Tysons in History Like Forest Gump

Above: My great grandparents Obediah Hargraves Tyson (1852-1919) and Nancy Elizabeth Huey (1854-1938).  Some times when doing family research if someone has a surname as a middle name it is a clue of another family line to look for.  As you can see Obediah's middle name is Hargraves, which is probably a family surname.  I  have looked all over and only found the name Hargaves one time close to the Tyson family:  Obediah grandfather was named Eugene Hargraves Tyson.  But he was not named this by his parents Job Tyson and Frances Eliza Herring; They named him Job Tyson, Jr.  After they died Eugene's oldest sister Winston Tyson adopted him and  changed his name from Job Jr to Eugene Hargraves Tyson.   The only Hargraves I found was somebody in their father's militia unit last name was Hargraves.   He must have been an impressible guy.

During the Revolutionary War Job Tyson, a young man played a teenage prank on the British and was caught.  He was sentenced to hang.  However, the general , Lord Cornwallis,  pardoned him, saying he was just doing a harmless mischievous prank and boys will be boys and he admired young Job's courage.

It was like the kiss of death.  To get high praise from the enemy's leader was a curse of the Devil.  He was considered a traitor to the cause.  He spent some time and effort showing he still hated the British, as much as they did.

I think his own daughter was still spiteful of him because of that, and when he died, she changed Job, Jr.'s name.

Speaking of Winston Tyson, she was a school teacher.  She saw to it that  her adoptee went to best college in Georgia, Franklin College in Athens, which later change its name to the University of Georgia.

Also Winston might have  altered the course of history by being hired as a teacher on the Mulberry Plantation, near Savannah.   The Mulberry Plantation was a gift from the state of Georgia to General Nathan Greene and his heroic effort in the Revolutionary War, but he died before Winston was hired there as a teacher.

Have you hear the story of Eli Whitney going to the Mulberry Plantation to apply for a teacher but found that the position had already been filled?   Mrs Green invited him to stay a few days as a guest before he went on his journey back to wherever he came from.  While there, he invented the Cotton Gin, with the help of Mrs. Green's comb.

I think maybe Winston Tyson was the one that beat him to the job....the time fits.