KinNextions (Public Version) - aqwn95 - Generated by Ancestry Family Tree

KinNextions (Public Version)

Notes


Janice Beatrice LEWIS

Obituary
Janice Beatrice Lewis Green, 51 of Nahunta, GA died at her residence Tuesday (Sept 23, 2008) following a lengthy illness.

Born in Pierce Co, GA, she is the daughter of the late Isaiah Hodges Lewis and Beatrice Dryden Lewis of Hoboken.

Preceded by her father, 2 sons, Michael and Bobby Curl, 3 brothers, Kenneth, Ray and David Lewis.

She was a homemaker and a member of Hickox Baptist Church.

Janice is survived by her Son and daughter-in-law, Terry and Sylvia Curl of Blackshear, her Mother, Beatrice Lewis of Hoboken, Sister and brother-in-law, Faye and Gregg Thrift of Hoboken, 3 Brothers and sisters-in-law, Eddie and Diane Lewis of Nahunta, Charles and Deanna Lewis of Blackshear and Tony and Sherri Lewis of Hoboken; several Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, Nephews, other relatives and friends.

Visitation will be Thursday evening starting at 7 PM at Chambless-Frye Funeral Home, Nahunta.

Graveside services will be held Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. from The High Bluff Cemetery, Schlatterville, with Rev. Ray McMillan officiating.


William Jesse LEWIS

William Jesse Lewis was born and raised on his father's farm in Wayne County, Georgia (now Brantley). He continued to farm to some extent all of his life, but his principal occupation was as a station agent and telegrapher for the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. He grew tobacco and cotton on his farm. He was station agent at the RR depot in Offerman, Georgia. He met Mary Lydia Tabor at his brother Perry's house. She and her brother were boarding there while she was attending telegraphy classes. After the marriage, the couple made their home in Patterson, Georgia. He loved the mountains of North Carolina where his wife grew up and took the family there every chance he got. He built a vacation cabin on Tabor land in the Brush Creek Community of Swain County, North Carolina in 1934. He was 5' 9" tall, heavy set with red hair, and was called Jesse by his friends. He was a jolly man, well liked around town, and was an avid fisherman. He was a member of the Patterson Baptist Church and the Masonic Lodge and was active in civic affairs in Patterson. All the children were born in Pierce County, Georgia.

visit http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~walterberg2000/AnnsTree/WmJesseLewis.htm


Born on a farm in Wayne Co., GA (now Brantley), he continued to farm to some extent all of his life, but his principle occupation was as a station agent and telegrapher for the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. He grew tobacco and cotton primarily.  He operated the depot at Offerman,GA.

The following written by daughter Martha Louise:

"My father started working in Offerman in February, 1926.  He worked from 8:00am to 4:00pm, seven days a week.  He continued there until he resigned due to illness in August, 1943 - two months before he died.

Offerman had the ACL line going north and south and the AB&C line going east and west.  Some of his responsibilities included working big, heavy levers which enabled the trains to switch freight cars on to the siding so they could be transferred from one line to the other. He was the freight agent and would order merchandise by freight which was stored in the depot until the buyer came to pick up the item. The buyer would pay him and he would then forward the money to the company who sold the item and forward the balance to the ACL or AB&C for services rendered in his handling of the matter.

It was also his duty to closely monitor each train as it went by to see that the wheels were not on fire.  Should he spot a 'hot box' he would signal the conductor on the caboose who notified the engineer to stop the train so that they could walk to the wheel and repair it before further damage occurred.

He was also the telegrapher and could type the telegraph message on to his typewriter with two fingers as it was being sent by morse code. He sent and received many messages by way of the telegraph key.

He was the ticket agent and passengers going to and from the coast or to the other areas would buy a ticket from him. Many people rode the railroad in those days, and passenger trains came through several times a day.

As a small child, I remember him standing really close to the speeding train and handing the engineer messages by way of a hook. This was a round hoop which had a long handle.  The engineer would grab the hook with his arm through the hoop, get the message and drop the hoop on the ground a short distance from the station so that it could be picked up and used again.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt came through Offerman on one occasion. The train went very slowly and many people from all around the area gathered to get a glimpse of the famous president who waved to the crowd as he went by."

He loved the mountains of NC where his wife grew up and built a vacation cabin for family outings in 1934 on a part of the old Taborlands near Brush Creek in Swain Co.

