Watson Benjamin Dyer--103 and 1/2 years of life
THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of Union
County, Georgia
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Watson Benjamin
Dyer - 103 and ½
years of life
08/18/2004
He was born July 27, 1901 in
Choestoe, Union County,
Georgia. He died February 13, 2005 in Redmond Hospital,
Rome, Georgia.
In his life that spanned over a century, he
completed a lot of living. This
centenarian-plus was Watson Benjamin Dyer, noted genealogist,
researcher,
compiler, publisher, keeper of the records of related families in early
Union
County and since, covering Dyer,
Souther, Collins, Jackson, Ingram, Vandiver and related lines. As a matter of fact, Mr. Dyer’s works in
genealogy have been the major sources of much of the information you
have read
in “Through Mountain Mists” for more than a year and a half. I pay tribute to him and thank him for what
he has taught me of those who went before us.
When this column is published February 17, 2005, we will
be attending the funeral of Watson Benjamin Dyer in Cedartown, Georgia
at 1:00 p. m. Cousins and friends will gather prior to the
funeral at the Litesey Funeral Home Chapel and greet each other,
telling how
Watson touched their lives and how we thought, even though he had
reached 103
in July, 2004, we somehow expected him to gain another year, to be
indomitable,
to keep on being our mentor and storehouse of information.
We will hear his life in review given in his
eulogy and we will identify with what we know of this unusual man. At Aragon Cemetery
where his
beloved wife Jewel was laid to rest in September, 1990, we will stand
at
attention as the military honor guard gives its salute and the music of
taps
fills the air. We will return to our
respective homes, thinking about how Watson Benjamin Dyer touched our
lives for
good.
He was the first of four children born
to Joseph Albert Dyer (1877-1962) and Nina Idaho Collins Dyer
(1881-1962). His father served as
postmaster of the
Choestoe post office for several years.
His siblings, still living, are Desma Frances Dyer Fry of
Demorest,
Georgia and Odell Bluford Dyer of Gainesville, Georgia. A twin to Odell, Sarah Grapelle Dyer Hood,
died April 16, 2001.
Watson Dyer attended grammar school at
Choestoe. He was fortunate enough to be
able to attend the Blairsville Collegiate Institute where he and his
young
uncle, Vernon Patrick Dyer (January 22, 1900-October 24, 1974), boarded
together. Following his terms at the
Institute, Watson helped his Uncle, Herschel Arthur Dyer, teach at New Liberty School
where more than
eighty pupils were enrolled. Watson also
taught at Pine
Top School
and Asbestos
School in White County. Then
he went to Fairburn,
Georgia
where his uncle, Mauney Douglas Collins, who would later serve for
twenty-five
years as Georgia’s
State School Superintendent, lived and was principal of the high school
there. At age 19, Watson Benjamin Dyer
graduated from the Fairburn
High School. He taught a year at the Stonewall School
in Fairburn.
Watson was too young to enter World
War I. His teaching experience in small
schools for five years helped him to see he did not really want
teaching as his
major career.
He got a job working at the
Candler
Warehouse in Atlanta
following World War I. Then he began
some years of traveling. For a short
period he got a job working in insurance in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He returned to Georgia and
enrolled in the Draughon’s Business College
in Atlanta. Following his course of study there, he got a
job as a bookkeeper in Atlanta. Then he went to Detroit, Michigan
and worked for a period in the automobile industry.
The Great Depression hit America and
jobs were hard to find. Prior to the
Depression, his parents had bought farmland near Demorest in Habersham County, Georgia.
He returned to Georgia and lived with them
and
helped his father on the farm. Watson’s
uncle, Norman Vester Dyer, who had served as President of the
Blairsville
Collegiate Institute, was in Cornelia at the time, and he and Watson
opened a
print shop. That little shop gave Watson
a love for printer’s ink and led him into the profession he followed
for the
rest of his life.
His next move was far away from Georgia, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin,
where he worked for a newspaper in advertising.
