Back in the Day

School Board Rulings
In the early part of the 20th century the Crawford County Board of Education seemed to have difficulty in shaping the behaviors of their teachers, presumedly so the students would not be exposed to unseemly influences.  In 1927 the Board ordered that teachers employed in the “Roberta School” were not allowed to have dates on school nights, namely on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights.  Although the minutes were not specific in speaking to the gender of the teachers, we know from contemporary records that teaching staffs for the most part consisted wholly of females.  A year later, in 1928, the Board must have decided there was still reasons for concern about undue and inappropriate influences on the community’s children.  It was decreed that married women would not be hired as teachers, nor would they be allowed to marry during the school year.  It was not stated that their employment would be terminated if they were to marry during the school year, but the implication is clear.  Note that this order was specifically aimed at the female teachers.  Can it be surmised that married male teachers were acceptable role models?
In1930 the Board was still struggling with the question of the behavior of their school teachers.  It ordered that teachers could not have an “engagement” from Monday morning until Friday night.  Apparently they did not define just what constituted an “engagement.”  Neither did they address the order specifically to female teachers.  By1936 the Board must have realized the teachers were not in complete compliance with their earlier ruling.  They found it necessary to emphasize their previous order by recording, “No teacher shall be permitted to have dates or receive calls from young men during the school week from Monday morning to Friday evening.”  The Board firmly stated that this rule would be strictly enforced, and, furthermore, “Any teacher not abiding by same shall be subject to dismissal from the school system.”  Here again we can see that female teachers were singled out for attention.  Later the Board apparently decided they still were not in complete control of their teachers’ extra-curricular activities.  Some teachers may have been stretching the boundaries of just what behavior constituted a “date.”  So in 1937 the Board defined a “date” as “going to ride at any time, even going home from town (except in bad weather), or being in company with any of the opposite sex when it is evident it is out of the ordinary routine of duty, business or social.”  There still seems to be the possibility of different interpretations of this definition.  Nevertheless, the Board ordered, “Anyone not adhering to this ruling will be reported to the Board who will, in time, issue a warning to the person violating the rule if they find it of sufficient importance.  A second such warning will be sufficient to warrant the Board’s request that the person in question does not apply for the next year’s work.”  Details of the School Board orders taken from the Crawford County Sesquicentennial publication, November 1972.

Steamers at Creek Agency
In 1836 there seemed to be the start of development of river transport of people and goods  on the Flint River at the Creek Indian Agency.  Various accounts throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries, when describing the new lands as “civilization” moved westward, invariably described how far north the various rivers were navigable.  So it would seem to be significant that steamboats could be brought up the Flint River into Crawford County.  Here is the story reported in “Gazetteer of the State of Georgia” by Adiel Sherwood published in 1837.  “Flint River. The western head branch of this river is in Campbell, and the eastern in De Kalb. Its whole length is 300 miles; its depth when it flows into the Chattahoochee, 6 feet, and its breadth there 150 yards. Steamboats come up to Bainbridge, 50 miles above the confluence. Obstructions to the navigation have been cleared in this river, to a considerable extent, between Bainbridge and Danville. A steamer, built at the old Agency, in Crawford, just west of Knoxville, called "Henry Crowell," sailed down in May, 1836, and another went down in June, drawing three feet water, while the river was low. Merchants were building boats at the Agency to carry down their crops.”  Perhaps the folks at the Indian Agency were overly optimistic in their assessment of the ability of river to float their boats and barges.  Modern day Danville is southeast of Macon and the Flint River doesn’t flow there.  If 1836 Danville is the same as modern day Danville there is a serious error in the Gazetteer narrative.  Surely the boat people had more accurate details about the river between the Agency and Bainbridge before investing in steamboats and barges.  Why did  river transportation into Crawford County not develop beyond what appears to be this initial foray?  As historians lament, “More research is needed.”   

