The Clopton Chronicles
A Project of the Clopton Family Genealogical Society
DEGREES OF PROVIDENCE
Regarding
David Clopton & His Faithful Slave
Edy
By Carole Elizabeth Scott,
Ph.D., [email protected] &
Suellen Clopton Blanton,[1]
[email protected]
Water
until the gold thoroughly washed
And
adhered to the copper lining of the rocker.
The early part of the
nineteenth century found three high spirited sons of David and Mary Ann Clopton[2]
in Georgia. The early years were
good to Alford, David and Albert Clopton.
Gold was discovered as early as 1826 in Villa Rica, Georgia, and David[3]
was among Carroll County first gold miners and settlers.[4] A Clopton Goldmining Company was still
operating as late as 1895, producing gold and quartz[5]
David
Clopton earned his first fortune from this gold mine. In 1850 only ten percent of the population of Georgia owned
slaves.[6] David owned nineteen, which is one
indication of his wealth.[7] Although the gold mine may have
produced the funds necessary to initially purchase slaves, mining was back
breaking and no doubt David worked very hard. In her History of
Villa Rica,[8] Mary Talley
Anderson describes the process used in Georgia.
From
1830 to 1840 the prospectors worked extensively. It is said that for the first ten years not less than 20,000
pennyweights were taken out annually.
All
mining was done until around 1840 by simply panning. A vessel was used, generally shaped like a long-handled
skillet. It was imperative that
the vessel be free from all grease, so it is not likely that the miners good
wife was permitted to use it for cooking purposes, no matter how short she may
have been on cook utensils. Into
this vessel the sand, gravel, and gold was poured together with water. Grasping
the vessel firmly with both hands, back and forth, the miner worked, as though
he were sifting meal, with the water, sand and gravel spilling over the sides
of the vessel. Again and again, he
renewed the water until nothing remained but the gold dust which settled to the
bottom of the vessel. . .
The
next method of mining employed was the “Rocker Process.” Rockers were made of hollowed out logs
and lined with copper in which holes so small as to appear almost negligible
were made. Into this rocker the
sand, gravel and gold were poured together with water. Two men caught either end and rocked it
back and forth, very much as women used to rock their babies in cradles. Again and again they replenished the
water until the gold was thoroughly washed and adhered to the copper lining of
the rocker. This method was
favored over the Sluice Box process as it was difficult to obtain sufficient
water to operate these boxes, since dams had to be built on elevated ground to
catch rain water for washing the gold.
Little mining was done after
1844, and it appears that David had moved to Polk and Paulding Counties and
became a planter.
.
. . many a soldier asked himself the question:
What
is this all about? Why is it that
200,000 men
Of
one blood and one tongue, believing as one
Man
in the fatherhood of God and the universal
Brotherhood
of man, should in the nineteenth century
Of
the Christian era be thus armed with all the improved
Appliances
of modern warfare and seeking one another’s lives?[9]
March
21st, 1865
Dear Fanny;[13]
Your
letter of 12th of last month came to hand a few days back, and as
Mr. McClure is with me and will leave in the morning for the low country I will
send this by him. If I mail it
here it is very uncertain whether you will ever get it. I will not attempt to give you a history
of my ups and downs since I saw you; it would take a volume. I will only say I left home
Saturday before the Yankees came[14]
on Monday. I did expect they would
get here on Sunday morning from what I had heard.
They
robed my house, took a part of my meat and corn,[15]
and broke up things generally.
They found the box containing your bedclothes, etc. and took most of
your things, scattered your books all over the yeard, robed Edy of her money
and the most of her fine clothes and took many things from the rest of the
negroes. Your box was under Edy’s
bed. She thought, and was told
that Yankees would not rob negroes.
Edy sent Mr. Pentecost’s trunk to Patience’s house and had it hid, but
they found it and took out all his clothes.
I
camped out in the woods for five or six weeks,[16]
thinking the Yankees would be driven back. I then left the country and landed down in Chambers County,
Alabama,[17] where I
staid until sometime in September[18]
when I thought I would come home and see if I had anything left.
