Is this letter a legal inquiry or a very early genealogical inquiry?
by Terry Thornton
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com
email: hillcountrymonroecounty@gmail.com
Fourth in a series of posts which looks at some early family papers from the Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi. Here are links to the previous articles in this series:
One of the clearest and easiest to read documents in the set of early Monroe County, Mississippi, family papers is a letter from Savannah, Georgia, written in April 1887.
The letter is signed G. W. Garmany. It is believed the writer is GEORGE WASHINGTON GARMANY, a physician. Although not much information can be found about Dr. Garmany using only an online search, various interesting tidbits of information about him are available. Online is a transcription of an 1866 letter he wrote to General Robert E. Lee on behalf of a student. Click here to read that letter.
Dr. George W. Garmany is discussed briefly in Thomas H. Pope's The History of Newberry County, South Carolina: 1860 - 1990 (University of South Carolina Press: 1973, page 318). And on various family websites, George Washington Garmany is said to have been born 1813 in Newberry County, South Carolina, and died 1888 in Savannah, Georgia, where he is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery.
Dr. Garmany is mentioned briefly in his wife's and his daughter's DAR summary available online.
What cannot be determined is whether Dr. Garmany's letter of inquiry to Monroe County, Mississippi in 1887 to the Whitworth Family was a legal inquiry or a genealogical inquiry. It would be nice to conclude the letter was for genealogical research --- but I cannot prove that it was. Suffice it to say, however, that he was searching for heirs for a specific person who lived in a specific location at a specific time --- which makes me think he was doing genealogical research!
Below is an image of the letter from Dr. Garmany followed by a transcription of it. A discussion follows which helps to explain the family relationships in Monroe County, Mississippi.
Savannah 16th Apl 1887
John H. & Fendle Whitworth
Monroe Cty
Hamilton, Miss.
Dear Sirs
I wish the Address of the
heirs of Thomas Whitworth
who lived in Franklin Co
Ga. about 1824. Your names
have been as parties who
could give me their addres
and all Information in
regard to the family.
I will be greatly obliged
for any information that
you can give me.
Yours very Truly and Respy,
G.W. Garmany
The letter of 1887 was addressed to JOHN H. WHITWORTH and FENDAL WHITWORTH of Hamilton, Monroe County, Mississippi. Hamilton is known to be the general area where the Whitworth family lived in early Monroe County. There has been a post office at Hamilton since 1832. The set of family papers within which this letter was found came from a house near Hamilton.
JOHN HOOD WHITWORTH, FENDAL WHITWORTH, and THOMAS JEFFERSON WHITWORTH were sons of SOUTHERLAND WHITWORTH and MARY HOOD WHITWORTH. The three brothers were known to have been within Monroe County, Mississippi, at certain periods. The Whitworth family has been described as one of the first families of Monroe County as their line here dates to the 1820 census, the first census conducted after the region was opened to settlers.
JOHN HOOD WHITWORTH was born 1792 in North Carolina (probably). He died in Monroe County, Mississippi, in 1876, and is buried in Sardis Cemetery.
THOMAS JEFFERSON WHITWORTH was born 1796 in Franklin County, Georgia, and died prior to September 1856 probably in Monroe County, Mississippi. His son, Thomas J. Whitworth, Jr., was born 1836, died 1873, and was buried in Sardis Cemetery, Monroe County, Mississippi. [See earlier post about Vesty Nix Whitworth, wife of Thomas J. Whitworth, Senior.]
FENDAL WHITWORTH was born 1806 in Franklin County, Georgia. His death year and place are unknown to me. He married Cassandra Massey 1839 in Monroe County, Mississippi. Several of their children were born in Monroe County but by 1855 or 1856 it is thought they relocated to Missouri. A son of Thomas J. Whitworth,Senior, was also named Fendall F. Whitworth, born 1829 in Monroe County, Mississippi [see earlier post about the letter from F.F. to his brother Thomas J., Junior.]
At the time the Garmany letter was written in 1887, John Hood Whitworth had been dead 11 years; Fendal Whitworth the elder had been away from Monroe County about 33 years; Thomas Whitworth the elder had been dead about 31 years; and Thomas Whitworth the younger had been dead about 14 years.
It is a mark of post office excellence that the letter to the Whitworth family was delivered and has survived within the Whitworth papers all these years. No envelope survives with the letter. Nor can it be determined to whom the post office delivered the letter. But the postmaster in Hamilton in April 1887, was Mary C. Walton. No doubt she knew the large Whitworth family well and knew to whom to direct the letter from Savannah.
Sources:
1866 Letter, G. W. Garmany to General Robert E. Lee. Transcription of the February 10, 1866, letter available online at the Robert E. Lee Collection of Washington and Lee University; accessed June 19, 2008.
1887 Letter, G. W. Garmany to John H. and Fendle Whitworth, Monroe County, Hamilton, Mississippi. Original document in possession of Terry Thornton, Fulton, Mississippi; photo-image of letter by Terry Thornton, June 19, 2008.
Harlow, Jerry. "Cemetery Transcriptions." Monroe County Mississippi Genealogy Forum. Message 1996, February 26, 2006.
Harlow, Jerry. "Whitworth Information." Email to Terry Thornton, June 17, 2008. Digital copy in files of Terry Thornton.
Johnston, Elizabeth Bryant. Lineage Book, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Volume 5, Numbers 4001 - 5000, 1893 - 94, page 105 (see entries for 4285 and 4286). Washington, D.C., 1898. Available online at Google Full-view Books; accessed June 19, 2008.
Pope, Thomas H. The History of Newberry County, South Carolina: 1860 - 1990. University of South Carolina Press, 1973, page 318. Available online at Limited Preview Google Books. Accessed June 19, 2008.
Sledge, Broox. "Hamilton, " Monroe County Post Offices: 1827 - 1950. Macon, Mississippi: Privately printed, 1992. Pages 5 - 6.
Turner, J.B., "Early Ancestors of N.E. Georgia Counties: Union, Towns, White, Lumpkin, Rabun, Habersham, Dawson, etc." RootsWeb, Ancestry.com. Accessed June 17, 2008.
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