Samuel Jones, Incorporation Commissioner

 

This is the last of a few references found for Samuel Jones in the Georgia online Archives.  It really reveals little about the man other than maybe how he was held in some esteem in the Ellijay and Gilmer County area.  I may have the interpretation of all this somewhat skewed but what follows is my brief take on what this is all about.

Ellijay at the center of the Map

It appears that this is an act of the Georgia Legislature during the 1853 and 1854 session enabling the incorporation of a Railroad Company and permitting it to sell stock in the State in order to finance construction.  Ellijay apparently may have been a terminal point on the new railroad or at least it was an area of some sort of importance to the endeavor.  As I understand the document Samuel Jones is among several men appointed as some sort of trustees or commissioners and assigned the task of overseeing the incorporation of the company and monitoring the proper handling of investors money.  Admittedly it is rather a dry document to read through but this is how I summarize the legislation and the role our Great-Grandfather played.

The act is dated February of 1854 and helps to establish a more accurate date that Samuel Jones sold off his Gilmer County property and moved more to the west in North Georgia, to what was known then as the Snow Hill community in Catoosa County.  Right smack-dab in the middle of some of the worst fighting of the Civil War in the Western Theatre of operations.  Actually in the middle of what became General Sherman’s eventual Military playground so to speak.  Samuel’s wife Narcissa Tate Jones had died in 1852 and this document establishes that he waited at least two years or more before making his move out of Ellijay.

I have tried to highlight the mention of Samuel’s name but online blog editing can sometimes be rather hit and miss.  I hope I succeeded.

A GALILEO Digital Initiative Database

Georgia Legislative Documents

Content of Act/Resolution

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ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, PASSED IN MILLEDGEVILLE, AT A BIENNIAL SESSION, IN NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, JANUARY, AND FEBRUARY. 1853-4. COMPILED, AND NOTES ADDED, By JOHN RUTHERFORD.

PART II.--PRIVATE AND LOCAL LAWS.
INTERNAL TRANSPORTATION. RAIL AND PLANK ROADS AND RIVERS*

* See No. 500, Broad River, Commissioners for; and Ohoopie River, Commissioners for.

†

† See No. 348, for Habersham and Union Telegraph Company incorporated.

UGUSTA AND [Illegible Text] RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
[Illegible Text] [Illegible Text] AND ZEBULON RAIL ROAD CHANGED TO [Illegible Text] FRANKLIN AND OXFORD RAIL ROAD.
CHARLESTON AND SAVANNAH RAIL ROAD.
CHATTAHOOCHEE RIDGE RAIL ROAD.
COLUMBUS AND HAMILTON RAIL ROAD.
COLUMBUS AND WEST POINT RAIL ROAD.
COOSA AND CHATTOOGA RAIL ROAD.
DALTON AND COPPER MINE TURNPIKE, PLANK AND RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
DALTON AND ALABAMA LINE RAIL ROAD.
EATONTON AND COVINGTON RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
EATONTON AND MONTICELLO RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
ELIJAY RAIL ROAD COMPANY AND THOMASTON RAIL ROAD.

1853 Vol. 1 -- Page: 425

Sequential Number: 453
Law Number: (No. 363.)

Full Title: An Act to open and construct a Rail Road, commencing at some point between Marietta and Calhoun, to be determined by a majority of the Stockholders herein incorporated, and thence the most practicable route, by Elijay, in Gilmer County, to the, or near the, Mouth of Fightingtown Creek, at the Copper Mines, in the County of Gilmer; also, to incorporate the Thomaston and West Point, and Thomaston and Milledgeville Rail Road Company.

 

WHEREAS, There are large developments of Copper Ore now raised and raising at or near the mouth of Fighting town Creek, on both sides of the State line, between Georgia and Tennessee, which cannot be shipped to places of manufacture without the aid of a Rail Road through that section of the country:

 

SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That for the purpose of opening and constructing a Rail Road communication, from the Western and Atlantic Rail Road, beginning at some point on said Road, at or between Marietta and Calhoun, to be determined by a majority of the Stockholders herein after incorporated, and thence the most practicable route by the way of Elijay, in Gilmer County, to or near the mouth of Fighting town Creek, in Gilmer County, at or near the Copper Mines; the subscribers for the

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Page: 426

capital stock, herein after mentioned, and their assigns, shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the Elijay Rail Road Company, and by said corporate name shall be capable in law to purchase, accept, hold and convey real and personal estate; make contracts, sue and be sued, and to make by-laws, and to do all lawful acts properly incident to a corporation and necessary and proper for the construction of the works and transaction of the business for which said Company are incorporated; and to have and use a common seal, and the same to alter and destroy at pleasure.
[Sidenote: Elijay Rail Road Company.]
[Sidenote: Powers, rights, &c.]

