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
Spivey/Spiva and Related Families
Before I launch
into today's article, please accept this correction from last week's
story about "Some of the Descendants of Leason
Spiva." When I make a mistake, I am eager
to clear it up, because many of you read this column and if it is on
family history, you often add the information to your file.
I heard from
Linda Spivey Bjorklund of Baker
City, Oregon,
regarding her father's siblings and where they were born. As you
recall, last week's article was about Claude Raymond Spivey, the
92-year old whose hobby is woodworking. The first six children of
Luther Adniram Spivey and Ora Ellis Spivey were born in Monroe
County, Tennessee. The
seventh, Clyde Spivey, was born in Graham County, NC on July 10, 1927 at
the home of Ora Ellis Spiva's
aunt, Renie Ellis Blevins near Yellow
Creek and the town of Robbinsville.
Then in September, 1929, the twelve-day trip in a 1928 Buick took the
large family across country to Baker
City, Oregon
where the last three children were born: Della Lavelle
in 1931; James Henry in 1933; and Glenn Duane in 1937. (Note: If you
have Geraldine Spiva Elmore's family
history book, "Descendants of Adaniram Spiva and Evaline
Souther Spiva," Linda Spivey Bjorklund asks you to please make the above
corrections to the family of Luther Adniram
and Ora Ellis Spivey on page 15.)
For this week's
story of a member of the family of Adaniram
(1827- 1898) and Eveline Souther Spiva (1826- 1865) we will take a look at their
first-born of nine children, John Spiva,
who was born in Union County, Georgia on April 25, 1851. John Spiva was only fourteen when his mother died. In
the fifteen years his mother and father had been married, she had borne
nine children, seven sons and two daughters. There is no information
about Nancy Jane except the listing of her name; it is assumed that she
died young. John's youngest sibling, Stephen Adrian Spiva, was born November 12, 1865, and
was less than a month old when his mother Eveline
died on December
4, 1865. You will recall from last
week's story that the Souther grandparents, John and Mary Combs
Souther, took the infant Stephen and reared him. That still left John Spiva, as the eldest of the children, great
responsibility in helping his father Adaniram
with the other children until the father married Sarah Haseltine Corn on October 28, 1873.
John Spiva was a blacksmith and a barrel-maker
(cooper). In addition to farming his acreage, he used these two trades
to help bring in some money at a hard time after the Civil War was
over. John Spiva began to court a young
lady who lived on Wolf Creek about where Vogel State Park and Lake Trahlyta are now located. John's sweetheart was
named Margaret Louise Reece (b. 08/16/1856).
They were married earlier in the same year John's father married for
the second time. John and Margaret's wedding date was February 13, 1873.
Rev. R. M. Hughes performed the marriage ceremony at the home of
Margaret's parents, William "Billy" Reece and Mary "Sarry"
Daniel Reece. Her parents' wedding date was June 18, 1839 in Union County and
their officiant had been Thomas M. Hughes,
a Justice of the Inferior
Court.
Billy Reece was
the son of Jacob Reece and the grandson of William Reece. The earliest
Reece settlers in America had
migrated from Wales. The
name had gone through several spellings: Rays, Rhy,
Rys, Reys,
Rees, Reese and Reece. Billy Reece's earliest known ancestor was
Valentine Reece who was in Watauga
County, NC as
early as 1790, and came to America from
Wales in
1750. Billy and his brother James migrated together from North
Carolina to South
Carolina, into Habersham County, and
finally to Union County
before 1837 (they were in the 1840 but not in the 1834 census).
"Sarry" Daniel moved to Union County from
Alabama. Her
father was Josiah Daniel who came to Union
prior to 1837.
John Spiva no doubt learned much from his
father-in-law. Billy Reece was an early teacher at Choestoe School, and
John may have been one of his students. He was also a farmer and a
prospector. Billy found gold deposits in Helton Creek. He would work to
get enough gold to take to the mint in Dahlonega, and on Saturdays he
would go by horseback to take his findings to be assayed.
John Spiva and Margaret Louise Reece Spiva had ten children, nine of whom lived to
adulthood. Their children were: Mary Jane "Mollie" Spiva
(12/13/1874-06/05/1962 who married James Asbury Curtis; Eliza E. Spiva (09/08/1876 - ?); Mintie
Caroline "Callie" Spiva
(06/04/1878-12-06/1974) who married Arlie Knox Waldroop;
William Henry Spiva
(02/20/1881-12/13/1922) who married Elizabeth Jones; Margaret Emma Spiva (01/28/1883-09/09/1979) who married Joseph
Reuben Brown; Frank H. Spiva
(01/14/1885-01/18/1880) who married Ada
Gertrude Ledford; Jewell Wilburn Spiva
(02/16/1887-07/25/195?) who married Grace Mae Swain; Gardner Coke Spiva (12/31/1893-08/18/1988) who married Ethel
Susanna McClure; Josiah Haygood Spiva (12/15/1895- 02/08/1988) who married LaFarest McGarity;
and Guy Cook Spiva (04/25/1900-03/12/1973)
who married Bessie Lee Duckworth.
John Spiva died at age 82 on November 3, 1933. His
wife Margaret Louise Reece Spiva lived to
age 84, dying June
20, 1941. Both were interred at Shady Grove Methodist Church Cemetery, Union
County, Ga.
c2008 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 28, 2008 in The
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.]