Friday, June 4, 2004

Finding Your Folks

By JUDY FOWLER KILGORE
jkilgore@thecitizennews.

I haven’t done much research on my husband’s side of the family, mainly because my own family has kept me hopping. But just a little research brought up the name of his great-grandfather, John Bishop. The information was confirmed by my mother-in-law and a cousin in Florida. But John Bishop’s background and family remained a mystery. I did know that he worked for a printing company in Atlanta in 1890, and that in 1884 he married Lilly May Winters (a twin), daughter of William Winters and Nancy Langston. John and Lilly May had five girls, one of whom was my husband’s grandmother.

When I was going over old Coweta County newspapers researching the Kirby family a few months ago, the name “John Bishop” nearly jumped into my lap. It was one of those little “blurbs” in the local news, and was on the same page as memorials to Lou Walker Kirby.

It read: “An altercation occurred on Christmas Day at Wynn’s Store between Messrs. John Bishop and John Chandler, two well-known young men of that community, in which the former was severely stabbed by the latter. Bishop died yesterday from the effects of the wounds received. Chandler had not been arrested at last accounts.”

Hmmm ... I wondered. Could this be my John Bishop? I didn’t have my family research information with me so I didn’t have any dates, but I knew that John had died rather young and his widow, Lilly May Winters Bishop, showed up in the 1900 DeKalb County census with her young children and no John. This would certainly fit.

Time ran out on me and I had to leave for that day, but when I got home, I checked John’s death date I had received from the cousin in Florida. It was Jan. 4, 1898 — too close to ignore.

I went back last Wednesday and checked newspapers all the way through June of 1898. There was no mention of the incident or of Chandler being arrested, charged or tried. I was stumped. Further research will have to be done at the Coweta courthouse and possibly in Fayette, as well. Until I can get around to doing that, I decided to research the area instead.

I wasn’t familiar with Wynn’s Store, but I was very familiar with Wynn’s Pond which straddles the Coweta-Fayette County line at Line Creek. Wynnmeade subdivision also is right there in the same area.

I inquired of people more familiar with the area than I and turned up information that Wynn’s Store probably was on the same side of the road as Wynn’s Pond and was in Coweta County. The area was originally settled by the Wynn family (the name is also seen as Winn and Wynne) who arrived in Coweta about 1841. Family information appears in both the “Coweta Chronicles” and in “The History of Coweta County.”

Originally from England, the Wynnes settled first in Virginia, then became early settlers of Wilkes and Oglethorpe counties in Georgia. The patriarch of the Coweta County Wynnes was Major John Wynne, a Revolutionary soldier, who was a member of the first provincial congress of Georgia in 1775 and who fought with Elijah Clark. John’s wife was Susannah Owen.

Their son, Glenn Owen Wynne (1817-1890), fought in the Indian wars of 1836,

and came to Coweta about 1841, settling on land owned by his father in the sixth district near Line Creek. The land encompassed areas of both Coweta and Fayette counties. Glenn had married Sarah Pope Lumpkin in Athens earlier that year. She was the daughter of Samuel and Mary Arnold Lumpkin, and was a niece of Georgia Gov. Wilson Lumpkin.

Glenn and Sarah had 12 children: (1) Obediah (1842-1903), married Ann Eliza Ware; (2) Joseph Henry (1844-1907), married Sallie Ann Glass; (3) Mary Susan (1847-1872); (4) Martha Antoinette (1851-1889), married Edward Manson Smith; (5) Sallie Kate (1850-1920), married Henry Clay Arnall; (6) John Favor (1854-1889), lived in Texas; (7) Elizabeth G. (1855-1925), married Edward Manson Smith following the death of her sister, his first wife; (8) Emma Pope (1858-1897), married B.M. Fleming; (9) Dora (1859-1921), married George Willis Smith; (10) Frances Bartow (1860-1930), never married; (11) S.G. (1862-1864); and (12) William Glenn (1865-1889).

Many members of this family are buried at Cokes Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery on Lower Fayetteville Road.

So, now when you drive Ga. Hwy. 54 from Peachtree City to Newnan, you can look at the area from Wynnmeade to the highway split and know that, at one time, the Wynn family lived there.

But this still doesn’t answer my questions about John Bishop and John Chandler. If anyone remembers their parents or grandparents recalling this awful incident at Wynn’s Store, or who the Bishop and Chandler families were, I would really appreciate anything you can contribute. Also, if anyone remembers Wynn’s Store, I’d love to hear about that too.

I welcome your letters about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Any letters and/or e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.

Until next week, happy hunting!

(Judy regrets that time does not permit her to do personal research for others.)