.) And how like my uncle, John P. Norman, his grandson, T. L. Norman looks! By the time of the 1900 census, T. L. Norman and family are living on Bridge Street in West Point. He is listed as being a 'Traveling Salesman," though I do not know what he would have sold. West Point is by now a textile mill town, along with Lanett, AL across the state line. (Once again he is living on the line!) Perhaps, he sold textiles, notions, etc. Here is room for more questions and research. Both boys are in school and a baby girl, Mary Alice, has been born in 1898. This census also states that Thomas owned his property free and clear; yet I find no records of that. In the 1910 Census Index, the family is still in West Point with all three children living at home. Frank is by now a doctor. Both he and Lewis will marry in 1912. (See Appendix 30.) Further research is needed by me on this complete census, especially since it is the last census where Thomas appears. In 1916 at the age of 75, Thomas Lewis Norman applied for a Confederate pension from the State of Georgia. He states unequivocally that he did not own any property as of 4 November 1908 or any since then. (I do not understand the significance of that date.) He lists his earnings as 'meager salary' and the rest is blurred. Undoubtedly his wife had been selling property between 1899 and 1916. Had that property been in her name all along? Were they selling it to augment his income as a traveling salesman? Was Thomas poor once again? His affidavit from his friend, C. E. Irvin, attests to his service in the Confederacy. I assume that his pension was granted. On 2 January 1917, Governor Nat E. Harris appointed T. L. Norman a Trustee of the Georgia Soldiers Home for a term which would end on 21 December 1921. I don't think a poor man would be appointed trustee, but I don't really know the background of this organization. It is interesting that Governor Harris refers to him as 'Captain T. L. Norman,' when he remained a private throughout the war. This could be an example of Southern reverence for long lost heroes or just a polite vernacular phrase for any Civil War veteran. Supposedly this appointment meant a lot to Thomas, and he never missed a meeting. On 17 September 1919 Thomas Lewis Norman, age 78, passed away at his home after several months of declining health. According to one of the newspaper obituaries, "Mr. Norman was bright and jovial in disposition, always ready with a word of pleasantry and humor. He made friends readily, for he proved himself friendly--was always sympathetic, and eager to serve those in need. One of his chief characteristics was his loving devotion to his family. he was intensely interested in all things pertaining to his Church and loyal to his pastor. At the time of this death he was one of the trustees of his Church." (see Appendix 34). As in the picture similarity, this description sounds very much like his grandson, John P. Norman, who still lives in West Point, GA. This is a man who lived through some of the most dramatic and difficult periods of our country's history. From frontier times in Georgia to the horrors of the Civil War to the despair of Reconstruction to the daily trials of making a living in a time that did NOT see economic prosperity, Thomas Norman survived and reared a family. Many of that family have been scattered by the many dislocations of the 20th century. Most don't know his name or remember him. I wish that I could have known him. Final Note: Mary Frances Pattillo Norman survived her husband by 20 years. In the 1920 census she was living with her son, Lewis Grady Norman, and his wife, the former Mary Davidson, in West Point. She continued to live with them for the next 20 years. A woman of intelligence, I don't think she ever worked outside of the home again following her marriage in 1884. She was, however, very involved in her church, First Methodist, in West Point. She was a charter member of the Women's Missionary Society of that church. This was a very typical women's organization of the times with both educational and philanthropic goals. In 1937 Mary P. Norman applied for a Confederate Widow's pension and was granted it starting in January, 1938. On that application, a Bertha Heyman states that she has known the applicant for 60 years, remembers her wedding in 1884 and knew Thomas L. Norman, when he came to West Point in 1883. (underlining mine) Just another clue for me to follow up someday as to why he came and how did they meet. This was one of the last pictures taken of Mary P. Norman sometime before January of 1939. She is sitting with her two youngest granddaughters, Mary and Peggy Pate. On 29 July 1939, at age 84, Mary Frances Pattillo Norman