David Bartleson interview with Emory Lovick Adams

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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 this recording, David Bartleson interviews Emory Lovick Adams about North Georgia local history. Lovick starts with a story about Bill Hunt and his brothers, prominent businessmen and Methodist church leaders from White County, Georgia. Then at 3:06, Adams recalls when the Oak Forest Church in Blairsville was disassembled, relocated, and renamed Zion Methodist Church. He explains that the previous church building was turned into a schoolhouse after part of its floor collapsed, as well as the impact of Georgia legislator Tom Watson's allegedly anti-Catholic policies, which prohibited the dual use of church buildings as public schools. Then, at 9:10, Adams recalls his friend Mr. Caldwell, a local committee member and fellow church leader, who operated a government distillery. At 11:40, Adams shares a story about a local widow, Nancy Lou Robertson, whose first husband died from a horseback riding accident near Woods Grove, and second husband died from an injury sustained from a horse-drawn wagon accident. At 16:15, Adams briefly discusses her third husband, a local preacher from Nacoochee Valley. At 17:01, he explains that the Robertsons planned to build a missionary schoolhouse on the former Oak Forest church site (which was on the Towns-Union county line) that Nancy inherited after the church was moved. Next, at 20:16, Adams recalls his first schoolhouse classes and studying at Young Harris College in 1886. He also discusses Young Harriss early history, including that it was originally named McTyeire after notable Methodist bishop, Holland McTyeire. Then in 1891 the school was renamed in honor of the lawyer, Young L. G. Harris, who financed the construction of the Susan B. Harris Chapel and supported the McTyeire Institute. At 25:00, Adams closes the interview by sharing details about how to make the red clay bricks used to construct the colleges chapel. Emory Lovick (E. L.) Adams (1880-1979) was born in Madison County, Georgia, to Thomas Jefferson Adams (1847-1895) and Elizabeth Catherine Tucker (1852-1892). He graduated from Young Harris College, then worked there as a professor and served as mayor of Young Harris. He married Arry May Sanderson (1883-1971), and they had seven children: Ruth Adams Meares (1905-1981), Clarence Sanderson Adams (1906-1972), Gwendolyn Adams Wright (1910-1970), Mary Agnes Adams Galloway (1912-2003), Marjorie L. Adams Foster (1914-2010), Reba Adams Phillips (1918-2008), and Emory Lovick Adams, Jr. (1922-1998). .A r.nNVFRSA111TON WJ'T'H wrR .A)Jf.nt<:; ~) t<ESIDENT OF YOTJNC HARRIS C-EORQTA fOT FOLKLORE JOO MR& BURRISN by DP.JlTD BARTL~SON Gi:rORGIA STAT~ UNI'VERSITY noVEMBER 26, 1973 Mr~ Adams ha:::; been a citizen of Young Harris ~eorgia fer more tha.11. cight:?-fiv,3 yecirs, Being Young Harris I old' est citizen makes him a store-house of local history~ That is the ex:tcnt of this con\rersa tion other than a fev, facts conc-srning customs and religious trend.s in that at'ea, In trying to divert rny informant tov,rarcls the disc1Jssion foT 1Nhich I came, J disco7ored his pot3.ntia1 for telling rne vrhs.t T iNanted. to hea.r was b-eing cl.01Jded by his personal history and un1v:ill.ingn,2ss to change subjects . Adams: That gold rr.inin' section and that corundrum section was different .. ,.the corundrum was further up in Georgia on the edge-waters of the small streams down the:'C'e. Bartleson: Did you used to be in, back then, used to be in mining ? Adams, No ... I was in here ... I think I went preachin' down there in the church in about nineteen-two or three an' I mixed and mingled with some of them, but those doctors that had been in there were gone ... , but there were still some folks down there from up ncrth ~ .. Klines, Gilman .. you don~ t knovv anything about that community I reckon, that big two story building ... Bill Hunt that came from White county that had a store. He and tv,ro or three brothers were up in here f~com White county. a ,. had a sister that n1arried .. ,1..1.h., .tha.t, now, was back_ during the C vil War. They vvere Methodists.,.