CHAPTER IX
WORTH'S RESOURCES
WORTH COUNTY, THE DIAMOND OF SOUTH
GEORGIA
   Every opportunity to prosper in any of life's activities, is ever present in Worth County. `'Would you turn to manufacturing, the City of Sylvester and the county give free sites and freedom from taxation for five years. This was done by the voluntary suffrage of the people. There are plenty of raw materials in the county for many enterprises. Having two railroads gives us competitive rates that guarantee the movement of freight in a most satisfactory manner.
   We have electric power in abundance to meet the needs of many times our population and present demands. Here is the heart of the cantaloupe industry and we ship more each season than any other place in the world. Here is the home of the famous Georgia water melon, in the heart of which one may drown the cares of life. These and other products would support a crate factory. There is raw material here in abundance for such a factory.
   Our soil is peculiarly adapted to the succulent peanut. A peanut hulling plant here would be a paying proposition. Our soil and climate is the natural home of cotton, and while Worth could not be called a one crop county, yet her farmers raise large amounts every year and it grades up with the best short staple.
   Worth County is in the heart of the pecan belt. Here the paper shell pecan, whether it is the staple Stewart or other varieties, comes to its highest perfection and productiveness. Around nearly every home in the county will be found stately pecan trees that make splendid shade, and are as beautiful as the trees usually used for shade, and their productivity but adds charm to their beauty.
   The finest sweet potatoes in the world are raised in Worth County. The same can be said of the fig and the oriental per
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HISTORY OF WORTH COUNTY, GEORGIA	75

simmon. And then tobacco-tobacco growing experts say we have as fine tobacco lands as can be found anywhere. Tobacco growing has come to 1)e one of the staple crops of the county. On account of mild and short winters, Worth is especially adapted to cattle raising. Here one can have green pastures the year around, and with very few days in the year when there will be need for shelter for cattle. On account of the long growing season, two and three crops can be grown on the same land each year. Worth County has the highest altitude of any county in South Georgia and probably for this reason has been thus far free from destructive storms.
   Here in Worth County we have a wealth of soil, fit almost for an Empire's sustenance, with much of it newly from nature's hand. It's call to the industrious, the law abiding, the country loving, goes no longer unheeded.
   Yearly few are leaving and more are coming. The side partner of material advancement, enlightenment, keeps steady pace. Educational facilities, a few generations ago negligible, are now extended with the tenderest solicitude to the humblest of our children. Good roads have brought the churches to the doors of the former back woodsman. And the automobile chants a song of prosperity as it makes a figment of distance.
   No one need blush for Worth's past, and none that are wise will discount her future.
   We give the Soil Survey of Worth County as classified by the United States Bureau of Chemistry and Soils. This work, with maps, was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Sylvester.

THE SOILS OF WORTH COUNTY
   The soils of Worth County have been classified by the U. S. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils into fourteen series, which are represented by eighteen soil types and four phases of types, in addition to the miscellaneous separation of swamps. Of these soils, eleven types and the four phases represent the upland soils, three types are second bottom soils, and three types are first bottom soils.
   The total acreage of good agricultural soils in the county is considerably larger than the acreage of soils which are poorly drained or are not desirable for agriculture. The good agricultural soils occur in large areas, so that it is not unusual for an entire farm to consist of but one or two soil types.
  
Most of the soils which are not desirable for tillage can be converted into excellent pasture areas, although very little has been done along this line to (late.
  The most extensive soils, the soils which dominate the agriculture of the county, are Tifton sandy loam and Tifton sandy loam-deep phase. These two soils occupy 38.3 percent. of the total area of the county. They have brownish gray or gray surface soils overlaying yellow or ocherous yellow friable sandy clay subsoils. Scattered over the surface, through the surface soil, and usually to a less extent through the sub-soil, there is a large quantity of small rounded iron accretions. The quantity is commonly sufficient to give a distinct brownish coloration to the surface soil. These soils are known locally as the red pebble lands and are considered among the most desirable soils for general agriculture that occur in the county or in this section of the state. The Tifton sandy loam occupies smooth, gently rolling and undulating ridge crests and inter-stream areas. It is well drained, lies well for agricultural use and occurs in broad areas well adapted to the use of improved farm machinery. About 95 percent. of this soil is under cultivation, being used primarily for cotton and corn, but the soil is adapted to a wider range of crops.
 Norfolk soils occupy 27.5 per cent. of the county area, and include the sandy loam, the deep phase of the sandy loam, the sand and the mixed phase of the sand. Norfolk sandy loam occupies 8 per cent. of the county area. It has a light gray surface soil with a pale yellow friable sandy clay subsoil. This soil occurs in many fair sized areas in small areas scattered throughout the county. It occupies flatter topography than the Tifton soils. It is somewhat lighter in texture both in the surface and in the subsoil than the Tifton soils from which it is readily distinguished, also by the absence of the small iron pebbles. About 65 per cent. of this type is under cultivation, being used for cotton, corn, peanuts, tobacco, sweet potatoes, velvet beans and a variety of truck crops. The deep phase of Norfolk sandy loam is more extensive than the typical sandy loam, occupying 15.2 per cent. of the area of the county. About 60 per cent of it is under cultivation and a limited amount has been abandoned after a period of cultivation. It is used for all the general crops, but is inherently less productive than the Norfolk sandy loam. It is
 
considered, however, to produce the best quality of bright leaf tobacco. Norfolk sand and the mixed phase of Norfolk sand are relatively inextensive, occupying but 4.3 per cent. of the county area. These soils consist of deep sands of very low agricultural value, best adapted to forestry.
  There are two brown soils-Ruston fine sandy loam and Ruston loamy sand, together occupying 2.4 per cent of the area of the county. The surface soil of Ruston fine sandy loam is gray or grayish brown, overlying a subsoil of yellowish brown or yellowish red, friable, fine sandy clay. This soil occurs only in scattered small areas in the southwestern and northwestern parts. It has about the same agricultural value as Norfolk sandy loam except that it is not suitable for bright tobacco. However, only about 15 per cent. is cultivated, principally to corn and cotton. Ruston loamy sand in-inherently less productive than the sandy loam, but occupies smooth topography in the northwestern section of the county. About 65 per cent of this type is cultivated, principally to corn cotton and peanuts.
  There are two soils having red subsoils-Magnolia sandy loam and Greenville sandy loam, both of which are inextensive, together occupying but 1.3 per cent. of the area of the county. Magnolia sandy loam has a grayish brown surface soil overlying a red, friable sandy clay subsoil. It occurs mostly in the northwestern part where it occupies undulating or gently rolling topography. Inherently this is a productive soil, and about 80 per cent. is under cultivation. Greenville sandy loam has a reddish brown surface soil underlain by a red, friable heavy sandy clay subsoil. This type also occurs in the northwestern part where it is all under cultivation. It is one of the most productive soils in the county.
  Susquehanna sandy loam occurs in a belt crossing the southeastern part east of Sylvester, extending in a northeast-southwest direction and comprising 4.1 per cent. of the county area. It has a gray surface soil with a subsoil consisting of heavy and gray plastic, impervious dull red clay mottled with yellow, purple and gray. It occupies topography varying from hilly to undulating or gently sloping. A small proportion is cultivated, but about 85 per cent. is in forest. Crop yields are low and the soil is not desirable for tillage, due to the plastic impervious character of the subsoil. This soil is best suited to forestry and pastures.
  
  There are two light colored soils of the uplands which resemble Norfolk somewhat-the Blanton sandy loam-deeu phase and Blanton sand. They occupy 3.2 per cent of the area of the county. Banton sandy loam-deep phase has a gray or a grayish yellow surface soil of loamy sand which is underlain at about 15 to 30 inches by a subsoil of dull yellow or creamy white, friable sandy clay. It is a soil with a seasonal high watertable. None of this soil is farmed except marginal strips which border other soils and are used for corn, cotton and sugar cane to a very limited extent. The productivity is inherently low and crop yields vary with seasonal conditions. A small amount of Blanton sand is cultivated but yields are low, most of the type being used for, and best adapted to forest.
  There are three poorly drained upland soils - Plummer sandy loam, Grady clay loam and Grady sandy loam which together occupy 16.7 per cent. of the area of the county. Plummer sandy loam occupies 10.9 per cent. of the area. It has a dark gray surface soil with drab gray sandy clay sub-soil, mottled with yellow. The type occupies the base of slopes adjacent to drainageways. It is poorly drained and is rarely used for cultivation. The type has proved best adapted to carpet grass pastures for which purpose it constitutes one of the best pasture soils in the state.
  Grady sandy loam has a gray surface soil with a subsoil consisting of light gray, compact impervious, heavy clay. It occurs in low sink areas and depressions in the upland soils, many of which have no drainage outlets. Where these areas can lie drained, they will produce good yields of corn and forage crops and will also make excellent carpet grass pastures. Grady clay loam is usually more subject to continued inundation in shallow ponds than the sandy loam. Drainage is necessary before most areas can be utilized for carpet grass pastures to which they are best adapted.
  Second bottom or terrace soils occupy 1.3 per cent. of the county area. Of these soils only Kalmia fine sandy loam is sufficiently well drained for cultivation. This soil has a gray or grayish yellow surface soil underlain by a light yellow fine sandy clay subsoil mottled with gray. It occurs in scattered small areas, very- little of which is farmed. It is used to some extent for pasture, but is mainly forested. Myatt fine sandy loam and Leaf fine sandy loam are poorly drained ter-
  
