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Special Correspondent and Occasional
Beer Editor For The Flagpole.
WILLIAM ORTEN CARLTON = ORT.
This Just In...
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As you may or may not know, for the
past year or more 1 have been doing some
serious research on the Terminal Hotel fire,
which occurred in Atlanta May 16,1938.
Gradually I am piecing together the lives of
the 35 people killed in that blaie. Tidbits
about these folks come to me from the
oddest sources — many of which are utterly
unexpected.
Just tonight, 1 was pouring over the
1860 U. S. Census of Clinch County,
Ga., trying to determine which of the
various families of Smiths who lived
there then were what kin to each other.
Most of the ones I've thus far checked
out lived in the “Southern District" of
the county (bear in mind this was as it
was then), and were served by the long-
vanished Magnolia Post Office. Maybe
not all at that time, but in the long
history of the county there have been
several James Smiths, including a James
M., a James F., and The Hon. James C.
“What does all this have to do with that
fire in 1938?" you ask. Well, Warren
Sanford McLaughlin, the Southern Railway
baggage master who died in that fire, was
bom in Clinch County in 1880. His father,
Ro(w)an Marion McLaughlin (Sr.), was
married twice — both times to women with
the maiden name of Smith. His first wife
was Catherine (Kate) Smith, the daughter
of The Hon. James C. Smith and his wife,
whose identity will be forthcoming when 1
get that far along in the census roll. Kate
died around 1903 in Brunswick. Ga., and is
buried there. R. M. married Miranda Jane
Smith, daughter of James Milcy Smith and
Amanda Jane Futch Smith, Oct 24.1904
Naturally 1 first wondered if these two
Smith women were sisters, but it looks
impossible now that 1 have more informa
tion. I’m still checking, and when 1 pour
through all the 1860 Smiths and then find
the same folks again in 1870 and 1880, I’ll
bring the subject back up. Not that anyone
cares, but you’ll read it right here
At that same time, somewhere in south
Georgia there lived a little girl named
Alice. Her father was bom in Scotland, but
both she and hefflSther were Georgia
natives. Alice was bom in July 1855 and
went on to marry an Ohio transplant
named Oliver E. Collar, who was a sawmill
supenntendent — first in Tattnall County
at Perry’s Mills, later of the cypress mills
north of Brunswick (where they lived for
quite awhile), and finally in Alabama
before he retired. Oliver died before 1920,
and is probably buried in the city cemetery
in High Spnngs, Fla., where his and Alice’s
only child, Dr. J. O. Collar, practiced
dentistry and raised seven children. Alice
had fnends (and maybe family as well) in
Lumber City, Ga., so 1 suspect she was a
native of Telfair County.
There was a significant community of
Scots there at that time, several of whom
w ere bom in Scotland. Try as I might,
though, I have been unable to establish
Alice’s maiden name and to determine wliu
her parents were. She, too, was killed in the
Terminal Hotel Are, so I suppose the truth
will be found in that cemetery — and in the
High Spnngs and Gainesville newspapers
Meanwhile, 1 check every Scotland-born
male of proper age in the 1870 census to see
if any of them has a daughter named Alice
who would have been 14 or 15 in that
census I have my work cut out for me, this
is like doing digital calculus by using only
long division to figure Not recommended
for the faint of heart, folks.
So while 1 let the Alice and Smith/
McLaughlin pots sit and simmer on their
back burners for awhile, 1 open and check
on another every now and again Denman
D. Wilson, )7, a Western Union Telegraph
lineman, also died in that fire. He was from
Muscadine. Ala., at the time, but grew up in
the Kansas community of Carroll County.
Ga. I have scoured the census of that
county, paying special attention to the
Kansas Distnct (G M. D. 1152), which is
utterly blinding to read Tonight 1 Hashed
upon something which may help my Wilson
search immensely. According to the 1940
Carroll County highway map, Kansas is not
in the Kansas District. It is instead in
Smithfield G. M D., which is #1006. (This
doesn’t make good sense, but that’s what
the map says — and I believe it’s right.)
Seems to me that as 1 went past that
district’s census, 1 noticed a Wilson that I
thought might have been him, but ignored
it because I pictured rhat area as being clear
over by Whitesburg in the ocher end of the
county D. D.’s father was Rev. L. D.
Wilson, a Baptist preacher who “heard the
call," pastonng several churches in that
area If my information is correct, Wilson is
buned at Antioch Baptist Church, which is
located just off Ga 100 between Tallapoosa
and Bowdon, about two miles south of 1-20.
I plan to investigate this possibility; maybe
even before you read these words in print 1
will have confirmation, so 1 had better keep
this column short so 1 can add a line when I
manage the pilgrimage ... although as 1
think of it now, that trip will be a column in
and of itself, so why bother?
Since my late father worked out the
genealogy of our family so well, I don’t need
to concentrate on that Instead 1 can work
on the lines of these deceased folks in order
to have enough information to flesh them
out” and to be able to wnte a character
sketch about each one that does every
individual justice rather than just some dry
eulogy for 35 poor folks who burned up in a
hotel fire The real challenge is to turn up a
photograph (or several') of each victim;
thus far 1 have found at least one apiece of
17 of them, and know where seven more
likely are Finding the rest is going to be
the fun part
So wish me luck as 1 wander forth. On
my journey I will think of my fnend D. J.
Hack’s dubbing one of the victims “that
tenacious old bulldog Shuttleworth That
fellow was a detective for the old Railway
Express Agency; maybe what 1 need is a
stance to bnng him back to give me some
wisdom. But that would be the easy way. I
prefer the long division route, myself (30.)
©1994 William Orten Carlton.
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