A History of Dr. Thomas Jefferson Jones Compiled by Carla Cook Smith Dr. Thomas Jefferson Jones (b. 8/11/1849) was the fourth of five sons (four daughters died in infancy) born to Thomas Johnson and Winnie (“Winna”) Trimble Jones (m. 12/24/1835) in Troup County, Georgia near Hogansville. Raised by his “Uncle Billie Mobley” (brother of Gilley Mobley) following the death of his parents (John and Elizabeth Harris Jones) in 1817, Thomas Johnson Jones died in 1855 when his son, Thomas Jefferson Jones, was 6-years old. He is buried with several members of his family in the Emmaus Cemetery on LaGrange Road about three miles from Hogansville. His two eldest sons were killed during the War Between the States. William Alfred Jones (age 28) died on May 5, 1864 and John Mobley Jones (age 20) was killed in Virginia a week later on May 12, 1864. The third son, James Thomas Jones, also served the Confederacy for which cause he was wounded twice and captured by the Union Army. James married Elizabeth Trimble Phillips in Lafayette, Alabama where the couple raised their six children. Dr. Jesse Franklin Jones was the youngest son and he married Achsah Ella Morton in 1874. The couple had seven children, one of which died as an infant. Dr. Jesse Jones resided with his wife in Hogansville where he had a successful medical practice until their respective deaths in 1910 and 1927. Virginia Savannah (“Jennie”) Johnston became the bride of Dr. Thomas Jefferson Jones on September 28, 1871 in Hogansville, Georgia officiated by Reverend F.M. T. Brannon. Jennie’s parents were John Littleton and Frances Asbury Moreland Livingston Johnston of Hogansville. A Troup County merchant and planter, John Littleton Johnston served the Confederacy and was severely wounded in Dalton, Georgia in 1864 when he was hit by a minie ball, which caused him to have one of his legs amputated. He died in Hogansville on November 19, 1877 at the age of 45. By 1876, Thomas and Jennie had lost five children (Jesse Littleton 7/111872- 11/1/1873; Thomas Johnson Jones 6/15/1874-8/12/1875) in infancy and went to live with Jennie’s parents in the house built in 1872 by her father on 100 acres with large peach, pear and apple orchards in Hogansville. (Sometime later the house was moved to town and the acreage was taken over for cotton mills and homes for mill hands.) A healthy daughter, Frances Virginia (“Fannie”) Jones, was born the year they arrived at the Johnston home place (5/4/1876) and brought great joy to the family. Two years later, Fannie’s little brother, John Littleton Jones (3/23/1878), was born. (William Jefferson Jones 11/5/1880-11/7/1881; Emmett Jones 10/8/1882-8/8/1885; Ernest Jones 8/12/1885-12/21-1885) Jennie died 10/21/1885. A graduate of the State University of Georgia, Louisville Medical College and Jefferson College of Philadelphia, Dr. Thomas Jefferson Jones became an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist following his internship under Dr. Herman Knapp. During his time of study at the University of Georgia, Dr. Jones accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior and thereafter joined Hogansville Baptist Church where was appointed as a deacon the year his youngest child was born in 1878. Dr. Jones practiced medicine in Hogansville, Georgia until the death of his wife, Jennie, who is noted as dying “a most triumphant Christian death” in 1885. The family moved to what was then Depot Street (now East Broad) in Newnan that same year where Dr. Jones opened a medical practice downtown in a beautiful building still adorned with his name on East Broad Street. Jones was a member of Newnan Baptist Church from 1885 until he became a charter member of Central Baptist Church in 1897. In 1891, Dr. Jones married 20-year old Mary (“Munie”) Gibson who became one of the six original members who organized Newnan’s Reading Circle in 1909 at the home of Mrs. W.B. Orr. Munie co-authored the Coweta County Chronicles with Miss Lily Reynolds of Luthersville, and was known for her patriotic interests. She served as the second president of Newnan Chapter 599, United Daughters of the Confederacy and as regent for the Sarah Dickinson chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Jones taught the adult Bible class at Central Baptist Church for over 40 years and was an active member of the West Georgia Baptist Association. Dr. Jones is remembered as a reserved and modest man of faith noted to have his Bible with him at all times. J.S. Hardaway described Dr. Jones as “a true friend, loyal and gracious in word and act. He was exceedingly tender-hearted . . .a conservative man, and a most excellent adviser. A stable. . .clean citizen, an honor to our town, to his calling and to his church.” The children of Thomas and Jennie continued the family legacy of Christian character and community service. John Littleton Jones graduated from Newnan High