race soils which are best adapted to pasture and forestry. They occur in small scattered areas along the streams of the county and practically none of these types are cultivated.
   The first bottom soils, including Swamp, occupy 5.2 per cent. of the total area. None of the first bottom areas are cultivated. Congaree silt loam and Congaree sand occur along Flint River where they are subject to heavy overflows of rather long duration, which precludes their use for cultivation. They are the best suited for pastures and forestry tinder present conditions. Chastain fine sandy loam occurs along the bottoms of some of the creeks which flow through the section of the county containing Susquehanna soils. This bottom soil is wet most of the year, is of little value for pasture and is best adapted to forestry. Swamp is a miscellaneous classification of variable bottom soils which are wet the greater part of the year. Swamp provides range pasture and is suitable for forestry.
CARRYING THE COTTON TO MARKET
By John L. Herring
   Mid-afternoon the start was made. The bale of cotton, brought from the gin several days before, was loaded on the wagon ; tucked in around it a supply of forage for the oxen; in a cheesebox a grub stake for the round trip. Perched on top of the bale, the Boy, in his Sunday best, drove, the Father riding and walking---usually the latter.
   The first part of the road was lonely; out by the village cemetery ; then miles and miles of unbroken pine forest, be-fore first the small farms and then the large plantations along the river bottoms were reached. Long before this, night had fallen, and one part of the journey was as lonely as the other. Both travelers were accustomed to self-entertainment; the oxen patiently plodded off the long miles, and man and boy took naps, trusting to their team to "keep the road."
   Some time after midnight, but before the morning star shone in the east, they arrived at the crossing of an old stage road, two miles out from the city. Here was the last timber, and camp was made. The oxen were unyoked, tied to saplings and fed, and on quilts spread beneath the wagon man and boy slept until morning. With daybreak they were tip, the
  
oxen hitched and the outskirts of the city reached in time for an early cup of coffee at a lunch stand near the bridge entrance.
   This bridge, spanning a broad and rapid river, was an object of dread both to the boy and to oxen. Snorting iii fright, the team was with difficulty urged up the long approach ; under the hollow, resounding, covered and walled bridge proper, they pulled in the yoke against each other-their hoofs slipping on the floor, while the Boy clung to the cotton bale, momentarily expecting the wagon wheels to run off the end of the flooring and plunging wagon and all into the rushing waters thirty feet below. Out from the covered bridge at last the oxen rushed down the incline at the farther end, being stopped with some difficulty by the toll-keeper under the arched entrance at the bridge house. Here they were passed on the promise to pay the toll when they came back; a common custom, for few going into town had money, and safe enough, for over the bridge was the only way home.
   At last they were "in town" and the boy shrank down a little on his high perch at the noise around him. To the big brick cotton warehouse, where negroes threw the bale off the wagon and rolled it under the warehouse shed and with a long augur a sample was taken. Back into the wagon-yard the team was driven, unyoked and installed; the "things" stored in the common camping-house under the eye of the negro care-taker, the price of whose services was a dram of "busthead" before departure. Out man and boy went to sell the cotton.
   It appeared to be by common consent that no bidder would offer what he expected to pay, but each would start with a low figure, expecting to be raised-which was done. It was a matter of much walking, much dickering, and many inquiries as to how much "trade" was in it, before what the seller saw was the top price was reached, and the deal closed.
   Then, an orgy of buying! Women are not all the bargain hunters in the world. As a reward for much toil in the cotton field under a hot summer sun, the Boy was to have his first "storebought" suit, and the purchase was an event. The proper color--a compromise between a desire for the gaudy on the part of the prospective wearer and a careful precaution against early fading by the wary parent--was found after a while.
  
Then the size-it must be large enough "to allow for growth" (with a consequence that the suit never fit, being too large when new and shabby from age when at last the boy grew to it). Last, the price; rock-bottom being finally struck after much palaver.
  Then there were the hickory checks, the calico, the "narrowed homespun," the thread and card of buttons, the shoes, and finally the bundle of spun thread to fill Mother's list. The sack of flour, the coffee, the "sure null" crawling sugar, for the family larder. Father perhaps got a new hat, a pair of brogan shoes, and a caddy of tobacco for his part. Even into luxuries they went. A pound of beautifully striped candy, a section of cheese for the home table and for lunch enroute, and, crowning luxury, a can of cove oysters! The mouth waters now at the remembrance of the appetite-inspiring label.
  The great wealth that in one bale of cotton lay ! For then there were no notes for mules, or guano, or farm supplies to be met, and what was paid for the single bale of the year's crop of cotton, belonged to the grower.
  Back to the wagon yard, walking on air in a dream of riches; the oxen watered and yoked, the homeward journey began as the lengthening shadows told that another night was near. The toll man was paid at the bridge, and still Father jingled silver and put away a few bills against a time of need. Even the bridge had no terrors now, the oxen pacing over, with heads lowered, as they recognized the homeward trail.
  No need to drive-the team knew the way and nothing could turn them from it. No stop for camp tonight-home was the goal of travelers and team. When night fell the precious can of oysters was hacked open with a hatchet and the con-tents devoured; the last drop of juice soaked up with soda crackers. Then cheese and candy and crackers to wedge it down, and Father and Boy stretched themselves in the wagon and slept away the homeward journey. The arrival was during the early morning hours ; first care for the tired and panting team; then the loud call to the Mother who waited, the proud exhibition of the purchases of the trip; then sleep until the breakfast summons. The Day of the year was over.
  
'SIMMON BEER, 'POSSUM AND "TATERS" A RESOURCE OF WORTH
WORTH FURNISHED "POSSUMS AND TATERS" FOR
THE BANQUET OF PRESIDENT TAFT
IN ATLANTA
(Worth County Local, Jan. 8th, 1909.)
  The County of Worth has volunteered-nay, has asked the honor-of furnishing, free of charge, the one hundred fat 'possums necessary for the great supper to be given President-elect Taft on the occasion of his visit to Atlanta, the aforementioned animals to be served in accordance with the expressed wish of his Honor.
  The following telegrams speak for themselves: "Sylvester, Ga., Jan. 2nd, 1909.-E. C. Caverly and Mr. Wilkerson, 'Possum Committee, Atlanta: Worth County asks the honor of being allowed to furnish free to the 'possum and 'tater supper, the one hundred fat 'possums required. Answer promptly, so we can unloose the 'possum dogs.
"Frank Park."
  "Frank Park, Sylvester, Ga.: We accept with pleasure and gratitude your offer to furnish 'possum and 'taters. Unleash your discriminating 'possum clogs.
  "C. E. Caverly, chairman 'Possum committee," 'taters, 'possums, and simmon beer.
  "Atlanta. Jan 4th,-Not only has the committee been assured on the personal honor of Harry Fisher of Newnan, Judge Frank Park of Sylvester, and others, that all the 'possums desired will be in attendance, even to the elimination of this product from the Georgia woods, but assurance came today from a lady admirer of Mr. Taft, that 'simmon beer will not be lacking. She is now making first preparations for brewing a barrel of this exhilerating Georgia drink, for exclusive use of the Taft banquet. There'll be no champagne or other liquid from foreign vineyard-the Georgia prohibition law forbids."
  "The deed is done! The suspense is over! The slaughter of the innocents is accomplished! The largest and most varied collection of 'possums ever accumulated in the 'possum state of the South, went to their fate Wednesday morning, not exactly like lambs led to the slaughter, because they were 'pos-
  
sums ; and a 'possum is not like anything else under the sun, except another 'possum. Neither is there any other creature whose execution is along such utterly original and outlandish lines.
  "No stately guillotine towers above the prospective victim-no dangling noose awaits his cringing neck-just a broom-stick and a colored gen'man.
  "How the deed was done. The 'possum, grasped firmly by his rat-like tail, is flopped with some enthusiasm, upon the ground chin down. Across the nape of his neck, is placed a broom-stick, upon either end of which the executioner places a number 11 foot (the number is important). Without delay (for the 'possum does not take kindly to this procedure) the southern extremity of the animal is smartly elevated by means of that convenient handle, his tail, and-"snick !" It is all over. Another 'possum has been gathered to his fathers in the great beyond, where perennial persimmon trees flourish, and there is no happy hunting ground.
      "Such is the manner of his taking off by Levi Colbert, imported for the purpose from Worth County and retained at the Piedmont, as consulting cook, to assist in the post mortem preparation of a hundred 'possums for the table of the great. With Levi came Annie Daniels and Mahala Bennett, all of them from the Worth County plantation of Judge Frank Park.
  "Immediately after the execution, the 'possums are plunged in boiling water to remove the hair, dressed and placed in a cold salt water bath for twelve hours, "to kill de animal taste, and bring out de 'possum taste," says Levi. Then they are parboiled 'twel day is f'ree thirds done," (some authority), after which they are baked with the time-honored sweet potatoes; being basted during this process, with a special sauce prepared after a formula newly invented by Signor John Blocoki, chief cook at the Piedmont Hotel."