~ came in here right below Cleveland abov.t vvhere Moss Creek Camp-ground is. Came up here, a.nd. ~ .uh~ w. on.e of those Hunt men , there v12 .. s three of them, there was Bill, he was the man here built that house down there where the post office 1.1.sed to be" He had a store down the:ce with one of his brothers, they were leaders 3.n the Methodist church d.01vn there . .And 01.1.eof those Ht1-.nts vv3.s a.pppinted on the commitee to locate places around here,and~a fella would, had his membership in the Hia1Nassee Methodist church,, Th.er w,;:;1_s a.- nether one, there was four or five of 'em, I don't remember all that, .. I used to knpw 'em when I first come up hers. An old fella~~ .. up here, who lived up here and raised a family.~ ,,some o:f his decend.ents are still arot1nd this country. He belonged. to the Methodist church 1.zp h1?re ~""You knovJ 1,vhere that is? Bartlesori:That Zion church up the road. here? .A.darns: Ol::.. ~" 1J.p the road abo1J_t two miles beyond th.s.t college farm. Know where the bridge is ... ? D5.d you ever go to school hsr2? Bartleson: No, I.~,I know some people who go here~ Adams: 'Vell about tv,o and a half miles 1Jp there. Q ~ the chu:.."ch did stand. up hiere 11 right to the right of the chapel therea It v,ra.s knovvn as Old Forest cht1rch. It vvas h.er,2 during the Civi1 War. There was more Methodists that lived up there where the Zion church isthen there was c1own here, and they cut that church up into four sections and moved it up there on steel wagons and changed the name from Oat:: Fo1:-sest to Zion. T~1atis vrhat it still goGS by, Th.o.t house vvas tJ.1ere a.nd. I preached 5"n it for a 1.Nhile, ~ ~ the Zion church up there. It's . ,.uh. ~.a whi.te church on the left about two and a ho.lf rni1es up, there goi.ng tu\Nards BJ..airs- ville. Bartleson: That~s not the origi~al church} or the original stuctu.Te that is up there nov.r is it ? Adams, No, .,n:i .. , The :iriginal house had been moved from here got to be a school house when Tom Watson raised a dis turbance in Georgia about the churcJ.1 and sta.te 'ought to be separated. But he v1as worlcing aga,inst the Catholics from using cfn_;.rches for schoolhouses and schoolhouses for chu~cches. The protestants had to separate too, you know, Bartleson, Uh-huh, Adams, And they used their old church house , well .. , the old church had been moved. One aturday night, a fella, Tom Cook, v11ho 1.vas a local preacher who lived in Ela.irsvi11e vvas prea~i.n" there, and uh,w. one fourth of the floor is what you~d call o,men corner, on t:he right of the pulpit v.rhe1-e it dropped to the ground~ I preached over on the .next Sunday mornin' at the Baptist church beyo.nd.. ~ eand came back there Sunday to fill an appointment 8.nd sorne folks 1Nere stand in~ around ou.tside, and they s.sked me if I vras going to preach in the house, and I said I reckon so. They said,''Well now, ain n t got any amen corner1in ' there, it~s fall.en 01.,1t~" So, v1e v1ent it1 1 and~~~ folks said the am amen corner sat in the back quarter~e women were on the other side,, Used to, you knov..r 11 men and wcmen sat separate, yo-u know. Bartles on t V{as tha.t al.1Nays the 'vvay ~ " . that t11e men sat on one side and the wornen to the other II back then. ID.? Ad.ams: Yeah, tha.tv1.ras the custom. So~,.y I don't justho1N long that was after the floor fell in~ They moved the house away from that place~ Made a. school house out of it. And when.