hi, list. I have a book that mentioned the iron works, so I'll post a quip here. the book is actually about my ancestor [Robert Findlay], but take note of the IPO on Schofields in this excerpt... "A decade later [than 1896], the Findlay foundry still operated, although the Crockett and Reynolds foundries had fallen by the wayside during the economically turbulent 1890s. The Findlay foundry had demolished the long shed of forges on Oglethorpe Street by 1908. Houses and stores now occupied part of the former foundry grounds. By that time, he Cumming Hay & Press Company leased what had been the pattern shop on the second floor. By contrast, J. S. Schofield & Sons foundry now consisted of an extensive, modern operation, with customers around the world and capital stock initially offered at $100,000. They competed with the equally large Mallary & Taylor Iron Works (later the Taylor Iron Works) of Macon. Virtually all iron and steel production, North and South, now went to such enormous industrial complexes of hundreds of employees, leaving little business for old operations of antebellum size and equipment such as the Findlay Iron Works. The old processes, relying almost solely on skill, cold not compete with the new machine factories." --from _Cotton, Fire, and Dreams, The Robert Findlay Iron Works and Heavy Industry in Macon, Georgia 1839-1912_ by Robert S. Davis, Jr., p160 apparently, Schofield & Sons did OK and 'modernized'. kirby in NC [email protected]