  (Note:-"Possums and Taters" are a real resource of Worth County. They are most delicious when cooked together and are the finest in the fall and winter months, persimmon beer comes along with 'possums and taters in the fall months. What better feast could any one ask?)
  
CHAPTER X
INDUSTRIES

ABSTRACT OF BANKS AND BANKING HISTORY IN
WORTH COUNTY
   The first bank organized in Worth County, and one of its leading institutions in 1934, is The Sylvester Banking Company, which was originally organized in 1897 as a private bank. It was owned and operated by J. S. and J. H. Westberry and began business with a capital of only $5,000.00.
   This private bank was converted into a state bank, in July, 1898, with the following officers : W. H. McPhaul as president, C. W. Hillhouse as vice president, and J. H. Westberry, cashier, with the following directors : W. H. McPhaul, C. W. Hillhouse, J. S. Westberry, T. R. Perry and Dr. W. L. Sikes.
   On the passing of Mr. McPhaul, in the year 1900, Mr. J. S. Westberry succeeded him as president.
   In 1901, the resignation of J. S. Westberry as president was accepted, and he was succeeded by Mr. C. A. Alford, who held this office until his passing in 1908, when the Hon. G. G. Ford, a native of Worth County, was elected to the presidency.
   Mr. Ford held this office until his death in 1916, when the present incumbent, Dr. T. C. Jefford, was elected to fill the vacancy. Mrs. C. W. Hillhouse held the office of vice-president from the time of the bank's organization until his death in 1931.
   The Sylvester Banking Company is now thirty-five years old, having served its patrons and community with safety and confidence, lending an influence that has meant much in the growth and progress of the county.
   Since the organization of this first bank, six other banks have been organized in the county as follows:
   Bank of Poulan, Poulan, Ga., organized in 1902; failed in 1930.
   First National Bank, of Sylvester, Ga., organized in 1903; failed in 1924.
  
  Bank of Warwick, Warwick, Ga., organized in 1910, failed in 1929.
  Farmers and Merchants Bank of Sylvester, Ga., organized in 1911 ; failed in 1926.
Bank of Ty Ty, Ga., organized in 1912; failed in 1926.
  Bank of Oakfield, Oakfield, Ga., organized in 1912; failed in 1915.
  It will be seen that these banks ran from three to 28 years, and while the depression finally got them, during their activities, they were wonderful factors in the upbuilding of the county.

POULAN COTTON MILLS
POULAN COTTON MILLS

  Poulan and Worth County's greatest manufacturing enter-prise is the Poulan Cotton Mills.
  It is one of the very hest equipped small factories in Georgia, with 6032 spindles and 186 looms. It gives employment to one hundred and twenty-five people, who receive wages running from one to three dollars per clay.
It is a white man's mill, equipped with fire apparatus, a

Grinnel system with ten plugs, and one force pump having a capacity of seven hundred and fifty gallons a minute.
  The officials are W. J. Vereen, President; L. J. McPhaul, Vice President; F. M. Kimble, Secty-Treas.
  The mill is a handsome brick structure, fifty-eight by two hundred thirty-four feet and two stories high.
  The Poulan Cotton Mill has been the greatest of all agencies in wafting the fame of Poulan and Worth County to the four corners of the earth as it manufactures a superior brown sheeting which is sold in the United States and Canada.
  The demand for its output has exceeded the supply ever since the wheels began to turn.
  It was organized by stockholders in the year 1902. The following were the first officers and directors: W. C. Vereen, President; C. A. Alford, Vice President; G. B. Dean, Secty; J. G. McPhaul, Treas. Directors in addition to above were J. NV. Tatum, H. C. Woolard, J. L. Sumner, J. S. Westberry and W. W. Monk.
  Stockholders now are, The J. G. McPhaul Co., W. J. Vereen, L. J. McPhaul, W. C. Vereen, Est. Mrs. H. G. Ellis, F. M. Kimble, Mrs. J. B. Myers, Mrs. Ada White.
  The employees of this factory enjoy a measure of security that any people get from living in small towns. They can have gardens, chickens and cows and are not entirely dependent on the wages at the factory for a livelihood.
  This plant is especially fortunate in management which has been in charge of Mr. F. M. Kimble for twenty-five years. He keeps in touch with all his people, knows them, and looks after their welfare as he does the commercial welfare of the plant.

OCMULGEE TO FLINT RAILROAD OR CANAL
Story of A. H. Brisbane's Railroad, Graded Through Worth
County, But Never Completed
  The State Archives of Georgia gives the following facts regarding the old railroad grading through Worth County, signs of which may still be seen near Isabella and other places through the county:
  "In December, 1827, the Legislature had granted to Thomas Spalding, of Darien, the right of building a railroad of wood, or
  
digging a canal from the Ocmulgee to the Flint River. Spalding was empowered to do this individually or with associates in a company, as he might see fit. Several years having passed without developments, the charter was renewed by an act of 1834, which authorized a railroad of either wood or iron. The route contemplated lay from the Great Bend of the Ocmulgee, some sixty miles south of Macon, in a line westward to Albany on the Flint. There was little progress until about 1840. At that time a certain General Jones Lee, a resident of the Flint River district, took up the project, promoted a company to utilize the charter, and was himself made the first President. By April, 1841, substitutions had been secured to the amount of $250,000, and installments amounting to 15 per cent. had been paid in in the form of notes of hand from the subscribers. No cash had then been received ; but the contracts had already been let for grading the eastern half of the route, and those for the western half were then advertised. The contractors agreed to take preferred stock, guaranteed to yield 8 per cent. in payment for work. In that level country the work was, of course, extremely light."
  "An Irishman and devout Catholic, A. H. Brisbane, from Savannah, was its "Engineer Agent." Later he became its president and chief promoter. Nelson Tift, the founder of Albany, was also interested. They each secured land grants from the State of Georgia for this purpose. Brisbane secured 124,950 acres and Tift secured 4,900 acres in Irwin County (Now Worth). Tift persuaded Brisbane to begin the grading at Albany. The road was to go from Albany to Waresboro and connect with other railroad projects there. Brisbane procured a force of Irish laborers-some from New York, some from Ireland direct, and the road was graded, bridges built, cross ties laid, and many hewn stringers were placed, which were to be used in place of iron rails.
  "In November, 1841, the grading had been two-thirds completed ; but the company was in great need of funds. A meeting of the directors at Albany decided that it was useless to call for cash from the stockholders, and sent a call for help to Savannah. To their temporary relief, the city council of Savannah indorsed the company's note for the sum of $5000. Brisbane now hit upon a new idea. He appealed to the Catholic prelates for charity on behalf of the starving Irish laborers
  
whom the company was unable to pay or feed. Aid came in response from Bishop England at Charleston and Bishop Hughes of New York. This, however, was hardly a sound basis for railroad progress. Brisbane reported in February, 1843, a total expenditure to that time of $9000, and an out-standing debt of $15,000, with no visible assets but the naked road-bed which the contractors really owned. On a subscription of $300,000 the cash payment had been only $3000 Brisbane, with his talent, was still able to describe the situation as hopeful. But a short time afterwards the starving Irish mutinied and beat the plausible Brisbane with stones and cudgels. Brisbane fled for his life, and that is the end of the Ocmulgee and Flint River Railroad story."
The following from John Ben Pate :
   "Brisbane having secured aid from the Catholic Church promised to name every station for some Catholic, and to establish Catholic colonies along this railroad.
   "Mr. Joseph S. Davis of Albany, whose father was a member of the Albany bar at the time, told him that it seemed that the financial arrangements were never completed, and as they were grading east of Isabella the laborers rebelled and tried to mob the officers of the road, who barricaded themselves in an old shanty and bravely held the mob at bay until Rev. Jonathan Davis of Albany quickly raised and led a company to the rescue.
  "Mr. D. H. Davis of Ashburn, remembers hearing his grand-parents tell of the rescue of Brisbane and his party from the Irish mob. 'I have heard that on each pay day, they would leave their money with Mr. Brisbane for safe keeping, and you can imagine their feelings when they learned that their money was all gone.' Mr. Samuel Young of Wilcox County, Mr. Nas Henderson of Irwin County and Mr. Samuel Story, the grand-father of Mr. D. H. Davis and a resident of Worth County, managed to get Mr. Brisbane away from the mob and he was hidden for several months in Mr. Sam Story's home.
  "Mrs. Brisbane was a very stout Irish lady and would drink lots of water. As the old settlers used gourds she would very frequently call for a calabash of water.
  "Dr. F. W. Schnauss, writing in the Valdosta Times, says that he interviewed one of Mr. Brisbane's Irish laborers, by name of McCartney, who lived near Turner's Ferry, adjoining
  
