The Way Things Were at Crooked Run

By Bobby L. Green

Do you remember LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE and THE WALTONS? Then, this book is for you. It is about "old times" in the South. Listen to some newspaper reviewer comments. "Greens book is a MUST READ for anyone interested in the way things were and for anyone interested in reading a good story...From the first page to the last page, you will be hard pressed to put it down." - Stephen H. Smith, "The Soperton News."

"These are 149 pages of heartwarming and heart-rending happenings of his family and friends over the years. Read the book. It is an inspiration." - Dr. Kemp Mabry, "The Statesboro Herald."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 8, 2005
• ISBN: 9781462840724

Bobby L. Green

The sixty-two year old author has had an exciting eventful life and a rich family heritage that embraces many humorous and breath taking stories from the Civil War and primitive rural life in the nineteenth century. Darkened by a trail of tragic and heart-rending episodes that speckled his restless past, life begins to take on new meaning and a dramatic transformation occurs from poor farm worker, to computer programmer, to banker, to life-changing experiences birthing a transition to Christian service. Untimely deaths of five family members shook Bob and Martha’s marriage. Few lives have been so sobering yet so victorious.

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Copyright © 2005 by Bob Green.

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Contents

PREFACE

FAMILY ORIGINS

THE CIVIL WAR YEARS

THE GRANDPARENTS MAKE A START

BIRTH AND EARLY DAYS

WAY OF LIFE IN THE EARLY DAYS

SCHOOL DAYS

COLLEGE

BEYOND COLLEGE

MOVING TOWARD MARRIAGE

ON TO SEMINARY

TRAVEL TO EUROPE

MORE CHALLENGES

ADJUSTING TO RETIREMENT

EPILOGUE

This book is dedicated in loving memory of my paternal grandfather, William Daniel Green, who was my strongest early model of Christian faith. Though he died when I was fourteen, his unwavering, sincere example, love, and encouragement still live on. He was truly not of this world and desired few material things. His humble devotion to God, Grandma, and family are indelible memories.

Ringing in my ears, even after forty years is, Buck, just trust in the Lord.

PREFACE

The contents of this book came from stories from and experiences of family members of different sides of the family. This is intended to be a biography of my own, and a family history as accurately as I can discern it for the purpose of providing future generations an insight into their ancestors. The better we know our background, the better we know ourselves and hopefully, they can learn from our mistakes and avoid the same pitfalls. We have had some very interesting things happen in our family, lots of tragedy, and a great deal of humor. We had a humble background in terms of wealth, but we cannot be justly identified as humble in our attitudes. It has been a struggle, but many of us were drawn closer to the Lord and that matures attitudes, actions, and relationships.

I realize this is my perspective and others may remember it a little bit differently, as we translate events and filter them through our own eyes. There are some things that are not flattering to myself and the family, but to withhold them would hide who we really were. There were many other things I could include, but putting as much as I have together was almost more than I could do. Maybe someone else might be prompted to write other volumes to supplement what has been penned here.

It is an imperfect and incomplete work, as the sources were human as well as the writer. It will, however, give readers inside and outside the family a taste of our family background and life as it was in rural Southeast Georgia in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds.

I trust that it will be enjoyable and edifying as well as strengthening to the faith of all who read it.

FAMILY ORIGINS

My immediate grandparents were Greens and Lords. My great-grandfather, who lived in Washington County near Gibson, was Lee Andy Lord and as far as I know, he never lived in Treutlen County, where we were raised. My grandfather, James Madison Lord, whom I called Pap married Clara Lee Peebles, daughter of Tom Peebles from Emanuel County in the Oak Chapel Church community, and raised four children, Tommy Lee, Myrtle, Jack, and Nealie in Treutlen County near the Ohoopee River. Myrtle was my mother.

THE PEEBLES

The Peebles were rugged country people who made their living the best way they could off the land. They lived on the farm, where they raised all types of livestock, timber, and row crops. Chickens, cows, hogs, sheep, and goats were among the animals they raised. The older clan spoke of shearing the sheep in the Spring, when the wool was sheared and taken to the market.

There were geese as well that had to be plucked and the feathers and down used for pillows and mattresses. They also raised bees. Mother told of sweeping the yards and lane with gall berry bushes and being stung by the bees when they became irritated by the dust. One of the other ways of making a living in those days was making moonshine. Some of that was done in the family as well, according to reliable sources.

