Lax Holiness Church, as it is known today, dates to the mid-1890s, contemporary to the establishment of Lax and the growth of the Holiness Baptist movement. (It is located in Coffee County, about 500 yards from the Irwin County line). The cemetery suggests the congregation is older, however. It was in use as early as the 1840s and saw a slow but steady number of burials in the decades between the 1840s and 1890s. Most of these early burials were connected to the Harper family, and the earliest burial I could identify was Leonard Harper (1788-1845). He and his wife, Susanna Brothers Harper (1792-1870), were pioneers of the area and their nine children were central to its growth. Leonard, a native of Liberty County, married Susanna, from South Carolina, in 1804, and they established their family in McIntosh County before relocating to the area of present-day Lax in the 1820s. Unless the cemetery began as a plantation or family cemetery, it was likely associated with a church, and that church eventually became Lax Holiness.
The Holiness Baptists of Georgia were formed by two congregations who were removed from the Little River Baptist Association in Wilcox County over doctrinal divisions.
Sources are quite varied as to the early history of Mt. Olivet Methodist Church, but I believe it was established circa 1843, per the Liberty County Historical Society, and the present structure built in 1881. A bicentennial history of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, published in 1984, posited that the congregation was established circa 1768-1770 as Pleasant Grove. My understanding is that Pleasant Grove was a satellite congregation of Midway, established in the early 1800s. Because of a plantation association, it catered more to its enslaved congregants, and as a result, its white members eventually established Mt. Olivet.
Stacy Ashmore Cole has done excellent research on the subject of the Pleasant Grove name and concluded: “There are several Pleasant Grove churches within the history of Liberty County…” including the “now-defunct Pleasant Grove Methodist Church that was an offshoot of the Midway Congregational Church. Founded in the early 1800’s, it was attended by both white and black – enslaved and free – members…The white membership of the church later founded the Mt. Olivet Methodist Church in Fleming, Liberty County, which still exists.”
I feel that this is the same Pleasant Grove referred to by Lillie Walthour Gillard in Liberty County: A Pictorial History: “A meeting house was erected on land between the North and South Newport rivers in 1806 and was named Pleasant Grove [possibly on Roswell King’s South Hampton plantation]. According to Dr. Stacy’s history of the Midway church, “Messrs. Bradwell, John Ashmore, Colonel Joseph Law and others held reading services every Sunday for the Negroes in that area. Later the Methodist circuit riders made it a station from which the Negroes benefited.”
This exceptional home was built for Mrs. Beersheba Jones (1790-1850) circa 1826. It is one of the finest of the many architectural gems in Old Clinton. It has long been attributed to Daniel Pratt, though this attribution is now in question. Nonetheless, it is an important landmark of the transition between Federal and Greek Revival architecture.
In her History of Jones County, Georgia, For One Hundred Years, Specifically 1807-1907 (J. W. Burke, Macon, 1957), Caroline White Williams dates the house to 1820, but most modern sources date it to 1826. I’m unsure as to the reason for the discrepancy. Mrs. Jones only lived here a few years before selling the property to John and Mary Pitts. The James Ross family have had the longest association with the house and his descendants have taken excellent care of this important resource.
Old Clinton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Cabaniss-Hanberry House, located in the vicinity of Bradley, is one of the most iconic works of domestic architecture in Georgia. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, who stabilized and restored the exterior in 1999, describes it as “…a vernacular example of Jeffersonian Classicism…and possibly the only remaining house of its form in Georgia...”
The builder of the house, George Cabaniss, Sr., (1744-1815), was the Virginia-born son of Mathieu Etienne Cabanis (1710-1789). His grandfather, Henri Hubert Cabanis (1655-1720), was a French Huguenot who fled to Virginia in the late 1600s.
After service in the Revolutionary War, George married Palatea Harrison (1758-1822), in 1781. In the 1790s, he was one of several Cabaniss siblings who “…began a succession of migrations with parts of their families, first to North Carolina and then to Georgia. Some of the family eventually moved on to Alabama.” He first came to Greene County before eventually settling in Jones County.
He built this house circa 1805, undoubtedly with the labor of enslaved men, and sold it to his son Harrison Cabaniss (1782-1819) in 1811, after building another home near present-day Round Oak. After Harrison’s death, his widow, Sarah “Sally” Kirk Cabaniss (1798-1848) remained on the property until her death. She left 1215 acres and 29 slaves to her grandchildren. The house was occupied by descendants of its builder until the late 1950s or early 1960s.
