This is the Cobb County Detention Center;  or stockade.   We have grown too big to have a simple jail.  I always see it when I carry a load of garbage to the Cobb County  Dump.  It is right behind the little house you pay your fee at.

Today while waiting in line to pay and seeing the big modern building it brought back a memory of the old  brick building used as a county prison.  Riding by, if you did not know you would never think it held people who broke the law; it had a nice green grass yard out front and maybe some benches... only if you noticed the bars on the windows would you realized that the residents are captive inmates.

There was a stop sign at a cross road there, in front of the old building.  I remember I had just left the dump and stopped for the stop sign.  I saw a couple of Bell South service vans parked on the side of the road in front of the building.  Two men with helmets, if I remember correctly was taking a break,  leaning against  their vehicle laughing. 

What they were laughing about was their co-worker, a shapely female, also with a helmet on, who was standing out in the opened facing the windows with the bars on it.   She was slowly unbuttoning her  Bell South Shirt  slowly.   I think she was probably putting on a an erotic show for any prisoners who might be watching.

Then, the bastard behind me tooted his horn for me to move on.

Just as I moved on I could see she was holding her shirt eagle spread opened.  Her two male co-workers were bent over laughing.

Damn!  That impatient man ruined man ruined my day.

All Roads Leave From The Big Chicken

All roads leave away from The Big Chicken. 

Whenever I am giving local directions to someone relatively new to Marietta  I first need to base  the direction on something they already know of.  Some big landmark.

I always ask, "Do you know where The Big Chicken is?"   Most of the time they do.  Then I build on their knowledge they already have and go from there.

If you are reading this I probably have your attention.  While I am in your face I would like to give you educate you on the Cobb County  street numbering system you might not know.

Every street or road in Cobb County has one end of it is closer to Cobb County Court House than the other end.  The end closer to the court house will have the smaller numbers and as you progress away from the courthouse the numbers will get bigger.  And the odd  numbers will be on the left traveling away from the court house and the even numbers on the right.

Take for instance The Big Chicken.  It's address is 100 North Cobb Parkway.  If there was a business across the parkway from The Big Chicken it would probably be numbered 101.  Up  North Cobb Parkway a few blocks, on the left,  across from White Water Amusement park  is a little office park and its number is 189.  See?  And on the right several more blocks on the right is J.T. Walker School with the number 700.  See?

However, what many people don't know is Cobb Parkway is/are two roads. 

Back at the Big Chicken again, if you go south you will be on a road named South Cobb Parkway, with the odd  and even numbers directly opposite than just one block north.  Why?  Because you are on a different road,.... or if you don't understand that, understand this:  JUST BECAUSE!  THAT IS WHY!

A Fragment of the Cobb County Government Buildings

Looking from the East Park Square, probably about where C&S Bonding Company stood at one time.

That's My Daddy!

The other day I was looking through old Marietta pictures on Facebook when I came across a police raid on a moonshine still. It explains that the raid took place just off Cobb Parkway, near where Treasury Drug would be one day.

In the picture I noticed a tall looking man with a white shirt on. I clicked to make the picture bigger. I know that man. He’s my Daddy!

I remember where the raid was, some of those involved in the and … and…. well, it seems I don’t remember as much as I thought I did.

A young reporter, named Bill Kinney was there covering it for the Marietta Daily Jounral.. I read or heard he got tipsy over the fumes. Bill was courting his future wife, my 5th grade teacher, Miss Shouse.

I remember at the time it was the largest distillery raid of illegal non-tax made whiskey in Cobb County, and I’m not sure the record has been broken yet, and probably won’t now.

It wasn’t near what was would become Treasury Drug but on south down Cobb Parkway, or The 4-Lane, on the left either where Wal-Mart is now, near Windy Hill Road, or on up the hill, down the hill, and up the next hill, sort of behind the shopping center that has Olive Garden and Johnson Brothers Barbecue.

Nice View

This is the driveway of Simpson Middle School on Trickum Road in Marietta. As the crow flies it is probably less than a quarter of mile from our house. My son Adam attended here. I always enjoyed walking, running, or bike riding up this driveway. The pleasant natural slight curve and tree-lined sidewalk isn’t bad either.

Now, if I can just figure out to package it and sell it.

More Changes at the Dump

The other day I carried a load to the county dump. It seems every time I go there I have to make a quick mental adjustment to the latest changes.

I wonder if there is fast turnover of management at the dump and every new manager feels he has to make a change to show his mark, or that he made a decision.
This time there were men doing the job of unloading the trash. Just outside the main dumping area I was directed to turn right instead of left. Then, I came to a stop sign, which I did. Under the stop sign was another sign telling me to wait for someone to motion me on. OK, Ok. Don't rush me, I'm still focusing on the change.

A man in a bright orange traffic vest motioned for me to come on.

When I got nearer, another man in a bright orange traffic vest gave a swooping with his hands with I immediately understood “to back you car in that empty slot.”

I started backing up and while backing up another man in a bright orange traffic vest motioned me to keep backing. When I got to the spot he wanted me to be at he motioned for me to stop. I stopped and hopped out of the truck. Before I was around to open the tailgate he had opened it and had thrown out the garbage. He thanked me and told me to have a nice day. I told him the same and off I went.


As I was driving back home I thought this is not like the Cobb County Government at the present. The man who unloaded my garbage was one of about a dozen men in bright orange traffic vests either unloading trucks or directing traffic. They did not have prison uniforms on- all these men were in work-casual clothes. Paying a dozen men in at the dump where up to this point the people who brought the trash did all this themselves is not a way to save money. Cobb has been trying to reduce expenses.

Then I thought about the guy who unloaded my truck. He looked like he has had a rough life, rugged skin and all.

