The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com.
In the interview, R.D. Barton tells a brief history of his home of Adairsville, Georgia. He starts by discussing his house, where the interview takes place, and its significance in General Sherman's March to the Sea during the Civil War; Shermans headquarters were in two of the downstairs rooms. He also tells a story about a previous house owner who became pregnant out of wedlock who tried to kill her baby. Barton also talks about doctors and education in Adairsville; as well as strange things that happen in local churches. He then tells jokes about the river during a drought; his business of organizing funerals; and his experiences with potential ghosts. At the end of his part of the interview, Barton discusses double names, which were given by aunts to a new baby. Topsy Howard joins the interview (19:23) and discusses ghost stories, dreams, and her experience at Barnsley Gardens, providing insight into the Barnsley family's history. She tells jokes with Barton about African Americans and rural churches. They return to the topic of funerals, including funny stories. They recall remedies, most of which were employed by their grandmother before the first druggist came to the area. Topsy discusses Pretty Boy Floyd, who was originally from Adairsville, Georgia. The conversation turns to ghost stories, which Topsy claims to be able to communicate with. She tells a tale of her mother and stepfather visiting a niece who was very ill; when she seemed to be improving, they leave for home, after which their horse becomes spooked by a ghost of a girl in the road. They later learned that their niece died shortly after they left her. In another story, Topsy communicated with locally famous Confederate soldiers, who names are confirmed by a local historian. A few of Topsy's stories consisted of premonitions. In one, her nephew's naval ship is attacked by a Kamikaze plane; and in another she gets betrothed to a millionaire. Both premonitions turn out to contain some truth. The interview finishes with Topsy reading a sermon, which is cut off in the middle.
Robert Dudley (R.D.) Barton Jr. was born in Adairsville, Georgia, to Robert Dudley Barton, Sr. (1879-1943) and Mamie Alberta Barton (1879-1935). He completed his third year of high school and worked as a partner at a funeral home. He married Margaret Benson Barton (1917-1999), and the couple had four children: Robert Dudley III (1937-1994), Sidney Barton Trimble (1938-1999), Charles Cannon (1942-2015), and George Benson Barton (1947-2017). Alice J. "Topsy" Howard (1894-1991) was born in Adairsville, Georgia, to Martin H. Butler (1861-1898) and Ellen Gertrude Read Whitworth (1874-1939). She attended one year of college but did not complete her degree. She married George Harold Howard (1895-1957), had one child, Patricia Howard (1920-1987), and divorced before 1930. She died in Atlanta, Georgia, and is buried in Adairsville, Georgia.
Domestic abuse; Hearse; The Great Locomotive Chase; China dishes; Clothes; Hay bailers; Family history; Preachers; Remedies; Molded bread; Penny royal; Jug flowers; Yellowroot; Hop vines; Axe murder; Confederate States of America; Lockheed plant; Oothcalooga Methodist Orphans Home;
I'm R. D. Barton, Jr. of Adairsville. It was named Adairsville, Georgia. It was named after an Indian chief. Our first village was very close to the railroad, and the Indians enjoyed swapping and selling with the white people. We had our first charter organized in 1852, had our first Mayor and Council. For a number of years our town was, of course, similar to what we see on television as DOdge City; we had seven saloons, but now we have seven churches, a little change. Most of our town is still very old; the wood buildings burned in about 1900, and all of them have been replaced with brick buildings. But railroads were of great 1mportance in the earlier days, so all the towns were built and the buildings were built to the railroads as the towns are built to the highways today. If you visit the town in the daytime, you will see that the buildings are still facing the railroad, and they are dug in at the back with a deep bank of 8 to 10 feet and this was to kepp the Indians from coming in or be able to work the front door. Of the saloons that we had, an old gentlemen told me once when they came to get the liquor they had the quart bottles (I'm sure if you've seen the old bottles, there's an indenture in the bottom of 'em) and he told me that the Indians came and they pulled the liquor out to give 'em a sample with the bottle upside down, and when they drank it, why "uh" it was good, so they bought a quart of liquor. In the Civil War, of course, we were exactly sixty miles from Chattanooga and sixty miles from Atlanta, of great importance being that close to two large towns, and the railroad was important. The house that we are in where we are talking from was the old Dr. Bowden house. The two rooms downstairs and the two rooms upstairs is of log structure