School before attending the University of Virginia and graduating from the University of Georgia with a law degree. He practiced law in Newnan where he served as attorney for the Coweta County Commissioners and was a member of Central Baptist Church where he served as Chairman of the Poor Committee and leader of the Royal Ambassadors. Mr. Jones became a Georgia state representative and had large land holdings which included farms and peach orchards in Troup County. Late in life, John married Caroline Frances Arnold (a Coweta County school teacher who served on the Newnan Board of Education and as Assistant to the Coweta County Court ). They had no children. John died at Newnan Hospital in 1958 after a long illness. Fannie Jones was educated at home by her mother before moving to Newnan where she attended classes taught by her next door neighbor, Miss Lizzie Hill, in a 3-room school house in a grove a short distance from her home. Her father loved music and saw that she took music lessons from Mrs. Snead in the fall of 1885. (That same year, her future husband’s father, Major Nathaniel Banks Glover, served as a director of the newly organized Newnan National Bank.) The first piece Fannie learned to play was a schottische (music for a dance resembling a slow polka). During her school years, Fannie attended commencement exercises and recited poetry at the Reese Opera House where all the important functions in Newnan took place at that time. Her education continued with Mrs. Jennie Nimmons who taught classes in a room of her home on Nimmons Street where Atkinson Grammar School is located today. In 1886, Fannie returned to school in the grove near her home under the guidance of Miss Molly Stevens who was the sister of the Methodist minister’s wife. That year was a momentous one in Newnan’s history as Confederate President Jefferson Davis visited the city on his way to speak in Atlanta at the unveiling of the Ben Hill monument. Fannie related the excitement of the crowd at the Newnan depot and the presentation of flowers to President Davis in a letter to her daughter, Winifred. In 1887, The Jones family moved to a house they rented from a Mrs. Brewster on College Street next door to the Henry Arnall family where they enjoyed the company of neighboring families including the Farmers, Dents, Salbides, Conyers, Pinsons, Melsons, Scroggins, Freemans, and Fonses in addition to the Arnalls. In January of 1888, Fannie attended public school in the laboratory and arcade buildings of the former College Temple. “Old Soldiers Day” was held on July 21st that year and Fannie attended a barbeque celebration at Pearl Spring (the later home place of Mr. and Mrs. William Banks) where Confederate Generals Longstreet, Tigi Anderson, Clemont Evans, Young and other celebrities from the War Between the States were honored. The cornerstone of Newnan Public School was laid in 1888 as was the cornerstone of Newnan Cotton Mills. Other noteworthy events of the year include the renaming of Pickett Station to Moreland and the organization of Newnan Land Company for which R.H. Hardaway was president, Major Nathaniel Banks Glover was vice president and R.W. Freeman was secretary/treasurer. Fannie’s personal correspondence notes that Captain Tom Jones installed water works (perhaps Newnan’s first) in his house and electric lights were installed in Newnan Cotton Mills in 1889. She related that since there were no hospitals in town, her father, Dr. Jones, sometimes performed operations in their College Street home. In her reflections on her father’s 1891 wedding to Miss Mary Gibson, she penned that her new stepmother “was not more than six years older than I.” Fannie wrote, “We liked her very much. She had been my Sunday school teacher and was so kind and good. She was more like a sister than a stepmother.” Following her 1892 graduation from high school with honors, Fannie attended Peabody Normal (Peabody College) in Nashville. Her father wanted her to continue her music studies in Boston but after Fannie was home in Newnan awhile, she had no desire to go away again to study. She did enjoy summer trips by train to her Uncle Jim’s home in Lafayette, Alabama recalling, “Our grandmother would fix us a shoe box of fried chicken, ham, hard-boiled eggs, jelly biscuit, pickle. . . Uncle Jim would meet us in a wagon as we had large trunks. . .” For entertainment, Fannie met with other young people at the library in the evenings where she enjoyed playing dominoes and other games not played with cards (cards and dancing were taboo). Young men formed quartets and serenaded groups of friends who got together to pop corn, pull candy and parch “goobers” (peanuts). There were numerous picnics at Sargent’s waterfalls and Pearl Spring Park which had a large pavilion, a lake, with boats and a springhouse. Cureton Springs had a large arbor and was a nice place to picnic as