The Welden’s in Inman
Elijah Burrell Welden, M.D. (1844-1922) &
Mary Frances Harp (1856-1924)
John A. Nash (1839-1915) &
Ora Annie Welden (1842-1913)
Submitted by Sara Jane Overstreet
Dr. E. B. Welden of Inman, Fayette County, GA
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The Welden/Weldon family migrated across Georgia as soon as land opened from Indian Territory. They were traders who got along so well with the Indians that when a daughter of William Welden married an Indian fighter, she was reportedly disowned and stricken from the family records.
The first Welden from this family in Georgia was Jacob Welden (b. 1720; d. 1779 in Richmond Co., GA; married Catron/Katherine about 1740) who was given grants in St. Paul Parish--later Richmond Co., GA--in 1773. What he actually got seems to be land that he had already been living on and had converted from wilderness into farmland. He and/or his wife were associated with a synagogue there and may have been of Jewish heritage.
Jacob's son Isaac was born about 1745, and died in Jasper Co., GA about 1839. He married Tobiatha/Tabitha about 1760. The D.A.R. Patriot Index lists him as Isaac Sr., born c. 1745 in NC; d. 11-21-1831 in GA; and served as a Pvt. in GA during the Revolutionary War (p. 3143, D.A.R.). He was given a grant in St. Paul's Parish in 1774, and later obtained other land grants. Part of his land grant in Jasper County was purchased by that county's government to be the courthouse square in Monticello, Ga. Isaac and others in his family had been granted passports by the Governor of Georgia to travel in Indian Territory (Isaac's was ordered Sept. 28, 1801).
Isaac's son William was born about 1770 and moved from Jasper to Henry--now Spalding County where he died Jan. 6, 1867. He married Rebecca Gill (b. 1775; d. 1853 in Spalding Co., GA) in Columbia Co., GA on November 25, 1801. Oral tradition is that William bought his land on the McIntosh Trail from Chief McIntosh, who continued to visit and camp on the land until McIntosh was killed. Records show that William Welden drew land in (then) Henry County in the 1827 Land Lottery. William was a Mason and owned considerable farm land in what is now the Ringgold community.
William's son Burrell (b. Nov. 9, 1806; died Nov. 15, 1869 in Spalding Co., GA) also drew land in the 1827 Land Lottery in Henry County (before Spalding was formed). Burrell married Elizabeth Martha Ann McCutchen (b. 7-4-1812 dau. of William McCutchen and Ann Shaw; d. 8-21-1874 in Spalding Co.) on April 3, 1831 in Henry County. Five of their sons joined the C. S. A., and two were killed.
Burrell's son--Elijah Burrell Welden, (b. 5-18-1844 in Henry later Spalding; d. 10-24-1922 in Fayette) the 5th of 11 children--moved to the Inman community from Spalding County, GA following the War Between the States. He had been a teen-ager when the War took several of his older brothers away from the farm, and apparently he did not enroll with them but went later into the 13th Georgia Infantry, Co. C., the "Ringgold Raiders." He was wounded during the War, and lost his hair while he was recovering. When his hair grew back it was thick and white from that time forward (John Glenn Welden, 1996). He married and raised a family. As a local physician, farmer, and businessman; he gained status in the community and his children followed with positions of responsibility. Dr. E. B. Welden and his family are well represented in Liberty Chapel records.
Elijah's experiences during the War apparently encouraged him to become a physician. He took the training available at the time and apprenticed himself to other physicians. He moved to Inman and married Mary Frances Harp on November 20, 1873 in Fayette County. His wife's family had been involved at Liberty Chapel for a number of years. He built the two-story house across Hill's Bridge Road from the current Inman Methodist parsonage. He participated in several business and community ventures including the local Inman Gin & Warehouse Company, Inc., Inman Mercantile Company, Inc., and Inman Academy. Dr. Welden was a county commissioner when the current Fayette County Courthouse was built, and his name is on the plaque. He had a telephone line in 1905, and an indoor light acetylene gas system in the early 1900's. He was a Mason with membership in Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 130. He died following a long illness on 10-14-1922.
Dr. Welden's wife, Mary Frances Harp (born December 9, 1856 in Fayette Co., GA) was the daughter of Mozee Harp (b. 4-17-1819, d. 9-4-1874) and Sarah Hill (1-21-1820, d. 10-8-1909). She was the 7th of their 8 children. She was involved in Liberty Chapel from the time she was a child until her death on 10-25-1924. She and her husband are buried in the cemetery at Inman on Hill's Bridge Road in Fayette Co., Ga.