One of the big events of every year was the 4th of July celebration. They barbequed several hogs, a cow or two and goats for the occasion and invited the people for miles around, family friends, and neighbors. Many hours and possibly even days were spent in preparation.

They tell of the cattle drives where they rode their horses and herded them to the train to go to market all the way to Augusta, according to Grandma Lord. The weather was bitter cold and they had to ford several rivers on the way. The horses with men on their backs and the cattle had to swim across. When they came out on the other side, the men’s pants and the horses’ mane would freeze. They carried their supplies with them and camped along the way.

Another interesting fact was that they had to float their logs down the rivers to market. Sometime, they transported them by oxcart to Lumber City from what is now Treutlen County and put them in the Altamaha to be floated to Darien. My brother, Bill, also, remembers stories about logs being floated down the Ohoopee River to Darien.

The father of Tom Peebles was John. He and most of his children were buried in the Oak Chapel Cemetery in Emanuel County just North of the Norristown Junction. Great-Great Grandpa John and Great-Great Grandma Peebles died on the same night in the same house and one never knew the other had died. She was sick and expected to die, but he died suddenly. Great Grandpa Peebles had three wives, two of whom were buried with him there. The third survived him and requested to be buried in another cemetery.

THE GREENS

The following bit of history of the Greens was gathered from Nannie Green, a daughter of William Henry Green. My Dad, Harold Green her nephew, and I went to Waycross to visit her taking a tape recorder with the intention of capturing the stories we had heard her and others tell so many times. She was about 80 years of age and blind, but her mind was as sharp as a briar with memories of what she had heard over the years and personal experiences. She had not always been blind, but lost her sight late in life. She was an old maid, who had taught school and done office work. She decided in her old age to learn to drive and buy her a car. She did just that, but it wasn’t long before she lost control on a street in Waycross and ran into a store almost killing herself. She was an eccentric in the eyes of some, but was kind and gracious, not to mention an excellent storyteller. Aunt Eva was also a sister of hers that lived with her husband, Uncle Don Cason, near Waycross. They had another brother besides William Daniel, named George who was a bachelor and another sister Mattie who never married either. Uncle George would be around for a while and disappear mysteriously in the middle of the night, not letting anyone know which way he went. Later, he would reappear at someone’s house. He worked in construction as a steeplejack according to daddy. They had other brothers who died young. John Wesley died at age eighteen months. Another named Neil went to feed the hogs on a cold March day while his dad, William Henry was gone to Savannah shopping and caught the grip and died from it. Robert, another brother, fell while running with a stick in his mouth and stuck it in the roof of his mouth. When they pulled the stick out, there was a white substance on it. Aunt Nan said he took pneumonia from it and died. He was buried in the Primitive Baptist Church cemetery in Swainsboro.

The Greens moved from North Carolina in 1812 and settled on Revolutionary War land grants near Summertown, and were there during the Civil War. The Greens originally spelled their name with an e, but so many people misspelled it until they dropped it. Samuel Kennedy, father of Gideon Hayes Kennedy, according to White’s Collections of Georgia, was one of the first settlers of Emanuel County in 1812. The grants would have indicated that someone in the family had fought in the Revolutionary War and received them from the federal government as a reward. Samuel was our great-great-great grandfather, according to Aunt Nan, but that is not certain. My great-great grandparents were John Wesley and Nancy McGar Green. Owen McGar was Nancy’s brother and father of Tom, who is mentioned later and very closely associated with William Henry.

John Wesley died in his sleep in 1859 leaving Nancy with eight children ages about sixteen down to a baby under twelve months, if she had been born yet. She would have to live through the hardships of the Civil War with them and support them alone. It is said that John ate a pot of chicken and dumplings, went to bed and died. None knows the cause of death for sure. Aunt Nan said that he died in 1857, however, the record shows October 26, 1859.

William Henry and Mary Virginia Kennedy were my great grandparents and she was said to have been an expert horse rider and crack shot with a pistol. Mary’s mother was the former Cassandra Griffis and her dad was Gideon Hayes Kennedy, who was elected ordinary for Emanuel County. He had been sheriff of Emanuel County. Once the Kirklands robbed old man Roundtree, a big robbery for those days, and Gideon and cousin Henry Daniel arrested them and recovered the money which was hidden in fruit jars hanging by a rope down in an old well.

