News
Fayette County Historical News
Fayette County is rich with history. And we want to share as much of it as we can with you. Below are articles that have appeared in the Fayette County News, sorted by the month and year in which it was submitted. We would like to graciously thank Christopher Dunn and Geneva Weaver for publishing these for us. Enjoy the reading!
May
Walter Floy Farr
May 20, 1912 Walter Floy Farr Floy Farr was born May 20, 1912 at home in Stop, an unincorporated community near Tyrone. He graduated from Fayette County High School in 1930. He got a job at Redwine Brothers. In 1935 he helped bring phone service to Tyrone from the...
Sally Kate Graham
May 29, 1983 Sally Kate Graham May 29, 1883 Sally Kate Graham was born. Sally had seven siblings. The family lived in the old Bennett home on Beauregard Road built by Cam Bennett. Sally and her siblings had attended their classes at the Fayette Academy then in the...
Roxie Ann Jones McEachern
May 26, 1859 Roxie Ann Jones McEachern Roxie Ann Jones McEachern was born in Fayette County on May 26, 1859, the daughter of Josiah Jones and Emily Davis. Her father died in the Civil War and is buried in Virginia. The 1870 census Fayette County Georgia states “Roxie...
Resignation of Sheriff Marshbourne
May 6, 1862 Resignation of Sheriff Marshbourne On May 6, 1862 Fayette County Sheriff Sam Marshbourne went to the Fayette County courthouse and resigned as sheriff. Caught up in the patriotic Fervor of the South, he had these words recorded in the official minutes of...
Murray Earl Murphy
May 12, 1888 Murray Earl Murphy Murray Earl Murphy was born May 12, 1888 one-mile northeast of Gilbert’s schoolhouse and was the fourth child of Joseph Robert Murphy and Alice Samantha Moor. Murray’s grandfather, John Murphy, and his brother came to Fayette County...
McIntosh’s Widow Plea for Assistance
May 3, 1825 McIntosh’s Widow Plea for Assistance After the assassination of General William McIntosh in Whitesburg, Georgia on May 1, 1825, some of the family of the slain Creek Chief fled to the plantation of General Alexander Ware on Line Creek in Fayette County. On...
Joe Lynn Brown
May 9, 1920 Joe Lynn Brown Joe Lynn Brown, the youngest of 8 children of Luther Virgil Brown and Dannie Mary Jones Brown is born May 9, 1920. Joe lived a fairly uneventful life as the child of a farming family in Fayette County. When he was 18, he overheard his uncle...
Jasper Calhoun Jones
May 3, 1919 Jasper Calhoun Jones Jasper Calhoun Jones, a cook, son of James Lawson Jones, RFD #4, Fayetteville, GA departed France on the ship Canadaigua, coming home from WW I. He would soon marry Lillian Moore and move to College Park. They would have William...
Henry Waldrop Simpson
May 16, 1822 Henry Waldrop Simpson The first child born of a permanent record in Fayette County, Georgia was Henry Waldrop Simpson. He was born on May 16, 1822 the son of Cain Simpson and Belena Waldrop. His great grandfather was James Waldrop, a...
The Fayette Rifle Grays
On May 27,1861 the first company of infantry for the War between the States was organized in Fayette County, Georgia. The company was known as the Fayette Rifle Grays and was officially designated as Company “I”, of the 10th Georgia regiment. Young L. Wooten...
June
Tinsley Mill
1870 Tinsley Mill Throughout the years, the mill had been called Ware’s Mill, Greer’s Mill, Russell’s Mill, Leech’s Mill and Tinsley’s Mill. In the 1870 census, it was known as Leach’s Mill, ground corn only and was owned by E. W. Leach. The mill was in what is now...
The Battle of Ellison’s Mill, Virginia
June 26, 1862 The Battle of Ellison’s Mill, Virginia On June 26, 1862 during the War Between the States a local company of infantry was involved in one of the most hotly contested battles of the war. The 44th Georgia Regiment under the command of General Roswell S....
