In January 2021, Sue sent along a cache of Garbutt family documents that Keri had been storing. They were from Mom and included some things from her brother Glenn and one or more of her sisters. They provide more detail about the Garbutt side of family, going back to George Garbutt who came to Georgia from England in 1848.
This post focuses on the cache of documents Sue sent, supplemented with my own Internet research. Going through this cache reminded me about the Garbutt Family Tree document that Sue pulled together from notes of a trip she took with Mom and Dad in 2002. I’ve been tempted to consolidate the stories that Sue gathered into this post, but this post has already become too convoluted. I’ve used some information from this cache to update the post of Sue’s Memory Book for Mom and Dad. I’ve also created a new Garbutt Family Tree. Beyond that, I think ultimately I need to create a separate series of posts to pull together the various Garbutt and Duncan stories.
Sue’s note from January 2021:
Here is the Garbutt family crest (unknown source, but here’s more background). Garbutt is an Anglicized name from Normandy but seems to have mainly been used in England for centuries. The motto, “Gare La Bete” means “Beware the Beast” which I like and seems nobler than Disce Pati but I think applies more to our cats than to us.
George and Annie Pybus Garbutt
The family history goes back (as far as I’ve found) to George Garbutt, born in Durham County in northeast England on November 8, 1824 (Geni.com listing; tree). His story comes mainly from a Baptist Association book entry, below. The son of a Methodist minister (we don’t know the names of his parents), George’s mother died when he was 12. George had several brothers and a sister but they all died as children. George was the only child to survive to adulthood; George’s father lived to age 80. George left school at age 14 and learned the trade of machinist. It was, after all, the thick of the Industrial Revolution in northern England and a machinist was no doubt better than working in the coal mines that dominated Durham County’s economy.
At age 24, George decided to come to America and landed in Philadelphia with 28 cents before making his way to Georgia, starting in Savannah. According to another source (see family reunion article below), George worked for several years as an engineer on the Central of Georgia Railway before starting a sawmill in Burke County. There he “succeeded beyond his expectation,” eventually adding mills in neighboring Emanuel and Jefferson counties.
Before leaving England, George proposed to Annie Pybus of Stockton, England. Once George established himself in Georgia, Annie sailed to Savannah where they married in 1851. [Note: Mom’s story of her grandfather John William (George’s son) and Serepta getting married on their journey to America appears to be incorrect…it was a generation further back. It’s fascinating that even she did not have the family history right.]
As his sawmill business grew, George and Annie moved to Emanuel County near Summertown where they settled for the rest of their lives. According to the family reunion article, George and Annie’s home was at McKinney Pond, a property which is still in the family (see below).
George’s early sawmills used enslaved labor and “succeeded well until the emancipation of his slaves” — that would be the Civil War.
George was a Corporal in Wright’s Cavalry (State Guards), beginning in August 1863. This regiment was originally the 20th Battalion Georgia Cavalry, State Guards and was organized to serve for six months as local defense in southeast Georgia. It’s unclear whether George stayed longer than six months or saw any specific action.
Sawmills would have been an important industry and Summertown was pretty much on the path of Sherman’s March; Sherman’s army actually encamped near George’s home at McKinney’s Pond. Draw your own conclusions. With the end of the war and emancipation, George lost “most of his hard earnings” but one way or another he remained with or restarted a large mill in Summertown.
George and Annie had seven surviving children: six boys — John William (Willie) born in 1854, Frances Jones (Frank) in 1858, Robert Musgrove in 1860, Thomas Wright in 1863, Henry Lee in 1866, and Moses Wadley in 1869 — and one girl, Hannah McMillan in 1854. They also lost three young children: Caroline at two weeks in 1852, George Allan at age 15 in 1871, and Mary at one year and 10 months in 1863.
There’s a three-day discrepancy between the 1854 birthdates of Willie (August 2) and Hannah (August 5). Were they twins and there was just an error in their respective gravestones? Was there some more complicated explanation? An odd clue is that Hannah’s death notice mentions she was born in London, England and came to Georgia in 1858 (age 4). Other sites, including census documents, have her born in Georgia. The notice also misidentifies her as “Mrs. M. M. Rountree” but otherwise this is clearly Hannah.
Gravestone of three young children of George and Annie Garbutt
After the war, George again “accumulated a large fortune” and founded Garbutt’s Baptist Church in Summertown, Georgia in 1879 where he became a Deacon. The biography notes that George “built church houses on his mill grounds for both white and colored tenants” and was able to loan money to others but “even in a time and situation when usury was common, he was never known to charge any borrower above the legal rate of interest.”
Summertown Baptist was originally constituted as the Baptist Church of Christ at Garbutt’s and later called Garbutt’s Baptist Church for its founder, George Garbutt. G. W. Smith was the first pastor. The church covenant was adopted by George Garbutt, J. Ashley Brown, Seth Coleman, Hannah Rountree, and Mollie F. Brown, on 6 December 1879. This structure was moved to its present location in 1913 on land donated by Jere M. Snellgrove and Wilton Whitehead. [VanishingSouthGeorgia.com]
There’s a nice passage in the Baptist Association book regarding George: “In 1894, some twenty-five years before his death, and on his sixtieth birthday, he wrote a brief outline of his life to his daughter [Hannah] in which he says: ‘Dear Daughter: I have prayed to God that I might live to see all my children doing well, and now, as I have been blessed to see my prayers answered, I thank a kind Providence for His guidance and support in life.’ He now prays that his influence may have no bad effect, and that if his life has not been crowned with great usefulness, that his example may be for the world’s good.” Considering all he lived through, it’s a fair sentiment.
From a different source, Historic Rural Churches, we learn that George was involved in building the Summertown Methodist (Episcopal) Church, which was not far from the Summertown Baptist Church. Both of these churches are still standing within a mile of each other and not far from Garbutts Cemetery, the original site of the Summertown Baptist Church (it was moved in 1913).
Summertown Methodist Episcopal Church
Summertown is a small community of approximately 160 people, not much changed from a population of 168 in 1900. Originally named Summerville, it was settled by people who lived in nearby towns located near swamps. People came to Summertown to escape the deadly malaria associated with such low-lying areas. They sought out higher ground and built fine summer homes. Eventually Summertown had an academy, post office and a church. The Midville, Swainsboro and Red Bluff rail line that made a stop in Summertown made life there more convenient for travel and shopping. The railroad began operations around 1890. Many of the early settlers of the Summertown area came from Burke County, which was a prosperous county but plagued with malaria because of the swamps and marshes of the Ogeechee River. The town was quite active as early as 1856 when the General Assembly of Georgia approved the incorporation of the Summerville Male and Female Academies.
Summerville is mentioned several times in the diaries and records of Gen. William Sherman’s army, the southern (right) wing of which camped very near Summerville on November 29, 1864 while on their march to Savannah. Major General Osterhaus, commander of the 15th Corps of the right wing commented on the general area and noted that it “was a perfect wilderness where long leaf pines covered poor or sandy soil worthless for agricultural purposes”. He also noted that the land was interspersed with marshes and was sparsely settled. In his diary, Lt. Platter of the 81st Ohio wrote, “we passed through Summerville, a country town which presented a rather pleasing appearance.”
