PAGE 16A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 22. 2011
Black History in Pickens: Part II
Workers at the Georgia Marble Company and Jasper
By Dr. Kathleen Thompson
[This article is the second in a
series devoted to the history of
the Black residents of Pickens
County. Dr. Kathleen Thompson
has completed extensive research
including; archives and library
investigation, interviews of local
residents, and searches of early
newspapers. This project has and
continues to be made possible by
the Pickens Arts and Cultural Al
liance, and grants from the Geor
gia Humanities Council, and the
National Endowment for the Hu
manities.]
A year after the arrival of the
railroad in Tate and Jasper, the
Georgia Marble Company was
chartered in 1884. A 1902 ac
count in the Atlanta Constitution
newspaper records that Blacks
had been employed in the marble
industry for 15 years. That
would mean that the first Black
employees were hired in 1887,
before Colonel Sam gained con
trol of the Company in 1905.
The article also refers to the
Black workforce as holding jobs
as “workers in the rubbing beds
and as truck men.”
Old photos, preserved on a
state run website called Vanish
ing Georgia, document the type
of work of Black employees pro
vided. Captions and notes clarify
work seen in the photographs. A
picture taken in 1890 of the en
tire workforce of the Blue Ridge
Marble Company in Nelson
clearly shows Black workers.
Three photos, shot in the
1930s of quarry workers in Tate
and Marble Hill, confirms Black
work crews doing tasks such as
“attaching cable to a marble
block to be lifted out the quarry.”
Teams of mules and men are
seen in another photo and in
clude a Black employee. These
teams “transferred marble from
the stock yard to the plant and
back.”
Beginning in 1906 Willie
Sanford Green (father of Willie
Mae Weaver) worked at the
quarry. One of his duties was to
check on Sunday afternoon to
make sure that the pumps were
properly removing ground water.
One day Willie arrived at the
work site and found that the
creek had flooded, swamping the
pumps and filling the quarry. He
had started the sirens in order to
get help from other employees.
The sirens always signaled an
emergency such as a home fire,
accident at the company, or other
serious problems.
By the 1930s Colonel Sam
Tate had developed the Georgia
Marble Company to a size that
required 1,030 workers. It is es
timated that 15 percent of that
work force was Black. That
would be around 160 workers,
most of whom lived nearby with
their families.
The Black population of Pick
ens County in 1930 included 426
Negro males counted on the cen
sus.
As an employee of the Marble
Company family men were pro
vided housing.
In fact one was not allowed to
buy land and build one’s own
home if you worked for Colonel
Sam Tate. According to Steve
Griffith, Sam Tate believed, “If
he owned the land, he had the
power to remove someone he
considered undesirable at any
time.”
In addition to family housing,
single Black men could stay at a
boarding house for colored
workers that was provided by the
Georgia Marble Company.
It was located in the Lower
Whippowill section, near the
creek and quarries. According to
Nelson resident Willie Mae
Weaver, many of the Black men
were from Dahlonega. They
would walk home to their fami
lies in Lumpkin County on Fri
day and walk back to the Tate
boarding house Sunday after
noon.
When Colonel Sam Tate took
over the marble company in
1905 he began recruiting Black
workers from other areas of
Georgia.
The first employees came
from Lumpkin County. Willie
Mae Weaver’s father, Willie San
ford Weaver, walked to Tate to
become a quarry worker around
1906. She explained that in rural
Lumpkin County the only choice
was to work at farming.
In Tate the pay was better and
one could get company housing
for their families. Willie Green
met Kittie Mae Roach, married
her, and moved from the workers
boarding house to a home in
Upper Whippowill.
Additionally Black workers
from the areas around Sander-
sville, Georgia came to Tate to
toil with marble and to Jasper to
work in the sawmill industry.
They heard of employment op
portunities from relatives and
friends who had already moved
to Pickens County.
