POP – A RELIGIOUS MAN… He had a family background of religious heritage. His great-grandfather, Rev. John Holden, was the organizer of churches in Fannin and Gilmer counties. His relatives on both sides of the family were ardent church workers. His parents took him to church as a child. Although he had a religious background, he never made a public profession of faith until 1931. At this time, he was baptized at the Mine City Baptist Church in Ducktown, Tenn. I remember as a child, he always took us to Sunday School and church. He was a financial supporter through the years and helped with the various building funds. Through the years he was a big Sunday School worker in many areas. Some of the things he will be remembered for were helping to clear the ground to make way for the First Baptist Church Crestlawn Cemetery, established in 1951, which became his final resting place some 30 years later. He also added much personal knowledge to the taking of the religious census from time to time. Once he drew maps of the area, including house locations and family names which could be used in visitation. He took great pride in the grounds of the church and spent much time and weed killer working on the kudzu vine and chicken weed on the river bank. Early Sunday mornings would find him on his way to Sunday School, picking up trash and beer cans left by loiters in the parking lot. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of McCaysville, Ga., almost 50 years, from 1934 until the time of his death. POP – A BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MAN… He is best known in this area because of his 41 years association with the Tennessee Copper Company, Copperhill, Tenn. He hired most all of their then thousands of employees, knowing their skills, kinfolks, good qualities and bad. He could size up a man almost on sight. We always said that he did the hiring and the firing. Most every man in the community knew him on a first name basis and had asked him for a job. He gave his life and his all to this copper mining company that in turn gave life to our Copper Basin. He was retiring in 1968 just as Cities Service purchased the operation and stayed extra years to help in the transition. Today, with the shutting down of the mining operation of the plant, it makes one glad he is not around to have to witness the end of an era. Upon retirement his business career continued. He was the backbone and businessman in both his children's family businesses. He has helped, kept books, given advice, fussed, yelled, encouraged, and stood behind us all through the years. He could take a government form including income tax and deal with it like a section of the funny paper. He was so honest we told him he was government scared! His wonderful business mind kept us straight on paper, as well as from day to day operation. POP – THE COMMUNITY MAN... He was everything from member to president in clubs such as Epworth Ruritan, taking leadership in their Fourth of July carnival activities. He belonged to the Sportsman Club, helping build and operate a fish-
interest and insight into the ways of tilling the ground. He has done everything from hoeing, picking cotton, plowing a mule, making gardens of varying sizes, to driving the more modern tiller and big tractor. Not only did he do these things, but he also taught us to help. In his later years, they quit using the farm for gardening, and he again started a plot at his house. He tilled the land, even when he had to use a walking cane and scoot or crawl on the ground to work. The last garden he made produced more than we needed, and every basket of produce gathered had to be taken by his chair so he could share in the size of that tomato, or the odd shape of that squash or how many beans his patch had made. POP – A MAN OF HISTORY… What a time in the history of our nation for him to have lived! More things were invented and developed during his time than at any time in history. He went from horse and buggy, no electricity, etc., to the age of automobiles, airplanes, electronics, and even the space age, experiencing all the things between. Much could be said about this, but my thoughts concerning history is that he knew just about everything that happened throughout the world at any given time and could quote you names, dates and places as though he were there. He could tell you all about the olden times, all the wars, inventions, governmental agencies and leaders. Prior to his death, he compiled a more than 200 year lineage of family relations on both his parents’ sides of the family, thus making his grandchildren “Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution.” POP – THE MAN OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL… One of the most marvelous facts about Pop was that he could travel
