Rabun County’s Weather, January 1899

We’re having a snow day today here at home. Interestingly enough, the weatherman predicted no snow for northern Georgia; yet, there it is: three inches of snow, and more coming down by the second.

Just for fun, I thought I’d post some excerpts from The Clayton Tribune‘s community columns for January 1899. All were taken from my published transcription of Rabun County’s early newspapers, Rabun County, Georgia, Newspapers, 1894 – 1899.

6 January 1899 issue:

Tiger: “We are having some very cold weather.”

Warwoman: “According to the ruling days the weather will be very favorable for out door labor up to June.”

If you’re wondering what “ruling days” is, the old-timers believed the first twelve days of January corresponded respectively to the twelve months of the year, weather-wise.

13 January 1899 issue:

Warwoman: “We are experiencing a cold snap at present, hope the weather will moderate soon and we may have a pleasant January.”

Bridge Creek: “The weather is very cold and unsettled now.”

20 January 1899 issue:

Upper Tiger: “We are having some more disagreeable weather and the roads are muddy. The overseers are trying to have them worked so that Judge Estes will not grumble when he attends court next month.”

North Chechero: “It is the muddiest time now we have had in quite a time. W. L. Carver arrived home last Friday and reports more mud and it in larger pieces.”

26 January 1899 issue:

Bridge Creek: “Mud and rainy weather seems to be plentiful.”

North Chechero: “I am glad to see nice weather again. The roads are drying out some.”

Vandiver [column] 1: “Rain and mud, no end to the mud.”

Vandiver [column] 2: “We are very proud of the beautiful weather and if it remains fair I think we will have less mud.”

So it seems that no matter what the era, people are always interested in the weather and either complaining because it’s bad or joyful because it’s not. Plus ça change…

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.

Now Available: Rabun County, Georgia, Newspapers, 1894 – 1899

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.

Feature Friday: Cincinatus Taylor’s Estate, April 1, 1897

The following item offers a wealth of information and suggests both other records to include in one’s research for this family and possible relationships amongst those mentioned. It was published in the 18 April 1897 issue (Vol. 1, Number 38) of The Tallulah Falls Spray, which served as Rabun County’s legal organ (or paper of record) probably from just after its inception in 1896 to January of 1898, when The Clayton Tribune assumed that function.

Georgia, Rabun County: At Chambers, April 1st, 1897—Samuel Taylor as executor of Cincinatus Taylor, having filed his petition for probate of Cincinatus Taylor’s will in solemn form, and it appearing that citation should issue to be served personally on Jane Taylor, Mary Wellborn, Catharine Page, Jesse Taylor, Sarah J. Stancell, William Jiles, Nat Jiles, Andy Jiles, Rachel Lawin, Nancy Eller, Susan Littleton and Mary Burrell, ordered that the usual citation issue, to be served on them ten days before the May term of this court, and as John Taylor, Mary J. Brinkley, Martha Gaines, Gus Ledbetter and Susan Ledbetter not being residents of this state and their residence unknown, and can only be served by publication, that they be cited and made a party by publication once a week for four weeks in The Tallulah Falls Spray, a newspaper published at Tallulah Falls, State of Georgia, before the May term, 1897, of said Court of Ordinary, and that this order so published constitute such citation.

W. S. Long, Ordinary.

* * * * *

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

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.

Feature Friday: Tribune’s Publication Day Changes from Friday to Thursday, January 1899

The Clayton Tribune was first published beginning in January 1898 by J. A. Reynolds, who established the paper and edited it for several years. Until the January 20, 1899 issue, The Tribune was published on Fridays, but beginning with the first issue of the second volume, dated January 26, 1899, Mr. Reynolds moved the publication day to Thursdays.

Feature Friday: Honor Roll, March 30, 1899

For the past year or so, I’ve been working on compiling a volume of items published in the early newspapers of Rabun Co., GA, namely The Clayton Argus (1894), The Tallulah Falls Spray (1897 – 1898), and The Clayton Tribune (1899). I finished the main body of the volume several weeks ago and am now working on an index. I have applied for a publishing grant through the R. J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation and, if accepted, I hope to have this volume published within the next few months.

To incite interest in the project, I decided to publish small excerpts every Friday from now through November, or possibly longer.

21 January 1943: Outrage Over the Cessation of the WPA Hot School Lunch Program

A recent search for an obituary led to the discovery of an entire issue of The Clayton Tribune (Clayton, Rabun Co., GA) devoted to a pressing problem: the loss of the hot lunch program in local schools. The issue included several articles written by the editors and local concerned citizens of note, as well as letters sent in to the Tribune from parents, students, and other community members. The published letters ranged from one or two sentences to several paragraphs; some appeared to be excerpts of longer letters, including the following:

It provides many necessary food elements which the children would not otherwise get. The Free Lunch Project is a great help to many children who cannot afford to pay. –Mrs. Hattie Teague¹

Hattie was amongst many parents who were concerned about malnutrition and the availability of hot lunches for their children during the coldest parts of winter.

* * * * *

1. “What the Parents Think About the W. P. A. School Lunch Room”, The Clayton Tribune, 21 January 1943, Volume XLVIII, Number 3, 7th page, 3rd column.

10 June 1943: Colored Selectees and 18 Year Old Registrants

Local newspapers can have the most interesting items. While searching for an obituary for a man who was supposed to have died in April 1943, I found two small tidbits in The Clayton Tribune, the newspaper covering Rabun Co., GA. Both were on the front page of the 10 June 1943 issue (Volume XLVIII, Number 23).

The first item, located in the third column, was titled “Five Colored Selectees Leave Rabun”:

The following named colored selectees left Clayton on Tuesday morning, June 8th, at 8:25 o’clock for Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia, where they will receive armed forces examination [sic] and those who pass will be inducted into the branch of service for which they are found best qualified. After being sworn in they will be granted fourteen day furloughs.

The five men were: Richard Hammonds, Donald Penland, Beamon Chavers, Jesse William Larry, and Mack Edward Moore.

The second item, found in the fourth column, was entitled “18-Year-Old Registrants”. There was no explanation, only names along with other identifying information (some of which is not listed here): Boyce Fred Irvin Scott, Tallulah Falls, white; Daniel Griffin, Clayton, “col.”; Henry Edgar Owens, Satolah, white; Carlton Barton Smith, Tiger, white; James Hoyt Ramey, Tiger, white; Andrew Jackson Wilbanks, Tiger, white; David Cleo Davis, Clayton, white; Marvin Sam Shook, Clayton, white; William Joe T. Key, Clayton, white.

Various other issues included letters from local soldiers and small items on placements into new units. Unlike now, local papers were once a font of gossip and other news items of only local interest, and so they can also be a wonderful source on the day-to-day lives of our ancestors.