Georgia: Wilkes County: A Smith Family Odyssey, Chapter 4 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store this file permanently for free access. This file was contributed by: Art Seder ARSeder@aol.com CHAPTER FOUR JAMES SMITH AND HIS FAMILY IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY GEORGIA I After the Revolutionary War ended, James Smith was able to carve a farm out of the wilderness and maintain a large family. For the next twenty years his name appears frequently in the public records as a taxpayer and purchaser of land, and after his death in 1799 the disposition of his estate indicates that he had become a successful farmer by the standards of his time and place. However, the immediate aftermath of the war was a period of want and devastation. All of Georgia had been ravaged; its two cities, Savannah and Augusta, were in virtual ruins. There was no money; Georgia scrip was worthless, and the Continental money issued by the national Congress, in the popular phrase of the day, was “not worth a Continental”. Obviously no children could be educated during the war period, and few religious exercises took place. As might be expected following a period when life was cheap and robbery could be rationalized as patriotic duty, there was much lawlessness, and there were neither judges nor courts to interfere. However, order began to return and lives began to return to normal after several years. In 1783 the Georgia legislature directed named commissioners to lay out the town of Washington in Wilkes County, and the first court house, a log building, was built in 1785. The first session held in the new court house was presided over by Judge George Walton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In his remarks on that occasion the judge spoke of “this country in which there is such a prodigious influx of inhabitants,” and “of the rage which has taken place in the northern and neighboring states of removing into this”. The “prodigious influx” of which the judge spoke referred to the remarkable number of new emigrants who arrived in Wilkes County in the period immediately following the Revolutionary War. This influx was encouraged by a continuation of the “headright” system of land grants which had been practiced under colonial rule. This system was intended to make land available to settlers who would occupy the land with their families. However, since the system allowed for the grant of up to 1,000 acres per person, it led to considerable speculation and sale of headrights. Nevertheless, it permitted large numbers of newcomers without funds to claim land on which to settle and plant their farmsteads. As a result, by the time of the first census of 1790, 36,000 of Georgia’s total population of 82,000 lived in Wilkes County, most of them emigrants from the Carolinas and Virginia. Immediately following the War, new lands located north and west of Wilkes County also became available for settlement. These lands had been beyond the treaty line with the Creeks and Cherokees established by the Treaty of 1773. However, in retaliation for raids on Wilkes County settlements during the War, Generals Pickens and Elijah Clarke led punitive expeditions into Indian territory in 1783 which drove the Indians beyond the Oconee River. To forestall further punishment, the Indians ceded a large tract of land extending north and west of Wilkes County. This land was promptly organized as Franklin and Washington Counties and thrown open to white settlers. In 1783, concurrently with the new cession of Indian lands, the Georgia legislature passed an act authorizing the granting of land in Franklin and Washington Counties to all Revolutionary soldiers who could produce certificates signed by their commanders, certifying to their service. In 1785 James and Nathan Smith and the heirs of Jacob Smith received grants of land issued under this statute, but it appears that the Smiths sold their land grants and remained in Wilkes County rather than occupying the new lands themselves. The records of Wilkes County describe with some specificity where the inhabitants lived, the size and nature of their holdings and the identity of their neighbors. For tax purposes land in Georgia was first divided into either (1) oak and hickory land, (2) pine barren, (3) swamp or (4) some other designation. Oak and hickory land was then designated as of first, second or third quality based on judgments as to soil, topography, access to water and the like. The oak and hickory land that characterized most of Wilkes County was of course superior to the swamps and pine barrens prevalent in other parts of Georgia. A series of tax records beginning in 1785 list James Smith in each year until his death. In 1785 and in each of the next five years he is listed as the owner of 200 acres of first and second quality oak and hickory land on Beaverdam Creek and as owning no slaves. The Wilkes County records disclose that in 1791 James purchased 216 acres of third quality oak and hickory land located on the waters of Long Creek. As this land was in the northwestern part of the county, somewhat removed from his farm on Beaverdam Creek, it may well have been purchased on behalf of several of his children, to whom it was bequeathed at his death. However, James continued to own and pay taxes on both properties until he died. The close ties between neighbors is evident from the records. James Smith’s land is listed as adjoining that of Edward Butler, who was both a Justice of the Peace and a witness to James’ Will. James’ property is listed nearby that of Nathaniel Rice and Samuel Rice, father and son, both of whom also witnessed his Will. There were a number of intermarriages with neighboring families, and neighbors witnessed each others’ transactions, provided bonds when needed, acted as guardians of minor children and otherwise helped each other to