Church Sunday

 

   

     The following article is from The Wrightsville Headlight, Wrightsville, Georgia, Thursday, May 8, 1958, the Centennial Edition.  It was written by a Committee of Oaky Grove Church.

Oaky Grove History Dates Way Back to 1820 and Wee Log Church

    "Oaky Grove Church, located in Johnson County 10 miles east of Wrightsville [and 8.7 miles northwest of Kite] just off Highway 319 was organized in August, 1818 under the name of "Gum Log" by Elders Benjamin Manning and Jordan Smith.  Charter members were Bros. Hardy Johnson, Lewis St. John, Samson Powell, James Johnson, Michael Lighter, Ely Yates, Isaac Norris, John Taylor, Joseph Brantley, Thomas Fennell, Abner Sandford, Allen White and Sisters Milly Johnson, Rebecca Swain, Catherine Yates, Charlotte Johnson, Dorcos Johnson, Patience Powell, Susannah Davis and Lucy St. John.

    Log Church Built

    In May, 1920, the church agreed to the report of the committee 'to build the new meeting house below the public road on the north side of the Ohoopee River. The house to be built of  "hewed logs" size 22 X 30 feet.'

    About this time the monthly meeting was changed from the first to the fourth Sunday in each month. Services are held on the second and fourth Sundays now [1958].

    The church was identified with the Hepzibah Association until 1929. Division over the mission question about 1830 led to the organization of 'The United Baptist Conference.' This name was changed to Canoochee Baptist Association the same year.

    Church Name Changed

    In 1831 the name Gum Log was changed to Oaky Grove. In 1847 the association was divided into two bodies, upper and lower Canoochee.  Oaky Grove allied with the upper Canoochee. 

    In July, 1847, Brother Lanier Powell tendered a deed to a certain parcel of land on which to build a new church house. It was accepted and a larger church was built.

    In the contention over the question of churches continuing to accept baptisms from the Missionary Baptist Churches, in 1866 Oaky Grove, Sardis, Providence, and Philadelphia withdrew from the association and according to best information, organized the Ohoopee Association in 1867.

    Oaky Grove continued with that body until 1885, during which time quite a number of churches were added to the Ohoopee Association, but on account of some disorders a dissatisfaction arose and Oaky Grove, Sardis, Providence, Reedy Springs, Swift Creek (now Oak Ridge) and Piney Grove organized the 'New Union Association.'

    Records show that an effort was being made from about 1872 to reunite Oaky Grove Church with the upper Canoochee Assn. In 1879 a committee appointed by upper Canoochee Assn. made investigations and reported Oaky Grove an orthodox and orderly church. Having been received into the upper Canoochee Assn. in 1895, she has remained there until now [1958].** 

  

    The present church building was built in 1903. The present membership numbers about 200 active and inactive members [1958]. *

    * Current membership numbers are unavailable.

    ** Oaky Grove Church is now an independent/local fellowship and is not associated with the Upper Canoochee Primitive Baptist Association.

    Oaky Grove Pastors

    Pastors serving this church during the years were Elders:

        Benjamin Manning, 1818

        Jordan Smith, 1823

        Isaac Norris, 1839

        David Lamb 1860

        William Norris, 1862

        Edward Riner, 1877

        Henry Meeks, 1885;

        Joel Anderson to Meeks, 1890

        Elders J. N. Smith with Henry Meeks, 1891

        Henry Meeks, 1892

        W. J. Brown to assist Elder Meeks, 1896

        Meeks and Brown, 1899

        Meeks, 1900

        Henry Meeks and Joseph Kersey, 1910

        W. A. Lamb, 1912

        T. E. Silkes, 1915

        W. A. Lamb, 1916

        W. B. Screws, 1924

        W. H. Crouse, 1932

        S. M. Claxton, 1937;

        A. L. Brannen, Jr., 1949

        Elder Eugene Price and the Present Pastor, Elder Maurice Riner [1958]

        

        [The current pastor is Dr. Tom Akins, 1997-now.]

    Preachers ordained were Isaac Norris, Joseph Brantley, William Norris, J. P. Steptoe."

    There are 164 members of my family, especially the Tapleys, buried at Oaky Grove Church.  I believe the reason is proximity.  Oaky Grove is on the same road on which my great-great-grandfather's (Samuel Page Jr, 1800-1860) land was located.  This land became Tapley land after my great-grandmother, Becky Page Tapley, 1844-1924 married my great-grandfather, Jim Tapley, 1847-1912 .  