Gideon was asked to hang a Negro for some reason and he would not, because he didn’t feel there was enough evidence for it and he didn’t believe in hanging anyway. Because of this, he resigned as sheriff and ran for ordinary. It was not expected by some that he would be elected because of his stand on the hanging of the Negro, but he was. He is listed in the records as serving in 1859. A little song was sung about it that said, Gideon was elected just as I expected climbing up the golden stairs. He served twelve years and got down with kidney trouble and had to quit. He got them to nominate and elect his brother James who served thirty years.

Mary had flaming red hair, as did her son my grandfather, William Daniel, and he had freckles as big as a penny. She is buried in the city cemetery in Alma, Georgia, beside her sister who is reputed to have been married to Bill Cody, the famous Buffalo Bill. Gideon Hayes Kennedy purchased 351 acres of land on the Ogeechee River on 1 December 1851 from a Duncan J Davis, the land originally being granted to a James Willey. This property includes what is now known as Coleman’s Lake near Summertown and for many years during my lifetime, Green family reunions were held there. Aunt Nan said that the land was in Mary Virginia Kennedy’s name. The Yankees took it over for taxes of $10 during the Civil War, could not make a go of it and left it. William Henry, Mary V’s husband and father of William Daniel, mortgaged it and lost it and she went to court and got it back. That is the old Green home place in Emanuel County and the Green Cemetery near there is where many of the family were buried, including Samuel Green, John Wesley Green’s father. William Henry died in Swainsboro of stomach trouble on April 14, 1908. He was bad to drink liquor and was blind for several years before he died. He was carried to the Green Cemetery at Coleman’s Lake for burial in a hearse drawn by two white horses loaned by a competitor of the funeral director. William Henry had indicated he wanted to be pulled by white horses and not those owned by the funeral director handling the arrangements that were bay. John Coleman, the competing funeral director loaned the horses for the funeral.

Daniel A. Green, William’s first cousin, was in charge of the affairs of Mary V. Green when William died. He ran off to Atlanta with most of the estate. He cheated her out of it and just left her. He had three sons each with two professions, doctor and lawyer, and Daniel used the money to educate them. They were Samuel, who was once Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Charles who worked for the Atlanta Georgian for several years, and Phillip. The house of the family burned down at some point in time and someone gave Mary V. fine furniture made of mahogany with marble top tables. When Aunt Nan and Aunt Eva went to Euharley in North Georgia near Cartersville to teach school, they left the furniture to be crated and shipped by Mary V., their mother, and Aunt Mattie, a sister. They didn’t want to be bothered with it and gave it to one of William Henry’s nieces, Molly Stevens. Molly’s husband went to Alma after that as a lawyer. William J. Green, a first cousin of William H., moved to Americus in southwest Georgia and they claim kin.

Dan and Eugenia Ward Green were my grandparents on that side. Eugenia was raised in Adairsville. Her parents were Joseph Henry Ward and Elizabeth Josephine Burns. An ancestor, in that line named William Wyatt Bibb, was the first governor of Alabama. Bibb County, Georgia was named for him. They chose between him and Jesse Mercer, a famous Baptist for whom Mercer University was named. Eugenia’s, whom she called Pa Ward, dad was six feet six inches tall, which was huge for those times. Cud’n Joe Bowden was a doctor and lived next door in a large house that became a funeral home. Eugenia’s Uncle Sam Burns was in the Civil war and was wounded, carrying a minnie ball in his body for the rest of his life. His hatred for Yankees never abated. His grave, along with many others in the family, is in the city cemetery in Adairsville. Eugenia’s Grandpa Ward is buried in the Shannon Cemetery near a small church. Ward’s Mountain, nearby, was owned by and named for the family and was sold in the 1980’s.

An interesting story told about an ancestor named Uncle John was an incident on Ward’s Mountain. He went and carried his goods, eggs, milk, butter, etc., to sell in nearby Rome. One morning as he went on his way before good daylight, he decided to stop by a spring to add a little water to his milk to have a little more to sell. He floated the butter on top of the milk to keep it cool. When his first customer of the morning came by, she wanted butter, so he uncovered the milk to retrieve a patty only to find a little frog sitting upon one of them. Whether that was true or not is uncertain, but it is a good story, anyway. There was lots of humor in the family.

My Grandpa and Grandma Green were teachers and farmers who moved around a lot and