Southern Graves

Five counties in northeast Georgia—Madison, Elbert, Oglethorpe, Oconee, and Clarke—were the entire world for three generations of the Eberhart family. Landscapes ranged from deep rural isolation to a bustling, rail-connected, manufacturing mecca. The more than three decades between the birth of John Eberhart, about 1841, and that of his son Stokely (Stokes) in 1878 were a whirlwind. The railroad arrived—bringing the outside world with it; the Civil War emancipated, devastated, and nearly starved; and Reconstruction came and went. Stokes probably thought the stories he heard about the gains African Americans made shortly after the Civil War were tall tales and not to be believed. Just months before he was born, Georgia adopted a new state constitution that instituted a poll tax used to disenfranchise Black voters. The lives of Stokes and his children, including a son named John Lee, were defined by a complex navigation of agrarian labor and the rigid, often violent, social codes of the ...

Manly W. Peacock, son of Albert, was born on 6 March 1877. Two of his brothers were Jefferson D. Peacock , mentioned previously in this space, and Zebulon Vance Peacock, a former mayor of Cochran in Bleckley County, Georgia. Upon his death in November 1903, Manly was buried in a family lot at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Cochran. 📰 Framing the Tragedy: Yellow Journalism in 1903 Manly's death "caused much excitement" in cities and towns across the state. The sensationalized reports are perfect examples of the journalistic style prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Often called "yellow journalism," this style prioritized sensationalism, drama, and circulation over strict factual accuracy, leading to the kind of contradictions and unverified claims you will see in these articles. Macon Telegraph (Georgia) Sunday, 8 November 1903 - pg. 1 " DUEL TO DEATH IN DODGE COUNTY MANLY PEACOCK INSTANTLY KILLED BY H. G. EVERETT, AFTER THE LATTER WAS PERH...

The World War I veteran was shot in his left side with a pistol. Thomas Glover "Tom" Padgett was born on 10 July 1888 in Twiggs County, Georgia, to William B. and Annie Davis Padgett. He was inducted into the United States Army at Jeffersonville, Georgia, on 26 June 1918. Tom served overseas from 24 August 1918 to 2 April 1919. It was noted on his World War I service card that Tom was "slightly" wounded about 1 November 1918, and was honorably discharged on demobilization, 24 April 1919. Years later, by 1935, Tom had a room in a boarding house on West Franklin Street in Gastonia, Gaston County, North Carolina. Gastonia was once one of the nation's largest textile-manufacturing hubs. Though no occupation was listed for Tom in the 1940 census, he was surrounded by neighbors working in cotton mills. In February 1943, Tom was shot and killed in his room at the boarding house. While his death certificate officially records the date as February 16th, contemporary news...

Homicide at Cochran, Georgia! William Thomas McVay was born on 24 August 1835. He married Martha Ella Linder in Laurens County, Georgia, on 4 November 1858. In 1862, W. T. enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private. He was promoted through the ranks, culminating in the position of 1st Lieutenant of Company F, 14th Georgia Infantry. During the decade of Reconstruction, William transitioned from a Confederate officer to a prominent merchant in the newly established community of Cochran, Georgia. Officially incorporated in 1869, the town was built around a stop on the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. Merchants like McVay were crucial to the town's early economy, linking local cotton and agricultural products to the wider regional markets. Being a successful merchant in a small, post-war Southern town (not to mention his veteran status) likely meant William was an individual of considerable influence and standing in the local community and surrounding counties. A snippet from an articl...

Behind the Greene County courthouse in Greensboro, Georgia, stands an old rock jail. It was built in 1807 and remained in use until about 1895. From the historical marker beside it: "Built of granite about two feet thick, it is two stories in height and has a trap door in the floor of the upper story where condemned prisoners were hanged. An iron bar supported the trap door. When the signal was given, the hangman pulled the lever that controlled the bar and the culprit was launched into eternity." I recently read a 2019 story by Tyler Wilkins in the Lake Oconee News  (Georgia) about the old gaol , and was surprised to learn only one documented execution took place there. Here's how the Atlanta Weekly Constitution  covered it on 4 November 1873: Quick PSA : Since most newspapers of the time were white-owned and reflected racist views, they were biased. So please question and treat with great caution the papers' descriptions of the alleged crimes, victims, and perp...

