History of Life in Early Jasper County




LIFE IN JASPER COUNTY BETWEEN 1810-1900 
by Robert H. Jeffries of La Grange, Georgia 
( rjffres@charter.net )

The earliest known settlers of the Eudora-Prospect-Rocky Creek area of Jasper County, lived there as early as the late 1700's. Many of the settlers moved there 
from Greene and Wilkes County, even before there was a Jasper County. In this area were later the militia districts of Watt, Robinson, Kelly, and Henderson and Cook.

 Census records show this is the general area the Jeffries  families moved to in Jasper County in 1815-1817 and their descendents continued to lived in the area for at least 100 more years. In 1810 there were 5,572 whites and 1,821 slaves living in the county. On October 12, 1812 Randolph County, which had been created on December 10, 1807, from part of Baldwin County, had its name changed to Jasper County. By the 1820 census the population had almost doubled in the last ten years and at 
that time was 14,614. These included William, Jr., Lee, and Thomas Jeffries, as well as Robert and Elizabeth (Jeffries) Tuggle and their families. The descendents of Thomas and his sister Elizabeth Tuggle remained in the county until about 1917. 

The 1830 Agricultural Report showed Jasper County had 4,352 whites and 7,134 slaves.  The Georgia Legislature on December 18, 1819 passed it's first Poor School Act, which was like our public schools today and not just for poor farmer's children. Jasper County had more than it's share of these schools. Mount Pleasant Academy and Henderson Mill were both located on the old road between Ray Bowen's and highway #95 today. In 1933 Constitution Hall Academy had 75 pupils and received $125 from the state to operate it. The teacher was paid $62.50 per year, $4.75 was paid for furniture and repairs, and $25 was used to order a set of globes. Its exact location is not known today, but it was probably within the Farrar/Prospect/Eudora area and near Murder Creek, because both Thomas and Burkett Jeffries  children were attending this school as well as Mount Pleasant. Shady Dale also had an academy in the 1820's and 1830's. 

Soon after the Revolutionary War, the state legislature set aside 2,000 acres of land in the Broughton area for Austin Dabney, who had been a black Revolutionary War soldier and a personal body guard of Colonel Elijah Clarke. Dabney never lived in the area, but he sold the land. He used the money from the land to provide for his "Poor Boy's College Fund."

After the founding of Macon in 1823, and it's growth as a market center, much of the produce of Jasper County's farms were transported to Macon by wagon train over 
dirt roads. The average driving time from Jasper County was two days, if the weather was good. Then one, or two, nights were usually spent in Macon depending on how long it took to sell the produce and buy new supplies; such as coffee, sugar, furniture, salt, and sometimes livestock. By the time they returned home usually a week had passed. The Jasper County courthouse served an important part in the social life of the county. Concerts, piano recitals, dances, etc. were often held there. Jasper was one 
of the courthouses, in Georgia, which never was destroyed by fire and all it's records have been preserved. (Today I am very glad General Sherman's troops went through Shady Dale, and not through Monticello, where he would probably have burned the courthouse and all it's records.)

Between 1820 and 1840 there was too much cotton grown throughout the south, due to the full use of slaves and the newly invented cotton gin. This caused periods of 
depression in many places, including Jasper County. Many people had to borrow money at this time, and sometime had trouble paying it back. This was the same period of time, when my great, great grandfather, Burkett Jeffries, got married and was just beginning his married life with a large family. In the 1840's Jasper County was a particularly depressed area. The price of cotton, which had been as high as 15 cents per pound in March 1837 had fallen to as low as 2 ½ cents per 
pound in 1845. Cotton, which had once been worth $10 per pound in New York City, sold for only 40 cents per pound there after the War Between the States. In 1841 the Jasper County grand jury mentioned the unprecedented failure of the previous year 's crop.

On May 17, 1847 there was a terrible hailstorm, which wholly destroyed crops, timber, and livestock. Some of the hailstones were brought into Monticello on June 17, 1847, 
one month later, and they were still as big as a man's fist. In 1848, after twenty, or thirty, years of growing mostly cotton on the land without improving the soil, much of 
the land was worn out with large gullies washed in the fields. In 1849 cotton yields were one-fifth less per acre than it had been ten years earlier. With the agricultural decline and the opening of cheaper lands in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, and further west, many of Jasper County farmers sold out to larger farmers and left the county. (Most of Thomas and Burkett Jeffries  sons, who moved from Jasper County moved their families to Randolph County, Georgia. One 
of Burkett's sons moved from there to Dale County, Alabama and another moved to Marion County, Alabama.)

