ARTHUR BROOMFIELD5 RIDLEY was born 21 Mar 1892 in Franklin, Heard Co, Ga, and died 23 Mar 1952 in Franklin, Heard Co, Ga. He married MARY ANN BRETT 26 Jan 1913, daughter of JOHN BRETT and WILLIE BREWER. She was born 10 Nov 1895, and died 08 Dec 1989.
Notes for ARTHUR BROOMFIELD RIDLEY:
Arthur was a farmer, cattleman, and merchant by trade. He owned and operated a country store next to his home.
He was a deacon of the Olive Branch Baptist Church. He and Mary Ann were married while sitting in his buggy, by J. Torn Baird.
- Charlotte Ridley Traylor in her RIDLEY book.
He died 2 days after his 60th birthday.
More About ARTHUR BROOMFIELD RIDLEY:
Burial: Olive Branch Baptist Church, Franklin, Heard Co., Ga.
Notes for MARY ANN BRETT:
"Mad stones" are used to prevent rabies from bites of mad dogs and to remove poison from snakebites. Mary Brett Ridley, whoes family's mad stone originated from England, although supposedly from the maw of a buffalo. It was brought to America by her great-grandfather and passed down. It was the size of "the end of the thumb" and oval-shaped. When a victim arrived, generally one to three times a week, the stone would be boiled in fresh sweet milk. It was taken out with a spoon while warm would be applied to the wound. If the bite were rabid or poisonous the stone would stick like a magnet up to three hours. When it fell off the stone was again boiled in milk, which would turn green, and reapplied until the stone no longer stuck. It apparently worked every time, even when the victims were already foaming at the mouth. Ridley found that although mad dogs were likely to occur at any time, they were mainly encountered in the spring.
Ridley's complaint was that an afflicted person would arrive from a number of surrounding counties at all hours in the company of their entire family, who would be fed and bedded down with her family. Although her father charged a ten-dollar use of the stone, he used it for free on the poor, and the fee "just paid enough for part of the food they would eat."
Possession of the stone was apparently a burden. When Ridley's father died, a half-brother offered her possession of it, but she replied: "I don't want that thing." It was used a few times by him in Carroll County, and at last report reposed in a safe deposit box
- WEIRD GEORGIA, p 396, book by Jim Miles
More About MARY ANN BRETT:
Burial: Olive Branch Baptist Church, Franklin, Heard Co., Ga.
