Pulaski County GA

Hawkinsville Georgia High School History

The Hawkinsville High School through the years has been outstanding. During the last half century seventy-five per cent of its graduates have enrolled in the different colleges and have generally taken good stands, the school for years ranking ninth in the State. None of this excellent record could have been possible without a uniformly splendid teaching force. Prof. T. A. Clower, a man of eighteen years successful experience, succeeded Professor Harris. From 1926 to 1935 the Hawkinsville public schools have made some progress despite the depression. Many books and magazines of value have been added to the library, and a … Read more

Biography of Luke Stevens

Luke Stevens married Ellen Dupree and settled two miles south of Mock Springs, in Pulaski County. Seven children were born to them. In 1850 they moved to Angelena County, Texas. Nothing is known of the family except Stephen Daniel, a son, who came back to settle the estate. He married Katherine Dewitte and settled two miles north of Mock Springs and farmed. He served four years in the Confederate Army. After the war he came back and took part in the rebuilding of the county. Both were members of Antioch Baptist Church and were loved by many. He lived to … Read more

Biography of Nathaniel Polhill

Among those who came over with Oglethorpe in 1733, or very soon thereafter, was Nathaniel Polhill, a London haberdasher, who is generally conceded to be the first Baptist in Georgia. Colonel Warren Grice, in an article on “The First Georgia Baptists,” describes him as a man of strong convictions and great faith. He further says: “Perhaps our great debt to Nathaniel Polhill is for the large number of consecrated Baptist men and women who are descended from him. From the day he set foot on Georgia soil until this good hour, he and his have been zealous to do the … Read more

Biography of James Oliver Jelks Jr.

James Oliver Jelks, Jr., was born July 4, 1839, the second son of James Oliver Jelks, whose ancestors came to this country from Wales, and of Mary Polhill, of Burke County, Georgia. Mr. Jelks, Jr., was a pioneer merchant of Hawkinsville. He erected the first building used exclusively for storekeeping, and established the general mercantile business of J. 0. Jelks and Brother in 1865, one of the first business firms to be organized there after the War Between the States, in which he enlisted in Company G, Eighth Georgia Regiment. This firm was located at the corner of Commerce and … Read more

Biography of Judge Hugh Augustus Haskins

Judge Hugh Augustus Haskins, generally beloved and highly respected citizen of Pulaski County, was born December 9, 1848, in this county. He was the son of Ottoway Haskins and Elizabeth Burkhalter Haskins, who were married March 26, 1844. When only sixteen years of age, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, on November 29, 1864, where he served with bravery till he was paroled May 2, 1865. He was one of the outstanding farmers of Pulaski County, and served the county as tax collector from the year 1895 to 1911. In 1912 he moved to Hawkinsville, and, upon the death of … Read more

Biography of Judge Anthony Cowart Pate

Judge Anthony Cowart Pate was a lineal descendant of Sir John Pate Baron of Leicestershire, England, whose son, Major’ Thomas Pate, emigrated to America in 1672, settling in Gloucester County, Virginia. His son, Matthew, married Anne Reade, and their son, Jacob, married Zilla Broach, whose son, Jacob, was the father of John. John married Nancy Cowart in 1794. Their son, Redding, born in 1796, married Elizabeth Miller in 1829. Both of their grandfathers were from North Carolina and soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Their children were John Redding and Anthony Cowart. Anthony was born in Washington County, Georgia, near Sandersville, … Read more

Pulaski County Academy’s Records

Pulaski County Academy’s Records Mt. Horeb Grand Valley Academy was organized 1808. The date of 1st record is 1840 (Acts 1840, p. 13; Cobb p. 1194, 12/19/1840). 1821 Pulaski County Academy. 1832 Pulaski Walnut Branch Academy. 1840 Pulaski Mt. Horeb Grand Valley Academy. Number chartered 3 (Secondary Education in Georgia 1732-1858) Boogher. Pulaski County Academy-Higher Branches of Education taught. The number of Students taught, according to report of Commission from Academy Returns 1833, is 91 total. 35 male and 56 female. (Second Ed. in Georgia 1732-1858) Boogher. Academies Pulaski County That Robert N. Taylor, Jacob Watson, John Rawls, William L. … Read more

Biography of John W. and Robert J. Lancaster

John Wilson, born August 1, 1843, and Robert Johnson, born March 6, 1852, were sons of William (born April 13, 1813, died May 8, 1903) and Pherbia Wilson Lancaster (born March 9, 1821, died April 16, 1900), and grandsons of Washington and Nancy Johnson Lancaster, who came here from Burke County and built a nice home near what is now Bembry’s Mill. Washington obtained these lands, including lot No. 388, the mill site, from William S. Lancaster, a Revolutionary soldier, who purchased the latter from Cornelia Dunahoo at the land drawing in Milledgeville, November 7, 1807. The deed to this … Read more

History of Midway Baptist Church, Pulaski County, Georgia

For many years Old Adam Meeting House was the only religious structure on the old River Road or in the Lampkin settlement. In fact, after leaving Hawkinsville, prior to the year 1800, and for nearly three-score years in the nineteenth century, Old Adam Meeting House was the only place of worship situated on the east side of the Ocmulgee River, south. This church was located about eleven miles from Hawkinsville on the lower River Road just below Mosquito Creek. At this time James L. Lampkin owned all the land in that vicinity, and the church site was donated by him. … Read more

History of First Methodist Episcopal Church South, Pulaski County, Georgia

The Methodist Church is, likewise, identified with the earliest history of Pulaski County. It was in November of 1805 that Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, negotiated a treaty between the Indians and the Federal Government for lands between the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers. On December 15, 1808, the Georgia legislature passed an act creating Pulaski County from a part of this territory. And in January of 1809 the South Carolina Annual Conference, which embraced all of Georgia at that time, created the “Oakmulgie Circuit.” This circuit embraced Pulaski County. Within one month after the county was created and two years … Read more