 

SEC. II. And be it further enacted, That the capital stock of said Company shall be five hundred thousand dollars, but shall be liable to be increased from time to time, and by such sum or sums as may be deemed expedient, by the majority of the Board of Directors of said Company for the time being: Provided, That said capital stock shall not be so increased as to exceed in the whole the sum of one million and one half of dollars; And it is also enacted, That the Board of Directors for the time being, shall be authorized to prescribe the terms of subscription, for such additional capital stock as may from time to time be required.
[Sidenote: Capital.]
[Sidenote: [Illegible Text]]
[Sidenote: [Illegible Text] [Illegible Text]]

 

SEC. III. And be it enacted, That for the original capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars, books of subscription shall be opened at Elijay, in Gilmer County, by the following Commissioners, who are hereby authorized and made competent to do all acts incident to the said office, to wit: Benjamin Johnston, Peter Patterson, Joseph Patterson, Beverly A. Freeman, Lorenzo Gudger, Robert [Illegible Text] Jasper Johnson, Williamson Forrester and   Samuel Jones;   and if any of said Commissioners should refuse to act, others in their places shall be appointed by the remaining Commissioners; and there shall be no more than seven Commissioners at the above named place; at any time after giving twenty days notice of the day and place in two or more public places in said County, shall open said books of subscription. And Andrew J. Hansell, David Irvin and William P. Young, Commissioners at Marietta, Georgia; and John Burk, Hawkins F. Price and William T. Wofford, Commissioners at Cassville, Georgia; David Knot, William M. Peoples and William H. Dabney, Commissioners at Calhoun, Georgia; and Basil H. Overby, James M. Calhoun and L. C. Simpson, Commissioners at Atlanta, Georgia; and Robert J. Cowart, Andrew H. Shuford and William P. Hammond, Commissioners at Canton, Georgia, shall open books of subscription at said several places, under the same rules and regulations as are provided in this Act for the Commissioners at Elijay, in Gilmer County, Georgia; and receive, from individuals, companies or corporations, subscriptions for any number of shares, not exceeding two hundred shares to any one individual, company or corporation, Banking Companies excepted; and no subscription shall be received and allowed unless there shall be paid the Commissioners at the time of subscribing the sum of five dollars on each share subscribed; for which the Commissioners shall give the subscriber a certificate, setting forth the number of shares taken by such subscriber, and amount per share paid thereon; and if after ten days the shares are not taken they may be subscribed

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Page: 427

for without limiting the number of shares; and said books of subscription shall remain open for sixty days, or longer if necessary, at the discretion of the Commissioners, and when closed on the last day said Commissioners shall certify and sign to its being a correct list of said subscription, and thereupon make out a general list, setting forth the name of the subscribers, the number of shares taken by each subscriber, and the sum paid thereon, and if on summing up all the subscriptions the same shall appear to amount to the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, the said Company may be organized and go into operation; thereon and after the organization of the Company all future subscriptions for stock shall be by the Board of Directors of the Company; and the said Company shall at once proceed to the measures as hereinafter subscribed [prescribed] for the organization of the Company.
[Sidenote: Subscriptions.]
[Sidenote: Commissioners, [Illegible Text] [Illegible Text] &c.]
[Sidenote: Shares taken, &c.]
[Sidenote: Books to remain open.]
[Sidenote: Other regulations.]

 

For the entire document follow this link:

 http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/ssp/cgi-bin/legis-idx.pl?sessionid=7f000001&type=law&byte=28478547

Samuel Jones- Slave Owner, Farmer, Planter

It cannot be denied that our Great-Grandfather was a slave owner prior to the Civil War.  The following census Slave Schedules have been found online.  Even after the war he is quoted in one obscure document as stating that he believed in the Southern Cause and since he had a considerable amount of his assets invested in slaves, it is understandable that he had such sentiments, for reasons of wealth if for nothing else.

I do not believe a separate Slave Schedule for 1840 was created, at least I have no access to such online.  If it does exist surely it would be available.  Thus it is not known if Samuel Jones possessed any such property in 1840 but a few short years after arriving from Lumpkin County to the east of Ellijay.  Sadly, property was one of the terms of the time to describe slave ownership.  However by 1850 he had acquired five slaves as revealed in the 1850 census. 

