Newspaper Page Text
ARMY private
had servant
pan him often
Before the end of the Civil
War. even the old men and boys
joined the armed forces . . .
j n perry in the 1860 s lived a
grandmather whose grandson, a
bov of 14, was making a visit to
her. He got into a fight and stab
bed a playmate. A warrant was
issued for his arrest.
The grandmother consulted
wilh the oldest lawyer in town,
who remarked that the Southern
Army was badly in need of re
cruits, that the boy evidently
had “war fever” anyway, that if
he would join the army the stab
bing would probably be forgot
ten, and suggested that the boy
“foot it” to Macon and enlist.
He did so, and joined the “Or
phan Brigade.”
That same boy later is reported
to have become a United States
District Judge.
Chair and Fan
A few months after the boy’s
enlistment, the old lawyer him
self, well up in his sixties, who
in his youth had been a brigadier
general of militia, enlisted as a
private in the Confederate army
and served in the ranks.
He took with him his Negro
servant named “Boss.” The law
yer was rather portly. While sta
tioned at Savannah, his daughter
went out to the camp to see her
father.
She found the regiment drawn
up on parade and every time it
would halt, Boss would have a
chair and hand it to his master to
sit on during the rest period. And
Boss would stand behind the
chair, fanning his master with a
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From Gov. Talmadge 1
Honorable C. Cooper Etheridge
Editor and Publisher
The HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Perry, Georgia
Dear Mr. Etheridge:
Permit me to congratulate you on your purpose to
publish a special edition of your excellent newspaper in
celebration of its eightieth year of service to your com
munity.
It is indeed a fitting occasion for you to tell the
stoiy of the remarkable growth of Perry, Houston
County and adjoining communities in this special issue.
There is no better w’ay to preserve the history of
the progress of a people than through such editions.
Aou have the opportunity, not only of relating past ac
complishments but also to reveal the natural resources
found in your section.
Both Perry and neighboring Warner Robins have
made remarkable gains in recent years. These advance
ments have been of such a nature as to attract nation
wide attention.
You live in an area that is ideal for our State-wide
program of matching agriculture with industry. You
have the resources in labor and materials for an enor
mous manufacturing center and at the same time you
have matchless agricultural assets. I
It would be hard to take a drive in any part of the
country that could show so many modern and well-kept
farms than you will find driving South of Macon
through Perry and Houston County.
The HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL is one of our
pioneer newspapers and I congratulate you in acquir
ing such a publication which was operated for so many
years by members of the illustrious Hodges family.
- Such enterprise on your part in undertaking the
production of this edition to set forth to the world your
many advantages and to stimulate local activity in de
velopment is indeed praiseworthy.
Let me wish you and the people of your community
every possible success.
Sincerely,
HERMAN TALMADGE
palm leaf fan.
Verily, reported a historian of
the period, so reduced had be
come the fighting strength of the
South that almost the cradle and
the grave had to be robbed.
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TWO MORE CHURCHES
First Baptist church of Perry
was constituted in 1838, with Al
len Morris as pastor; and the first
Presbyterian church in 1849 with
the Rev. Samuel Wynn as first
pastor.
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GOV. HERMAN TALMADGE
Georgia’s Chief Executive
BUD JIM WAS
STATESMAN OF
'OLD SCHOOL'
The late Col. James Pope (Bud
Jim) Duncan served eight terms
and a total of 16 years as Hous
ton county representative in the
Georgia General Assembly and
two years as State Senator from
this district.
He was a true statesman of the
old school and a portrait in the
new courthouse memorializes this
able public servant. He was in
the legal partnership of Duncan
and Nunn, with Sam A. Nunn,
for more than 20 years prior to
his death.
Six of Bud Jim’s eight terms as
a legislator were served consec
utively, from 1922 through 1934,
after which he was State Senator
for two years.
Third Generation Legislator
He first went to the legislature
in 1896, when he was 30 years of
age, and served four years.
Twenty-two years later he began
his long consecutive legislative
record.
He was the third member of
his family in as many generations
to represent Houston in the state
legislature. His father, the later
Judge Clinton C. Duncan, was a
member of the House in 1868-70,
and his grandfather, James E.
Duncan, was representative in
[ 1835-36.
, The Duncan family was among
i the first families to settle in the
county and came from North
Carolina in 1821, the year the
county was founded. On his ma
ternal side, Mr. Duncan was de
scended from the Pope family,
also early settlers in Houston.