meet the vicissitudes of life. II The process by which new land on the southern frontier was made ready for farming has been described by a number of writers. With huge virgin trees to contend with it was obviously impossible to uproot them or even to cut them down within any reasonable period of time. The universal practice, therefore, was to girdle the trees with an axe, thereby causing them to die very quickly. The trees were left standing, but as they lost their leaves a crop was grown in this “deadening” or “new ground”. There was little underbrush to contend with because both the Indians and, later, the farmers, burned the underbrush each year. During the fall and winter the deadened trees were set on fire, and many broke in two where they had been girdled; others that had been weakened by fire were blown down. In the spring the farmer and his helpers cut the branches from the fallen trees and pile them in a “bresh heap”. The logs were then cut into ten or twelve foot lengths, and at a neighborhood logrolling event the neighbors gathered to help the farmer pile the logs into heaps, leaving the fields clear except for stumps. Eventually the stumps rotted and could be removed with horses or oxen, but it was not unusual for farmers to plant around stumps for years. In the years James Smith farmed in Wilkes County he undoubtedly raised corn and probably wheat, flax, sweet potatoes and kitchen garden vegetables. Many farmers also planted orchards, particularly peach trees. Most farmers also owned horses, cattle, hogs and sheep, and virtually all kept chickens, ducks and geese. Geese were not only useful for food but provided the feathers that filled the best mattresses of the day. These were subsistence farm products, but even frontier farmers needed something they could sell or barter for “store bought” items. And in James Smith’s earlier years in Wilkes he probably grew tobacco as a cash crop. The new settlers, particularly those from Virginia and North Carolina, brought with them the knowledge and tradition of tobacco cultivation, and they found the new land well adapted to that purpose. Unlike the raising of rice and indigo, the other two cash crops of the colonial period, which required large tracts of land and many slaves to operate efficiently, tobacco was largely a small farmer’s crop. Tobacco required such detailed attention that one person could tend no more than about three or four acres. It was widely recognized, therefore, that tobacco could not be grown profitably in large quantities and was not pursued by the large planters. The importance of tobacco to the economy of Georgia was recognized by the enactment in 1783 of a law providing for the appointment of tobacco inspectors. Two years later this was followed by another statute providing minute regulations governing the inspection of tobacco, burning of rejected leaves, weights and measures and other aspects of the business. The increase in tobacco production required that local warehouses be built, and a number of towns grew up around the warehouses, with their associated weighing and inspection activities. However, the importance of tobacco to the economy of Georgia was short-lived; before the end of the century cotton had become king. A tobacco warehouse built in the town of Washington in 1789 was used for that purpose only until 1793, by which time cotton had replaced tobacco as the principal cash crop of the county. The rise of “King Cotton” is one of the more interesting stories in agricultural history. Significant cotton cultivation began in Georgia at the end of the Revolutionary War, when loyalist refugees returned from the West Indies with the seeds of a superior cotton. Prior to that time it was necessary to clean cotton by picking the seeds from the staple by hand—a laborious and uneconomic procedure. The new cotton, known as Sea Island cotton, was exceptionally long staple and could be cleaned mechanically by passing the lint through smooth rollers which squeezed out the seeds. Cultivation of this long staple cotton began in the 1780's on Georgia’s sea islands and soon spread up and down the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. While Sea Island cotton proved ideal for the coastal areas, it could not be grown successfully inland. The problem was that long staple cotton required a growing season of more than 240 frost-free days a year and could not survive away from the coast, where the weather is moderated by ocean currents. Short staple cotton, on the other hand, was hardier and could survive inland, but the cotton clung to the seeds and could not be cleaned with a smooth roller gin. However, in 1793 Eli Whitney patented the first gin capable of cleaning the seeds from short staple cotton. It did so by forcing the cotton through a series of circular saws that stripped the seeds from the staple. This invention was considered a marvel of inventive ingenuity. As one Georgian said at the time: “… It was stated that a Yankee schoolmaster, over in Lincoln County, Ga., by the name of Whitney had invented an iron gin with thirty circular saws. It was driven by horse power and could, it was said, but nobody believed it, clean 1,000 pounds of seed cotton in a day. The wonderful reports about the saw gin had excited public curiosity far and wide … numbers were going daily to see it.” With Whitney’s cotton gin, it became commercially feasible to produce cotton throughout much of Georgia, particularly a belt of fertile soil running through middle Georgia and another large area in the southwestern part of the state. The demand for cotton grew dramatically during this period as a result of the invention in England by Richard Arkwright of the spinning jenny, which spun cotton into thread mechanically. This was soon followed by the power loom, which could produce cloth from the threads mechanically. With the invention of