On the Trail of the Great-Grandmothers - Part Two

I guess the most memorable aspect of this road/research trip is having company. I'm not used to having a traveling partner and research helper. It was a real treat to be able to share the decisions, expenses, and searching with someone. And when that someone is Aunt Reta, well, it doesn't get much better. She and I have taken road trips in the past, so I knew it would be filled with enough accidental adventure to make it fun.

For this trip, I had decided to camp for a couple of nights to cut down on travel costs, and to get some camping in this summer. My traveling/research partner (who had initially invited herself along) was game, so we packed up our respective gear and met up in Blytheville, AR. That took me the long way to Georgia, coming from St. Louis, but not by much.

We loaded her stuff into my car at the Wal-Mart parking lot, and Johnny headed back to Melbourne while we took off for Memphis. My little Escape was loaded to the gills with camping equipment and suitcases, but she drove like a champ. With gas stops outside Memphis and Chattanooga, we pulled into Dalton, Georgia around 10:30 p.m.

I'm not certain why, but roads and streets are not marked very well in Georgia. I'm usually pretty observant and pay close attention to signs as well as landmarks, and I've traveled enough with Aunt Reta to know she's a decent navigator. But this time we missed the turn to the hotel and the road took us up a mountain outside of town...no street lights or anything. Even Google Maps was confused, so we turned around and headed back down the mountain and finally found the street just off the exit. It probably didn't take more than 10 minutes, but it was so frustrating. We got checked in and settled for the night.

Next morning after the complimentary breakfast (not bad, for hotel food) we headed east into the north Georgia mountains. Along roads very much like the Arkansas and Missouri Ozarks, about an hour later we tooled into Dawsonville, GA. We drove through town about three times, even stopped to ask for directions, before we found the library. (Poor Google, it was trying.)

At the Chestatee Regional Library, their genealogy collection is pretty extensive, with regional histories, family histories, old maps, and such. We were concentrating on two surnames, Gregory and Manning, and hit on them a number in times in various resources. It turns out this trip was worth it. Having that extra pair of eyes looking for stuff helped immensely!  More on the research results in a later post, but I will say it cost me nearly $10 in copies for everything we found.

After lunch, eaten in a middle school parking lot under a nice shade tree, we went to the Dawson County Historical Society office in the old courthouse, which is located in the middle of a roundabout in the middle of town. (Insert photo here)  We had no trouble finding it, as we had passed it about three times already. That office was closed, but we took a look around the old structure which was built in the 1840s and had been restored. It now holds DCHS as well as the Public Defender's offices.

Next we found the new courthouse (Insert photo here) just down the hill from the old one, which was built in 2011. After going through metal detectors (Reta got wanded because she beeped) we visited the County Clerk's office to check on tax records, deeds, and land sales. Here we found the deed of a land transfer by the Mannings that was mentioned in one of the histories we had read, as well as a copy of the marriage license of William P. Gregory and Kisiah Manning.

Here is the license and the marriage book from the Dawson County Clerk's Office records.

 


Upstairs housed the Probate office, we wanted to check on any information regarding the will of Margimin (Migimin, Margeman, Margemin - take your choice as to the spelling) Manning, Ella Gregory's grandfather. We hit pay dirt here, because there was still an extensive file on the probating and dispensing of his estate after his death in 1882. We couldn't have some information in the file, because it was permanently sealed by the state. Why that is makes a fascinating story which we followed up on the next day. Seven dollars in copies later, we had lots of validating information, as well as two more leads to chase.

At this point it was late in the day and we still had to find our campsite and get set up for the next couple of nights. Google Maps and CLOSE watching of road signs led us right to Amicalola Falls State Park. The visitor center had closed but we were directed to the lodge at the top of the mountain (15% climbing grade) to check in. We then climbed higher up the mountain to a beautiful campground.

We set up the tent pretty quickly (directions helped) and got the air mattress inflated and bed made before setting up for dinner. We decided against a campfire because it was so late, and after dinner decided to sit out and read until dark. We didn't make it that long, because as the sun faded, it got colder. And colder. We turned in while it was still daylight, and shivered for a couple of hours before finally drifting off. Before you say it, I had checked the weather forecast for northern Georgia and no mention of nearly 50 degree temps in late June, so I decided against the heavy covers. See, accidental adventures.

More in the next post.