About Pickens County progress. (Jasper, Ga.) 1899-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2024)
Page 8B Pickens County Progress June 20, 2024 Counseling Individual, Couples and Family Therapy with Adults, Teens and Children Robin W. Dunn M.S. Licensed Professional Counselor Over 30 years experience helping people live better 770-548-1966 • 505 Cove Rd. • Suite 3 • Jasper www.robinwdunnlpc.com A look at local history The Keith’s Plantation and eccentric family member By Chris Feldt According to local sourc es, the Keith Plantation near Canton, in present-day Keithsburg during the Civil War held over 3,300 acres along the Etowah River. It sat two miles north of Etowah. (Note: At one point in the past, Canton was named Etowah). The planta tion had a large brick house made from a kiln with red clay from the Etowah River. A story recounts how the owner of the planta tion, Mackey A. Keith Jr. hid food supplies from the Union when Sherman’s men binned more than half of nearby Etowah down. The food was hidden in the trees of the plantation. When the Union soldiers discovered this, they hung him in re taliation. In one recounting, the rope broke, in others, the slaves of the plantation cut down their master out of their regard for him. Archaeologist Robert Wauchope investigated the Keith property in the 1940s. In his report, he claimed The gated entryway to the Keith Cemetery, Canton, near the Walmart and a Waffle House on Riverstone Parkway. Let GenSpring Power help you achieve peace of mind and show your independence! In recognition of Independence Day, with every Briggs & Stratton home generator purchased between June 1 and July 4, 2024, GenSping Power is offering a quality American Flag. Let us help you gain your independence from power outages with a quality Briggs & Stratton home generator system, professionally installed by our fully licensed team. After the sale, GenSpring Power offers service plans and warranty support to help keep your Briggs & Stratton generator ready for the next power outage. BRIGGS&STRATTON ENERGY SOLUTIONS To schedule a free site visit call 770-825-2103 or visit our website GenSpringPower.com IGenSpring power© mmm The overgrown entrance to the Keith Plantation. Note the main house in the background evidence of pottery from the Early Woodland Period. There was a village site on the property a half mile past the Keith Plantation home along the river. Arrowheads and various stamped and checked pottery types were found at the site. At the time of the excavation, one of the jugs found at the site had only ever been found at one other site in Georgia. In 1935, the Keith fam ily sold their land to Pierce Cline. The Cline family passed it on Clyde Teague. His daughter, Marjorie, married Dutch York after meeting him at the Univer sity of Georgia. Eventually, the ownership passed down to the York family after Marjorie and Dutch moved there in 1952. The York family added modifications to the prop erty: an in-ground pool and a half dozen outbuildings. Many of the windows and doors were replaced in the home as well. According to sources, there was a fire in the property sometime in the 80s that ravaged the interior of the home. Maijorie and Dutch York’s son Michael currently own the property. In 2006, there was a push by the Cherokee County Historical Society to pre serve the property as a his torical site. However, the York family asked not to be on the society’s list of prop erties to be saved. Currently, the plantation, outbuildings, and 256 acres of land, many of them along the Etowah River, are for sale. Today, there are claims of lineage by the descen dants of the Keith fami ly slaves. It appears that Mackey A. Keith, Jr. donat ed 40-acre parcels to many of the intermingled mem bers of the Keith, Bates, and McMickens family lines. Most of those families lived in an area that was known as Keith’s Ridge, which later changed to Pearidge. Phillip Keith donated the two acres for the original Hickory Log Church. His wife Aggie was a slave on the Keith Plantation. He is buried at the Hickory Log Cemetery along with his wife. Heirs of the Keith family dispersed across the country after they left the plantation. Two of the most enigmatic were the sons of Mackey Keith, John and Amos. John Matthew Keith, bom in Lumpkin County, upon turning 18 years old, moved to California around 1850. He didn’t strike it rich in the gold rash but he got involved in the lumber busi ness in Calaveras County. After that venture didn’t pan out, he took his hand to farming and raising sheep. As luck would have it, one of his farmlands was rich with oil. He partnered with