The Steele Brothers of Georgia

The Steele Brothers

of

Henry County Georgia

Their Ancestors

Their Descendants 

and

The Steele Family Legacy

Commemorating

The

Steele Family Reunion

June 22, 2013

Montgomery, Alabama

A project to be continued

 by the next generations

 of The Steele Family

Resources and Rreferences

Resources and References –

Ancestry.com.

 Fold 3.com.

Google Search

Find A Grave.com.

Family Search.com

First Families of Henry County Georgia,  

     By the Genealogical Society of Henry & Clayton Counties, GA, Inc.

“Steele Away” by Helen Parker Steele, June 30, 1996

Henry County Historical Museum, Brown House, McDonough, GA

Nash Farm Battlefield Museum, Hampton, GA

“Sherman’s Horsemen”, by David Evans

Mark Pollard, Civil War Historian and Re-enactor at Nash Farm Battlefield Museum

“Battle of Atlanta” article in “Atlanta Magazine”, November 2008, 

    about Mark Pollard, by Bill Banks

Dr. Jim Latimer, Stockbridge, GA, Gunter family descendant and historian

Georgia State Archives, Morrow, GA

South Carolina State Archives, Columbia, SC

“Before Freedom – When I just can remember”

     1930 Writer’s Project of former slave interviews

Fairfield County SC Museum, Winnsboro, SC

Charleston Library, SC History Room, Charleston, SC

The Confederate Museum, Charleston, SC
Pendleton, SC (Pickens County) Museum

Horry County SC Public Library, North Myrtle Beach, SC

Chapin Public Library, Myrtle Beach, SC

Myrtle Beach Genealogy Society, Myrtle Beach, SC

Small town of Steele’s Tavern, VA

Lexington, VA historical cemetery

Tinkling Springs Presbyterian Church historical cemetery, Staunton, VA

Frontier Culture Museum, Staunton, VA

Woodrow Wilson Presidential home and library, Staunton, VA

“Reflections on America’s Heritage”, by the American Cultural Foundation

“A Social History of Scotch-Irish” by Carlton Jackson

Steele Family knowledge and history                                                                                             

Origin of the name Steele

Origin of the name Steele –

Recorded as Steel, Steele, Steeles, Stell, Stelle, and probably others in Anglo-Scottish. It has a number of possible origins. Firstly, it may derive from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "style" meaning steel, and was an occupational name for a foundry worker, one who worked with steel.

It may also have originated as a nickname for one who was firm to the point of obstinacy or one able to absorb the rigours of life, "as hard and durable as steel", or for someone reliable "as true as steel". 

It may also be of English and Scottish locational origin from places called Steel in Ayshire, Berwickshire and Dumfrieshire in Scotland, and Northumberland, Westmorland and Shropshire in England. As an examples Steel in Northumberland was recorded as "Le Stele" in the Assize Court Rolls of 1269, and in Shropshire as "stile" in the Domesday Book of 1086. 

The name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "stigol," a stile or steep ascent. On October 27th 1548, Sybell Steele, was christened at the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, London. 

The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Stel which was dated 1206, in the "Pipe Rolls of Oxfordshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. 

Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Records kept in olden times were written like it sounded.  Therefore, many Steeles had their names recorded with or without the last "e".  Or, as it sounded "Still" as seen on some Civil War maps, records and by Census takers.

Wouldn't you know -- we all got labeled with last names because of "taxes".

Dates and places had a better chance of being recorded correctly, which is a tremendous help for historians.  

How Did Our Steeles Get To South Carolina and Georgia?

How Did Our Steeles Get To South Carolina and Georgia?

Update May 30, 2016 -- Please refer to most recent Post 25 and 26 for details.  Further research has revealed how the Steeles got to South Carolina and Georgia.  

On January 5, 1768 Robert Steele (Steil) and his family arrived in Charleston, SC aboard the Brigantine Chichester after sailing from Belfast, Northern Ireland.  They came under the SC Bounty Act, a scheme whereby Protestants were solicited to immigrate and create settlements at least 100 miles or more inland from Charleston.  They particularly desired Scott-Irish people who were Christians, hard workers and would establish a barrier between Indian territory and the British settlements along the coast.

Robert Steele's family consisted of himself born in 1740, his wife Margaret born 1729, Nelly born 1754, James born in 1760, Henry born in 1763 and Elizabeth born in 1764.