Biography of James Lucas Walker

James Lucas Walker, better known as “Jim Crow,” was born on July 18, 1838, at Longstreet, Bleckley County, Georgia (formerly a part of Pulaski County), and died in Cochran, Georgia, on July 31, 1913. His grandfather, George Walker, with his brother, Thomas, and his sister, Mary, and her husband, John Dallas, came directly from Ireland to America in 1750, landing in Pennsylvania. George and Thomas immigrated to Georgia, settling in Burke County. The former was a soldier with the Georgia troops in the Revolutionary War. He was the father of David Walker, who married Ann Lucas. They became the parents … Read more

History of Friendship Baptist Church, Pulaski County, Georgia

Friendship Baptist Church, of Pulaski County, Georgia, was organized May 6, 1843. This church was constituted at the home of Mr. Reubin E. Reynolds I who was born in 1795 and died in 1872) and wife, Winnie Cutts Reynolds, and his daughter, Cynthia Reynolds (who later became the wife of John Wesley Turner). The ministers constituting the presbytery were: Berry Hobbs and Joseph Ross. The charter members were: Benjamin Franklin Adams, William Ridley, Jesse Grantham, Reubin E. Reynolds, Martha Adams, Nancy Ridley, and Winnie Cutts Reynolds. Services were held in the Reynolds home until the first Friendship Church was built, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Edwin Augustus Jelks, Dr.

Dr. Edwin A. Jelks, eldest son of James Oliver and Mary Polhill Jelks, was born in Hawkinsville, Ga., October 1, 1836. He was educated at Mercer University, graduated at Medical College, Charleston, S. C., and at Jefferson College, Philadelphia, Pa. He was one of the earliest settlers of Quitman, buying the first lot sold in the town. In the War Between the States he enlisted in Company C, Twenty-sixth Georgia Regiment, becoming a part of Stonewall Jackson’s famous corps. It is said he was the ablest surgeon that Georgia furnished to the Confederate military service. He was on the field … Read more

Biography of Thomas E. Lovejoy

Among the historic landmarks that took rank and prominence in the days of “Georgia’s Aristocratic Knighthood” was “Old Spalding,” in Macon County, Georgia, and it was here that Thomas E. Lovejoy, the eldest son of the late P. H. and Henrietta Lovejoy, was born, sixty years ago. Graduating in the schools of Hawkinsville, he later finished his business course in Poughkeepsie, New York. He began his career in the grocery business with T. R. Wilcox, under the firm name of Wilcox & Lovejoy, in Hawkinsville. Very soon he became assistant cashier of the Planters Bank of this city, continuing in … Read more

Biography of Eli Warren Goode

Eli Warren Goode was born December 18, 1869, and died October 17, 1929. It was the observation of a well-known writer that it takes three generations to make a gentleman. Mr. Goode’s father was Charles T. Goode, a graduate of the University of Georgia in the class of 1853, a Colonel in the Cavalry of the Confederate Army, a member of the General Assembly, a member of the constitutional convention of 1865, a lawyer and orator par excellence. The paternal grandfather was Honorable Thomas W. Goode, a highly successful lawyer, who was frequently sent to both branches of the General … Read more

Biography of George Washington Jordan

Origin of this surname: “A young Crusader who had borne the ensign of the Cross through many battles, when knighted by Richard the Lion Hearted, and asked what boon he desired, replied, `My father, William of Deandon, once made the complete pilgrimage, bathed in the holy waters of the river, and carried to my mother the olive branch. Therefore, if it please thee, I would like a name-I would be called Jordan’.” George Washington Jordan, son of Briton Jordan and his wife, Margaret Bell, was born in Washington County, Georgia, in 1826, and died in Hawkinsville in 1912. He attended … Read more

Biography of Washington Leonidas Grice

A family tree would show four Grices in a direct line, all residents of Johnston County, North Carolina: Francis, who died in 1750, a copy of whose will appears in the published Colonial Records of North Carolina; his son, William, a Revolutionary soldier; and next, Stephen, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions, and his son, Garry, who in his youth was a civil engineer and laid out the town of Goldsboro, North Carolina. In 1822, Judge Stephen Grice, with his wife, who was formerly Miss Sally Simms, with their family, moved to Newton County, Georgia, … Read more

Roster of Pulaski County Georgia Volunteers

Company G, Eighth Regiment, Georgia Volunteers, Infantry, C. S. A., First company to leave Pulaski County. Compiled by the late D. G. Fleming: T. D. L. Ryan, captain. Enlisted May 23, 1861; resigned March 2, 1863. Geo. W. Carruthers, first lieutenant. Enlisted May 23, 1861; resigned January 1862. S. W. Taylor, Jr., second lieutenant. Enlisted May 23, 1861; resigned January 1863. John A. Young, first sergeant. Enlisted May 23, 1861; transferred to Regimental Band of Musicians, June 25, 1861; elected first lieutenant, February, 1862; promoted to captain, March 5, 1863, killed at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. Daniel H. Mason, second … Read more

Biography of James Oliver Jelks

James Oliver Jelks, son of William Jelks and Mary Wallace, was born October 29, 1802, in Halifax County, North Carolina, where his mother’s people were reared. His father’s parents came directly from Wales, settling in Edgecombe County, N. C. They were the parents of Ruskin, Dixon, Etheldred, Robert, Jane, and William. Ruskin Jelks settled in Baton Rouge, La., and became the founder of that branch of the family. William moved to Greene County, Georgia, traveling in a snowstorm, when James Oliver was one month old. Three years later he moved to Pulaski County, Georgia. Mary Wallace’s brother, Elijah, moved from … Read more