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Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

R.O. Tarpley of the Fife Community

By Judy Fowler Kilgore

I hate to start the column with an apology, but I’d like to apologize to all the Harpers for missing their reunion last Sunday at Bethany. I fully intended to go but an unexpected weekend visit from my daughter preempted any plans I may have had for Sunday. I really hate to have missed the opportunity to meet all those Harpers, but perhaps next year they will invite me again.

This week, as promised, we’ll learn about R.O. (Robert Oscar) Tarpley, grandfather of Nita (Boyd) McFarlin.

Nita wrote some time ago about her grandfather and said:

“I was born in Fayette County, a mile from Fife, went to school in Fayetteville and to church at Bethany when I was a child. I am a member there now. My family roots remain here. We moved back in 1964.

“My mother was Adeline Tarpley Boyd, 1900-1991. She was a homemaker and participated in many activities at Bethany church, working some outside the home for a retail store in East Point and then for the J.H. Peek Feed Store in Fairburn.

“My father was John Thomas Boyd, 1897-1978. He was a farmer, a barber, sold cars for a while and raised hogs for the market. If a man was sick in the community, he would go to his house and give him a haircut.

“There is so much to tell about this little community ... Fife was a thriving little community in the early 1900s and continued to be so until the depression and the boll weevil appeared. There was much shipping on the railroad, everything from watermelon to cotton.

“I’m sending you a copy of a 1919 Atlanta Journal article about my grandfather, R.O. Tarpley. As you can see from the copy, he had much to do with the success of Fife.

“I could go on and on forever about Fife and Bethany ... if you want more information I will be glad to send it to you. I have tapes of my mother and aunt talking about Fife, Bethany and all that transpired here.

“Sincerely, Nita McFarlin (nitamcfarlin@netzero.net).”

Nita’s enclosure shows an advertisement for “R.O. Tarpley & Sons in Fife, Georgia in Campbell County.”Along with a photo of R.O. Tarpley and a photo of the store, the advertisement also says:

“Campbell County with its fine farm lands and its small towns, is an ideal place in which to live.

“One of the largest and most important general mercantile business establishments in Campbell County is that of R.O. Tarpley & Son at Fife, 20 miles from Atlanta, 3 miles from Fairburn, with good roads leading into both, and surrounded by the finest farms in this section of the state.

“The firm has been in business for the past twelve years, and has done a wonderful work in the development of its county.

“The firm sells a general line of merchandise, automobiles, handling the Maxwell and Dort; automobile supplies, oils and gasoline, feedstuffs — and, in fact, a big country department store where everything, including fertilizers, is sold.

“The firm gins and buys cotton, has a large warehouse, and R.O. Tarpley is one of the largest farm landowners in the county. He is one of the most progressive citizens of Campbell County, is connected with many of the large interests of his county, and is a director in the Bank of Campbell County which is preparing to open a branch at Fife. Fife has good schools and churches, and is a charming little rural community.”

Nita added that R.O. Tarpley also was a senator.

A little light research showed many Tarpleys in the north Fayette area in 1880 and many in south Fayette.

Robert Oscar Tarpley was born in 1870 and died in 1937. He was married to Susan Elizabeth (Betty) Ellington, daughter of Zachary Taylor Ellington (1848-1881) and Rebecca Adeline Harper (1855-1930). In 1900, they lived in the Hopeful District of Fayette County.

Zachary Taylor Ellington, Betty's father, was the son of Richard Cox Ellington (b. abt 1799, d. 1875) and Eliza Eleanor White. Richard was one of the few progenitors of the Bethany folks to appear in the very first census for Fayette County (1830).

Rebecca Adeline Harper was the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Harper and Mary A. Eliza Patton. We covered this Harper family in a previous column.

I could only find one Robert Tarpley in 1880, a 10-year-old son of John and Jane Tarpley who were living the 496th Militia District of Fayette County. I do not know if this is Nita’s grandfather or not. His siblings at that time were Marion (female), age 12, Annie L., age 7, Aaron, age 4, and Maggie, age 2. If anyone has more background on the Tarpleys, please feel free to submit information on them.

Nita’s paternal side shows that John Thomas Boyd was the son of William Hugh Boyd Jr. (1863-1920) and Martha Frances (Mattie) Jones (1867-1941).

William Hugh Boyd Jr. was the son of William Hugh Boyd and Caroline Matilda Thayer Milam (see previous story on the Milams for more information on this line). I will cover the Boyds in a future column.

Mattie Jones was the daughter of Enoch George Jones (1831-1905) and Elizabeth Travis (1835-1883). There is a great book at the Fayette County Library on the Travis family which gives much background and history on this family.

Many, many thanks to Nita for sharing her family story.

Next week: the Thomas family of Bethany.

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!