well. Fannie recalled hearing the great evangelist Sam Jones (the Billy Graham of that era who lived at Roselawn in Cartersville, Georgia) in meetings which lasted two to three weeks. It was at one such meeting that Major Nathaniel Banks Glover professed Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Sometimes Fannie and her friends would travel to Warm Springs singing in a hay wagon or a “tallyho” (a large covered bus with seats down the sides) along the way to have lunch and go swimming. Fannie never learned to swim but liked to go in the water and “frolic” in her “blue alpaca swimsuit trimmed in white braid with a large sailor collar, sleeves below the elbows, very full bloomers which fell below her knees and a full skirt trimmed with rows of braids over the bloomers, stockings and bathing shoes.” On the way to a music lesson with Mrs. J.R. Herrings on March 30, 1896, Howard Glover, Sr. caught up with Fannie (who was walking swiftly) and asked if he could attend church services with her that evening. They saw each other regularly after that (even in 1897 after Dr. Jones asked his daughter not to see young Howard so often). Following her father’s request, Fannie met Howard at her close friend Edna Russell’s house. Dr. Jones did not disapprove of Howard. He just thought his daughter (who was 20 at the time) was too young to think of getting married and he had some concern about Howard’s reputation as a good dancer and card player. Fannie described Howard as a popular young man, “being handsome with black hair and brown eyes, most attractive in manner and speech, full of fun and very generous.” According to Fannie, Howard’s father died suddenly and Howard was called home from Auburn Polytechnic School in 1890 to assume responsibility for the management of a large estate which included farm lands. (Coweta Chronicles reports Howard Glover during that time as “one of the large land owners of Coweta County and operates the largest peach orchard in the county. He has interests in the H.C. Glover Auto and Machine Company, is president of the F.H. Redwine Company, president of Coweta Cotton Oil Company, and a director of the Newnan Cotton Mills, McIntosh Mill, the Manufacturers’ National Bank and the First National Bank where he served as chairman of the finance committee.”) In a letter to her daughter, Fannie wrote: “When the estate was divided, he got a good inheritance, which he invested wisely. So, when he first came to see me, he was a merchant, having bought half interest in Mr. G.R. Black’s Dry Good Store.” (According to the “Coweta Chronicles,” Howard purchased Mr. Black’s interest in 1899 and ran the business “with his brother Clifford B. Glover until his death in 1922, after which the business was incorporated as Glover-Jones Co. which dealt in dry goods, shoes and general merchandise.”) The concern about Howard Glover as a potential husband was dancing! At that time, Howard was considered the best dancer in Newnan and it was a pastime he greatly enjoyed. When the young Mr. Glover first confessed his love for Fannie, she told him she would probably never dance or play cards and if they married, she would not want him to attend a dance without her or dance with other girls in her presence. Serious in his intentions to marry Fannie, Howard quit dancing altogether. Fannie noted, “After 16 years of marriage, Papa said to me that had I looked the world over, I could never have found any man who would have been better to me.” Howard doted on Fannie as long as he lived, fulfilling her every desire within his power including the building of Newnan’s grandest home (still standing next to the Male Academy on College Street) which she helped design as to size and number of rooms, porches, etc.). Granny Fannie (as she was known by her grandchildren) had a keen interest in history and was a member of historical societies in both Virginia and Georgia. She was a member of the Sarah Dickinson chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Colonial Dames and the Reading Circle of Newnan. Her wedding to Howard Clarke Glover in August 1898 was the first ceremony to be held in the newly organized Central Baptist Church. (The church was dedicated on Sunday and she was married on Thursday) Fannie and Howard raised nine children: Virginia, Frances, Tom, Mary, Howard, Jr., John Littleton (“Litt”), Cliff, Winifred (“Winnie”) and Nathaniel (“Nat”). The National Golden Rule Foundation selected Fannie Jones Glover as “Mother of the Year” in 1953. Upon receipt of the Golden Scroll award, Fannie humbly commented, “I’m just one mother. You all deserve the same.” A devout Christian, Fannie’s resolve in parenting her children to be useful and respected citizens resulted in a family dedicated to God, the church and community. Her daughter Virginia noted, “Our mother let us know that the best was expected of us and she saw that we