|
WAYNE
HOLDS HERITAGE OF CHARMING "MOTHER" On October 4, 1873, George V. Haines, a
"chairman of the Courthouse Committee" at Jesup, notified J. R.
Roberson, judge of the Ordinary Court located at Waynesville, a letter that the
courthouse at Jesup is finished. The letter was explicit, but polite and
cordial. That communication is possibly the most
significant document recorded in the history of Wayne County, for it suggested
the nature of vast and future change. It signified the maturity of population
trend in the county and the removal of the political center of Wayne to the
town of Jesup. Further, the communication forecast the decline of Waynesville,
the Mother of Wayne. However, it did not tarnish the glory of
the crown that rested on Waynesville as the county seat of Wayne for 45 years,
and as the home of Wayne's most notable citizens for generations later. The
plat for Waynesville was drawn in 1825 on the origin of Allen B. Powell, a
distinguished citizen of Wayne in the earliest years. The draftsman was Roswell
King, who was a kinsman of Clay King, founder of a Waynesville Presbyterian
Church; Henry Lord Page King, owner of a plantation and the old county seat;
and Thomas Butler King, who owned lands at Waynesville and the Retreat
Plantation on the east. The original plat of Waynesville is the property of
Mrs. J. Gordon of Jesup. The seventh generation of Mrs. Gordon's family is now
living at Waynesville. Her grandfather was Joseph Wiggins, a graduate of Oxford
University, a captain in the army of the Confederacy, a Waynesville attomey and
a partner of James Fort, Stephen Clay King and Thomas Butler King in the
organization of the Bank of Brunswick in 1825. Waynesville became the county seat by
legislative act in 1829 and in 1830 a tract of four acres was given by Isaac
Abrahams for the construction of "public buildings". "The
justices of the Interior Court of Wayne" receiving title to the land were
John Fort, Stephen Clay King, Joseph Wiggins and James Strickland, who was an
original settler in Wayne when it was created in 1803. The plat of the town of Waynesville
shows ten streets 100 feet wide and eight squares measuring 300 feet on each
side, the squares being at the junction of all streets. There were 16 town
"blocks" comprising eight acres each. Town lots measuring 1 00 feet
by 300 feet sold at $100 each as early at 1826. At least one lot of this size
sold for $250 as late as 1876, even after Jesup became the county seat. The
seller was J. M. McCool and the purchaser was Benjamin Hirsch. Waynesville was the site of Wayne
County's first school. It was called Mineral Springs Academy and named for the
"famous mineral springs" which were located a short distance east of
the residential section of the town. The first church established in Wayne
was neither Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist or Presbyterian. It might be
described as a Protestant Union Church and it was established in Waynesville in
1830. In consideration of "one dollar", Michael Peck gave two and one
half acres of land "at the Fen Peck settlement on a hill east of Beaver
Dam Swamp, bounded on the south by a road leading from Waynesville toward Glynn
County". The Union church trustees were "Isaac Covert and Edmund
Atkinson for the Presbyterian Church, Joseph Wiggins and Peter McIntyre for the
Methodist Church, Moses C. Harris and John Burnett for the Baptist Church and
Thomas Butler King for the Protestant Episcopal Church". The trustees were
pledged "to erect a pulpit or stand for the purpose of preaching, an
altar, seats and arbor or shelter for the purpose of worshipping God". A directory of all the families living
at Waynesville from 1825 to 1900 will not ever be compiled, but the names of
the streets and squares on the plat drawn 139 years ago reveal a number of the
residents at that time. The streets were Phillips, Borzeman, Triplett, Gambie,
Dunham, Rawls, Daniels, Little, Whitehead and Sheffield. The squares in the
town of 1825 were Maxwell, Woods, Atkinson, Floyd, Powell, Mitchell and Fennel.
Besides the McCools, Kings, Forts, Clements, Wiggins, Powells and McIntyres
living at Waynesville, there were the Hopkins, McDonalds, Stephersons, Scotts,
Hazlehursts, McSweeneys, Highsmiths, McVeighs, Staffords, Wrights, Tisons and
Mumfords. A brief statement may be made relative
to distinctions held by a small number of residents of Waynesville. Pliny
Sheffield was Wayne's State Representative from 181? to 1817, Sherod Sheffield
was representative in the period of 1821 to 1824 and from 1830 to 1832. Joseph
Wiggins served in the House of Representatives in 1829 and 1831 and in the
State Senate from 1833 to 1840. J. S. Wiggins was representative from 1863 to
1865. James Fort moved to the Waynesville section in 1798, served as justice of
the Interior Court for a long period and as State Senator in 1812. Henry Fort
was State Representative in 1875 and 1876 and served for a long period of years
as justice and judge of the Ordinary Court. John Fort was State Senator in 1825
and Elias served in that post in 1845. William Clements served in the State
Legislature in 1809. Henry Lord Page King was a member of the Georgia
Congressional delegation and served as a captain in the Confederate army. James Fort King received the bachelor's
and master's degree from the University of Georgia when it was known as
Franklin College. His mother was a daughter of the distinguished James Fort.
His wife was Louisa Clark, a daughter of Mayor Archibald Clark. He served in
the State Legislature in 1872, 1888 an 1889. At the time of his death in 1902,
he was described as the best educated and most cultured native of Wayne County.
Many of the owners
of coastal plantations had homes at Waynesville in the period of 1830 to 1860.
Among these was James Hamilton Couper, distinguished gentleman and scientist of
national fame. The Mumford and Tison families lent
notable luster to the name of the (old) county seat, and the Mumford dwelling remains as
a symbol of the beauty that prevailed there. The two story house was the home
of Gertrude Mumford Parkhurst as late as the Nineties and it was the
distinction of this notable lady to leave an endowment of ($600,000.00) for the
care of orphans, the education of boys and girls and the cultivation of
religious faith through the Presbyterian Church. The endowment is named the
Teresa Mumford Fund and close by the Mumford dwelling are the graves of
Sylvester Mumford and Teresa Tison Mumford, parents of Gertrude Mumford Parkhurst.
Somewhere nearby on the grounds a magnificent saddle horse named Prince, a dog
named Rover and a whooping crane were buried. Prince was the horse that
Gertrude Mumford rode gracefully over the Waynesville "sand hill",
appropriately wearing an elegant beaver. She was a beautiful woman. Thus, is left a picture of Waynesville
of the later days of charming life, altered first by the Way of the Confederacy
and later by the universal urge of man to erase the old map and create the new.
If one had inquired about the location of Waynesville in 1825, he would have
been told that it was "about 20 miles southwest of Fort Harrington and
near Carney's cow pen on lands formerly owned by John Grantham".
Instructions might have also included a note that the town lay a short distance
west of the Post Road. Today, if one goes looking for Waynesville, he will be
told to go about 12 miles east of Nahunta. Crossing the river, he will be
reminded that the Henry Lord Page King plantation was on the north bank.
Farther along, where vines grow dense, trees grow tall and moss hangs low, one
may search for the sites of countless two story dwellings, the sites of many
family cemeteries, the Confederate soldiers
cemetery, where 40 or more were buried, this site of Waynesville
Presbyterian Church. The history of Waynesville when it was
the county seat of Wayne County was published December 3,1964 in the Jesup
Sentinel. The story was written by Carr McLemore, a reporter for the Sentinel. |