Junction City, GA

 (image source) 

“The future of the thriving little place certainly looks bright.” – Tolbotton New Era, 6/28/1906

The image above is of the once majestic Moore-Morgan House, built in Junction City, GA in 1919 by C. W. Moore, principal developer of the town.  Mr. Moore was killed in an automobile accident in 1935 and some say the decline – not the future – of this little railroad town was certain.

My father, grandmother and grandfather rented the house next door for around about a year before moving on to Mauk, GA in the 1960s.  For years growing up, we would drive through this little ghost town to get to Mauk (the highway now diverts around the city) and I used to daydream about my dad growing up in the house pictured (as I had misunderstood which he lived in at an early age or, possibly, I just wanted to believe it had been this house, with its semicircular portico and otherwise dreamy facade).

It seems such a shame that this little town can’t be repurposed for some use in the community.  Tonight I came across the house on the website of Bryan Brown, Vanishing South Georgia.  The purpose of his site is to document the vernacular arcitecture of The South as well as “bring attention to the many crossroads and small towns which a century ago were thriving centers of life and commerce. Most today are mere ghost towns of their former selves, and with Vanishing South Georgia, I hope to give them a permanent photographic presence, for future generations, whether their interests be trivial, genealogical, or historical.”

 

 

 

Visiting the ruins of the grist mill at Oak Mountain

I’ve written quite a bit about the Milner District in the area known as Oak Mountain, Georgia here.  In this post I’m going to share pictures of what the area where the Grist Mill stood looks like now that Mother Nature is reclaiming it:

Stacked rocks making up one of the pillars that held up the wooden mill. No mortor of any kind was used, but these wall ain't goin' nowhere. Also, you can see the three indentations where that top stone was split apart from the rest of it's mate (with dynamite?).

"W H MNR" - The initials my great-great grandfather William Henry Milner left in one of the stone pillars holding up the mill.

This picture was taken looking down river from the spot where the dam that created the raceway to the mill once was.

Piping that lead the water from the raceway into the mill remains, in places still secured between stone pillars.

Goodbye to you, Grist Mill

As I’ve noted on my Milner Family subpage regarding the “Milner District” in Cleola, GA, there once was a grist mill in the area.  Much of my family has very fond memories of this mill, from time spent playing in the water beside it, to watching the big wheel turn (and later get disassembled and hauled off to Winder, Georgia, the legend goes), to watching the flour and corn be ground down on a rock that, over time, became smooth as a baby’s bottom.

Personally, and on a bit of a tangent, I’ve gotten more interested in healthy eating and eating the way my grandmothers ate growing up on farms in rural Georgia.  A recent post I read over at the Word of Wisdom blog regarding what has happened to flour over time, peaked my interest not only for health reasons, but also some casual references to that “old time-y” process of taking your grain to the mill.  That particular post can be found here.

Joel Rogers

There is a picture in our family of Joel Rogers, the brother of my great-grandmother Fannie Euginia “Gennie” Rogers (she who married my great-grandfather and then married his brother after g-granddad passed away, but I digress.)

It is a neat old oval AND convex picture that came in a wonderful oval frame with unusual convex glass. My mother had poor Joel’s picture removed from that frame so she could put in a lovely watercolor of a flower.

Poor Joel has not faired too well outside his frame due to the paper’s frailty and his convex shape

One day, would love to find some of his direct descendants to give him to, but for now I will do my best to preserve great-uncle Joel.

Geni.com

I created this site in 2008. I pretty much haven’t touched it since then. It is now 2010. Ah well, best laid plans. But, I am still here. In fact, just today a distant cousin that I never would have known about left a comment. And my interest in getting back to this never-ending ongoing project was piqued again!

If my site has piqued your interest with it’s list of surnames or places, I can tell you that I have posted my family tree much more extensively on the web at Geni.  You can start there in the meantime and I will once again make an effort to get a better shell of info up under my surnames here on this site.

View more of Joy’s tree |
Get your own family tree at Geni.com

Milner Spotlight: Mary Louise Milner

Today’s Milner Spotlight focuses on my grandmother, Mary Louise Milner (McDaniel).  She was born on February 11, 1917 in Cleola, Harris County, Georgia and died on March 26, 2011 in Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia.

The Highlights

• She was captain of her women’s basketball team in high school and played center forward.
• She met her husband, George Lamar McDaniel, at a square dance her freshman year of high school.
• They were married just after she graduated on October 26, 1935.  And it’s a good thing too, otherwise . . .

George might have written a poem about her like he did of another girlfriend he once had.  According to Hugh Lumpkin, George had a girlfriend in school named Thelma.  As part of a class assignment, his teacher asked him to get up in front of the class and sing a song and this is what he sang:

“T is for Texas,

T is for Tennessee,

T is for Thelma,

who made a fool of  me!”

Other Facts About Louise

• She was the youngest of three sisters (their names were Jewel Evelyn and Ethel Renva).
• She had five children with George: William Ross, Joanne, David Emmitt, Hilda Joyce (my mother), and George Micheal.
• She worked in a school lunchroom as a cashier.
• Her favorite soap opera (a.k.a “her stories”) was The Young And The Restless.
• She could kick your butt and mine at BINGO any day of the week!

Mary Louise McDaniel (back row, far right) with her high school women’s basektball team.

George and Louise McDaniel, taken circa 1970.

Surname List

The PRIMARY surnames of this website are:

• Kersey (my father’s father)
• Whitley (my father’s mother)
• McDaniel (my mother’s father)
• Milner (my mother’s mother)

OTHER SURNAMES IN OUR GENEALOGY

Kersey Surnames:

To be completed . . .

McDaniel Surnames:

Lumpkin, Storey, Story, Rogers, To be completed . . .

Milner Surnames:

Millner (alt spelling), To be completed . . .

Whitley Surnames:

To be completed . . .