faithfully carried out her precepts, for which she set an excellent example. . . Our parents provided us with a comfortable, happy home to which our friends were warmly welcomed. . . We knew that we were deeply loved and well looked after, and that we were treated and respected as individuals. We were given a solid foundation for life, and taught how to meet with dignity our joys and disappointments.” Fannie was preceded in death by her husband and her children, Frances and Tom. Howard Clarke Glover, Sr., was a deacon at Central Baptist Church, a successful business man and a member of the Board of Trustees for Georgia Baptist Children’s Home. He was on the Executive Committee of Newnan Cotton Mills, had large farming interests and served as a director at the Batson-Cook Company in West Point, Georgia. An avid fisherman, Mr. Glover was killed on return from a fishing trip in Florida in November 2, 1947. At that time, he and Fannie had been married over 49 years. Frances Glover was a charter member of the Newnan Junior Welfare League, a member of the Newnan Hospital Auxiliary and a Sunbeam Leader at Central Baptist Church. She died in 1969 of a heart condition at the age of 68. Her brother Tom was a prominent insurance executive who owned Glover Insurance Agency. A Mercer University graduate, he was a member of the Newnan Elks Club, the Newnan Country Club and a 42-year member of the Newnan Rotary Club. Mr. Glover helped organize the Newnan-Coweta YMCA for which he served as Chairman. He was a charter member of the Newnan Junior Chamber of Commerce, helped start the Coweta County Associated Charities and served as Director and Disaster Chairman for the Coweta Chapter of the American Red Cross and served on the Planning Commission for the City of Newnan for several years. Tom died suddenly after a heart attack in 1970 at the age of 66. Tom and his wife Pat lived for many years in the antebellum home on LaGrange Street known as “Buena Vista.” Pat was the first of the Glover daughter-in laws. She served as head of the Newnan Welfare Department and as a social worker in Newnan schools before her death at the age of 83 in 1990. Virginia Glover Cook Graham is remembered as a leader at West Point First United Methodist Church and in the West Point community. She founded the Virginia Cook Nursery School, was voted an Outstanding Citizen of West Point and was actively involved in the Pilot Club, Woman’s Club, Garden Club, the Welfare Board, American Red Cross, Board of Education and the Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society. Her husband Edmund Cook founded the Batson-Cook Steel Foundry and Construction Company in West Point. Edmund died in 1963 following 40 years of happy marriage at a country estate “Home Woods” on the banks of the Chattahoochee River with Virginia. A world traveler, Virginia was well known for her zest for life and philanthropy. She moved to the town of West Point following Edmund’s death where she lived in an antebellum home surrounded by antiques left to her by her dear aunts from Demopolis, Alabama. She named her home “White Hall” in honor of the Alabama ancestral home. Late in life, Virginia married Edwin Graham with whom she traveled extensively. She died a year after Edwin in 1982 at the age of 82 and is buried in West Point. Mary Jones Glover Nixon was a homemaker and graduate of Hollins College. A member of Central Baptist Church where she was honored as the first deaconess, Mary served as president of the Western Baptist Association Women’s Missionary Union, was an honorary member of the Newnan Pilot Club, a member of the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her husband Karl was an original trustee of Wesley Woods and served as president of Newnan Cotton Mills. Mary and Karl raised their children in a lovely home on East Broad Street in Newnan prior to her death in 1987 at the age of 81. John Littleton (“Litt”) Glover received his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1935 before becoming a partner in the law firm of Glover and Davis in Newnan. The father of two children with Margaret Miller Glover, Litt was a member of the Board of Governors for the Georgia Bar Association and the State Bar of Georgia in addition to serving as president of local county and circuit bar associations, the Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce and the Newnan Rotary Club. He was a Board member of the Newnan Water, Sewage and Light Commission, served as Chairman of the Newnan Board of Education and was instrumental in the development and construction of the present Newnan High School campus on LaGrange Street. Litt Glover was a director in various businesses which include: Newnan Cotton Mills, Manufacturer's National Bank of Newnan, Newnan Federal Savings and Loan Association, Batson-Cook Company, West Point Foundry and Machine Company, The Piedmont