I
found the negroes had not worked one week all put together. They did cut a little wheat but let it
get spoiled. I had been but a
short time at home when the Yankees moved up from Stilesborough[19]
and for weeks they were camped on this side of the Van Wert[20]
and raiding through here every day.
They passed my house many times but paid no attention to me. They stripped my house again of
everything they wanted and left me almost without anything to keep house
on. I have but two old broken
knives and forks and would have been without bedclothes to sleep under had not Edy patched up a comfort
or two.
The
Yankee army has passed twice through here and our army once. The deserters and stragglers of our
army[21]
have been in here all the summer and all together they have left this country
almost destitute of anything for the people to live on.
They
have taken five horses from me, about 80 heard of hogs, and everything in the
shape of a cow I had on the place and fully half of what little corn that was
made. I am now without syrup, without milk, and have only corn and meat enough
to last me half the summer.
But
I am better off than some of my neighbors. There is poor Kingsbury had every pound of meat, and every
bushel of corn, every horse, cow, hog, and chicken taken; the house stripped of
everything they could carry off and he and his family left with only the
clothes they had on, without one mouthful to eat. And he is not alone.
Dodds and some others
here left in the same fix.
The
negroes I took off with me, I left in Alabama working for their victuals and
clothes. I could not feed them if
I had them here. The families of
Seaborn Jones and Geo. Rentz have just reached home. I don’t know where they will live. I was at Seaborn’s a few weeks since and he and Mr. Rentz
were living on two scanty meals a day and as for their negroes, they did not
taste of meat.
I
have lost four negroes since you left.
Jesse and Big Joe sickened and died. Adaline took fire with her child in her arms and they both
got burnt so badly that she died the second night after.
I
am glad to know you have got a good place among kind and friendly people You have ample means to pay your way
and I would advise you to stay there,[22]
and not think of coming to this destitute country. It is not the country it was when you left – everything
wears a gloomy aspect – everyone stays at home and we see nobody passing unless
it is some poor refugee slowly wending his way to his devastated home.
How is it,
Fanny, you bear your misfortune with so little fortitude so little
patience? There are many who have
been equally, or more, unfortunate than you have been whose situation is far
worse than yours and they became reconciled after the lapse of time.
It
is useless, Fanny, to attempt to resist the degrees of Providence – you can’t
do it. We all have to submit to
fate and it is well for us if we can do it cheerfully.
I
have received a letter from Martha[23]
-- the first I’ve received in twelve months. They all seem to be getting on well – everything quiet
there.
Your
friend,
David
Clopton
Nineteen days later, on
April 9, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The last Confederate forces in Georgia
would surrender at Kingston May 12.
Low Spirits
In
my plain and saving way
If
I can keep it –
But
there is the rub.
Finally the long War came to
an end. Approximately 130,000
Georgians answered the call.[24] By war’s end, over 11,000[25]
of Her sons, husbands and fathers lay dead. Life went on as the South as people attempted to pick up the
pieces. Everything was pretty much
in shambles throughout Georgia, and David plodded through the days and tried to
maintain the plantation as best he could.
July 15th 1866
Dear Fanny
Don’t
be uneasy I will send your things in a short time. I have been a little careless about sending of them, but I
knew what the Yankees left were all safe and did not expect you stood in need
of them. Besides you have no
conception of the difficulty of getting any little job done in this country –
(that is at a fair price). I don’t
suppose I could get a box hauled from this place to Van Wert only one mile for
less than two dollars and if I had have sent your box off before this I should
have had to hire a two horse waggon at five dollars a day to haul it. Now I can send it by the State Waggons
at 50 cents pr. Hundred. The first
man I can find who can or will make a box I’ll hire him and send you things off
– One Box will hold them – I have got Mr. Carson’s clothes & watch from
Cedar Town.[26]
I
have heard nothing from your people for a long time, got a letter from Martha
dated 12th May, all well – looking for another –
In
haste your friend
David
Clopton
Write me how you are etc.
Van
Wert Sept. 7th 1866
Dear Fanny:
I
have sent the Box containing your Bed and Bed Clothes to Cartersville[27]
expressed to you, sent word to Alfred
Williams to see it off right.