in the Cherokee Indian style, and it was Sherman's headquarters during his March to the Sea. There's five acres of land in this plot, and there were tents all around in the area and during the Civil War they had a plague (something like we were familiar with in the 1918 flu) 2 and a lot of the ao1diers, Yankee soldiers, died. Of course you know it's hard to say "Yankee" because my Grandmother thought they were "Damn Yankees"-- she didn't know that there was 2 words. Two or three hundred of the soldiers died, and they were buried on this place. oJEourse after the war they were taken up and shipped back to the~,several different states in the northern area. This was the Doctor Bowden house; there's been three doctors in this house; I only knew one of them. But the railroad being so close--we are within 400 feet of the rai1road--the wounded soldiers were brought here, and the doctor was drafted by Sherman's forces, and I had talked to several of the (the phone rang)--The Doctor, as I was telling you was drafted to amputate the legs and arms of the wounded soldiers, and these boys were 8 or 10 years old, and that ~ was the great delight to meet the train and see the hurse drawn up here and after .. ~~',"'---~ the legs, and-arms'were amputated to see them carried off. Sometimes they did not "', get 'em all carried off because the dogs would get one before they could get them all buried. This place was shot with cannons during the Civil War several places in the house. I haven't seen them; they've been plastered over, but cannonballs went through the house two or three times. I'm sure that you saw the picture "The Locomotive Chase"--you remember Adairsville was mentioned in it as well as the town South ahd North of here. We have a door downstairs, the one that you knocked on when you came in, no matter how many times you close it at night, the next morning it's always open; we've been told that it was a haunted house. But we have even put a lock on it, and the next morning the door was open. I'm sure that there's no such thing as a haunted house; I presume that the house is so old that the trains--or whatever it is--jars it loose. But we close it st night and it's open in the morning. In 1915, which is the same year that I was born, there was a woman that lived here and had worked in a cafe in Chattanooga, and she had not married and she 3 ri was pregnant and she came in the four o'clock train. She walked a mile north to a cemetary and church called Oothcalooga. (This--I have paper clippings to pr6ve itsbecause it's a story that you would hardly believe). During the early morning some little neighboring girls from about 5 to 10 years old saw this woman going through the cemetary getting hold of little bushes and shaking them; they thought nothing of it, but just at dusk-dark they heard the crying of a little baby, and they told their mother and their mother laughed at them but they insisted and finally they walked up in the cemetary and they could hear the--uh--crying. So they came to town to get the policeman and some more people, and they went to a grave which was an old grave, and they saw a little fresh dirt on it; and the woman had had the baby and cut the cord herself and tore part of her underclothes and put over the baby's face and all and dug a shallow grave and put just a little enough dirt that it didn't smother--that it could breathe--and they brought it to town and a Mrs. Noland, who had a daughter Clara who waS the same age as I was, ( and by the way, in 1915 they didn't have formulas and they didn't have baby bottles, they had to be automatic fed by breast), so Mrs. Noland kept the baby, sent it to the Methodist Orphan's Home in Atlanta and she was later adopted, and she was given the name of Dixie Adair because she was found at A~sville and on the Dixie Highway. She was real fortunate; she was adopted by very wealthy parents; she's living today; she's about 52 years old. She has visited back to find if it was true. Her mother is still living, and I think she found her real mother and was able to see her. But that almost seems an impossibility that a child could be busied and yet live. My wife is the daughter of Dr. Hutchinson, and 24 years ago in little towns like ours, they didn't go to the hospital for all the deliveries. Many of them were conducted in the home and next door to our home--not this one but one we lived in at the time--one of.my wife's best friends was sick and having a baby, and her father was called 4 and just as the baby was born, he collapsed and laid his head down on the bed and died. There was a piece in the paper after that that uh death meets birth, but the baby was born and he was able to see the baby before he died. Our town did have seven doctors at one time; we do not have one now; our nearest doctor is in Calhoun, Rome, and Cartersville. Mr. Barton continues to give history about Adairsville for a good while longer. Of course you know you have a lot of strange things in churches. Our churches have always been