    Here are are a few family tombstones located at Oaky Grove:

Sympathy Saturday

  Sympathy Saturday will be where I share the obituaries and my condolences for members of my family tree who passed recently.  When you get to be a certain age, you begin to read the obituaries every day.  As the days go by, you read about more and more of your friends and family members who have died.  You compare their age to your own and get a jolt. "That could have been me." 

    For genealogists, checking obituaries and visiting cemeteries is as normal as breathing. I learn so much from an obituary, i.e., maiden names, parents' names; children's' and grandchildren's' names, funeral and burial locations, sometimes even a cause of death.  I want to learn these things not for any purpose but to put it on the family tree for future generations to see and learn about the family that went before them. I admit, most of these relatives I have never met, but I think it is important to share that they were here on this Earth, and they were important.

    So I am signed up with at least three funerals homes from Swainsboro, Vidalia, and Wrightsville to get daily notices of obituaries sent to my email.  Every day, I peruse them and with the help of the family tree, figure out who is related to me and add any new information to the tree. Some weeks there are several, and some weeks there are none. This week there are two that actually passed away last year. I got behind on email for while, but I did not think I was that behind. I am not sure how I missed them.

Please join me in offering condolences to their families and holding them in the light.

William 'Billy' Anthony Minton
May 2, 1949 - May 29, 2025
Swainsboro, GA

William Anthony Minton, Billy, Husband, Daddy, Paw Paw, Loggerhead

Billy was brought into this world on May 2, 1949 to the late Eddie Minton and Vina Bell Brantley and had four siblings; Lamar, Eloise, Martha, and Jack. He had several nieces and nephews. In his youth, Billy lived on a farm in Kite, Ga. and enjoyed hunting and fishing which was a hobby that continued throughout his life. During his high school years, Billy was a multi-sport athlete but his height and skills at center on the basketball court set him apart from other players. 

After high school, he attended Brewton Parker College and later transferred to Georgia Southern. Afterwards, he began a career at Thermo King in Louisville, Ga., became a National Guardsman, and eventually became owner of Billy Jack’s Bar and Lounge where he enjoyed and appreciated all his friends and customers. He was well known for making his famous Tom Collins drink which people stated was the best in five counties. It was also known that he and his brother Jack were the undisputed tag team champion bouncers.

The time his life really began to change was when he met a fiery red headed woman, Loraine Frederick from Norristown, who had two sons, Robert and Reagan Moxley. Shortly afterwards came a cute little Loggerhead Jr., William Andrew Minton. Billy enjoyed taking his boys dog deer hunting, riding dirt roads looking for deer tracks, fishing the Ogeechee River, watching Scooby-Doo every morning, and telling the same story over and over and over. He was also a master of making sure his boys were doing a job correctly while he stood back displaying his first-class instructing skills.

Billy and Loraine enjoyed sight-seeing while riding around Emanuel and surrounding counties. They would stop and eat lunch at small restaurants or grab some fried chicken from a convenience store. Loraine would eat a couple of bites and give Billy the leftovers.

His family continued to grow with the addition of two daughters-in-law, Marcie Jelf (Robert) and Joni McCoy (Reagan). His greatest prizes in life were his four grandchildren. River and Raimy Moxley (Joni and Reagan), Audrey Moxley (Robert and Marcie), and Willow Minton (Andrew). 

A private ceremony will be held at a later date.

Agnes Logue Harrison
September 14, 1931 - June 04, 2025
Kite, Georgia

Mrs. Agnes Harrison, 93, of Kite passed away at her residence on June 4, 2025, surrounded by her loving family.

She was born on September 14, 1931, to the late Thomas and Marie Logue. Mrs. Agnes loved cooking and caring for her family. She worked for many years in the Kite school system, managing the school’s lunchroom. She was a long-time member of the Kite Baptist Church.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Talmadge Ovid Harrison, her parents, a son, Terry Harrison, a sister, Elizabeth Dickens, and her brothers, Gilbert Logue, Dupree Logue, Emory Logue, Lamar Logue, Clayton Logue, and Bill Logue.

She is survived by her children, Ron (Patricia) Harrison, Guy (Cathy) Harrison, Jim Harrison, and Marie (Mickey) Mimbs, ten grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren, her sister, Katherine (George) Harrison, special friend, Inez Thomas.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at the Kite First Baptist Church at 4pm with Rev. Burton Dixon officiating. The family will receive friends from 3:00pm until 4:00pm.

Interment will follow at the Kite City Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Connor Harrison, Tommy Logue, Aaron Harrison, David Wood, Michael Harrison, and William Harrison.

The family would like to extend their deepest thanks to University Home Health Services, nurse Sherie Lawrence, and Angela Wood for their care of Mrs. Harrison.

Condolences may be expressed at www.chapmanfhofswainsboro.com.