Wait! I wonder if these men are working off community service sentences.




Then I thought, this might be a smooth way to get free labor for Cobb County.

Man, we will weasel ourselves out this crunch yet!

Here, have another drink! - One for the road!

Something Went Wrong

This is my 100th Youtube video.

And I am still trying to figure out how this camera works.
If you have driven on Hawkins Store Road between the soccer fields and Canton Road you probably have noticed it. If you haven’t please report to the nearest Georgia State Patrol office and give yourself up.
The jest of this video is abandoned property. The people who just lost it had big plans and high hopes. They wanted a beautiful outside setting with a wedding/chapel gazebo and huge reception hall that could host parties and banquets of all kinds.

It was a grand and noble project.

Then some things unforeseen started to happen. The county building inspectors disapproved a f second floor. They disapproved of some other things on the building also.

Work on the building came to a halt. I don’t know if it was the county’s disapprovals or that they ran out of money.

The owners filed for divorced. They went bankrupted. I don’t know which came first.

All the plans fell apart and the property and the building were foreclosed on.

Now, the plants in the green house have been unattended and halve grown wild. It reminds me of The Little Shoppe of Horrors.

The place is deteriorating look about it and graffiti without the art is popping up. I didn’t show you the inside of the building which has a lot of messages and a lot of four letter words. There was not enough light to video. You didn’t miss anything. There was no art to it, like you see on railroad box cars.

Welcome to the Nut House - Book Sale

We went to the Cobb County Library Semi Annual book sale Friday. It was yesterday and will be today as well.

I don't think these are books the library purchased. I think they were donated; put in their return book boxes, and however else. Twice a year they have a huge of a sale they have to rent two big ware-house size buildings at Jim Miller Park. The books are priced to sell. I think the paperbacks are a quarter and the hardbounds are a dollar. They also had VHS tapes. The TWO VHS tapes tables were not very many people - a sign of changing times.

People of all walks of life were loading up on books. People had all kinds of devices to carry the more-than-armfull books they bought. I think we bought about 5 books each.

I remember one year they had a big section of comic books. I asked the lady in charge where was the comics and she said they had an overwhelming amount of comics and didn't have the man power to sort them out. She said the comics were be divided up and orderly at next sale.

Last year we went to the sale in the afternoon hours of the second day and it was just as crowded as it was yesterday during the first hours. I didn't know Cobb County had so many dedicated readers.

A Morning of An Evening With Johnny Mercer

On Willow and my walk this morning I listened to An Evening with Johnny Mercer. During this recording session Johnny Mercer must have been at a piano and talked what came to mind as he played his songs. He would tell a little experiences or talks which suddenly inspired him to write timeless musical pieces.

That got me thinking about Johnny Mercer. Duh! Johnny Mercer is another Georgian we can be proud of. He was born and raised in Savannah.


We toured his house in Savannah once. People, us included, were not touring it because it use to belong to Johnny Mercer, but another time belonged to Jim Williams, of MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL fame.

Not long ago I mentioned Roy Rogers singing I’M AN OLD COWHAND (FROM THE RIO GRANDE). I learned this morning that Johnny wrote that song and what inspired him and where. He spent a couple days in Texas traveling from Hollywood to Savannah.

While in Savannah that time I spent hours in the Bonaventure Cemetery doing some genealogy cemetery digging. I came across the Mercer plot. See above.

Another unsung (pardon the pun) hero, or song writer-poet from Georgia is Joe South. The song I think of that he wrote instantly is GAMES PEOPLE PLAY. Joe is from here in Cobb County, Smyrna to be exact.

de Dump, de Dump te Dump, Dump Dump

de Dump! de Cobb County Dump.

In the past two weeks I have been to the Cobb County Dump six times. We have been cleaning out our basement.

On the visit yesterday I just happened to have my camera in the truck. The picture above is where your vehicle is first weighed.

I asked the scale mistress what was the big looming building in the background. She said that was the new jailhouse and gave a tongue-in-cheek smirk. I could almost see her lift a finger and say, "Whoopee!"

This is a very large dorm compared to the Cobb County Prison of the past. I suppose a bigger county prison is a sign of progress.




Pretty artsy junk – a – plenty. This is old appliances, metal frames, and things.



If you click on this picture to make it larger you will see a sign that plainly says that tires with rims go to heaven.




Here, if you click on the above picture, you can see by the sign, cussing (saying bad words) is just not allowed. Here are the big doors you back into with your garbage – throw it out in the middle and haul ass. I did not get the final picture of the station that records your truck without the garbage. ….. which they will correctly calculate how much you owe – which is always $7.00.

Did you know a whole lot of garbage stinks?

To and From the County Dump Adventures

We did some cleaning out of our basement yesterday. I took a truck load of stuff to Goodwill and a truck load of junk to the dump

I saw a galloping wild coyote. I was on the way to the county waste plant to dump a load of garbage. I driving down County Services Road (or County Farm Road) and a big coyote ran across the road right in front of me.

No, I didn’t hear a “beep beep” or see the Road Runner run in front of me first. However, the coyote might have had on the Acme Rocket-Man kit – I think his feet hit the pavement only once going across, but he was too fast to see his feet movements.

Coyotes are rare in this area. But there are some. From time to time I read in the local paper that coyotes have been attacking small pets and one time even cattle. A lady that I sometimes walk Willow with when she walks her dog told me she has seen coyotes in the woods behind her house. One time she saw a sign on a telephone pole saying that a pet cat named Fluffy was missing. She called the number on the sign and told the family that Fluffy was probably eaten by coyotes. I bet the family members were waiting for a little more pleasant news than that about Fluffy.