the seat of interest in small communities until te~ev~sion has changed that, and everything stemmed from the church. The story was told that my uncle was a man who enjoyed more than one drink and sometimes resulted in being drunk and a little boisterous, and he even went far enough to whip his wife. He was gotten up in church (this is my great uncle I'm talking of) and was reprimanded for whipping his wife, and he very gracioualy told the pastor and congregation that he was sorry, but said," You do not know how mean my wife, Sarah, is, and if any of you all can live with her without whipping her, says, you take her home and try it; I can't." The Church records are real interesting to read because then if you danced on Saturday night, you were turned out on Sunday and made acknowledgement the next Sunday and went to the next Saturday night dance. Our church is over a hundred years old; most of the places--creeks and churches-- are named after Indian names. We are in between Cartersville and Calhoun what we call the 06thcalooga Valley, and that means "pa,enty~ We've got the Etowah River" and we've got the Ustinally River. In 1924 I was a small boy but remember how dry it was. My father was an engineer on a train, and his conductor was a man of a lot of wit, and the river was real low--we were limited to use water for anything--he asked what this noise 5 was , and they had to slow down coming over the riverbridge with the train, and he says, "I believe that's about a 30 pound catfish coming up the riverbridge with goggles on to keep the dust out of his eyes." Of course I have been in the funeral business since I was 10 years old, 1f1 uh, I do not remember having used the horse drawn hurse, but I do remember having seen it being used. I did start early enough that we always embalmed people in the home. As death would occur they would come after you because there were very few telephones, and you would go out in the home, and we had a contraption that was called a cooling board and we took the body off the bed and put it on this board, embalmed it, and then the next day carried the casket out. So many interesting things have happened tn the few years that I have -7 worked. I remember one time that early the next morning he had planned to come in at 10 o'clock to see about his funeral, and he came real early. I Was the one who had taken the body off the bed and put it on the cooling board and also had taken the bed down and portions of the cover and things and carr~ed it to a house--uh, outhouse--in the yard, and he wanted to know if I saw a fruit jar, and I toil:d him, "yes, that there was one tied to the springs." So he wanted to go with me. You know that was before the day that banks were insured and there $3,000 in the fruit jar. It took him 'til the next morning to think of it. I remember having another funeral that the house was very small and the living room was off of the porch--you just walked off of the porch into the living room, but there was no other doors out of the living room, and this funeral was in the summertime; and I opened the door back against the wall. I was bringing the casket out, and I heard this real peculiar voice saying, "Bye Mama." After I got my hair straightened back down it was, "Bye Mama" again, and I knew ? it couldn't be anything so I opened back the door" and she realized that we were removing her keeper, and she was saying, "Bye Mama." But-uh you don't 6 know how peculiar you might have felt. I had another funeral once, and the old gentlemen died very sudden, and he died eating an apple; it was a huge apple--one that you'd pay dime for. He probably had go~ten one little bite out of the apple and toppled over dead, and my wife and the young man that worked with me went on to the house earlier; and I went and met them just in time to go on ,to the church; And they did not tell me, but just before they left the house they told them that since Pa had died eating an apple they wanted to put an apple in his hand. It's very customary in rural communities even today that the caskets are open at the funeral so after the funeral--of course I still did not know anything about it--I opened the casket and there the man was holding a big red apple in his hand. You don't laugh at funerals, but I was almost unable to finish conducting the funeral. Mr. Barton to his wife----"you have something to say?" Wife----"I think you ought to tell them something about those old fashioned names that your sunts named. Mr. Barton----"you mean a double name?" Wife----UIt was more than a double name. II Mr. Barton----"Well, it was customary, you know, when a baby was born for someone to be sure an pick a name, and everybo~y wanted the baby to be named after. I have one aunt that when she was born ~he had four aunts and so all of 'em were able to attach a name. Her name was Mary Della Lela Fedonia. Of course we dropped the Lela Fedonia; she's just Mary Della. And then my mother would be 85 years old, and she went to school with several people and she--we have a blue back speller which is an old book, you are probably familiar with it, and ah she has it written down in there the name--now can you tell me the name? (to his wife.) Mary Jane Henrietta Cream '0 Tartar Henrietta Fountain Worthington. My mother said it was her real name, whether it was or not, I do not know." Wife----"Tell 'em about---- Mr. Barton----'!I-don't remember that one. James McDallas Copper Britches and 7 one 01 gallas. My uh Grandmother said that her favorite s~ory with the children was how to spell "soppin sweet potato"----Do you know how to spell it? P Y R and a Y Pater SOP and T Y Tater. 