Fis mother was Eliza Judson
Pope.
Col. Duncan was educated in
the Perry school, Neels Military
Academy at Kirkwood and the
University of Georgia. He was
chairman of the Houston Demo
cratic Executive committee for
many years, mayor and city
1 councilman of Perry and presi
dent of the county fair associa
tion.
One of Many Tributes
He was a member of the Bap
tist church and a Mason.
In a tribute to him as he be
pan his eighth term in 1833, The
Home Journal reported that “in
the legislature he does not seek
the chairmanship of any commit
tee and even refuses such places
in order that he may be free to
take an active part in the defeat
or enactment of any legislation.
“His sisters are Mrs. R. L. Cater
of Perry and Mrs. Rol Pate of
Hawkinsville. His brother, C. C.
Duncan, died several years ago.
“His opinion on public ques
tions is sought by his colleagues
in the general assembly who have
j a high regard for Mr. Duncan
and his views.”
ELEVEN SHERIFFS
SINCE THE 1860 s
Eleven sheriffs have headed
Houston county law enforcement
since the 1860s —and there are
many stories of their fearlessness
in rounding up law violators.
The list includes J. R. Cook,
Henry O. Pry, W, H. Norwood,
Tom M. Butner, James R. Dun
can, Sheriff Collier. M. L. Cooper,
George W. Winn, T. S. Chapman,
C. C. Pierce, now a partner in the
Davis Company, and the present
sheriff, C. C. Chapman.
BIBLE SCHOOLS GROW
Perry’s three churches have
daily vacation Bible school ses
sions every Summer and enroll
ments have been growing annual
ly. This Summer the Methodist
and Baptist schools had enroll
ments of more than 100 each and
the Presbyterians about 40.
HOME JOURNAL, PERRY, GA., THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1951
Little Lawlessness
Among Houston Pioneers
When Houston county was first
opened up, a number of smell
farmers moved in, erected log
houses, cleared a few acres which
they cultivated with their own
labor, assisted by other members 1
of their families. There were no !
l oads, churches nor schools and ,
for a year or two, conditions and !
surroundings were quite primi
tive.
This of course was inevitable;
but so conservative a historian
as Chappell, who moved from
Hancock into a county adjoining
Houston as soon as the strip be
tween the Ocmulgee and Flint
was opened to settlers, has in his
“Miscellanies of Georgia” declar
ed that there was witnessed in
these new counties no lawless
ness nor rowdyism such as was
common among the pioneers in
the newly settled Western states.
Though the first comers were
men of scanty means, they were
Georgians, who came as home
builders and were accompanied
by their wives and children. Scat
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tered through these pages many
of their names will be found.
They were the shock troops of an
advancing army who soon follow
ed them—the lordly planters who
1 came with their slaves and open
! ed up large plantations.
, Many of the pioneers them-
I selves became wealthy. Houston
County settled up rapidly. Its
j population grew by leaps and
I bounds. There were practically
Ino industrial enterprises here,
and no commerce. Save for a few
lawyers, merchants and doctors—
and most of these had also exten
sive planting interests—agricul
ture was the only avocation en
gaged in.
One of Wealthiest
Houston was not only one of
the largest counties in the state,
but it was one of the most weal
thy, and had one 6f the largest
slave populations in the State. In
none were the planters more ba
ronial than in Houston. The plan
tation and plantation life never
flowered to more perfection any-
where else in the world. The
cornerstone of that life was the
slavery system, so called.
The new settler would usually
follow this plan: The planter
from Twiggs, or from Greene, for
instance, would, having purchas
ed his broad acres of Houston
County land, first come with
some of his Negroes, and make a
“clearing”, and build a two-room
log house, and some shanties and
shelters, and then go and bring
the rest of the family, and such
of his movable property as he
did not dispose of at a sale.
Frequently neighbors in the
older counties would secure ad
joining lands in the new, and not
I infrequently they and their fam
ilies would travel along together
in going from one to the other.
The wife and smaller children
would usually ride in a Jersey
wagon, the man and the larger
children on horseback, the negro
men on foot, the negro women
riding in the wagons toward new
homes in new country.
STRONG IN CONTESTS
Perry has stood high several
times in the Champion Home
Town Contest sponsored annual
ly by the Georgia Power Co. The
Perry Jaycees are handling the
city’s entry this year.