In a Thomas County deed dated March 5, 1881, Lewis B. Bouchelle sold to George Garbutt of Emanuel County for $120 “that parcel of tract of land lying and situated in Emanuel County, 57th District GM, joining land of said George Garbutt and others, 2 acres more or less whereon the Methodist Episcopal Church now stands.” In November of 1887, George Garbutt assigned the deed “for a valuable consideration” to the five trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Garbutt noted on the deed that the said premises shall be “used, kept, and maintained as a place of divine worship of the Methodist Episcopal Church” subject to the discipline and usage as declared by the general conference of the said church. The deed was recorded in Emanuel County on November 15, 1881. Lewis B. Bouchelle was a local physician, schoolteacher, and minister. He is listed as all three in various records. His child, James Duncan Bouchelle, is the first recorded burial in the Summertown Methodist Church – July 1879. George Garbutt was a leading citizen who was active in the lumber business. He founded the Garbuts Baptist Church (later known as Summertown Baptist Church) in 1798 [note — should be 1879], not far from the Summertown Methodist. In the Summertown Methodist Cemetery, five of his grandchildren are buried, including the second recorded burial in 1882. There is a fenced enclosure around three of their graves. A sign on the fence says “Garbutt Family”.
In 1881 the Methodists established the Summertown Church. Early ministers were I. F. Carey and H. L. Pearson. By 1919 it was one of four churches on the Midville Circuit in the Dublin District, sometimes sharing a minister with Union Grove Methodist Church. By 1995, its congregation had become too small to support the church and it was discontinued by the Methodist Conference. Maintenance by the Conference ended in 2002. A few years later, the church was showing its age. It was no longer weather-tight and some of the woodwork needed replacing. The paint was peeling. Some of the windows were broken and covered in plastic to keep out the weather. Steve Head, originally from Millen GA, is now a commercial contractor in Alpharetta, GA. His company, as a service to communities around the state, has restored other old churches. On a visit to his mother in south Georgia, Head saw the church and decided to make it part of his company’s restoration project. Today, the church and its graveyard are owned by five trustees who bought it from the Methodist Conference in 2002. The cemetery is still active.
A further note from the Historic Rural Churches description of Summertown Methodist Church gives an appreciation of the heart pine lumber used in its construction, no doubt from George Garbutt’s mills.
Summertown Methodist is located in what was the heart of the Georgia wire grass country. Here the environment was dominated by the great long leaf forests, the home of ancient pine trees. These trees provided the heart pine lumber sought after throughout the US as the very best, wooden building material available. The building framing, skeletal structure, roof decking and siding were all made of heart pine lumber and remain standing and sound until today. The interior of this restored meeting house reveals that the entire church, inside and out was built using heart pine as well. From the flooring to the wainscoting, the window frames, altar, pulpit walls and horizontal ceiling this versatile product is in evidence. Look at the width of the lumber used in the pews; single wooden boards as wide as these have not been available since the early 20th century. We are grateful that primitive sanctuaries such as this remain standing so we and future generations can view and appreciate how people lived and worshiped hundreds of years ago.
Another source, a 2017 Emanuel County Comprehensive Plan, mentions George Garbutt and his legacy in the county (starting on page 52).
Summerville, like most of Emanuel County, also had extensive lumber interests because of the many Southern yellow pine trees in the surrounding vast forests. One particularly important lumberman and landowner was George Garbutt. Summerville’s location near major transportation routes, including one of Georgia’s early railroads, the Central of Georgia which traveled through nearby Midville and had been established in the 1840s, put the community in the sights of Sherman’s March to the Sea during the Civil War. Sherman’s Right Wing documented records noted the Army’s bivouac at Summerville, and the location of the Summerville Steam Saw Mill (likely Garbutt’s) on November 29, 1864. Major General Osterhaus noted the area was “a perfect wilderness where long leaf pines covered poor or sandy soil worthless for agricultural purposes…and sparsely settled.” Lt. Platter of the 81st Ohio did note “we passed through Summerville, a country town which presented a rather pleasing appearance.”
Summertown has a number of historic churches, including a Summertown Baptist Church first established as Garbutt Baptist Church in 1879, and Summertown Methodist Church which was already a “Methodist Episcopal Church” in 1881. Interestingly, the aforementioned lumberman George Garbutt was prominent in the history of both churches. Garbutt had established Garbutt Baptist in 1879 or earlier, and acquired and deeded nearby land for the Methodist Church in 1881. Many of the Garbutt family are buried in the Summertown Methodist Church Cemetery.
Annie Pybus Garbutt lived until 1904 (age 75) and George Garbutt until 1907 (age 83). They are buried in Garbutts Cemetery at the original location of the Summertown Baptist Church (the church was moved about a mile away in 1913) and four miles from McKinney Pond.
I find it interesting to note that George left the McKinney’s Pond family property to Hannah and Madison Rowntree, not to any of his sons. I haven’t found clear any indication why; it seems George stayed closest to his daughter (and vice versa, I suppose).
Here is the November 7, 1973 article about the first Garbutt family reunion, written for the Waynesboro, Georgia, True Citizen. It doesn’t appear that any of the Valdosta branch of the Garbutts attended, but it does offer detail of the family still in Emanuel County and East Georgia.
The reunion was held at McKinney’s Pond Club House, the county’s “oldest and most famous restaurant.” The restaurant is still owned by the Kennedy family, direct descendants of George and Anne Pybus Garbutt (via Hannah’s daughter, Mary Lou Kennedy) and is located on the Garbutt’s original property.
Here is the menu from McKinney’s Pond, “A Southern Family Tradition Since 1938!” The menu says “the property has been part of the Kennedy family estate dating back before the Civil War.” The restaurant’s website is on Facebook; there are some not-very-kind Tripadvisor reviews of the recent quality of the restaurant and its owners, but the establishment also has fans.
The restaurant’s longtime owner/manager, Harry Pybus Kennedy, Jr. (Mutt), passed away in September 2020. Mutt took over the restaurant from his uncles J.J. and Perry Kennedy who started it in (1938 or 1942, take your pick). His obituary mentions that “In the late 80s through the 90s, McKinney’s Pond became known as the Beach Music Capital of the World, as many of the country’s top beach bands played to sold-out crowds in the converted McKinney’s Pond skating rink.” How ’bout dat?
The menu also mentions that McKinney’s Pond itself predates the arrival of White settlers in the county. The long, low dam appears to have been constructed by Lower Creek Indians more than 300 years ago, making it the “oldest man-made structure known in Emanuel County.”
Hannah Garbutt Rountree and Rubert Musgrove Garbutt
George’s daughter Hannah married John J. Rountree who was partner for a time (maybe a decade?) with Willie in the sawmill business. As noted further below, in 1886, John J. Rountree sold his shares to Willie’s brothers who went on to form Garbutt Brothers Lumber. Meanwhile, H. M. Rountree (as best I can tell, this is probably Hannah; she’s the only “H. M.” I can find in generations of Rountrees going back to Thomas who was born in Ireland in 1733 and emigrated to North Carolina in 1752) partnered with Robert Musgrove Garbutt (George’s son and Hannah’s brother) to form Rountree-Garbutt Lumber and they evidently did very well for themselves.
I haven’t definitively found a name for George Garbutt’s own lumber company but it was likely the Garbutt Lumber Company. He may also have been connected with the Rountree-Garbutt Lumber Company. He built churches on what is described as his mill property and stayed in the area around Midville and Summertown, close to Hannah.