They were awarded 350 acres and about 18 pounds Sterling in Fairfield County, SC near Winnsboro on a tributary of the Little River.

Robert Steele's son, James Steele and his wife Elizabeth Ann Carr Steele had 6 children.  Their son, William Steele, is the ancestor of the Steele's of Georgia.  He was born Oct 12, 1796 and died May 15, 1832 at age 36 in Charleston, SC.

Please refer to the most recent posts to learn about Robert Steele's journey to the United States and the lives of James Steele's family.  
And the rest is history . . . . 

Most likely, they entered the port of Philadelphia and came down one of the routes shown on the map below.  A long and extensive, exhaustive research has not been able to answer either of these questions precisely.  A summation can be gleaned from the pattern of Scotch-Irish and English who immigrated to the New World.  The reasons for immigration are many, primarily because of the many hardships, struggles and religious differences of the people in the old country.  They knew of free land and a new life in a new country.  As areas got crowded and the farm land got worn out, they kept moving south. 

One thing that is almost certain:

The Steele's are Scotch-Irish! For which we can be proud! 

A few of many Migration Routes of settlers to The New World

Our Scotch-Irish ancestors probably originated in England and Scotland or near the border of those two countries, where many remain today, but many were sent or moved to Northern Ireland because of their political and religious differences and not being willing to pledge to the Crown.  They did not like working for a King or Lord and did not believe in building big palaces for a house of worship.  Most were what we know today as Presbyterians but as they merged into the American life, some changed to other Christian denominations. 

Some 100 years or so prior to finding a George Steele living in Lexington County, Columbia, South Carolina, the 1608 - 1620 Census of County Cavan in the Ulster Plantation Ireland  reveals that in the Precinct of Castlerain, now Barony of Castlerahan, granted to Servitors and natives precinct of Clanchie/Clanchy, now Barony of Clankee, granted to Scottish Undertakers one of which is the following:
As Undertaker,  STEELE, George, wife, Eliza and his daughter Mary

An Undertaker is defined as a man, often of aristocracy, who was granted one or more proportions of land, each of a thousand acres or more which it was his duty to settle people, develop and defend in the manner prescribed by the Crown.  The Undertaker often lived some distance from the property, sometimes as far as England or Scotland.  Some came and took residence.

County Cavan, Ulster Plantation, is actually in the country of what is today is Ireland, not Northern Ireland.  It is located on the border of the two countries.  It is known as the Lakes and Rivers district.  This was farm country like they had left in Lowland Scotland.  There was a thriving business of linen, flax, hog, cattle and dairy farming.

The Lowland or Border area of Scotland and England from where they had come is Ayrshire, Scotland.  It was and still is a farming area and the breadbasket of the British Isles.

There were many reasons these Scots were forced to leave Ayrshire , Scotland  and establish settlements in Ireland.  They refused to pledge to the Crown, the Catholic church or the Church of England.  They had a bad reputation of being cattle and sheep rustlers and became in disfavor to Royalty and the aristocrats.  The Crown wanted the land they occupied to enlarge their farms and land holdings.  So these Scots were commanded to go to Ireland.  From Ireland they were ask to bring with them as many head of cattle as they could steal.    They were promised land in large proportions categorized as follows:
      A Pole = 24 acres
      A Pottle = 1/4 of a pole or 6 acres
      Great Proportion = 2,000 acres
     Middle Proportion = 1,500 acres
      Small Proportion = 1,000 acres

This research indicates that most likely our Steele’s were apart of these settlers in Ulster  Plantation Ireland and sailed from Belfast, Northern Ireland entering at the port of Philadelphia.    They moved west to the rich farm land of Pennsylvania.

When that area became crowed with more immigrants primarily from Germany the majority began to move south down through Virginia, North and South Carolina and into Georgia by way of or a combination of the known routes.

Martha Steele was born in South Carolina in 1800, so her family and that of her husband, William Steele, born in Virginia would have arrived in the New World by the late 1700's.  This means they were already settled in America when the Great Potato Famine blight between 1845 - 1849 took place.  Records show the Winter of 1847 was particularly noted for the high levels of deaths in County Cavan caused by disease such as typhus and cholera.