In 1849 there was an academy for males, a school for females, two hotels, five stores, several mechanical shops, seven, or eight, lawyers, four physicians, and three 
churches in Monticello. The coming of the railroad in neighboring counties, but at first skipping Jasper County was an economic disaster for the county, in 1887, when a branch line finally reached Monticello there was a brief boom, the lack of a main line killed the town's prospects for importance. Years earlier, before the War Between the States, a line had opened from Covington, which passed through Shady Dale and the northeastern section of the county. The boundary lines of Jasper, Morgan, and Newton 
counties, which includes Farrar, Mansfield, Newborn, and Broughton area changed many times before 1837. It is known for certain the lines were changed in 1807, 1821, 1827, and 1837, when they were placed where they are located today. This was the general area where most of the Jeffries and Tuggles lived. 

Some of the other plantation owners within this area included the: Spears, Hendersons, Allens, Banks, and many others I cannot think of. Many records, including most censuses, show George Jeffries as living in Morgan County, but many other records show him living in Jasper County. The same thing was true for Lee Jeffries, who is listed in Newton and also Jasper County before he moved to Randolph County. It is believed these two families lived very near where the lines connected. 
All records show that Robert Tuggle, Thomas Jeffries, and Burkett Jeffries and their families lived in Jasper County, but it is known that they lived between Mansfield, Newborn, and Farrar, which is very near to where the three counties connected. It is believed that all five families lived near each other. The 1860 Jasper County Slave Census listed 6 plantation owners as owning 100-150 slaves, 100 slave owners as owning 35-100 slaves, 50 slave owners as owning 20-35 slaves, but most of those who owned a slave at all owned less than twenty slaves. There were many farmers, who did not own any slaves at all. The top 50 slave owners probably owned over 
half the slaves in the county. The slaves on smaller plantations were known personally by the plantation owners and treated nice. The 1860 Jasper County Census listed 5 Jeffries families, but the 1870 census showed about 30-35 with most of the family heads as listed as black. After the war the blacks had to have two names for legal purposes and if they did not like, or think they were treated right by their previous owner they certainly would not take his last name as their last name.

During the War Between the States, Broughton and Newborn were staging areas for wagon loads of supplies, which were loaded in boxcars at Covington for the Confederate States of America. General Sherman made certain that he and his troops marched through the area and destroyed as much of 
it as possible. He and his troops burned the boxcars in Broughton, which were being loaded as he arrived. They then spent their first night in Jasper County in the area, which was only a mile, or two, from the Spears family plantation, as well as Thomas and Burkett Jeffries plantations. The next day they marched through Kelly, where Thomas  daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband John W. Kelly lived, on their way to Shady Dale. General Sherman and his troops spent the next night in 
Shady Dale. 

On November 12, 1864 General Sherman started to render Atlanta useless by burning all it's public buildings. One wing of his army set out through Decatur, Covington, Farrar, Kelly, Shady Dale, and on to the Georgia capital in Milledgeville. There were supply trails following him for his army, and they foraged on grain and other food they found in plantations along the way. They found plenty of food and very little resistance, because almost all the able-bodied white men were away with the Confederate Army in Virginia. The recent crops had been excellent and there was an abundance of corn, meal, molasses, sweet potatoes, bacon, etc. They also found many sheep, cattle, hogs, oxen, horses, and mules along the way. The Yankees did not seem to care that the slaves they were freeing and leaving behind would not have anything to eat either. At many plantations the soldiers would take a wagon, carriage, etc. load it with bacon, ducks, turkeys, cornmeal, chickens, and anything that could be used for food, or forage, Gins, mills, and stores wee stripped of their farm products and livestock also. Cotton and other items, the soldiers could not use themselves, or easily carry with them was almost always burned where it was. The soldiers raped the women, whether white or black, young or old. The individual soldiers took all the silver, watches, gold, money, and other items they could find and easily carry with them, for their own personal use. Some of the worse soldiers were the stragglers, who strayed away from the main group and the officers. Faithful slaves, who had lived their entire lives on the plantations, and considered it their home also, usually drove off and hid the livestock, and buried the silverware and other valuables before General Shaman's troops arrived. These items were then returned to the plantations after it was safe to do so. General Sherman mentioned once, in a letter, that he could look for forty miles, in any direction, and see nothing but smoke rising. 

The common soldiers, on both sides, were more alike than they were different. They were both mostly farmers, spoke the same language, endured the same hardships in their soldier life, disliked regimentation, and found fault with their officers. 75% of the northern soldiers and 95% of the southern soldiers had been born in this country. Both sides had common forms of entertainment, such as: jumping contests, wrestling, boxing, and drinking whiskey whenever they got a break. Soldiers on both sides were poorly educated, and the biggest fear on both sides was that they might disgrace themselves and their families whenever they entered a battle. The overwhelming majority on both sides volunteered. The ages in both armies ranged from young teenagers to men over 70 years of age, but most were between 18-30 years old. Soldiers on both sides faced starving times, when the food did not reach them. The sick and wounded in both armies faced tremendous hardships. The soldiers in both armies were usually issued a blanket, a canvas haversack or bread bag, a canteen, a musket, cartridge box, a cap box, metal plate, fork, spoon, knife, cup, and sometimes a light skillet all of which totaled about 40-50 pounds. 