~~uh . vve b.ad to have separation "bet1neen the schoolholJSe, ~,.uh.~ ~the s--el:10 school, the state schools and chuTches, v,,e went up on the hill where this present church is and built that c1Turch. And, uh . ., 0 didn't cost much then .. ~to build houses. You could get the best carpenters in the country, of course they would be called cobblers today, for a dollar a day. And . .,oBused to hire men, a, heap of ~ern, back on the sav-rmill, for a. dollar a day, and a. day then :nea.nt from sun~~v_p j;o sun-dovvn, or from daylight to dark \Vas a dollar. Yo1,1 can get a heap o' vvork a ., ~ got a. heap o ~ ve"ork for a dollar back then~ Bartleson: I bet you worked with some prtty unique characters. Adams i Yes 1 there s ::ime u_1_1:i_q1J,e characters. Bartleson: 1Nas the:ce mucl1 bu.siness in moon.shining lJack then? Adams! Yes, those people, the original stock in this country, have al,N2<YS, a.nd some of their decendents still a:i::--e, very superstitioas of uh~a, somebody they don't know~ They are as close a friends a man ever had ,vhen theynget aq_usj.nted with them. Bartleson, Uh-ht1h, ~d.ams: A.nd the reason they was so suspicious and supersti tiou::: v.ras that every new rn.an that cs.. me in was more likely to be a revenuer officer than anybody else, And this old man, Caldwell t I to1cl you abo11t him uri there, used to tell me about; the2,e, uh~~" the corn.mi tee and who 'Nas o_n it~ The re2.son he vvasn t on j_ t vras that he was runnin ~ a government still bac1-c in those days~ Bartleson: A. government."~? Adams, A government still, And then, he sold most of his liquor at three or four stores: Ph.ill up's and Fowler's, the others I don ii t ;:--emcmber :right now~ That vras betvveen.. "Nhere I lived and A.thens~ P,,_nd uh,~ .. he used to tel1 me about trips he'd make sett in ff around. the still~ ,, . vJhen the inspectors came, that he'd Jte.ve to sho\v, Yes, a.J11vays Jeep ff t those jugs dusted off. Looked like it tAias right fresh~ That 010. fel~_a, used to tell. me about chlU'Ches and so on. He 2.nd I ,nas GOOd :freinds, he was a lea.Cler~ Back in my day l1_e qu1t the sti11 business and. ran a store located right at Zion ch-u_rchj and v,ras a. leader, he a_nd his son, then in the church, \.VelJ_," ~it "'~.ras 2 }Jretty long story, bnt, they, uh,~ 'llcomm:tttse fi.ndly come to an oJ.J. lady~ tl1e wido'N of the d.octor v1ho used to live here. BartJ.eson: Doctor Stevens? Ada.ris i Yes..11 1 bvt she had m2.rried -!::;1--vice after that, she' cl. mo.rried William Sa~dersQn over at~,.uh. s. Hayesville. Her first ht1.sbancl., who was Doctor Steven.s, got hurt o'Ier he here on the mry_u1t2.in one time~ Eartleson: How'd that happen? Adams: iNe11, the horse he ~/I8-2 ~c}_dinz.ij~the doctors of cause had saddle horses.~ . Bartlescnr To get to the ... Ad2::rns a Yc8.. h .. , stepped. off the 101N of the roa.d ~ They buil.t a road around there~ First money the sta.te ever appropr!ated vras five-,hu_n_c1red dollc.rs to build that road. iNou..nc1 arov.nd the side of the mo11ntaj_n there. Then, they had ha.a a read ther but they bu:lt a grated road. \n' a fella that lived out there was a J_egislator and he'd got the five-hundred dollars to build tha.t road.And it ws.s, practica.lly, a new road.An~. ~e it was da.rk the horse stepped off tlrn lo\v an_d the dcctor _hacl. tl:.e reins in his hands and he j11st held to it and,.