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia has many indications that the Steele’s were in there.  In Staunton, Augusta County, Lexington, Steele’s Tavern, VA and at the Tinkling Springs Presbyterian Church, there are many old Steele graves in cemeteries but very few Steele’s listed in the phone books.  Staunton, VA was the center of the original Augusta Plantation where many settlers moved to after moving south from Pennsylvania .  

Farms in Ireland were called “plantations” and immigrants continued that practice in the New World.  The 1830 Census of William Steele in Charleston indicated he was born in Virginia, but we may never know where.  

Some Steele’s came through the port of Charleston, SC.  A family link to our Steele’s could not be documented.

                                     

 New Scotch-Irish immigrants arrived by the thousands during the 12 years preceding the American Revolution and by the time of the Revolution there were 600,000 Scots-Irish in America.  They were tired of the constant rent increases in Ulster and had heard of the cheap or free land in the new world. 

During the French and Indian War, immigration practically stopped; it started up again in the late 1760’s and by 1770’s it was a flood tide.   Maybe our Steele’s arrived in at the port of Philadelphia, PA, traveled through Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia by the late 1700’s.  Thirty or forty ships were constantly crossing the Atlantic bringing immigrants to the eastern ports. Ship Captains were assigned the duty to advertise in the Irish newspapers for immigrants to go to the new land.  The Captains were paid for each immigrant family they brought to the new land. 

States like South Carolina needed and wanted more settlements toward the west and promised the Scotch-Irish 300 acres of land, 20 Shillings and supplies to establish settlements inland.  Actually, the truth was, they wanted the strong and hardy Scotch-Irish to settle between the Indians and the British settlements along the coast.  They knew the strong and hardy Scotch-Irish would fight the Indians and protect their settlements.

By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed there were 500 Scotch-Irish communities in American and all had a Presbyterian Church.  Seven of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Scotch-Irish.   Nine of the governors of the original 13 colonies were Scotch-Irish.  They were patriots and fought for our freedom and for the establishment of America.

For that:

We, Steeles can all be very proud

 and forever thankful for our ancestors.

Where Did The Georgia Steele's Come From?

Where IN SOUTH CAROLINA

 did Martha Steele come from ?

Martha Steele and her 5 children were the first of our Steele's to come to Henry County, Georgia between 1835 -1839 from South Carolina.  Where did she live in South Carolina?  The answer to that question has never been answered with certainty.

NOTE:  2015 New information found. 
Please go to latest Post 8
"William G Steele found in Charleston, South Carolina" 1820 and 1830 Census.
William G Steele was a wealthy lumber merchant in Charleston and built a large historic mansion.  According to the records at the Charleston County Courthouse it appears that Martha and William separated and he remarried.  Martha must have gotten a monetary settlement and moved with her 5 children to Henry County,Georgia where she had Smith family relatives already there.   

The following theories are probably not true.

An old family story indicates the Steele’s came from near the present day State Capital of South Carolina, which could be anywhere in the vicinity of Columbia, SC, which includes Richland, Fairfax or Lexington Counties, Saxe-Gotha or Congaree Townships along the Congaree River. 

Thousands of Steele families either settled or passed through South and North Carolina and many were found in this area.   The absence of accurate preserved records and the repetition of names through generations as in “William Steele” makes connecting family histories almost impossible. 

An extensive search of Steele’s in South Carolina showed there were many Steele settlers all over the state.  Some immigrated through Charleston and were part of South Carolina’s westward settlement plan to place Scotch Irish settlers in the upstate area to fight off the Indians.  Others were early immigrants from  Essex County England and were founders of Hartford, Connecticut.  A William Steele, from a later generation migrated south to Pickens County, Pendleton, SC.  No documented connection to our Steele’s could be found.

One promising record shows a Steele family in Lexington County, at present day Columbia, SC, which fits the old family story that they were in Columbia, SC.  This is documented in a book, “The Steeles of Old Lex”, by Lee R. Gandee.  They would have arrived in the early 1700’s.  

The first Steele noted in the now Columbia, SC area was Honorius “Onarius” or “Onnie Steele.   Two of his sons were Isaiah Steele and George Steele. 

George was born early enough to fight in the Revolutionary War.  He owned land which is today part of downtown Columbia from present day Gervais Street.  The house stood on the site of White’s Department Store and the back of his land fronted on the Congaree River.  It has been said he is buried somewhere on the SC State House grounds, no grave has been found.  He had 8 sons and 2 daughters.  Most of the sons left Columbia and settled in other parts of the state and some called themselves Steele, Still or Stills.  He died in 1820 or 1821.  