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anywhere and never, never get lost! If he had ever been to a town, city or state, he could tell you what river was running under that bridge, where the head of it was, when the bridge was built and what railroad was nearby, along with what town was coming up next. He knew highway numbers as if he were reading the map. Locally, he knew every mountain, lake and stream, every highway, side road and trail, for he had traveled them all. What's more, he could always tell you who lived in a given house. He liked his mountain region as well as his mountain background. He would have made a great tour guide on earth, and surely now in Heaven he must be telling the newcomers where everything is located. Naturally, he would be pointing his finger! POP – THE MAN OF RECREATION… As a child, about all we can remember were picnics at our special places, trips to the lake, and especially the swimming hole below the farm. There was not much time for these things in his early years. He always took his grandchildren swimming and fishing, with most of the fun being at the houseboat on Blue Ridge Lake. Along about retirement time, he developed a great liking for camping. To our surprise, Mama liked it too. The truck was packed with tents and supplies for varying trips to campsites on weekends and vacations. He went everywhere from the mountains to the beaches entertaining himself and his grandchildren. POP - THE MAN OF POLITICS… Though he never took a public stand nor ran for a public office, he was thoroughly interested in what the leaders were doing from our town to our nation's capital. I can see him now walking the floor and “preaching” about something he didn't like or praising the good things that were going on. I doubt he ever missed an opportunity to vote, and he took us
The president must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people. - President Herbert Hoover
kids to register just as soon as we were old enough. He could predict what was going to happen during a given president's administration as well as anybody. POP - THE MAN OF CONVICTION… If Pop believed in something, you were wasting your time to get him to change his mind. He knew what was right and stood by it. He was a man of his word. If he told you something, it was as good as done. You believed whatever he told you, for he was most always right about it. Pop never stood up and preached much, nor really taught us all the rights and wrongs, but you certainly knew them by his example. POP - THE MAN OF VISION… All my life I was always amazed at how Pop could see and predict and prepare for things that were to come. He had no special ability for this other than the road of hard knocks. He could help you see ahead with your children, your home, your business, your finances and many other aspects of life. He also felt it was his duty as the Pop to tell you these things. Many, many times we felt that Pop was a prophet of doom and that he borrowed worry and trouble. This is true to an extent, for worry was one of his faults. But he knew what to expect, and many, many times he was right. He had a vision for good as well as bad.
POP - THE MODERN MAN… One might think that a man with Pop's years would be “old and sot in his ways,” but he was one to look to the future. He was excited about things like the space program, with the walk on the moon, new inventions, and every aspect of the electronic age. He was always interested in trying the new inventions, while holding on to many of the old things and ways of doing. POP - THE MAN OF SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS… Now, before anyone gets to thinking Pop had no faults, let me tell you some of his special characteristics. Pop was not the neatest, best dressed man for his position in life. It mattered not to him if his tie had spots on it, or if his pants were drooping, just so long as he was dressed and was not wearing his farm clothes to church. Yet, it never bothered him to go to the garden in his Sunday clothes! Another “Holden” characteristic was his liking to cook and eat. He would eat standing up at the stove or cabinet, saucer his black coffee, and many times pace through the house between bites. He always cooked his own breakfast of hoe cakes and gravy. For years he smoked himself to death, rolling his own from a red Prince Albert can, then later switching to bought smokes. We have
If people did not love one another, I reallly don’t see what use there would be in having any spring - Victor Hugo
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swept up more PA out of the floor than he ever smoked! He stopped several times because of a body-shaking, earth-shaking cough, which we all thought would kill him. He finally switched to chewing tobacco. Pacing the floor was not unusual for Pop. He just could not talk to you without pacing and swinging his arms and hands. He did this at home and on the job – thousands of miles, no doubt. How many newspapers do you suppose Mama has picked up scattered around his chair? Each section (and he read them all) was “neatly” thrown aside in the floor, indicating he had finished reading. You always knew Pop's car by the spit cups and the amount of junk you could find therein. He used his car for a truck to haul everything from farm equipment parts to farm produce, and much of the latter. He said he never needed to clean his windshield because the car knew where he always went. He never traded cars. He drove them till they quit, then junked them. He finally bought a truck. Lastly, and probably the truest... POP – THE MAN WELL KNOWN WITH MANY FRIENDS… Being in the employment business that he was, caused every family in the Copper Basin to know him and respect him, for he had no doubt done something for most of them. He always had to go around the county to call in special craftsmen for a job coming up as many did not have telephones.
