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We’re Proud To Serve
Our Fellow Citizens
O F
HISTORIC
HOUSTON
AND
Progressive
PERRY
And Congratulate Another of
Their Fine Institutions
Houston %$m journal
On Its 80th Anniversary
SOUTHEASTERN
TELEPHONE
COMPANY
N. A. MAHONE, Georgia Manager
FITZGERALD, GEORGIA
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Reddy to serve
growing Perry
and Houston County
\
The Georgia Power Company stands ready to
serve fast growing Perry and Houston County.
‘ *i p ~ We are ready NOW with power for all de-
KCQdy tnands in this important area . . . for the
I /O present homes, farms, industries . . . and for
V k C j S VpT tie NEW ones that are coming.
Electric power from the Georgia Power Com-
pany is dependable . . . and economical, too.
/Ih In fact, the average residential customer of
. the Georgia Power Company uses 40 percent
I*—" » ( more electricity than the nation’s average and
(1 (Q \ Aj pays 26 per cent less per kilowatt hour.
cMjl? GEORGIA POWER
“ A CITIZEN WHEREVER WE SERVE’ 7
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EVERGREEN STREET IN 1911—This is a shot of Evergreen
Street, looking from tlie Baptist Church southeast. The card
from which this picture was taken was dated Jan. 27 and it said
that it was not yet “cold enough to kill meat.’’
Post Oifice
Used To Be
Talk Center
Oldtimers in Perry can remem
ber back not so many years when
the post office was located where
the Houston Drug Co. is now.
There was no delivery service
then and Perry’s mail chugged in
of a morning and again about
night. Everybody in town used
to like to gather around the post
office in the evenings to get their
mail, but mostly they just want
ed to talk with their neighbors
and find out what was going on.
One of the outstanding post of
fice gatherers was the late Jube
Strother, the father of the Jube
Strother who lives here now.
Mr. Jube, whose voice could be
heard two blocks away, would
come marching into the post of
fice and holler: “Mr. Bonner,
quit reading those post cards and
put up the moil.” Everyone
would get a big laugh out of this
bit of friendly complaining even
if Mr. Jube said it three or four
times a week. The “Mr. Bonner”
he mentioned was the late Fred
Bonner, whose wife lived here
until recently when she moved to
Milledgeville.
lOne of the landmarks inside
the old post office was a large
sign proclaiming; “Don’t spit in
this post office.”
Right across the face of the
sign was a big blob of tobacco
juice.
HEROINE WAS NAMED
The Sergeant Clinton C. Dun
can Chapter of the United Daugh
ters of the Confederacy on Oct.
3, 1933 in regular session voted
Mrs. Fannie Killen Norwood its
heroine of Houston County dur
ing the Sixties. Mrs. Norwood
was the only surviving widow of
the Confederacy. She died sev
eral years later.
.V.WVAVAV.VAV.W.W.V.'
METHODISTS
STARTED BOYS'
SCHOOL 1837
“Trustees of the Wesley Man
ual Labor School in the county of
Houston” were incorporated by
act of the Georgia Legislature ap
proved Dec. 25, 1837.
Besides 19 Methodist ministers
living in different parts of the
state, the board of trustees was
composed of James A. Everett.
Reuben H. Lucky, Allen Wiggins,
Mathew Dawsey (or Darsey),
A. S. Edgeworth, Alexander
Smith, Carlton Welborn, Donald
B. Jones, Joel Walker, James
Wimberly, Noah Lang, Reuben E.
Brown, James Dean, Isaac H
Smith, Daniel F. Wade, Samuel
Jenkins, and Isaac Taylor.
The act of incorporation states
that “James Abbington Everett
of Houston county hath made a
donation of $25,000 designed as 3|
permanent fund, the interest i
alone to be used toward the sal- 1
aries of the officers of the school.!
Power to fill vacancies in board j
was given annual conference of
,Methodist Episcopal Church.
