Among the outstanding citizens of Hawkinsville, and a man well known throughout the State in. the field of journalism, was Mr. Josephus Tarver. The family was prominently connected with the early history of the county.
Mr. Tarver was the son of Andrew Jackson Tarver, a member of one of the pioneer families of Georgia, and Mrs. Elizabeth Daniel Tarver. Andrew Jackson Tarver served as a soldier of the Confederacy and died while in camp at Little Rock, Ark. Mrs. Elizabeth Daniel Tarver was the daughter of Dr. Henry Daniels, a practicing dentist, who built and operated Hawkinsville’s first hotel. It was located in the business section on Jackson Street, and was known as the Daniel House.
The Daniel family came to Hawkinsville before the War Between the States, from New Haven, Conn.
Mr. Joseph Tarver spent his entire life in Hawkinsville. At the age of fourteen he began work in the printing office with the late J. P. Woods, and later with the late J. J. Harvard. For forty-five years he served with the local paper, and for twenty-five years was editor of the Hawkinsville Dispatch and News.
He was known over the entire State as the capable editor of one of Georgia’s finest weeklies. Editors throughout the State spoke of him in the highest of terms. He continued in his chosen vocation until his death on December 4, 1918, at the age of fifty-nine. He was an upright Christian gentleman.
Early in life he married Miss Elizabeth King, a member of one of Pulaski county’s early families, and a descendant of Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia. Mrs. Tarver was also a descendant of the Love family, who held positions of prominence during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods.
Four children survive Mr. and Mrs. Tarver, all of whom are now living: J. W. Tarver, of Atlanta; Mrs. Ida Tarver Mohler, of Merigold, Miss.; Mrs. Rosa Tarver Snellgrove, of Hawkinsville; and Mrs. Lila Tarver Byum, of El Paso, Texas. The grandchildren are: J. W. Tarver, Jr., of Los Angeles; Mrs. John Dunbar, of Vicksburg, Miss.; Mrs. Jasper Simpson, Summer, Miss.; Miss Marguerite Tarver, Atlanta; Cornelia Bynum, El Paso, Texas; and Tom Snellgrove, Jr., of Hawkinsville. Great-grandchildren are : John Dunbar, Jr., of Vicksburg, Miss., and Sandra Simpson, of Summer, Miss.