Chapman Funeral Home of Swainsboro is in charge of the arrangements Mrs. Agnes Harrison, 93, of Kite.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - A Name That Runs in Your Family

 From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  We all have many names (given, middle surname, and nickname) in our ancestry, whether we know them all or not.

2)  Do you have "A Name That Runs in Your Family??"  Is there a first name - or nickname - that keeps repeating generation after generation in your tree? Share the name, the pattern, and your best guess as to why it stuck.

3) Please share!

Here's mine:

The name that was handed down and through the Tapley family for several generations was "George Washington." 

I theorize that it started out as naming a son after the first president of our new country.  However, I think as time went by, it just turned into naming children after brothers, fathers, uncles, etc.

- The first instance is when my 3rd great-grandmother, Sarah Tapley (1775-bet. 1850-1860) named one of her twins, George Washington Tapley (1814-aft. 1880). He was married to Elizabeth Hicks (1824-aft. 1880). 

- His son, James Madison 'Jim' Tapley (1847-1912), named after George Washington's twin brother, along with his wife,  Elizabeth Rebecca 'Becky' Page Tapley (1844-1924) named one of their sons, George Washington Sentell Tapley (1876-1944). 

- James M. 'Jim' Tapley had another son James L. 'Jim' Tapley (1868-1941) who was married to Maggie Vicey Powell (1878-1959) and they had a son, Gordon Wesley Tapley (1894-1959) and he and his wife, Minnie Lee Garrett (1904-1995) named a son George Washington Tapley (1937-2016). 

- The other twin, James Marion (or Madison) Tapley Sr (1814-1884) and his wife, Martha Norris (1824-1901) named one of their sons after his brother, thus another George Washington Tapley (1858-1923).

- Another child of James M and Martha, Susan Isabella 'Babe' Tapley Norris (1852-1928) and her husband, Dr. Swain Madison Norris (1850-1918) had a son, Newton Dean Norris (1878-1947), who, along with his wife, Charlsie Claxton (1881-1963) named a son George Washington Norris (1911-1991).

- Sarah Tapley's brother, James L. Tapley (1780-1855) and his wife, Mary Benson (1791-1860), had a daughter named Julia Ann Tapley (1815-1891) who, along with her husband, James Thomas Pullen (1814-1891) named a son George Washington Pullen (1857-1924). 

- Another child of James L. Tapley, Thomas A. Tapley (1826-1892), along with his wife, Pherreba Ann Jane Rountree (1829-1905) named a son George Washington Tapley (1860-1939).

- My 1st cousin, 5x removed, Jordan Tapley (1801-1877) (who shared grandparents, Joel Tapley [abt 1720-1790/91] and Mary Avent Tapley [1735-1790]with Sarah) and his wife, Rebecca Hinsey Littleton Tapley (1815-1847) named a son George Washington Tapley (1836-1864).  

- George Washington Tapley (Sr) (1836-1864) and his wife, Sarah Ann Dye (1841-1885) named their son  George Washington Tapley (Jr) (1864-1912) also.  

- George Washington (Sr) had a brother named Thomas Pinkney 'Tom' Tapley (1843-1940), who, along with his wife, Mary Palestine 'Mit' Couch (1855-1929) named a son George Washington Tapley (1871-1950).

I am sure that is all very confusing, but I calculate that there were ten (10) George Washingtons in the Tapley family.  I have many more who married into other family lines.

This naming pattern covered 123 years - from 1814 when the twins were born - to 1937 when the last George Washington Tapley that I am aware of in the Tapley family was born.  The practice seems to have died out after that.  

Military Monday

 

Military Monday posts are made to honor those in my family tree who have served in the United States military.

  

Virgil Willard Powell

1916-1958

U.S. Navy, World War II

Virgil was my 2nd cousin.  Our common ancestors are James Madison "Jim" Tapley and Elizabeth Rebecca "Becky" Page.

Thank you for your service.

Friday's Faces From the Past

 

        Elizabeth Virginia "Lizzie" Tapley Powell is my grand-aunt, and James Marion Powell, Sr. was her husband for more than 60 years.  Our common ancestors are James Madison "Jim" Tapley and Elizabeth Rebecca "Becky" Page Tapley.

Wedding Wednesday - Alfred Harrison Powell Jr (1927-2007) & Betty Ruth Geiger (1931-2007)

 

Engagement Announcement

published in The Miami Herald

Miami, Florida

Sunday, October 28, 1951, Page 47

Wedding Announcement

published in The Miami Herald

Miami, Florida

Sunday, January 20, 1952, Page 56

Alfred and Betty Ruth were married for 45 years and had four children together.  She passed away less than 24 hours after he did.  