FELLOWSHIP BAPTIST
BECAME CHURCH IN 1827
The Fellowship congregation
was constituted into a Baptist
church June 9, 1827, Josiah Neal
and Henry Dykes acted as the
Presbytery. This church was first
located about 12 miles north of;
Perry. It was later moved to a l
location about 11 miles from
Perry.
The church was constituted
with the following members: Al
lason Culpepper, Medideth Mer
cer, Jeremiah Busby, Thomas
Price, Jesse Pollock, John Walk
er, Joseph Baker, John Gilbert,
Mary Cidoepper, Mary Nobles
and Sarah Gilbert.
Read The Home Journal Every
Week.
HOME JOURNAL, PERRY, GA., THURSDAY, JULY 19, 195^
Now Good Neighbors, Peach,
Houston Once Were Bitter
Bitterness that is almost unbe- 1 ‘ -
lievable to the present congenial wy . M .1
residents of both Houston and
Peach counties raged intermit- j j M ac j»
tentlv from 1916 to 1924 between
texiuy uum iviv v ”
the residents of Perry and Fort
Valley as the latter sought to
have a county of their own.
Even the children of both came
to disparage everything about the
other community.
The movement to create Peach
county out of portions of Hous
ton and Macon counties was in
troduced in the Georgia House by
! Rep. Hartley of Ft. Valley in 1916
but was defeated. Rep. S. A.
| Nunn of Perry and Dr. B. B.
Brooks of Montezuma in Macon
; county strongly opposed it.
The following fall Richardson
of Byron and Brown of Ft. Val
ley were elected representatives
from Houston county and in 1917
Rep. Brown introduced another
bill but it did not come to a vote
that year or the following one.
State Campaign Started
Not until 1921 was the bill
again introduced in the House
and in 1922 it finally passed by
exactly the required number of
votes. The Senate also passed it
and Houston quietly made plans
for a state-wide campaign against
the proposed Constitutional
amendment to create the new
county.
A terrific fight was waged in
the press, by personal corre
spondence and motorcades which
went into every section of the
state. On election day Houston |
and Macon counties sent poll
i workers to about 100 counties in
| the state.
1 The election resulted in victory j
; for Houston and defeat for the
creation of Peach. The majority
was about 8,000 against the ere- ,
ation of the new county.
Court Fight Extended
A long court fight ensued as
' the proponents of Peach county
attempted to have returns from
i many counties thrown out. Dun
can & Nunn of Perry, Jule Fel
-1 ton and John B. Guerry of Mon
tezuma represented the opposi
; tion to Peach and the courts ruled
j
in their favor.
While the case was still pend
ing in the courts, about 65 mem
bers of the House signed a resolu
tion providing that J. E. David
son of Ft. Valley be seated as a
member from Peach, but this
move was also defeated in the
House.
In the early Summer of 1924
leaders of the Peach county
movement sought a conference
with Houston and Macon leaders,
stating frankly that they had lost
but that feeling seemed so irre
concilable that they hoped to be
permitted to have a small county
of their own out of any area that
Houston and Macon would be
willing to give, and end the in
cessant strife.
Finally Agreed
The conferees agreed on boun
daries and drafted a bill which
finally passed the General As
sembly in 1924, creating Peach as
one of the smallest counties in
the state. It began operation on
Jan. 1, 1925.
Regardless of geographical size,
the people of Houston know that
their neighboring Peach county
is one of the finest in the state
and there is little or no trace of
the former and unfortunate bit
terness which prevailed.
"Wattsville" Was
Once County Seat
The county seat of Houston
county was first known as Watts
-1 ville—for two years only.
Houston county was founded in
1821 after the Creek Indians
ceded this land to the state of
Georgia.
In 1823, the Judges of the In
ferior Court of Houston County,
who correspond to the present
county commissioners, officially
designated Wattsville as the coun
ty site, then changed the anme
' to Perry in honor of a Naval hero
I of that period.