The big coyote I saw yesterday was running free and happy was about 200 to 300 feet from the Cobb County Animal Control Center.

I locked my door.


The building you dump your garbage at is a huge building the size of an auditorium. Heavy bulldozer type of machines are always pushing the garbage around into smaller compact groups as you dump it. Yesterday there were two prisoners that were suppose to guide the people with garbage to the next opening. One was dutifully doing his job and other found a magazine in the trash that was more interesting.

After unloading my load and I was getting back into the truck a little white car was directed in the place next to mine. The car skillfully backed up and a little old white-hair lady that looked about 80 stepped out and was putting on her work gloves as I drove off.

I don’t know if it is still there, but there was at one time out front of the building a whole car, compacted into a little cube no bigger than a a trunk.

I drove out into the road the opposite way than the way I came in. Up about a block’s length was the old County Farm Inmate House where Cobb County prisoners or convicts were kept.

It is no longer a place to confine prisoners. A new one was built several years ago that you can see off in the distance. It looks much bigger and probably nicer.

But the old brick house is still there and out front the old watch tower still stands as a reminder of how things used to be.

Every time I pass this corner where the watch tower stands I remember one time when I carried a load of junk to the dump and on my way out, at this corner there used to be a stop sign and I always stopped (this area is always loaded with law enforcers). That time, I noticed across the drive, just across from the barred windows of the brick building, were a couple of Bell South vans. Then I noticed two of the helmeted men sitting on a small grassy bank in the shade of a big oak tree and a female helmeted Bell South worker had her helmet tilted and she was unbuttoning her shirt. She was facing them and also the brick inmate house.

I think she was going to flash the inmates on a dare of her co-workers. There was a car behind me so I had to move on.


Snap! Back to present: It was pouring down raining yesterday as I drove north on Powder Springs Road. When I got close to the Clotfelter’s swan the traffic was crawling. It was very slow. As I got closer to Sandtown Road I saw the reason. A yellow-van taxi and a pickup truck had a smashup. Police and ambulance emergency lights were flashing like crazy. A couple of stretchers were out in the rain.

As I rode by I studied the wreck as much as I could while the rain was pounding down. I was almost at the traffic light when it turned yellow… I stepped on the gas to shoot through the light – but before I made it under it turned red. I looked in my rearview mirror to see if any of the law enforcers at the wreck saw what I did… I didn’t have to look that far back. Right behind me was a Cobb County Police Car who stopped for the light. I was surprised he didn’t get in hot pursuit after me.



He didn’t. He just sat there.

The only thing I can figure out why was because I was in the city limits of Marietta and therefore under the jurisdiction of the Marietta Police, not the Cobb County Police, who let me slide.

Thank the Lord for the “That’s Not My Job Policy”!

My Hunter Genealogy part 5

This segment is mostly about my great grandfather William Trammell/Hunter who more or less eventually brought his genes to this area in 1879 and we have been here ever since. He was my inspiration to do genealogy research. After opening his can of worms made me realize there were many other cans of worms out there waiting to be re-discovered.

25. JOSEPHINE "BABS"5 HUNTER (WILLIAM JOHNSON4, JOHN3, WILLIAM2, SAMUEL1) was born 15 Jul 1858 in , Union, Ga, and died 30 May 1907. She married ISSAC A. COLLINS 03 Feb 1876 in , Union, Ga. He was born 01 Jan 1855, and died 20 Jan 1923.

More About JOSEPHINE "BABS" HUNTER:
Burial: Old Choestoe Cem., Union Co., Ga

More About ISSAC A. COLLINS:
Burial: Old Choestoe Cem., Union Co., Ga

Children of JOSEPHINE HUNTER and ISSAC COLLINS are:
i. NANCY E.6 COLLINS, b. 18 Sep 1876; d. Unknown; m. GILLIAM JASPER SOUTHER, 13 Nov 1898, , Union, Ga; b. 1881; d. Unknown.
ii. WILLIAM COLLINS24, b. Aft. 1876; d. Unknown; m. JANE COKER, 25 Aug 1907; b. Aft. 1876; d. Unknown.
iii. MARY COLLINS, b. Aft. 1876; d. Unknown.
iv. DORA COLLINS, b. Aft. 1876; d. Unknown; m. DANIEL LORANSEY SOUTHER, 22 Mar 1922, , Union, Ga; b. 29 Nov 1883, , , Ga; d. Unknown, , , Co.
92. v. ARLEY A. COLLINS, b. 1880; d. 1967.
vi. F. NEWTON COLLINS, b. 10 Jul 1883; d. Unknown; m. CATHERINE SOUTHER, 23 Feb 1905, , Union, Ga; b. 04 Aug 1886; d. Unknown.
93. vii. EDWARD S. COLLINS, b. 16 Mar 1886; d. 09 Sep 1973, , Union, Ga.
94. viii. JAMES VESTER COLLINS, b. 01 Jul 1892; d. 20 Jun 1971.
ix. ALICE MARGARET COLLINS, b. 11 Feb 1894; d. 07 Jan 1968; m. FRANK MARTIN; b. 08 Jun 1892; d. 27 Dec 1968.


26. JASPER FRANCIS "TODD"5 HUNTER (WILLIAM JOHNSON4, JOHN3, WILLIAM2, SAMUEL1) was born 06 Jul 1863 in , Union, Ga, and died 27 May 1897 in , Union, Ga. He married MARTHA LUCINDA SOUTHER 03 Jan 1883 in , Union, Ga, daughter of JOHN SOUTHER and NANCY COLLINS. She was born 17 Dec 1866, and died 11 Dec 1937.

More About JASPER FRANCIS "TODD" HUNTER:
Burial: Old Salem Cem., Union Co., Ga.