Whitney’s cotton gin, all of Georgia—and soon all of the other southern states east of the Mississippi River—were caught up in the fever of cotton production. By 1796, thirty of Whitney’s gins were operating in Georgia, one of which was located on Upton Creek in Wilkes County. The rapid growth in cotton production in Georgia is illustrated by the following table: Year Bales 1790 29,264 1800 59,406 1810 105,218 1820 149,656 1830 217,531 1840 280,944 While cotton became the principle product of many farms in Wilkes County, most farmers continued to raise corn and sweet potatoes and to maintain domestic animals and fowls as before. In that connection, the importance of cattle and hogs, particularly the latter, should be emphasized. Raising livestock was the chief occupation of some farmers, particularly the first settlers of the frontier. Fences were built around fields where crops were grown to keep the livestock out. But cattle and hogs were allowed to forage at will in the forests, which were more than adequate to support the animals. The huge trees were loaded with mast and nuts which, for swine, were as attractive and nutritious as corn. Because the forests were kept clear of underbrush by annual burnings, they were lush with wild oats and grasses, wild vetch and peavines that grew to height of ten to fifteen feet. Travelers from colonial times to the Civil War spoke of the country as perfectly suited to grazing livestock. However, because the best grazing land was also the best farm land, and because the amount of unutilized land diminished as new emigrants arrived, farmers tended over time to concentrate on raising crops rather than livestock. In summary, where livestock grazing was once the principal activity of frontier farmers, it became less so—but still important—as the land became more settled and the farmsteads better developed. We can therefore safely assume that James Smith and his family raised cattle and swine and that pork was a staple of their diet. III The house James Smith built when he and his family arrived in Wilkes County was undoubtedly a one room log cabin, with a fireplace and stick-and-clay chimney at one end. The logs were roughly “skelped” with a broad axe, both inside and out, and notched at the ends to accommodate logs laid at right angles to form the sides. Usually no openings were made for doors and windows; those openings were cut afterwards with a crosscut saw. There was no glass for windows, of course. In summer windows were left open, while in the winter the cold and wind could be relieved to some extent by covering the door and window openings with animal skins or wooden shutters hung on wooden or leather hinges. The cracks between logs were chinked with mud. The roof might in the first instance consist of bark and animal skins, to be followed later by riven boards three to four feet long held in place by “butting poles”. After a nucleus of settlers had arrived, the construction of a cabin for a new emigrant often took the form of a “house raising” in which all of the neighbors took part—the men carrying and lifting the logs into place and the women providing food and drink. On those occasions hard work became a neighborly social occasion. Inside the cabin a cupboard consisting of a row of shelves might be attached to the wall beside the fireplace; there the family’s wooden dishes and possibly a few pieces of pewter would be kept. In the corner a “one-legged” bed was fashioned by using two walls of the cabin to support the side and head of the bed and a single post to support the other corner. Poles were laid across the bed rails, and a tick filled with leaves, dried grass or goose feathers served as a mattress. Household supplies filled the space under the bed. At the fireplace iron hooks and cranes held cooking pots over the fire. One or more rifles hung on wooden pegs over the fireplace, ready for instant use in the event of Indian attack or when game was needed for the table. The dinner table usually consisted of two trestles which supported a top made of boards rived from good splitting timber and drawn to smoothness with a drawing knife. Except during meal times the top and trestles were stored against the wall at one side of the cabin. Cabins frequently included a loft area reached by a ladder, where children slept. The conditions faced by settlers like James Smith and his family when they first arrived in Wilkes County were described by Governor Gilmer in these trenchant terms: “The first houses were log cabins, with dirt floors and clapboard coverings. Vile toads and venomous serpents were often found crawling over them, and occasionally on the beds. Snakes abounded, until the increase of hogs lessened their number. The rattle of the rattlesnake and the cry of a panther often sent the children home in a hurry from the woods when hunting the cows. The sheep had to be kept in inclosures about the cabins, or there was no wool for winter use. No school gave to the children an hour’s play time. After working all day, they sat around the hearth at night, picking the lint from the cotton seed, to supply the material for their clothing. There was no fruit in the country to gratify their eager appetites, except wild grapes, haws, and whortleberries. They boys had no marbles nor tops, until their own labor added to their fathers’ means to buy them. All work, little play, no fruit, poor eating, thin clothing, open houses, hard beds, and few blankets, made children hardy or killed them.