The 1810 Census lists him as Major William Steele, but the original census record clearly shows it was Major George Steele.  This was rightly corrected on Ancestry.com by professional genealogist, Shirley Booth-Byerly of Robertsdale, AL, to Major George Steel.  Was there a William Steele, or George's son?  This Census shows that George Steele had a household of 6 members, 4 males and 2 females, and 15 slaves.

 This George Steele operated a boat freight hauling service from Columbia to Charleston using flat pole boats and 6 Negro slaves.  These pole boats were narrow and up to 80 feet long.  The slaves rowed down river and poled the boats back up river.  The boats were loaded at the banks of the Congaree River, which joined the Broad River and other rivers to make the route to Charleston.  

These boats carried 75 to 80 bales of cotton, weighing about 300 pounds each.  The trip took a week one way.  On the return trip back up river, they brought supplies such as coffee and sugar back from Charleston. 

A verbal account of this freight hauling operation is documented in the book, “Before Freedom – When I Just Can Remember” edited by Belinda Hurmence.  This book is the results of the 1930 Federal Writer’s Project who recorded interviews with slaves.  One account was given by Caldwell Sims, an 82 year old former slave, who recorded what he remembered about the pole boats.

If this George Steele is part of our Steele family, it would make a connection to possibly one of his sons, William Steele, who married Martha, living in Charleston Fourth Ward in and 1830.   Other family stories have indicated that “our Steele’s” came from Charleston, SC.  Perhaps the following 1830 Census record could be “our William Steele” living in Charleston, SC in 1830.

The following information is now confirmed in 2015:

The August 7, l830 US census of the 4^th Ward Charleston, SC shows -

William Steele with the appropriate number and age of Martha’s family members to possibly be our William Steele. 

One free white male under 5 – Could be Henry Smith Steele, b.1821

Two free white males age 5 – 9 – Could be Robert b. 1823 & William G. b. 1827

One free white male age 30 – 39 – Could be William Steele b. about 1796 in Virginia 

One free white female under 5 – Could be Martha Jane b. 1829

One free white female age 5 – 9 ?

One free white female age 20 – 29 – Could be Martha Steele b. about 1800 in South Carolina

One free white female age 70 – 79 - ?  Could be a mother or grandmother

One free colored female age 10 – 23 – house maid?

One female slave age 10 – 23 – Slave girl?

The speculation that this could be a family connection is enhanced by a somewhat modified naming pattern of the Scotch Irish.  Martha and William’s 3^rd son was William George Steele.

The 1840 US Census of the 4th Ward Charleston, SC does not show William Steele.  So apparently something happened to him within those 10 years.

The 4^th Ward of Charleston in 1830 was bounded east by the Cooper River, south by Hasell Street, west by Anson Street, north by Boundary Street.  This would be the oldest part of Charleston and near the shipping docks.   

During this time Charleston was plagued by diseases, yellow fever, fires, slave uprisings and many problems.  It is possible that if Martha and William did live in Charleston, he could have died as the results of many things. No record could be found regarding his death or burial in Charleston. 

When Martha Steele arrived in Henry County, Georgia she had money to purchase a farm.  It would be likely her deceased husband had a lucrative business or had  property to sell to provide his widow with money.                                       

If this Charleston connection is true, then after William’s death Martha could have moved her family back upstate to around the Columbia area and then moved to Georgia.   Or, she could have remained in Charleston and moved directly from there to Henry County, Georgia between 1835 and 1840.  

Travel by railroad was established by this time both between Charleston and the upstate area of South Carolina and to Georgia, through Augusta, GA. Or, well established trails could have been followed.  Records show there were other Steele families already settled in Henry County, which was opened up for settlement in 1820. Settlers were on the move westward, seeking better farm land and a new life.

 And, the rest is history of our Georgia Steele's and the beginning of a long line of very strong willed and minded women and men in the Steele Family.

The Steele Families and The Civil War

The Steele families of Henry County deeply felt the effects of the Civil War.  Their men joined the Georgia Militia very early, went off to fight in Virginia and other locations, leaving their families home alone to fend for themselves.   Many lost their lives and many came home after the war to find their farms, homes and crop land destroyed.

The Steele families of the Mount Camel were very close to the battles of Lovejoy Station and Sherman's March to the Sea.  (See Posts:  "Sherman Slept Here" and "Nash Farm Battlefield". 