More About MARTHA LUCINDA SOUTHER:
Burial: New Liberty Cemetery, Union Co., Ga

Children of JASPER HUNTER and MARTHA SOUTHER are:
95. i. JOHN ESTER6 HUNTER, b. 05 Nov 1884, , Union, Ga; d. Jan 1972, , Union, Ga.
96. ii. WILLIAM JESS HUNTER, b. 14 Aug 1886, , Union, Ga; d. 26 Sep 1982, , Union, Ga.
iii. NANCY HUNTER, b. 17 May 1888; d. 1897.

More About NANCY HUNTER:
Burial: Old Salem Church Cemetery, Union Co., Ga.
Lived: Lived about 9 years.
Occupation: Old Salem Church, Union Co., Ga

97. iv. JAMES HAYES HUNTER, b. 19 Aug 1890; d. 20 Jun 1958.
v. HOMER FRANCIS HUNTER, b. 1892; d. Unknown; m. MABEL PANTHER; b. Aft. 1892; d. Unknown.
98. vi. HATTIE HUNTER, b. 19 Dec 1894; d. 27 Jan 1930.
vii. GRADY JASPER HUNTER, b. 1896, , , Ga; d. Unknown; m. JEANETTE WILLIAMSON; b. Aft. 1896, , , Ga; d. Unknown.


27. WILLIAM A.5 TRAMMELL/HUNTER (JASON HENDERSON4 HUNTER, JOHN3, WILLIAM2, SAMUEL1) was born 09 Nov 1842 in , Macon, N.C., and died 20 Sep 1928 in Woodstock, Cherokee, Ga.. He married EMALINE RAY 19 Apr 1864 in Franklin, Macon, N.C., daughter of JOHN RAY and NANCY SUMNER. She was born 12 Apr 1846 in , Macon, N.C., and died 11 May 1925 in Woodstock, Cherokee, Ga..

Notes for WILLIAM A. TRAMMELL/HUNTER:
Being born out of wedlock and raised by his maternal family he used as his last name his mother's last name - TRAMMELL. For the first twenty five years of his life he went by the name William A. TRAMMELL. About 1867, about the same time a murder charge was against him he and his family left North Carolina and he changed his name to his paternal name (which most Americans take for granted) William A. HUNTER.

The man who William and his uncle Van Trammell killed was named Rufus Lambert. - Surname TRAMMELL from information submitted by Darlene Lackey. June 18, 2004, posting no. 1405.

After William changed his last name to HUNTER he and a half brother had the same name.
It is believed that the "A." was either the initial for Alan or Alanarine.
Before William was eight years old his mother had died. On the 1850 Census he was living with his grandfather Jacob B. TRAMMELL, grandmother Polly (a Cherokee Indian) and an assortment of aunts, uncles, and cousins.
His grandmother Polly was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. That would mean Rebecca was half
Indian, and William was one-quarter. Some believe that Jacob was a Indian, since we have a record of his paternal heritage the most he could be is one half, which would make Rebecca 3/4 and William .375 Indian.

Grandmother Polly drowned in the Little Tennessee River in Macon
County, south of Franklin, while working with her fish traps between 1850 and 1860, when William was between eight and seventeen.
In September of 1860, when William was seventeen, his grandfather Jacob B. TRAMMELL died. Evidently, at the time of his death he owned more than he owned, therefore, his property had to be auctioned off.
Apparently, this broke the family up. They scattered their separate ways.
It is unknown where William stayed for two years. I believe that he stayed in the area and courted his wife to be Emaline RAY (Apr 19 1846 - May 11 1925), daughter of John REA/RAY, wagon maker, and Nancy Sumner RAY. One oral story is that her parents disapproved of William and would lock her in a room to prevent this courtship but Emaline would slip out the window and see him anyway.
William joined the Confederacy. On, 1 May 1862, he enlisted in Macon County, North Carolina, into the 39th North Carolina Infantry, Company I. He was nineteen years old. He enlisted with the name he had used since birth - William A. TRAMMELL.
The first year of his war efforts has yet been uncovered. On 19 May 1863, he was admitted to the First Mississippi C. S. A. Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, for Febris Intermiten Quotidian. In layman terms he was having a reoccurring fever daily. He returned to duty 25 June 1863 after spending a month and six days in the hospital.
While on furlough, 19 April 1864, William A. TRAMMELL and Emaline RAY married. William was twenty-one and Emaline was eighteen just one week.
Shortly after they were married William returned to his Unit. The Unit went to be part of the "Battle of Kennesaw Mountain", near Marietta, Georgia.
Note- About one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five years later over a hundred of William and Emaline's descendants would be living within a few miles of Kennesaw Mountain.
William's unit, the 39th Regiment, Company I, was fixed on the crest between Big Kennesaw Mountain and Little Kennesaw Mountain.
His bosses:
Corps - Loring
Division - French
Brigade - Ector
William and two of his friends were at a spring kneeling down drinking water. Shots. One of his friends dropped with a bullet hole in his head. He and his remaining living friend got up to run. More shots. William was shot in the leg. He fell while his friend fled. The boys in blue ran by him in pursuit of his friend, evidently assuming he was dead.
According to the records William was shot in the knee July 18, 1864. That, incidentally, was the same day that the President of the Confederacy fired General Joseph E. Johnston of that campaign and replaced him with General Hood.
On his questionnaire for a pension a question was what date he was wounded and William replied "July 18, 1864". Another question asked where was his unit at the time he was shot and he replied "Peachtree Creek" (Atlanta) which is historically accurate. Unfortunately, the questionnaire did not ask the applicant where he was when he shot, only where his unit was, which could be two different places.
A note: There are eight active springs on Kennesaw Mountain and several dried up ones.
Peachtree Creek or Kennesaw Mountain? Or Chickamauga, Georgia?
Ms Thelma Swanson, a TRAMMELL/RAY descendent/researcher, found that the North Carolina Troops Roster, page 108, shows that he was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia.
The Chickamauga Battle was held in the Northwest corner of Georgia, September 19th and 20th, 1863. I personally think this
could be another William TRAMMELL listed (Mrs. Swanson later stated that it could have been William K. TRAMMELL wounded at Chicamauga).
On August 6, 1864, William appeared on a receipt roll at Marshall Hospital in Columbus, Georgia.
He was put on wounded furlough. He told his grandchildren that he recuperated in a private home in Andersonville, Georgia.
Andersonville was not far from the Marshall Hospital in Columbus (about 20 to 30 miles). The Andersonville Confederate Center had the facilities for a hospital and a prison. The cruel conditions at Andersonville Prison still shock people. Men were forced to suffer and die in painful and cruel ways just for fighting in a cause they believed in or had to fight. Some of the prisons in the North were just as bad - one that comes to mind is Camp Chase, Ohio.
Andersonville Community is in Cherokee County, Georgia, only a few miles north of Woodstock, where he eventually settled.
He said that in that private home where he recuperated the lady that nursed him was named Amanda Jane. A few years later he would honor that lady by naming his only daughter after her.
After he got well enough he somehow gained possession of a mule and walked (or limped) back home to Macon County, North Carolina, which if the Andersonville was in Cobb-Cherokee County it would be slightly over a hundred miles away, if the Andersonville was in Southwest Georgia it would be close to three hundred miles away.
Apparently, he arrived home before November 1864 (based on the incubation period and birth date of their first born Charles). He was about twenty-two when he returned from the War.
For the next couple of years William and Emaline lived just south of Franklin, North Carolina and had two children.
Posey C. Wild was a close friend. He was the close friend who was with William at the time he was shot by Union Soldiers by the spring, and was lucky to flee with his life. After that event,
10 August 1864, Posey was promoted to Second Lieutenant.
Another close person to William was his uncle Jacob Van Buren "Van" TRAMMELL. Van was only a few years older than William and they lived in the same household during their childhood lives. With William and Van living in the same house; with the same last name; and close to the same age - some thought they were brothers.
With that, this story has been handed down through the generations in the RAY Family:

April 25, 1866
MURDER
STATES
VS
WILLIAM TRAMMELL & JACOB BATMAN
William Trammell and Jacob Bateman are brought to the Bar of the Court here in custody of Joab L. Moore, Sheriff of Macon County, and forthwith it being demanded of them how they will acquit themselves of the premises in the above indictment specified and charged upon them, they say they are not guilty thereof, and threof for good and evil they put themselves upon the county and David Colmena, who prosecutes for the state, doth like.
Therefore, let a jury come of good and lawful men by whom the truth of the matter may be known. It is ordered by the Court in this case that a Special Writ of Venire Facia shall be issued to the Sheriff of this county, commanding him to summons seventy five (75) good and lawful men, freeholders, of this County of Macon, to appear on Thursday at 9 o'clock at the present term of court to serve as jurors in this case.
This case is set for hearing Thursday of this term at 9 o'clock. The prisoners at the bar are remanded to the common jail of this county.

Thursday A.M. 9 o'clock

STATE
VS
WILLIAM TRAMMELL AND JACOB BATEMAN
Continued for the defendants for the want of Jacob Fouts, N.C. Phillips, Mary Trammel, and John Bateman, witnesses.
*I could never find records of the outcome of this case.
N.C. Phillips was probably Calvin Phillips, husband of Violet P. Trammel. John Batemean was probably the son of Mahala Trammell and Archilbald Bateman, and it is grandson that I want to see if he knows anything. The Jacob Batemean, who is being tried with W.A. Trammel, is probably the son of Mahala, too. The 1860 Census shows her having a son Jacob V. Bateman, born 1848.
*from a letter from Thelma Welch Swanson.

March 30, 1869 - State Vs Van, William Trammel, & Jacob Bateman murder/Nol Pros - Cause to Be Placed in Retired Docket (Nol Pros - Be unwilling to pursue, do not prosecute.)

September 1871 - State Vs Van and William Trammel and Jacob Bateman.
This case is ordered to be placed on the Docket and that an Alias Capiasissue for defendant Batmean. Let subpoena issue for the State witnesses.
(Capias - A writ commanding an officer to take a specified person into custody.)

April 1872 - Jacob Bateman was tried for Felony and Murder and found Not Guilty.

