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
Going to Market
in 1895
(As Remembered by Walter Mondwell Twiggs)
Walter
Mondwell Twiggs was the second of three children born
to the Rev. John Wesley Twiggs and his second wife, Georgia Elizabeth
Westmoreland. Walter grew up to be a
noted Methodist minister in Georgia.
After his retirement, he wrote his memoirs.
These were never published but some were made
available to relatives and friends.
Barbara Allison Crawford, a niece who compiled “The Old
Homeplace: A Twiggs Family Saga” (1994)
had a copy of
her Uncle Walter’s “Memoirs,” and shared some of them in her book.
Marvin M. Twiggs’ account of going to
market in 1895 gives insight into how the farmers of Choestoe Valley
took
produce to the market in Gainesville and bartered for items not
available to
them on their farms.
Marvin Twiggs, born March 27, 1888, was
only seven years of age when he was allowed by his father to go in 1895
on his
first wagon trip to the market at Gainesville some forty-five miles
from their
Choestoe farm. His excitement built
daily as they readied for the trip which would be the highlight of the
boy’s
life to that point.
Although Marvin Twiggs does not
mention this in his memoirs, it was customary in those days for a wagon
train
to form and travel together across the Logan Turnpike, crossing
Tesnatee Gap by
way of Cleveland, Georgia. Even though
Mr. Jack Shuler of Upper Choestoe and his sons had a contract to keep
the north
side of the road in good repair from rock slides and wash-outs, the
road was
still somewhat rough and special care was needed in driving the mule
teams
along the narrow mountain road. Being in
company with other wagon teams was a safety measure for they helped
each other
if a break-down or other trouble occurred.
The Twiggs family gathered fall apples
from their orchard and filled the bed of the wagon with the luscious
fruit. This was to be one of their
major items of trade at the market in Gainesville.
They added sacks of shelled corn and threshed
rye to the load, and even a butchered hog that had been cured in the
smokehouse.
The first night the wagon with its
load arrived just south of Cleveland, Georgia where they lodged at the
home of
Marvin’s Great Uncle Ben Allison, brother to his Grandmother
Westmoreland. He remembers the gentleman’s
goatee and the
hospitality with which the Twiggs caravan was received.
The Allisons lived in a large house occupied
by the old gentleman and his son and family.
They arrived at the Allison house in time to go into the town of
Cleveland and see the sights before dark.
In a Cleveland store, Marvin Twiggs
spied a one-bladed, horn-handled Barlow knife on display.
He had no money, not even the five-cent price
of the knife. But his desire to own
that knife became almost an obsession.
That night, before they retired, Marvin told his father, the
stern
disciplinarian Rev. John Wesley Twiggs, that he would like to have a
nickel to
spend. Questioning the boy as to whether
he wanted to buy candy for the journey, Marvin was evasive, fearing to
tell his
father he really wanted a knife. But to
his delight, his father gave him the nickel.
The next morning he was at the store early and purchased the
knife. But with his purchase he had a
guilty
feeling, and he kept the knife well-hidden in his pocket all of the
journey and
even for some time after they arrived back at home for fear of his
father’s
punishment. It never was forthcoming,
and eventually Marvin began to use the knife.
In two days the Twiggs wagon arrived
in Gainesville. They spent their nights
there in the home of Bill Dyer, ordinary of Hall County, who lived on
Green Street
just off the square. Dyer had been a
childhood friend of John Wesley Twiggs before moving away from Choestoe. Mrs. Dyer prepared excellent meals for
the
travelers.
In Gainesville young Marvin Twiggs
heard his first train whistle and saw the large steam engine pulling
the loaded
boxcars behind. He was both excited and
frightened by the train, fearing that it might jump the tracks and head
in his
direction.
Days were spent bartering the load of
produce they had brought from the mountains and purchasing cloth and
thread for
his mother to make garments for the “first” and “second” family; shoes
for
winter; a barrel of flour; sugar; coffee; rice.
They tried to have enough money left to pay taxes for the year.
It took two days to make the trip from
Gainesville back to Choestoe. His father
knew many families along the route and they always had a place to spend
the
night. As Marvin grew older and
continued to accompany his father on those twice-yearly trading trips,
he felt
that they were in a sense “sponging” on the good nature of the friends
and
relatives where they stopped. They
enjoyed their hospitality, meals and shelter without paying anything
whatsoever. But those were the days when
people were neighborly and glad to take in travelers.
He remembered stopping in homes of relatives
like Ben Allison and Bill Harkins, but also at Densmore, Huff, Allen,
Reed and
Richardson households along the way.
The journey northward across Tesnatee
was another hard pull. When they arrived
home with their wagon loaded with the purchases from far-away
Gainesville, it
was an exciting time for the Twiggs household.
They would have to practice frugality to make the staples last
until the
next trip south for goods. And Mrs.
Twiggs would begin right away to make shirts for the men and dresses
for the
girls from the yard goods.
There, in his pocket, Marvin Twiggs
proudly fingered his five-cent Barlow knife.
He would have many hours of pleasure using it to cut and
whittle, make
sourwood whistles and have the satisfaction of being a proud owner of
his very
own Barlow knife.
[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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