1 don't know whether that was in the blue back speller book or not. Mr. Barton----"You believe in Ghost Stories?" Linda-'---''Uh huh, don't you?'" Mr. Barton----"Well, 1 don't know whether 1 believe in Ghost Stories or not, but you speaking of dreams, 1 had this dream and 1 told it at breakfast. A person had lived here and was living in another state, and 1 had told that 1 had dreamed that she died and that the son-in-law called and told me that he was shipping her back ( we usually .peak of shipp~ng a person back in a cheaper casket and then they can make their own purchase at your place). 1 didn't finish the dream until the telephone rang, and the boy told me that the woman had died, and he was shipping her back in one of her own dresses and of the cheap caskets, and they would be here several days later to make their own arrangements. 1 was afraid to go to sleep the next night. But uh 1 guess those things just have to happen, but it does seem,real peculiar that they would happen. Mr. Barton----" What was it you said that he hoped 1 wouldn't tell anything ugly?" Linda----"No: He said it was fine if you did: Obscene folklore is quite a part of tradition. Mr. Barton----"He won't appreciate so many funerals. Linda----"Any stories you can think of will be just fine. Mr. Batton-----"We have this Mrs. Howard (1 think that's her coming, we'll wait just a minute), she can tell you quite a few things. We have a castle that's south of here about8 or 10 miles; we call it Barnsley Gardens; you may have read something about it in your newspapers. An English Lord built the castle(Mrs. Howard comes in) 8 Mr. Barton----"'fhis is Mrs. A. D. Howard,. who has written a lot of history on Barns1ey Gardens, and as I was telling you before she came in that there were quite a few ghostly tales about the Barns1ey Garden castle. Mrs. Howard, you tell some of the things that you remember that was kind of hair-raising. Mrs. Howard (or Miss Topsy, as they called her)-- Well, to begin with I think you would have to know something about the history of the p1ace.to really appreciate it. Godfrey Barnsley came from England in 18---about 18and 12, I think, and ah he went to work for a Mr. Wright who was a cotton factor in Savannah, and he had worked for his uncle in Liverpool and that waS the way he found out about Mr. Barns1ey; Mr. Barns1ey wrote him and asked him to come and work for him, which he did. But he badnh been here many years before he owned this company, this cotton export company. And Mr. Barns1ey owned at one time 30 sailing vessels, and he shipped cotton to England, France, Denmark, Germany--a11 along there in Europe, and he brought back , he imported silver, china, ah clothing, he had c10hhes made for certain of his friends, and he delt a great deal in wine. Mr. Barton----"Drinking wine?" Miss Topsy----"Drinking wine:" And ah Madera seemed to be his specialty, and he would buy that by thepipe--if you know what pipe is. Linda----"NO mam, what is a pipe?" Miss Topsy----"A pipe is a certain measure, it is larger than a hogshead, and ah it's used to measure wine and of course when it was brought to Savannah, then it was bottled there, you see. But the man seemed to be a genius, in the business world. But his style began to fade after he bought this place up here. He came to North Georgia with Frances Bartow, for whom this county is named, and Charles Wallace Howard, who was a theologian and ah I can't think of the word, ah, the President sent him to North Georgia to make a survey of the Indian situation and also a geographical survey. And his friends--they were all English--and Mr. Styles and Mr. Barns1ey and 9 Mr. Wallace all found a place for their summer home; you see they lived down in the country where people died juat like flies from malaria and yellow fever. But when they got to North Georgia they found there was none of that up here, so they decided this was the place to have their summer home, that's when people got sick of these deseases and died so young. And Barnsley found this location over--now they came on ho~seback and rode around over the country and found the springs to build their homes. Mr. Bartow, General Bartow he finally became, never built up here, but the other three did. And their homes are still standing, and the Styles home is in perfect condition and furnished with the original furnishings. But ah the history of Barnsley is quite