Just to make things even more confusing, after John J. Rountree died in 1889, Hannah married his cousin, Madison Neal Rountree. Likewise, after Robert Musgrove Garbutt’s first wife, Missouri Coleman died, he married her sister, Sephronia.
More Internet finds from this branch of the family: The Hannah Garbutt Rountree House in Midville, Georgia and the Robert & Missouri Garbutt House (“Twenty Columns”) in Lyons, Georgia, 1910.
Hannah Garbutt Rountree House 
“Twenty Columns” from VanishingSouthGeorgia.com
Robert Musgrove Garbutt made a fortune in the timber business as the partner of H. M. Rountree in the late 19th century and served for a time as mayor of Swainsboro. Garbutt was first married to Missouri Coleman and upon her death married her sister, Sophronia Coleman. He moved to Lyons around 1894. In addition to his ongoing interest in the Rountree-Garbutt Lumber Company in Emanuel County, Garbutt owned or held interest in the Garbutt-Donovan Lumber Company in Lyons, Hartfelder-Garbutt Company of Savannah, Garbutt-Donovan Real Estate Company of Fitzgerald, and the Southern Foundry & Fitting Company of Savannah.
Here is a photo of Robert Musgrove Garbutt (grave info) and his death notice from the June 1927 Vidalia Advance.
Robert Musgrove Garbutt 
Twenty Columns is on the National Park Service Register of Historic Places, which offers much more detailed information about the house and Robert’s personal history. The house stayed in Garbutt family until 1989.
There’s also the Garbutt-Donovan Building in Fitzgerald, Georgia.
In April, 1901, fire consumed a large mill of the Garbutt Lumber Company in Wright, Georgia, (Wilcox County). Six years later, the saw mill of Smith, Garbutt & Company — likely connected to R.M. Garbutt — in Lyons, Georgia, burned in 1907. Later that year, the Garbutt & Donovan Manufacturing Company was formed to take over and continue the enterprises of Garbutt & Donovan, F. M. Smith & Company, and Smith, Garbutt & Company. The new company rebuilt the mill with $50,000 of equipment. It had capacity to process 50,000 feet of yellow pine lumber daily.
This biography of George A. Garbutt, Robert’s son, spells out some of the family and business connections:
Garbutt, George A., secretary and treasurer of the Hartfelder-Garbutt Company, of Savannah, dealers in mill and railroad supplies and machinery, is one of the progressive young business men of his native state. He was born in Summertown, Emanuel county, Ga., March 26, 1881, and is a son of Robert M. and Missouri (Coleman) Garbutt, both of whom were likewise born in Emanuel county, the former in 1860 and the latter in 1864. They now reside in Lyons, Tattnall county, where the father is a member of the firm of Garbutt & Donovan, of that place, being known as one of the leading saw-mill operators and lumber manufacturers of southern Georgia. Georgia A. Garbutt attended the public schools until he had attained the age of sixteen years, when he went to work for his father. At the age of nineteen years he completed a course in the famous Eastman business college, in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., after which he was for a short time employed as a clerk in the office of the American Cotton Company, of Atlanta. He returned home in the autumn of 1900 and became assistant bookkeeper in the office of Garbutt & Donovan, previously mentioned. In 1903 he resigned this position and came to Savannah, where he became associated with Edward F. Hartfelder in the organization and incorporation of the company of which he is the present secretary and treasurer. The company controls an excellent trade, which is constantly increasing. In politics Mr. Garbutt is a Republican and his religious faith is that of the Baptist church. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the Savannah chamber of commerce and the Savannah Yacht club.
(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Renae Donaldson)
John William “Willy” Garbutt and Serepta Warnock Garbutt
Below is a page from an unsourced document describing the lives of George’s eldest son, John William (Willie) Garbutt, and his son Allie Glenn Garbutt (my Mom’s father). My Mom is listed as Allie’s daughter, Sara Anne [it was actually Ann without the “e”] Garbutt, who married Charles Howard Duncan (close…this error recurs in several documents; I guess the Garbutts didn’t want to think of my Dad as a Conrad). The entries were submitted by Mom’s sister Katie’s daughter, Catherine Anne (Taffy) Blanton Price.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, when we decided to name our daughter Allie, I had no idea there was a family tradition to the name but it turns out there are other Allies in various strands of the Garbutt line (though they were all men). Who knew?
I’ve tried to track down Chinkypin III, one of the sources Taffy cites. Evidently it’s a 1999 book collecting oral histories and genealogies of citizens of Echols County, Georgia, adjacent to Valdosta and including Statenville. I haven’t been able to access it or find it in print, but it’s still in some libraries in south Georgia and Florida.
To continue the family story, nearly all of George’s children were involved in the lumber business, at least for a time (except, perhaps, Henry Lee). His oldest son, Willie (my great grandfather), married Susan Serepta Warnock in 1876 (he was 21, she was 15) and at some point started his own sawmill in Summertown along with J.J. Rountree, husband of Willie’s sister, Hannah. The article above continues, “in 1886, Mr. Rountree sold his share to Willie’s brothers, Frank and Wright, and the three formed Garbutt Brothers. A year later, they bought out the Peacock and Patterson mill in Wrightsville, Georgia. That same year, the Garbutt families made plans to establish a much larger plant in Laurens County. The new mill was completed in 1890, operating for ten years as J.W. Garbutt and Company.”
It’s not clear if Willie’s move to build his own business with his brothers was in competition or cooperation with his father’s business. It’s possible (I’m speculating) that Willie had a break with his father, brother Robert, sister Hannah and her husband in 1886 which prompted Willie to form his own company with two other brothers. Willie and Hannah would have both been 32 at the time, fairly far along in their respective lives and careers. The Garbutt Brothers business appears to have been separate from the Garbutt Lumber Company and the Rountree-Garbutt Lumber Company both of which stayed in the Summertown/Midville area in Emanuel County — but I admit at this point it’s still unclear to me. It seems that Willie’s businesses moved steadily southwest, presumably following (exploiting) Georgia’s virgin pine forest; Willie’s son, Allie Glenn, built his own businesses even further south around Valdosta.
The article mentions, “According to the March 1950 issue of the Southern Lumber Journal, ‘Few pioneers in the lumber industry can match the record of the Garbutt family, South Georgia lumber manufacturers for nearly 100 years.'” It’s ambiguous whether the article is referring to a single company or a collection of independent firms.
The Garbutt Lumber Company was involved in a 1900 court case involving the right of way of the company’s private railroad crossing a public railroad’s line. I think this was most likely George Garbutt’s original company; Allie Glenn was not yet in business with a company of the same name (which is still a point of confusion for me).
The intent was for the Company to extend its railway to the Ocmulgee River in central Georgia to further transport its lumber. The case itself is confusing to read but it looks like Garbutt lost. Still, it’s interesting to consider that the company owned a considerable amount of timber and needed to build its own railroad, and this was a long way from Valdosta.
The defendant…owned and operated a private railroad, and was engaged in the business of cutting and sawing for market pine lumber, that it owned timber on both sides of the railway of the plaintiff, and that in order to carry its timber to its mill it was necessary to cross the plaintiff’s track. The defendant further alleged that it desired to connect its sawmill by means of a tramroad with the Ocmulgee river,- for the purpose of transporting lumber and timber by means of the same, which is a waterway much used for the purpose of transporting lumber, naval stores, and timber to market and sawmills. In order to reach the Ocmulgee river it is necessary for the tram-road to cross the plaintiff’s right of way; the sawmill of the defendant being on one side of the railway and the river on the other.