Some notable descendants of George Cabaniss, Sr., include Dr. Palacia “Pallie” Wilson Stewart (1805-1866), one of the first licensed women physicians in Georgia, and Henry Harrison Cabaniss (1848-1934), an early owner of the Atlanta Journal and vice-president of the Cotton States and International Exposition.
Like all of South Georgia, Long County saw what was likely record snowfall from Winter Storm Enzo. Amazingly, similar snowfall occurred in the area in 2018. Some random landmarks from throughout the week are shared below, most of which are in Ludowici. I’ll also be sharing some nature-based images from Griffin Ridge.
Liberty County received historic snowfall on Tuesday night as a result of Winter Storm Enzo, a weather system that brought blizzard conditions to the Gulf Coast and lower Southeast. I’m sharing a few random landmarks from my local rambles of the past week. My only regret is that I couldn’t photograph everything. I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoyed making them. I’ll be sharing some shots from Long County, as well.
The Martin and Lucretia Stamper House, also known as Merrywood, is one of the finest surviving houses in Talbot County and a representative example of the Early Classical Revival in Georgia. It is an I-House at its core. The Classical look is evident in the full height portico, Ionic pilasters, and most notably, the elliptical fanlights over the four front doors. According to the National Register of Historic Places, “Before moving to Talbot County in 1833, Martin Woodson Stamper (1796-1874) was a prominent citizen of Upson County. Martin Stamper was born in 1796 in Virginia and reportedly served in the War of 1812. In the 1820s, he was living in Upson County, was married to Lucretia Jane Walker (1789-1856) from a prominent Upson County family, and was politically active. In 1825, he was the first sheriff of Upson County and served as a representative in the state legislature in 1832. In 1833, the Stampers moved to Talbot County and were [among] the early settlers of the county. In the 1840 U.S. Census, Martin Stamper owned 40 slaves and over 708 acres of land where this house was built. In July 1850, Martin Stamper sold the house and 690 acres of land to John Harris, a Baptist preacher, and the family moved to Early County.” It is a near certainty that the house was constructed by men enslaved by Stamper, and as with so many of these early Georgia houses, that is usually left out of the narrative.
The house is largely obscured today, but was restored in the early 2000s. According to the National Register, the interior retains its historic integrity and most of its original finishes. It’s a magnificent house, even with such a limited view.
This home was built by the first settler and namesake of Homerville, Dr. John Homer Mattox (1827-1895) in 1853. In the winter of that year, Dr. Mattox moved his family from their home on the Suwannee River, near the Florida line, to this location. His wife was Lucinda M. Sheffield (1825-1906), daughter of Isham and Lucinda Harrell Sheffield. They eventually had seven children.
Dr. Mattox was the son of Col. Elijah Bankston Mattox (1798-1856) and Lavinia M. Johnson Mattox (1803-1882), who came to Ware County (Clinch County was created in 1850), from Tattnall County. Though a physician by training, Dr. Mattox, according to Folk Huxford’s History of Clinch County (1916), was more interested in farming and business pursuits than the practice of medicine. His brother, Dr. L. C. Mattox, also a physician, lived nearby.
To attract the railroad to locate a station on his land, Dr. Mattox granted them right of way and gave a large lot in the center of the community for public use. The Atlantic & Gulf Railroad laid track here in 1860. The settlement was first officially known as Station No. 11, but when a post office was opened, it was named Homerville, for Dr. Mattox. There was an immediate push to remove the county seat from Magnolia to Homerville, and the legislature authorized this change in December 1860.
Kathryn Griffis Poppell and Kathy M. Poppell donated the home to the city in 2000 and it now serves as the Chamber of Commerce.
Traveler’s Rest was built upon land granted to Major Jesse Walton in 1785 for his service in the Revolutionary War. Walton was killed by indigenous people near this site in 1789. The Walton family sold the land to Gen. James Rutherford Wyly (1782-1855), who built the original section of the house between 1816-1825. The property was purchased by Devereaux Jarrett (1785-1852) in 1838. Jarrett expanded the original structure to ten rooms. He opened it to the public as an inn, trading post, and post office, to meet the needs of a growing population made possible by the Unicoi Turnpike, an early public road in the area. Among its early guests was G. W. Featherstonehaugh, and English scientist who served as the first geologist for the U. S. government and a surveyor of the Louisiana Purchase.