Betty Ruth was my (half) 4th cousin.  Our direct ancestor was Canneth Swain (1770-1831). 

These types of articles offer lots of information for the family tree.  They provide the bride's maiden name; the names of the parents of the couple and where they are from; the address of the both the bride's and groom's parents; how the couple met; where they each attended school; where Alfred was employed;  and that he had served in the military during World War II.  Because of the great information they provide, I save all engagement, wedding, and marriage announcements I find.  

Tombstone Tuesday - Woodrow Wheeler (1916-1977)

 

Woodrow Wheeler

b 05 Dec 1916

d 13 Apr 1977, Johnson County, Georgia

laid to rest at

Kite City Cemetery

Kite, Johnson County, Georgia

Son of

Walter Gordon Wheeler (1887-1974)

and Callie Powell (1895-1954)

Woodrow was my 2nd cousin.  His grandmother, 

Elizabeth Virginia "Lizzie" Tapley Powell, 

and my grandfather, Lusion Keman "Loosh" Tapley 

were sister and brother.

Our common ancestors are 

James Madison "Jim" Tapley (1847-1912) 

and Elizabeth Rebecca "Becky" Page Tapley (1844-1924)

buried beside Woodrow is his wife,

Flossie Mae Douglas Wheeler

b 02 Aug 1923, Sandersville, Washington County,  Georgia

d 25 Apr 1999, Kite, Johnson County, Georgia

Together forever...

pictures taken September 9, 2022

Black Sheep Sunday - Warren James Price (1841-1884)

 The purpose of the Black Sheet Sunday prompt is to highlight a black sheep of the family tree.  Every one of us has skeletons in our closet, so to speak, but these black sheep had the unfortunate luck of their skeletons making the newspaper.  That's where I found the story.  There is always three sides to a story: his, hers and the truth.  I am not so naive as to believe that the news printed the truth, but most of the time, the printed news pieces are all I have to go by.  There is no judgment here; just sharing the stories.

Warren Price

In 1882, Warren James (or James Warren) Price shot and killed his son-in-law.  He was arrested, found guilty of the charge, and hanged in Johnson County, Georgia.

The first account I'm going to present is a mixture of facts and an account written by Warren Price's 3rd great-granddaughter, Kristi Rawls, and published in The Wrightsville Headlight, Wrightsville, Georgia, on March 29, 1990. Then I will present the version shared by the courts.

Warren Price was born in Johnson County, Georgia in 1841.  On May 20, 1861, he married Susan Alitia 'Susie' Ross (1840-1896).  Over the next 10-12 years, they had several children.  I have seven listed; there could have been more or less.  

Susie Ross & Warren Price

In January of 1882, one of their daughters, Virginia 'Jinnie' or 'Jennie,' married Romanus F Perry, also of Johnson County.  Jinnie was 15 years old; Romanus was 22. After about three month, Jinnie was expecting their first child.  Their marriage quickly went sour.  Jinnie moved back home with her parents and told her father that she never wanted to see Romanus again.

Well, Romanus was not giving up that easy.  He would "sneak" over to see Jinnie late at night.  He would go to her window and beg her to come back home. It was not a secret that he was doing this, and Jinnie's father, Warren, told Romanus in no uncertain terms to not come back around or else he would kill him. 

So on the night of August 31, 1882, Warren Price heard rustling in the cornfield beside his house.  He assumed it was Romanus. He stepped out onto the porch and called out a warning to Romanus.  He told him to leave or he was going to shoot him. The rustling continued, and Warren raised his gun and shot toward the cornfield. Perhaps it was just intended to be a warning shot, but unfortunately, Romanus was hit and he died shortly thereafter.  The court version  says it was a few days later he died, but his date of death is August 31, so he died soon after he was shot.

Warren was arrested and tried... the very next month.  He was tried in Johnson County during the September 1882 court term. That was not much time for his attorneys to prepare for trial.  He supposedly had good attorneys, but it not enough.  Warren was found guilty of the murder of Romanus F. Perry, his daughter's husband. There was a motion made for a new trial, so sentence was not handed down at that time.

The following year, in  September of 1883, a new trial was set, but in November, it was decided that Warren Price would be retried in neighboring Emanuel County. Flash forward another year to September 1884, he was again convicted of murder.  He was sentenced to hang.

Warren was held in the Washington County jail until the time of his hanging.  On the night before, law officials left the jail unlocked and a horse tied outside, but Warren refused to escape.  He said that if he could not live with his family as a free man, he did not want to live at all.  

Family lore is that Warren walked to the gallows the next day smoking his pipe.