He was short, 5'- 9" tall, and heavy set with red hair.  He was called "Red" or Jesse.  He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and was active in civic affairs around Patterson.  He was a jolly man and well liked around town, although his daughters don't remember him as being outwardly affectionate.  He was an avid fisherman.  He resigned his job at the railroad on August 9, 1943 because of ill health. He died on Halloween night at the age of 54, after a long bout with diabetes and heart trouble.  He left an estate consisting of his home in Patterson, 262.5 acres in Brantley Co., GA, 150 acres in Pierce Co.,GA, and several head of hogs and cattle.

Sources:
1) His last driver's license.
2) Memories of his daughters.
3) His Will made just before his death.


Mary Lydia TABOR

She was born in a little cabin in the Brush Creek Community of the western North Carolina mountains, marking the fourth generation of Tabors to live in that community.  She never lost her love for the mountains, but she had a greater ambition than the life that most mountain women had to lead at that time.  When she finished all the school available in the mountains she followed her brother, John, to Nahunta, Georgia where she studied telegraphy.  After mastering that skill, she found a job as a telegrapher for the railroad, ultimately becoming station agent in Patterson, Georgia where she remained until retirement.  

She met and married Jesse Lewis who also became a RR station agent.  Their family was raised in Patterson, GA.  She had her hands full with a son and four daughters, all the while keeping the job at the station.  Her strength of  character was remarkable, and she always held to a high standard of conduct for her daughters.  She kept a close vigil on their activities, not only while they were children, but in adult life as well.

Her life was not always happy.  A tragic accident in 1919 took the life of her second son. Little Jesse fell into an iron washpot full of boiling water and was killed. She lost her husband in 1943, then in 1946 while the family was gathering for the wedding of daughter, Mary Love, her house burned to the ground.  No one was hurt,but she lost many valued possessions.  

She never owned a car after Jesse's death.  Her home was in the same block with the RR station so she could easily walk to work, and with a free pass on the train to anywhere she wanted to go, driving was unnecessary.  She was always with her daughters when their children were born, helping in whatever way she could. Upon retirement she sold her home in Patterson and moved to an apartment in Brandon, Florida to be near daughter, Ann.

She continued to look forward to trips to the mountains and would climb those mountains with the vigor of a person half her age. Immediately across the hard road from the Brush Creek cabin that was the family vacation home is a high mountain called the Pinnacle.  When she was 80 years old, she climbed to the top leaving much younger people panting behind. Her motto for mountain climbing was "just lean forward and bend your knees."  

When her health began to fail, she gave up the Brandon apartment and moved into Baptist Village, a retirement center near Waycross, GA.  She died there after surviving her husband by forty-five years.  She is buried next to him in the Rob Lewis Cemetery near Raybon, GA in Brantley County.  

Most of the information about the Tabor family included in these reports is the result of her efforts at gathering the information.

visit http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~walterberg2000/AnnsTree/MaryLydia.htm


Clyde LEWIS

Clyde, like his father was a Mason.  Excpt for a short time during World War II when he commuted to Hinesville and Valdosta to work for a construction company (as a bookkeeper) that was building Fort Stewart and Moody Air Force Base, he remained in Patterson all his life.  He farmed the lands inherited from his father, raising corn, tobacco and other crops.  He also raised hogs and cattle. Clyde died of a heart attack.


Joseph Robert LEWIS

Joseph Robert "Rob" Lewis was born on 5 January 1854 in Wayne County, Georgia (now Brantley), the son of James Bryant Lewis and Letitia McCool. He was a young boy during the Civil War, and could only watch his older brothers go off to fight and die for the South. He was a farmer, working lands inherited from his father and purchased from the other heirs. In the early 1900s when Rob was in his prime, national headlines told of the digging of the Panama Canal. He may have seen some of his friends leave for Panama to answer the nationwide appeal for workers on the project. Good pay was offered to those who would go. Rob, however, remained on his farm throughout his life. He married Mary Ann Johns on 24 October 1878 in Wayne County.

Rob Lewis died on 17 April 1930. His son, William Jesse Lewis, was the Administrator of his estate. They are buried in the Lewis Cemetery at Raybon, Georgia in Brantley County.

In Brief:
He was a farmer on lands inherited from his father in Wayne Co., GA(now Brantley).  He died of diabetes at the age of 76.  His son,William Jesse Lewis, was the administrator of his estate.


Sources: Notes of Mary (Tabor) Lewis, widow of William Jesse Lewis.
               Notes of Mary Lou (Lewis) Creighton, daughter of PerryMadison Lewis.
               Pioneers of Wiregrass GA, Huxford, Vol.!V, p.182.
               Mary Johns family Bible.


