THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Mr. Ira
Harkins, who, if not officially the historian of the
Canada/Suches area of Union County, should be declared so.
I am grateful to him and his articles in “The
Heritage of Union County” for information about early post offices in
that
section “across the mountains” from the county seat of Blairsville.
Last week’s column listed three of
these early post offices and the postmasters who worked at Gaddistown,
Quebec,
and Suches. Several other mail stations
were located along the hills and hollows of this mountainous area.
Early settlers along Mulky Creek were
the Harkins family and the Shopes family.
In 1880 Charles W. O’Kelley made application for a post office
which he
wished to name Harkinsville. However,
the US Postmaster General disapproved that name and Shopes was chosen
instead,
with Mr. O’Kelley becoming the first postmaster on August 8, 1880. This office was short-lived, with the mail
routed to Clemeth near the Toccoa River on March 3, 1883.
However, the people served by Shope
didn’t want to give up their post office.
William L. Smith applied for approval of Polk, Georgia post
office in
the vicinity of the former Shope station on January 1, 1882. You will recall that this was the second time
the name Polk was approved as a Union County post office.
The first was named by postmaster John Butt
on February 20, 1884 and changed to Choestoe on September 25, 1881. Evidently Polk had been out of disuse as a
post office name in the county long enough to be reactivated in a new
location. Some of the people who served
Polk were Mr.
Smith, James H. Shope (rescinded), Mr. Smith (second time), James H.
Cavender, Mary A. Cavender, and Samuel
Dixon. The last location of Polk was at
Mr. Dixon’s homeplace at present-day Dixon Branch a mile south of Mulky
Gap. When this Polk post office closed
September 7, 1887, the mail was routed to the Coosa post office.
Joe Lunsford applied for a post office
which he wanted to name Mist on April 5, 1903.
Mist was not approved as a name and Seabolt was designated. This post office served
about 300 people in the area of
today’s Cooper’s Creek bridge. Seabolt,
too, was short-lived, closing on October 31, 1907 with the mail going
to
Suches. Seabolt was reopened in 1922
with Frank Seabolt as post master and continued for two years when it
was
closed in 1924. At that closure,
Seabolt’s mail was routed through the Baxter post office.
Baxter was the forty-fifth post office
established in Union County. Its
founding date was June 16, 1900. David
M. Jarrard was the first postmaster. It
is believed that the wholesale groceryman, John Cannon, persuaded Mr.
Jarrard
to apply for a post office permit, and at the same site he would
operate a
grocery store for the community. Baxter
post office was located near a sawmill and grist mill on the Toccoa
River. David Jarrard and his wife Essie
operated the
Baxter post office until they moved to Texas in 1901.
The Jarrards were followed by James H.
Cavender who served from 1901 through 1903.
His sister, Mary Ann Cavender, who got her start in post office
work at
Polk at Mulky Gap, followed her brother and served as postmaster for
thirty-two
years. Baxter’s next postmaster was Mary
Ann’s sister, Nellie Cavender Grizzle who began work in 1935 and served
until
her death. Then Mrs. Lillie Gurley was
postmaster from January 26, 1944 until the post office was closed April
15,
1953 and the mail routed to Gaddistown. She
moved the post office into her home about a mile from the former
location of
Baxter.
For forty-four years Baxter
served its
constituents and was a gathering place for those who enjoyed trips to
the post
office to visit with the postmasters and hear the latest news of the
day. The last location of the Baxter post
office,
in an annex of Mrs. Gurley’s house, was still standing in 1994.
Clemeth post office in the Cooper’s
Creek district was approved in 1881 and closed out in 1887. The name was from the first postmaster,
Clemeth Cavender. In the short six years
of its existence, Clemeth had its founder and the following postmasters: Andrew Campbell, James Cavender, William
Jones, William A. Jones (was this the same person?), William F.
Cavender and
James A. Cavender (for the second time).
Gaddistown became the recipient of the mail when Clemeth closed. It is interesting to note that in the
application,
Clemeth Cavender noted that the location on the Toccoa River was
thirteen miles
from Blairsville, nineteen miles from Dahlonega, forty-eight miles from
Gainesville, and 100 miles from Atlanta.
The community of Clemeth had a population of “about 200,” a
grist mill
and saw mill, a general merchandise store, a school and Baptist and
Methodist
churches.
Sarah post office began in May, 1899
with John Marr as first postmaster. He
was followed by his daughter, Fannie Marr Jarrard , then Marr’s
son-in-law, James Jarrard.
John Marr and Jim Jarrard also operated a
grocery store, one in the “John Cannon”
chain of stores. This post office was
near Mt. Airy Church on Cooper Gap Road.
Sarah operated until May 31, 1955, fifty-six years.
The mail was routed through Suches.
Natal began in June, 1901 on the
headwaters of Cooper Creek two miles west of Wolf Pen Gap.
G. W. Gaddis was the postmaster for almost
two months. Others serving at Natal were
William P. McGee, Emanuel Burnett, Mrs. Lizzie Burnett,
and Miss Mollie Jarrard. Natal
closed after thirty-five years of
operation and the mail was routed through Suches.
Pilot post office, named after Pilot
Mountain and the copperhead snakes called “pilots” prevalent there,
opened in
December, 1911 with the Reverend William Henry Washington Gurley as
applicant. He opened the office in his
store, but it was his daughter Mary Gurley who was first postmaster. Operation stayed in the Gurley family, with
another daughter, Vennie Gurley Hendrix, serving for eight months, and
Ethel
Akins Gurley for four years. These were
followed by Dollie Grizzle, John F. Seabolt, Dollie Grizzle (for the
second
time), and Mrs. Bertha Tritt. Pilot
closed after twenty-one years and the mail was routed through Suches. These post offices in the Suches area made it
easier for residents to have a connection to the world outside their
mountain
stronghold.
[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.]
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