The most satisfying recreations of both armies were singing and more singable songs were produced in this time period than in any other war. Another favorite past time, in both armies, was gambling on almost anything including: races, broadj umping, leapfrogging, playing cards, shooting dice, playing checkers, dominoes, and chess. The Enquire-Sun Newspaper of Columbus shows that near the end of the war, there was many scarce and badly needed items in the south. Scarcity of fabrics and paper made prices soar. An ad of June 3, 1864 for used rags of cotton, or linen, sold for 15 cents per pound. Although Georgia ports were blockaded our soil and climate was so good that everything needed to support and comfort could be produced within the state. With the destruction of the railroads salt became scarce in many areas and could not be used to preserve food. (Compare the following items not with what they cost today, but with things value in the 1860?s and you will be able to see how much the cost per item increased.) 

On October 28, 1864 some of the items advertised for sale and their prices were: Bacon sides $1.37 per pound, brandy $3.50 per gallon, shelled corn $2.50 per bushel, unshelled corn $2.13 per bushel, fine flour $30 per barrel, Cuban molasses $6 per gallon, fattened corn fed hogs $100, unfattened hogs $60, Irish potatoes $4.00 per bushel, sweet potatoes $1.75 per bushel, peas $3.00 per bushel, slat $7.50 per pound, hard soap 75 cents per pound, soft soap 37 cents per pound, army shoes $15 per pair, leather sales $3.75, and washed wool $4.00 per pound. By February 1865 the prices for bare necessities were even higher: Sweet potatoes $12 per bushel, cotton 75-80 
cents per pound, bacon $4.00-$5.00 per pound, port $2.75-$3.50 per pound, eggs $3.50-$4.50 per dozen, butter $5.00-$6.00 per pound, beef $2.00-$2.50 per pound, corn $14-$16 per bushel, chickens $4.00-$5.00 each, cane syrup $16-$20 per gallon, sorghum syrup $12-$16 per gallon, sugar $7.00-$8.00 per pound, 
sole leather $14-$15 per pound, and Irish potatoes $50-$60 per bushel.

The slaves, before the war, on most plantations got up long before daylight, prepared their own breakfast, and were in the fields with their work tools waiting for it to get 
light enough to see how to work. Around eleven o'clock they were allowed to go to the cookhouse, where the plantation cook gave them dinner. By one o'clock they were back in the fields where they stayed until it was too dark to see how to work. During rainy weather they shucked corn, piled manure in the barns, etc. In the winter the men split logs, built fences, and dug ditches, while the women did the weaving and made clothes. Those too old to work in the fields remained at home to take care of the sick and the children too young to work. The mothers, who had young babies who had to be breastfed, were allowed to leave the fields in the middle of the morning 
and the middle of the afternoon to go feed them. 

In their minds the slaves had their own special social order of the work on the plantation and most of them worked hard to try to move themselves upwards. The highest order of ranking was that of the personal body servant of the master. They usually became a personal friend of the owner and they had the opportunity to travel off the plantation and go with him on various trips. The second highest order was the slaves, who worked in the big house around the master and his family. The highest of these were the cooks, who often brought left over food to their families and the fellow slaves. Also in this group were the maids, baby sitters, house servants, etc. The third highest order were those slaves, who had special training in a specialized skill, such as: bricklayers, carpenters, shoe makers, blacksmiths, drivers, stable boys, etc. The fourth highest order were the best field workers, who caused no problems. Sometimes the best of these became overseers for certain areas of work, or jobs, over other slaves. The lowest order of the slaves were the poorest field workers that caused trouble, or tried to run away. This group caused problems and more work for all the other slaves. If any slaves were punished, or ran off often, the slaves from this group were usually the ones who were sold, or received the punishment. 

During the 1930's, our country's worse depression, some researchers were paid by the government to go around and take interviews from old black men and women, who remembered their days of slavery as youngsters. Most of them said they had rather be living as slaves, than the way they were living during the depression. They said while they were slaves they knew what their job each day was going to be, but in the depression they never knew if they were going to have a job, or not. They said as slaves they knew they were going to be fed, but in the depression they never knew if they would have anything to eat, or not. They also said that whenever they were sick, or got old, in slavery days they knew that a job would be provided they could do and they would be looked after. In the depression sometimes even their own families would not help them. (The health of the slaves, during slavery spent most of his money on and he did not want to waste that much money. If a slave became seriously ill, a doctor was usually called to look after them, especially if the slave was not one of those in the lowest social group.) If a slave got too old to work in the field they were still made to feel useful and worthwhile by being given light jobs such as babysitting, getting firewood, and water for the home, etc. Sometimes white farmers, who had no slaves, asked the slave owner to let him borrow some slaves, at night, to help him out. The good masters would then pick out some of his best workers and ask them if they would like to make some money for themselves by working at night. They were usually glad to do this and some of them made and saved enough to buy their and their family's freedom.  