I had the Box fixed up without knowing exactly what you had to send
–there is less than I thought and consequently the Box is too large but I hope
they will not injure on that account.
Your Bed has certainly been robed.
Edy says she thinks it was done by some of the negroes on the place and
not by Patience, but I don’t know I did not like the answer Patience gave when Edy asked her about
the Bolster & pillows. It
remained in Patience’s hands a good while after the Yankees collected their
negroes on the place. I ought to
have been more particular and got the Bed out of P’s care before I came away
from the old place. But if you
could know Fanny the trouble and care I have laboured under you would excuse.
The fact is I have lost & lost untill I looked upon everything as
lost. You may live to see things
come right again, and get over the troubles that have been on us for the last
five years but I never can. I have
saved enough to live on in my plain and saving way if I can keep it – but there
is the rub, I feel that nothing is safe, and what may yet esall me in my old
age, heaven only knows. I am truly
glad Fanny that you are married and to a man that will in all probability take
care of you, and amidst your many sources of grief you can feel that Providence
has not entirely forsaken you. I
see by your last letter that you have noticed in some of my previous letters that
I did not request you to write to me or answer my letters. I am sorry you are so particular – for
I did think you knew me well enough to know that I would be at all times glad
to hear from you. You also know my
careless way of writing letters – Don’t Fanny, give me any reason to believe
you doubt my friendship.
I
heard from Martha a few days since, her letter was dated the 17th of
last month, she was well but one of her children had the chills. She says the crops are almost a failure
in that section and that the negroes who are working on our place will make but
little if anything over a bare support but our crop is as good as any in the
neighhborhood. Martha appeared to
be in rather lower spirits than usual when she wrote. Do you ever hear anything from Mollie these days. Perses Kingsbury told me day before yesterday she had just received a letter
from Mollie and said she did not know what to make of her -- there was several
by, but the next time se Perses I
will make her tell me all about it.
Perses & Bate Jones is very friendly and I think
Mollie writes to her thinking she may yet hear something from Bate
favourable. There is nothing
stirring in the neighborhood, no life, but little visiting, everybody and
everything seems down, down, nobody has any money and the little crop that is
making has cost the people more to make it than it will bring after it is
made. The general cry is what are
the people to do the next year.
The negroes have to be fed, and horses furnished them and fed in making another
crop and most or many of the farmers will not have the means of doing it,
either in provisions or money. And
many of the poorer people who has been rationed by the government this year
seems to think that government will feed always and have made but little effort
to provide for the next year. What
then is to become of the negroes & poor whites is the great question of the
day.
I
said everybody was dull, there [was] a party
at Bob Jones a short ago. The Miss
Mores from Alabama has been staying with Mrs. Rentz a week or two, they did not
seem disposed to stay with Bob & Malisa although their father had done them
many favours & was very kind to Bob & Malisa when they refugeed to
Ala. So Malisa concluded to give
them a party and invite the neighborhood.
There was some 15 or 20 at the party. Malisa spread herself – had everything in great stile –
everything done up according to the latest stile & fashion, but from what I
have been told the thing passed off rather dull. Bate ssays they went before they got their suppers and when
the supper came on it consisted of nothing but cake, candies etc. etc. and it
was ill suited to the apatites of a hungrey crowd –no coffee, no tea, no meats,
but it was all very fine and that suited Malisa – Yes & Bob. I was not invited and I am glad of it
for I know Bob’s feelings are quite cool toward me and I should not have felt
easy had I been there. You see I
hold a note on Hems estate for about five thousand dollars and as they would
not make any satisfactory arrangement about it I sued Bob and ever since he has
appeared cool. I am glad of it,
for it always kept me under a strain to keep in with him.
Well,
as Edy wants the table to set for diner I must stop – write me when you get
this
&
believe me your friend
David
Clopton
We
hear no more from David. He was to
die only a few years after the War ended.
Nothing is known about his adopted daughter nor the fate of his devoted
Edy.