If it was, I haven't recovered the final verdict. Which makes me wonder, did someone get away with murder? Bradford Houser, born 31 May 1893, was a son of Emmett Houser (1868-1932) and Mary Mathews (1869-1929). For the 1910 US Federal census, the family was in Fort Valley, Houston County, Georgia. [Note: Fort Valley became part of Peach County when the latter was formed in 1924.] Following is a series of news articles I did find regarding the killing of Bradford Houser in the fall of 1914. Augusta Chronicle  (Georgia) Saturday, 7 November 1914 - pg. 1 Emmet Houser's Son Found Murdered, Fort Valley Macon, Ga., Nov. 6. -- Bradford Houser, 23 years old, son of Emmett Houser, well-known newspaper man and manager for Hon. Thomas M. Felder in the last senatorial campaign, was found murdered at Fort Valley late tonight. Young Houser had been attending a carnival that was in progress at Fort Valley, thirty miles from here. He was not missed by the merry-makers, however, and it was mere...

Trammell Starr was, by nearly all accounts, a well-respected citizen of North Georgia.  He was a lawyer and held political office, representing Whitfield County beginning in 1894. But there's also this proposed smear that created headlines across the country in the last month of 1894: Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 15 December 1894 - pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank ] A LURID TALE. A Witness States, Under Oath, That a Ku Klux Society Flourishes in Georgia at the Present Time. Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 14. – In the trial of the Whitfield county whitecappers in the United States court today, evidence of a highly sensational character was given by one of the witnesses.  The case on trial is that of the United States against C. C. Brown, Berry Turner and W. B. Callahan.  The witness who furnished the sensation was C. F. Ogles, a well known citizen of Tilton. Mr. Ogles…said that in the spring of 1892 he met with a crowd of men in an old barn at Tilton to form an organization for mutual pro...

Someone got away with murder. Rome Tri-Weekly Courier (Georgia) 21 April 1874 -- pg. 3 THE BLUDGEON. THE MYSTERIOUS KILLING OF POLICEMAN MOONEY. …Rome has been thrown into much excitement in consequence of the mysterious taking off of Policeman Mooney, an officer of quiet and orderly habits, faithful in the discharge of his duties, and known as a reliable man and a good citizen.  The circumstances of his death are still veiled in mystery, the Coroner's inquest having developed no clue as to how and by whom the deceased came to his death.  It seems to be one of those well-laid plans of crime which leave no trace of the perpetrator or perpetrators.  So far the Coroner and his jury have been unable to unravel the mystery or to get on track of any information that promises to lead to the development of the crime. Mooney's body was discovered late one Saturday night "along the track of the Rome Railroad, at the foot of Etowah street, almost directly upon the bank of the Etow...

William Mattox, born 1836 in Elbert County, Georgia to Henry Page and Sophia N. Mattox, was a lot of things.  He was a son, a brother, a husband, and a father.  He was also a large landowner, a shrewd businessman, a soldier, and a statesman. But was William Mattox the meanest man in Georgia ? Those who labored for him might argue he was. A great-great grandson of Col. Mattox, Mr. Ray Chandler, penned an article about his notable ancestor.  It was published in the Summer 2011 edition of Georgia Backroads magazine.  In detailing the life of Mattox, Mr. Chandler described the acquisition of land which began after his great-great grandfather's 1856 graduation from college.  By 1860, W. H. Mattox owned more than 1,000 acres in Elbert County, much of it along the Savannah River.  To go with that property was 79 slaves. Mattox believed in bringing industry to the South, but had to wait until after the Civil War to put his plan into practice.  After a couple ...