The Monument to Col. Samuel Hammond

More than 100 years ago, a monument was placed in Augusta, Georgia in memory of Colonel Samuel Hammond. He was a patriot, a soldier, and a statesman who "gave 60 years of public service to the cause of America." It was the hope of Col. Hammond's grandson, Hugh Vernon Washington, that the momument be sculpted and located in Augusta. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it come to fruition. When the monument was presented to the city, it was by Ellen Washington Bellamy, Hugh's sister, on his behalf.

Via Waymarking.com.

Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
29 March 1913, pg. 7

SAMUEL HAMMOND LIVES IN MEMORY

Monument to Patriot of Country's Early History Presented to Augusta by His Descendants

DR. M. ASHBY JONES ORATOR

Accepted on Behalf of City by Mayor L. C. Hayne -- Exercises Presided Over by Judge William F. Eve -- Mrs. Bellamy, of Macon, One of Donors
The presentation to the city of Augusta of the monument to Col. Samuel Hammond of revolutionary fame was a most impressive event of yesterday afternoon. The granite boulder, upon which the heroic bronze bust of Colonel Hammond is to be placed, is erected on the 600 block of Greene Street. At the hour of 5 o'clock, a crowd of interested spectators gathered and the presentation ceremonies began upon the arrival of Mrs. Ellen Washington Bellamy, of Macon, who is one of the donors of the monument, the other donor being her brother, the late Hugh Vernon Washington, of Macon, a grandson of Colonel Hammond...

Mayor Hayne's Acceptance
..."For over a century his [Colonel Hammond's] remains have rested unmarked on the banks of our own Savannah, where the holiest requiems have continuously been sounded from the winds that blew over the grave of this intrepid hero, who dared to die, that his country might live...

Mrs. Bellamy Speaks
Mrs. Bellamy then spoke a few words of appreciation, explaining that it was the wish of her brother, the late Hugh Vernon Washington, of Macon, that this monument be erected in Augusta, whose history their illustrious ancestor helped to make, and that the monument was his gift as well as hers...[Entire article may be viewed online at GenealogyBank.]

According to Waymarking.com, Samuel Hammond was born September 1757 in Richmond County, Virginia. He died at Varello, near Augusta, September 1842 (on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River).

Regarding Col. Hammond's Revolutionary War career, the monument provides:

WITH GENERAL GREENE IN EVERY IMPORTANT
ENGAGEMENT THROUGH VIRGINIA,
THE CAROLINAS AND GEORGIA: ON THE FRONT
LINE AT EUTAW, COWPENS AND KINGS MOUNTAIN.
AT THE SIEGE OF CHARLESTON,
SAVANNAH AND AUGUSTA

The news article above implies Hammond's grave was unmarked in 1913. It is definitely marked now, with a military marker and a 5 foot pyramid. According to his FindAGrave memorial, "In 1991, the grave of Colonel Samuel Hammond was relocated to the Hammond Family Cemetery on the property of the Charles Hammond house in North Augusta, SC from it's original location 1.6 miles away in New Richmond, SC because of the development of the Riverview Park Complex."

Park for Nancy Hart, a Revolutionary Heroine

Lucian Lamar Knight described her as an "undaunted queen of the forest..."

NANCY HART
On Wahatche (War Woman) Creek, in Revolutionary times, lived Nancy
Morgan Hart, her husband, Benjamin, and their children.  Six feet tall,
masculine in strength and courage, Nancy Hart was a staunch patriot, a
deadly shot, a skilled doctor, and a good neighbor.  A spy for the colonists,
she is credited with capturing several Tories.  Later, with her son, John, and
his family, she joined a wagon train to Henderson County, Kentucky,
where she is buried...A replica of her log home, with chimney stones from the
original, is in the Nancy Hart Park, [in Elbert County.]