Walter Simeon Steele told his granddaughter, Dorothy, Morton Steele's oldest daughter, the story of how he was playing in the yard and a Yankee rode up on his horse and yelled at his Ma, Mary Ann Steele, and said, "Woman, you had better get that boy in the house or the Yankees will get him".  He ran in the house and hid, scared to death. 

His father, Robert Steele, had already died as a result of illness or injury from serving in the 85th GA Militia.   The family resided in the Mount Carmel area near the battlegrounds.

1864 Map by Edgar Rugar and reproduced in 1895
The "Still" Steele home site can be seen just under the words 'Old Mill'
These battle lines are just a few of many battles fought in this area

Please refer to other post regarding the Civil War

Georgia Civil War Soldiers Index - 

Soldiers named Steele

Nash Farm Battlefield and Museum

Nash Farm Battlefield of Henry County Georgia

There were at least four military engagements in the Lovejoy and Mount Carmel vicinity over the period from July - November 1864.

These include:  

 A Confederate attack on McCook’s U S Calvary in July 1864.

 Kilpatrick’s Raid/Minty’s Charge against the Texas Cavalry in August 1864. 

The main Infantry Battle of Lovejoy Station in early September 1864, which pitted the entire armies under Major Generals Sherman and William Bell Hood. 

Kilpatrick’s “Right flank” engagement at Lovejoy and Bear Creek (Hampton)  in November 1864.

Portions of these battlefields have been preserved at the Henry County GA Nash Battlefield Park, a public park owned and managed by the Henry County Board of Commissioners
 770 288-6001  A Museum is located inside the original farm house which contains Civil War artifacts, local history displays, reference material and books.

Located at 100 Babbs Mill Road - Hampton, Georgia

In the summer of 1864, toward the end of the Battle of Atlanta and Jonesboro, Georgia, large battles were fought in Henry and Clayton Counties and particularly at and near Lovejoy Station. 

Atlanta had been captured, burned and evacuated, but somehow the Confederates were still receiving supplies up the Macon and Western Railroad from the South commanded by General John B Hood.

General Sherman sent 2 battalions south to cut off this supply line and destroy the railroads.  One circled around to the west through Newnan, Fairburn and Palmetto to destroy the Atlanta and West Point Railroad.    They continued east along the McDonough Fayetteville Road areas toward the Mount Carmel area, where the Steele family lived, to destroy the Macon and Western Railroad near Lovejoy Station. Another battalion came down the railroad from Atlanta.       

General Sherman sent his Cavalry Corps to Henry and Clayton Counties.

The Union forces were from Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio, made up from men from many states that had joined together. 

The Confederate Forces were from Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia, however many of the local men were off fighting battles in other states.

1864 Map by Edgar Rugar and reproduced in 1895 showing the Lovejoy Station battle lines near the "Still" Steele home and the Nash Farm

During these battles, Gen. Sherman used the Steele-Gunter House as his headquarters which is located by the railroad just north of the Nash Battlefield.

  (See Post "Gen. Sherman Slept Here)

Painting of the Steele-Gunter House by Steele family member, Judy Upchurch
This painting is displayed in the Nash Farm Museum
 along with additional information about Gen. Sherman's stay at the house

 The railroad was destroyed and General Sherman retreated back to Atlanta to prepare for his March to the Sea and give President Lincoln Savannah as a Christmas present.    

1864 U S Battlefield Map by Engineer Orlando Poe - Reproduced in 1877
The Nash Farm is noted near the red battle line

The Battlefields around Lovejoy's station, Mt Carmel Church, 

Liberty Hill Church  and the Macon and Western Railroad

THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY of THE NASH FARM SITE   - Although it is in Henry County,  at one time, all or part of the Nash Farm was located in Clayton County, which was created in 1858 from Henry and Fayette County.  The original east line of the county ran between Land Lots 121 and 122, rather than 122 and 123 as it does today.  The line was adjusted in the mid twentieth century.  Originally, all of this land was part of Henry County, which was created in 1821 from lands acquired from the Creek Indian Tribe  in the Treaty of Indian Springs in 1821.  The land was surveyed into 202.5-acre lots that were distributed in a lottery to qualified citizens of Georgia.  The winner of these lots usually sold them to interested parties rather than settle the land themselves.