…” As the settlements matured following the Revolutionary War, living conditions of course improved as well. For most settlers the first improvement consisted of the addition of a second log cabin with an open porch or veranda, usually known as a “dog run”, between the two cabins. Shed rooms were often added in back of the original cabins, thereby making four room houses. In addition, a kitchen was built in the back yard separated some distance from the main building because of the fire hazard and strong cooking odors. Additional sheds used for smoke houses, store rooms and spring houses for dairy products were located nearby. Stables, corn cribs and barns began to make their appearances as well, although often open and crudely built. The next step in the evolution of the house was the addition of board siding to the exterior of the cabins, and as sawmills came into existence houses constructed entirely of boards mounted on studding began to appear. Comparable improvements continued to be made inside the house. Glazed windows made their appearance, and bedsteads consisting of free-standing posts and frames, with ropes holding mattresses filled with goose feathers or other soft material became prized possessions. In fact, upon his death a father traditionally willed his best bed to his oldest daughter, and Wills frequently included meticulous directions as to the disposition of family bedsteads. We do not know to what level of amenities James Smith had arrived by the time of his death in 1799. However, the dispositions made by his Will, including the fact that his Will bequeathed a “Bedd & furniture” to his eldest daughter, indicates that James had reached a status of reasonable comfort and affluence for the period. IV Life was not all work and no play on the frontier, but much of the “play” had a hard work component. Mention has been made of log rolling, forest burning and house raising, all of which were strenuous work made into social occasions, with much rivalry and jocularity. These events enabled neighbors to come together in a common cause and thereby relieve the monotony of everyday life in remote farmsteads. A similar occasion, the corn shucking, has been described as follows: “… On an appointed night neighbors gathered in the barn lot and shucked a quantity of corn, sometimes as much as one hundred bushels in an evening. There were evidently several ways of conducting a corn shucking, most of which contained some element of rivalry. Often two captains would be appointed by the host, and each would choose a team. The corn would then be divided into two piles of equal size. Then came the race, the shouting and the singing of corn songs, long ago forgotten. Soon the bottle of brandy or whiskey would be put into circulation, and the tempo of the corn shucking and of the corn songs would be increased. During the evening a few would show their liquor to some extent, though it was considered disgraceful to become intoxicated. The winning team would march around their pile of corn, carrying their captain on the shoulders, singing a corn song of triumph. Sometimes, but not often, some disgruntled member of the losing team, who had had too much to drink, would send a well-aimed ear of corn at the exposed head of a member of the rival team, and a fight would follow, in which most would enthusiastically participate. After the corn was shucked came the shucking supper.…” Settlers regularly helped each other by planting or gathering the crops of neighbors who were ill or handicapped, and a farmer who had completed working his own fields would often show up at a neighbor’s farm to help “catch him up with his work”. In addition, neighbors often “swapped work”. The number of days’ work contributed by one neighbor was paid back in kind by the other. On other occasions when frontier farmers gathered, such as at militia musters or to attend court, rough and tumble “sports” were the order of business. These often involved organized fights, but since there were few rules to govern the conduct of the fight, it was necessary for the Georgia legislature, as one of its first enactments, to pass a law to punish biting and gouging. Another favorite “sport” was gander-pulling. For this event the gander’s neck was greased or soaped, and the bird was suspended from a bar between poles, Each contestant then rode his horse at full speed under the bar, attempting to catch the bird’s neck and pull off his head. The winner was awarded what was left of the bird. Horse racing was still another favorite; it has been said that, wherever there was a crossroads grocery, a quarter-mile race track stood nearby. There was always keen rivalry since the horses came from local farms, and the competition was stimulated by wagers between owners and their friends. Because every frontiersmen owned a rifle and had to become an expert in its use, shooting matches were also popular whenever neighbors gathered. The usual prizes were five quarters of beef—the “fifth quarter” consisting of the head and hide. Each contestant paid his share of the cost of the beef, which was generally about twenty-five cents. There is no question that, both on social occasions and in their remote farmsteads, Georgia frontiersmen consumed a great deal of alcohol. It has been said that: “The drinking habits of the people were fearfully bad. Everybody drank, many to excess, nearly all moderately. No one condemned drinking except the Methodists, whose general rules forbade all drinking except in cases of necessity, which cases were, alas! too common. “To distill corn whiskey and peach brandy was not at all reprehensible, and one of the best men in Georgia, an enthusiastic and liberal Methodist, who, because he thought slavery was wrong, freed all his slaves, left his still to his son, who was himself a Methodist class-leader. To get drunk was mildly blamable, but to drink in moderation was temperance.” V Religion was a critically important aspect of life in post- Revolutionary Georgia, not only because of its effect on personal behavior but as still another means by which farm folk in the wilderness came together as a community. During the colonial period the established church in Georgia, as in the other colonies, was the Church of England. Although Georgia had