the lands of preacher Thomas Young, and procured from him information to this effect: That Mr. Brisbane went before an Irish society in Charleston, S. C., and unfolded his plan of making this a great Roman Catholic settlement. The society gave him five hundred dollars to get grants for one hundred lots, each to be granted in the name of some particular Irish Catholic.
  "Brisbane procured the money and went to Milledgeville. but the Secretary of State, McCartney said, was an honest man and wouldn't grant the land to Brisbane in his own name, but after seeing the governor of the state, who at that time was Governor C. J. McDonald. and as the financial condition of Georgia was not very good, Mr. Brisbane finally got the land granted in his own name and went to the Catholic Bishop at Charleston, S. C., and unfolded his plans of a Roman Catholic settlement, and mortgaged one hundred lots of land for ten thousand dollars. He then came back and paid the laborers off who readily had rather have the money than the land.
  "Many years afterwards a Catholic Bishop from Charleston, S. C., came down and sold thirty of these lots of land to Mr. H. H. Tift for ten thousand dollars. It seems the Catholic Church came into possession of nearly all of the Brisbane land. Mr. A. J. Wilson, of Rebecca, Ga., heard Mr. Smith Turner, who for a number of years before had been sheriff of Irwin County, say that the east end of the old Brisbane rail-road was graded by a rich slave owner near Savannah. Ga., who used as laborers his negro women and children, and the people who lived along the proposed line, to help the cause along, would sell them provisions for which they were never paid."
  Many of these Irish laborers settled in Wilcox, Coffee, Worth, and Irwin, and many of them petitioned the courts to become naturalized citizens of the United States.
  The Hugh McCartney referred to above came to the United States in 1838 and petitioned the Irwin County Court, in 1842, for naturalization papers. He was the father of Henry Hugh McCartney, a substantial farmer and dairyman who lived a few miles west of Sylvester.
  Mr. McCartney, Sr., was married twice, and Mr. Henry Hugh McCartney, Jr. is the son of the second marriage. His mother was Nancy Minis, born in 1856 and died in June, 1927.
  
Hugh McCartney, Sr. was born in Ireland in 1810, died in 1896. He helped survey the streets of Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. McCartney, Sr. gave the following to the Valdosta Times as the reason for the uprising of the Irishmen:
  "Brisbane went to Ireland and secured Irishmen to build this road. The work was begun at Albany. After considerable grading had been done Brisbane's funds ran low, and he began using scrip to pay the laborers so they might buy provisions from the few farmers scattered along the way. Soon the scrip was found to be no good, and the farmers refused to accept it as pay. These starving Irishmen revolted at such treatment from Brisbane."
 The following are the names of some of the Irishmen who petitioned the Irwin County Court and were made naturalized citizens of the United States in 1841-42:
 
Patrick Gaugh Patrick McDonald Francis Cannon Thomas Mathews Patrick Mathews Timothy Ward Thomas Ward

Michael Moore James Moore Michael King James Golden John Thomas James Brady E. Courtoy

 It is said that a great many of the deeds to lots of land in this and adjoining counties go back to the Brisbane grant.
ATLANTIC COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY
 The records of Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company show that in December, 1835, the Georgia Legislature chartered the Brunswick and Florida Railroad Company. Between 1855 and 1860 this company constructed the line of railroad from Bruns-wick to Waresboro, Georgia.
 In December 1861, by Act of the Georgia Legislature, the name was changed to Brunswick and Albany Railroad Company. In 1869 and 1870 this Company reconstructed the line from Brunswick to Waresboro which had been dismantled by the Confederate Government in 1863, reopened the line the latter part of 1870, and extended it from Waresboro to Bruns-wick by 1871. In Oct. 1871, John Screven was appointed Receiver of the company in foreclosure suit. The property was
 
sold under foreclosure sale in 1874 and operated by a trustee for the bondholders until February, 1879, at which time the company was reorganized under the general laws of Georgia, under certificate issued by the Secretary of State. February 22, 1879, and the property was turned over to the new company with same name as the old company, "Brunswick and Albany Railroad Company."
   In December 1892, by resolution of the stockholders, the name was changed to Brunswick and Western Railroad Company.
   By agreement dated May 10, 1901, this company was absorbed into the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad Company, and April, 1902, the property of the Savannah. Florida and Western Railway Company was absorbed into the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, which now owns and operates the lines.
   The above information was secured through the courtesy of J. C. Kirkland, agent for the A. C. L. at Sylvester.
THE GEORGIA NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY
   The Georgia Northern Railway is a short line railroad sixty-eight miles in length operating between Albany, Georgia, and Boston, Georgia. Affiliated with this company is also the Georgia, Ashburn, Sylvester & Camilla Railway Company, which is owned largely by the shippers located in the three principal towns it traverses; namely, Ashburn, Sylvester. and Camilla, and the Flint River & Northeastern Rail-road Company, which is owned by the Hand interests at Pelham, and the Ashburn interests at Moultrie, and various others.
   The Georgia Northern Railway Company was chartered in 1893, having been purchased at a receiver's sale that year. This road originally started from Pidcock, Ga., a town located in Brooks County, and was named for the late James Nelson Pidcock, of Whitehouse Station, N. J., and ran a distance of fourteen miles to Pavo, Ga., it not being at that time a chartered railroad, but the tram road of the old Quitman Lumber Company. It was about this period that Mr. C. W. Pidcock, now president of the Georgia Northern Railway Company, began his services with the road. This tram was later operated
  
under a charter, which had previously been secured, as the Boston and Albany Railroad of Georgia, this company going into receivership early in the year 1893.
   By February, 1894, the Georgia Northern Railway Company was extended to Moultrie, Ga. The next building pro-gram took place in 1896, at which time the road was extended four miles further to Oris, in Colquitt County. Then again in 1898 it was extended to I)oerun, Ga. In 1899 the road was ex-tended from Doerun to old Carlyle in Worth County, this point being about a mile south of the present location of Bridgeboro.
   In the fall of 1901 the road was extended through Worth County into Dougherty County and reached Darrow Junction on the Atlantic Coast Line about two miles south of Albany in the summer of 1902. The road began operating trains into and out of Albany in October, 1902.
   In 1905 this company built its own tracks into Albany and changed its line south of Oaklawn, Ga., from Pidcock to Boston, the trackage between Oaklawn and Pidcock being abandoned at this time.

G. A. S. C. R. R.
WORTH COUNTY'S HOME-BUILT AND HOME
OWNED RAILROAD
   In 1905 the late Hon. C. A. Alford conceived the idea of building and connecting up short line railroads into a through line to operate trains in connection with the Southern Rail-way from 'Washington, D. C. to the Gulf, through Augusta, Ga., Hawkinsville, Sylvester, and Bainbridge.
   Arrangements were made whereby J. S. Betts & Co. would build from Ashburn to Sylvester, and C. A. Alford would build from Sylvester to Bridgeboro, which plans were consummated in 1906.
   March 1st, 1906, operations were begun under the name of the Flint River & Gulf Railway Company.
   Early in 1907, with the co-operation of the citizens of Camilla and a few in Sylvester, an interest was purchased, a new charter secured under the name of "Gulf Line Railway Company," a lease was secured on the Hawkinsville & Florida Southern Railway extending from Hawkinsville to the town
  
94	HISTORY OF WORTH COUNTY, GEORGIA

of Worth, on the G. S. & F., trackage was secured over the G. S. & F. Ry. between Worth and Ashburn, and on May 1st, 1907, through train service was inaugurated from Hawkinsville to Bridgeboro, with C. A. Alford as president, and J. H. Hillhouse as traffic manager and treasurer, with general offices at Sylvester.
  The untimely death of C. A. Alford in September, 1908, caused the plans for a trunk line railway to the gulf to he abandoned.
After the death of his father, G. F. Alford was elected Ares
, ident, and soon thereafter, on account of the falling off of traffic, mostly forest products, the management decided to sell the road, and a sale was negotiated with the banking firm of Kissell Kennicutt & Co., of New York, for cash. This firm operated the road under the name of the Hawkinsville & Florida Southern Railway Company from 1909 to 1912, when they sold to the Southern Railway which continued its operation in the same name.
  In 1921, application was made to the Interstate Commerce Commission for permission to junk and abandon the line on account of continued losses from operating. Permission was granted, and it was advertised by a receiver for sale. The portion between Worth and Hawkinsville was sold and junked, but a movement was started to save the line from Ashburn to Camilla. Committees were appointed to canvass the cities of Ashburn, Sylvester, and Camilla, and subscriptions were se-cured to cover half the sale price fixed by the courts, and the Pidcocks of Moultrie, and others, agreed to raise the other half, with the understanding that the road was to be operated by and under the management of the Pidcocks from Moultrie.
  A new charter was obtained in the name of "Georgia. Ash-burn, Sylvester & Camilla" in 1924, with directors in Ashburn, Sylvester, Camilla, and Moultrie, with the general offices in Moultrie, Ga., and the present stock is owned jointly by business men and property owners along the line and the Pidcocks of Moultrie. The road's operation under the management of the Pidcocks has been highly successful, and it has been paying handsome dividends to its stockholders every year.
  