Nash Farm Battlefield and Museum Contact Information -

A Community Building is available for functions.  

                                                 

  Nash Farm Battlefield                    

100 Babbs Mill Road

Hampton, Georgia 30228

Contact email  nashfarmbattlefieldmuseum@gmail.com. 

Web Site www.henrycountybattlefield.com.

 Henry County Board of Commissioners 770 288-6001

Park Hours: Daily -8:00 AM  -  11:00 PM                                                                                                                        

Museum Hours: Friday & Saturday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Directions:

From Atlanta, GA     I-75 South, Exit 221, Jonesboro Road

(the 2nd Jonesboro Road exit located in Henry County). - go west 6 miles. Nash Farm on your left. .

From Macon, GA    I-75 North, exit 221 and go west approximately 6 miles.  Nash Farm will be on your left.  Parking is on Babbs Mill Road.

From Hwy 19/41 at Hastings Bridge  Cross over the railroad bridge, take first LEFT onto McDonough Road, and go EAST a few miles.  Nash Farm Battlefield will be on the RIGHT.  Turn right onto Babbs Mill Road to park.                  

Maps and battle information furnished courtesy of Civil War Historian and Re-enactor, Mark Pollard, and the Nash Farm Battlefield Museum

This is "Gone With The Wind" Country

"Gone With The Wind" Country - Henry and Clayton Counties, Georgia

1864 Map by Edgar Rugar - Reproduced in 1895

Note the Mount Carmel area on the map showing Liberty Hill Church and the ("Still") Steele  name near the road, to the right of Lovejoy's Sta.  This was the Steele family home.  Back then, words and names were often written as they sounded.

Look near the top of the map, near the railroad and the Hebron Ch for the name "Fitzgerald" listed twice on what is known today as Tara Road.   (See the post "Civil War Gen. Sherman slept here at the Gunter-Steele house which was located on the right side of the railroad. )

This was Margaret Mitchell’s great grandfather, Philip Fitzgerald’s, plantation.   He emigrated from Tipperary County, Ireland and settled in Fayetteville, GA. in 1831 and began buying land.   In 1861 Fitzgerald  owned 2,527 acres of land and 35 slaves.  Could he have become Gerald O’Hara in the book?

The legend has it that Margaret Mitchell’s grandmother, Annie Fitzgerald Stephens, kept a diary about the Yankees raiding their plantation and told young Margaret stories of “The War of Northern Aggression” which gave Margaret Mitchell the idea to write the book, “Gone With The Wind.”  Mitchell biographer Darden Asbury Pyron in his book "Southern Daughter",  Mitchell wrote the first draft of her book from memory. This was how she past the time while recuperating from a leg injury and had time off from her writing  job at the Atlanta Newspaper. Her Tara had no white columns but was Rural Home a typical  North Georgia Piedmont farm house which the Fitzgeralds enlarged and built guest houses on the property.

These stories would have been about the Yankee battalions approaching Lovejoy Station from the west to destroy the railroad.  Was a Yankee shot on the steps and did they actually  hide a few treasures  in the pig pen.

When the battle was over, the Fitzgerald farm stood raped and silent, fields stripped, its slaves and animals gone and the house emptied of most valuables.  But, Eleanor Fitzgerald's dark velvet drapes still hung defiantly at the windows, as seen in many sketches about Miss Scarlett using them for a dress.  Eleanor Fitzgerald  retrieved a few small treasures that were buried under the pig house in an old tea caddy.  Philip Fitzgerald, then 66, began all over again with no slaves, no food and only 3 of his daughters and an ailing wife at home to help with the work.

The Fitzgerald’s  attended the Hebron Church which is well documented. 

Margaret Mitchell lived in Atlanta and visited her relatives often at the Fitzgerald House on Tara Road which she also called the Rural House.  It was passed down through the Fitzgerald,  Mitchell and Stephens families' generations.   This is thought of to be the "real Tara".  A subdivision now sits on this old house site on the southwest corner of Tara Road and Folsom Road.  Tara Road turns off of Tara Boulevard Hwy 19-41.  Tara country for sure.

Margaret Mitchell always declared her book was totally fiction, but her family history and  civil war knowledge most likely would have been a strong inspiration for the book. 

