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Big Blaze of 1915
The big fire at Rays Mill broke out just a few minutes after sunrise on a Sunday morning, April 25, 1915. The flames originated in the business district in a small store operated by Johnnie Clements,...
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Knights Come to Lowndes County, GA
In the winter of 1824-25 a group of Revolutionary War “Baby Boomers” came west from Wayne County, Georgia to settle in what was then Irwin County, near the area that would one day become known as Ray...
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Year of the Tiger
In Wiregrass Georgia, 1849 may have been the Year of the Tiger. Several previous posts have related the story of the Berrien Tiger, a large panther which attacked Jim Hightower (aka James Stewart,...
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Jehu Patten and the Serpent
Jehu Patten was a farmer in the Rays Mill District of Berrien County, GA and a confederate veteran. During the Civil War he served first with Company K, 5th Georgia Regiment and later as 4th Sergeant...
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W.R. McClure Resigns as Ray City Principal
The McClures were a Kentucky family and came to Georgia sometime before 1940. By 1945, William R. McClure, his wife Annie Myrtle Hawk, and daughters Reba and Sarah were living at Ray City, GA. W. R....
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Perry Thomas Knight Attended Oaklawn Baptist Academy
Perry Thomas Knight, subject of previous posts, studied the ministry at Oaklawn Baptist Academy in Milltown (now Lakeland), GA. Perry T. Knight was the son of George Washington Knight and Rhoda...
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Ray City Class of 1930 Didn’t Walk
It is that time of year when communities and schools everywhere celebrate the graduation of their students with the presentation diplomas in graduation exercises. Sadly, financial exigencies 0f 1930...
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Levi J. Knight ~ Wayne County Beginnings
Wayne County Beginnings 1803-1827 Settling Lowndes County 1827-1836 Seminole Wars 1836 – 1842 Antebellum Wiregrass 1843 -1860 Civil War 1861-1865 Wiregrass Reconstruction 1866-1870 In November of 1827...
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Obituary of Helen Baskin Pierce
Helen Baskin, born February 2, 1920, was a daughter of Minnie Lee Hancock Baskin and Armstrong B. “Bee” Baskin. In 1943 she married Wilmont C. Pierce. After WWII, the couple made their home at...
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Levi J. Knight ~ Settling Lowndes County 1827-1836
Wayne County Beginnings 1803-1827 Settling Lowndes County 1827-1836 Seminole Wars 1836 – 1842 Antebellum Wiregrass 1843 -1860 Civil War 1861-1865 Wiregrass Reconstruction 1866-1870 Settling in Lowndes...
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Around Rays Mill ~ June 10, 1911
Around Ray’s Mill Valdosta Times June 10, 1911 Around Ray’s Mill School Closed on Friday - Interesting Personal Notes. The Ray’s Mill school, after a very successful term, closed on Friday June 2....
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J. M. Sloan Dies after Throw From Horse
James Murray Sloan came to the Ray’s Mill, GA neighborhood in 1871. Image courtesy of http://www.berriencountyga.com James Murray Sloan, a son of David and Diadema Sloan, was born Jan. 18, 1833 in...
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Ida Sloan Ray Endorsed Doan’s Pills
In the age of patent medicines, ailments of all sorts were were attributed to poor health of various internal organs. To the citizens of Wiregrass, GA and the rest of the world, The manufacturers of...
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Minnie Gordon Sloan Married Meritt E. Johnson
Minnie Gordon Sloan was a daughter of Ray’s Mill farmer James M. Sloan and Martha Gordon Sloan, born July 17, 1876. She married Meritt (or Merritt) E. Johnson on January 17, 1904 in Berrien County,...
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Joe Spell and the Big Tree
A 1943 brochure proclaimed: Way back before Columbus discovered America, yes, even before our Saviour was born, probably back in the days of King Tut, 3500 years ago, a little Cypress tree started...
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Levi J. Knight’s 4th of July Address at Franklinville, GA 1835
The Independence Day celebration in Lowndes County, GA in 1835 (prior to the creation of Berrien County) was held at Franklinville. The keynote address was delivered Levi J. Knight, pioneer settler...
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Pioneers of Old LowndesToasted State Rights and American Independence
Fourth of July 1835 Jubilee and many of the old familiar pioneers of Lowndes and Berrien had gathered at the county courthouse at Franklinville, GA. State Senator Levi J. Knight, of Beaverdam Creek at...
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Death of Troy Fountain
At Pleasant Cemetery there stands a Woodmen of the World monument marking the grave of a young man who died September 4, 1909 just a few weeks shy of his 13th birthday. Ernest Troy Fountain, born...
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Andrew College Alumnus Mildred Clements
Andrew College In 1940-41 Mildred Clements, of Ray City, GA, attended Andrew College at Cuthbert, GA. At the time, Andrew College was a small Methodist junior college for women. The choice of schools...
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Mary “Polly” Futch and John Webb
Mary “Polly” Futch and John Webb were the parents of John Thomas Webb, and the grandparents of previous subjects, Shellie Lloyd Webb and William Crawford Webb. Mary Futch was a sister of Rhoda Futch....
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