Monroe County Historical Society, Forsyth GA

Did you know that two hundred years ago on this day, January 5, 1821, representatives of the Creek Nation signed a Treaty at Indian Springs ceding the territory out of which later in the year the state legislature created Monroe County?

Did you know that the great American comedian Oliver Hardy once lived in Forsyth? It was a brief residence--and Hardy was a youngster, celebrating his 11th birthday while the family was here. His widowed mother, Mary Emily Norvell Hardy, in May 1903 brought her family to Forsyth, where she managed the Marie Hotel, located across the street from the brick depot. The family's time here was short. By August, Mrs. Hardy was in Milledgeville where she became manager of the Milledgeville Hotel.

When the trustees for Georgia established the colony on the Savannah in 1733, they hoped that it would become, among other things, a great producer of silk. That never happened. But did you know that more than a century after the founding of Georgia, there was a Monroe County physician, Dr. Sylvanus W. Burney, who was optimistically promoting silk cultivation, selling both mulberry plants (morus multicaulis, he called them) and silk worm eggs from his plantation in Monroe County?

Did you know that Larry Evans has served longer than any other elected county commissioner in the history of Monroe County? He was sworn into office in June 1987 following a special election and will have served more than 33 years when his term ends in December 2020. Jim Ham, also elected in that same special election in June 1987, served almost thirty years before his death. Under the system in effect from 1908 to 1987, county commissioners were elected at large. James A. Tribble served the longest in that arrangement, but he was in office only 19 years contrasted with the 33 years of Evans.

Did you know a preacher at the Forsyth Baptist Church later became acting president of the prestigious Vassar College for women in New York? The childless Matthew Vassar, a brewer of ale and porterhouse, established the women's college in Poughkeepsie in 1865. James Ryland Kendrick, a graduate of Brown University, worked as a teacher and preacher in Forsyth in the early 1840s, but in the late 1860s was in New York as a minister. When rebellious alumnae of the college balked at the administration of its president in 1885, Kendrick stepped in a interim.

Did you know that a woman lived in Monroe County between 1833 and 1917 but never once came to Forsyth? Rebecca Anderson of the Proctor's District died on September 20, 1917, her 84th birthday. During those 84 years not only had she never come to Forsyth, but she also had never seen a train nor had she ridden in an automobile. [At the time of her death there were about six hundred automobiles in Monroe County.] She found contentment, the editor of the local newspaper wrote, in the quietude of her own fireside.

At the last meeting of the Board of the Monroe County Historical Society, it was reluctantly agreed to suspend meetings through the end of this calendar year because of the pandemic. Unfortunately, this means the traditional Christmas dinner in December as well.

Did you know that Monroe County native and Mary Persons High School graduate Richard Waldrep has designed three U. S. postage stamps? One featured Patsy Cline. The other two, men's hurdle and women's gymnastics, came from the Centennial Olympic Games series.

Did you know that the jail in Forsyth is not the only one in Monroe County? There is one in Bolingbroke and another in Culloden, both admitted, unused. At one time they were holding cells for individuals until the sheriff could transport them to the jail in the county seat.

Did you know that Monroe County's only Episcopal church, erected about 1850, still stands? When Bishop Stephen Elliott founded the Montpelier Institute for young women in 1842, he naturally included plans for a chapel. That Greek revival building remains to this day, more than 160 years after the women's school closed its doors. [The school was located on what is now Highway 74 near Maynard Mill Road.]