CHAPTER XI
EDUCATION

WORTH COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS SECOND TO
NONE IN THE STATE
   Worth County schools of the pioneer clays were log-cabin school houses, many with white sand floors and big fire-places squatting in the pine forest, equipped with rude seats, and occupied by a few children, the teacher working under many difficulties, with short terms, no equipment, but having the undivided support of his patrons. Yea, more ! for he was revered and looked up to by the whole community. He managed to instill into the pupils not only the three R's, but ambition, integrity, and the principles that have made Worth County great.
   The trend to modern schools has been gradual. One by one the communities built better and more comfortable houses, better trained teachers were employed, and longer terms se-cured.
   In the last decade several large consolidated school houses of brick have been built, and the county is taking the lead in the educational awakening of the age.
   This county has the most capable, most conservative, and most considerate men on her county Board of Education, who are constantly striving to give a square deal to each school, and who have endeavored to plant schools on a solid foundation. The members of the Board this year, 1934. are Charles Strangward, of Sylvester, chairman ; W. \V. Tyson of Doles; I. J. Hancock of Minton; C. A. Thompson of Sumner; and G. M. Green of Red Rock, with M. C. Owen, county superintendent. The present Superintendent taught in the County for several years as Superintendent of the Sumner School. He knows all the problems of teaching and is ever ready, and knows how to guide, aid, and supervise his teachers.
   The trustees of the various schools in the county have always done their best to secure the most competent teachers in their
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MAP OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS

respective schools and cooperate with the County Board and Superintendent in every way.
   The pupils of our white schools are, with few exceptions, the purest Anglo-Saxon blood. They are apt in learning, and possess a splendid school spirit. Many of these have risen high in the educational world.
   Contests are held in Agricultural Classes and many prizes have been won by Worth County boys. We have had the Master Vocational Agriculture teacher of the South, George I. Martin, as teacher of Agriculture in our Sylvester High School, and he does much work in the county along this line with adults. A more extensive write-up of his work may be seen elsewhere in this volume.
   Home Economics is taught in all the Consolidated schools. Contests are held in the county, and our Home Economic classes rank second to none in the state. The county term is six months, but many of the schools add one, two, and three months.
   The total number of white school children in the county is 3237. Total number of teachers is 106. Total number of schools is given below with number of teachers to each school.

REYNOLDS SCHOOL


98	HISTORY OF WORTH COUNTY, GEORGIA
No.
on Roll

CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS


School	Teachers
No.
on Roll
School	Teachers

Sylvester 	
24
553
Evergreen 	
2
66
Sumner 	
11
374
Tempt' 	
2
45
Warwick 	
8
214
Coleman 	
3
93
Poulan 	
6
201
Paulk's Chapel 2
53
Red Rock 	
4
129
Bowen 	2
68
Briclgeboro ____
9
318
Davis 	
1
30
Vickers 	
4
143
Denby 	
2
75
New Prospect 4
118
Parkersville	_-
1
28
Minton 	5
119
Perry 	
--71

South Minton 2
48
Pine Hill 	
3
83
Gregory 	2
51
Powelltown --
1
16
Doles 	3
Oakfield 	2
91
46
Willis 	
2
59


Wright's

Gordy- 	3
92
Chapel 	2
53
NEGRO SCHOOLS
   The Negro Schools of our county are among the best in the state. The patrons appreciate the opportunity of an education for their children. A special feature stressed in the negro schools is industrial work. Many teachers have had normal training and graduates of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial College have been employed to teach in the county. In the employment of teachers the point of securing those that have had industrial training is kept in view.
   In the years 1911 and 1912, through the generosity of Dr. James H. Dillard, President of the Negro Rural School Fund, New Orleans, a teacher was employed to travel over the county from school to school, giving lessons in sewing, cooking, needle work, basketry, wood work, and various other handiwork. This did lasting good to our colored citizens.
   The number of colored schools is 40. The number of teachers is 48. The number of colored children in school in the year 1932 was 2364.
  
McPHAUL INSTITUTE, SYLVESTER'S HIGH SCHOOL
  The first school that Sylvester had was a little one-teacher school. The building was on the lot where the home of Dr. T. C. Jefford now stands. It was very similar to the schools throughout the county at that time. Then a larger house with several rooms was built and several teachers were employed. This building was located where Miss Alice Tipton's home now stands. In 1903 McPhaul Institute opened its doors to the youth of Sylvester. The land, four acres, on which the new school building was placed, was given by Mrs. T. C. Jeffords as a memorial to her first husband, William H. Mc-Phaul. In recognition of this generosity the school was named McPhaul Institute. In 1932 Mrs. T. C. Jefford gave eight acres of land northeast of the present building for a basket ball shell and for a new High School Building when the district sees a fit time for its erection.
  The school boards worked for an increased efficiency of the school from the very first. Through their efforts and that of the teachers, pupils and parents, the school has become one of the outstanding schools in the State. It started with ten grades, superintendent, and six teachers.
  The faculty for the first year it operated as McPhaul Institute is as follows:
  Byron R. Collins, Supt., teacher of ninth and tenth grades. Miss Lucy Mell Overby (Mrs. W. L. H. Alford) seventh and eighth grades.
Miss Alice Tipton, fifth and sixth grades.
Miss Mary Mangham, third and fourth grades.
  Miss Bennie Watkins (Mrs. Clyde Wall) first and second grades.
Miss Lois Allen, Music.
Miss --	Jones, Expression.
  Today it is an accredited school on the A-1 list with twenty-three teachers. It became accredited in 1916 and has remained on that list since that time. Its graduates may enter the colleges and universities without examinations.
  In the school year of 1920-21 vocational work was introduced into the school. Home Economics and Agriculture have formed a regular part of the curriculum since then. Our Home Economics department has won many trophies in the
793924 A


MRS. MAMIE (McPHAUL) JEFFORD AND McPHAUL INSTITUTE

 District High School meets. Our Agricultural department is especially outstanding, first because of the teacher we have at the head, Prof. George I. Martin, he having won the distinction of being the Master Vocational Agriculture teacher of the South.
  This school has extension courses in Agriculture that reach the farmers in the county through night classes. McPhaul has been used as a training center in Vocational Agriculture for the graduating students of the State Agriculture College since 1929. Two students are sent here each year for three months to get their practice teaching before graduating. McPhaul Institute is the only school south of Macon with this rating in Vocational Agriculture.
  In the fall term of 1933, a commercial course in Bookkeeping- and stenographic work with splendid equipment and an expert teacher has been added. The music department has varied courses, public school music, piano, violin, wind instruments and orchestra.
  The student body is composed of most capable boys and girls and a fact worth mentioning is that only a very few students who have taken a collegiate education have failed to be splendidly prepared for the work, showing the ability of the student and the splendid work of the teachers. These facts taken from a census furnished by the heads of colleges.
  McPhaul Institute is noted for employing home teachers, and those that live elsewhere, when employed here finally come to make Sylvester their home. It is also noted for the long service of its teachers, some having served more than twenty years. Among those are Mrs. R. A. Holmes, who resigned in 1933, Miss Elizabeth Norwood, who resigned in 1927, Miss Mary Mangham, Miss Alice Tipton, Mrs. Clifford Grubbs.
  It has been fortunate in having school board members who served the community for a long term of years. Some of those who served in this capacity for a term of at least ten years are W. R. Johnston, A. H. Pinson, J. H. Westberry, J. S. West-berry, and R. L. Deariso. The last named has served continuously as secretary and treasurer since 1907.
  McPhaul numbers among those who have passed through her graduating classes, scores of sons and daughters in all walks of life, who have brought honor to their High School Alma Mater. Many of these, too numerous to mention by name,
  