~uh,~. scramthe road an' h,"?Jd to the reins ar~d t.he hor!.e jumped back in the road and hit him in the chest with his head. Th0 doctoa was goJ_ng O',ter in VIoodgro\rss sectj_cn; thj_s 2.5_c1e of Hiav-1asse2 ~ hsre. t1.1en, to v,.,rs. . i t ;J~''i 8. woman tl1at vras bei.ng c;o.nfin_ed 3.. Ed after hs~d waited an her, before day~_ightj He was hurting in his chest. An' he told the fclks that had led him in the ba.ck roorn 8.nd sleep till dayl:i.ght, h-2 didn t t v>Ts .. nno.. come back heme in the da::cL ~ Sc. h-e vrent to bet~ By the next rnorning he vrasn' t 8,ble to Get out, and the neighbors made a stretcher and brov_ght him in bacl;: this 1Nay bout a hs.J.f 8.; mile and he Then later on, this, 2, year or tvs10 1 this v1orr12..n, l1is~,,,, the docto~r' s v,Jido,v, ms.rr1 ed \\Tilliarn Sanderson~ v,.1hc lived i.:--1 Ha.yesville; c:r, rnan severo.1 ;srears yo1--1nger than she '-f.73.JtL A.nd raised a big farniJy. Fact of the l:iusiness was, he had some daughters old as t11.e v.,rom2L11. he married 8J7.d the7.f had one d2.ughter vlho a.ftervio.rds hecar:ce my wife, she was Mary Sanderson. He owned a good deal of land across the river from Hayesville there~ He drov-2 a pair of horses in there in new ground across tb.e ri1rer one day to get a load of wood.~ He stood up between the front viheel B.nd the hind V'1heel untying the lines arvJ one of the horses wD.s yo1Jng ang and sl;::iddi.sh an' ,jumped and jerked the back v1.rheels on the v-ragcn again.st :,Villian San= derson's legs ~nd knocked the old fella down.0Q~hj_s chest hit the t:op o:f o.. stump r\nd he i.vas dead in a, fev{ days~ So her first tvio h1Jsban.ds ,. ,, .,, Bartlesoni Died j1Jstbthe serne l!V8:'J, just abo1.1t., Adams~ )feaht died of accidents. And J.ater on she married a local Methodist preacher who lived over here in Nacoocha Valley section, that had some grown children. I don't kr1ovv how they happened to meet 1-,1,p,, She m2,rried the third time and didn't have any children, ,,But some of her.wathe man that she married the third time was named Virge Robison. He was still here wher1 I came here, He told rn_e a great deal about this section, Anyhcw. "~v1hen they could .. n' t get a place an:'{'Nhere else, they thought they d have a. place up here on the state line,, ,was gonna build a schoolhouse on the coun.ty line not the state line: cot1nty line betvree_n Tov1ns and Union ff draw mcr,.ey for the .YJ_ffW missionary school fror11 both countwrs. o .But the folks that JJ.-ved on this sid0.~~There vras this old maid sister to the doctor that lived here. Ovvned tl1e land on this side~ She didn't i.Nant the children sent there to school. Children runnin' around bothering her a.pp1es and watermelon patch an' stuff. So, she inouldn 't gi1re them any J.a,nd~ So, uh~~" they decided they ~Nan.ted to btd.ld the school on the la.nd line~ And the ccmmittee came here to see Mrs. Robison who had been Lois Hanes j ma:cried Doctor Stevens and then Lois Stevens and then Loj_s Sanderson 2.nd v..rns now Mrs. Loi2. Robison. They came to see her one da:'f ax1 ~Nanted. to get land~ She h2. .1 .:1 a good d22J_ _ cf ls.rid around hsre; 11 specially mountain lan.d tJ1a.t at first Doctor Steven_s cv.rned. He 'f12s uh.,~~ pretty wel1- to-do, and her second husba~d Stevens ... uh .. ~Sanderson, was well-to-do, for the people in this country, They came to see her and she told them to, come back t}1e next day, she'd study about it. Sb.e came back. Seems that St2phens, Docteir, hs,d do.1.te sold his la.nd, five acres of j_ t right up here~ The line crossed -th.ruogh whs.t' s, ,. , uh~ . @ "beyond tl1.e chapel they got up there no1,-v, tc the Methodist church with the v.nde:cstanding that if it had ever ceased to Oe 1J.sed as a church that the land would revert to his estate. So.a. 1Nhen they mo,.red~ ~uh. e ~the Oak Forest Methodist church from here 8.nt called if Zion, the 1and went back to Mrs~ Robison. And she told them shetd sell 'em.She 0 d give 0 em that five acres of ls,nd and they could build a schcolhotlse UlJ there where that Oak Forest church had been. Novsr , I remember hsarl.n_g my 1,n1cle and my father talk abol,1t ~shey h2.d 8.'