This Garbutt Lumber Company railroad was not the only Garbutt-owned rail line. Robert Musgrove Garbutt, through his Garbutt-Donovan Lumber Company operated a 14-mile short-line railroad (Garbutt and Donovan Short Line) between Lyons and Oak Park from 1904 to 1911 (more info here, page 43). The Garbutt Brothers had an 8-mile tram road but it’s not clear where or when. And, as we shall see below, Allie Garbutt operated the Statenville Railway Company for nearly two decades.
The Garbutt Lumber Company operated several river steamers, including the George Garbutt and the Nellie Garbutt. Here’s a 1902 mention of the Garbutt Lumber Company’s “line of steamers”.
J.W. (Willie) was on the Board of Trustees of the Oaklawn Baptist Academy, founded in 1906 in Milltown, Georgia, not far from Valdosta.
Late in life, Willie developed and patented “Garbutt’s Economizer,” a gadget to help save gasoline on automobiles. Several other family members, including Allie, tried to help with sales but I can’t find much more about it.
Willie and Serepta had four children: one boy, Allie Glenn (born in 1879), and three girls: Greta, Jessie and Willie Bell. Willie and Serepta eventually moved to Valdosta (date uncertain but following their son Allie, I believe, who moved to the area in 1907).
Serepta died in 1929 (age 68) and Willie a year later (age 75); they are buried in Valdosta’s Sunset Hill Cemetery. You can find their actual grave locations (and many other Garbutts) by searching this site; Susie and Pop-Pop Duncan are there, too, along with various Goodloes.
Other Children of George and Annie Pybus Garbutt
Francis “Frank” Jones Garbutt was another of George and Annie’s sons. He joined Willie and Wright in the Garbutt Brothers Lumber company. A 1901 article mentions his becoming Vice President of the Georgia Lumber Company and his connection with the Garbutt Lumber Company of Wright, Georgia [I can’t find a town called Wright]. Was he simultaneously part of Garbutt Lumber Company and Garbutt Brothers lumber company? In March, 1904, Frank became President of the Georgia Lumber Company.
His 1919 death notice says he lived mainly in Washington County but ran a sawmill in Adrian in Emanuel County. He is buried with his wife, Lelia Whitehead Garbutt in Sandersville (gravesite info). Together they had (7? 10? 12?) children (the information from various sources is conflicting and I haven’t chased it down).
There’s not much information about Thomas Wright Garbutt (grave info and more) other than his death in Atlanta in 1920. He was married to Alice Young Garbutt and they had three daughters: Nellie Wright Garbutt Spindler, Eula Garbutt Duff, and Jewell Lucile Garbutt Pettus.
We know even less about Moses Wadley Garbutt (grave info). He married Callie Bell Phillips Garbutt but they had no children. They are buried in Fitzgerald, Georgia. M. W. Garbutt was mentioned as representing Garbutt Lumber in discussions over a rail line in 1906, so he was at least somewhat involved with his father’s company.
Henry Lee Garbutt (grave info) married Gertrude (Trudy) Brown Garbutt and had four children: Leona, Annie Mae, Marie and George Henry. Henry and Trudy are buried in Douglas, Georgia.
It remains an open question why Frank, Wadley, Henry and Wright Garbutt are buried in separate Georgia towns in different counties. Did Willie, Frank and Wright only stay together as Garbutt Brothers Lumber for a short time, then go their separate ways? Why are none of them buried near the other family members in Summertown?
Allie Glenn Garbutt and Lida Maude Kittrell Garbutt
Turning (finally!) to my grandfather, Allie, the above article continues, “As a boy, Allie Garbutt lived in Burke, Jefferson and Emanuel counties and worked in his father’s sawmills. He was very mechanically inclined and wanted to attend Georgia Tech University. However, Allie was educated at Emory University [at Oxford] because his mother had aspirations that he would become a Methodist minister.”
Allie married Eliza (Lida) Maude Kittrell (her genealogy goes back several centuries in Georgia and North Carolina) in 1900 and “made his own start in the lumber industry in 1901 when he built a planing mill and dry kiln in Broxton, Georgia. He contracted malaria in 1907; and during this illness, his father operated the Broxton mill, selling the business before Allie returned to work.” Allie later stated, “Some of my former customers heard of my predicament and invited me to Valdosta to look over some prospects there. I was impressed with them, and incorporated the firm of A.G. Garbutt Lumber Company, with offices at Statenville. The mill was ready to run in 1907 and operated until 1920.” In 1920 he moved the mill and his family to Valdosta; in 1924 he sold the Valdosta mill and, the article continues, “in 1925, in Jesup, Georgia, Allie opened an additional sawmill which he operated until the late 1950s.”
The petition to charter the A. G. Garbutt Lumber Company was posted in March, 1906. In August 1906, just a few months later, Allie Garbutt, along with J.W. (Willie), Wright and others, formed the Statenville Railway Company to build a 14-mile line to transport lumber to the Statenville mill.
1910 Timetable of the Statenville Railway Company [source]
The line was built and operated for almost two decades until the timber was depleted and there were no passengers to keep it running. Allie’s father, J.W. Garbutt, was listed as Vice President. Here is an excerpt from the 1924 request to abandon the line (click “Read for free” in the link for full transcript):
Construction of the line was commenced in 1906 and completed in 1913. By the middle of 1907 the track was laid from Haylow to a point about 0.5 mile north of Statenville, where the lumber company erected a large sawmill, and trains were then put in operation between Haylow and the sawmill. From then until August, 1910, the railroad was operated by the lumber company, but not as a common carrier. The line was constructed mainly for the purpose of affording means of transportation for lumber to be manufactured from a large body of timber east of the Alapaha River in Echols County. It was hoped that the territory to be served would develop and in course of time would furnish enough traffic to support the line. In August, 1910, the Railroad Commission of Georgia ordered that the line be operated as a common carrier. The [Statenville Railway Company] thereupon took over the line and operated it as a common carrier.
There are no cities or incorporated towns or villages on the line. Haylow has a population of about 50 and Statenville about 100. The population of the tributary area does not exceed 700. Haylow is at the junction of the Atlantic Coast Line and the Georgia Southern & Florida. Statenville is 6 miles from Tarver, a station on the Atlantic Coast Line, and 8 miles from Mayday on the Georgia & Southern Florida.
The timber owned by the lumber company has been cut and manufactured and there is now little traffic on the line. The operation of the lumber company’s sawmill was discontinued in 1920 and since then the revenue derived from freight and passenger traffic combined has not been sufficient to pay expenses of operation. The applicant represents that prior to 1913 it handles some passenger traffic, but that the use of automobiles in this section has increased to such an extent that passenger traffic has dwindled to practically nothing. The record indicates that further operation of the line is not justified.
[Note: “8 Miles from Mayday” would be a great title for a book about the Garbutt Lumber Company or maybe the Garbutt experience in Statenville. Or a good name for a band.]