have become educators. Among these are Wylie Hollingsworth, Ph.D.; Riley Hollingsworth, Ph.D.; Sam Tipton, Ph.D.; Fulton Sikes, Ph.D.; Brooks Ford, LL.D.. State Senator; Ralph Flanders, a writer of note; Lester Hardwick, who held the chair of English in Tulane University, now a writer; Rev. Guy Hicks, Louie D. Newton, D.D. ; Walsey Hamby, M.D.; J. L. Tracy, 1\1.1).; Frank Hillhouse, Lieutenant in the Navy; Merwin Shiver put Sylvester on the map in athletics at the University of Georgia; Kay Tipton, A.B. and LL.B., Manager of office of Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, Springfield, Mo.; Bob Heinshon, head office, New York Life Insurance; Miss Evelyn Deariso, A.B. Degree of Library Science; James Tipton, teacher of Math. in Tech High; Miss Elizabeth Foy, M.A., Science teacher in the Government School in Panama Canal Zone; Miss Janie Gulley, head of Welfare Dept. in St. Augustine, Fla. Many of the teachers of McPhaul belong to its alumni.
The faculty of McPhaul for 1933-34 is given below:
Eugene Attaway, B.S.A., Ph.B	Superintendent
George I. Martin, B.S.A. 	Principal
Milledge White, B.S.A. 	Science and Coach
Miss Lizzie T. Deariso, B.S. in Ed_	History H.S. Sr.
Miss Josiebel C. Johnson, A.B. 	Latin
Miss Winnie Overstreet, B.S. 	Mathematics and French
Miss Nellie Pye, B.S. in Ed	English H.S. Sr.
Miss Dorothy Randolph, B.S. 	Home Economics
Miss Nancy Frazer, B.S.C. 	Commercial
Miss Annie Mae Melton, Diploma Music 	Piano
Miss Evelyn Strangward 	Public School Music
Mr. H. M. Percilla, B.S.M. 	Violin and Wind Instruments
Mrs. Earl Park, A.B. 	Expression
Mrs. Clifford Grubbs, Life Professional
Normal 	Geography and History, Jr. H.
Mrs. E. J. Williams, Normal 	English and Math., Jr. H.
Miss Marjorie Combs, Collegiate
Normal 	Reading and Geography, Jr. H.
Mrs. Lucy Mell Alford, Normal 	overflow of sixth in Jr. H.
Miss Alice Tipton, Professional Normal 	Fifth grade
Mrs. Mary Hillhouse, Normal 	Fourth grade
Miss Mary Mangham, Life Prof. Normal, Normal Diploma,
L.I. Degree 	Third grade

HISTORY OF WORTH COUNTY, GEORGIA	103

Miss Adelaide Deariso, Collegiate Normal -...	Second grade
Mrs. M. P. Majors, Normal 	First A class
Miss Marv Catherine Burts, Professional
Normal 	First B class
Mrs. J. L. Johnston, A.B. 	Supply Teacher

JUDGE PARK'S OLD FIELD SCHOOL
  In 1916 Dr. P. P. Claxton, Commissioner of the Bureau of Education, put on foot an investigation of methods used in any part of the United States and in foreign countries for teaching illiterate adult men and women to read and write. This committee, in making its report to Congress, reported that Worth County, Georgia, and Rowen County, Kentucky, had already been doing work of this kind, and that it had passed beyond the experimental stage and was a great success. The one in Rowen County, Ky., was a moonlight school which had done much creditable work, but Worth County's school was the first of its kind in America, and it had been successfully running for ten years. It was known as Park's Old Field School, and was first organized, taught, and financed by Judge Frank Park, himself, who was at that time Congressman from this district.
  Copying from reports made to Congress, printed in bulletin form under title of "Park's Old Field School," is given the following from Hon. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior:
  "The Old Field School of Worth County, its founder Frank Park, a member of Congress from Georgia, was begun in 1906, when he was judge of the superior court of the Albany Judicial Circuit. It has a picturesque history. It is in reality a homeless school, where Webster's blue back speller is the principal text book and where sex and age lose their perspective as they fuse into the desire and thirst for knowledge. Higher education there is an unknown quantity, because where an individual of 67 is busy mastering the intricacies of A. B. C.-side by side with a child of 10 years, higher education loses its importance in favor of elemental education. The school term begins as soon as crops are laid by and ends when the students must return to harvest them."
  "Out of his salary Judge Park paid expenses, bought books, paid teachers, although the first year he taught the school himself.
  
  "The school in Worth County shows that it is possible to bring help to illiterate men and women even in the most difficult and adverse circumstances. This school shows that the school can succeed whether the pupils be few or whether they run into hundreds. It shows that the spirit of seeking knowledge is paramount regardless of age and sex."
   The best report of the school in this bulletin was by Miss Edna Cain, who visited the school and made the report to the Georgia Educational Association. This report was printed in the Macon Telegraph and given to Congress by Hon. Dudley M. Hughes, of Georgia.
Below is given excerpts from her report made in 1916:
   "Judge Frank Park seems to be the only man in Georgia who has hit upon the simple plan of establishing a school and paying for it himself, while waiting for the state to organize its educational forces, so that no man need be unlettered and no child turned away from the door of opportunity because it lacks trained and alert faculties.
   "This Old Field School was primarily meant for adults who had never had the opportunity of going to school, but it be-came an opportunity school for those young men who had to work during the regular term of public schools and the children above 12 years of age who would like to acid another month to the short county term. It often reached the hundred mark, and sometimes as many as three teachers were employed. The pupils of regular school age were taught in separate rooms or classes from the older ones. This school continued until the World War came on. Then Judge Park hired one of the county teachers to give all her time to hunting up illiterates or those who had little opportunity and were adults, and secured the services of the teachers in the respective communities to teach night schools. Some work of this kind has been done in the county ever since. George I. Martin, principal of the high schooly in Sylvester, who also has charge of the vocational work, has a night school about two nights each week composed of farmers who study agriculture and do some work along school lines."
   Report of Miss Edna Cain to the Georgia Educational Association.
How the School Began
Frank Park was Judge of the City Court of Worth County

when the idea of establishing this school first occurred to him. Before him came all sorts of people, many of them in trouble of some kind. He knew practically everybody in Worth County by name ; he knew their family histories and the handicaps many of them worked under on out-of-the-way farms. He looked back of the evidence of legal cases to the causes and beginnings, and dealt with the people, not in the law's cold formulas altogether, but in terms of human understanding. In many of the adults who came before him he saw not stupid or vicious men, but rather a generation which had grown up just after the War Between the States and in those poverty-stricken and troubled times in the South which had not had opportunities for education.
   He got into the habit of asking them if they could read and write, and in the cases of those who had apparently had little opportunity, penalties imposed were made as light as possible. A youth convicted in his court of some minor offense was asked the usual question, and when he said he could not read, Judge Park said : "I will suspend sentence against you if you will come to my house and let me teach you." The boy presented himself that evening, and there began his complete reclamation. Out of this sort of thing the school just developed logically.
   Judge Park saw the great need of it, and when the idea had ripened in his consciousness he announced one day that he would conduct a free school for one month at the Worth County courthouse for everybody who wanted to come to it, just as if gathering in the country-side for tutelage was nothing unusual in the routine of a busy professional man. Over 50 pupils presented themselves on opening day. Among them was a Confederate Veteran who learned to read and write at the age of 61. Mothers and fathers, and even grandparents, came to the school, and at this first term, 21 persons learned to read and write.
   It was evident from the beginning that the school was popular with the people and was doing a real definite good. Judge Park taught the school himself at the courthouse for several summers, and later, after he was elected to Congress, when his increasing duties made it impossible for him to give the time to it, he employed some of the best of the county teach-
  
ers, paying their salaries and buying the supplies for the school out of his own purse.
  In response to a popular demand, the school was moved from the courthouse out to the country districts. Each year after the crops are laid by it is conducted for one month at one of the school houses, preferably in a remote community, where the school has not flourished as it should. It has been found that the school stimulates community pride and the regular school begins to improve and is better attended after a session of the "Old Field School," due to increased interest of the older members of the community in education.
The Blue Back Speller Used
  I spent one clay at the "Old Field School" during the last session, and I recommend a similar visit by anyone who may have an idea that a school of this kind is a (lull. behind-thedoor, sort of place of which the community is not exactly proud. It was one of the happiest schools I ever saw. The day was hot and the ride long and dusty, and the school house was a little gray building with pine woods and fields around it over which the heat waves shimmered.
  Judge Frank Park was hearing the morning spelling lesson when I arrived ; it was not a written lesson, if you please, according to modern pedagogy ; it was the kind of spelling lesson that goes with the "old oaken bucket that hung in the well" days, when we all stood around the room in a long line and the teacher gave out the words.
  You have guessed by this time that Judge Park was using Webster's blue-back speller for that class. It was a large class standing up all around the room, all sizes and ages of boys and girls and grown folks. At this term of the school 167 pupils were enrolled and the services of three of the county teachers were engaged. With the teachers setting the example, the uniform adopted for the school was blue overalls and gingham dresses. The school room would not hold the students and out in front a brush arbor had been built to accommodate the overflow.
Practical Education Here
  All the lessons in mental arithmetic dealt with the practical every-day problems of farm work, the marketing of pro-duce, estimating the amount of timber in a tree or the cost
  