"Van TRAMMELL and his brother William were trying to collect pay for a horse that had been stolen from William. The man refused to pay. William hit the man with a gun and killed him. Van left for Arkansas and William for Georgia."
Actually, Van went to Round Prairie Township, Benton County, Arkansas.
The William A. HUNTER family went to Texas. In Texas, William acquired "twelve or fifteen" tracts of land and tried being a cattle rancher. He had problems supplying water and had to give it up.
It is unknown where or when they ranched in Texas. We do know that one of their children, Frank Paris Hunter (my grandfather), was born in Granbury, Hood County, Texas, in 1879.
A little puzzle: Based on a Family Bible Frank Paris Hunter was born in Granbury, Texas. It has been handed down orally that Frank Paris was named after Paris, Texas. Paris, Texas, is about one hundred and fifty miles east of Granbury. Not close enough for namesakes - but apparently so.
1879 was also the year William and his family came back east and settled in Cherokee County, Georgia, less than ten miles away from Kennesaw Mountain, where he fought in the Civil War fifteen years earlier.
They first settled in the Kelp Community, which was in the area of what is presently the vicinity of the intersection of State Highway 92 and Bells Ferry Road.
William joined the Masonic Lodge which was located just a few miles east of Woodstock, which was the community of Anderson- ville. This "Andersonville" was discussed earlier the possible "Andersonville" William recuperated from his Civil War wounds.
When their oldest son Charlie grew up he opened a store appropriately called "Hunter's Store". He was also the Postmaster of Kelp. The Kelp Post Office was in a section of Hunter's Store.
Charlie also wrote a newspaper column of local news. The name of the column was also "Hunter's Store".
William A. HUNTER's son William Jason HUNTER was killed in June of 1896, at the age of twenty-one, in a hunting accident. William Jason when killed, had a pregnant wife (Fannie) and a daughter. William A. and Emaline had their daughter-in-law and granddaughter move in with them. They took up their late son's responsibility of providing food and shelter. The child that Fanny was pregnant with was named Lois. They lived with them until their death.
William A. HUNTER was also raised by his grandparents because of a parent dying. Which may be why William did this deed, because he knew the feeling. Again, history repeats itself.
Although it appears that William fled Macon County, North Carolina, in the 1860s, around the turn of the century he would return each year during apple season to see old friends and relatives, and of course to get a load of apples.
About 1908, William and his oldest son Charlie bought land in Woodstock, on Main Street, just a couple of blocks south of the center of town. They both built houses on the property.
Now (1998), the house is a store for rental company.
An act of Congress was passed in 1910 authorizing a soldier's pension for men who fought in the Civil War, for the North as well as the South. That same year, going on sixty-eight, William applied for his pension. On his application he stated that he was in Company I of the 39th Regiment (Infantry) of North Carolina. The application was turned down because no one by the name of William A. HUNTER was on the roster.
The roster did show a William A. TRAMMELL who enlisted on 1 May 1862. He and Posey C. Wild enlisted the same day. And at the Kennesaw Mountain Park, on the list of all those who fought, his name as TRAMMELL is listed.
He had a slight dilemma. He could admit he changed his name after the war. But what would be the consequences?
His solution worked. He gathered up three witnesses to swear to a questionnaire affidavit that he had not only fought but also was wounded in the War.


The witnesses:

1. Posey C. WILD on the questionnaire said he had known William all his life "and have seen him occasionally since he left this county in 1867". Posey also wrote that William lived in Woodstock, Georgia, since 1879, and still occasionally saw him "through my relation living there".

2. Doctor T. W. MCCLOUD said he witnessed William wounded in the knee on or near Kennesaw Mountain during what is known as the
Georgia Campaign.

3. George A. CAMPBELL said he saw William wounded in the knee or near the knee, the bullet tearing away much of the muscle and going through the leaders of the upper part of the leg about the knee.

In his latter years his grandchildren remembered him walking stooped over, carrying a cane, and speaking in a deep whispery voice.

CONFEDERATE NORTH CAROLINA TROOPS

39th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry

39th Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Patton, Asheville, North Carolina, in July, 1861, as a five company battalion. In November the unit moved to "Camp Hill" near Gooch Mountain where it was increased to eight companies. In February, 1862, it was ordered to Knoxville, Tennessee, where two more companies were added. Its members were from the counties of Cherokee, Macon, Jackson, Buncombe, and Clay. The 39th took part in the Cumberland Gap operations, then saw action in the Battle of Perryville. Assigned to Walthall's, McNair's, and Reynold's Brigade, it fought with the Army of Tennessee from Murfreesboro to Atlanta, then endured Hood's winter campaign in Tennessee. In 1865 it shared in the defense of Mobile. This regiment lost 2 killed, 36 wounded, and 6 missing at Murfreesboro and had 10 killed, 90 wounded, and 3 missing at Chickamauga. During the Atlanta Campaign, May 18 to September 5, it reported 16 killed, 57 wounded, and 10 missing. On May 4, 1865, it surrendered. The field officers were Colonel David Coleman, Lieutenant Colonels Hugh H. Davidson and Francis A. Reynolds, and Major T.W. Peirce.





More About WILLIAM A. TRAMMELL/HUNTER:
Burial: Carmel Baptist Church, Cherokee, Ga

More About EMALINE RAY:
Burial: Carmel Baptist Church, Cherokee, Ga

Children of WILLIAM TRAMMELL/HUNTER and EMALINE RAY are:
99. i. CHARLES JEFFERSON6 HUNTER, b. 03 Sep 1865, , Macon, N.C.; d. 15 Feb 1954, Woodstock, Cherokee, Ga.
100. ii. ARMINDA JANE "NIN" HUNTER, b. 22 Dec 1866, Franklin, Macon, N.C.; d. 31 Dec 1955, , Cherokee, Ga.
101. iii. JOHN RAFAS HUNTER, b. 28 Jun 1870; d. 21 Nov 1940, , Cherokee Co, Ga.
102. iv. WILLIAM JASON HUNTER, b. 06 Mar 1875; d. 25 Jun 1896, , , Ga.
103. v. FRANK PARIS HUNTER, b. 06 Apr 1879, Granbury, Hood, Texas; d. 20 Mar 1950, Marietta, Cobb, Georgia.
104. vi. OSCAR RAY HUNTER, b. 02 Aug 1884, , Cherokee Co, Ga; d. 18 Jun 1963, St. Petersburg, , Fl.
105. vii. ARTHUR RILEY HUNTER, b. 02 Aug 1884, , Cherokee Co, Ga; d. 23 Oct 1967, Sanford, , Fl.

F-22 Raptors Nose Dive

The F-22 Raptor project at Lockheed in Marietta appears to be doomed. The Pentagon said it will not buy anymore, they are obsolete.