Again, law officials gave him the opportunity to escape.  They left him there at the gallows, unrestrained, while they went to lunch. Warren's family begged him to run.  His reply was that he had killed Perry, and that he would hang for it.  

Warren Price died on December 12, 1884, a mere three months after sentencing.  He was hanged at the edge of the city limits of Wrightsville on the Adrian Highway.  He was buried in the Price Cemetery in Pringle in Johnson County. 

Warren has the distinction of being the first man hanged in Johnson County.

It is a tremendously sad story that brought heartache to everyone involved.  The reverberations could be felt for lifetimes.  Jinnie and Romanus's baby boy, named Rufus Franklin Perry, was born on January 5, 1883. The story is that while Jinnie and the Price family were at the hanging, Romanus Perry's family came and took the baby.  Jinnie did not see him for 16 years.  

On September 26, 1884, right about the time her father was on trial, Jinnie married Mandol Anathan Powell (1859-1930).  They had 8 children together and were married for about 46 years. What bearing does this information have, you may ask. Well, it seems that Mandol was courting Jinnie when she was 14, around 1880, before she married Romanus. The only reason they broke up is Mandol got typhoid fever and didn't come around for awhile. Hearing rumors, Jinnie assumed he had jilted her.  So she married Romanus. (Information provided by my cousin-in-law, Judy Harrison [luvmyporsh].)

Now for the version printed in the newspapers at the time.  They are decidedly different in their accounts in that some suspected Jinnie of setting up the murder in order to be free to be with Mandol.  There does seem to be quite a bit of Jinnie blaming. 

From the Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus, Georgia, 

Saturday, April 14, 1883, Page 3

From The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia, 

Saturday, December 13, 1884, Page 1

There is another version out there - the truth.  I am sure it is located somewhere in between the two versions I have presented here today.  We will never know the details of that truth.

Personally, I think the moral of this story is if you do make a mistake or a wrong, own up to it and take the punishment. That is what makes Warren Price more than just a black sheep; he was also a good man who made a mistake.

Warren Price was my 2nd cousin, 6x removed.  Our common ancestors were John Moore and Sarah Norris.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Surnames in Your Family Tree Database?

 From Randy (a cousin discovery!!) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

(1)  Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer or an online family tree), and figure out how to count how many surnames you have in your family tree or database.

(2)  Tell us which GMP you are using and how you did this task.

(3)  Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries.  If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5! or 10!! Or 20!!!

(4)  Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, in a post on Facebook, or on Twitter.  

Here's mine:

I use Family Tree Maker 19 (FTM19) as my GMP.  In FTM19, go to "Publish,", then "Person Reports," and then choose "Surname Report."  I then tweaked the Settings to "All Individuals," "Sort by Surname Count," and "Show Divider Between Surnames."

I have 75 pages of surnames, listed from the most number of instances down to the least number of instances (1).  I did a count of how many surnames on a page (44), multiplied that by 74 pages, and then added the 20 entries on the last page (page 75) and got a total of 3,276 surnames in my family tree.

This is the first page of my report:

Surname Report 05-14-2022

The top 20 are, with birth date ranges:

TAPLEY - 927 from 1691-2010

MNU (Maiden Name Unknown) - 672 from 1531-1984

OZMUN - 300 from 1764-1973

CLAXTON - 299 from 1764-1997

DRAKE - 291 from 1647-2001

PRICE - 272 from 1680-1967

BUSH - 264 from 1589-1971

POWELL - 257 from 1750-1980

SMITH - 249 from 1648-1984

RANNEY - 232 from 1661-1973

HUBBARD - 212 from 1601-1925

WILLIAMS - 145 from 1777-1992

DAVIS - 126 from 1760-1965

GOODWIN - 125 from 1776-1961

DURDEN - 123 from 1775-1960

JOHNSON - 123 from 1681-1974

WILSON - 116 from 1847-1981

BARWICK - 113 from 1731-1957

WHEELER - 108 from 1807-2017

BEASLEY - 97 from 1788-1983

I found surprises in my list.  First of all I would have thought that my number of Tapleys would have been higher.  I also did not realize how high the numbers are for Smith, Johnson, Davis, and Williams.  I had to laugh that Powell was in the top 10 - all of the them married into my family.  I have none in my direct line.  However, my family intertwines with the Powells over and over again to the  point that a fellow Powell researcher I know and I call each other cousins anyway.  I was surprised (and disappointed) that the number of Odoms, Goths, or Schwalls were not higher.  But then I have had a harder time researching those surnames, so it shouldn't be a surprise.  

I am looking forward to see how this changes over the next few years since I am about to dive into the Ranney family records again.