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Samuel Hugh Hawkins diary, January-July 1877
Diary of Samuel Hugh Hawkins, Sumter County entrepreneur during the close of Reconstruction.
More About This Collection
Creator
Hawkins, S. H. (Samuel Hugh), 1835-1905
Publisher
Diary held by: Lake Blackshear Regional Library, Americus, Ga.
Date of Original
1877-01/1877-07
Subject
Hawkins, S. H. (Samuel Hugh), 1835-1905
Americus Fair Association
Bank of Americus
Bethel Baptist Church (Americus, Ga.)
Georgia State Agricultural Society
United States. Electoral Commission (1877)
Georgia State Agricultural Society (1877 : Milledgeville, Ga.)
Agriculture--Georgia--Societies, etc.
Bankers--Georgia--Americus
Contested elections--United States
Cultivators--Marketing--History--19th century
Fairs--Georgia
Lawyers--Georgia
Presidents--United States--Election--1876
Race relations--Southern States
Real property--Georgia--Sumter County
Reconstruction--Georgia
Americus (Ga.)--Politics and government--1865-1950
Americus (Ga.)--Religious life and customs--History--19th century
Sumter County (Ga.)--Politics and government--1865-1950
Location
United States, Georgia, Sumter County, Americus, 32.07239, -84.23269
Medium
journals (accounts)
diaries
Type
Text
Description
The Samuel Hugh Hawkins Diary, January - July 1877, donated by Georgia State Senator George Hooks to the Lake Blackshear Regional Library System, chronicles Americus, Georgia entrepreneur, lawyer, and banker Samuel Hawkins' financial, agricultural, civic, and religious activities in Sumter County during the final months of Reconstruction. Diary entries briefly illustrate Hawkins' work at the Bank of Americus and his real estate interests in the county. Having an interest in agriculture and horticulture, Hawkins describes his participation in the Sumter County Agricultural Society and Horticulture Society, attendance at the 1877 Georgia State Agricultural Society meeting in Milledgeville, entrepreneurial interest in the Bell Cultivator, and role in the founding of the Americus Fair Association. While later known for his role as president of the Savannah, Americus and Montgomery Railroad Company, Hawkins mentions railroad issues only in passing. An active member of Bethel Baptist Church (later Americus Baptist Church), Hawkins records his religious observances throughout the journal. On a national level, Hawkins comments on the contested presidential election of 1876 and the resulting presidency of Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes. Locally, he chronicles city and county elections and appointments to the constitutional convention, the efforts of an emigrant agent to lure local African Americans to Louisiana as contract laborers as well as events surrounding the murder of a white woman by an African American man. The site also contains related links, suggested readings, a historical note, and biographical notes of the figures mentioned in the diary.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Title from title screen (viewed Feb. 11, 2004).
Includes bibliographical references.
Digital image of original manuscripts, scanned by the Digital
Library of Georgia in 2003.
Holding Institution
Juanita S. Brightwell Special Collections, Lake Blackshear Regional Library
Rights