From the early 1970's. Approved by Garland at the time.
by Donna Parrish, Editor
Garland C. Bagley, our vice-president of the Forsyth County Historical
Society, is a well educated and versatile man. He attended high school and
junior college at Berry and finished college at the University of Georgia,
earning a B.S. in Education. He also holds an LL.B. from Atlanta Law College.
Since retiring from the State Board of Education, he has interested himself
in several avocations.
One of his favorite activities is cooking. He served a voluntary
apprenticeship at Johnny Reb's restaurant in Marietta, Georgia, for a year
to improve his knowledge. All of us who have tasted the barbecue sauce and
brunswick stew, for which he developed the recipes, will testify to his
skill.
The avocation occupying the majority of his time now is genealogy. His
interest falls into two areas, his personal Bagley family line and the deep
interest in Forsyth County history including the Cherokee Indians who preceded
the white man here. I would like to share with you some of the information
from his extensive research.
On the Bagley line, he is now having research done in England. The Baguley
Hall near Manchester in Cheshire was once in his family. It is being restored
by the Department of Environment as the oldest example of a 'timbered building"
and has the added distinction of having a Viking roof. It was built about
1253,, A "timbered building" means that the dark lumber and the light cement
are put together to form geometric patterns. The Viking roof gives the impression
of a Viking ship turned upside down, to form a roof. The restoration has
been in process for four years and will take ten more to complete. It will
include landscaping of the grounds.
On our Forsyth County history, Mr. Bagley has already written a "History
of Harris Grove School". It consists of 23 pages and may be purchased for
$2.50 Orders may be sent through "Cherokee Country".
Also since last November, he has been working on a comprehensive history
of Forsyth County. He has acquired an extensive library of genealogical works,
historical works and photostatic copies of "out of print" books. He has also
obtained church records, voter's lists, and other materials not available
through our county records. He pointed out to me that three Baptist and one
Methodist newspapers were published in Cumming, Georgia in the late 1800's.
The Baptist papers were: "The Baptist Banner" 1878-1883; "The Baptist Leader"
1891-18971 and "The North Georgia Baptist", several years. (If anyone should
have a copy of these old papers, the Society would appreciate the chance
to copy it or abstract the material.)
Along with Mr. Lawrence L. Stanley, Mr.Bagley has done some field work
laying out the lines of the Cherokee's old Hickory Log District. The seat
of this district was Hickory Log which was located just north of the present
North Canton, Georgia. The voting places were Hickory Log, Hightower (now
Frogtown in Forsyth County) and Big Savannah which was in Dawson County on
the Chestatee River. The courthouse was later moved to Frogtown.
This is just a sample of Mr. Bagley's information. To mention everything
contained in his library would fill the magazine several times overflowing.
We are very proud of our Vice-President, Mr. Garland C. Bagley.
Note by John Salter: Garland went on to publish the book mentioned in this old biography. This was one of two volumes that was published on the "History of Forsyth County, Georgia". The second volume was published after his death in 1984. (Please refer to the Books section on this site for more information.)
These two books have become the "Gold Standard" when doing historical and genealogical research in Forsyth County. The "Garland Bagley Collection" at the Historical Society of Forsyth County contains many of the original letters and articles used in the research of this book.