different and so is the history of Springdair, Dr. Wallace's home. But ah Barnsley wanted to buy this place which had about 10,000 acres. But the Indians that remained here told him ~ to build a house on that h~ll. It was a hill above a spring, and that's where he selected for his hOme. They told him that he would never be happy again, that his fo~tunes would begin to go down from that time on. Mr. Barton----"you mean he was bewitched." Miss Topsy-- And so he felt there was a curse put on him because before the house was built, his wife died. And he had sent his favorite son, Harold to China to collect ah-ah rare shrubs and trees and flowers, you know, for the garden that he was going to have round his hOme. And Harold was killed by bandits. And ah, his youngest so~ Reginald, died, and from then until 18 and 73 ( ah Mr. Barnsley died then) of course he had nothing but terr~ble luck. He lost his fortune, he lost his friends, he lost his wife and several of his family, and all manner of things happened to him. (Mr. Barton says that the castle was spared during the Civil War). j 1., Miss Topsy says-- Well, yes, General McPherson was belleted there with his troops. Ah, he of course, had heard about this rich Englishman and so he made it to that 10 point to spend two days enroute from Chattanooga to Atlanta, And Mr. Barnsley had a British flag flying from the Camphaneli (sp:) when McPherson drove up. But McPherson made him take it down even though Mr. Barnsley was a British subject; he bad never become an American citizen, and he felt that the flag ought to protect him, but it didn't. He ah, McPherson had the soldiers to remove the flag, and they took possession of the place. And I have a list of the things that the soldiers stole and destroyed while they were there, and it is amazing the things that were taken away from that place. There was everything imaginable--rare things from allover Eu;ope. And ah as he said in the list--enema apparatus in a mahogany case. Mr. Barton----"That was enema deluxe:" Miss Topsy----And a silver flute, and a marside (?) bedspread that was worth about $35.00 and at that time $35.00 was about what $200.00 wou~d be now. Miss Topsy tells a story now about a Col. Earl--it's interesting, but not folk. Mrs. Barton asks Miss Topsy about ghost stories from Mr. Barnsley. Miss Topsy----"I really don't know anything first hand about Mr. Barnsley's--now I know he was a spitttualist. Many of hi1letters--the friends he wrote to were spiritualists. His oldest son, Dr. George Barnsley was a spiritualisG, and his daughter, both of his living daughters (he had three), Adalaid, who had married Mr. Gilmer and lived in London, ah she was a spiritualist. Mr. Barton----"you know what we are talking when we say 'spiritualist'?" They believed they could talk to the Man upstairs, and he talked back to them. Now, the remnants of the castle are still there, and the home they built for the servants quarters was what I knew they lived in. And Mrs. Sailor, who was the grand-daughter of Godfrey Barnsley--I knew her and buried her, and her son (she had two sons and a daughter} I believe I'm correct). Miss Topsy----Well, yes that's right--Julia and Preston,and Harry. 11 Mr. Barton---And Preston was the oldest and Harry was the baby, and Julia was in the middle. The two boy~were still on the farm and of course at that time it had been reduced from around 30,000 to 40,000 acres only to about 1,000. And one day Preston in a fit of anger chased him (Harry) through the house and shot and killed him. Miss Topsy----"When her son, Harry, was shot, I was the first woman down there. 'hf. I went with Mr. Warren on the, on the, on the, hurse, and Mrs. Sailor walked out and met me. She said, "I want you here with me, all the time." And I told her I would stay. And after the funeral she said, "You must stay with me,"because Harry is trying to tell me something and I can't get it but you can. You are a median. I said, "No, I'm not a spiritualist." She says,"But you are and you don't know it. You are a median, and you can take this message that Harry's trying to give me." So--oh it was quite some weeks after that--I told my Associate Editor of the Bartow Herald about it, and he said,"We11, let's go down there;I want to see." So we went down, and Mrs. Sailor had just about enough fire in the grate to warm your big toe, and we nearly froze in that great big room. But we pulled the card table up close and put our hands on it, and the table did move. And every time I would start calling the alphabet to get the message, why it would stop. And Mrs. Sailor looked up and said, "Topsy, Harry is standing right behind you, and his hand is on your shoulder. If you turn around, you can look at him. I said, '~rs. Sailor, I'll be glad to talk to Harry, but I don't want to see him. Mr. Barton----"You never did turn around?" Miss Topsy----''Huh uh," She said, "He has a bouquet for you-- the violets that you tried to pick as you came down here." Miss Topsy---"I had tried to climb up the bank. I