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Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

The Harris and Lester families of Bethany

By Judy Fowler Kilgore

This week’s story was submitted by Clare Harris Hindman (chindman_1@msn.com) whose family heritage includes many families buried at Bethany United Methodist Church in north Fayette County. In fact, Clare sort of started the ball rolling on this series with her initial question about how to find the brothers and sisters of her great-grandfather, John Lester.

Clare, her husband, Earl, Brenda Torbush and I had lunch in Peachtree City not too long ago and I started learning a whole lot about these Bethany families. In addition, we discovered we are all probably distant cousins through the Boyd family.

How these families arrived in Fayette, how they became neighbors, intermarried and became the very foundation of this historic church is fascinating. Some were here early on when Fayette was in its infancy (1820s and 1830s) and some came later in the 1840s and 1850s. But all played an important part in making the Fife area the thriving community it was for years.

The following is Clare’s contribution to the continuing story of the families buried at Bethany:

“My name is Clare Harris Hindman. I am the descendent of two well-known families at Bethany United Methodist Church. First, I am a Harris. My great-great-grandfather was Robert Nelson Harris and my great-great-grandmother was Mary Ann Yates Harris.

“Robert was born in Georgia. He was named for his grandfathers, Robert Clark and Nelson Harris. When he was two years of age he was living in Hancock County, Ga. By the time he was four years of age his family was living just west of Jonesboro on Flint River Road. He grew up in that area.

“Robert was a farmer and acquired land in Fayette County in 1849, 1852 and 1856. Robert married Mary Ann Yates (of Yates apple fame) on Dec. 22, 1842. She was the daughter of Matthew and Maria Jane Yates, born Dec. 22, 1822. They made their home on Rivers Road in Fayette County.

"Mary Ann died about 1862. One report suggests that she may be buried at Hopeful Baptist Church but the Fayette County cemetery records do not record her anywhere.

"Their children were Martha Maria Harris; Narcissa Jane Harris; James Matthew Harris; Washington Harris; Nancy Emma Harris; Gilford Lacy Harris; Lutishia E. Harris; Augusta Franklin Harris; George Tidwell Harris (my great-grandfather) and Mary Ann Harris.

“After the death of Mary Ann, Robert Nelson Harris married Martha Ellen Harper about 1864. They also made their home on Rivers Road. Robert and Martha Ellen are buried in the cemetery at Bethany United Methodist Church.

“Their children were: Ida Clark Harris; John Robert Harris; Joseph Goodwin Harris; Linton Alexander Harris; and Edward Simmons Harris.

“My great-grandfather on the Harris side was George Tidwell Harris, born in Fayette County. He married Mollie E. Vineyard on Dec. 2, 1880 in Campbell County, Ga. He was a farmer. They are buried at Bethany.

“Their children are William Nelson Harris, Ottis John Harris (my grandfather); Alzie Harris; Nancy Harris and George Glenn Harris.

“My grandfather (O. J. Harris) was born Sept. 21, 1883 and died Feb. 14, 1956. He was a farmer also. He and my grandmother, Eddie Mae Lester Harris, who passed away Oct. 13, 1975, are both buried at Bethany. They had two children; Mildred Harris Lee and Clarence Avery "Sport" Harris.

“Which brings me to the other side of my family — the Lesters. My grandmother Eddie Mae Lester was the oldest of 12 children of Robert Wade Lester and Martha J. Ellington Lester. Wade Lester's parents were John Lester and Sarah E. Rivers. Martha Ellington's parents were John Ellington and Sarah A. Bustin. Sarah's father, Edward Bustin, is the one who gave land for Bethany Church and cemetery and the old school house, (which is) long gone.

“Wade Lester taught singing schools around the county and also wrote and published gospel songs which can be found in the old Stamps-Baxter song books.”

Clare’s story ends there but I hope you noticed the surnames of all those other families she mentioned. In the coming weeks, we will be exploring their stories too. The story of how the Yates apple started in Fayette County is very interesting.

Mary Harper has written some excellent stories about the Rivers and Harper families which will be included in upcoming columns and, together, we are researching the Tarpley and Jones families. We have done much research on the Ellingtons also.

But I need your stories of Bethany families, too. There are many more we need to include since we don’t want to leave anyone out. I encourage all of you to send your genealogies on those buried at Bethany so that we can honor these families on the church’s upcoming 150th anniversary.

In closing this week, I need to apologize to Sally Summers Chapman who wrote last week’s story on the Milam family. I said Sally was from South Fulton County when actually she lives in Senoia. Please forgive me, Sally.

I welcome all letters and e-mails about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, P.O. 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!