Robert Burch
June 26, 1925 Robert Burch Robert Burch was born June 26, 1925 in Inman to a large family. He graduated from Fayette County High School and then joined the Army. His travels took him to many foreign places. While taking writing courses in New York City after...
Local Men serve as Honor Guard for Late President
June 9, 1893 Local Men serve as Honor Guard for Late President The Fayetteville News of June 9, 1893 carried a column by “Kenwood Kracker”, a regular contributor to the paper concerning local residents Samuel Bailey Lewis and William S. Miller. Mr. Lewis was one of...
G.S. McGough & Russell McGough Killed by Lightning
June 5, 1906 G.S. McGough & Russell McGough killed by lightning At about 6:30 p.m. a bolt of lightning hit the veranda and went through the home of Judge and Mrs. B.L. McGough on Railroad Street. Glen S. McGough, aged 23 and his nephew Russell, aged 13 were...
Jimmy Carter Visits Fayetteville
June 26, 1971 Jimmy Carter visits Fayetteville Opening ceremonies for the Sesquicentennial of Fayette County were kicked off today with an appearance by Governor Carter and his daughter Amy. Carter was seen in the parade riding a horse drawn wagon being driven by...
Fire Destroys Much of Downtown Fayetteville
June 9, 1893 Fire destroys much of Downtown Fayetteville A devastating fire occurred in Fayetteville Friday evening, June 9, 1893. Several businesses were destroyed including the drugstore operated by Doctor N. J. Gizzard. The adjacent building, a family grocery store...
Burks Hotel Destroyed by Fire
June 21, 1907 Burks Hotel Destroyed by Fire The Burks Hotel in Fayetteville burned to the ground on June 21, 1907. Mr. Silas Asbury Burks was the owner, having bought the large structure a few years earlier from Dr. James Bennett. The spacious two-story building was...
July
The First Fourth of July Parade in Peachtree City, 1973
July 4, 1973 The First Fourth of July Parade in Peachtree City, 1973 The Fourth of July in Peachtree City has become for some, an important tradition. One must get up very early to secure a spot to watch the fireworks, setting out your tarp and blankets around...
Parker Wesley Dorman
July 6, 1887 Parker Wesley Dorman Parker Wesley Dorman was born in Fayette County on July 6, 1887. His family roots go back to the 1820’s in Fayette County. He served as a Private in Company M 130th Infantry in World War I. The 130th Infantry saw action at the Somme...
Nathaniel Stinchcomb
July 25, 1867 Nathaniel Stinchcomb Nathaniel Stinchcomb signs Loyalty Oath, verifying that he “had not been disenfranchised for participating in any rebellion or civil war against the United States, nor for felony committed against the laws of any State or the United...
Mule falls through Ginger Cake bridge
July 29, 1918 Mule fall through Ginger Cake bridge. Georgia, Fayette County To: Board of Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Fayette County The petition of F. M. Norton shows as follows: -1- That he is the owner of a certain mule, to wit, a black mare mule...
Miles M. Tidwell
July 29, 1864 Miles M. Tidwell Miles M. Tidwell was a local lawyer. Citizens were aware that the Union Army was near. Tidwell hung a large flag in the window of his office. When the Union Army came to town at 7 a.m. that hot July day, they rounded up all the citizens...
Jack “Shorty” Crawford Enrolls in National Youth Administration School
July 27, 1941 Jack “Shorty” Crawford Enrolls in National Youth Administration School Jack Crawford joined the National Guard in 1939. He was assigned to the 214th Coast Artillery Unit. During that summer, their unit was in Florida for training. Crawford had hurt his...
Hugh Manson Dorsey
July 10, 1871 Hugh Manson Dorsey Hugh Manson Dorsey was born in Fayetteville to Rufus and Sarah Dorsey on July 10, 1871. He attended school in Fayetteville and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1893. He studied law and was admitted to the Bar at the Fayette...