BANK CHARTERED
From Home Journal. July 26,1889
j Organization of the Perry Loan
| and Savings Bank under a char
| ter from the Georgia Legislature
| marks a new era in the prosper
ity of Perry.
The directors are W. D. Day,
J. D. Martin, E. L. Dennard, L. F.
Cater, C. E. Gilbert, C. C. Duncan
and C. F. Cooper The officers are
E. L. Dennard, president; and
J. D. Martin, cashier.
News Ail Over
Weather and natural phenom
ena made bigger news in Hous
ton county in 1886-87 than at any
time in its entire history, it ap
pears from files of The Home
Journal.
On Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1886, sev
eral earthquake shocks were
strongly felt in Perry and consid
erably frightened the populace,
It was later found that Charles
ton, S. C. was the center of the
disturbance.
Earlier that year, in January
1886, Houston and Middle Geor
| gia had their worst cold weather
lin recorded history. The Oc
mulgee River was frozen over at
Macon and a blizzard, with tem
peratures at 3 degrees above zero,
ranged over Houston and Middle-
Georgia.
A year later, on Jan. 5, 1887,
the heaviest snowfall ever known
in Perry and Houston county
covered everything with a white
blanket over four inches deep,
“not counting drifts,” and sleigh
riding was enjoyed by many in
Perry.
These events made great news
because they were so unusual.
Houston county, in weather
bureau records, has an equable
climate which ranges from an av
-1 erage January-December temper*
ature of 40 degrees to July-Aug
ust average of 80 degrees.
Because good pastures can be
; made to flourish the year-around,
Houston is now enjoying quite a
boom in the development of the
] livestock industry.
I
Houston Factory
Baptist Formed
From 2 Churches
The Houston Factory Baptist
Church was established Dec. 22,
1840, as the result of the union
of Sand River and Smyrna
churches.
The Sand River church had
been constituted Juno 26, 1836. by
Lewis Peacock and Allison Cul
pepper, ministers, the latter hav
ing served as pastor from 1836 to
1840.
(Song books used in the early
church, old records indicate, were
Watt’s and Rippon’s, Mercer’s
Cluster and the Psalmist Hymn
Book.
Among the pastors have been
A. T. Holmes, J. W. Cooper, J. R.
Horne, W. A. Bagby, J. H. Allen,
W. J. Collins, A. J. Beck, J. H.
Campbell, B. F. Tharpe, F. M.
Blalock, A. J. Cheeves, L. W.
Parrott, W. R. Cox, W. H. Brown
and J. C. Solomon.
Early Members
Among the early members
were Elizabeth Smith, J. G. Har
grove, Elizabeth Jones, William
E. Loft, Margaret Hudson, John
Wilkins, Robert Batty, O. D.
Tucker, Catherine Simms, and
Bob, a slave belonging to James
A. Bryant, Thomas and Nellie
Kinsey, David and -Sarah Han
cock R. W. Baskin, R. M, Har
grove, Winiford Baskin, Tempy
Phillips, J. E. Sharp and William
S. Moore.
Before the War Between the
States the church had 172 mem
bers, of which 112 were Negroes.
Only 55 white members were left
when in 1868 the colored constit
uency withdrew and formed a
church of their own.
Oldest living member of the
Houston Factory Baptist church
is also the county’s oldest resi
dent —Mrs. Bettie Woodard of
Perry who is 99. She attended
services at the church regularly
until a few years ago when she
bePame too feeble to make the
trip, and then attended services
at Perry Baptist church across
the street from her home.
The Rev. Alfred Palmer is now
pastor of the Houston Factors
church which has services every
c unday.
LODGE CHARTERED
Houston l odge No. 35 of l' r
■onry wnr chartered on Nov
1844. Timothy M. Furlow v
first Worstsinfid ,Master: Jam
Oolmos, Senior Warden; David i
Webb, Junior Warden.
Since the beginning of Georgi l
4-H club work in 1905, around
one million boys and girls have
been members.