had Ed Birch was with me--took me down there--and Ed stopped to ah; I said, oh look at the violets, and I tried to climb up the bank to get the violets, and Mrs. Sailor said, "Harry has the violets that you tried to pick_." Now how'd she know that? 12 Mr. Barton----"Well, did Harry every say anything?" Miss Topsy----"I couldn't get one thing--eKcept it would stpp--MamaTtl"and I couldn't get anything else." Mr. Barton---"Well, you know several people have visited and said they heard his truck. You know, the old Model T rattly truck drive right up to the. Miss Topsy----''Well, I tell you honestly, I don't disbelieve these things simply because I know my mother and my f~ther did not lie, and they saw a ghos1rright out there at Poplar Springs. I'll tell you about it when R. D. Eellsayou about this other." Mr. Barton----"Well, she's speaking of Harry dying; ah, I was working for her father at that time, and it was amusing to me when we got ready to go that they told me to let everyone out in the room--it was huge, as large as the chapel downstairs, that big living room, and she invited me to stay and she told Harry good-by, said, "You be good, and I'll be good, and we'll be looking for you back. , You'll have to tell me how to run the fanp. (Ltnda, "This was when he was dead?") uh huh. And later she died; she was alone, the boy went to prison, he got a life sentence for~murdering his brother, and the daughter was living in Chicago. And we called her, and of course she had a little ttouble getting here;and we had to make the funeral plans and buried her on Sunday. It was re','l'wMed" because the son that was serving a lifetime ah sentence was brought to the funeral and brought here and it was just one of those uncomfortable way you have of feeling. And ah when Julia, the daughte~ came the next morning, they were immediately going to dissolve the estate as quick as they could and Monday morning they started and that's when she told me, she says, "Olj Mother just loved the casket, and she thought the robe was real beautiful. I talked to her last night." Mr. Barton----"I couldn't answer her because that was just as real to heras this is real to us here tonight." Miss Topsy----"I know your eyes popped out on stems and waggled:" Here Mr. Barton and Miss Topsy just tell about the auction of the woman's house. 13 Mr. BartQn---~"There' s a.cemetar)'..oyer.0tl. the Barl1sley Gardens where all of them are buried but Mrs. Sailor and Harry, they were carried to the Community Church Cemetapy. I do not know if it's so, but I was always told that they were buried in lead caskets, which were very ftne in their day, and they were told that they were buried with a lot of jewelry. And several have told me that they knew it was so because the caskets--the graves were dug down to and the lead cut open and the hands were pulled out of the casket and I don't know whether the rings were gone or not, but you've heard the story (to Miss Topsy). Miss Topay----"Oh yes." Mr. Barton----"Ah, her father was the funeral dil<1ector here for years and years, (Miss Topsy----''My father. "), and she'll teliyou the story of a ghost story that actually happened on a one "w~ed" night. ~Miss Topsy----"Ah, Mama and Mr. Warren (:alled my step-father) ah went out on the FaIson Road about 6 or 8 miles to sit up with this niece, ah who had ah I suppose it was meningitis. (Mrs. Barton----"They don't know what sittin' up is.") Miss Topsy----~No they don't know, people do that you know, When they were sick they used to 'cause there were no nurses and neighbors and friends of members of the family wOuld sit up, you know they would sit up until midnight, and then other friends would come in at midnight and stay until dawn to give the family some rest, and my mother and step-father went out to sit with Ailee, this child that was very very ill. And Mama noticed that Ailee's breathing changed and she, she looked at her and her face was flushed, and she opened her eyes and th~ were bright and, and intelligent and they felt of her pulse and her pulse was normal, and Mama said, "Oh there's a distinct change; she's going to get well. And they called in Aunt Minnie and Uncle Buford Martin, the father and mother of this child, and they all agreed that this was the turning point and that sh~as much better and was going to get well. And they were all so happy about it. And Aunt Minnie,said, "Now Warren, you and Ellen go on home; I'll sit here; she's going to sleep now and you go home and get some rest. Well, it was a moonlight night and there was 14 a light snow on the ground, a very light film of snow, and they were dFiving this very beautiful horse, and the horse was just pacing along at a very nice pace, and they were wide awake. And they got to poplar Springs, and all at once a figure in white--it looked like a young gir1--he1d up ~er hands, and the horse just reared back and almost fell on the buggy, And Mr. Warren jumped out of the buggy and caught hold of the horse and tried to calm him, and the horse just would