Hotel Company, Parrott Properties Inc. and Newnan Industries Inc. He served as chairman on the Boards of Manufacturer's National Bank, Newnan Federal Savings and Loan and Newnan Industries and served for many years on the Newnan Board of Education. A life-long member of Central Baptist Church, Mr. Glover acted as General Counsel to the Georgia Baptist Children's Homes. His devotion to this ministry prompted the family to request donations be sent to the home in lieu of flowers upon his death in June of 2000 at the age of 89. Dr. Nathaniel Banks (“Nat”) Glover had a pediatric practice in Newnan for 46 years before his retirement in 1994. He and his wife Margaret (“Bobbie”) Glover (a former model and avid bridge player who planted hundreds of azaleas still enjoyed at the family home place) were members of Central Baptist Church where they reared their five children. A graduate of The Citadel and Duke Medical School, Dr. Glover served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps before returning to his Georgia home to finish up his residency in pediatrics at Grady Memorial Hospital in 1948. At one time, Nat was Chairman of the Coweta County Planning Commission and Vice Chairman of the Flint River Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He served as Mayor of Newnan from 1968 to 1969, in addition to serving on the Zoning Board and the Coweta Board of Health. Dr. Glover, who died on November 3, 2000 at the age of 80, was the first Chief of Staff at Coweta General Hospital. Coweta County’s first pediatrician, Dr. Howard Clarke
Glover, Jr., was a beloved doctor whose patients recall him drawing a
bird on their hand following treatment in Newnan where office visits
originally cost a mere $2.
In addition to mending scrapes and tending colds, Dr. Glover performed
tonsillectomies at his practice on Brown Street.
The father of four children with Margaret Trapnell Glover lived
to be 101 years of age before his death in 2010.
During his lifetime, Dr. Glover was active in the Newnan
community serving 30 years as a deacon at Central Baptist Church, as a
director of Newnan’s C & S Bank and as a member of the Newnan Rotary
Club. The eldest of Howard and Fannie Glover’s two surviving children, Clifford Clarke (“Cliff”) Glover, picked up the Glover dancing gene from his father and reportedly “cuts a rug” whenever it strikes his fancy. Rumor has it he was dancing at the celebration of his 100th birthday on May 15, 2013. (Surely, Howard is watching from heaven proud for his son to enjoy the pastime he gave up to marry Fannie). Cliff wed Myrtle Louise Liles in Birmingham, Alabama in 1937 and was married for 67 years at the time of Louise’s death. The couple had four children who, in turn, produced eight grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren to date. At the age of 91, Cliff remarried to Nicky Sapp Glover and added three more children to his Glover clan. In his younger days, Cliff was a bantam weight boxer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (not that he hasn’t had an interesting and active lifestyle since then (i.e., purchasing a jet ski at the age of 80). Mr. Glover put his UNC degree in civil engineering to good use for the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II and his 60-year career with Batson-Cook. Cliff has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at West Point United Methodist Church, Chairman of Lanier Memorial Hospital, Chairman of the West Point Municipal Planning Board, Director of Riverside Country Club and a member of the Board of Trustees of LaGrange College. He remains an active resident and distinguished citizen of West Point where he has lived for the last 76 years. A 1938 philosophy graduate of Hollins College, Winifred (“Winnie”) Glover married Daniel Walter Boone, Jr. whom established Boone Gas Company following his WWII service in the U.S. Navy. Winnie and her husband were active members of Central Baptist Church for many years. As the mother of six children, Winnie was active in the Newnan PTA, the Junior Welfare League, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. She remarried following the death of her first husband to Edward Klein, Jr. and moved to Atlanta to share a life with him there. In Atlanta, Winnie has been involved in Northside United Methodist Church, a member of Four Seasons Garden Club, the Rabun Gap Guild, Voters Guild, and Young Women of the Arts, the Cherokee Women’s Golf Association and the Atlanta Duplicate Bridge Club. Winnie is alive and living well in Atlanta at the age of 96. Dr. Thomas Jefferson Jones’ daughter Fannie died in 1973 at the age of 97 and was the last surviving charter member of Central Baptist Church. Today, an antique store in Newnan bears the name “Grannie Fannie’s” in remembrance of a loving woman whose family legacy of Christian service continues to impact the Newnan community.
|