1. David19
Clopton, Sr., of St. Peter's Parish
(Waldegrave18, William17, William16,
William15, Walter14, William13, Richard12,
William11, John10, William9, Thomas8,
Walter7, William6, Walter5, William4,
Walter3, William2, Guillaume1 Peche, Lord Of
Cloptunna and Dalham)1 was
born 1760 at New Kent County, Virginia2,
and died Bef. July 3, 1823 at probably Henrico County, Virginia3. He married Mary Ann
Vanderwall December 29, 1783 at Henrico County, Virginia4, daughter of Nathaniel
Vanderwall and Ann Gunn. She was
born Abt. 17604.
David Clopton served in
the military in 1778 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He served in Captain Taliafero's Company, 2nd Virginia
Regiment. He was in Captain John Stoke's company at Valley Forge in 1778. A copy of his records are in the
Clopton Family Archives.
Children of David Clopton and
Mary Vanderwall are:
2 i. Nathaniel Vanderwall, M.D.20
Clopton5, born May 2, 1786
at New Kent County, Virginia; died October 6, 1855 at "Grassdale,"
Fauquier County, Virginia of gout at the age of 706. He
married Sarah Susan Grant Skinker, of "Spring Farm"7 October 17, 1821 at
"Spring Farm", Fauquier County, Virginia8; born May 7, 1798 at "Spring Farm", Fauquier
County, Virginia; died January 30, 1881 at "Grassdale," Fauquier
County, Virginia
Nathaniel Vanderwall Clopton
loved nothing better than a fine horse and a good joke. In fact, he pretty much dedicated his
life to the pursuit of both. He
was a hard working man, a successful Fauquier County and a physician. See Fun and Games in Old Fauquier.
3 ii. Alford Clopton, M.D., C.S.A.,
New Kent County9, born
January 25, 1787 at Henrico County, Virginia10;
died December 1870 at Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama and buried
Tuskegee Cemetery, Macon County11. He married Sarah Kendrick, of
Washington County, Georgia12
June 25, 1812 at Monticello, Jasper County, Georgia13; born December 13, 1794 at Washington County, Georgia14; died September 15, 1851
at Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama
and buried Tuskegee Cemetery.
Previously
published Clopton genealogies have mentioned that Alford's will,
made July 13, 1867, he tells of the hardships caused by the War for Southern
Independence. He mentions his two
sons killed in the war, Martin and James.
However, no copy of this will has been submitted to the Clopton Family
Archives.
Both are buried at Tuskegee
Cemetery, Macon County.
4 iii. Ann Gunn Clopton, of
"Clopton House"15,
born April 9, 1789 at New Kent County, Virginia; died May 16, 1869 at
"Woodside," Chesterfield, Virginia. She married Robert Mosby Pulliam, of "Clopton
House" December 30, 1813 at Henrico County, Virginia16; born August 14, 1786; died July 3, 1843 at
"Clopton House," Manchester, Virginia.
5 iv. John K. Clopton, of New Kent
County, Virginia, born 1790 at New Kent County, Virginia; died Bef. July 182317.
6 v. David Clopton, Jr., of New
Kent County, Virginia18,
born 1797 at New Kent County, Virginia; died probably at Polk or Paulding
County, Georgia before 187019.
7 vi. Sarah E. Clopton, of New Kent
County, Virginia20, born
Abt. 1800 at New Kent County, Virginia.
She married Edward Curd, M.D. June 9, 1819 at Henrico County, Virginia
by the Rev. John D. Blair21
8 vii. Albert Gallatin Clopton, Esq
of New Kent County22, born
1802 at New Kent or Henrico County, Virginia; died September 24, 1830 at Macon,
Bibb County, Georgia23.
In 1824
Albert formed a law partnership with Charles J. McDonald, Esquire, who would later become the Governor of
Georgia. At the time of his death,
he was the law partner of Robert Sampson Lanier, Esquire. One of Mr. Lanier's sons, Sidney
Clopton Lanier, the beloved Georgia Poet, was born in 1842 and possibly named
in honor of Albert. Another son,
Clifford Lanier, would marry in 1868,
Wilhelmina Clopton, the daughter of The Honorable David Clopton and his
first wife, Martha Ligon.
Albert
was one of the founders of Christ Church, in Macon, Georgia, a fact that is
noted on this historical marker in front of the church which is located at 538
Walnut Street. Christ Church was
the first congregation in Macon.