Stiles Martin
Another historically notable citizen of Crawford County was Stiles Alfred Martin, state editor of the Atlanta Constitution newspaper (the forerunner of the present day Atlanta Journal Constitution) for 16 years, retiring in 1951. Stiles, born in 1882,  grew up in Crawford County where his family were farmers.  They moved to Culloden when Stiles was 23 years old, but maintained farming interests and friendships in Crawford County. While Stiles attended Roberta High School , he delivered the Atlanta Constitution and worked as a printer for the local weekly paper.  He taught school for two years and then moved to Atlanta in 1906 to work for the Atlanta Journal and The Georgian.  He also operated a clipping service in Atlanta . After retiring he worked for the Georgia Department of Commerce and served as historian of the Georgia Press Association for 10 years.  He was inducted into the Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame at the University of Georgia .  Stiles spearheaded the Georgia Press Association’s publication of a history of newspapers in the state.  He was well known for his knowledge of Georgia history, and it was said that he could locate and recite some fact about any Georgia place name.  He was a frequent contributor to The Georgia Post.  He was instrumental in acquisition of the Joanna Troutman marker in Knoxville on the US80 side of the historic Crawford County courthouse , the Benjamin Hawkins monument in downtown Roberta, a portrait of William H. Crawford to hang in the high school library, and a portrait of Woodrow Wilson for Roberta High School ’s Woodrow Wilson Gym and Auditorium. Stiles died October 23, 1962 and is buried in Culloden City Cemetery . The Crawford County Historical Society has as one of its permanent collections the papers of Stiles Martin.  The full extent of the collection has not been fully realized as it is not yet completely cataloged, and a volunteer to work on this project will be most welcome.   These items presently are stored with the Historical Society.  When the Crawford County Historical Courthouse Cultural Center becomes a reality, they will be cataloged, archived,  and available for study by researchers.

Streets and Roads
The names of a community’s streets and roads often reflect portions of the history of that community.  Thus it is in Crawford County. Crawford County uniquely straddles Georgia’s Appalachian Piedmont and its Coastal Plain.  The demarcation – known as the Fall Line – separates hard clay and soft sandy soils and is marked by falls and shoals along area waterways.  In the county’s first years hopes for rich futures centered on those waterfalls with expectations that river traffic would terminate here and that waterwheel-powered industry would thrive.  Indeed, remnants of these times can be found in the names of roads throughout the county such as  Hortman Mill Road, Marshall Mill Road, Fulton Mill Road, Gunters Mill Road, and Taylors Mill Road..  Obviously, these roads originally led from somewhere to the mills. In more recent times there is Old Knoxville Road,  probably the road from Macon (or other parts of Bibb County) to Knoxville and supplanted by present day US Highway 80.  Parts of the original paths of US Highway 341 became “Old 341" and State Highway 96 became “Old State Route 96.”  Why search for new names when a perfectly satisfactory one is already in place with just a minor modification. The Knoxville Journal of August 2, 1888 carried the notice that Capt G. W. Crusselle “is laying off lots near depot for sale.”  Hence comes present day Crusselle Street which coincides with US Highway 80.  Of note is that Captain Crusselle was still carrying his rank that was probably earned in the Civil War.  Of additional interest is that this subdividing was happening in the same year that the railroad opened through Crawford County. It is not surprising to find McCrary Street in Roberta. H.R. McCrary donated land for the railroad, thus owning the right to name to new community, which he did to memorialize his daughter, Roberta.  Mr. McCrary contributed much more to the town than its name – land for school, lots for businesses, and much else. Agency Street overlays the road that ran from Knoxville to Benjamin Hawkin’s Creek Indian Agency on the Flint River.  There is a  historic photograph showing what appears to be a general store lying to the south of an establishment carrying the sign “Roberta Drug Store.” A younger historic photograph shows City Drug Store on the corner with the facade of the current Roberta Drug Store.  