That probably means about 2000 of the 7000 jobs at Lockheed Marietta will lose their jobs. That is bad enough but on top of the poor economy we are in now, that adds insult to injury.

After the Korean War Lockheed had a huge lay-off, I think about 12,000 people lost their jobs. And according to Doctor Thomas Scott, author of Cobb County, Georgia and the Origins of the Suburban South, a Twentieth-Century History, the economy in Cobb was so well oiled the fired Lockheed employees quickly was absorbed in the work force of Cobb. Hopefully, Cobb County's economy is still healthy and that will happen again - if needed.



"Build airplanes here? Why? We have a good thing going now! Besides, what are airplanes?"

Time Stood Still - almost

You have already seen the pictures of Barnes' farm across the street from our house in Smyrna. All these pictures were within walking distance of our house – probably less than a mile.

Smyrna is still in Cobb County, just a few miles down the road.

What you see are pictures of 35 years ago. But the same scenes are pretty much the same today. The Concord Covered Bridge is still there…. But instead of the RR rails and crossties are no longer there. it is now the Silver Comet Trail, a thirty-plus mile exercise paved track that people walk, run, ride bikes, and even to keep up with modern times it has had a murder and a few muggings.

Guarding America Against Americans

After Obama was declared the winner I think I felt the earth tremble a little. Maybe not, maybe it just felt like it. People living near older cemeteries reported that they also felt the earth tremble, but it felt like more than a mere tremble. I wonder why?

Which reminds me:

In July 1959 when I turned 18 there were a couple of things I needed to do. I had to sign up at the local draft board and I felt it was my duty to register to vote.

Where I registered is vague. It seems logical that the voters registration office would be at the courthouse. But, I think it may have been across what was then Washington Avenue (now Roswell Street) at an Army Navy store.

The owner(s) of the Army Navy store had some ties with the county government.

Either the courthouse or the Army Navy store I registered to vote. I brought my birth certificate and all that. I think probably all I needed was the statement “I’m Ed Hunter’s boy” .

But I did it the right way and so did the guy who authorized my voting eligibility. I think his name might have been Luther. He pulled out a worn sheet of paper with typing on it. He told me to me to read aloud what was typed.

It was Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

I started reading aloud, “Four Scores and Seven ye…”

I was interrupted by Luther, or whoever. “That is good – you pass!” He told me.

“I don’t have to read it all?” I asked.

"No. You said “FOUR” instead of “Fo’” – that is what I was listening for. If you had said “Fo’” then I would have to turn down your registration application. We can’t let all those crazy people vote – no telling what crazy they would vote for.”

Of course, that was a racist ploy to prevent blacks from voting. Before then, the south used the “Grandfather Clause” to prevent blacks from voting – it was another type of literacy test – but the problem with the literacy test a lot of whites failed it too. They added the clause that if your grandfather voted you can bypass the literacy test.” That was ruled unconstitutional, so in time they fell back to the oral literacy test – which in time was ruled unconstitutional also.

The guy (Luther?) felt he was doing a great service to America by not allowing a certain segment to vote. And I bet no amount of arguing could change his mind.

I cannot think of anything more un-American than refusing a certain segment to vote because you were scared of how they may vote.

Yesterday, if you happened to have been near the cemetery Luther is buried you might have heard deep down in the earth a muffled voice, “I knew this would happen!”

Nellie Mae Rowe (1900-1982)

Back on September the 24th I had a post about an old black lady that lived by the railroad tracks in Vinings who collected roadside litter and made art with it. The post received a comment from Brent yesterday saying he believed I was talking about Nellie Mae Rowe (1900 – 1982). And he gave me a
web link that had more about her. I went to it and – “Yep, that is her alright!”

Brent also said if I googled her name I could see more about her. I did, and did learn more about her. She was a wonderfully eccentric folk artist that also is a devout Christian, sort of like a black Howard Finster.

Whew! It is nice when someone shows up with proof of what I am talking about. Now, I know it wasn’t a figment of my imagination…. I’m not a nut after all!

Litter and Art by the Tracks in Vinings

Vinings, Georgia, was a little village-like community in the southern part of Cobb County, next to the Chattahoochee River. It has some huge hills or small mountains that overlook the river and the Atlanta skyline. When I was in the Boy Scouts in the early 1950s we went to a Boy Scout Jamboree named Bert Adams Camp in Vinings. . Someday I’ll have to write more about how our troop 132 brought terror and crime to the Jamboree with the leadership of our new member Jimmy Pat Presley.

Up in the high hills and in the foot of the valleys were some very nice homes. It was an upper income community for upscale country-gentleman type of living.

Now, I think the houses are still there, but we were on the main roads recently and the area zoned for business is swallowed by office parks and sky scrapers. Home Depot’s home office is there.

There is a railroad track that goes through Vinings. A childhood friend of mine, Sandy Hicks, was killed in her car at the railway crossing back in about 1960. She lived with her family at the foot of Blackjack Mountain in Marietta. Just a couple of years ago I ran into her father Buck Hicks, a retired deputy sheriff, at a funeral home in Kennesaw. Buck also died not too long ago too.

Now, they have a fancy outdoor pavilion of some kind near the railway crossing. Back then they only had the railroad crossing with the big white striped arm that came down and red lights clanging.

In about 1969 or 70, before the huge glass buildings and office suddenly became part of Vinnings I noticed more than once while driving through of a unpainted house by the railway tracks. The trees were decorated with all kinds of decorations – at first sight you would think it was expensive ordainments but if you slow down and take a closer look you would see it was just litter tossed out of cars and then someone came along and delicately placed the object, whether it was a beer car, an empty Winston Cigarettes package, honky sticks, or etc. One person’s trash was another person’s treasures.