The first organ was brought to Macon, a tracker organ, and installed in
Christ Church in 1834. Its use
produced a sensation in religious communities throughout Macon and Middle
Georgia. The present church building
was consecrated on Sunday, May 2, 1852.
Although Albert was not to live to see this lovely structure, he would
most certainly applaud the words of Bishop Elliott, who commented: "This very chaste and capacious
church, having nearly doubled the seating of the former church, reflects great
credit on the congregation who have built it entirely out of their own
resources.".
Endnotes
1. The Clopton Family Archives contains a copy of an indenture
(GS Film 7566 pt. 21 (031811) Book 41, page 319) dated August 29, 1838 between
Nathaniel G. Clopton and Sarah S. G. Clopton, his wife, of the County of
Fauquier in the State of Virginia, and Allford Clopton of the County of Putnam,
State of Georgia. Refers to the
deceased Albert G. Clopton who had sold "Allford" lands derived from
his father, David Clopton, deceased.
Refers to David Clopton's will divising certain land among his
"five children,"
"Nathaniel, Allford, David, Albert and Sarah now Sarah Curd.
2. Leonard A. Wood, Essay, "Descendants of Waldegrave Clopton," Presented to
the Clopton Family Association, September 17, 1997.
3. Henrico County Will
Book, (Courtesy of Bert
Hampton Blanton, Jr.), GS7565 Pt. 3 (031984).
4. Leonard A. Wood, Essay, "Descendants of Waldegrave Clopton," Presented to
the Clopton Family Association, September 17, 1997.
5. Named in his father's will.
6. Fauquier County
Virginia Death Records,
(Located Fauquier County Courthouse, Warrenton, Virginia. Abstracts and microfilm located
Fauquier County Library, Warrenton.
Courtesy of Bert Hampton Blanton, Jr.), Page 19, Line 16, States he was
born in Fauquier County, Virginia, which is incorrect. He is a farmer and the husband of Sally
Clopton. His death was reported by
his son, N.A. Clopton.
7. GS Film 031828 (7566 pt. 38) Book 75, p. 349, The Clopton
Family Archives contains a copy of this deed dated November 27, 1860 between
S.S.G. Clopton (a widow), Wm. N. Bispham and Mary Ann [Clopton], his wife; J.
S. Clopton and his wife and N. A. Clopton, the widow and heirs of N. V. Clopton
of the first part and Henry D Taylor of the second. Refers to land in the division of the estate of David
Clopton. It is signed, Sarah S. G.
Clopton, W N Bispham, Mary Ann Bispham, J. S. Clopton, Susan G. Clopton, and N.
A. Clopton.
8. Fauquier County,
Virginia, Marriage Book,
(Courtesy of Bert Hampton Blanton, Jr.), Date of bon was October 15,
1821; bondsman named William.
9. He is named in his father's will.
10. Marianne Clopton &
Andrew Reid Holy Bible,
(Courtesy Eatonton-Putnam County Historical Society).
11. Two Alford Cloptons are listed in the Georgia Tax Digests
for the year 1815, page 50 and 51, paying tax on two properties in the John H.
"Brodnax" District. An
Alford was granted 202 1/2, acres, 2,970 feet square, in Monroe County, Georgia, Lot 15, Section 2, in the Forth
Georgia Land Lottery of 1821. It
is believed this referes to two different Alfords. At the time of the drawing, about September 1821, an Alford
was living in Putnam County, Leggetts Military District. An indenture dated August 29, 1838, GS
Film 7566 pt. 21 (031811) Book 41, page 319, between Nathaniel G. Clopton and
Sarah S. G. Clopton, his wife, of the County of Fauquier in the State of
Virginia, and "Allford" Clopton of the County of Putnam, State of
Georgia. (Copy located Clopton
Family Archives). An Alford
Clopton is listed as living in Putnam County in the 1820 and 1830 Georgia
Census.
