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The True Citizen, Wednesday, July 21,2021 — Page 5
Michael N. Searles
In July 1925, a trial in Day-
ton, Tennessee rocked the
nation. The trial focused on
whether human evolution
could be taught in any state-
funded school in Tennessee.
The State Legislature passed
the Butler Act prohibiting
the teaching of the theory of
evolution in public schools.
Governor Austin Peay signed
the bill into law allegedly with
the notion that the law would
be unenforceable and would
have no effect on public school
teaching in the state.
A high school teacher named
John T. Scopes challenged
the law and willingly allowed
himself to be charged with
the “crime.” The Scopes
Trial popularly known as the
Monkey Trial was the first trial
broadcast live on radio and 200
reporters arrived in Dayton to
cover it.
The trial attracted two ce
lebrity lawyers to represent the
prosecution and the defense.
William Jennings Bryan was
a three time presidential can
didate and former Secretary of
State. Bryan, who considered
himself an expert on the Bible,
argued for the prosecution and
famed attorney Clarence Dar-
row spoke for the defense.
Scopes was found guilty and
fined $100,but the verdict was
overturned on a technicality.
The Scopes trial generated
books, articles, essays, a play, a
movie, and a lingering debate.
While scholars continue to
disagree as to the true nature
of the trial, it was thought to
be a fight over fundamentalist
versus modernist beliefs. The
question hinged on whether
the Word of God as revealed
in the Bible took priority over
all human knowledge. The is
sue of what should be taught
in public schools reminds us
of Shakespeare’s words: The
past is always a prologue to
the future.
More recently, in another
Tennessee city 185 miles away,
high school teacher Matthew
Hawn ran afoul of the Sullivan
County School District not for
teaching evolution but for as
signing his students the essay
“The First White President” by
Ta-Nehisi Coates and playing a
video of the spoken word poem
“White Privilege” by Kyla
THE SCOPES MONKEY
Jenee Lacey.
A parent complained to the
district that the essay conveyed
somewhat angry and hateful
opinions toward President
Trump and contained words
he believed should not be
introduced to children by a
high school teacher. Hawn, a
Contemporary Issues teacher,
in his defense, said he was
comfortable assigning the es
say because those were the
words of the President and he
thought the kids were mature
enough to handle it. David A.
Cox, director of schools, ap
parently disagreed arguing that
“Hawn exhibited unprofes
sional conduct by “demonstrat
ing inappropriate terms” and
for “unreasonably denying”
students in his class “access
to varying points of view in
violation of the Teacher Code
of Ethics.”
Responses of support came
from various quarters but to
no avail. The Sullivan County
Board of Education on a 6-1
vote agreed that the charges
against Hawn were true and
warranted. Nearly a century
ago, John Scopes left Dayton
and became a graduate geol
ogy student at the University
of Chicago. His ill-fame kept
him from continuing in teach
ing and essentially required
him to leave the state of Ten
nessee. He later was hired as
an oil expert for the United
Production Corporation. He
continued to work in the oil
business in Texas and Loui
siana and occasionally made
brief public appearances such
as the 1960 movie premiere
Inherit the Wind.
The town of Dayton never
forgot John T. Scopes even
after he was ushered out. The
Rhea County Courthouse Mu
seum is a tourist stop for any
one wishing to walk in his steps
and relive the Scopes trial. The
town also conducts an annual
Scopes Festival with a play
dramatizing the trial and other
events.
Neither the fate of Matthew
Hawn nor his actions of pre
senting challenging materials
in Sullivan County may have
a lasting effect. It took many
years for Tennessee to outlive
the reputation as a backward
and anti-science state, and
maybe the bring of Hawn will
have no impact on Tennessee’s
image. It likewise is unknown
how the impact of
community politi- SEE
cal bias will affect SEARLES,
the education that 7
Pamela Poole-Lively Machino
LOCAL GENEALOGY, FAMILIES AND HISTORY - GEORGIA LIVELY HERITAGE CONTINUED/PART 2
The Livelys of the 1700’s
settled with their King’s Land
Grants in Screven County and
between the Sardis and Girard
areas of Burke County. Abra
ham “Abel" Lively was born
in 1715 in Scotland. He and
his wife Ann had a son, Mat
thew, who became a preacher
and fought in the Revolution
ary War. He also had a son,
Rueben, who chose not to bght
and went to South Carolina and
then on to Nova Scotia until
after the war was over. We
bnd Rueben’s children listed
as orphans when they returned
to this area after the war.
This was a hard time for Loy
alists and Patriots, especially if
they were given land from the
King and then lost it during this
time of political unrest.
This group of ancestors was
obviously Christian because
they gave their children Bibli
cal names. Rev Matthew Live
ly received his assignments of
locations of where to preach
from the Old Brick Church that
still stands and is active today
on South Stoney Bluff Road.
After the Revolutionary War,
Matthew settled in Girard and
lived in a large white lap-siding
tw-story house.
Scottish Highlanders in gen
eral did not believe in Slavery.
They would require their new
brides to free any dowry slaves
given to them by their fathers
before marriage.
Matthew Lively had ap
proximately 20 children with
two wives. Four of his sons
were named Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John. Many daugh
ters in the family married into
the Royal, Oglesby, O’Banion,
Odum and other Burke Coun
ty families. Martha “Patsy”
Lively,
who never married, was the
last one to live in the old Lively
Family Home in Girard. It
doesn’t exist today but many
of the old-timers in that area
still remember it..
My line of the family comes
through Mark Lively (1791-
1852). Mark was an educated
man and was very active in
politics and worked to elimi
nate alcohol consumption.
Mark was married to Jane Boyd
(1805-1881), whose father
Abraham Boyd had a large
plantation in Virginia, and also
one across the
Savannah River in S.C.
There are many bne Boyd
families living in S.C. and Ga.
today, both black and white.
I had a black supervisor at
work who had the last name
Boyd. I told her I could bnd
her ancestors. She challenged
me saying that I couldn’t trace
her black genealogy. She was
very surprised that within
minutes, I was able to locate
her 14 yr old Grt x2 GF, also
named Abraham Boyd, in that
year’s census, living with and
share-cropping with a 14 yr
old white boy. Last week, I
sent a N.C. friend, with the
last name Boyd, a list of names
on my Boyd Ancestor Tree to
compare.
At this time, I have found 6
of my friends from other states
related to me.
Our own beloved Waynes
boro physician, Dr. Shelly
Griffin and I share this same
Grt x2 GM, Jane Boyd. Her
husband, Rev. Mark Lively
was a horseback preacher in the
Presbyterian Church, working
long hard hours to evangelize
rural Georgia. While her hus
band was away doing God’s
Work, she took her children
to nearby Botsford Baptist
Church, which is how our fam
ily became Southern Baptist.
We recently discovered old
pictures in our family that in
clude pictures of Rev Mark and
Jane Boyd Lively. This set of
Grt x2 GP owned what we call
“The Old Lively Home Place”
on Claxton-Lively Road. We
have all heard the story of Jane
hiding her cotton and few valu
able heirlooms along with her
family in the Big
Gully when Sher-
man came through MACHINO,
on his March to 8
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