One day as I was riding by the house I saw a lady hanging clothes on the clothesline. She was an elderly black woman. I could not resist meeting her. I pulled into her dirt driveway and she was glad to see me. She talked and talked about the Lord. She was very religious and very positive – and agreeable.

At a closer look of her garbage-art in the trees I saw that most of the things were attached by wads of gum. I wondered if it was her gum, or did she find the gum too?

I just happened to have my camera in the car and I asked her could I take some pictures and she said, “Of course you can!” And I took some pictures. I hope I can find those pictures or negatives in one of the boxes that I am systematically going through.

She invited me in for some tea. Inside her house was just as artsy as on the outside. One room was a shrine for the late Martin Luther King. The room was mostly dark with Doctor King’s picture was on a table with either a candle or a table lamp illuminating the image and also in a frame was a quote by him, I forgot which one, I think it was “I had a dream”.

I think she was probably the only person at that time in history that had a clothes line in Vinings and the only person with an unpainted house. I think her house was covered with that sanded shingle kind of material.

Here and there in the house were pictures of Jesus and some of his quotes framed.

I doubt if anyone but me wishes she was still there by the railroad tracks with her roadside trash -art instead of the yuppiedom that Vinings has become.

Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee, postcard

Not so many years ago we went to Fall Creek Falls State Park, in Tennessee, southeast of Nashville and north of Chattanooga. We came down State Highway 111 alongside a river at the bottom farm lands of a long valley. The scenery was beautiful, but I don’t think there were any zoning laws, around every corner was a new surprise.

We had to drive up in a mountainous area to get to Fall Creek Falls State Park. One thing I remember up on that lonely road was the large amount of dogs on the roadside. I think probably previous owners took them to this sparse area and threw them out. The dogs looked disillusioned and hungry. Never trust a human.

The park claims to have a bunch of water falls, I forgot how many. At one place there are twin falls… two creeks almost meet, just before each tumble off a cliff. Then, I think there is the big water fall, which is pictured here, and more smaller ones.

The state park has a motel-like lodge on the edge of a good size lake. We signed up for a room. While the clerk was signing us up, she glanced at the blanks we were filling out and said something like “Marietta! I am from Smyrna! We just moved up here last year – I had to move away from there.”

To her Smyrna no longer had the southern charm that she grew up knowing. We dropped to each other names and places and knew a lot of common Cobb County Marietta/Smyrna stuff.

It is a small world. No matter where we roam, it seems we always run into someone from Cobb County.

On the back of the card:
“Fall Creek Falls State Park. Beautiful Fall Creek Falls in one of the most photographed natural wonders in the United States. It tumbles over cliffs and falls 256 feet into a shaded pool at the base of the gorge.”

Fall Creek Falls tumbles over cliffs and falls 256 feet. That is a lot of falls for one sentence.

256 feet? And, then I say, “And that is just at high tide!” and slap you hard on the back to help you get the most of my fascinating wit.

Primary Thoughts

This week is primary week in Georgia. And next Tuesday will be the official primary vote day in Georgia. We can vote this week or next Tuesday for whom we hope to be our next president…. Or who we don’t want to be our president – wait, let me explain.

Historically, during the primary some people have used the ballot of the their opposing party to vote, and they voted for their opposing party’s weakest candidate, thus hoping, the weakest candidate will be running against their party’s candidate in November.

That is why Lester Maddox got to be Governor. Many Republicans voted for Lester Maddox thinking he would be the weakling running against Republican Bo Callaway. Lester got enough votes to tie the election and it was thrown in the Georgia House of Representatives for them to vote for our next Governor. What wasn’t counted on was the party-loyalty element. At that time (1966) there were more Democrats in the Georgia Legislation than there were Republicans. Lester won.

And also if you want to vote for an ideal when it would do most good – I think the primary is just the time for such a vote. For instance, if you wanted to vote for a person who has been campaigning for a cleaner environment, vote for them with your primary ballot. They probably won’t win, but the votes are counted, and say, 20% of the people voted for the environment candidate…. The other candidate would say something like “hmmmmm …. I could use that 20%” So, he/she will probably talk environment issues to try to persuade those 20%.... environment is just an example… you could pick the person that is mostly anti-Iraq fightings, or the person who wants to bomb them back to the stone age (as General LeMay), or any other cause you think is worth your vote… it might help persuade the most popular candidates to compete for your vote.

Here in Cobb County during primary voting they usually have a bunch of Republican voting booths but only two or three Democrats booths, which mostly stay empty. The Republican voter line is long and Democrat line there is no waiting. You can’t beat that.

I am surprised there are not two exit doors – one for Republicans and one for Democrats. They have us in groups already. Then the Democrats could walk out their door where a FBI prison bus will be ready to take us traitors away.

The Self-Righteous Church

Cobb County has been the home of and/or produced many celebrities through the years. Off the top of my head I think of Joanne Woodward, Lash LaRue, Travis Tritt, cartoonist Mark Bagley, Cartoonist Skip Williamson, Julia Roberts, Joe South, Billy Joe Royal, and Ray Stevens…… also Ted Turner and Troy Donahue… there are more, they are just not on the top of my head.

Joe South, Billy Joe Royal, and Ray Stephen were/are friends and professionally linked together.

Ray Stevens is from the mill town of Clarkdale in the southwestern part of Cobb County. Clarkdale was a mill town. The mill building is no longer a mill. I heard it a mall or a maybe a flea market place.

Ray Stevens put rich humor into country music. I think he really is good and has some very funny insightful songs.

Here is a link to one on You-Tube. Take it away, Ray!

Self Righteous Church