Before it was known as Register, this village in western Bulloch County is said to have been first known as Bengal, in 1855, and at some point, Herschel. I believe Bengal was actually a few miles away, however, as the Bengal post office remained open until 1904, whereas the Herschel post office was only open from 1894-1899. When the Herschel post office closed, it was renamed Register, for its first postmaster, Franklin Pierce Register (1853-1914), who moved to the area in 1894. Originally from White Oak, North Carolina, Register was an entrepreneur. With his nephew, J. L. Johnson, he soon had thriving naval stores and mercantile businesses. Bulloch County was full of virgin pine forests. What wasn’t used for turpentine was cleared for timber, which gave rise to farming and the dominance of agriculture. Saw mills and grist mills boomed. In 1901 a branch of the Central of Georgia Railroad intersected with the local Register & Glennville Railroad, and the town thrived for a time. The Register School opened in 1904 and Register High School in 1917. Before they were built, students took the train to classes in Statesboro.
Joe I don’t remember them ever saying they knew the Lee family but that is not saying they didn’t know them. I was a child and both of them are deceased. Our name was Brannen and my father worked for Coca Cola in Statesboro for years. I am 71 now.
Shirley
Your parents may have known the Lee family from Register as I’m 66. I googled Register and seems it was named after Pierce Register. There was a newspaper article also. It had a fuzzy photo of AJ Lee. May have been my great grandfather.
Thanks for replying.
Joe
I went to a one room schoolhouse here in Register. We had, as I remember, 6 grades in one room. I am only 71 years old. Good old days.
My grandmother was from Register. Her name is Lottie Lee Hussey. Her father was Andrew Jackson Lee and her mother was Mollie Nevil. My grandmother had a brother Raymond and several sisters. At one time my grandmother had a photo of the whole family on a porch of a bid farm house. I wish I had a copy. My grandmother,great grandmother and great grandfather are buried in Lower Lott’s Creek Cemetery. I’m sure several of her sisters are there. I know my great aunt Ila (Ila Bird) is buried there.
Joe I went to Register elementary school around about that time because I am 71 too. That shocked me when I read that. We had all the classes in 1 room. I believe it was the 1st or 2nd grade. WOW! We are going back a few years. Thank you for writing and we were probably in the same school house. Shirley
*Shirley*
On Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 5:32 PM, Vanishing South Georgia Photographs by Brian Brown wrote:
> Joe Ivey commented: “My grandmother was from Register. Her name is Lottie > Lee Hussey. Her father was Andrew Jackson Lee and her mother was Mollie > Nevil. My grandmother had a brother Raymond and several sisters. At one > time my grandmother had a photo of the whole family on a p” >
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