died. The funeral was held at the home of her son, Lewis Grady Norman. That home remained in the family until recently sold this year. Born on a plantation, college educated at a time when women rarely finished high school, wife and mother. . . I wish I could have known her, too. Bibliography Andrews, Elizabeth Frances, The Wartime Journal of a Georgia Girl: 1864-65, Chapel Hill: UNC-CH Academic Affairs Library Electronic Edition, 1997 (originally published by D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1908). "Application for Pension by a Widow of a Confederate Soldier," filed by Mrs. T. L. Norman, 24 July 1937. Austin, Jeanette, Index to Georgia Wills. private publication: 10572 Sandpiper Road, Jonesboro, GA 30236, Barfield, Louise Calhoun, History of Harris County Georgia. Columbus, GA: Columbus Office Supply Company, 1961. Brooke, Ted O., Wilkes County Georgia Will Index, 1777-1921. Cumming, GA: Briarpatch Press, 1997. Burger, Nash K., and John Buttersworth, South of Appomattox. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1959. Butts, Map 1871, B82, "County Map of the State of Georgia," Negative 5418. Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection, University of Georgia Libraries, http://www/libs.uga.edu.darchive/hargrett/maps/nine.html Coker, Brad, "The Sumter Artillery Flying Battalion," 11th Georgia Artillery Battalion. Online http://www.sumterartillery.com Compiled Service Record of Thomas L. Norman, Private, New Company C, 11th Battalion (Sumter Artillery), Georgia Volunteer Artillery, 254/29. Atlanta, Georgia Department of Archives. "Confederate Soldier's Application under Act 1910," filed by T. L. Norman, 31 March 1916. Atlanta, Georgia Department of Archives. Coulter, E. Merton, The South During Reconstruction, 1865-1877. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, c 1947. Cox, Jack F., The 1850 Census of Georgia Slave Owners. Baltimore: for Clearfield Company by Genealogical Publishing Company, 1999. Crosse, Melba C. (comp.), Patillo, Pattillo, Pattulo and Pittilo Families. Fort Worth, TX: American Reference Publishing Company, 1972. Cummins, Virginia Fisher. "Thomas Lewis Norman-Mary Frances Pattillo family group sheet." Compiled 19 June 2002. Available from compiler at 1606 39th Avenue; Seattle; WA 98122. Cummins, Virginia Fisher. "George Burch Fisher-Lila Pinkston Norman family group sheet." Handed down from many relatives. Available from compiler at 1606 39th Avenue; Seattle; WA 98122. Davidson, Grace Gilliam, compiler, Early Records of Georgia (vol. 1,2) Wilkes County. Vidalia, GA: The Rev. Silas Emmet Lucas Publisher, 1932. Davidson, William H., West Point Methodism 1830-1962. Private publication: (Reproduced from material in the holdings of the Pitts Theology Library Archives, Emory University), 1962. Farmer, Michal Martin, Wilkes County GA Deed Books A-VV, 1784- 1806. Dallas: Family Genealogy Company., 1996. Formwalt, L.W., "The Camilla Massacre of 1868: racial Violence as Political Propaganda," Georgia Historical Quarterly 71(3):399-426 (1987). Gay, Beth, "Climbing the Family Tree, William Norman Arrived Early; A Founder of Midway Church." Georgia Journal, Spring 1993. Georgia. Wilkes County. US Census, 1850. Georgia. Goshen District, Lincoln County. US Census, 1860 Georgia. Barnett Post Office, Warren County. US Census, 1870. Georgia. Goose Pond District, Warren County. US Census, 1880. FHL Film 1254170, National Archives Film T9-0170, Page 102 D. Georgia. West Point, Troup County. US Census, 1880. FHL Film 1254167, National Archives Film T9-0167, Page 641 D. Georgia. West Point, Troup County. US Census 1900. Georgia. West Point, Troup County US Census index, 1910. Georgia, Troup County, "Direct Index to Conveyance of Real Estate, Page no. 9, 1899-1917. Georgia. Lincoln County, Marriage Book 2, page 56. Georgia, Troup County, Marriage Book I, page 98. Georgia, State Map. Chicago, Rand McNally, 1995. Gillette, William, Retreat from Reconstruction, 1869-1879. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979. Groene, Bertram H., Tracing Your Civil War Ancestor. Winston Salem, NC: Blair, 1995. Harris, Governor Nat E., personal correspondence appointing "Captain" T. L. Norman as a trustee of the Georgia Soldiers Home, dated 2 January 1917. Howard, George W., George W. Howard Diary, 1885 from Barnett P.O., Warren County, GA. owned by University of Georgia Libraries, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Hays, Louise Frederick, The Story of Wilkes County Georgia. Marietta, GA: Continental Book Company, 1950. Huxford, Judge Folks, Genealogical material from Legal Notices in Early Newspapers. Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press. Irvin, C.E., personal correspondence in support of T. L. Norman's pension application, 16 November, 1915. Kennedy, Stetson, After Appomattox: How the South Won the War. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1995. Knight, Map 1828, G42, Georgia and Alabama, Neg. 861. Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection, University of Georgia Libraries, http://www/libs.uga.edu.darchive/hargrett/maps/nine.html LaGrange Reporter, 14 February 1884, page 3. Leigh, Frances Butler, Ten Years on a Georgia Plantation Since the War. Chapel Hill: UNC-CH, Electronic Edition, 1998 (originally published in London by Richard Bentham and Son, 1883). Nashville-Tennessee Bulletin, Medical Department of the University of Nashville and the University of Tennessee, vol. 1- no.3, March, 1910. held in Nashville, Medical Center Library, Vanderbilt University. Norman family history. Handed down from my grandmother, Ruth Pinkston Norman. Norman, Thomas Lewis, obituary. Wesleyan Christian Advocate, 6 November 1919. Norman, Mrs. T. L., obituary. LaGrange Daily News, 31 July 1939, page 6. Pattillo Family Bible sheets, courtesy of Mary Soper. Poss, Faye, S. Extracts from Wilkes County Tax Digests by Frank Parker Hudson; Early Records of Georgia, Vol 1; Georgia Governors' Journals, 1789-1798 by Judy Swaim Kratovil, 2000. Poteat, Diane, personal correspondence, 11 June, 2002. Roller, David C., and Robert W. Twyman, editors. 1979.The Encyclopedia of Southern History. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 518- 539. Sanborn-Perris Map Company Limited, Map of West Point, GA 1910, found on the internet through "Digital Sanborn Maps" at http://www.spl.org Smith, Elizabeth Wiley, The History of Hancock County Georgia, I, II. Washington, GA: Wilkes Publishing Company, 1974. Thomas, Ella Gertrude Clanton, The Secret Eye: the Journal of Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas. Ed. Virginia Ingraham Burr. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990. Thompson, Jewel, personal correspondence received June 8, 2002 Towns, Hollis R., "Death of a Church," from The Atlanta Constitution, 26 September 1992. Trelease, Allen, White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction. New York: Harper and Row, 1971. Trowbridge, J.T., The Desolate South 1865-1866: A Picture of the Battlefields and the Devastated Confederacy. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1956. Young, Dorothy Neal, A History of the First Methodist Church of West Point Georgia. private publication: (reproduced from material in the holdings of the Pitts Theology Library Archives, Emory University), 1950. Wesleyan College, Diploma for Mary Frances Pattillo and Commencement Program, 15 July 1873. Wilson, Charles R. and William Ferris, editors, Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, pages 583-709. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1989. Wood, Virginia S and Ralph V.(trans.), 1805 Georgia Land Lottery. Cambridge, MA: The Greenwood Press, 1964. NOTES: I signed up for the well-respected and highly-touted 'Genealogy and Family History' certificate course at the University of Washington... I realized that my mother was slipping away from us. I got to share some of my initial 'finds' with her last autumn. In her own funny way she asked me why I was interested in someone she barely remembered, who only ever said, "Hi, Bub," to her, and who, after all, spent four years in the Confederate army and never progressed past private! We laughed about that. She never realized that she had given me the answer to her questions years ago when she always told us, "Hold on to your family. They are the most important thing in your life." My mother, Lila Pinkston Norman Fisher, died on Thursday, April 4, 2002 in Hickory, NC. She was 86 years old and had traveled a long way from her Georgia family and childhood. Yet in many ways she had never left home. I went to class that same night because I couldn't NOT go. She would have understood and approved. I am glad that by chance I picked a NORMAN as my person to research. NORMAN was both her maiden last name and my maiden middle name. It is also the middle name of my son. Some people would say that I waited way too long to do oral interviews, sort through papers and pursue my genealogical heritage. Those people would be right in a sense. However, as you can tell from this lengthy introduction, this experience has been both life affirming and cathartic for me. All those papers and folders and letters handled by so many before me are now entrusted to me. So if some people say that my timing was off because of my mother's death, I prefer to believe that my timing is just right. The baton (all that 'stuff') has been successfully passed.