Mary Ann JOHNS

Mary Ann Johns was born on 2 September 1860 in Wayne County, Georgia, the daughter of Joseph Madison Johns and Ellender Courson. She married Joseph Robert "Rob" Lewis on 24 October 1878 in Wayne County. Mary Ann and Rob Lewis lived on their farm near Raybon, Georgia throughout their lives. Their children were all born in Wayne County.

Mary Johns died 5 January 1929. She is buried beside her husband in the Lewis Cemetery at Raybon, Georgia in Brantley County.


Elbert Avery LEWIS

He was a school teacher in St. Augustine, FL.  His wife and baby died in childbirth.  He never married again.


Perry Madison LEWIS

Perry Lewis was a railroad operator at Poulan, GA.  He was a faithful member of the Baptist church and a Mason.  He died at age 33 from typhoid fever caught from the drinking water at the depot.  He was taken to the hospital in Waycross but never recovered.  In those days there was no workmen's compensation, and the railroad paid nothing to the family.


Avery Madison LEWIS

He died of the measles.


Eva Kate LEWIS

Eva Kate was remembered as a quiet lady.  She played the piano and attended college, taking a business course.  She taught school and was a homemaker.  She loved to embroider and crochet.  She was a member of the First Advent Christian Church.


James Bryant LEWIS

He was a 1st Lieutenant in the 335th District Wayne County militia from 1831 to 1836 and a Captain in the same district from 1836 to 1839. He served as a private in Captain James Jones militia company in the 1840 Indian War. He was Sheriff of Wayne County from 1836 to 1838, Justice of Wayne Inferior Court from 1839 to 1841 and again in 1849 until his death. He also held the office of Tax Collector from 1840 to 1841.  He was the guardian of his four sisters who were yet minors at the time of his father's death.  He was listed on a court proceeding selecting children to receive a share of the "poor schoolfund" indicating six children. The 1860 Census of Wayne Co, GA shows him as a farmer with land valued at $2500 and personal property valued at $1300, and that his mother-in-law, Lucretia McCool, was living with the family at that time.

Sources: Pioneers of Wiregrass GA, Huxford, Vol.IV, p.182; Vol.VII,p.519.
               Ancestors and Descendants of M.A.B. Howard, Woodward(1979).
               Cemetery markers in Lewis Cemetery - Raybon, GA
               1850 Census Wayne Co., GA
               1960 Census Brantley Co., GA
               Interview with Mrs. Sally Strickland - Mershon, GA(June, 1980)
               Wayne Co. court record published by Hux.Gen.Soc.Vol.XVIII, p.295.
               Memories of Buffalo Creek by Mary Lee Godwin Faranha

visit http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~walterberg2000/AnnsTree/JamesBLewis.htm


Letitia MCCOOL

Little is know of Letitia McCool other than as the wife of James Bryant Lewis and mother of their twelve children. She was born in Wayne County, Georgia and spent her entire life there. She and James were married there on April 12, 1838. The area where they lived is now Brantley County. They are buried in what is called the Rob Lewis Cemetery in Raybon, Georgia.

visit http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~walterberg2000/AnnsTree/Letitia.htm


John William LEWIS

Killed in the Civil War.
Memories of Buffalo Creek by Mary Lee Godwin Faranha.


James Madison LEWIS

Killed in the Civil War.


William MCCOOL

William McCool was a native of South Carolina. He died before 1850. He married Lucretia Highsmith and spent his adult years in Wayne County, Georgia. All that is known is that they had two children: Letitia and James Madison McCool, both born in Georgia. It is possible that there were others. James Madison McCool was born in September of 1826, married Louise Mariah Burnett in 1867, and died January 1, 1904.


Lucretia HIGHSMITH

Lucretia Highsmith was born in 1788 in Pitt County, North Carolina, the fourth of the fifteen children of Jacob and Sarah Highsmith. She moved with her family to Wayne County, Georgia, as a teenager in 1807. She married William McCool and had at least two children: Letitia and James Madison McCool. In the 1850 Wayne County, Georgia census she is shown to be 60 years old and living with her son, James. In the 1860 census she is shown to be 72 years old and living with her daughter, Letitia Lewis.

In 1850 Wayne County census she is shown as 60 years old, living withJames McCool, presumably a son.

She is shown in the 1860 census of Brantley Co., GA as being 72 yearsold, living with her daughter Letitia (McCool) Lewis.