J.J. Mack and began buying lots of land with oil rights. Shortly before his death, he and Mack sold their land to a wealthy English com photo/Canton History page on Facebook The Keith Plantation as seen from the sky fac ing north in 1952. MAIN OFFICE: 15 Sammy McGhee Blvd. • Jasper, GA 30143 COVE ROAD OFFICE: 65 Cove Road • Jasper, GA 30143 (706) 253-9600 • www.cbopc.com FDIC would be the right woman. One of the letters read “Dear Mr. Keith, I have been reading about you in the paper, and have been thinking how lonely you must be, living all alone in the country. I have just fin ished reproving my sister, who made an unkind remark about you. I told her she should be ashamed of her self for saying such things about a good man who has reached the mellow years of life and who should be treat ed kindly by all the world. I wish we could meet some time, as I am sure I could bring comfort and solace to your declining years. I shall be anxiously awaiting to hear from you. Yours, very sincerely.” Amos explained to his attorney, “You know John, I never believed any of these. I love them all, but I know they are only after my money. I have read Shake speare all my life, and I have learned a good deal about human nature. Shakespeare was the greatest student of human nature among all the writers and thinkers, and I owe a great deal of my suc cess in life to his teaching. All this has been fun, but I knew there was nothing real in it,” according to an article in the San Francisco Exam iner Dec 13, 1915. Amos’s will had 48 rel atives divide up each a 2 percent interest in his estate. Much to the surprise of ev eryone, they each received a small amount compared to what they were expecting. Amos’s will called for his remains to be returned by train to the Keith Family Cemetery in Canton. With in a week of his death, he was interred in Georgia. The Keith Cemetery in Canton sits on the former land of the plantation across the highway from the Su per Walmart (on top of the Cherokee Village named Hickory Log) on Riverstone Highway. Located directly be side the Waffle House, the cemetery is gated and still watched over by stewards of the Keith family. The cemetery is beautiful and well-maintained. It is on private property and is not open to the public. [Chris Feldt is a local history buff who has recent ly published a book, Trag edy and Triumph, A North Georgia Flistory Compen dium. YEAR’S CALENDAR GREAT Submit your photos of local scenes, landmarks or events that may be selected to appear in our 2025 community calendar. RULES: • All photos submitted must be high quality with a dpi of at least 300 dpi • Photos must be in horizontal format • Each photo submission should contain a brief description along with the photographer's name and where / when the photo was taken • Photos must be taken in Pickens County • Limited to 3 submissions per person • Photos not meeting the above requirements will not be considered • Deadline for entries is August 2, 2024. Send any questions or to submit your photos to: pickenscalendarphoto@gmail.com hjfMMMfflm/ pany named Imperial for $3,500,000. When John Matthew died in April 1914, his estate was besieged by fraudsters. Even John’s business partner, J.J. Mack sued the estate and lost. Amos Keith, eight years younger than John, and after serving in the Confedera cy, left Canton in search of adventure in 1875. At first, he tended to sheep that his brother owned. Later he began working for a Sacramento bank deal ing with land investments. Amos was a shrewd trader, buying properties at low prices, and became a well- known landlord in the China Alley section of Selma. Photo/Fresno Daily Re publican Dec 11, 1915 The eccentric Amos Keith, of the Keith Plantation family who spent most of his time in California. A kind and eccentric man, Amos had many would-be suitors, especially after inheriting money from his wealthier brother John when he passed away. John had people from all over the country come out of the woodwork pretend ing to be heirs. The craziest instance of this was when Doctor Susan Tedford from San Francisco challenged the estate, claiming that she was the guardian of a lost heir of John’s - a child, now a grown woman, from Alas ka who was illegitimate. The courts eventually saw through the rase and dis missed all of the fictitious claims. Shortly before his death, to humor himself, Amos instructed his attorney to read the missives of desper ate and conniving women looking for an easy meal ticket. The death and poten tial fortune of his brother’s estate were popular in the news. Women from all over the country would mail him letters explaining why they