Hill P. Redwine
July 16, 1971 Hill P. Redwine Hill P. Redwine was born in Fayette County in 1882. He drove a cart to Fayetteville to go to school and stayed with his grandfather Monday through Friday. When he was 18, he and his brothers formed a partnership known as Redwine Brothers....
Fayetteville Enterprise/Gazette Correspondents Reunion
July 27, 1906 Fayetteville Enterprise/Gazette Correspondents Reunion On July 27, 1906, a reunion of newspaper correspondents for the Fayetteville Enterprise/Gazette was held at Starr’s Mill, Georgia with the morning program beginning at 9:30 a.m. After a song, the...
Fayetteville City Election
July 12, 1907 Fayetteville City Election The annual election for Mayor and town council was held Wednesday. There was no opposition to the old ticket, but some of the candidates were very inclined to grumble at having to serve another term. However, they were held...
August
Time Capsule Plaque Unveiled
August 20, 1974 Time Capsule Plaque Unveiled A ceremony took place at the old Fayette County courthouse on August 20, 1974, that future generations should remember. A time capsule had been buried two years prior on the east side of the building and a freshly...
Stanley Neely
August 6, 1941 Stanley Neely Robert Stanley Neely was born in Newnan on August 6, 1941. Stanley was very instrumental in the formation of the Peachtree City Fire Department. Stanley and Sallie Satterthwaite headed the effort to start emergency medical service...
Richmond Dorman
August 4, 1817 Richmond Dorman Richmond Dorman was born August 4, 1817. He was a soldier in the 1836 Creek Indian Wars as a Private in the 55th Georgia Militia. In 1839, he married Emily Parker. They had a family of eleven children. Richmond operated a blacksmith shop...
Phillip Fitzgerald purchases “Tara”
August 9, 1853 Phillip Fitzgerald purchases “Tara” Henry McElroy owned and operated a cotton plantation of over 1200 acres on present day Tara Road in Clayton County (then part of Fayette County). He competed a home that was partially built and later sold it to...
N. W. Kelley
August 29, 1893 N.W. Kelley Noah Wilbourne Kelley was born August 29, 1893 at the family farm on Kelley Road near Brooks in the same room where his father was born. The son of Minnie Patterson Kelley and George Columbus Kelley, he was educated in the Brooks...
John Lynch, Named County Historian
August 11, 2019 John Lynch, Named County Historian John Lynch was named Fayette County Historian on August 11, 2019. John was involved in the compiling and writing the “The History of Fayette County, Georgia 1821-1971”, and published in 1977. He was one of four people...
Flat Creek Baptist Church
August 31, 1826 Flat Creek Baptist Church Flat Creek Baptist Church was constituted on August 31, 1826. It was established as a mission church of Whitewater Baptist Church, and early on, was called “The Church of Christ at Flat Creek.” Its first building, a log...
First Bale of Cotton 1944
August 30, 1944 First Bale of Cotton 1944 Mr. J E Robinson has delivered the first cotton to the gin, making a 480-pound bale. He also reported the first blossom in June. He expects a bumper crop, as his cotton has dried on the stalk. Sources:...
Fayetteville gets a Dentist
August 12, 1964 Fayetteville Gets a Dentist On August 12, 1964, the Fayette County News reported that Fayette County and Fayetteville have finally obtained a dentist, after many unsuccessful attempts to lure one to the county. For more years than anyone could...
Fayette Seminary Established
August 5, 1856 Fayette Seminary Established A meeting was held on August 5, 1856 at the Courthouse led by Miles M. Tidwell who voiced interest in establishing a local learning institution. It was decided at this meeting that the Fayette Seminary would be built to...
September
William P. Redwine
September 20, 1890 William P. Redwine September 20, 1890 William P. Redwine was laid to rest in the City of Fayetteville cemetery. Redwine came to Fayetteville in 1840 from the part of Fayette County that became Campbell County (and later Fulton County). He married...