To summarize, here is a map of the region that helps clarify a few things for me. Allie started his career in 1901 with a mill and kiln in Broxton but when he got sick his father sold those in 1907. Allie then acquired timber near Haylow, built a mill in Statenville and a railroad line between them. He operated the mill and lived in Statenville until the lumber was depleted in 1920. He moved the family to Valdosta in 1923 or 1924 but then sold a Valdosta mill and built a mill in Jesup in 1925. For the next 30+ years I suspect Allie spent most of his time in Jesup and commuted back to the family in Valdosta on weekends. The 100 miles from Valdosta to Jesup helps explain why Mom had few direct memories of her father.
The wilds of the Internet popped up a number of articles related to the Garbutt Lumber Company operations in and around Valdosta and Statenville. One of my favorites is this one from the January 9, 1908 Augusta Herald about an archeological find when clearing land for the Statenville lumber mill. Mr. Garbutt was an ardent prohibitionist, it seems. For the record, actual Prohibition didn’t arrive until 1920.
Even better is this most fulsome recrimination of Mr. Garbutt’s sin from a writer in the December 19, 1907 Augusta Herald. Mark Twain would be proud (you may have to click each page of the article to read it clearly).
There’s this fragment of an article from the November 10, 1912 Macon Weekly Telegraph. I’ve found no other reference to Allie getting shot (or shooting back). You’d think someone might have mentioned that.
Attempts to Rob Mill Man of His Pay Roll
A. G. Garbutt, of Statenville, Wounded
Thinking His Victim Dead or Dying After Firing From Ambush Assailant is Met With Return Fire When He Attempted to Get the Money.
Valdosta Nov. 9.—Information was received here today of a dastardly attempt to assassinate and rob A. G. Garbutt, a well-known saw mill man, near Statenville, last night. Mr. Garbutt came to Valdosta yesterday to get money with which to pay of his mill force today, leaving the city about 6 o’clock In his automobile with $1,500 for his pay roll. He reached tho outskirts of Statenville shortly after dark and was near his mill when an, unknown person fired at him with a shotgun, the charge of small shot entering his side. The would-be assassin thinking Mr. Garbutt as dead or in a dying condition attempted to climb into the automobile, when Mr. Garbutt returned the fire with his revolver, when the assailant fled. Mr. Garbutt wounds are severe, but they are not regarded as fatal. There is no clew (sic) to the assailant Date: 1912-11-10; Paper: Macon Weekly Telegraph
I’m hesitant to include this find: from the June 10, 1920 Bainbridge Post-Search Light (and reported in a number of other papers) comes this gruesome story of a five-year old child’s accidental death. Allie Garbutt was involved in the accident, starting the carriage into which the child fell. He must clearly must have been there to deal with the immediate and longer-term aftermath which had to be horrible. Is it a coincidence that the Statenville mill closed in 1920? Who knows what other psychological trauma resulted? I have more thoughts in a separate post.
In 1924, the Garbutt Lumber Company sold its “big new mill” in Valdosta (which had just been built in 1920). This is the same year the Garbutt Lumber Company filed to abandon the Statenville Railway. In 1925, Allie opened a new mill in Jesup, GA which he operated until the late 1950s, just a few years before his death.
Allie and Lida Garbutt had 11 children, 6 boys followed by 5 girls. The third of those girls was my mother, Sara. In order, they were John William (JW) Garbutt, Allie Glenn Garbutt Jr., Elmo Kittrell Garbutt, Arthur Harrison Garbutt, Frank Randall Garbutt, Harry Gilmore Garbutt, Lida Frances (Sister) Carroll, Valerie Ruth Curtright, Sara Garbutt Duncan (Mom!), Elizabeth Garbutt Shaw, and Mary Catherine (Katie) Blanton.
In the 2002 Garbutt Family reminiscences that Sue compiled, Mom had this to say about her mother, Lida.
Mother was a wonderful lady. She put up with a helluva lot. Most patient, sweetest person in the world. She invited all the kids to play in their yard but her kids couldn’t go to anyone else’s yard. She wanted to know where they were. Kids would skate on the wooden porch in the rain. We weren’t allowed to play cards on Sunday, don’t ask me why. They didn’t believe in it.
I always felt that my mother had more to take care of than anyone could possibly take care of and I wouldn’t ever do anything to make her life worse. If she said I couldn’t do something, I didn’t do it, and I never did talk back. I had a friend who had the most wonderful mother in the world who loved me dearly. She’d talk back to her mother and it
hurt me so much I couldn’t stand it. I’d go to spend the night with Carolyn, and she’d make me breakfast (chicken and dumplings) and I LOVED it! She made wonderful cakes, too.
We had a huge yard that was a big garden, flowers and vegetables, and mother worked out in the yard at every given opportunity. We had a lot of help (cook, clean, sent wash out to wash woman) so she had time to do that.
There was lots of English ivy at the bottom of Mom’s house. She was always picking it and giving it to people. She broke out in hives and welts every time, and it took years for her to figure it out. There was also a fig tree that caused her to itch. She had to get in the shower
real quick. She had allergies rather early on.
Mother grew sweet peas (flowers) in all colors, on trellises in the garden. One section was filled with spider lilies — you don’t see those any more. They’re feathery, with spikes all the way around, bright red and beautiful. In the spring, narcissus would come up all at once.
She grew vegetables, too.
(Sue): Mom never knew her mother’s name – Lida Maude Kittrell – until she was a teenager. She said that Sugie hated her name – Lida Kittrell Carroll.
Mom told me that her mother didn’t go to her wedding, but she never expected her to. Her mother never left the house.
(Sue) was 18 months old when Mom’s mom (Lida Kitrell) died. The girls were taking turns going to Jesup and taking care of her. Len & I stayed with Sister when Mom went to Jesup. Dad went to Jesup while she was sick, he must have taken her. Went back to Valdosta. She was bedridden, they’d keep her doped up, she said, “So hard to live, so hard
to die.” She didn’t go to church. Grandmother Garbutt was religious, but Mama quit going anywhere.
Oddly, in that 2002 document, Mom had nothing to say about her father, Allie Glenn or “Papa.” Mom didn’t speak about him often but when she did it seemed to be with love and respect, though it seemed he was gone at the mill most of the time. Laurie and Sue have some memories of Papa. Laurie says he met me as a baby but I was two when he died and have no memory of him. Also oddly, or sadly, we don’t have any photos of either Papa or Lida.
Allie Glenn Garbutt’s gravestone from Findagrave.com
Lida lived until 1947 (age 66) and Allie Garbutt lived until 1961 (age 81). They are buried in Valdosta’s Sunset Hill Cemetery.
Despite owning various mills and a rail line, I don’t think there was any family fortune or even any memorabilia left by the time Allie Garbutt died in 1961. None of his 11 children followed in the sawmill business, which closed shop in the “late 1950s.” I can’t think of anything in our house or possessions that come from Mom’s family. Mom always described growing up during the Depression as a time of few extravagances but also little desperation. “We didn’t know enough to know we were poor” is more or less what she said.
Here is a 2001 article from the Valdosta Daily Times profiling our branch of the Garbutt family of Statenville and Valdosta, based partly on interviews with Mom’s sisters Katie and Frances (Sister)…and also that Chinkypin book mentioned above. It doesn’t add a lot of new information — much of the space is given to spelling out the various children and spouses over two generations — but it does clarify that Allie and Lida raised 10 children in Statenville before moving to Valdosta between 1923-1925 and adding Katie (listed as Catie…Katie’s obituary says she was born in Statenville, and that it’s Katie with a K). There’s also the cool picture of the 1900 Emory (Oxford) baseball team with a suave-looking Allie in the center. The article repeats the legend of “all the beautiful Garbutt girls with that Garbutt look.” Maybe the author, Albert Pendleton, is the guy who always wished he could get a Garbutt girl.