From this assignment he moved to Columbia, Missouri. He apprenticed to a noted engraver there,
Elvin Brown, and expanded his knowledge of printing and publishing, and
learned
photography as well.
Then came World War II. He
enlisted in the U. S. Navy. His assignment
on the USS Bushnell Submarine
Tender gave him action in the Pacific Theater of war.
He had the position of ship’s photographer.
As submarines came to the Bushnell for
supplies and repairs, the young recruits found out a photographer was
aboard
the Bushnell. Watson made many pictures
of these young men which they sent home to families.
For some of them, Watson’s picture was the
last taken of them before they met their deaths. Watson
reached the rank of seaman first
class. His service time was without
injury. Watson’s brother, Odell, served
during World War II in the US Army Air Force and earned a purple heart
for his
bravery in the South Pacific. After his
discharge, Watson lost his sea bag on his way home, with valuable
photographs,
commendations and medals earned. It was
in 2003 through the efforts of Chief Quartermaster Michael Wood, career
Navy
man and son of one of Watson’s caretakers, Roberta Wood, that his
medals were
reissued. These included the American
Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory medal, and the Asiatic-Pacific
Campaign medal.
Following World War II, Watson got a
job at the Cave Spring, Georgia
School for the
Deaf as
director of the printing shop, teacher of typesetting and printing, and
adult
sponsor for the student newspaper, “The Georgia School for the Deaf
Standard
News.”
Jewel James was librarian at the
School for
the Deaf. They had been sweethearts
years before. This was their
reintroduction. They were married in Atlanta on November 26, 1953
by Watson’s
uncle, the Rev. Dr. Mauney Douglas Collins, then State Superintendent
of
Schools. Watson and Jewel continued to
work at the School for the Deaf . Their
next move was to Atlanta where Watson became manager of the Georgia
Department
of Education’s printing operations and Jewel was appointed
head of the Georgia Library for the Blind.
While
still living in Atlanta,
Watson began his work in genealogy, visiting often the Georgia
Department of
Archives and History to do research on branches of his family. He and Jewel became active members of the
Georgia Genealogical and Historical Society.
Upon retirement in 1961, they moved to
Rome, Georgia and helped to
organize the
Northwest Georgia Genealogical and Historical Society.
Watson served as president for sixteen years
and he and Jewel published the quarterly bulletin for the organization. Their travels took them to many states where
they researched records in courthouses and archives.
He began the publication of family history
books. From 1965 through 1988 he
published five volumes: “The Original
Dyer-Souther Settlers of Choestoe District, Union County, GA,
1832-1965”; “Collins-Jackson Family
History” (1975);
“Dyer Family History” (1980); “Dyer Family History, Revised” (1986);
and
“Souther Family History” (1988). People
beat a path to his door as they lived in Rome,
in Cedartown, and in his widowerhood, in Cave Spring, to seek
information about
family connections from this walking history buff.
Jewel died September
18, 1990, and life was never
the same for Watson. But he lived one of
his goals, and that was to remain at home.
Thanks to excellent caregivers, he was able to do so except for
the last
several days of his life when he was hospitalized at Redmond in Rome.
From July
27, 1901 through February 13, 2005, Watson lived through
terms of nineteen presidents, William McKinley through George W. Bush. From the horse and buggy days to space
stations and communication satellites, he has experienced over ten
decades of
history. Watson lived history and
related to the various periods of decline, invention, war, depression,
revamping and progress. Thanks seems too
small a word to express our appreciation to this tall man who loved his
heritage and wanted to leave us a record of it.
May there be those in subsequent generations who will keep the
torch aflame.
[Note: For
those who would like to make a memorial gift, contributions to the New
Liberty
Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, Dyer-Souther Heritage Association, may be
sent to
Marie C. Knight, 1000 Knight’s Mountain Drive, Blairsville,
GA 30512.]
c2005
by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published Feb. 17, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
Updated
September 20, 2008
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