~_8.st got 3, pla.ce~ a whad at last built a church on the place u~p here g You see, I 1.vasn ~ t but six :{ears old v.rl1en. they had their first cl8.SS up here 1 but .it was four or five 2/ears aster that before the=.r really got 2.nyth.'.:.ng here m much~ rnhD' h".'.\ :i -'- 1,.-s r class in J.886 in an old storehouse dowm- 1., .,~J ._o.C. \,J_cJ _ here that bA lor_ged to Doctor Ste1rens and or:.e of these Hunt men_ that v,as a brother to the man v1ho o-iNned a store dov,nu. heree ]{e ha.d had a store there in an old house.~.cross the street just next to v:here the :Steverts storehouse is~ There's a plate there :you may have noticed~ Bartleson: I don't think I have, _/\_dams: V!el1~ it .sa.ys the first c12.sses of Young Harris college was held on these grot~.nds. That v-1as in eighty-six, Bartleson, Did your father live here then? Adams: No,11~I .. ~ .. was~,-,I'1ly father never did live up here, but chv.rch v>Jhere You11.g Harris carn.e and tool<: collection or one thi.ng or the other. Well~ in eighty-six they had their first classes out there, I ,11culdn' t be b1_.,1t six years old the.n. But later c,,n there, I hes.rd my father a:1.d :JncJ.e t:1lking a heap about they' ed es~-- t.si.blished a mi.ssj_on school up hers, an vvhen they~d estabJJ.sh= ed it tll.ey did.n_ ~ t call it Young Ha.rris ~ They called it b"Iactier, for old Bis].1 op M.s.ctier that~ d belonged to the f;1ethodist church. Aroun.d frorD about eighty=s1x~ 11p to about the Mactier InstitutB. liad a class s3.t down there in eighty-six and e3.ghty-seven~ They built a. building up there wh~re the old ch'ur::h ha.d been., And a fevr folJcs arouJ.r.d here took on borders and moved here to send their chil_dren to,shool.This fella l2w, built a,.~what he called the Hunt Hotelw And uh.~.the tov-rn and the su-hool an' everything, ~ . postooffice o ~ was MacT:i8r ~ By about nini~ty, uh .. , 1 about eighty=nine or ni.n-sty, this young v11as ta.kin' more ir1terest in this school up here; than anybody else. They had a bunch of students 'round right where I was raised. And sight of their home where I was raised, They came heTe to school and I k:nevr Ella Sanderson -::t.nd Vlilly Sancl. erson, the Hs.wks boys, B1J.d Mann, amongst them vvas t:p here at Youn/; Harrsi.here, goin' to school* to do something to honor his wife" Since he'd taken so much interest up here, he decided to b1Jild a. church up here so uh,,, .. they got up here 2.bove what 1ve call. Coo bags falls m.ade bricks, burned ~em~ Bartleson; there some clay deposits where the:l could :make J3r:tck 1 A-darr1.s i Yes g they j1..,1st went into the side of a hiJ.l a,ncJ. got the red dirt out and uh~" ~they had. a big broad p1a.nJ;: petitioned across it that four sections big enough to hold a brick. They'd fill that up full of~.6well.~.mixed up red clay. ~nd they had anwhole acre of gro1JJ1.d that v,ra"s aftervrards used as a baseball feild, justbleveled smooth and packed down.They'd take that box that hac1 poured. brick in it; turn it bottom t1p. It dries quick and the bricks, be just fourof 'em. Be just brick J..ayun there, s1_}n-dried, Tha:t v1as out, a~d they I ed put thern in a br7-ck kill~ e ~uh." ,;a furnace 1r.rith a 1~1eap of openings in lt a.nd they bt1ild a. fire dov1n there and they'ed burn it, B3.rtlesont rr1hey'ec1. kiln the brick? Adams: YPah, they killed the brick, A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access. 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. 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