This 1934 photograph by Branan Sanders for the Historic American Buildings Survey shows Traveler’s Rest looking much as it does today, albeit a bit overgrown. Courtesy Library of Congress.
It was known as Jarrett Manor during that family’s ownership. Notably, the last owner, Mary Jarrett White (1870-1957), was the first woman in Georgia to vote. The site is open, with limited hours, as a state historic site today.
Sign marking the trail leading to Dan Tucker’s grave
Elbert County has always promoted Dan Tucker’s gravesite to visitors based on the assumption that the Daniel Tucker buried here is the “Old Dan Tucker” of 19th-century American folklore. There is no academic or even incidental agreement on this assertion, but it’s a great story, and the public access trail to the historic Tucker Cemetery is one of the nicest walks around. And as a big fan of vernacular gravestones, I’d suggest a visit to others who appreciate this underappreciated art form. Kudos to Elbert County for maintaining it so nicely. It’s a low rise path surrounded for most of its short distance by wooded slopes descending into Richard B. Russell Lake. The small cemetery has several other markers, three of which are identified.
Path to Dan Tucker’s grave
Since the origins of the standard folk song “Old Dan Tucker” are unclear and may never be confirmed, there is no way of proving the identity of its namesake. Some credit the song to Dan Emmett, who popularized blackface minstrel shows and composed the song “Dixie”, but it has also been credited to J. R. Jenkins, and Henry Russell. Dan Emmett told his biographer that he wrote the song circa 1830-1821 when he was 15 years old. “Old Dan Tucker” was first published as sheet music in 1843. The earliest versions (there are many) employed Black Vernacular English, portrayed Dan Tucker as a drunken troublemaker, and breaks with many social conventions. He was a Black man in these iterations. At least four versions with different lyrics and identities for Tucker were published in the 19th century. Some suggest it’s based on a notorious sea captain and widely despised colonist named Daniel Tucker. This seems a bit far-fetched to me. More likely, as has been suggested, it’s derived from earlier minstrel tunes.
General view of Tucker Cemetery
Elbert County’s Dan Tucker was Daniel Tucker (14 February 1740-7 April 1818), a Virginia native who served as a captain of the Amelia County Militia during the Revolutionary War. For his service, he was awarded a land grant on the Georgia frontier. He developed a successful plantation, Point Lookout, with an enslaved workforce, ran a ferry on the Savannah River, and served as a minister, particularly known, through oral tradition, “…to bring Christianity to those he enslaved.” He was a neighbor and good friend of Governor Stephen Heard.
Frances Tucker (25 April 1790-19 May 1818). The nice vernacular headstone, of local material, reads: Sacred to the memory of Frances Tucker W of Rev Eppes Tucker – Born April 25 1790 – dp this life May the 19 1818 -Age 28 years.
A 1957 Georgia Historical Marker, which is no longer standing, claimed this about Daniel Tucker: “…Esteemed by his fellow planters, he was loved by the Negroes who composed the many verses of the famous ditty, “Old Dan Tucker,” a favorite song at corn shuckings and other social gatherings.” There is no evidence whatsoever to support this claim, other than local tradition. While I never dismiss it outright, oral history is spotty at best. I mean no ill will in pointing this out, and I enjoyed my visit to Dan Tucker’s grave. I never gave it much thought when I first heard it on The Andy Griffith Show and Little House on the Prairie as a boy.
Decedent unknown. I’m working on translating the name but haven’t gotten it yet.
There are several unidentified stones in the cemetery, all relatives or in-laws of Daniel Tucker as best I can discern.
Frances Epps Tucker (4 April 1750-6 August 1823). The stone reads: In Memory of Frances Tucker W. O. Daniel Tucker-who was born April the 4th 1750-dp this life Aug the 6th 1823-Age 73 Yr. [The maker of this marker used a backward capital D for the letter R, and for the number 5 in the birthdate, quite an unusual characteristic.]
Daniel Tucker’s grave is also quite primitive.
Rev. Daniel Tucker (14 February 1740-7 April 1818)
A newer military-issued marker has been placed in recent years, and it’s a good thing, as these memorials are all fading fast.