12. Milledgeville, Georgia, Georgia
Journal, (Courtesy of Leia
Katherine Eubanks), Wednesday, November 30, 1814 Issue, A notice appeared in
this issue stating that on the first Tuesday in March 1815, will be sold at the
Courthouse at Dublin, Laurens
County, Georgia, 475 acres of swamp land of the first quality, lying on the
Oconee River in Laurens and belonging to the estate of Martin Kendrick,
deceased, and signed by Alford Clopton, Administrator, and Jane Kendrick,
Administrator. She is named Sarah
Clopton, in her mother's will which was probated August 1, 1830.
13. Marriage license, Putnum County, Georgia
14. Washington County, Georgia, 1794 Census.
15. The Clopton Family Archives contains a
copy of a codicil (GS 7565 Pt. 3 (031984) dated July 3, 1823, which refers to
"my old friend and neighbor," Mosby Pulliam and his son Samuel T.
Pulliam, his daughter Ann G. Pulliam and Robert Pulliam, her husband. Mentions but does not name her
children. Codicil appoints son,
Nathaniel Clopton, and Hugh Davis as Executors.
16. Virginia Marriage Index, 1740-1850, courtesy of Leonard
Alton Wood, M.S.
17. He is not mentioned in his father's will.
18. He is named in his father's will. Special thanks to Carole Elizabeth Scott, Ph.D., who
provided the information regarding David Clopton and his possible connection
with Georgia. She cites as her
sources "Mary Talley Anderson, "The History of Villa Rica (City of Gold,)"
Villa Rica, Georgia Bicentennial Committee, 1976; S. P. Jones "Gold
Deposits of Georgia," 1909 Geological Survey of Georgia.; and, Mary
Bondurant Warren, "Alphabetical Index to Georgia's 1832 Gold
Lottery," Heritage Papers, Danielsville, Georgia, 1981.
19. Although no David Clopton was listed as living in Carroll
County (Georgia) in the Census, a David Clopton, 53, who was born in Virginia,
appears in the 1840 and as David
C., in the 1850 census of Paulding County, Georgia. There is no David Clopton listed in the 1870 Georgia Census.
20. She is named in her father's will.
21. Richmond (Virginia)
Compiler (In some years called Richmond Courier & Compiler), (Microfilm located Virginia State
Library and Archives. Courtesy of
Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), June 15, 1819, States she is the daughter
of David Clopton, Sr., of Henrico.
Edward Curd is identified as a doctor.
22. He is named in his father's will.
23. Richmond (Virginia)
Compiler (In some years called Richmond Courier & Compiler), (Microfilm located Virginia State
Library and Archives. Courtesy of
Suellen (Clopton) DeLoach Blanton), October 12, 1830, p. 3, States he was a
native of Henrico County, Virginia and died in Macon, Georgia at the age of 32.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Comments? Questions? Corrections?
Contact [email protected]
[1] The Degrees
of Providence, is an excerpt from The
Clopton Chronicles, the Ancestors and Descendants of Sir Thomas Clopton, Knight & Dame Katherine Mylde, and is the property of the Clopton Family
Genealogical Society which holds the copyright on this material. Permission is granted to quote or
reprint articles for noncommercial use provided credit is given to the CFGS and
to the authors. Prior written
permission must be obtained from the Society for commercial use.
Carole Elizabeth
Scott, Ph.D. is a Founding Member of The Clopton Family Genealogical Society
& Clopton Family Archives and serves on the Society’s Board of
Directors. David Clopton is her
g-g-g-granduncle. Suellen
(Clopton) DeLoach Blanton is Founder and Executive Director of The Clopton
Family Genealogical Society & Clopton Family Archives.
The Society wished to
thank Maryel Battin, Senior Warden, Christ Church, Macon, Georgia; Bert Hampton
Blanton, Jr.; Barbara Donley, Virginiana Room Librarian, Fauquier County Public
Library; Myron House, Librarian and Archivist, and Jan Ruskell, Reference
Librarian, Ingram Library, State University of West Georgia, Carrollton,
Georgia; Charles Lott, Commander, Forest Escort Camp, Sons of the Confederacy
Veterans, Villa Rica, Georgia; James Penick Marshall, Jr., President,
Eatonton-Putnam County Historical Society; Leonard Alton Wood for their
assistance in preparing The Degrees of
Providence. Also thanks to
Clopton family descendants Katherine Elizabeth (DeLoach) Eubanks; Ottis Edwin
Guinn, Sr.; and, Lee Graham, Jr., M.Div.