been divided into eight parishes in 1758 and the governor was instructed to see that “God was worshipped according to the Church of England,” the church received little support. Neither of the only two functioning parishes, those in Savannah and Augusta, was able to send priests into the upcountry. Only a handful of dissenting ministers (i.e. representing other Protestant denominations) ventured into Wilkes County prior to or during the Revolutionary War, and no organized churches existed. However, beginning in 1783, with the war over and new settlers arriving, Christianity spread throughout the region. It did not appear as a resurgence of the Anglican church, which had been disestablished by the Constitution of 1777 and was cordially hated as a symbol of British oppression. Rather, the new religion was an evangelical movement brought to the area by itinerant ministers and supported by the contributions of settlers who had belonged to churches back in Virginia or the Carolinas. The denominations they represented were predominantly Baptist and Methodist, followed by the Presbyterian church of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish. While there is no record evidence of the Smiths’ religious affiliation, some inferences can be drawn that lead to the conclusion that they were Methodists. These inferences include the following: First, James Dorough, Jr., who married Nathan Smith’s daughter Elizabeth and was named an Executor of Nathan’s Will, was a Methodist lay minister. Second, Reverend Francis Marion Smith, one of Nathan Smith’s grandsons was an ordained Methodist minister, and Francis Smith’s brother John A. Smith was also a staunch Methodist. Third, John A. Smith’s daughter Mittie Olivia Smith and David Gabriel Grantham were married in Corsicana, Texas, by D. G.’s father, a Methodist lay minister, and raised their children in the Methodist Church. Fourth, A strong opposition to the use of alcohol was part of Smith and Grantham family tradition for generations. While none of these factors is conclusive, they justify some emphasis on the role of the Methodist Church in the lives of the Smith family of this narrative. The greatest name in the early history of Methodism in America— and one who had a profound influence on the development of the church in Georgia—was Bishop Frances Asbury. The Methodist movement, which had been founded by John Wesley as an effort to reform the Anglican Church, was not formally organized as a separate denomination until 1784. Two years later Bishop Asbury dispatched two itinerant ministers, John Major and Thomas Humphries, from Virginia to Georgia to spread the word. The itinerants had no churches but went from cabin to cabin, holding services every day of the week except Monday. The preachers were peculiar men who dressed like Quakers in straight-breasted cutaway coats of brown homespun and wore broad- brimmed hats. It is said that they “…sang lustily, preached boisterously, wept and stormed and exhorted, and were intensely in earnest. They preached a full and free gospel and a salvation possible to all men; they went everywhere and success attended their efforts. They began their work in Wilkes and extended it into Burke, and gathered quite a membership during their first year.” Beginning in 1788 Methodist meetings were held in the home of Daniel Grant, a prominent merchant who lived a few miles south of the town of Washington in Wilkes County, not far from the farms of James and Nathan Smith. Within three or four months almost 200 people in the neighborhood claimed to have found salvation; according to Grant, at one meeting “many [were] deeply distressed and some professed to have found peace, the cry of some in distress & others rejoicing was so great that the preachers could scarce be heard.” The second conference of the Methodist Church in Georgia was held at Grant’s home in 1789, after which he built a “meeting house” on his property. This little red painted building is recognized as the first Methodist church in Georgia, and Bishop Asbury is known to have stopped at Grant’s to hold services on several of his seventeen visits to Georgia. One of the bright luminaries of Georgia Methodism was the Reverend Hope Hull, who arrived in Wilkes County in 1788. He had been a soldier in the Revolution, a Methodist minister when twenty-one years old and was described as “a man of handsome presence, of fine intellect, of fluent and eloquent speech, and of broad views.” Hull established the first high school in the county soon after his arrival. After operating several related institutions, he was instrumental in founding a Methodist school known as Succoth Academy near Washington and later in founding the University of Georgia at Athens. While most of the Protestant denominations preached hellfire and damnation with equal fervor, the Methodists also emphasized two other subjects having social consequences: one was alcohol and the other was slavery. Both subjects were highly controversial. While the official position of the church forbade drinking intoxicating liquors, many members did so while maintaining their church affiliation. Indeed, it is likely that on many occasions the confessions of sinfulness and wrongdoing that brought Methodists to the altar involved bouts with the bottle. Nevertheless, official Methodism at least attempted to confront a problem that caused much grief and violence on the frontier. The position of the Methodist church with regard to slavery was more ambivalent. Many early settlers of Wilkes like James Smith owned no slaves and could readily have followed the official condemnation of slavery. Daniel Grant owned a number of slaves but, as a leading churchman, felt a moral obligation to free his slaves, which he did in his Will. However, others strongly resented any suggestion by their ministers that slavery was a sin and were quick to find