I’m very pleased to announce that my first full-length publication, Rabun County, Georgia, Newspapers, 1894 – 1899, will be ready for purchase and delivery early next week.
I’m so excited about this publication. Newspapers are an underutilized source of historical and genealogical information, primarily because they’re unindexed and sometimes difficult to locate. There are three newspapers covered by this compilation: The Clayton Argus (1894), The Tallulah Falls Spray (1897 – 1898), and The Clayton Tribune (1899).1 Of the extant issues, only a handful have been microfilmed. The remainder are only available as original issues or as photocopies of news items clipped from the originals, and all of those are held by the Rabun County Historical Society, which is open a limited number of hours each week.
In anticipation of this volume’s release, I’ve placed excerpts and portions of the index online.
Excerpts from this volume:
- Serenading, December 1897
- Christmas Novelties, 1897
- Cincinatus Taylor’s Estate, April 1, 1897
- “The scene of battle seems to be changed from Chicago to Pine Mountain”
- Bleckley Family Cemetery, August 3, 1894
- Upper Warwoman, January 20, 1899
- Tribune’s Publication Day Changes from Friday to Thursday, 1899
- Honor Roll, March 30, 1899
I made the index as thorough as I could, including subjects, place names, and people. There are two indexes available online. The first was taken from the book’s index, and the second is an index I created while transcribing:
- Every Name Index to Rabun County, Georgia, Newspapers, 1894 – 1899
- Index to Obituaries and Death Notices from Newspapers of Rabun Co., GA, 1894 – 1899
Localities mentioned include a number of places in the United States and around the world, although the focus was on the regions of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, adjacent to Rabun County, including:
- Georgia: Acworth, Aid, Alto, Anandale, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Baldwin, Banks County, Blairsville, Blue Ridge, Brunswick, Canon, Carnesville, Catoosa County, Chappel Hill, Chickamauga, Clara, Clarkesville, Cleveland, Columbus, Cornelia, Covington, Cumming, Currakee [Currahee], Dahlonega, Dalton, Dawson County, Dawsonville, Deep Creek District (Habersham County), DeKalb County, Demorest, Dixon, Elberton, Eppes, Fannin County, Franklin County, Fulton County, Gainesville, Gillsville, Gilmer County, Gordon County, Griffin, Grantsville, Gwinett County, Habersham County, Hall County, Harmony Grove, Hart County, Hartwell, Hawkinsville, Hiawassee, Homer, Ivy Log, Jasper County, Jefferson, Lagrange, Lavonia, Leatherwood, Lincolnton, Macon, Mayesville, Millidgeville, Monticello, Mossy Creek district (White County), Mt. Airy, Murray County, Nacoochee, Newton County, Norcross, Novetta, Ocee, Ocoee, Porter Mills, Providence, Randolph County, Red Hill, Ringgold, Rock Mountain, Royston, Savannah, Soque, Stone Mountain, Tallapoosa, Toccoa, Towns County, Troy, Tugalo, Tugaloo, Turnerville, Union County, Vissage, Warm Springs, Washington District (Banks County), Watkinsville, White County, White Plains, Whifield County, Wilkerson County, Winder, Winston, Winterville[?], Yonah, Young Harris
- North Carolina: Asheville, Beaty, Betor, Blue Ridge, Bryson City, Charlotte, Cherokee County, Clay County, Clear Creek, Cowee Valley, Cullasajah, Dillsboro, Ellijay, Flatts, Franklin, Graham County, Hamburg, Haywood, Highlands, Horse Cove, Jackson, Jackson County, Jeptha, Looky, Macon County, Mulberry, Murphy, Nantahala, Otto, Prathers, Raleigh, Ridge, Sapphire, Scaly, Shooting Creek, Smith Bridge, Swain, Sylva, Transylvania County, Victoria, Winston
- South Carolina: Abbeville, Anderson, Anderson County, Charleston, Clemson College, Columbia, Damascus, Double Springs, Fairplay, Fort Hill, Fort Madison, Greenville, Hampton, Hardensville, Iva, Long Creek, Mountain Rest, Oakway, Oconee County, Pendleton, Piedmont, Port Royal, Russell, Seneca, Spartanburgh, Walhalla, Westminster, Whetstone
This volume is hardbound, 8 1/2 x 11″ with 292 + viii pages. The price is $30 plus $5 shipping and handling. For those who are interested in purchasing a copy, order before May 15 to receive $5 off. To order, e-mail me or write to Dawn Watson, PO Box 292, Rabun Gap, GA 30568.
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1. The dates inside parentheses are the years for which there are known extant issues. The vast majority of extant issues are from the latter two papers, as there are only two extant issues for The Clayton Argus. The Tallulah Falls Spray was first published in 1896 and seems to have discontinued in 1898 at some point after The Clayton Tribune began publication in that same year. There are no extant issues for The Tribune from its first year. Other newspapers were known to have been published in Rabun County during this time period; however, no issues from these papers have survived to the present day. For more information, see the preface and introductory remarks about each newspaper in Rabun County, Georgia, Newspapers, 1894 – 1899.
