Liberty Independent Troop Exhibit Opening

The Exhibit will be open at 100 Commerce St on

Thursdays from 5:15 - 7 pm

during the Farmer's Market

Liberty History Center

Liberty County Historical Society

100 Commerce St

(Directly behind the Historic Liberty County Court House)

The Liberty Independent Troop has served their county, city, state, and Nation for 225 years. First mustered into service on October 8, 1861, at Sunbury the Troop served the Confederate Army in campaigns in Atlanta, South Carolina, Florida and North Carolina were they surrendered on April 26, 1865. While they continued to serve Liberty County they did not get mustered into service again until 1916 in Hinesville. On August 5, 1917, the Liberty Independent Troop was drafted into Federal Service and became Company B 106th Field Signal Battalion an element of the 31st Division. They demobilized at Camp Jackson, South Carolina in May 1919. Once again, the Liberty Independent Troop returned home to serve their County and remain ever diligent for a call to arms from their Federal Government. That day came on February 10, 1941, in Hinesville. The Troop served during WWII in campaigns in the East Indies, Papua, New Guinea and Luzon.

Once again, the Liberty Independent Troop returned home to serve their County and remain ever diligent for a call to arms from their Federal Government. That day came on February 10, 1941, in Hinesville. The Troop served during WWII in campaigns in the East Indies, Papua, New Guinea and Luzon. They were released from active Federal Service on October 11, 1946 and then re-entered Federal Service for the Korean Conflict from August 1950 to April 1952, then the Troop reverted back to State control. They continue to serve Liberty County today.

The Liberty History Center is a joint operating effort of the Liberty County Historical Society (LCHS) and the Liberty Independent Troop (The Troop). Also the LCHS and the Troop wish to thank the Liberty County Commission Chairman and Commissioners, as well as the citizens of Liberty County for their help in renovating this facility, as the exhibit space would not be possible without this valuable help.

Why our county is named "Liberty"

Liberty County Historical Society

libertyhistory.org

by J Randy Branch

Posted: April 26, 2013

Liberty County is one of the three Georgia counties not named for a person or a group. Liberty County was “Named in honour of the noted patriotism of the citizens of Midway in their support of the cause of colonial independence."

As evidenced from the “Historical Collections of Georgia” by the Reverend George White M.A., Liberty County or St John's Parish, as it was known then, was the center of Revolutionary activity in early 1775. “No parish in Georgia in 1775 was more patriotic, none more public spirited, or anxious to form a league against British oppression than Saint John’s Parish.”

An idea of the spirit of the people may be gathered from a letter dated April 24, 1775 written to the Earl of Dartmouth, by “Sir James Wright”, the last British Royal Governor of the colony of Georgia. He called these sons of liberty "poor insignificant fanatics”, that “pretend great sanctity, and to be strict adherents of religion and liberty, as they term it; it is said they have collected 200 barrels of rice, which Hall (Dr. Lyman Hall) is to carry with him for the relief of their poor distressed, innocent brethren in Boston, suffering under tyranny and oppression.”

In May 1775, Dr. Lyman Hall departed by ship from Sunbury for the Continental Congress in Philadel­phia, Pennsylvania. On his ship he carried those barrels of rice for the suffering people of Boston. He arrived in Philadelphia and presented his credentials to the Continental Associa­tion on May 13, 1775. Officials of that organization unanimously admitted him to a seat in the Second Continental Congress, "as a delegate from the Parish of Saint Johns in the Colony of Georgia, subject to such regulations as the Congress should determine relative to his voting."

Liberty County is most honoured to have had two Georgia Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett reside in Liberty County and then have the third Georgia Signer, George Walton preside over the first Liberty County Superior Court, which was held at Sunbury on November 18, 1783.

"The determination of the inhabitants of this county to send delegates to Congress, before the rest of the Province had acquiesced in that measure, induced the Legislature (in 1777) to change the name of St. John’s Parish to that of Liberty County.”

In this year of our Lord 2013, Two hundred and thirty-six years later, let us all be "strict adherents of religion and liberty" as the Royal Governor of the colony of Georgia accused us of. Let us remember the great heritage that formed this county, and continue to keep that “Spirit of Liberty” from so many years ago.