"The most famous story of Hart's escapades as a frontier patriot began when a group of six (some accounts say five) Tories came to her cabin and demanded information concerning the location of a certain Whig leader. Only minutes earlier, the Whig, hotly pursued by the Tories, had stopped by the Hart cabin and enlisted Hart's aid as he made his escape. Hart insisted that no one had passed through her neck of the woods for days. Convinced that she was lying, one of the Tories shot and killed Hart's prized gobbler. After ordering her to cook the turkey, the Tories entered the cabin, stacked their weapons in the corner, and demanded something to drink. Hart obliged them by opening her jugs of wine. Once the Tories began to feel the intoxicating effects of the wine, Hart sent her daughter Sukey to the spring for a bucket of water. Hart secretly instructed her to blow a conch shell, which was kept on a nearby stump, to alert the neighbors that Tories were in the cabin.

As Hart served her unwanted guests, she frequently passed between them and their stacked weapons. Inconspicuously, she began to pass the loaded muskets, one by one, through a chink in the cabin wall to Sukey, who had by this time slipped around to the rear of the building. When the Tories noticed what she was doing and sprang to their feet, Hart threatened to shoot the first man who moved a foot. Ignoring her warning, one Tory lunged forward, and Hart pulled the trigger, killing the man. Seizing another weapon, she urged her daughter to run for help. Hart shot a second Tory who made a move toward the stacked weapons and held off the remaining loyalists until her husband and several others arrived. Benjamin Hart wanted to shoot the Tories, but Hart wanted them to hang. Consequently the remaining Tories were hanged from a nearby tree. In 1912 workmen grading a railroad near the site of the old Hart cabin unearthed a neat row of six skeletons that lay under nearly three feet of earth and were estimated to have been buried for at least a century. This discovery seemed to validate the most oft-told story of the Hart legend." [snippet from New Georgia Encyclopedia article, "Nancy Hart (ca. 1735-1830)"]

Click here for Nancy's FindAGrave memorial.

Update! Here's another tidbit I learned from Lucian Lamar Knight:

Hartford One of Georgia's Lost Towns.
Hartford, the first county-seat of Pulaski, formerly stood on a high bluff of the Ocmulgee River, just opposite the site of the present [1913] town of Hawkinsville. It is today numbered among the dead towns of Georgia, but in the early days of the State it was an Indian trading post of very great importance, on what was then the frontier...The town was named for Nancy Hart, the celebrated heroine of the Revolution. In 1837, the court-house was removed from Hartford to Hawkinsville, dating from which event the fortunes of the little border stronghold began to decline, until it became at last only a dim memory of the remote past; and there survives today but a few fragmentary remains to mark the spot.

Lester Cemetery in Elko

Many, many moons ago, I received a listing of burials at Lester Cemetery in Elko, Houston County, Georgia. I had them online with one of the county projects, but it was subsequently removed when I changed things over on my website.

Cover page I received with list.

I just finished putting all the burials (that weren't already there) on FindAGrave.  Give it a search, if you'd like.  Surnames include:

Brown, Burke, Cobb, Cosby, Crowd, Dyer, Jackson, Lester, Malcolm, McNair, Perry, Thomas, Vance

Search for cemetery records in Lester Family Cemetery, GA at by entering a surname and clicking search: Lester Family Cemetery, GA (78 names)All of Find A Grave (117.9 million names) Restrict search to Surname

Cora Lou Jackson Tallen (Talent?) Vinson & the Principal Players

This post will show you what I have found out about Cora Lou Vinson thus far. My only research has been the online kind, and that is of course limited. I am very intrigued by her, and would love to know her ultimate fate. Did she live out the rest of her life in prison, or was she eventually able to get clemency? She doesn't strike me as a woman that would stop after just one attempt at that. I would also personally be thrilled to know her final resting place.

I do also understand that this really did not happen all that long ago. Less than 100 years, and some of Cora's and/or William's grandchildren might be living their lives without the desire to have this relatively recent past drudged up. Having said that, if there is anyone with information they are willing to share, I would greatly appreciate a comment or email.