After the war most of the masters called their slaves up to the big house and told them they were as free as he was, but that they would still have to work someplace for a living. Some of the slaves shouted and rejoiced and ran away from the plantation, but most of them did not know what freedom meant, or what they were going to do in the future and they cried. The slaves knew about slavery and had done it all their lives, but they knew nothing about this new thing called freedom. They knew the north had promised them a mule and forty acres of land of their own, when they were free, but they had received nothing. Most of the Jeffries  slaves had been born on the plantation and they considered it as much a part of their family as they did their mother and father. This plantation had always been their home and this was the only type of work they knew anything about. Often the master told his ex-slaves they could get a piece of his land, he would furnish the seed and fertilizer also. They could work it and at the end of the year they would share the profits. The master told them he would continue to look after them when they were old and sick just as he had done before the war. Most of the Jeffries ex-slaves stayed and worked on the same plantation they had worked on all their life. 

When some whites organized them-selves into the KKK and began raiding parties, the good master would warn his workers to stay at home that night. If the KKK came to his farm, after his workers, he protected them and made the KKK leave. Following the war many farmers had a problem. If they had sixty workers to help plant their cotton, in the spring, they had no idea how many they would have in the fall to help pick and gather it. Another problem was that the young white men, who had never had to work in the hot sun in the fields, before the war, were often unwilling to do any work at all after the war ended. A third problem was that after the war ended many Confederate veterans returned home suffering from wounds and impaired health. Many of them returned to the fields with nothing to begin anew except the land and a determination to overcome all obstacles. The little money they did have left was mostly in Confederate bills and was good for nothing except to start a fire on a cold morning. With hard work the cotton farmers in Jasper County did prosper, and some farmers experimented with new crops.

 In 1890 Jasper County had 1,000 sheep, and 4,304 cattle. In 1899 there were 2,000 apple trees, 10,000 peach trees, 300 acres of grapes, and many beehives, etc. On Wednesday evening, January 24, 1866 about 6:00 p.m. a terrible tornado hit the town of Sandtown, in Newton County. When the town rebuilt its name was changed to Newborn. The tornado came from the southwesterly direction, which would probably mean it passed right over the section where the Jeffries lived. The tornado scattered houses, barns, fences, trees, and everything, which could be moved in its path. Four persons were killed instantly and 10-12 others were injured. This was first printed in The Georgia Enterprise on February 2, 1866. (My great grandmother was about 19 years old at this time and expecting her first child, my grandfather. Her father had already died. She was always very terrified of any sort of bad weather afterwards and would run and crawl under the bed as soon as a storm was known to be approaching.) In 1860 the average farm size in Jasper County was 430 acres, but in 1870 the average size had decreased to 338 acres. Much of the land a farmer did own was not farmed each year after the war. The value of the farmland per acre had 
also dropped.

 Before the war the slaves had often gone to the same churches, at the same time with their owner, but they sat in a different section of the building, often in the balcony. During the war, in many areas the church building was burned, and the congregations scattered. Many whites, and former masters, helped the blacks begin churches of their own following the war. Sometimes the white churches were combined with other nearby white churches and the abandoned building given to the blacks for a church. (In Jasper County, near Farrar, there is a white Shiloh Baptist Church and less than a mile away there is a black Shiloh Baptist Church. The black church is about a mile closer to Murder Creek and there are many black Jeffries buried in its cemetery.) 

At the beginning of l870 the grand jury of Jasper County, congratulated the people of the county, on the social conditions and general kind feelings prevailing between the races of the county. In the 1820's, 1830's, and 1840's Jasper County had begun providing a fair amount of education for it's children. After the war, until at least 1900, there was very little, if any, public education provided. There were no child labor laws on the farms and as soon as possible children were required to work in the fields from sun up until sun down. This continued, in many counties of Georgia, until at least the 1940?s. Many veterans returned from World War I, who had seen more educated men from other states. They then started trying to get better education for boys and girls in Georgia, but at first they were not very successful. Veterans returning from World War II, with the GI Bill for themselves, were more successful in pulling up the educational level for the state. Although they shamed the south in general, and Georgia in particular, Erskine Caldwell's books: Tobacco Road in 1932 and God's Little Acre in 1933 helped Georgia and the south realize how bad the educational level really was and the books helped more than Caldwell ever realized. The level today, in 2006, is about equal with the rest of the country.