Part two continued: Pike County Journal. Volume 1, Number 1 Zebulon, Ga., Tuesday, November 20, 1888 Zebulon, Georgia The Old and the New Of Pike County. ---------------------- cont'd. Zebulon had about 200 inhabitants then and the only resident survivor is Judge Wiley E. Mangham who was born on the 9th of Jan., 1805 near Eatonton, Putnam county. In 1823 he landed south-west of Zebulon a few miles, and in 1826 came to Zebulon as assistant to John Neal the leading merchant. Three years thereafter “young Mangham” was elected Clerk of the Inferior court and thereby appointed clerk of the court of Ordinary, and then was Judge of probate, as the office should be termed, for 16 years. The Judge resigned in favor of becoming one of the Justices of the Inferior court of which there were five, and he served until the office was abandoned. The duties were then transferred to three commissioners of roads and revenues as now, That was immediately after the close of the War. Judge Mangham became interested in farming as far back as 1828, and has kept increasing his interest up to date. He owns a 500 acre tract five and a half miles south-east of Zebulon, and 200 acres of it show a grand plantation. The cane-brake thereon has been fenced in for forty years. He has a “one mule farm” which is 40 acres cleared on a 250 acre “lot” six miles due south and the homeplace at the village encompasses 125 acres which yields richly in corn, cotton, wheat, oats and potatoes galore. Now 83 years of age, Judge Mangham is the patriarch personified. With a crown of white his fine features are illumined with a halo of intellect and true nobility. His manners are graceful, even tender and his pleasant flow of converse gently falls from memory’s fountain deep and clear. Mrs. John Neal who was here when Judge Mangham came is to the fore and one of Atlanta’s matron Queens. Her son and son-in-law are T.B. Neal and E.H. Thornton, well known in financial circles as the Neal Loan and Banking Company. Hugh G. Johnson died last year in Rome and his son Charles H. Johnson is the prominent hardware merchant in Griffin, and with the past generations of Zebulon high character has been perpetuated as further shown in mention of a grand man who came in 1829 and left as a people’s inheritance descendants with all the shining virtues. I refer to the Old Ford Place, one of the most historical places in Pike county, which is located two miles south-east of Zebulon. In December, 1829, William Ford located there and every child of his, seven in number, were born there and he died there when eighty four years of age. The Ford place encompasses 155 acres of which 75 are cultivated and thereon are grown nearly everything in the cereal and vegetable kingdom. The old-fashioned home built fifty years ago is simple and inviting and is surrounded by a congregate of buildings large and small. There is the tannery with thirty three vats manufacturing upper, sole, the best of harness leathers which are shipped to Macon and utilized by the Ford harness factory at Zebulon. Then the store houses and the bark sheds, the stables, barns, grain and cotton houses attached, while the Ford home and tenant houses make a semi-village. Joseph W. Ford, the present proprietor was born in 1833 and he thinks be began to work when he was born and has worked ever since. He was only about six months at school yet he has been a diligent student and besides being a thoroughly practical tanner and currier he is a general leather manufacturer of a high order and a business man of ability with the highest elements of gentlemanhood combined. He comes form a leather race, as his father, grand-father and great-grand father were all tanners. The subject of this sketch has always been enterprising and has employed at one time fifteen men and always had the reputation of paying the highest wages given to his own detriment. Besides the tannery he manufactured shoes extensively, and his harnesses are reputed all over the country. His harness factory is now quite busy and if he has not accumulated wealth, it is owing to the fact that his public spirit has overshadowed his individual interest. Mr. Ford is one of the most genial of men and a citizen who is appreciated throughout several counties as a man whose friendship is an honor.