Comparison of the present day facades of these store fronts with those in the two photographs confirms the present day Roberta Drug Store is where the historic apparent general store was located.  Thus, it is fairly certain that Agency Street does, in fact, overlay the original route to the Creek Agency.  Do any of our readers have information about this arrangement? Then there are our “church roads” – Gordon Chapel, Hardison Church, Oak Grove Church, Olive Grove Church, Pleasant Hill Church, Salem Church, Smith Chapel, Springhill Church, St Mark Church, Union Church, Walker Chapel, and Wesley Chapel. As with the mills, it is an easy deduction that these road originally led from somewhere to the places of worship. There are Boy Scout Road, Girl Scout Road, and Camp Eunice Road to guide young people to special facilities. Benjamin Hawkins Road was put in place by the Crawford County Commissioners and leads from GA Highway 128 to where Mr. Hawkins is buried.  The land for the road and grave site were donated to the county by the owners of the surrounding area.  His grave site is maintained by the Crawford County Historical Society, and they are nominating it for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Sites. These are just a few examples of the origins of street and road names in Crawford County. The Historical Society has included in their Strategic Plan a project to document as many of the origins as possible to become one of the exhibits available to the eventual Historic Courthouse Cultural Center.  It would be most appreciated if anyone who has any of this kind of information would contact us and contribute to this project.  One major question whose answer is needed is what are the “somewheres” that required a road to bring folks to these various places.  Continuing the inquiries into origins of street and road names in Crawford County, one that is particularly interesting is Fair Play Hill Road.  This road starts for all practical purposes at the front door of the Historic Courthouse on US 80 and runs north.  Eventually it crosses Salem Church Road where the pavement ends, continuing as a dirt road past the county dump (really not a “dump” but a transfer station for the material to be transported elsewhere), eventually terminating at Hopewell Road. So how might its name come to be?  At the intersection with Salem Church Road there is what in this part of the state would be described as a “hill.”  At least Fair Play Hill Road somewhat increases in elevation as it approaches this intersection and then decreases as it continues north.  So that explains one part of the name.  The “Fair Play” part of the name seems to have a much more intriguing origin.  The story that is passed around (at least among long-time residents) is that “back in the day” card games were regularly (frequently?) conducted in the courthouse.  Now these probably were not what might be called “family affairs,”  but real, down-to-earth, gambling. The story goes that the proprietors of this less than desirable activity were told to cease and desist and get out of the courthouse.  In the face of such a specific order, the game was moved down the road into some kind of facility whose details seem to be lost, but perhaps it was in the vicinity of the aforementioned hill.  But, the game being totally honest and above board – as we all know –  it had to take on the aura of “fair play.”  Thus, the road derives its name from one of its earliest establishments.  How much of this story can be verified?   At least one part of it is firmly documented.  We find that on October 6, 1831 Crawford County Inferior Court issued the following: “Ordered that for the preservation of the Courthouse and for public satisfaction that if either of the Clerks of said county permit any gambling in the rooms occupied by them as Clerk Offices that they forfeit the privilege granted them by Justices of the Inferior Court . . . . for keeping their offices in the Courthouse.”    Note that the courts had just taken possession of the courthouse (July 18, 1831) after the first building burned in 1829.  Perhaps the decorum of the court staff had diminished in the aftermath of the earlier disaster, and the Inferior Court Justices were acting to re-establish their authority.  Thus, certain elements of the story hold together.  The entertainment endeavors of the Court Clerks (more than one?) were run out of the Courthouse.  But we still do not have good documentation that the card game was moved to the top of the hill on the road leading away from the courthouse.  Where did the word-of-mouth story originate?  Can someone add to this very obscure tale?  Please help us with this project of the Crawford County Historical Courthouse Cultural Center.