[2] An abbreviated genealogy follows. For a complete genealogy of this
Clopton line, see William Clopton of St. Paul’s Parish
& His Wife Joyce Wilkinson of Black Creek.
[3] Mary Talley Anderson, The History of Villa Rica (City of Gold), Villa Rica, Georgia Bicentennial committee,
1976, p. 4
[4] Mary Bondurant Warren, Alphabetical Index to Georgia’s 1832 Gold Lottery, Heritage Papers,
Danielsville, Georgia, 1981. David, Alford
and Waldegrave won property in
gold bearing territory of northwestern Georgia from which the Cherokee Indians
were being removed. Waldegrave
would probably be Waldegrave Clopton, III., M.D. (1787-November 8, 1832) who
migrated to Georgia with his brothers Thomas B. Clopton, Jr. (see Dr. Thom), James
Brown Clopton, Sr., M.D., and Miller Clopton.
[5] It isn’t clear who owned
this company by 1895. "The Carroll
Free Press," on September 6, 1895, reports that the Clopton Goldmining
Company had finished and put into operation a large Huntington mill, 5 stories
high. In an 1896 geological survey
of Georgia it is reported that the Clopton property is in the vicinity of Villa
Rica. It was located on lot 194,
3rd district and was in the hands of a Boston Company. It had recently completed some work,
including a new mill of recent patent.
In Gold Deposits of Georgia,
by S. P. Jones, a 1909 geological survey of Georgia, quotes Mr. Clarke Watkins,
of Villa Rica, who was familiar with the history of most of the gold mines of
that portion of the Carroll County belt, about thirteen hundred pennyweights of
gold were obtained at this locality from a cut of comparatively insignificant
size. The mine was located on lot
194, 6th district, “a short distance to the northeast of the Chambers
mine.”
[6] The 1850
Census of Georgia Slave Owners, Compiled by Jack F. Cox, Clearfield
Company, Inc., by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1999. Introduction.
[7] According to The
1850 Census of Georgia Slave Owners the Clopton descendants owning slaves
were: Pleasant Perrin Clopton, of
Meriwether County, owned 27; Thomas B. Clopton, M.D. of Putnam County, (see Dr. Thom), 10; Andrew Reid, husband of
Marianne Clopton (see A
Tempest in the Briar Patch), 36; and, Thomas Peter Saffold, husband of
Sarah Elizabeth Reid (see A Tempest in the Briar Patch), owned 35.
[8] Pp. 4-5
[9] Shelby Foote, The
Civil War A Narrative Red River to Appomattox, Vintage Books, a division of
Random House, New York, 1986, p. 640, quoting an unnamed soldier. The soldier’s ends his lament by
saying, “We could settle our differences by compromising, and all be at home in
ten days.”
[10] The Civil War
Book of Lists, Complied by the editors of Combined Books, Conshohocken,
Pennsylvania, 1994 estimates the total population of Georgia in 1861 at
1,057,248, with 465,698 of that number representing slaves.
[11] Catherine Clinton’s Tara Revisited, Abbeville Press, 1995, p. 120, dismisses the
stories of slave loyalty as “black voices produced by white ventriloquism
qualify[ing] as dubious evidence.”
[12] The 1870 Georgia Census lists three blacks living
in Van Wert, Polk County, who have taken the Clopton surname: Jenny, age 54, born in South Carolina;
Miry, 19, born in Georgia; and, William, 55, born in Virginia.
[13] Fanny Hargrove Carson. She was the daughter of Bright W. Hargrove of Villa Rica,
Georgia. Mr. Hargrove was one of
the three Carroll County Delegates to Georgia’s 1861 Secession Convention. These letters are part of the Hargrove
Family Papers, Annie Belle Weaver Special Collections, Ingram Library, State University
of West Georgia, Carrollton. The
University’s archives have a photograph of Fanny when she is 17.