The article also mentions the Garbutts lived next to the Hightowers in Valdosta. This was a name that popped up fairly often with Mom. I think Helen Hightower was one of her best buddies, along with Helen Duncan.
In 1910, Allie G. Garbutt was among the founders and the First Vice President of the Thomas Grate Bar Company to make self-cleaning grate bars used in locomotives and steam engines. The company had foundries in Valdosta and Birmingham, Alabama. The company eventually moved to Birmingham and was renamed Thomas Foundry. The Birmingham Foundry stayed in operation until 2002. I’m not sure how long Allie Garbutt was associated with this company.
Also in 1910, Lida Garbutt and some number of the boys (she had four or five at that point) survived a 12-hour car trip from Dublin, Georgia back to Statenville. It’s fun what counted as news some days.
Here is a 1927 letter signed by Allie G. Garbutt on his company letterhead. The letter itself is a fairly generic recommendation of a piece of machinery — of no great importance but it’s nice to have.
Allie Glenn Garbutt received a 1928 patent on a “flash boiler” capable of producing in an economical and efficient manner a high steam pressure from a relatively small amount of of water.
Here is a 1955 note Allie Garbutt wrote to Verne (who’s Verne? a grandchild?) with the birthdates of all 11 of his children.
Here is the marriage certificate of Allie Glenn Garbutt and Miss Lida Kittrell.
Mom’s Sisters
Even though it’s out of order, I’m going to deal with Mom’s sisters and their families first, partly because they’re the ones we knew more about but also because there are a few documents related to the boys below.
I really only knew two of Mom’s sisters and their families, Frances (Sister) and Katie. They were the only ones that stayed in Valdosta and we would see them when we visited Susie and Pop-pop in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Lida Frances “Sister” Garbutt Carroll was a kind and gracious lady and my favorite of Mom’s relatives. She was five years older than Mom but had effectively been the matriarch of the Garbutt family since their mother, Lida, died in 1947. Sister was married to Jamie Carroll, a gregarious fireplug of a man, quick with a joke but also a successful businessman. He owned a meat packing company, started with his father in 1937 and still operated by the family now as Sunset Farm Foods. They had a nice, modern (for 50 years ago) house in Valdosta not far from Susie and Pops where we often stayed when we visited — it was much nicer staying at Sister’s than at Susie and Pops’ house. Their kids, Sugie, Ann, Bo and Jimmy were older and had mostly moved out, leaving room for us. Sister and Jamie also had a lake house on Lake Frances, 20-30 minutes out of town, and sometimes we’d stay out there.
Jamie Carroll at our rehearsal dinner
Sister and Jamie came to our wedding, the only of the Valdosta family to do so. Ever a good uncle, Jamie got up at our rehearsal dinner and told a rambling shaggy dog story that I can’t remember the point of but we all remember that he was a little drunk before he started and moreso by the time he finished. How can it be that this is virtually the only picture I have of anyone from this side of the family?
Mom remembered this about Sister and Jamie:
Lida Frances Garbutt Carroll – She was the first girl in the Garbutt family and was doted on by everyone. She was always exempt from PE so I guess she was a fragile flower all along, though I don’t know why. She did have a goiter on her neck in high school, took iodine. She painted, was a very good artist, starting in college. She went to Georgia State Women’s College and married Jamie (high school football hero, quarterback I believe) shortly after she finished. She taught school for awhile. Jamie was also a Valdosta boy. Jamie’s father was a farmer, had a lot of property, farmland south of Valdosta. Jamie started the meat packing business, was a big wheeler dealer in land, did a lot of farming,
had a race track at one time (an auto race track). He grew peanuts and all kinds of stuff on his farm, and was very sociable. Sister rides, Jamie drives. All the sisters are very dependent on their men.
Sister went [when she was in college?] to New York to live with Glen, went to study art, they became quite close. He and Phoebe had just gotten married about that time. She enjoyed that thoroughly. Jamie drove up to New York to bring her home, he had quite a time because they went to see Cab Callaway at the Cotton Club. Jamie went to a world series game, and he got in trouble with some blacks along the way, and he hated New York, really hated it, never wanted to go back. Sister came back to Valdosta with him. They’d been going together for years. She taught school a little while after college, then they got married.
Sister and Jamie had four kids: Lida Kittrell “Sugie” Catikos, Jimmy Carroll, Jr., Ann Carroll Edwards and “Bo” Carroll. I remember each of them, all a good deal older than me. They were each friendly but we didn’t do much together other than eat meals with everyone from time to time. Mom offered these 2002 memories of each:
Jimmy – went to the Citadel, served in the Army in Germany, married Ingrid there, she came back to Valdosta which must have been real culture shock to her, but she has survived real well and retained her German-ness. They had two boys, Mike and Tom. Mike is working in
Slovac Republic with his own eyeglass business. Tom went to North Carolina State, he’s a computer whiz, has computerized the meat packing business. After Jamie quit running the business, Jimmy and Bo took it over. Tom has two little girls in Slovakia.
Sugie – Lida Kittrell Carroll Catikos – married Ted Catikos, he was in the service at Cape Canaveral. They had one son, Jamie. He runs an office supply distribution business in South Georgia, is doing very well for himself. Sugie was married two other times, but husbands wanted her to leave Valdosta and she wouldn’t do it, so they divorced. She worked in a furniture store, and a jewelry store, but not any more. Retired. Not a happy camper.
Bo – went to agricultural school in Tifton, he married Shirley and they have twin boys, Josh and Austin, and a little girl Maggie. Bo is now a wheeler dealer since Jimmy bought him out, he’s a bank board member. Selling real estate, dealing in whatever. He’s another Jamie. Must make quite a bit on it.
Ann – went to college, studied art (in Valdosta) married George Edwards (a good bit older than she is) and lives in Ocala. They had on little girl named Anna Clare, who went to Mercer College for 4 years, then to a pharmacy school in Atlanta for 4 years, now she’s a pharmacist living in Valdosta with her husband who she went to school with, and he’s a lawyer who’s working in Valdosta. Ann comes to Valdosta very often to help Jamie and to see Anna Clare.
Ann Carroll Edwards at Keri and Jon’s wedding
Ann Edwards came to Keri and Jon’s wedding in 2003 where we enjoyed spending time with her. But we haven’t seen each other since.
Sister lived until 2003; Jamie passed away in 2006.
Mom’s youngest sister, Mary Catherine “Katie” Garbutt Blanton, also lived in Valdosta though we didn’t see her as often. None of us got along particularly well with her husband, Brooker. Their son, Buck, was my age and from time to time we were encouraged to play together but we had almost nothing in common. Mom’s 2002 snapshot of their family:
Mary Catherine – Katie — was everybody’s darling. She was precious, sweet as pie, good as gold. One time Katie’s hair looked awful from swimming at Barber’s pool. Mother gave her a perm, and it fell out, it was so dead. She went to GSWC, graduated, was going to work in Baton Rouge. Brooker bombarded her with proposals, and she caved in. They had a pretty rocky road. [Katie passed away in 2011. How was Katie was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution?]