Women In History
March is designated nationally as Women’s History Month, and so it is appropriate that we acknowledge two of the notable and illustrious women who are natives of Crawford County . The more well known of these women is Joanna Troutman.  In 1835, when Miss Troutman was 17 years old, citizens of Macon, in response to appeals from Texas to help against Mexican general Santa Anna, raised funds to outfit a company of local volunteers who, under the command of Col. William Ward, were going to aid the Texans.  When they passed through Knoxville on their way to Texas, Joanna presented them with a flag she had made using, so the story goes, silk from her petticoats.  The precise location of the presentation is open for question, but it was likely somewhere in the vicinity of the present day Crawford County historic courthouse.  Joanna’s family owned and operated the Troutman Inn across the street from the courthouse.  It was positioned either on the parcel of land containing the present day Church of Christ (northeast corner of the intersection of Fair Play Hill Road and US Hwy 80) or immediately to the east of this parcel. Some published accounts have the presentation taking place on the steps of the Inn, but it appears there is no historical documentation of this fact.  The flag bore a blue five-pointed star and two inscriptions: “ Liberty or Death” on one side and , in Latin, “Where Liberty dwells there is my country” on the other.  The flag was flown at the battle of Goliad and was raised as the national flag when the bearer heard of the Texas Declaration of Independence.  The flag with its “Lone Star” was adopted as the symbol of Texas and continues to this day. Joanna died in 1879 and was buried next to her first husband on the grounds of their Elmwood Plantation near Knoxville.  Because the grave site became unkept, a campaign to move her body to Texas, where she would be properly recognized, was successful in 1913.  She was re-interred in the State Cemetery in Austin.  A bronze statue was erected there as a monument to her memory, and her portrait hangs in the state capitol. The second of these women is Lucy Barstow Allen.  Miss Allen is buried in the Roberta City Cemetery in the Allen family plot.  She was born in 1885 and died in 1971.  Her gravestone reads “A founder and first president of Pilot Club International.” The Pilot Club of Macon was formed in 1921 by a group of women determined to put their services and talents at the disposal of the community’s common good.  They had observed the men forming civic groups, and they quickly ascertained that if men could do it, dedicated females could do the same (and no doubt as great deal more). They quickly filed a petition for Charter that provided “Pilot Clubs shall be promoted, created, and established in various cities within and without the United States ...”  which assured that Pilot had the right to become international.  Forty business and professional women met in Macon on October 16, 1921 to sign the Pilot Charter, among them Miss Allen. From the beginning, each of the men’s service clubs extended The Pilot Club of Macon a sincere welcome into the civic life of the city and each entertained The Pilot Club at one of their meetings.  Within months, Pilot justified this confidence by enabling the successful passage of a school bond election that had previously failed due to lack of interest. Other clubs soon were formed in neighboring states which let the Club satisfy the Charter requirements to become “international,” and in May 1922 a convention was held to elect officers.  Lucy Barstow Allen was unanimously elected as the first President of Pilot Club International. Today there are chapters all over the world encompassing tens of thousands of members in over 600 clubs for men and women, sponsorship for Anchor Clubs on the school level, and the Pilot International Foundation which focuses on education, treatment, and research in the field of brain-related disorders.  Following World War II, Pilot because the first women’s service organization to sponsor Project HOPE on an international basis, and it equipped, re-decorated, and maintained the pediatric ward of the hospital ship SS HOPE.  It played a major role in the establishment of the Salk Institute. Closer to home, local Pilot Clubs have devoted themselves to programs, drives, and campaigns to advance the civic, social, and industrial welfare of their communities.  From two widely different starting points, these two women serve to further illustrate the rich history of Crawford County. Continuing the subject of  notable women in Crawford County’s history, in the previous column the story of Lucy Barstow Allen contained a factual error.  She is not buried in the Roberta City Cemetery – as erroneously stated. Additionally, the story of Miss Allen was abbreviated in the previous column because of space limitations.  It is repeated here in its entirety to provide a more complete story of the impact this woman had throughout the world. The second of these women (the first being Joanna Troutman) is Lucy Barstow Allen.  Miss Allen is buried in Knoxville in the cemetery of the current New Haven Baptist Church (on Hortman Mill Road), previously the Knoxville Methodist Episcopal Church, in the Allen family plot.  She was born in 1885 and died in 1971.  