(Author's personal note:  As a child growing up in the Gunter-Steele, house I remember visiting a playmate of the Stephens family who lived in the Fitzgerald House at the time.  The Stephen's were related by marriage to the Mitchell's. It was a fun playhouse, complete with a secret passage and giant boulders for climbing  in the yard. A separate small building was across the road that was the Fitzgerald children's school house.)

About 1981 when the house had to be moved to make way for the housing development, it was purchased by the wife of Georgia State Senator Herman Talmage, Mrs. Betty Talmage.  She had it moved to the pasture of her home near Lovejoy, GA, known as the Crawford-Talmage House.  Her plan was to have a "Gone With The Wind" museum.  Her plan was never accomplished before her death, but there is The Road to Tara Museum in the Old Train Station and in the Stately Oaks Plantation house in Jonesboro, GA.  The Margaret Mitchell House & Museum in mid-town Atlanta is open for tours where you can visit the small apartment where she lived while writing the book.

Local lore has always been that the  Crawford-Talmage House near Lovejoy was the inspiration for the Hollywood set of Tara.   The Crawford plantation home is shown on the map near the red battle lines.   The Crawford plantation once covered several thousand acres. 

None of the movie was filmed in Henry or Clayton County Georgia except the opening scenes of laborers picking cotton in the fields.  The entire set was built on Hollywood's back lots.  Mrs. Talmage also purchased some of the set pieces which are now in the possession of her heirs and still in storage.  

Shown above and below is the Fitzgerald House 

which Margaret Mitchell referred to as the "Rural House"
Was this the real Tara? 

 Above is the Crawford-Talmage House, a private home, near Lovejoy, GA

 and below is the Hollywood set of Tara.

"Gone With The Wind" is far from gone --
 It lives on forever all over the world.

Civil War Major Gen. William T Sherman Slept Here - The Steele-Gunter House

The Steele-Gunter House

This is the former farm and home of Morton and Myrtle Steele from 1942 - 1982.

The house is located in Clayton County Georgia, 3 miles south of Jonesboro and across the railroad from Tara Blvd, Hwy 19-41, at an area known in the past as Orr's Crossing.  

The site is currently the headquarters of the Clayton County Water Authority.

Toward the end of  the Battle of Atlanta this house was Gen.William T. Sherman's headquarters September 2 - 5, 1864.

1980 Painting by C.A. Johnson.  Commissioned by Morton Steele's son, Charles Steele.
An historical marker has been placed
 near the intersection of the railroad and Freeman Road.

2007 Painting by Morton and Myrtle Steele's granddaughter, Judy UpChurch

Civil War Map showing solider's camp sites and Lovejoy's Station.
The Gunter-Steele house is marked in yellow.

While the Morton Steele family farmed this land and plowed the fields, many pockets full of bullet casings were found.  Several battles were fought around this area in addition to being Gen. Sherman's headquarters.  Later, Gen. Sherman's March to the Sea passed through this area following the  Macon and Western Railroad.

General Sherman's stay at this house is well documented.  

 William M Gunter owned the house at the time Gen. Sherman took it for his headquarters during the battles at Lovejoy's Station and in the Nash Farm area.  Mr. Gunter was a Deacon at the Hebron Church that stood on present day Tara Road near the intersection of Tara Blvd - Hwy 19-41.  In 1875 William M Gunter donated 2 acres of land for the church when it was moved further up the road from the Fitzgerald land. (See Civil War Map)   His father, Rev Elder Isham Gunter, is buried in the still existing cemetery located next to the CVS Pharmacy.

William M Gunter's son, Dr. Ira Lawson Gunter was a Civil War surgeon who traveled with the Confederate troops into battle.

Mr.  Gunter and Dr. Gunter (pictured below) exchanged letters during this time giving a well documented detailed account of the situation.  Mr. Gunter wrote that he had a conversation with General Sherman.  (See the Marker below for details)

He stated that both the Confederate and Union troops destroyed his land, cattle, crops, food and anything else they chose to take.  He estimated his losses at about $10,000, a lot of money in those times.  The stench from the slaughtered cattle, filth and destruction of his property caused him to abandon the property.  He moved to another farm east of Jonesboro in an area now covered by Lake Jodeco. 

Their descendant, Dr. Jim Latimer, of Stockbridge, GA has preserved these letters along with an extensive family history regarding the Civil War.