Brooker did a number of things — auto mechanic, house painter, sold insurance, had a chicken farm. He was a card carrying member of the Woman’s Club, since he and Woot cooked for them. He loved to eat. He developed Alzheimers and a bad heart. He was not supposed to drink or eat high cholesterol foods. He’d sneak around. Katie hates it. Everything’s right or wrong, there is no gray to her. She loves to go places but talks people into taking her.
Taffy worked at VSU, went to FSU for MS & PhD. Stayed in Janice’s garage apartment over the weekend for several years.
Buck lives in Jacksonville, sells insurance, has two young boys, wife named Missy.
Holly is in Valdosta, and I’m not sure about Brad. [I’m not sure who Holly or Brad are.]
Brooke and Tom [Taffy’s children] are both in Atlanta. Brooke wrote a thank-you card years later for a Chinese Barbie-type doll I had given her when she was young. She said how much she loved it, it was always a treasure, she put it away when she got it, and now she displays it on her table.
Mom’s other siblings are mostly a blur of names to me, though I think I probably met Elizabeth and Ruth a few times. Here are Mom’s 2002 remembrances of her other two sisters. We’ll cover the boys further below.
Valerie Ruth (“Ruth”) Garbutt Curtright – was kind of feisty, a little mean, and she taught school for a short time. The school got after her for dating the high school boys. She liked to have a good time. We were in college, and had the same classes, and she embarrassed me to death, and never studied, and never got very good grades. I would read the French book, and some friends would come over and I’d give them the synopsis for 15 cents each. The teacher would call on her and she’d never know anything, but she graduated, and taught school, and I’ll bet she was a terrible teacher. She used to fight with the girl across the street, and Papa said if he heard of her doing that again he would whip her, and she went up to him and said go ahead, it was worth it. She’d fight by getting you up against the wall and bumping you, and she was soft and couldn’t hurt a thing, and I would laugh, and it would make her so mad.
She had a terrible temper. She married Hugh Curtwright and he was in the Navy, and they went to Bremerton Washington and they lived there quite awhile. Then they went to Oak Ridge, TN, and he was a manager of the McCrory store there. They settled in Oak Ridge and Hugh died very early (age 42) and she’s been there since. She had a son, Hugh Collier Curtwright III, known as Joe. And she had Cay and David. Cay worked her whole career with Delta airlines as a reservationist, then became a troubleshooter for jobs. She got travel privileges, took Ruth a lot of places, and still travels. She recently married a fellow from Oak Ridge and they live in Hawaii. She comes home and stays with Ruth for awhile and does a lot for her. David I think lives in Oak Ridge. I don’t know where Joe is, either. Ruth doesn’t want to go anywhere, thinks she’s better off there. Jamie tried to give her several trips to Valdosta, but she won’t go anywhere by herself. Only with Cay.
Elizabeth Garbutt Shaw was puny, got scarlet fever, was a pretty fragile child. They had to quarantine her two times – a white sheet was over the door. The family came and went, but no one else was allowed to come in. I never saw that before or since. I shared a room with Elizabeth after the boys left, but I didn’t want Elizabeth’s things in my room. We all slept on the porch til the boys left, then we got their room. Elizabeth went three years to college. [In 1940] Ruth got married in February. Mom got married in June. Elizabeth knew better than to ask, so she eloped, stayed at home and didn’t tell anyone. James Shaw went into the service, and he was sent to Australia. When Len’s pointing at the globe in our home movies, she’s showing where James was. He got out, worked for American Express (like UPS on trains). His father did, too. They lived in Miami (where we ate pickles and laughed), Jacksonville, Savannah, Atlanta, and Tallahassee. He retired in Atlanta to Tallahassee because of Janice, who was teaching there. Elizabeth has been involved with Janice & family, Allen & family. All were service people. When you talk to Elizabeth she runs through the whole family. It’s hard to get away and you can’t understand who she’s talking about.
Cousins Taffy Blanton Price, Sue Duncan Blythe, Cay Curtright Lane, Ann Carroll Edwards, Janice Shaw Marsh. Hey y’all!
Sue kept in touch with several of the cousins from Valdosta, including having regular cousins weekends together for a number of years. Here’s a photo from one of those weekends and her note about those gatherings:
That photo was taken about 2016 at Lake Octahatchee, FL [just south of Valdosta]. That’s a little fishing club that Brooker Blanton joined way back when. It’s a limited number of homes on a large and sprawling lake — 28, I think, and that’s all forever. Brooker bought what used to be the clubhouse and weekends there were part of Taffy’s childhood. In about 2005, Taffy was driving out and saw Cousin Ann walking on the two-rut road that goes around that part of the lake. They discovered that they were neighbors, as they both had homes there. Taffy’s I’d call a cabin, Ann’s is a cute little cottage.
They decided to invite all the descendants of the Garbutt Girls to come for a cousins reunion. Taffy, Ann, Cay, Janice and I and sometimes Sugie had a great time getting to know each other and sharing family stories and photos going back generations. We’d go from one house to the other for breakfast, lunch and dinner, just talking and laughing and enjoying each other thoroughly. We met there in early April for about 12 years. One time George took us on a tour of Lake Octahatchee — one of my favorite memories. I asked if people went swimming there. He said he heard that you shouldn’t let your kids swim in that lake unless you had a few to spare.
It got to be a bigger and bigger deal to clean up Taffy’s house after George and the boys did their fishing weekends. Then he built a giant pole barn for his fishing boat right in front of the house so that’s all you could see when you drove up. That’s when Taffy turned the cabin over to the boys forevermore and we started going to nice hotels for a few years. But we did go back once more for old times sake.
I was looking for a good picture to get a sense of the serenity of the place and the cypress cathedral effect. Came across a photo that reminded me of Taffy’s lakefront view, tucked away on a little branch of the large lake. I saw a fish sculpture that looked just like the one in Taffy’s house. And then I read about the retreat house and realized that it looked so much like Taffy’s house because it was.
https://www.oldladyandpurpledragon.com/worm-moon-retreat/
I’m sad to say that Taffy died recently. Now for sure we won’t be going back there. We did a zoom cousins reunion in 2020, but not everyone came. That part of our lives is probably over. Sure was nice while it lasted. We inspired quite a few people to reach out to reconnect with their own cousins.
Glenn and Phebe Garbutt
Allie Glenn Garbutt, Jr., who lived in New York, was the only uncle I came to know. He was a gracious, charming gentleman, tall with kind eyes and a smooth Southern drawl. He seemed very out of place in New York City but evidently Phebe would live nowhere else. They had a lovely brownstone home in Manhattan we would visit especially while we lived in New Jersey. Every once in a while they came to see us but mostly we visited them in the city where Phebe was comfortable.
Mom and Dad offered more memories of Glenn, the only brother she liked, and his wife, Phebe.
Glenn was the bright star of the boys. Quite an intellectual. He went to Georgia Tech, but studied finance. Went to Dehlonaga Prep School in
North Georgia close to Rome. They had gold mines there. Then he went to Laurel MS, worked in a bank, then to San Francisco. Became a financial type and eventually ended up in NY. Became a confirmed New Yorker, wouldn’t live anywhere else if he had his choice. Became his own consultant for a number of banks. Married Phebe Downs, whose father was a Methodist Minister, so he got religion. They were married when they were 40 years old, neither had been married before. It was a perfect marriage, they really cared for each other. She was a New Yorker. She came down south on a visit once, and really absolutely
hated those oak trees with moss in them, and they reminded her of death itself. She was an artists – she did the green horse paintings, and the Chinese mountains, and two men in a boat. They traveled a lot, went around the world several times. She loved India. She talked about the Taj Mahal. Died at age 93.