biblical precedent and social justification for keeping slaves. Moreover, slaves were fast becoming crucial to the emerging cotton industry. The flow of settlers into Wilkes County after the Revolutionary War brought with it a significant increase in the number of slaves. By 1790, only seven years after the war ended, slaves constituted one-fourth of the population, and by 1800 the number of slaves had risen to forty percent of the total population. The dilemma faced by church leaders was spelled out by the leading historian of Wilkes County, Eliza A. Bowen, in these terms: “… I must tell my readers that Bishop Asbury, and especially Bishop Coke, thought slavery was a great wrong and sought to make the emancipation of negroes a condition of church membership. Bishop Coke was very obstinate in this matter, and thus destroyed his influence. Bishop Asbury, who as I said, was more interested in spreading the Gospel than in anything else, soon saw that the only chance he could have to preach the Gospel in the south at all was not to make emancipation of a man’s negroes the condition of communion. That it was a condition however, at the very first, is proved by the fact that Garland Wingfield was turned out of the church for owning negroes.… This excommunication must have taken place very early indeed.” While evangelical Christianity gained a foothold in the upcountry of Wilkes County following the Revolutionary War, the first enthusiasm seems to have dissipated by about 1790, and church leaders were bemoaning the lack of commitment. In 1791 Bishop Asbury concluded a 250 mile tour of Georgia with a visit to Wilkes, noting the absence of churches in large areas of the county and complaining that “The peace with the Creek Indians, the settlement of new lands, good trade, buying slaves …” completely occupied the people’s attention. They had no time for the tidings of Methodism. VI By 1797 James Smith was an old man, and on January 2 of that year he made his Will, stating: "In the name of God amen. I James Smith of the County of Wilkes & State of Georgia being of perfect mind and memory do make & ordain this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following, To Wit "Item I give and bequeath to my Son John Smith and to my Daughter Patty Barron a Tract of land on Long Creek in the County of Oglethorpe containing two hundred and sixteen acres be[ing] the same more or less granted to James Hart to be equally divided between them to them and their heirs forever. "Item I give and bequeath to my Son Joseph Smith the Tract of land I now live on in the County of Wilkes containing two hundred Acres more or less granted to James Smith to him and his heirs forever. "Item I give and bequeath to my Daughter Elizabeth one Bedd & furniture to her & her heirs forever. "Item it is my Will and Desire that all the Rest of my Estate of Every kind whatever be sold on twelve months Credit and the money arising from such sale to be equally divided among my following Children or their heirs Viz Nathan Smith, John Smith, Joseph Smith, the children of my Son Jacob Smith, Mary White, Patty Barron, Elizabeth Smith, Rachel Smith, Sarah Thompson to them & their heirs forever. "Lastly I appoint my sons Nathan Smith, Jno Smith & Joseph Smith Executors to this my last Will & Testament utterly revoking and annulling all other Wills by me heretofore made do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament. IN WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 2nd day of January in the year of Our Lord 1797 and of the Sovereignty and independence of America the twenty first year." The Will was attested to by James’ neighbors and old friends, Edward Butler, Nathaniel Rice and his son Samuel Rice. James Smith lived two more years; his Will was probated July 9, 1799.Thereafter over the next three years the records of Wilkes County contain entries reflecting the receipt of money from the sale of assets of the estate, the payment of small sums to a few creditors and a number of payments to the family legatees mentioned in the Will. For example, an entry of February 24, 1801 read as follows: “Record of Receipts and Payments by John and Joseph Smith, Executors of James Smith: “Of Cash received from Sundry Persons from sales of the estate: $135.74¼ “Per Contra 1. By cash pdDavis Merriwether, his acc’t 4.50 2. do pdJohn Smith in part of his part of estate 28.74 3. do pd Joseph Smith do 28.74 4. do pdWm Barron do 27.00 5 do pd David Collum (for wife) 27.00 6 do pd Tipley Gats his acc’t 2.82 7 do pd Nathan Smith in part of his part of estate 25.00 8 do pd Wm Chaffin (for wife) 25.00 9 do pd D. Terrell his acc’t .06 ¼ 10 do pd For stamp papers .20 11 do pd Wm. Hay, for making one coffin 2.00 Total payments $177.06 ¼” It should be noted, as bearing on the level of literacy at the time, that both executors, John and Joseph Smith, signed the report with a Mark [X] rather than a written signature, as did William Chaffin, the husband of one of James Smith’s daughters. It may also be noted that, in addition to the legatees mentioned above, other reports include payments to Able McIntosh as Guardian of the heirs of Jacob Smith, James Smith’s deceased son. While it is difficult to assess James’ station in life as compared with his neighbors, it seems likely that he well reflects the small farmer who occupied a position well above that of the “cracker” or herdsman/hunter. His principal assets, other than the lands he bequeathed to his children, probably consisted mainly of livestock and farm implements. Unlike many of his neighbors James apparently owned no slaves. And since Negro slaves were worth several times the value of farm animals, land or other tangible property, James’ assets may have been less than those of a number of other farmers in Wilkes. However, he obviously left a solvent estate, and his large family may have made it unnecessary