of cutting a drainage ditch. Government bulletins selected by Judge Park with a view to the needs of his pupils were among the text books and the people became acquainted with the practical value of these bulletins and learned how to secure others they may need. One day in each week at the "Old Field School" is devoted entirely to farm-demonstration work, and one or more of the field agents in the employ of the Government come to give lectures on tick eradication, seed selection, and similar subjects in their propaganda of scientific farming.
SUMNER SCHOOL-ITS EARLY HISTORY
  Among the most distinguished early educators of Worth County was Prof. John Brantley. He came to Worth County from Hawkinsville, and first taught at Ty Ty, about 1880, later becoming Superintendent of the Sumner School. So out-standing was his work at this place that the school attracted students from different sections of South Georgia, and it be-came necessary to erect a more adequate building. In 1882 a large two story building was completed, which contained a large auditorium, class rooms, music department, and an apartment for the superintendent's family. The upper story was divided into rooms and used to accommodate the boarding students attending the school, and who lived in the school building under the supervision of the superintendent and his family.
  The largest contributors to the building of the Sumner School were A. J. and C. A. Alford, who were residents of Sumner and extensive sawmill and turpentine operators.
  Many of Mr. Brantley's students living in the county at this time (1933) bear testimony to the efficiency and thoroughness of the educational work done by this masterful teacher, among them being Mrs. F. B. Pickett, of Ty Ty ; Mrs. W. R. Johnston, of Sylvester; Miss Alice Tipton, of Sylvester, and her brothers, J. H. and J. L. Tipton. The course of study planned and followed under his instruction was equal to an academic course. The thorough instruction given by him and the high principles instilled in his pupils continue to be of lasting benefit to them.
Other superintendents of the Sumner School in the early

days were Professors Witherspoon, H. A. Smilie, A. B. Greene, L. D. Passmore, J. W. Edinonson, Charles E. Grubbs, Clifford Grubbs, Walter Sumner.
  The large wooden structure was burned about 1895, and was replaced with another commodious structure. At the present time (1934) it has a modern brick school building, well equipped in every way, and is one of the best accredited High Schools in South Georgia. Bonds were floated for $27,-000 to build this splendid school. It is on a six-acre lot and two building lots across the street from the school on which a home for teachers was built. $26,250 was used for the school and $750 for the home. It has since built a fine shell. It has a Home Economic and Agriculture department. It has eleven teachers with Superintendent John Etherage, a son of Worth County at the head in this year, 1934.
  
CHAPTER XII
SOME EDUCATORS
WALTER R. SUMNER
  Colonel Walter R. Sumner, County School Superintendent, was born in Worth County April 13th, 1881. He was the son of Marion and Mary Jane Sumner. He graduated in the high school class of 1903 at Norman Park, that being the first high school term at that institution and was the only boy in the class. After teaching one year he entered Mercer University in 1904 and graduated there in 1908. The next year he taught at Waynesboro and the next two years at Sumner.
  He was elected County School Superintendent of Worth County, going into office in 1911, which position he held from that time until his death June 21st, 1931, with the exception of two years.

MALCHUS COBB OWEN
  Malchus Cobb Owen was born Feb. 22, 1891, in Canton, Cherokee County, Georgia, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Owen.
  His early life was spent on the Cherokee County farm. In 1905 he moved to Sycamore, Turner County, Ga., where he finished the common schools of that County, later attending the A. & M. School at Tifton, Ga., where his high school education was completed in 1914. Upon graduation, he was elected Farm Superintendent of that school for two years. After completing one year at the University of Georgia, he entered the United States Army Dec. 23, 1917, as a private. In July, 1918, he was commissioned Second Lieutenant and served over-seas twelve months. He was honorably discharged at Camp Gordon, Ga., August 15, 1919.
  He was married to Jessie Irene Hardy, of Sycamore, Ga., August 3, 1921. They have two children, one girl, Miriam Owen, born Sept. 17, 1923, and one boy, Gerald Hardy Owen, born June 26, 1932.
  
  He was teacher and athletic coach at A. & M. School, Tifton, Ga., from September, 1919, until June, 1925. In 1926 he received his B.S.A. degree from the University of Georgia, and served as Superintendent of Summer School, Worth County, Ga., from September, 1926, until July 14, 1931, at which time he was appointed Worth County Superintendent to fill the unexpired term of Hon. W. R. Sumner, deceased. On March 8, 1932, he was nominated for another term as Worth County School Superintendent.
   He has been a member of the Baptist churches at Tifton, Sumner, and Sylvester, for ten years.
J. O. MANGHAM
   When we begin to think of the early educators of our county, our minds revert to one whom a good many of our best citizens remember not only as their instructor, but as their benefactor.
   We refer to J. O. Mangham. Although Mr. Mangham was not born in this county, I doubt if we have ever had a teacher among us who was more generally loved and honored than was he.
   Among our own county people who still love and revere his memory, you will find Dr. W. C. Tipton, Mr. John Tipton, Col. R. S. Foy, Col. W. C. Forehand, Dr. Gordon Sumner, of Poulan, Miss Alice Tipton, Mrs. J. N. Sumner, and many others.
   Mr. Mangham was not only one of the best teachers of his day, but he was of the highest order of Christian gentleman, and all of those who were ever under his supervision, feel that they are better men and women by having come under the influence of his Christian character.
   Mr. Mangham, the only son of H. H. and Elizabeth Mangham, was born July 31, 1838, in what is now Taylor County, but at that time Talbot County. On the 10th of November, 1859, he was married to Miss Winifred Edwards, daughter of W. P. and Ann Edwards, also of Talbot County. He entered the teaching profession in the early years of his man-hood, and in 1876 or '78 he was elected County School Commissioner, as it was then called, of Taylor County, which position he held until 1896. During the time that he was County
  
School Commissioner of Taylor County he also taught, and now, among some of the leading teachers of that county, will be found his old pupils.
  In 1897 he came to Worth County and for several years was among the foremost teachers of Southwest Georgia. During that time he conducted
several Institutes of a week's duration in this and adjoining counties.
  In 1906 Mr. W. B. Merritt, who was at that time State School Superintendent, made a trip to Sycamore, where Mr. Mangham was then living, to ask if he would accept the position of County School Commissioner of Cam-den County as the Commissioner of that County had resigned, and the County School Board felt that they did not have a man in the county, who, they considered, was competent to fill the place. Mr. Mangham said he would accept the place if the Board should see fit to
appoint him, which it did, and we believe that he is the only man in the state who was ever appointed to such a position without ever having been in the county, much less ever having lived in it.
  On May 1st, 1911, while enroute from St. Marys, Camden County, to Valdosta to attend a convention of the County School Commissioners of Georgia, he died at the home of his youngest son, J. O. Mangham, Jr., who then lived in Jacksonville, Fla.
  Mr. Mangham left five children : three sons, Dr. J. E. Mangham, of Reynolds, Ga., who died in 1927; C. A. Mangham of Jacksonville ; J. O. Mangham of Tampa, and two daughters, Miss Claude Mangham, and Mrs. E. J. Williams, both of whom live in Sylvester. Mrs. Williams has been a teacher of English
  
and Arithmetic in McPhaul Institute for the past ten or eleven years.

MRS. LIZZIE MANGHAM WILLIAMS
  The mantle of the great old educator, Prof. J. O. Mangham, fell upon the shoulders of his third daughter, Mrs. Lizzie (Mangham) Williams. She is a teacher that all children like, she exacts much, but her pupils respond with pleasurable activities. She has a personality that radiates happiness and optimism. Her friendship is prized by all who come within the corn-pass of her genial influence.
  She was born in Taylor County, Georgia. She was reared in Butler and Reynolds. She received her elementary and high school education under the tutelage of her father at Reynolds. Her higher education was received at Athens and other summer schools. She began her teaching career at an early age in the town of Poulan.
  In 1906 her father was made County School Superintendent of Camden County, Georgia. She moved with her father to St. Mary's and was elected to teach in St. Mary's High School in that year.
  Soon after this Elzie J. Williams, of Worth, an old pupil of J. O. Mangham's, was given a school in Camden County. It was while teaching in this county in 1908, that he married Miss Lizzie Mangham.
  This couple lived all their married lives in St. Mary's. To this union was born four children, Mary Winnifred (Mrs. Carl Glass), Jack, Ed. and Mangham.
  Mrs. Williams was teaching in St. Mary's when her husband died on June 20, 1920.
  In 1921 she, with her children and sister, Miss Claude Mangham, who has been a mother to her, as her mother died when she was quite young, moved to Sylvester, where she has been engaged in teaching English and Arithmetic through Junior High School in McPhaul Institute ever since.