Dr. Ira Lawson Gunter

Mr. William M Gunter

General Sherman sent one of the most famous telegrams of the Civil War from this house to President Lincoln in Washington, up the chain of command, through Gen. H. W. Halleck.  Conveniently, the telegraph wires ran right in front of the house along the railroad.

  A portion of the telegram is as follows: 

“. . . So Atlanta is ours, and fairly won.  I shall not push much farther on this raid, but in a day or so will move to Atlanta and give my men some rest.  Since May 5 we have been in one constant battle or skirmish, and need rest.  Our losses will not exceed 1200, and we have possession of over 300 rebel dead, 250 wounded, and over 1500 well prisoners. . .”

Signed:    W. T. Sherman, Major General; 
                 War Department; September 3, 1864                                                          

President Lincoln telegraphed Gen. Sherman back, inviting him to come to Washington for a 100 gun salute celebration.  The dead were buried in the Confederate Cemeteries in Jonesboro and Griffin, GA.  The wounded were taken to hospitals probably in Griffin.  The prisoners were taken to prisoner of war camps around Georgia.


Marker placed on the site by the Georgia Civil War Commission

     
   This site is now one of the Clayton County, GA Water Authority’s

                          safe drinking water production plants

The farm of Myrtle and Morton Steele was purchased by the Clayton County, Georgia Water Authority in 1982.  The land was used for a national pilot program, sponsored and partially funded by the EPA to comply with the 1972 Clean Water Act. 

 This Land Application System (LAN) operation treats water pumped from the Flint River.  The effluent emits no harmful substances back into any stream or sewer system by spraying it over a planted pine tree forest. (Pictured Below)  The trees are harvested, processed into wood pellets and used for firing a processing plant at another facility that dries effluent sludge and turns it into fertilizer. 

This  facility was the first public LAN system of its kind in the nation and was visited by public water system officials from all over the country and the world.  

Today, this building contains an advanced computerized water treatment system called a ClearCone system and is the only one of its kind in Georgia and one of a few in the Southeastern United States.  For more information visit www.ccwa.us

The Clayton Water Authority (CCWA) Terry Hicks Water Production Plant, Freeman Road & Tara Blvd.- US Hwy 19/41 South Jonesboro, GA.  The black posts contain the historical marker about Gen. Sherman's occupation of the Gunter-Steele house and land.

                   The Beginnings Of The Planted Pine Tree Forest
The effluent from the water production facility was  sprayed over the planted pine tree forest.  The trees are harvested, processed into wood pellets and used for firing a processing plant at another facility that dries effluent sludge and turns it into fertilizer.

Pate’s Creek rises from a spring on this property, forming the Pate’s Creek Watershed, a part of the Ocmulgee River Basin which drains into the Atlantic Ocean.

The original Georgia Railroad still runs the length of the property.  The railroad and telegraph lines played a big part in the Civil War and the reason Gen. Sherman chose this spot for his headquarters.                                                                                                        

Atlanta  Is Won and General Sherman 

              Can Now Plan His March To The Sea

Now that Atlanta was completely occupied by the Union forces, Gen. Sherman returned to Atlanta.  He remained in Atlanta to prepare for his “March to the Sea” and give President Lincoln Savannah for a Christmas present.  The Union soldiers scoured the countryside to gather, steal and pilferage everything in sight for their march to the sea.  What they didn't take, they destroyed.  On November 15 - 16, 1864 Gen. Sherman ordered 62,000 Union Troops to begin the march and “live off the land”, taking what they needed along the way and destroying the rest.  There were 3 battalions that march about 30 miles apart.

One battalion came down the railroad by the Gunter-Steele house.  And, once again, the Steele families experienced the Union soldier’s invasion and the march through the Mount Carmel area.  The churches in McDonough were used as slaughter houses where they dressed out the cattle they had taken.  The stench and filth was so bad the churches had to be burned and rebuilt.  All crops, food, cattle, household silver was taken or destroyed.  Many barns and homes were burned.

This writer recalls a couple of stories from families in the area:
   One from the Weems family that a Yankee solider road up to the window of their brick home and demanded a pillow for his saddle.  After the war they papered the walls with Confederate money to keep out the cold.
  Another story from the Dupree family, my aunt and uncle on my mother’s side, who lived on Hampton Road, recalled stories that the Yankee soldiers camped on their property by the creek and took food, crops and cattle from their land.

Soon the war was over and the men came home to face the long task of putting their lives, families, farms and homes back together.  

The era of The New South had begun.