Monthly Archives: September 2011

AGED WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH

NEWSPAPER ABSTRACTS FROM “THE CLEBURNE NEWS, Heflin, Cleburne County, Alabama

for JULY 1919

AGED WOMAN BURNED TO DEATH

News of the horrible death of Mrs. Brown, wife of W.Z. [William Zealous] Brown on Heflin, route 8, near Lecta on Monday was brought to town on Wednesday morning by Mr. W.J. Bell. According to the report, Mrs. Brown was in the act of starting a fire in the stove preparatory to cooking dinner and in pouring kerosene on the hot coals in the stove, the blaze ignited the oil in the can causing an explosion, enveloping the unfortunate woman in a solid mass of flame, all of her clothing being burned off with the exception of the waistband of her skirt. Although her entire body was burned to a solid crisp, Mrs. Brown strugged to the well not far away and poured dipperfull after dipperfull of water on her head and body. Continue reading →

Settling Atlanta

Painting of White Hall Inn by William G. Kurtz

Charner Humphries (1795-1855) was brother to my G-G-G-G-Great Grandfather, John Humphries.  He was among the first settlers of the Atlanta area.  John followed him to the area.  Charner opened an inn/tavern near the railroad; which was called White Hall because it was the first/only painted building.  It became a central hub for the town of it’s namesake (Whitehall), before Marthasville (Atlanta) was established.  Elections, meetings and events were held there.  The area later became the section of Atlanta called West End (because of Atlanta’s encroachment).  It’s namesake, Whitehall Street still runs through the area. Continue reading →

Grave Robbers!

Recently I uncovered some interesting information about the Smith family … they were grave robbers! Not really, of course, but here’s the story.

According to the story of William Glidden in the book History of Clarendon from 1810 to 1888 (aka Copeland’s Clarendon) by David Sturges Copeland:  William Glidden and Abijah Smith were among the first settlers in an area which would be called Clarendon in Orleans County, New York.  It was the early 1800s.  William recalls that he and Abijah, with Noah Sweet, acquired their land by relocating some primitive graves to a central burying ground (Glidden burying-ground, where this Smith family was later burried) for the land owners (Poultney company).   Wm. states that the graves had no caskets, but they were given shrouds to wrap the bodies in as they were exhumed for relocation.  “We sat up with the dead, and cats would come in at times,” he says.  Abijah “took up two lots” and left the land to his son James A. Smith.  Abijah also built the saw mill on William’s land.  (Clarendon was an ideal place for mills because of the creeks running through the area; also a waterfall nearby.)

James A. Smith became a respected figure in Clarendon, holding several elected positions in the town including the school board.  He also wrote a mathematics textbook to be used in the schools at about age 20.  The only known existing copy is held by my uncle, James Smith.  James A. was the father of Amos Smith; father of James A. L. Smith; father of Fisk Smith Sr.

Read the full account here:  History of Clarendon from 1810 to 1888