John Tucker Day
September 7, 1905 John Tucker Day John Tucker (Jack) Day was born in Milledgeville, Georgia September 7, 1907. He graduated Georgia Military College. Mildred Seawright, from Fayetteville, was attending Wesleyan College of Georgia in Macon and visited...
Howell B. Parker
September 28, 1888 Howell B. Parker Howell B Parker lived in Jonesboro, with G C Looney, in the 1880 census, he is listed as a boarder, with 8 other men living in the Looney home. He was a teacher, but he is not found in later census records. He had great confidence...
Elizabeth Echols
September 22, 1828 Elizabeth Echols The first will recorded in Fayette County, Georgia was that of Elizabeth Echols. Her will was executed September 22, 1828 and probated November 3, 1828. In the will she mentions her mother, Elizabeth Smith to whom she leaves her...
Death of Dr. Isaac Gray Woolsey
September 11, 1902 Death of Dr. Isaac Gray Woolsey Dr. Isaac Gray Woolsey for whom the town of Woolsey Georgia is named for died of heart failure on September 11, 1902. His funeral was held on September 16th at the Baptist Church there and was said to have been...
D. X. Gordy
September 28, 1913 D.X. Gordy Dorris Xerxes Gordy was born in Aberdeen (Fayette County) Georgia on September 28, 1913. His father was William Thomas Bellah Gordy, a well-known potter of Aberdeen who had previously worked a kiln in Alvaton (Meriwether County, Ga.) The...
Benjamin Brown files for Revolutionary War Pension
September 4, 1832 Benjamin Brown files for Revolutionary War Pension Benjamin Brown is buried in the Brown Cemetery in Peachtree City. The stone recently set shows born in 1758 and died in 1853. The other stone shows that he was a veteran of the Revolutionary War....
Arthur Arnold
September 15, 1881 Arthur Arnold Arthur Arnold was born on September 15, 1881, in a house just across Whitewater Bridge. His parents were former slaves, Henry Arnold and Nellie Dorsey. He had 10 brothers and sisters. As a child, he went to school at Flat Rock...
October
Wordie Newsom Daniel Dixon
October 17, 1874 Wordie Newsom Daniel Dixon Wordie Dixon was the first to hold the title of School Superintendent for Fayette County. He went around the county to the community schools checking on their progress. In addition, he became the Editor of the Fayette County...
Usebius Slaton
October 8, 1809 Usebius Slaton Usebius Slaton was born October 8, 1809. He married Gencie “Jane” Nixon before he was 20 years of age. After Jane died (about 1852) he married Orasha Clifford Paston. A newspaper clipping from Fairburn Georgia dated December 1, 1889,...
The Hanging of Uriah Glass
October 17, 1834 The Hanging of Uriah Glass Former Fayette County Sheriff Uriah Glass was legally hung on October 17, 1834 in Fayetteville for the shooting death of Charles Pearson. The shooting had happened at Coker’s Tavern in Fayetteville in early September of...
Morgan Mill
October 1880 Morgan Mill Morgan Mill was built before 1880. The 1880 Census list shows Loranzo Morgan with a mill on Whitewater Creek with 8 HP waterwheel. In the 1883 Georgia State Gazetteer the following mill was listed in the Brooks Station community: Walter T....
Lois Brown Seawright
October 14, 1976 Lois Brown Seawright Lois Brown was born in the Shakerag District of Fayette County on May 7, 1888. Her parents were F. B. (Tobe) Brown and Elvira Bunch Brown. Her father was the Sheriff of Fayette County from 1904 to 1918. Lois married Dr....
Lizzie McEachern Brown
October 11, 1891 Lizzie McEachern Brown In 2002 Lizzie Brown was recognized as Georgia’s oldest resident. She was born on October 11, 1891. When she died in 2003 at age 111, she was the oldest resident in Georgia and the 3rd oldest in the United States. Many...
