Feature Friday: The Life and Times of C. J. Crunkleton

I keep waiting for someone to ask me why I included all the local and regional news in my book on Rabun County’s earliest newspapers, instead of only the obituaries and death notices as many compilers do.

No one’s asked, but I think it’s an important question, and my answer is this: Newspapers are, in and of themselves, an important resource outside of the fact that they can serve as a substitute for vital and court records. To demonstrate this, let’s look at excerpts from early issues of The Clayton Tribune and The Tallulah Falls Spray pertaining to a gentleman named C. J. Crunkleton.

Feature Friday: Upper Warwoman, January 20, 1899

One of the most useful features of newspapers from the latter part of the 19^th century and well up into the 20^th century was the local community column. These items were sent to the editor of the paper by people who lived within the community. Many columns were signed not with the person’s actual name but with a nickname or nom de plume, if they were signed at all. Local columns reflected the comings and goings of citizens, young and old, and generally commented on any number of items important to a community’s residents.

The following is a typical community column from that era, as published in the January 20, 1899 issue of The Clayton Tribune.

Upper Warwoman

Mrs. Fannie Beck has her foot seriously burned.

Miss Lillie Beck is real sick at this writing.

Mr. William Ramey, of Chechero was on Warwoman last week.

Mr. Jeff Beck had the misfortune to get his hand badly cut while butchering a hog last week.

Miss Mary Beck returned home last week.

Eva

* * * * *

Quotation excerpted from my upcoming volume Rabun County, Georgia, Newspapers, 1894 – 1899, expected to be released in 2012.

The Suffering of Eugene Beck, 1889

I was tooling around on the Internet looking for information on families from Rabun County when I ran across the blog North to South: Our Family Surnames by Linda Johnson. What interested me in particular was a series of posts she published about Eugene Beck, who murdered his wife and sister-in-law in 1884. So you don’t have to search for them, the three relevant posts (to date) are:

• 1890 – Rabun County wife and sister-in-law murderer is dead
• Update on Beck Double Murder Story
• Beck Family of Rabun County, Georgia – p. 94 of Sketches of Rabun County History Book by Ritchie

Tombstone Tuesday: The Warren Clint James Family Plot at Antioch United Methodist Church Cemetery

As promised, here are the photos of the James family plot at Antioch United Methodist Church Cemetery in the Warwoman community of Rabun Co., GA. They are presented here in the order they’re found in the cemetery, from right to left as described in the post Step by Step #5: Hattie (James) Teague Watkins.

Step by Step #5: Hattie (James) Teague Watkins

Our previous research on the Roy and Hattie (James) Teague family revealed very little about the female half of this couple. To date, we know the following:

1. Hattie James was born about 1906 in Georgia; both of her parents were also born in Georgia¹
2. She married Roy S. Teague in 1924 in Rabun Co., GA; the marriage was performed by M. H. James, a Justice of the Peace²
3. She and Roy were living in Clayton, Rabun Co., GA, with three children in 1930³
4. They had probably seven children during the late 1920s through the 1930s⁴
5. Between 1937 and 1967, Hattie remarried to a Watkins; she was still living as of the latter date⁵

What we haven’t found in our research is any record connecting her to her parents and possible siblings. While she and Roy were married by M. H. James, we have no clue who that person was or how he might otherwise be connected to Hattie. We don’t know when she died, or who her second husband might have been, nor can we even say for certain that she was the mother of all of Roy’s children. With so little to go on, how can we learn more about Hattie, and in the process extend her lineage backwards?

Tombstone Tuesday: Major John Beck, 1819 – 1873

Sacred
to the Memory of
Maj. John Beck
Born
Decr 23rd 1819
Died
Jany 24th 1873

John Beck was the son of Samuel and Tabitha Beck of Rabun County, Georgia. He is buried at Antioch United Methodist Church Cemetery near Clayton, in a spot not too far from where his parents rest. In Sketches of Rabun County History (pages 88 – 101), Dr. Andrew Jackson Ritchie wrote a lengthy piece on the Becks in this area, for those who are interested in this family.