Slaves were enumerated separately and listed under their owners name.  The schedule under Samuel’s name lists a mulatto couple, middle aged, and three younger males ranging in ages from 12 to 18.  The younger boys, being black, obviously were not children of the mulatto couple.  This was in the Ellijay area in Gilmer County, Georgia.  After his wife Narcissa died in 1852 the man for some reason had decided to leave Gilmer County and relocated to the northwest of Ellijay some 50 miles, closer to Chattanooga, in Catoosa County, Georgia,  very close to the southern Tennessee border.  This of course placed him in the direct path of the Civil War fighting as the Federal Armies chose his region of Georgia as the route to invade south towards Atlanta.  That has been documented in my previous effort explaining what is known of the comings and goings of the Jones family during the time leading up to, during, and after the Civil War.

1850 Census, Samuel Jones, Slave Schedule

Gilmer County, Georgia

The total number of slaves for Samuel Jones in the 1860 census reveals he is listed as owning six slaves ranging in age from 48 to 12, and but one female.  It appears that Samuel had been buying and selling in the preceding ten years for the ages alone do not match the ages of the five listed in 1850.  Apparently he had replaced all his 1850 slaves.  By no means was Samuel a major slave owner for maybe 25-100 slaves or more was considered a major holding at the time.  Most common farmers or plantation owners probably did not have any slaves.  To be an owner required capital and that was not really the norm in the day in my understanding.   Many farmers, like Samuel,  the ones that probably worked the fields day in and day out along side their slaves really looked at slaves as a necessity in order to bring any profit at all to the land.  Sadly, they were looked on probably as a modern farmer would look at a piece of mechanical farm equipment today.  It is only assumed however that Samuel also worked the fields but he assumedly had an amount of acreage that probably required him to work to some extent.

1860 Census, Samuel Jones, Slave Schedule

Catoosa County, Georgia

 

The average value of a slave in 1860 was about $500 and that depended on health, age, sex, and abilities of the individual slave.  Samuel does give some hint to their value in his actual family census entry in the listing of his assets.  That census reveals also that all his family had left home for it appears the other two members of his household were probably a caretaker and his wife employed by him.  This gives hint that the caretaker possibly was the one directing the slaves or perhaps he was just considered a field hand as well.  Samuel very well may not have been working alongside his slaves at the time but it is a mute point that can never be determined.  His daughter Elizabeth was married and living with her husband and his extended family in Alabama, assumedly someplace in North Central Alabama, up until the war but sometime during the war, between 1862 and 1865, she was forced to flee Alabama with her children and sought refuge with her father in Georgia.  That is another story in itself for she once again found herself in danger as the war commenced fighting in the very vicinity of her father’s home near the famous battle field of Chickamauga.

 

1860 Census, Samuel Jones Household,

Catoosa County, Georgia,

Near Chickamauga

1860 Census, Willis Jones Family,

Smith County, Texas,

Near Tyler

A.H. Jones in the Household, Attending School

In 1860 his son Alfred Hines was living with a brother, Willis and his family, in Smith County, Texas, very near Tyler in the eastern part of the state, and is listed in the 1860 census as a '”Student”.  After war broke out he obviously returned to his Father’s home in Catoosa County, Georgia, and enlisted in the Confederate Cavalry in the small town of Dalton in the nearby county of Whitfield.  Dalton would be an important area of battle later in the war when Sherman began his march south towards Atlanta.  Just when our Grandfather departed for Texas and why he chose to continue his education in Texas in the first place is not really known but I do find it rather curious to consider.  Regardless he headed back home to Georgia when the Confederate draft was about to begin in earnest.

Based on somewhat subjective formulas found on the web today, the total value of the Samuel’s holdings in today’s currency, is hard to determine.  I don’t consider him to have ever been extremely wealthy, but probably comfortably well off.  Perhaps his pre- Civil War holdings would amount to about $300, 000 today.  The eventual loss of most everything, if not all he held when war broke out, as revealed in his 1870 census entry must have been devastating to the man, and to all those around him. 

When looking at his story and that of his daughter Elizabeth during the war, and without knowing all the day to day happenings, it is easy to say that the surviving Jones family suffered greatly during and after the war.  He died in Gordon County, Georgia in 1870, in or near the small town of Calhoun.  Calhoun was some 30 direct miles to the southeast of the family home near Chickamauga.  It is easy to imagine the ordeal that Samuel must have endured during the period for with his slaves obviously gone and his daughter and what appears to be her four young children in tow, one of which must have been near infancy, he attempted to keep himself and his wards out of harms way.  Not knowing how and where they traveled in order to avoid the battles one can only speculate it had to have been a stressful situation for the community of Calhoun, where the man and his remaining family around him ended up was also directly along the path of the fighting.  From day to day, it is quite possible, based on typical family accounts of the time, that as they moved away from the scenes of battle, they simply placed themselves in the path of the next ensuing battle.  It must have been a terrible thing to have endured.

 

Do keep in mind that much of this is but speculation on my part.  However, based on a several years of reading of Civil War history, the theory of what happened is well within the realm of possibility.