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
Circuit riding
preacher—Rev. Milford Gilead Hamby
The work of
circuit riding ministers in the early days of settlement in the
mountain counties of north Georgia required a person of strong physical
constitution as well as one with strong commitment and dedication to
the spread of the gospel ministry.
Milford Gilead
Hamby was born in Spartanburg, S. C on May 18, 1833. His parents were
William and Nancy Christopher Hamby. In 1852 when he was nineteen years
of age, he received a license to preach and was soon accepted into the
North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church.
By 1855 he was
a fullfledged minister whose circuit included Dahlonega in Lumpkin
County and a far-flung area including Upson (it is not clear if this is
Upson County or a town named Upson), Cusseta, Blairsville in Union
County, Carnesville in Franklin County, Canton, Cumming, Powder
Springs, Ellijay, Morganton in Fannin County, and Homer, Georgia, in
Banks County. From 1855 through 1885, a total of thirty years, he kept
29 appointments per month. Before modern transportation, except perhaps
a train in some areas that would take him to Powder Springs, we can
only imagine what trusty steeds he must have owned during this period
to get him to his charges.
An error
appears in the marriage date of this minister of the gospel in both the
article in the “Union County, Georgia” History book (1994, p. 176) and
the earlier “Sketches of Union County History, Volume 2” (1978, p. 70),
both of which list him as marrying in 1850. The Union County marriage
record gives the date of his marriage to Eleanor C. Hughes as August 9,
1859, with Joseph Chambers, minister of the gospel, performing the
ceremony.
Eleanor Hughes,
known as Nellie, was the daughter of a Methodist Minister and a
merchant, the Rev. Thomas M. Hughes (1809-1882). Eleanor’s mother was
Nancy Bird Hughes (1818-1881), daughter of the Rev. Francis Bird,
another early Methodist Minister in Rutherford County, N.C. Like so
many early settlers to Union County, the Hughes family stopped first in
Habersham County. They were among those who moved over the famed Unicoi
Turnpike to settle in Habersham, and then across the mountain later to
Union before 1850.
Born to Milford
G. and Eleanor Hughes Hamby were seven sons and three daughters. Son
William Thomas Hamby became a noted Methodist minister; other sons were
Francis B., Joseph O., Melvin, John M., Lovick O. and Manley P.; and
daughters Nancy, Martha and Sallie.
During the
Civil War Milford G. Hamby served for six months in the Cherokee
Legion, Company A. of the Georgia State Guard. Records show his pay was
forty cents per day.
In the eulogy
to his wife, Eleanor Hughes (April 1, 1827-July 18, 1902) published in
the “Wesleyan Advocate,” this account is given of how she helped him
during the Civil War: “During the war, while her husband was serving
the Canton Circuit, surrounded by both armies, Brother Hamby’s wearing
apparel was so badly worn that he thought he would have to stay at
home. Sister Hamby happened to think of an old sheep skin that was in
the house. She sheared the wool off and with some thread which she had,
she made her husband a pair of pants that he might be able to go on
with his work.”
The eulogy
praises her for “walking by the side of her husband for forty-three
years, proving herself in deed and in truth
his helpmeet, cheerfully sharing with him the joys and hardships of the
itinerant work.”
I looked for a
printed eulogy for the Rev. Hamby who died in May, 1911, but to date my
research has turned up only the one for Eleanor Hughes Hamby, who, upon
her death in 1902, left “a devoted husband and six children to mourn
their loss.” Both Mrs. Hamby and Rev. Hamby were interred at the Shady
Grove Methodist Cemetery in the Owltown District of Union County where
their tombstones may be viewed. Many are the Hamby descendants of these
two stalwart ancestors who worked hard in the mountain region in the
latter half of the nineteenth century.
[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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