A Correction, A Thanksgiving Wish, and Another Brown Family
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
A
Correction, A Thanksgiving Wish, and Another Brown Family
First, a correction from last
week’s
column. Thanks to Wanda Brown Gibson of
Blairsville who knows much more about the many Brown family lines in
Union and
Towns Counties than I could ever hope to uncover, I have this glaring
error to
correct from last week’s column (November 19), last paragraph.
I wrote that Smith and Mary Brown’s
eighth child, Henry Franklin Brown, became a Baptist minister. Actually, this Henry Brown, son of Smith and
Mary, became a deacon at New
Liberty Baptist Church—not
a minister. The Rev. Henry Brown
was a descendent
of Ezekiel Brown through Walter Brown.
Ezekiel Brown had large holdings along the Hiawassee River
in Towns
County and before
the Emancipation
Proclamation, owned a number of slaves.
This line of Browns made bricks from clay and Ezekiel Brown
built an
imposing brick house for his family. Rev. Henry Jud Brown was born February 28, 1880
and died March 20,
1968 at age
88. At age 21, he was the first pastor
of West Union Baptist
Church in Towns County
when it was organized in 1901. Other
known pastorates were Mt.
Pisgah in North Carolina,
and in
Georgia Old Brasstown, Old Union, Liberty,
Zebulon, Harmony Grove, Ebenezer, Antioch,
Blairsville and Choestoe. I’m sorry for
any confusion my error caused researchers.
Now for a Thanksgiving wish. Our
American holiday which we call
Thanksgiving dates back to November 21, 1621 when the Pilgrims of Plymouth
Colony and their neighbors,
the Wampanoag Indians with Chief Massasoit as their leader, gathered
for a
feast of Thanksgiving. The Mayflower
Compact governed the Plymouth Colony in those early years.
The friendly Indians lent help to the brave
band of Pilgrims as they planted their first crops and survived the
rigors of
their first year in a strange land.
The stories of how they built
their
government, settled into village life, and made friends with the
Indians has
inspired generations since 1620. As we
gather with families on this Thanksgiving, may we consider the
principles upon
which America
was founded. The Pilgrims made a solemn
covenant to treat one another with brotherly love, to seek to supply
one
another’s needs, to live together in peace and harmony, to share each
other’s
joys and sorrows, and to work for the greater good of their community. My wish for you is a solemn and grateful
Thanksgiving and a return to principles that served our forebears well
in the
early years of this nation.
Today’s focus on another Brown family
will be that of Martha Clementine Brown (05/02/1861-09/05/1933), the
eleventh
child of twelve born to Harmon and Sarah Brown.
On February
12, 1878,
Martha Clementine, called “Tina” and John Padgett Souther (09/12/1858
-3/04/1959) spoke their
wedding vows. Tina’s husband was the
fifth child of ten born to his
parents,
John Combs Hayes Souther (10/22/1827-01/04/1891) and Nancy Collins
Souther
(02/13/1829-07/22/1888). Recall, please,
from last week’s article that Mary Elizabeth Souther
(04/07/1853-01/11/1929),
John Padgett’s Souther’s oldest sister, married the Rev. Smith Loransey
Brown
(01/20;1850-05/16/1932), the sixth child of Harmon and Sarah Brown. The children of these couples, being
double-first cousins, would have much in common, living rather close
together
on farms in the Choestoe District. Rev.
Smith Brown and Mary Elizabeth Brown had nine children (see last week’s
article
for that list). John Padgett Souther and
Martha Clementine “Tina” Brown Souther had sixteen children:
1. Jasper Gilliam Souther
(11/29/1878-07/24/1943) married first, Nancy Collins (1876-1907) and
second,
Estella Mae Cole (1888-1978). Gilliam
was an ordained Baptist minister. He
died in the pulpit while conducting revival meeting at New Liberty Baptist
Church. He had expressed a desire to die while
preaching, and his wish was fulfilled.
He was buried in Clermont,
Georgia.
2.
Sarah J. Souther (10/18/1880-02/15/1881)
3.
Homer H. Souther (12/24/1881-1946) married Lizzie Plott.
4.
Oria C. Souther (12/23/1883-12/29/1965) married Edward
Collins.
5.
Infant (b/d 03/14/1884).
6.
Nora E. Souther (10/12/1887-10/17/1919) married
LaFayette
Jackson.
7.
Maria Souther (08/02/1886-05/30/1950).
8.
William H. Souther (07/17/1889-?),
married twice; spouses’
names unknown.
9.
Joseph Thompson Souther (02/22/1893-05/14/1983)
married Bertha Pruitt.
10.
Martha D. Souther (02/11/1891-07/03/1893)
11.
Grady G. Souther (01/05/1895-09/25/1970) married Mary
Johnson
12.
Mary Souther (08/02/1897-05/30/1950).
13. Lydia
Souther (09/22/1899
- ?).
14.
Emily Rose Souther (10/26/1901
- ?) married John Rice.
15.
Johnnie P. Souther (01/15/1905-01/06/1929).
16.
Cora Souther (07/27/1903-11/09/1903).
We can imagine the heartache Martha
Clementine “Tina” Brown Souther endured with four of her sixteen
children dying
as infants and one young son, Johnnie, at age 24. Tina
died ten years before her preacher son,
Jasper Gilliam, died at New
Liberty Church
in 1943, but his father, John Padgett Souther, who lived to be 99, was
still
living when his son, Rev. Gilliam Souther, died at age sixty-seven.
c2009 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published Nov. 26, 2009 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 December 1,
2009
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