[14] Polk and Paulding Counties were swept up in the
fight for Atlanta. Marauding rogue
Yankee soldiers plagued the area for months. Richard J. Lenz, The
Civil War In Georgia, Infinity Press, Watkinsville, Georgia, 1995, p. 33
notes that on May 27, 1864, the Yankees suffered a humiliating defeat against
the Confederates at Pickett’s Mill Creek in Paulding County. “In the Battle of Pickett’s Mill,
Sherman ordered three brigades to attempt a flank attack of the Confederate
line. Johnston anticipated the
Union move and placed Confederates under Patrick Cleburne at the end of his
line. The attacks were poorly
coordinated and the Yankee brigades got lost in the dense forest and deep
ravines.” When they emerged the
Confederated engaged them, and “the Rebel fire swept the ground like a
hailstorm.” Pickett's Mill is
considered one of the best preserved Civil War battlefields in the nation and
represents one of the few Confederate victories in the Atlanta Campaign.
[15] Foote, The
Civil War A Narrative Red River to Appomattox, p. 352-353, notes that by
the Atlanta Campaign, the Yankees were suffering from symptoms of scurvy,
“black-mouthed, loose-toothed fellows,” who went on the roam in search of wild
onions or anything green and fit to eat.”
Not only mosquitoes made life miserable for the Union soldiers, but a
nasty little chigger added to their woes.
Many of the Northerners had never met the acquaintance of Eutrombicula alfreddugesi. “An Illinois private wrote: “They will crawl through any cloth and
bite worse than fleas, and poison the flesh very badly. Many of the boys anoint their bodies
with bacon rines which chigres can’t go.
Salt water bathing would cure them but salt is too scarce to use on
human flesh.”
[16] Although David was an elderly man, the Yankees were
rounding up any male who was able bodied enough to put up a fight or
intelligent enough to organize new companies, albeit composed of the very young
and the very old.
[17] Chambers County is located on the border between
Alabama and Georgia, south of Polk County and directly west of LaGrange, Troup
County, Georgia.
[18] Atlanta surrendered to Sherman on September 2,
1864. President Lincoln received a
telegraph from Sherman which reads:
“Atlanta is ours and fairly won.”
The Yankees burn the city and begin the March to the Sea November 12-15.
[19] The community of Stilesborough is actually located
north of Polk County in Bartow County.
[20] Van Wert is a community in Polk County, not far
from the border of Polk and Paulding Counties. It is near U.S. Highway 278.
[21] Foote, The
Civil War A Narrative Red River to Appomattox, p. 786, notes that by
February 11, 1865, a desperate General Robert E. Lee issued with the
concurrence of President Jefferson Davis, an offer of pardon for all deserters
who would return to the Confederate ranks within twenty days.
[22] Unfortunately for Fanny, by fleeing to Oglethrope,
she jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Oglethorpe, located in Macon County, is just north of the
infamous Andersonville Prison. On
March 22, one day after David had penned this letter, Union General James H.
Wilson led the Civil War’s largest cavalry force, Wilson’s Raiders, in a raid against
the heart of Georgia and Alabama.
[23] National
Genealogical Society Quarterly, Volume 55, Number 1, March 1967, pp.
177-210, “Names Changed Legally in Georgia, 1800-1856,” by Arthur Ray Rowland,
discusses briefly the act which established the procedure for adopting a child
for the purpose of inheritance or to render an illegitimate child
legitimate. There follows a list
of many name changes gleaned from the Acts of the General Assembly from 1800 to
1856. Included is an entry for
David Clopton of Polk County, who, on February 20, 1854, adopts Martha Jenkins
Ellington and changes her name to Martha Jenkins Clopton. The footnote indicates she was the
adopted, not natural child, of David Clopton. The 1850 Georgia census shows David, aged 53, living with
Martha, aged 13.
[24], The Civil
War Book of Lists, p. 19. With
155,000, Virginians composed 15.0% of the Confederate States Army, Georgia,
second only to Virginia, represented 12.6%.
[25] Civil War
Book of Lists, p. 90
[26] Cedartown is located in Polk County, at the
intersection of U.S. Highways 278 and 27.
[27] Cartersville is located in Bartow County at the
intersection of State Highway 113 and U. S. Highway 41.