Glenn had a friend from church, he and Phoebe had known her for years, her husband had been dead eight years when Glenn started going with her. Phebe had been dead for eight years. He looked terrible, she said, you need help and I want to take care of you. She moved in with him and took care of him. She was a caretaker, he said, and she needed someone to take care of. He had an apartment in the neighborhood she grew up in, volunteered in the hospital on his block, and went to the
same church. Match made in convenience heaven. He got back on his feet, gained weight. He went to live with her in Wisconsin, where her sons lived. She put him in a retirement home there til he died. They talked one morning at 7:00 and made plans to have lunch, he went back to sleep and never woke up. Willie Holm was her name. He got Mom’s goat – he would not drink water, but he loved milk, and would drink any amount of milk. He’d let that tiny little lady go out to get him a gallon of milk when he should have been drinking water.
Glenn was very erudite, he read a lot, had a good vocabulary, spoke very well. He told Len there was far too much use of the word “very,” so she took out every “very” from her PMS book. Dad: He was quite intellectual. Len hated that he was right.
Here is a 1962 bio of Glenn Garbutt which I’m guessing he prepared.
Glenn’s wife Phebe was also quite wonderful. She was not as open or friendly as Glenn, but she seemed happy to have us visit as long as I wasn’t too rambunctious in her house. She was an avid painter and somewhere we have her painting of two Ming horses. Here are notes from her service in 1984. I have not chased down her “distinguished English family that came to America in the early 1600s.”
Further notes on Phebe’s passing.
Now let’s turn to the rest of Mom’s brothers. I didn’t know any of them, so we’ll deal with them mostly through Mom’s (and Dad’s) 2002 remembrances.
John William “JW” Garbutt (1901-1976) – After he got out of high school he joined the merchant marine. Played a guitar, sang. He was called Red for his red hair. Shoveled coal into a big furnace, melted coal til it created methane, collected methane, and the weight of the roof pressured the gas into the distribution system. No natural gas, this was a coal gas system for the whole town. When you heat it up, it gives off the methane. Dad’s chemistry teacher took the high school class to the coal plant to see how they made gas out of coal. He was in Merchant Marine for a long time then wandered all over the world, then come back to Valdosta, for awhile, then in jail awhile, drank too much, very likable, very irresponsible. Married late in life, never knew his family.
Here are two documents regarding Elmo Garbutt (1905-1949), another of Mom’s brothers. Elmo died in 1949 at age 44. Mom said she knew “very little about him except that he went into the Merchant Marine also, then drifted and ended up in jail for counterfeiting money, was always getting into trouble. Became a dope addict and died of an overdose of heroin in New York City.”
Arthur Harrison Garbutt (1907-1955) – know even less except he was quite an athlete, big on boxing and football. He had a girlfriend for years and everybody expected them to get married but Mom found out that her mother had talked to the girlfriend and advised her not to marry
him because he was emotionally unstable. He died young, but Mom doesn’t know much about him.
Frank Randall Garbutt (1910-?)- went to Riverside Academy (Military) in Gainesville, GA (river rat), never did go into the service. Big football, golf, athlete. The big thing about him was that when he was a little tiny boy he was driving in Statenville with the help and went through the
windshield, and they didn’t think he’d live, but he did, and had a big scar from his nose all the way down to his throat. He harassed his sisters, especially Mom. He married Ann (Morris) and she had a flower nursery and did very well with it. They got married in Jesup, had two children Rebecca and Sonny (Frank Jr) and I don’t know much about them, I’m sorry. His wife died and Frank and the children had bitter fights over the estate. Frank became an alcoholic and had to have his stomach operated on, had a lot of health problems. He was very hard to live with. Never did care much for Frank. He had a bad motorcycle accident.
Here’s a 1995 article about Harry Garbutt (1912-1955), Mom’s brother and a motorcycle policeman in Valdosta, the “sharpest guy in town.” Harry died in 1955 when he was only 43. I’m not sure of the cause of death and I don’t think I’ve had any contact with the families of any of his four children.
From Mom’s recollection:
Harry really made me miserable, picked on me, left the other girls alone. I really hated him. It’s too bad because everybody else loved him. He went to Douglas, followed his football coach, played there in college for two years, married a Douglas girl, quit school, worked in Valdosta as a policeman, and other jobs. Had five children (Frances, Harry, Mike, David, who died very young). His wife died with cancer. Harry wasn’t very old either when he died – had heart attack at 42. Those children had a hard time growing up. One went into an orphanage.
The 2013 obituary of Michael Lewis Garbutt (son of Harry), the first and only family member I’ve found to acknowledge having a same-sex partner.
The Family of George Garbutt and Annie Pybus
The largest document in this cache is a 22-page Garbutt-Pybus family tree. It was put together in 1981 by Rosalie Garbutt with assistance from five cousins including Mom’s sister, Elizabeth Garbutt Shaw. It details generations of marriages and children (we’re on page 10!), though unfortunately without dates. I have tried to decipher (most of) it to build a Garbutt Family Tree on this site.
Here are two additional Garbutt family trees (with dates!). The note on the bottom right is from a 1981 request for (Mom’s brother) Glenn and Phebe to fill in more detail, but I’m not sure who it’s from (Clyde & Marion?). These two pages don’t really add much to the information we know, other than a glimpse of Phebe Downs Garbutt’s lineage.
One more tree, prepared “for Frances” but it doesn’t really add much data.
And finally, this article was in the cache but so far I have no idea why. Who was Lucy Moses?
On that note of mystery, let’s begin a consideration of what, if anything, we’ve learned by delving into these documents and internet wanderings.
This exercise has brought forth a lot more about the Garbutt line than I’d known before. Mom’s immediate family, with 6 boys, 5 girls and many cousins descended from them was confusing and intimidating to me. This effort helps clarify them for me, and it’s great to now be able to go back three generations before my mother (where before I knew nothing).
It’s interesting to see how successful the family as a whole was in lumber and sawmills for several generations. It’s also a remarkably convoluted and still-mysterious business evolution. And now nothing is left of these once thriving businesses.
It’s interesting to learn of the Garbutt connections in Emanuel County and East Georgia, particularly the two churches built by George Garbutt, the McKinney’s Pond restaurant still in the family, and the family gravesites — even a Garbutts Cemetery. It’s mildly tempting to consider a low-key pilgrimage there at some point.
It might also be helpful to rummage around some of the libraries and historical societies there and in other counties of South and East Georgia, if one was inclined to delve further into these stories.
All that said, I’m not necessarily more motivated to connect with my remaining cousins in Valdosta. I’m glad that Sue has stayed in touch, but I don’t feel much of an urge myself. Maybe some future generation family member may find these connections helpful and can build upon them.
It wasn’t until after I “finished” this post for the first time, including the above “lessons learned” that I came across the 1920 article about the little boy decapitated at Allie Garbutt’s mill. Finding out about that awful event precipitated a separate set of thoughts.
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