Mary Frances Harp Welden
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From this union were born 10 children as follows:
1--Minnie Russell Welden, b. 12-27-1874, d.11-22-1955; married Daniel A. McLucas on 12-27-1874
2--Annie Ellen Welden, b. 12-20-1876, d. 5-9-1950; married Ed. E. Griffith on 11-20-1902
3--William Paul Welden, b. 3-24-1879, d. 1-22-1935; married Mary Alice Lunsford in December 1901
4--Mary Emma Welden, b. 7-15-1881, d. 5-23-1961; married Pinkney W. Wills in 1909
5--John Burrell Welden (M.D.), b. 2-1-1884, d. 10-23-1936; married Ethel Hodnett
6--Andrew Carl Welden, Sr., b. 7-21-1886, d. 6-18-1937; married Letitia Belle Mullins on 10-14-1922
7--Sarah "Sallie" Slaughter Welden, b. 8-2-1889, d. 1-23-1925; not married
8--Martha Nettie Welden, b. 3-11-1892, d.; married (Rev.) Walter E. Brown on 9-20-1922
9--Walter Willard Welden, b. 7-9-1894, d.; married Mary Ellen Henderson
10--Frank Welden, b. 9-9-1899, d. 8-19-1929; not married
In Memoirs of Georgia, Dr. Welden reported his own biographical sketch as follows:
Elijah Burrell Welden, Physician and surgeon, Inman, Fayette Co., GA, son of Burrell and Martha Anne (McCutcheon) Welden, was born in Henry (now Spalding) county, May 18, 1844. His paternal grandparents came from North Carolina to Georgia, and were among the early settlers of what is now Henry county. His father was born in what is now Jasper county, Nov. 9, 1806, was a farmer, and died in November, 1869. His mother, a descendant of Scottish emigrants who settled in Virginia in colonial times, was born in Hall county, GA, July 4, 1812, and died in September, 1874. Dr. Welden was raised on the farm and attended the country schools until he was eighteen years of age. Then, in 1862, he enlisted in Company C (Capt. John L. Moore), Thirteenth Georgia regiment, with which he participated in the following battles: Second Manassas, Fairfax Court House, Second Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Frederick City, Winchester, Strausburg, Harper's Ferry, Spottsylvania Court House, Fisher's Hill and Petersburg, where the command was under fire and in the ditches two months. In the engagement at Burkeville station he was wounded in the hip about April 4, and sent to the hospital, but recovered in time to be with his command when surrendered at Appomattox. Returning home to Spalding County, he attended the academy until 1867, when he began the study of medicine under Dr. Edward Knott, and pursued it until 1869, and then attended a course of lectures at the university of New Orleans, remaining a year. Subsequently he attended a course of lectures at the medical college of Georgia, at Augusta, from which he was graduated in March, 1871. He soon afterward located where he now lives, and has established an excellent professional reputation, accumulated property, and acquired a wide influence which he has exerted in the interest of the material and moral advancement of the people. He was a member of the board of county commissioners from 1884 to 1890, and one of the committee which superintended the building of the new courthouse at Fayetteville. His influence has been strongly and beneficially exercised in behalf of every enterprise calculated to develop the resources and build up the county. In connection with his practice he has conducted a profitable drug business at Inman, of which and the county he is a leading citizen. Dr. Welden was married Nov. 10, 1873, to Miss Mary Frances--born Dec., 9, 1856--daughter of Rev. Mozee and Sarah (Hill) Harp. (For sketch of these see that of W. N. T. Harp in this work.) Nine children bless this union:
Minnie Russell, born Dec. 27, 1874; Annie Ellen, born Dec. 20, 1876; William Paul, Born March 24, 1870; Mary Emma Born Sept. 15, 1881; John Burrell, born Feb. 1, 1884; Andrew Carl, born July 21, 1886; Sallie Slaughter, born Aug. 11, 1889; Martha Nettie, born March 14, 1892; and Walter Willard, born July 9, 1894. Dr. Welden is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity; has been worshipful master of the lodge, and exalted to the royal arch degree; and himself and wife are members of the Methodist church, of which he has been a steward for fifteen years.
Dr. Welden's sister--Ora Annie Welden (b. Nov. 20, 1842; d. August 22, 1913 in Fayette Co.)--later moved to Inman as the second wife of John A. Nash. Mr. Nash is prominent in the Liberty Chapel records. He and his first wife Nancy S. Harp had children when she died in September, 1893 and Mr. Nash soon remarried (Dec. 17, 1893 in Spalding County). She is buried in the Inman cemetery.
Resources:
Genealogical research unpublished by John McLucas, Sr., Welden descendants, and S. J. Overstreet
Liberty Chapel/Inman United Methodist unpublished church records
Passports Issued by Governors of Georgia, 1785 to 1809, by Mary G. Bryan, Washington, D.C., 1959.
Fayette County History 1821-1971, by Fayette County Historical Society, 1977
History of Jasper County, Georgia, by Jasper County Historical Foundation, Inc.
History of Clayton County, Georgia: 1821-1983, by Ancestors Unlimited, Inc., Genealogical Society, Clayton County, Georgia, 1983.
Vol. I, Memoirs of Georgia, by The Southern Historical Association, 1895 DAR Patriot Index: Centennial Ed. Part III, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution Centennial Administration, Washington, 1990.
Compilation Copyright 2008 - Present by Linda Blum-Barton