not go another step--just commenced backing off. He had Mama get out of the buggy, and they turned the horse, buggy around, and they had to go throug1the churchyard at Poplar Springs, and they had to bring it out above the spot where this figure had stopped the horse. And they were both just astonished. Mama said, "That was Ailee; she's dead." And Mr. Warren said, "Well, +on't know who it was, but it was a ghost," And they were just very much shaken and they came on home--must have been--they probably got home about 2 :00, somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00 o'clock. And just about daylight gne of the neighbors from over on the Fa1son Road came and knocked on the door and said that Ailee had died shortly after they left the house. Now that is absolute truth, because Mama tried to forget it; she didn't want--she wouldn't talk about it, but one night when we were making the table walk, Mama said she didn't believe in it, didn't think we ought to fool with it and Mr, Warren said now, "All right, you have said that you didn't believe it would work in your house, that it would work in Lena McCutchin' s but it wou1dn' t work in you house'. Now, let' s just try:' He said, "Sit down, Ellen," So Ellen sat down and put her hands on the table and the table just started moving, and ah so 1 asked (1 was acting as a median), and wasked who it was and it spelled out Mark--that was my father. Mama said, "1 will not believe anything about this until he calls me by a name that n9bne knew but the two of us." And 1 thought I knew he called her ''Pet'', And so, 1 commenced calling the alphabet again, and it spelled out ah "Ducky". And 1 never knew that Daddy 15 called Mama "Ducky" an~ ~o~()dy _else did either. Mr. Barton----"What'd she say then?" Miss Topsy----"Mama said, "'I'm ~~~ting up from here; I'm not having a th~llg_to do with this. Mr. Warren said, "JusC: have a seat, Ellen; you've seen a ghos"t and I have to~ JOu know this is true. And so we went on, and let me tell you the next ep~sode--Every message that we had that night ( and we sat there from 7:00 til 2:00 in the morning) and different people came. in. We called some of 'em; we called Lena and Kresse, called Mr. and'Mrs. Bishop and Bill Bowden came by; Claude Satterfield came by and stopped. Claude was not going to believe in it; he said somebody was doing it--making that table rise up off the floor, and he sat on the floor to watch everything, but he never found out anything. Well, the next message was for Mama, and she didn't want to take it, but Mr. Warren insisted, and it was from--what was the Hunt boy was ki1led?--(Mr. Barton----"Jac!k") Jack Hunt was killed on the railroad crossing and Mr. Warren was out of town, and Willy Weaver went and picked him up, brought him up to the room, and Mama washed the boy's face and arranged his face where his parents could come and see htm. And this is what the message was ~8use I called the a~phabet and it was as plain and as fast as it could be. It said, "Was my face cut much?" Mama said, Mama said, "Yes, Jack, why?" And the answer was, "It's all right now." And Mama said, urn I just can't take this. Mr. Warren says, "Sit real still. Everybody--some people have said that Jack ran in front of that train; I want to find out what he says." And I asked, "Jack, did you see the train coming?" and the answer was, "No. Of course not. 1I Mr. Barton-----"Now is that hair-raising enough for you?" Then Mr. and Mrs. Barton ask Miss Topsy about the two Confederate soldiers. Miss Topsy----"There were two Confederate shot from a tree down by the railroad. And as long as I can remember--I started to kindergarten when I was three years old_-and all of the children every decoration day or we called it Memorial Day, l 16 ah we would go down, take Iris and whatever was in bloom and peonies and things and go down and decorate those two graves. And nobody knew who they were. Well, on this very same night, message afterillmessage came to Mama and Mr. Warren, mainly, but this one came and I asked, I said, "Who is the message for?" And I indicated around the table, "Move the table ,shake the table toward the one the message is for." It didn't move. I said, "Well is the message for somebody in the room?" And it just shook the table. And I said, ~el1 is it for everybody?" And the answer was yes. Said, Shake the table once for No and twice for Yes. And so ah the ah I said, "Do you know anyone in this room?" And the answer was, "NO". I said, "Well, have you ever been to Adairsville?" And the answer was, "Yes." And I said, "When?" ''May, l863~' And I said, if you have a message for us, No will you give me your name? And his name was Jack Kirby. I said, "Where are you from1" Ab, "Norfolk, Virginia." And I said, "And who was your companion?" "Henry Furrow." Spelled out Henry F~u-r-r-o-w. And I said, "Where was he from?" "Norfolk, Virginia,"my friend." Well, I was so pleased I didn't know what to do because I believed that was true. So after that I was in Atlanta, and I was ah