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To this very day, men tell me that my daddy gave them their first job - some even remembering the year he hired them, maybe giving them a special chance. In his later years many would remind him of this and thank him. He rubbed shoulders with the “upper-crust” as well as the lowly, and most all thought of him as a special person. Naturally, he knew all of the “old folks,” but he knew and was loved by the younger ones as well. He always included the neighborhood kids on swimming trips or picnics. It was nothing to see Pop going down the road with a car full of young’uns. Yes, Pop was - and is – the man of many facets. Volumes could not hold all that could be written. At any rate, they are all stamped indelibly in our hearts and minds. Though Pop is not with us anymore, his imprint is stamped indelibly in these red hills of ours. His life was as bright as the copper they produced. It seems fitting that his tombstone is copper colored, nestled among the red hills. Though Pop is absent from us in body, he is constantly still living in our hearts – our memory – or in inherited characteristics and actions. Pop will continue to live on this earth through his family until we are all united with him in Heaven. Thank God for Pop .. . . Thank God for his life and lifestyle . . . Thank God for our heritage. Our Pop was truly – the man. The man was truly – our Pop.
In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity. - President Abraham Lincoln
The Scared Corn Ryo MURDERS If you shake your family tree there is no telling what is liable to fall out. In doing research on my ancestors I came across a weird incident just after the Civil War ended in which Union troops fired on Union veterans on behalf of Confederate home guards. It is important to understand that by 1864 in the South things had pretty much gone to hell. While militarily the war was still in doubt, the years had taken a severe toll on the families of Confederate soldiers. Starvation was common. The soldiers received letters from home telling them of the dire circumstances of their wives and children, so they began to desert in large numbers. Civil order, particularly in the wake of Sherman's March, began to break down. This led the governor of Georgia to authorize two units of home guards, one in Cherokee County and one in Pickens, to round up and execute deserters while also procuring livestock for the Confederate Army. The story begins in late 1864 or early 1865. Benjamin McCollum's Cherokee Home Guards apparently looted and vandalized a farm in Ryo, Gordon County, belonging to a Nalley family, assaulted the family matriarch, Eda, 39, and stole a cow. The Nalleys were among a large group of Union sympathizers in the North Georgia mountains and had three sons who were off fighting for the Union. But it is said that in this case, the Home Guard did not take the cow to the Confederate commissary, but sold it for cash. The two Home Guards took their commission as a license to kill and steal, and as the war neared its close they became little more than outlaw bands conducting what has been called a "reign of terror." The three Nalley brothers, Elijah, Bailey and Jesse, were veterans of the 10th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment (Union) and were mustered out on 1 August 1865. When they got home they were understandably incensed and decided to take their revenge against a man named Boswell Collins. He was apparently a known member of the home guard that stole the cow. I don't know if he is a relative, but there are several members of the Collins clan involved in this story to which I am related. My g great grandmother was Ursula Collins, a first cousin to many of them. The Nalley brothers and a young man named Francis Graveley or Gravley confronted Boswell on Sunday, August 27 at the Hinton Methodist Church in Pickens County, at a wedding service. The church was known informally as the "Skeered Corn" Church, so named because it was said that corn grew so tall and fast in that area that it looked like it was scared. It is for this reason that this incident is sometimes called the "Scared Corn Massacre." When the Nalleys and Francis Graveley arrived at the Hinton church, they called out Boswell. When he did not come out, two of the Nalley brothers, Elijah and Bailey, went in. Elijah said, "Boswell, step out a min-
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By Ted Smith Marion T. "Ted" Smith is the author of a new book, “Life in the Park: A Novel.” It is available on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble. ute with me." Miller Collins, one of Ursula’s first cousins, stopped Boswell, who was sitting on the other side of the altar, and said, "No, if you have anything to say, say it here." That’s when the fighting started. The Nalley brothers, armed with guns, got the better of the Collinses, who only had knives. Berry Collins, another cousin, died at the hands of one of the Nalley brothers, while Boswell was killed by Francis Graveley, firing through a window. Berry was shot in the chest and clasped his hand to the wound, then staggered and braced himself on the altar, staining it with a bloody hand print that remained for many years after the fight. Berry’s sister Julia Collins, the bride, was shot in the arm, and a small boy, name unknown, was shot in the hip. The two Nalley brothers were cut badly. When the news reached Cartersville, Georgia, probably on the following Monday, Fielding Bell Collins, one of the cousins, and his friend Ben Smith (no known relation) contacted the local Union commander, Lt. George W. Harper of the 29th Indiana Infantry stationed there. They apparently lied to Harper about the true nature