Subject: Screven Co, GA, Henderson: Passing on memories > It is interesting to be reading this post. I thought that I might be the > only one, well, of a few that I know, including my own siblings <vbg!> who > were so sentimental about reminders of former loved ones and are planted so > far from 'home'. > > This is a story that still touches my heart. It's about camelia bushes. > > Growing up in Bulloch and Screven Counties, we often would travel across > that rickety old Highway 301 Ogeechee River bridge between Statesboro and > Dover, GA, past Cooperville and the Hollingsworth house, past Mrs. > Dorminey's house, past Bill Williams' house, to our 'farm' and visit our > great aunties...grandparents...all the clan. I have a vivid memory of our > Aunt Lottie Henderson, who my father nicknamed 'Cooter', with her large > floppy hat, long straight cream colored dresses, and her ever present basket > of freshly cut flowers on her arm. > > Great Aunt Lottie and her sister, our widowed Great Aunt Mary > (Henderson) Overstreet, both long since deceased, grew the most beautiful > camelias I have ever seen. They had a large, circular dirt driveway with a > 'cattle crossing', and a bell, a sign of happier, more prosperous days. > Inside the circular drive was a wonderful cut flower and bush garden. It > seems that there was always something wonderful there to smell. > > Nearly three years ago last Thanksgiving, my brother Frank, mother, > sister in law Cindy, and I, went looking for a long forgotten cemetery in > which we believed were buried our Henderson and Young early ancestors. > While we had ridden around for so very long looking for possible forgotten > landmarks in that lower part of Screven County, not far from the Ogeechee > River, Cindy finally stopped in at a little grocery and asked if there was > anyone who still lived around there who might remember the old families. > She was pointed in the direction of old Cameron Road, and to Mrs. > Strickland's house. Cameron is now just a ghost town. > > It just so happened that Mrs. Strickland was, indeed, at home when we > finally got up the courage to knock on her door. Something was familiar to > me at that home but I couldn't put my finger on it. I had not been down > that dirt road in 20 years, and I had taken it for granted as a child when I > did! Things down that road were very old then, and that was over 40 years > ago. > > Mrs. Strickland remembered us as children! She told us stories about > our Great Great Grandpappa, 'Captain' Henderson, who would gallop down that > road every day, in front of that house, on his horse, sitting tall in the > saddle, but always very gentle and inquiring as to everyone's health. And > how we, as children, would ride with our aunties to 'visit' or 'come > calling' there of some summer Sunday afternoons ...and the history of that > old home being the homeplace of Mr. John Cameron and his wife, our great > great grandmother, the widow, Mary Ann Young Henderson. She was married to > Mr. Cameron, in 1846, after the death of her husband, William Michael > Henderson (Sr.), around 1845. > > And towards the end of the conversation, she pointed to two very, very > large camelia bushes that nearly dwarfed the front porch of that very old > home. > > Then she told us the story of those bushes. One had white blooms. The > other had red blooms. One was at one end of the front porch, and one was at > the other. > > It seems that there was another much larger home there, before the Civil > War, a home in which William Michael Henderson (Jr) and his sister, Ann > Elizabeth (Henderson) Brown, were born. And on those grounds were planted > camelia bushes that had been brought from Marion County, Georgia, perhaps > when Ann Elizabeth Henderson married Dr. James Franklin Brown of Marion > County, Georgia, in 1850, perhaps earlier at some other time, from early > Thomas County when most of Mary Ann Young Henderson's cousins and siblings > moved from Screven County to Thomasville, Georgia, in the 1820's and 1830's. > > Mrs. Strickland didn't really know except that when one of Sherman's > columns marched right down through there paralleling the Ogeechee River and > the old Louisville Road, on their slash and burn mission to take Savannah, > the original home was burned to the ground. > > William Michael Henderson (Jr) was but a lad of 21 or 22 in 1865, > enlisting when the war first began, and had most recently fought in the > bloody battle of Waynesboro, Georgia, at Buckhead Church, in which he > rescued the regiment's flag, and became its temporary bearer. > > He had been fighting side by side his captain and fellow Confederates. > He had put a bullet through a Yank that was aiming for his Captain of the > 5th Georgia Calvary, Absolem Best. He then watched with horror as this same > friend and captain, "took a Yankee bullet that was meant for me"; and at the > same time, never knowing his own beloved home had been burned to