Herb Frady
October 24, 1930 Herb Frady Herbert “Herb” Frady was Peachtree City’s fifth Mayor, having been elected for the first of his two 2-year terms in 1978. With a population of just over 5,700, the City celebrated its “20th Birthday Party” in March 1979, with more than...
Grady L. Huddleston
October 7, 1923 Grady L. Huddleston Grady Huddleston was born on October 7, 1923 in then Clover Community of Fayette County. Grady graduated Fayette County High School, earned a BS degree at the University of Georgia and an L.L.B. degree from the Woodrow Wilson...
Fayette County Fair
October 1, 1937 Fayette County Fair On this date the Fayette County Fair kicked off as the “Greatest Fair” ever with fine exhibits and fun “Galore”. The basketball building was filled with “Farm products, quilts, bedspreads, table-cloths, center-pieces, aprons, rugs,...
Dr. E. C. Seawright is Declared Elected
October 7, 1926 Dr. E. C. Seawright is Declared Elected The decision in the contest of the municipal election held July 13th has been rendered by Judge Mundy, Ordinary of Clayton County, acting for Judge Davis, who was disqualified on the grounds of...
November
The Fayetteville Enterprise
November 21, 1952 The Fayetteville Enterprise Discontinues Publication
Walter Frances Cowart Reeves
November 3, 2017 Walter Frances Cowart Reeves Walter Frances Cowart Reeves, 98, of Inman GA, Fayette County, passed away on November 3, 2017 after a long and full life. Frances was born Jan. 8, 1919 in Union City, GA. Frances graduated from Campbell County High...
Union Grove School
Union Grove School Union Grove School was located near the southwest corner of what is currently Tyrone Road and Flat Creek Trail, on land that was donated by Thomas Jefferson Askew. Mrs. Tommie Lee Edmondson Askew and Mrs. Maynard Griggs Brown, were the school’s two...
Theo James Odom
November 24, 1907 Theo James Odom Theo James Odom was born on November 24, 1907 in Needmore, Georgia to Theo Augustus Odom (1881-1962) and Hattie James (1887-1969). He had two living siblings, Horace and Charles. As a child they would go down to the river to...
The Story of Banks Road
1964 The Story of Banks Road Many years ago, Effie Davis moved into the neighborhood where Raymond Banks lived. When they got to 9th grade, they started courting and soon Raymond asked Effie’s father if he could marry his daughter, and they were engaged. They married...
Robert Alexander Holliday
November 16, 1862 Robert Alexander Holliday November 16, 1862 Fayetteville lost its beloved “Uncle Bob”. Robert Alexander Holliday was viewed in the parlor of his sons’ spacious home on Lanier Avenue. (now the Holliday-Dorsey-Fife House Museum.) John Stiles Holliday...
Librarian Makes Urgent Plea
November 5, 1937 Librarian Makes Urgent Plea On November 5, 1937, a letter appeared in the local newspaper from Mrs. Jewell Hines, Librarian for the Fayette County Public Library. Mrs. Hines wrote the letter as an appeal to the citizens of Fayette County to aid in...
Ida May Harp Casts Her Ballot
November 2, 1920 Ida May Harp Casts Her Ballot Several generations of women suffrage supporters had marched, lobbied, and even practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change to the Constitution. Ratified in August of...
The High Museum of Art Presents Local African American Folk Artist Nellie Mae Rowe
November 20, 1999 The High Museum of Art Presents Local African American Folk Artist Nellie Mae Rowe Nellie Mae Rowe was born in Fayetteville Georgia on July 4, 1900. She was the 9th of 10 children. She was artistic at an early age; drawing and making dolls. However,...
Flagpole Dedicated to Viet Nam Dead
November 9, 1966 Flagpole Dedicated to Viet Nam Dead Fayette County will dedicate a new flagpole on its courthouse lawn on Friday, November 11, and honor the heroes from the county who have given their lives in the war in Viet Nam. Commission Chairman Howell...