MISS ANNIE MAE MELTON
  Miss Annie Mae Melton, teacher of piano in McPhaul Institute, has high standards of achievement which her pupils must reach, and a well systematized course of study in music
  
that she requires in her classes. She has many extra courses other than piano that she gives, that are very educational. Her Rhythm Band of grammar school children is a marvel of training in rhythm. They have broadcasted programs over radio and received many messages of praise for same. She has a Mozart Music Club for the study of the history of music taken from the grammar school pupils in music.
   Miss Melton was born in Dawson, Georgia. Her parents are Roger Lawson Melton and wife Augusta Ann (Hearn) Mel-ton. Received her college education at the Southern Female College, La Grange Georgia. She has done summer work in the study of music, in Brenau, Gainesville, Georgia, New York Conservatory, also work with Miss Kinskella of the University of Nebraska. She has been teacher of music in McPhaul at two different times first in 1915-1918. Returning in 1927 to date 1934.

EUGENE ATTAWAY, SUPERINTENDENT
   Eugene Attaway was born March 22, 1895, at Wrightsville, Ga., and grew up on a farm. He attended a one-teacher school; later a two-teacher school, and graduated at Wrightsville High School in 1913. In 1916, he graduated from Emory University and taught two years in Manchester and Molena. In May, 1918, he enlisted in the United States Navy and was discharged February 13, 1919. In March of the same year, he entered the University of Georgia, graduating in June, 1920, with B.S. Agricultural degree. In 1920-22, he taught Agriculture at Sale City ; taught Mathematics at Albany High School, 1922-'23; Superintendent of Camilla Public Schools, 1923-'26; Superintendent of Schools at Pavo, 1926-'28, and Superintendent of Sylvester School from 1928 to date, 1934.
   He was married to Miss Mortimer Schley, of Columbus, Ga., Dec. 28th, 1924.
   Professor Attaway is a superintendent of unbiased fairness in dealing with the problems of school life. He is a man of progressive ideas in education and has the courage and energy to convert them into facts and makes practical application of the methods of this new era in the welfare of the child. He looks after the physical child and believes that this is largely responsible for its mental welfare. He has skilled oculist to hold eye clinics, has all children examined for hook-
  

WORTH COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION See Legend opposite page

worm and, where needed, treatment is provided. He also has dental and tubercular clinics in his school. He goes out after the unfortunate child and through material aid, often from his own purse, puts these children in school. He believes in wiping out illiteracy in the youth of our land.
   He is quick to discern the right and firm in his judgments. He is impartial and honest in his dealings with student or faculty.
   He is a moving spirit as a Legionaire, Kiwanian, or in any civic or church work.
   Mrs. Eugene Attaway is the daughter of William Kirkley Schley and wife, Annie E. (Jones) Schley, of Columbus, Ga. Her father owned a home and farm where Fort Benning is now. He sold it to the Government when the site was chosen for the fort and moved into Columbus. Mrs. Attaway is descended from Col. Vivian Brooking, of Virginia, who assisted in establishing American Independence while acting in the Revolutionary War. From Colonial days through America's history, Mrs. Attaway's people have given distinguished service. Letters from Col. Brooking to Thomas Jefferson are found in Virginia's State Papers.
   Mrs. Attaway was educated at Columbus, Georgia State College for Women at Milledgeville, and at University of Georgia at Athens, Ga.
   Mrs. Attaway is deeply interested, and is an earnest worker, in her church, is President of the Legion Auxiliary ; is Treasurer of the P.-T.A., and is a member of the Woman's Club. Mr. and Mrs. Attaway are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. They are Democrats in politics.

GEORGE I. MARTIN
Southern Master Teacher of Vocational Agriculture
 George I. Martin, teacher of Vocational Agriculture and Principal of the McPhaul Institute, Sylvester, Georgia, was selected Master Vocational Agricultural teacher of the South, March the 8th, 1932, by the Federal Board of Vocational Education, Washington, D. C.
Legend for cut on opposite page
  Top row left to right: M. C. Owen, County Superintendent; C. H. Strangward, Chairman of Board; G. M. Green. Center C. A. Thompson. Bottom row: W. W. Tison and I. J. Hancock.
  
  There were 1,600 teachers in twelve Southern states participating in the Master Teacher Contest. They were judged upon their accomplishments. Some of the points and items considered were as follows:
   Number of people reached in organized instruction, types of instruction carried on, preparation for methods of instruction, knowledge of community, plan of work based on community needs, physical teaching equipment, farming program of pupils studying vocational agriculture, community group. leadership activities, etc.
   In the scholastic year of 1930-'31 there were 69 boys in Sylvester High School agricultural classes. These participated in contests of corn, cotton, county improvement, Future Farmer public speaking, grain judging, livestock judging, poultry judging, etc. These boys made excellent records,. standing at and near the top in these contests.
   Mr. Martin organized an active Future Farmers of America Chapter, which is a national organization of boys studying vocational agriculture. These boys have savings and productive investments of $1,157.50 made from their farming operations.
   Records show that Mr. Martin reached 174 persons in organized classes during the school year 1930-'31. Of this number 105 were adult farmers enrolled in evening classes in the Red Rock and Minton communities. Here farm problems were discussed and Mr. Martin furnished valuable information for their solution.
   There are 104 farmers in Worth County who were former agriculture students under the supervision of Mr. Martin and are making excellent progress.
   In addition to this work Mr. Martin has sponsored regular car-lot co-operative sales of poultry and hogs at Sylvester. He has introduced pure bred hogs, poultry, cows, and other movements for the benefit of agriculture and the county.
   The exhibits of the records of the work done by Mr. Martin and boys under his instruction show that he wrote more than 800 column inches of newspaper material which was published by local and state papers. These articles dealt with farm and vocational agricultural problems.
   Many demonstrations are being carried on in the county under the direction of Mr. Martin ; winter legumes as soil
  
builders, fertilizer and variety demonstrations, a forestry project of ten acres of land in cooperation with the Georgia Forestry Service. He was instrumental in having a soil survey made of Worth County and also in organizing a pure seed association.
   Besides being selected Master Teacher of the South, Mr. Martin was selected Master Teacher of the State of Georgia during 1930-'31 for which he was awarded $100 by the Chilean Nitrate of Soda Educational Bureau. Mr. Martin has served as President of the State Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association and also the Southwest Georgia District Association.
   Mr. Martin is a deacon in the Sylvester Baptist Church and assistant Superintendent of the Sunday School. He has taken an active part in church affairs and religious activities during his twelve years in Sylvester.
   Mr. Martin was horn in Clark County, near Quitman, in the state of Mississippi, being the son of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Martin. While still a young nian he moved with his parents to a farm in Lauderdale County near Meridian, Mississippi, where he grew up. He was graduated from the Mississippi A. & M. College in 1920 and came directly to Sylvester as teacher of Vocational Agriculture. In April 1922 he was married to Miss Dallas Mae Houston, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. G. Houston, of Sylvester. Mr. and Mrs. Martin are blessed with three children, Mary Sue, 8; George I. Jr., 3, and Dallas Jan, born Jan. 1932.
   In June of 1934, because of the able and successful work of Mr. Martin as teacher of Vocational Agriculture, he was given promotion in his work to Assistant Supervisor of Agricultural Education in Georgia. The territory over which Mr. Martin will work includes the southern part of the state, em-bracing seventy-five counties. In this new work he will super-vise all teachers of Vocational Agriculture named in the above territory.
ALICE DELANEY TIPTON
 Alice Delaney, eldest daughter of Charles G. and Sarah (Ridley) Tipton, was born in Isabella, Georgia, February 12, 1875.
She received her education from the public schools in Isa-

bella, Sumner, and Sylvester, Georgia, completing the equivalent of a high school course at Sylvester in 1897. She spent six years_ teaching in the rural schools of Worth County and in 1903 she began teaching in McPhaul Institute at Sylvester and taught in the various departments for more than twenty-five years, where she is at present teaching the fifth grade.
   Her work has been one of love and her ambition the fulfillment of her ideals in those whom she taught. It has ever been to her a supreme happiness to see the rounding out of the beautiful characters she was so instrumental in moulding. Throughout her teaching career, efficiency has been her supreme effort and she kept herself well equipped by frequently attending the University of Georgia Summer Schools at Athens, Georgia.
   Education, in her eyes, meant mental, moral, and physical development of the child, and she spares no pains to attain these high aims. Her zeal, devotion, and enthusiasm found a ready response in the impressionable minds of the young, with the result that her pupils leave her for the more advanced grades possessed with firm and enduring foundations upon which the higher fabrics of their educations will securely rest.
   Notwithstanding her time being largely engaged with many duties, she was always actively identified with all movements which stand for religious, moral, and civic betterment. Always full of confidence in the victory of good over evil ; buoyant and optimistic in temperament; possessing a quaint. kindly humor. She is a rare companion as well as a kindly guide, counsellor, and friend. From the first, her accomplishments and Christian example established her in the love and respect of the people.
 She is a member of the First Baptist Church of Sylvester and an active worker in the Sylvester Woman's Club, Parent-Teacher Association, and is at present Superintendent of the Intermediate Department of the Sylvester Baptist Sunday School. She is also affiliated with the Order of Eastern Star.