For more information:

Please click on the link below, then click on the image of the book and scroll down to page 513.

Historical Collections of Georgia by the Reverend George White, M.A.; Published in 1854

Education in 1800s was strict, severe

Liberty Lore

By Margie Love Columnist

The Coastal Courier

Posted: April 23, 2013 4:00 a.m.

School teachers today cannot be like the ones in the 1800s in this area of Georgia. The law would be called every few minutes for child abuse.

Many of the school teachers were strict and disciplined thechildren for many reasons. But when the child left the school, usually at the age of 16, the child was ready for any college in the United States and did well when they got there.

I was reading, for the second time, "Recollections of a Southern Daughter," a memoir by Cornelia Jones Pond of Liberty County. She had such a good memory in describing her life and giving such minute details about everything that touched her between the years 1834-75. If you have not read this book, do yourself a favor and find a copy. Check the Midway Museum for one. 

I really liked the part where she described her school teacher, Samuel McWhir Varnedoe, whom she referred to as "Old Mac." Cornelia Jones (1834-1902) was born on the Tekoah Plantation in Liberty County. Her parents were William and Mary Jane Robart Jones. Her father was rich, well-known in the county and was an unusually knowledgeable plantation owner. Cornelia, as well as her sister Rosa and her two brothers, Sam and Louis, grew up in luxury. 

Jonesville was a summer-retreat village where many plantation people went to get away from the mosquitoes that were bad around the swamps and rice fields. Jonesville, which no longer exists, was founded by Cornelia's grandfather, Samuel Jones II, and he provided lots for his family and neighbors to build houses. This was about 4 miles west of their swampy plantations. 

The first schoolhouse in Jonesville that Cornelia attended was one room. All the surrounding rich kids also attended. Education was important to the descendants of Midway. Boys and girls were expected to receive an education beginning in elementary grades and continuing through college. Cornelia began her formal schooling at the Academy in Jonesville when she was 5 years old. Her teacher was Varnedoe, whom Cornelia described as fat and severe, using the rod frequently. One day during her first summer in school, her Grandmother Jones was coming to spend the day. Naturally, the little girl wanted to stay home and be with her grandmother, but Cornelia's mother would not let her. She had her nurse, Annie, take her to school. She cried all the way there. When she went inside, the teacher wanted to know what her problem was. The little girl told him, and he immediately slapped her face and took her in his arms and carried her the 40-foot length of the room and sat her up on a high desk that was used by preachers as a pulpit on Sundays before the church was built. Cornelia was scolded so much that the little girl was almost frozen in fear.  

However, he was a good teacher and taught the children to learn well, and they rapidly advanced. By the time she was 11, Cornelia had finished arithmetic and algebra and was in geometry. She also was studying Latin. At 12, she was in trigonometry. She was an excellent reader and speller, and they had spelling bees often. In fall 1842, she received a prize for winning the spelling bee. It was a beautiful book of fairy tales, bound in red, and she read and reread it many times. Cornelia read every book she could get her hands on. The first book her father gave her was "Masterman Ready." He had several books in his library that were suitable for her. "Robinson Crusoe," "Pilgrims' Progress" and "The Looking Glass" were some of her favorites. When her brother and sister went to college, Cornelia had to
go to school alone. Her mother sent Paul, a young slave her age, to go along with her and carry her lunch bucket and to "keep the cows away." Paul went back at 4 p.m. to accompany her home. Her brother, Sam, became old enough to go to school with her, and for three winters they trudged along Sandy Run Road. The schoolhouse had a chimney at each end, and the boys gathered wood to make fires. They also had to gather a big supply of switches for the teacher. He smoothed the knots on the switches with his pocketknife. The water came from a well with a long sweep on it. The boys had to draw the water and water Old Mac's horse as well as their own. When Cornelia finished her school in Liberty County, she enrolled in Montpelier Institute in Macon for a year and finished her education
at the Methodist Female College in Madison, Ga. Cornelia married Thomas Goulding Pond in July 1853. He was the grandson of the Rev. Thomas Goulding of Liberty County.  

Samuel and Cornelia are buried in Oak View Cemetery in Albany.