OK! Here's what I've found:

Newspaper articles provided a bit of information. As chronicled when her nephews were testifying against her, Cora's maiden name was possibly JACKSON. She was described as a sister of "Simp" Jackson, whose sons J. S. and Roy took the stand. That same article brings out the fact that her marriage to William D. Vinson was a second one. Her first was "to a man named Tallen," by whom she had a daughter named Mary.

The article by Dudley Siddal states this: "...Married first at 14, she had only the education that falls to a mountain-born woman whose childhood was spent in the cotton mills. But she is intelligent, answers questions directly..."

I have not yet found Cora in census records before she was married to Mr. Vinson, but I did find this entry in the Georgia Marriages database at FamilySearch: Cora Jackson married M. L. Talent 24 June 1893 in Cobb County.

In 1910, having been married to William D. Vinson for seven years, they were in Atlanta on Ponders Avenue. William was a practicing physician. It is listed that Cora (aged 33 years) had four children, three living. Two of Mr. Vinson's sons from a previous marriage were listed: William B. and Tilley D. The two girls listed were from the union of William and Cora: Pauline and Ruby.

1920 finds a 38 year old Cora listed by herself with three children. Her marital status is already listed as widowed, even though it's two years before Mr. Vinson would be killed. Her likely attempt at "keeping up appearances" proved to be a bit ironic. The three children are Pauline, Ruby, and Louis J.

In 1930, Cora is exactly where you would expect to find her -- in the Georgia State Penitentiary at Baldwin County. She was a 52 year old widowed prisoner.

As you can see, Cora's birth years range from 1877 to 1882 to 1878. Newspaper articles at the time of the murder estimate her birth year to be 1878 or 1879. I have found three possible entries for Cora in the Georgia Deaths database at Ancestry and the Social Security Death Index (one might could argue there are more, but not one I viewed fits perfectly):

· Cora L. Vinson, d. 13 Feb 1953 Fulton Co, GA, aged 68;
· Cora Vinson, d. 23 Feb 1971 Baldwin Co, GA, aged 86; and
· Cora Vinson, b. 1 Jul 1889, d. Feb 1971, last residence at Milledgeville, Baldwin Co, GA.

Cora and William's daughter Pauline is found with her husband and three children still in Atlanta in 1930. Her husband, William T. Brown, is still a city fireman as stated in a newspaper article. Pauline was married about 1920 at age 15, sometime after the January census enumeration when she was still listed with her mother.

Here are two possible entries for Pauline in the Georgia Deaths database. I think the first is likely our subject:

· Pauline V. Brown, d. 6 Apr 1979 Fulton Co, aged 73; and
· Pauline V. Brown, d. 10 Jan 1985 Coweta Co, aged 77.

William "Willie" B. Vinson, son of W. D. and his first wife, is listed with his divorced father at Fulton County, Georgia in 1900. By 1930 he is married to Minnie L. and has three daughters in Dekalb County. His occupation was life insurance salesman.

Georgia Deaths, 1919-98 shows a William B. Vinson d. 25 Oct 1945 in Dekalb County at age 57. FindAGrave provides us with the burial location of East View Cemetery in Atlanta.

After Tillie D. is enumerated with his divorced father in 1900 as was brother William, we find him still in Atlanta in 1920. He is married to "Viola" Miller, and they are listed in her parents' household. Tillie was a practicing dentist. In 1930, Tillie and "Violet" are in Atlanta with their young son. Tillie is still a dentist, and we can add a veteran of World War I.

Tillie registered for the draft about 1917, while he was living with his father and step-mother on Ponders Avenue in Atlanta. His occupation was even listed then as dentist. Tillie was described as having brown eyes and dark brown hair on his draft card.

The only Tillie D. Vinson in the Georgia Deaths database states he died 6 August 1956 at age 61 in Dekalb County.

...Does this family connect to yours?