to utilize Negro slaves—or, as a good Methodist, he may have been opposed to owning slaves. In any event, so far as can be determined, James Smith led a very creditable life, fought for his country in the War of the Revolution, raised a large family, developed a successful farm out of the wilderness to which he emigrated and departed this life loved and respected. VII What follows is a summary of what is known of James Smith’s children other than Nathan, whose life and times will be the subject of the next chapter. In 1775 a Jacob Smith was allotted 100 acres by the Commissioners appointed for the disposal of lands ceded to His Majesty by the Creek and Cherokee Indians resulting from applications made between November 7, 1774 and March 10, 1775 (Davis 294). This could be James’ son, although there were several Jacob Smiths in Wilkes County before and after the Revolutionary War. In 1777 a Jacob Smith registered a mark or brand (I Davidson 33), and in 1778 a Jacob Smith is listed as a Revolutionary War soldier in the office of the Secretary of State of Georgia (Smith, Appendix 639). In each of the years 1785-1790 a Jacob Smith is listed in the Wilkes County tax records as owning 200 acres of land on the waters of Kettle Creek in a militia district nearby those in which James and Nathan Smith resided (I Hudson). James Smith’s Will establishes that in 1797 Jacob Smith was deceased, leaving his children as heirs. While it is difficult to establish which record entries refer to James’ son, from the location of the land involved and the fact that there is a six year hiatus in any record of land ownership by a Jacob Smith between 1790 and 1796, it is possible to hazard a guess that James’ son died in 1790 and that he was the owner of land on Kettle Creek near that of James and Nathan Smith. The name John Smith is so common that it is often impossible to determine which entries in the early records refer to James’ son. However, the John Smith who was listed for the first time in the 1790 Wilkes County tax records next to James Smith is almost certainly James’ son (I Hudson 201). He is listed as owning no property, so he was no doubt working and living on his father’s farm. And since a male resident was added to the tax rolls when he became 21 years old, this information would fix John’s year of birth as 1769. John Smith appears in tax records next to his father, James, in other years during the 1790's and, as has been noted, he filed returns with the court as an Executor of his father’s estate in the early 1800's. Since John’s legacy under his father’s Will was land in what had become Oglethorpe County, it is more likely that any further record relating to him would be found in that county. Martha (Patty) Smith is identified in James’ Will as Patty Barron. She was devised a one-half interest (with her brother John) in the 216 acre tract located in Oglethorpe County. Her husband’s name was William Barron, as indicated by the probate records of James’ estate in 1801 (II Davidson 293). William Barron also appears in the tax records of Wilkes County from 1790 to 1795; he lived on Rocky Creek near Little River, south of Washington, Georgia, not far from the Smith farms. Patty Smith and her husband had seven children. Their places of birth show that the Barrons, after living in Wilkes County until her father’s death, then moved south to Jefferson County, Georgia. After their youngest child was born in 1810, William and Patty Barron moved again. This time they joined the movement of settlers away from the older settled areas in the east towards the newly opened land in middle Georgia. There, in the great cotton belt of Butts County they remained to the end of their lives. Mary Smith, who is identified in James’ Will as Mary White, married a man named Demsey White. In the probate proceedings an entry states that in 1802 William Thompson gave a receipt "for himself and Demcy White in full of their legacies (II Davidson 294). Demsey White is identified in the 1795 tax records as owning 100 acres of 3rd quality land in Wilkes County, but no other record has so far been found. Joseph Smith was the youngest of James Smith’s sons. He was bequeathed the family home and farm in James’ Will and was one of the Executors of that Will. In addition, there is reason to believe that Joseph was caring for his father in the later years of James’ life. This is suggested by the fact that in 1797, the year James’ Will was written, Joseph Smith appears as the owner of the land in the tax records, while James is listed as a Defaulter for that year. The situation is complicated by the fact that James is again listed as the owner in 1800 and 1801, but as he died in 1799 the reference in the tax records must be to his estate, which was still being probated. In any event, Joseph was again listed as the owner in 1802. Meanwhile, in 1799 Joseph Smith married Polly Foster (II Davidson 356). Whether Polly was a younger sister of Nathan Smith’s wife Sarah or a relative (there were many Fosters in Wilkes County) has not been determined. Joseph Smith was allotted two draws in the Land Lottery of 1803, which means that he had a wife and at least one child (I Davidson 315). However, Joseph is not listed in the Wilkes County tax records of 1803, 1804 and 1805, and the next reference that has been found to a Joseph Smith in Wilkes is in the census of 1820 (Roll 9, p. 193). The person listed was between 26 and 45 years of age (born 1775-1794), and his family includes one male and one female between 16 and 26 (born 1794- 1804) and one female under ten (born 1810-1820). If this is the same Joseph Smith who married Polly Foster, she must have died, leaving him with two daughters and a son. It seems likely, since he disappeared from the tax rolls after 1802, that Joseph Smith sold his father’s property in Wilkes County and emigrated to a different area. However, this