the ground, > or that the heat from that fire had been so intense that the camelia bushes > had been burned down to the roots. His own mother never recovered from that > horrible time, dying in 1866, only a few months after he married his > sweetheart, Cynthia Ann Brown, of Buena Vista, Georgia. > > In a letter to Mr. W. H. Howard of Savannah, Georgia, in 1901, William > Michael Henderson (Jr.) was responding to Mr. Howard's inquiry as to how he, > W. M. Henderson, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In this letter he > recaps the battle, and how the morning after the battle, he was called out > and promoted to lieutenant because of his bravery. Later in that very same > letter, he wrote about finally going home after the South's surrender, and > finding all gone, burned, and destroyed. He said that they praised God for > His tender mercies in sparing their lives, and 'recovered' himself, and > started out again. > > The next spring, up from the charred ashes of those two camelia bushes, > one red, one white, up from the roots, came new growth. And the new growth > grew and became even stronger bushes than before, and the red and white > camelia blooms were more intense in color, and eventually were very profuse > in buds. The house still standing today, now the property of the wonderful, > gracious Mrs. Strickland, is nearly dwarfed by the camelia "trees". > > Mrs. Strickland told us that when 'Captain' Henderson built his home > across the old Louisville Road, still standing today, his wife and daughters > cut graftings from those red and white camelia bushes and planted them in > that circular drive. They also planted them around the old Oak Grove United > Methodist Church, originally built in 1854. It, too, was burned during that > sweep of Sherman's march, and rebuilt, and it was the same church of which > 'Captain' William Michael Henderson was a steward for 70 years, and where he > only missed one quarterly meeting, and in which cemetery he and his family, > our family, are buried. He died on April 17, 1932. > > I took graftings from those two camelia bushes those three years ago. > They have rooted and produced blooms here in Fort Worth. Nothing can ever > replace those memories of those dear, kind, gracious people of that entire > part of the county. And I have a heritage and responsibility to transfer > those stories to our children. > > Our father, Carroll Franklin Farr, Jr., 'Frank', always said that "a man > is only as good as his word". He learned that ultimately from his great > grandfather. And that God's mercy will always lift us up, even in our > darkest hour, just as He brought the stronger red and white camelia bushes > back from their ashes, ugly, burned, and no longer producing flowers. > > Our father's last words were "God is Good". He believed it, his family > understood it, and we see it ever present, the Almighty ever forgiving, > faithfully renewing, families ever hopeful of new beginnings and > opportunities, from the past, in all, and as symbolized to me, especially in > those camelia bushes. > > Carole Farr Drexel > gdrexel1@airmail.net > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Joyce Ruis <jruis@nbank.net> > To: <GASCREVE-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, September 18, 2000 2:11 PM > Subject: Re: [GASCREVE] Passing on memories > > > > Deborah, When my mother died in 1989, I moved several bushes that she had > > up to my house. When we moved in 1996 to where we are now, those same > > flower bushes moved with me and have spread. If I ever move from here to > > down size my home, some of those bushes will go with me then. I also hope > > my kids will do the same. > > > > If I decided to get rid of my grave sites in a Mem. Garden Cem., then I > want > > one of each to be planted at my grave site. My mother loved her flowers > > and I like keeping them as a memory of her. > > > > Joyce > > > > Subject: [GASCREVE] Passing on memories > > > > > > > Here is something that has been knocking around in the mental attic for > a > > > while. A friend of mine is redoing her garden that has a funky lilac > bush > > > in. The lilac bush comes from a cutting off of a lilac that grew on her > > > father's farm. It is a living reminder of the old family home place. > > > > > > Has anyone else ever done used cuttings from plants at the family home > > > place to keep memories alive? Apparently on one of the Byrd farms in > > > florida was a wonderful mulberry tree that the daughters would raid for > > the > > > berries. Use the berries to make play necklaces. Kinda wish I had a > > > cutting from that tree, of course it wouldn't grow out west but it would > > be > > > a nice reminder of the family. > > > > > > Deborah Byrd > > > > > > > > > ============================== > > > Genealogy calendars, guestbooks and more: > > > Visit RootsWeb's Resource Center at > > > http://resources.rootsweb.com/ > > > > ______________________________ >