of the situation because on Thursday, September 1, Harper and three Union soldiers, along with Fielding Bell, Smith and others, marched to the cabin in Ryo to confront the Nalley brothers. When the group arrived at the cabin about supper time, fighting broke out immediately. Fielding Bell Collins and Smith stormed into the cabin, reportedly yelling that if the Nalleys wanted the home guard, they would have them now. The Federal troops remained outside and fired through the windows and gaps in the cabin walls. Fielding Bell died first, at the hands of Elijah Nalley, who was lying in bed recovering from his stab wounds. Ben Smith died next. Elijah was killed by one of the troops firing through the wall. The Nalleys’ sister, Grace, also died in the melee. Francis Graveley was mortally wounded. He died the next day at his father’s home in Ludville. At some point Lt. Harper apparently realized his error and broke off the fighting. Union troops were supposed to protect union sympathizers from the Home Guard, so it is understandable that Lt. Harper never filed
No person connected with me by blood or marriage will be appointed to office. - President Rutherford B. Hayes
a report on the incident. In the aftermath of the shootings, Francis Graveley’s widowed mother Edie applied to the federal government for a pension. Her lawyer argued that Francis died fighting on behalf of the federal government against Confederates, but her claim was denied. Jesse and Bailey Nalley also applied for federal pensions. They made no reference to the shootings at the Hinton church, but said they had suffered at the hands of Confederate bushwhackers in the attack on their cabin. They, too, were denied (as were many, many others). In subsequent years the Nalleys and some of the Collinses left the state, but other members of the latter family went on to be prominent citizens in Bartow County. Francis Graveley’s father Booker was also a civic leader in Pickens County and was instrumental in helping organize the first high school there. Even though seven people were killed, no one was ever prosecuted for the murders.
CALHOUN AUTHOR LG BRIDGES UNVEILS DEBUT NOVEL The Keepers is the first book in a trilogy by Calhoun author LG Bridges. Much of the action takes place in fun locations that Georgians are familiar with, like the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and Woodruff Arts Center. One of the main chapters takes place in “Drog,” which is based on Downtown Calhoun, with the Rome clock tower thrown in for good measure. The Keepers is aimed at middle-school readers, but anyone who enjoys fantasy is going to love this story! Bridges weaves a delightful world of mythical creatures, secret passageways, gadgets and intrigue. The book is sprinkled with charming pencil drawings by the author, who has an art degree. When 13-year-old Shaylee and her dog, Maddy, chase a pie-stealing weasel through the doors of a vintage elevator, they find themselves in a magical and dangerous alternate
Never allow the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game! - Babe Ruth
universe. They uncover a plot that could plunge both worlds into chaos but don’t know who to trust with their secret! Follow the determined pair on their action-packed journey home as they encounter trolls, talking fish, and other magical beings while trying to evade an evil wizard. Bridges was born in Macon and moved to several states before landing back in Georgia, where she has now lived for 30 years. She’s spent the last 12 in Calhoun, where she resides with her husband and three dogs in the foothills of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. You can find The Keepers on Amazon and Kindle or link to her book through her website at www.LGbridges.com. Check her Facebook page or website for more area events coming soon. You can link directly to her book at https:// www.amazon.com/Keepers-LG-Bridges/ dp/1979565023.
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An interview with an artist...
MONICA HELSBY Monica Helsby is a local photographer and artist who is talented and hard working. She genuinely cares about her clients and strives to give them the best experience and product to her ability. My daughter was one of her senior reps a few years ago, and this is when I really had the opportunity to get to know her both personally and professionally. I saw the hard work and dedication she shows to her clients and to her craft. Lora: When did you first start as an artist and as a photographer?
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Monica: In 2004 I borrowed my mother’s Nikon film camera and took pictures of my best friend in her wedding gown. Later I used the same equipment to photograph her wedding. I consider this event to be the beginning of my photography career. I took 200 photographs and she loved them. Lora: What does being creative mean to you? Monica: Being creative means thinking outside the box and opening your mind to new ideas. Sometimes it means taking risks and trying something you’ve never done before. It’s that childlike state in which you’re not afraid to
By LORA BUNCH
experiment and make a few mistakes. Lora: Where did you go to college? Monica: My alma maters are Florida State University and University of South Florida. I have a master’s and bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education. However, I went to Kennesaw State University and Showcase School of Photography for continuing education in photography. Lora: Do you remember when you realized that art and creating was a need and must for you? Monica: I grew up with a mother who fostered creativity. Being creative has always
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. - Martin Luther King Jr.