Roderick Moore’s father
moved to Jasper because an
uncle had already relocated and
got a position at a sawmill. One
of the reasons for this migration
was the lack of industry and jobs
in rural South Georgia
At the pink marble mansion
Colonel Sam, his sister, and
brother Luke were attended to by
several Black employees. An ex
slave, Jeff Strickland, was
Colonel Sam’s first valet and
lived in servant’s quarters in the
basement of the house.
Three Black families lived
near the mansion in company
homes build on orders from
Colonel Sam. Just outside the
gate of the Tate House one can
locate what was once a resi
dence. It has recently been ex
panded for use as part of events
held at the house.
This was the home of the
Roach family. James Roach was
the chef at the Tate Mansion. He
and his wife Dora raised their
children in this home including;
James (Chester), Mary Lois,
Grady, Preston, and Truman. Son
Preston Roach (Sr.) worked for
Steve Tate until Steve’s death in
1958. Preston worked managing
the Tate property at Lake Sconti
(Today’s Big Canoe). Brother
Truman Roach also worked for
the Georgia Marble Company.
While the home no longer ex
ists, just up the road from the
mansion toward Smokey Hol
low, on the left, was the resi
dence of Temp Echols and his
wife Mattie Frances. Temp was
Colonel Sam’s chauffer and Mat-
tie was a school teacher.
The Collins family lived in a
company house on the opposite
of the road from the Echols fam
ily. George Collins was a brick
and stone mason and carpenter
for Sam Tate and was foreman of
the crew that built the mansion.
His wife Katherine worked at
the Tate House as housekeeper
taking care of Sam, Miss Flora,
and brother.
When George’s health pre
cluded stone work, Colonel Sam
had a store constructed in
Smokey Hollow for George to
run. The “Stand” was a landmark
in the community for years
(More about the Stand in a later
installment.)
African-American citizens
have worked in Pickens County
for as far back as the 1830s,
when they were slaves to Chero
kee landowner James Daniels. In
the marble industry Black work
ers were so valued that Colonel
Sam Tate sought out company
employees in South Georgia and
other locations. The Tate family
had a group of loyal employees
that lived near the mansion.
In Jasper Black workers
worked in the sawmill industry,
at the Roper Hospital, in local
homes, and other businesses.
While the numbers and percent
ages of Black residents was and
still is small, they have been and
are a valuable part of the com
munity.
Almost three hundred old
photos of Pickens County can be
viewed and downloaded on the
Vanishing Georgia website. The
Vanishing Georgia Photographic
Collection of almost 18,000 im
ages is the result of a Georgia
Archives project begun in the
mid-1970s to locate and copy
historically significant photo
graphs held by individuals
throughout Georgia.
http://cdm.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/
vanishing.php
Next installments: The
Historic Black Communi
ties in Tate Jasper’s Black
residents & Community
You many contact Dr.
Thompson at 706 633 3865 or
tjthomps@tds.net. Comments,
feedback, and new information
are welcome.
c^ucficn
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6 th , 10:00 AM
ABSOLUTE AUCTION
100 +/- Bank Owned Properties
Sale Site: Junior Brackett Community Room
Hwy 515 Blairsville, GA
Dempsey Auction Co. Representatives will be at Sale Site
Oct. 4 & 5 from 11:00am to 4:00 pm.
Review & Registration Session
10% Buyer's Premium
For Additional information please go to
www.dempseyauction.com or call 800 dempsey (336-7739)
PO BOX 1341
106 E. 8th Avenue
Rome, GA 30162
Website:
www.dempseyauction.com
NAA
Lynn Dempsey - Lou Dempsey - Gaines Dempsey
Auction Co.
Call Us By Name
Toll Free
1-800-DEMPSEY
706-291-0746
am
Ray Dempsey
Small ads in the Progresswoiuw big results
Place a classified ad with up to 15 words for $5
(You may add as many words as you want for 200 ea.)
Call our office at 706-253-2457 or place it any time from our website at
www.pickensprogress.com