is admittedly speculative. Sarah Smith is identified in James’ Will as Sarah Thompson, and in the returns of James Smith’s executors in 1802 reference is made to a receipt given by “Wm Thompson for himself … in full of their legacies (II Davidson 294). In 1812 a William Thompson died and James Thompson was appointed temporary administrator ((I Davidson 182). An entry in the Wilkes County census of 1820 lists his widow, Sarah Thompson, as between 26 and 45 years old (born 1775-1794) and as the head of a household that included one male between 16 and 18 (born 1802-1804), and two males and one female between 10 and 16 (born 1804-1810). Elizabeth Smith was bequeathed a bed and furniture by her father James, which suggests that she was the eldest unmarried daughter in 1797 at the time of James Smith’s Will. In the probate proceedings two individuals are mentioned as legatees in right of their wives: William Chaffin, "in right of his wife Zechie", and David Collum (I Davidson 66; II Davidson 293-4). It appears, therefore, that Elizabeth Smith was married to either William Chaffin or David Collum and her sister Rachel to the other. Purely on the basis that "Zechie" sounds more like a nickname for Elizabeth than for Rachel, it is assumed that Elizabeth married William Chaffin and Rachel married David Collum. William Chaffin first appears in the tax lists in 1799 as having no property; he is listed next to Joshua Chaffin, who owned 200 acres of 3rd quality land on Little River. Each year thereafter through 1805 he is also listed as having no property, probably working on land owned by his father. In the lotteries of 1803 and 1806, William Chaffin was allotted 2 draws, indicating he had a wife and at least one child (I Davidson 306. 323). Nathan Smith's daughter Mary (Polly) married a Leonard Chaffin, which indicates a continuing relationship between the two families. For the reasons just stated, it is assumed that Rachel Smith married David Collum. However, nothing has been found concerning an individual by that name (or Collins, Coleman, Collins, etc.). At the time of James’ death, Oglethorpe County had been created from a part of Wilkes County, and the land just described fell into Oglethorpe County. The woods were fired each year in the spring when the leaves and grass had dried sufficiently to burn. This removed the dead grass and underbrush from the cattle range and protected rail fences from wildfires. Woods burning was always an exciting event, and, like so many activities on the frontier, required a community effort. Because of the constant danger of its burning out of control, the fire had to be constantly watched and beaten down whenever it threatened to break loose or to burn fences or buildings. Lincoln County had been carved out of the eastern part of Wilkes County in 1796. Quoted in Callaway, Early Settlement of Georgia, p. 90. Whitney attempted to control the market by manufacturing all the gins himself, rather than licensing their manufacture, but he became embroiled in extensive patent litigation and ultimately realized little from his invention. Gilmer, Sketches of Some of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia, pp. 178-179. Owsley, Plain Folks of the Old South, p. 112, Italics in the original. Smith, The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, p. 185. This action was taken at a conference held in Baltimore, Maryland, in that year. Prior to the Baltimore conference there had been a great deal of ambiguity among Wesley’s followers as to the status of the Methodist movement within the Anglican Church, and particularly over the administration of the sacraments by unordained Methodist preachers. The Baltimore Conference of 1784 marked a clear separation of Methodism from the Anglican Church and elected Asbury as the first bishop. See Sweet, Men of Zeal, pp. 40-45. Smith, The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, pp. 116-117. Daniel Grant to his children, July 10, 1788, quoted in West, Before We Reach the Heavenly Fields, p. 27. Smith, The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, p. 117. Bowen, The Story of Wilkes County, Georgia, p. 133. As time passed and abolitionist societies were formed in the north, the issue of slavery became a sectional one and positions hardened on both sides of the Mason Dixon line. The slavery issue finally came to a head in the Methodist Church at a General Conference held in New York in 1844, when the question was raised whether Bishop James O. Andrew should be suspended from office because his wife owned slaves. The vote on this issue split the free and slave state delegates down the middle and led the slave state churches to organize a separate denomination, the Methodist Episcopal Church South. It is an interesting coincidence that Bishop Andrew was born and raised in Wilkes County. Asbury, The Journals and Letters of Francis Asbury (I, p. 670). The great revivals of the early 1800's and the 1820's will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. It may be noted in that connection that Edward Butler, who was James Smith’s immediate neighbor and a witness to his Will, owned 30 slaves and over 1,500 acres. Since James Smith’s Will makes no reference to his wife, whose name is thought to have been Mary, she almost certainly predeceased him. In the following sections, references to Wilkes County records include materials from Davidson, Early Records of Georgia (2 vol.), cited as “Davidson”; Davis, The Wilkes County Papers, 1773-1833, cited as “Davis”; Smith, The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People, cited as “Smith”; and Hudson, Wilkes County Tax Records, 1785-1805 (2 vol), cited as “Hudson”. During this period married women could not own property in their own names. Thus a bequest to a daughter was made to her husband “in right of” the named daughter. A Smith Family Odyssey