Her gravestone reads “A founder and first president of Pilot Club International.” The Pilot Club of Macon was formed in 1921 by a group of women determined to put their services and talents at the disposal of the community’s common good.  They had observed the men forming civic groups, and they quickly ascertained that if men could do it, dedicated females could do the same (and no doubt as great deal more). They quickly filed a petition for Charter that provided “Pilot Clubs shall be promoted, created, and established in various cities within and without the United States ...” which assured that Pilot had the right to become international.  Forty business and professional women met in Macon on October 16, 1921 to sign the Pilot Charter, among them Miss Allen. From the beginning, each of the men’s service clubs extended The Pilot Club of Macon a sincere welcome into the civic life of the city and each entertained The Pilot Club at one of their meetings.  Within months, Pilot justified this confidence by enabling the successful passage of a school bond election that had previously failed due to lack of interest. Other clubs soon were formed in neighboring states which let the Club satisfy the Charter requirements to become “international,” and in May 1922 a convention was held to elect officers.  Lucy Barstow Allen was unanimously elected as the first President of Pilot Club International. Today there are chapters all over the world encompassing tens of thousands of members in over 600 clubs for men and women, sponsorship for Anchor Clubs on the school level, and the Pilot International Foundation which focuses on education, treatment, and research in the field of brain-related disorders.  Following World War II, Pilot because the first women’s service organization to sponsor Project HOPE on an international basis, and it equipped, re-decorated, and maintained the pediatric ward of the hospital ship SS HOPE.  It played a major role in the establishment of the Salk Institute. Closer to home, local Pilot Clubs have devoted themselves to programs, drives, and campaigns to advance the civic, social, and industrial welfare of their communities. From two widely different starting points, these two women serve to further illustrate the rich history of Crawford County.

Women In History Part 2
Continuing the subject of notable women in Crawford County ’s history, in the previous column the story of Lucy Barstow Allen contained a factual error.  She is not buried in the Roberta City Cemetery – as erroneously stated. Additionally, the story of Miss Allen was abbreviated in the previous column because of space limitations.  It is repeated here in its entirety to provide a more complete story of the impact this woman had throughout the world. The second of these women (the first being Joanna Troutman) is Lucy Barstow Allen.  Miss Allen is buried in Knoxville in the cemetery of the current New Haven Baptist Church (on Hortman Mill Road ), previously the Knoxville Methodist Episcopal Church, in the Allen family plot.  She was born in 1885 and died in 1971.  Her gravestone reads “A founder and first president of Pilot Club International.” The Pilot Club of Macon was formed in 1921 by a group of women determined to put their services and talents at the disposal of the community’s common good.  They had observed the men forming civic groups, and they quickly ascertained that if men could do it, dedicated females could do the same (and no doubt as great deal more). They quickly filed a petition for Charter that provided “Pilot Clubs shall be promoted, created, and established in various cities within and without the United States ...”  which assured that Pilot had the right to become international.  Forty business and professional women met in Macon on October 16, 1921 to sign the Pilot Charter, among them Miss Allen. From the beginning, each of the men’s service clubs extended The Pilot Club of Macon a sincere welcome into the civic life of the city and each entertained The Pilot Club at one of their meetings.  Within months, Pilot justified this confidence by enabling the successful passage of a school bond election that had previously failed due to lack of interest. Other clubs soon were formed in neighboring states which let the Club satisfy the Charter requirements to become “international,” and in May 1922 a convention was held to elect officers.  Lucy Barstow Allen was unanimously elected as the first President of Pilot Club International. Today there are chapters all over the world encompassing tens of thousands of members in over 600 clubs for men and women, sponsorship for Anchor Clubs on the school level, and the Pilot International Foundation which focuses on education, treatment, and research in the field of brain-related disorders.  Following World War II, Pilot because the first women’s service organization to sponsor Project HOPE on an international basis, and it equipped, re-decorated, and maintained the pediatric ward of the hospital ship SS HOPE.  It played a major role in the establishment of the Salk Institute. Closer to home, local Pilot Clubs have devoted themselves to programs, drives, and campaigns to advance the civic, social, and industrial welfare of their communities. From two widely different starting points, these two women serve to further illustrate the rich history of Crawford County .