I was talking to Mr. Curtz, William B. Curtz who is a well known historian snd artist. He died just recently, just the other day. And he asked me if those graves had ever been marked. And I said, "There's a stone there that just says, 'Confederate Unknown Soldiers~' I said, "Well, I know their names." He said, "Well, how did you find out?" I said, ''Mr. Curtz, if I tell you, you'll laugh." He said, "NO, I won't." 1\nd I told him. He said, "I will not laugh, Mrs. HOWard."I believe what you're telling me." And he said, "It is very easy to find outll'. There's s roster of Virginia soldiers, and I will find out." And he asked, now I think this is right, I think he asked Mr. DuBois to check the roster and Henry Furrow and Jack Kirby joined the Confederate Army ~n Norfolk, Virginia. And later, much much later, ah I found, I went to Cartersville looking for some information in. an old newspaper, snd I found a letter written by Mr. Johnson--Henry 17 Johnson--lived over there next door. He was here during the war,_ and after the war--ah he was here when the boys were killed--and he went down there. And of course they had on Confederate uniforms, and he found in the pocket of one of these boys a letter addressed to Henry Furrow. And he wrote a letter to the newspaper hoping that somebody would see it that would know how to get inpouch with his people. But nothing ever came of it, as far as I know. Thet little letter in that paper confirmed what I had learned. And then later than this Melvin and Patricia Martin went down to the Confederate Museum at Kennesaw, and they found an old letter down there saying that Jack Kirby and Henry Furrow were killed somewhere between Risacka and Kingston. So that did it. Mr. Barton----''You haven't marked their graves yet?" Miss Topsy----"No, but they'd ought to have been." And I believe it just as firmly as I believe I'm sitting here that that's the name of the two boys. Mr. Barton----"you're like Miss Sarah; I believe you're a thoroughbred spiritualist." Miss Topsy----"Well, I don't think it's impossible, and I tell you Mrs. Barton----"Well, tell them about the dream JOu had--the dream about your house I Miss Topsy---"Oh yeah, that was a strange thing. I was about 17 years old--um that's been a few years back--and my cousin was here with me ( Grace Payne), and I woke up and shook Grace, who was sleeping with me. And I said, "Grade, I had the most vivid dream. I dreamed that I was walking up a boxwood lined walk to this lovely little house, and with a young man. I said his face is just as plain to me; I never saw him before, but his mother opened the door and invited us in and I told, uh, this young man told his mother that here was the girl hw was going to marry. And we were invited into the hall, and I said it had a red rug on the floor--carpet-- and had two tables with alabaster urns - ? glass. She said, "You know what, I've seen that house. I cannot think where it is. I've been in that house." I said, 'Well it's just the plainest dream, and I ah it woke me up; I had to tell 18 you about it.' Well. maybe in a week or two. we drove down to Cartersville one Sunday and parked in front of the ab the hotel. and I looked on the porch-- there was a whole line of rocking chairs-- and there was this young man. I said. Grace there is the boy: She said. "My goodness. that's Dillard Munford." And she said. "That's the house. and that was his mother. and that was the hall. And to this day. I have never met Dillard Munford. and he is one of the new millionaire~ i~ Georgia. Linda-----''Xatie knows him. Katie knows him real well. Miss Topsy-~--"Reillly?" Mr. Barton---"Be bought some property at Kingston recently. Miss Topsy----"Row 'bout that?- Mr. Barton----''Why are you laughing. What do you know about him?" Katie-----"Nothing, I apst think it's spooky. Miss ~sy----''Well. that actually happened. and I have never seen him again from that day to this. But I said that is the boy. Mrs. Barton----''You missed your chance right then. II Miss Topsy---"Yeah. I should have walked up and said. 'Look hUB; Son, you know you~e got a bride on your hands.' Mr. Barton----''What department are you doing this in. ,,1.._-, I mean what stiidy?" Lbtda----tlEnglish. I'm an English major and this is--my course is Folklore. It Mr. Barton----Well, I don't know whether or what would happeD'. but my son was at the University of Georgia and he was sppposed to be home on Sunday afternoon, and his English teacher that had been in high,,l.chool, Mrs. Wod:hington, and Margaret and I were sitting here at this table; we were drinking a cup of coffee; it hsd just got dusk-dark. We heard his car drive up, the door open, he walked up 'the steps, and he got to the door~ we haven't seen him yet. Be came in two hours later. But if you had told me that, I wouldn't believe it, but it was just perfect-- everys'tep--
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Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions.
As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.