-Chapter III- SLAVERY, WAR, AND RECONSTRUCTION (1850-1900)
The Reconstruction Era
The returning veterans united with those who had settled in Murray while fleeing the Yankees to rebuild the county. They faced a difficult task as is reflected in the following announcement which appeared in The North Georgia Citizen (published in Dalton) in June 1868:
Notice
The citizens of Murray County are respectfully requested to meet at the courthouse in the town of Spring Place, on the first Tuesday in July next, for a thorough organization of the Conservative Party. Corne out gentlemen, laying aside all party prejudices and past political differences and save, if possible, our ruined country-Murray.
W.S. Callaway, Sheriff
Anderson Farnsworth, Ordinary
Though the task was difficult, the men rebuilt the county. Several important events helped bring about the needed improvements. One was the formation of the Board of Roads and Revenues by act of the Georgia Legislature in 1873. The act read:
282. SECTION I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same. That from and after the passage of this Act, there shall be established in the county of Murray a board of five commissioners of revenue, roads, bridges, ferries, paupers and pauper's fund, with full power to levy all taxes for county purposes; to appoint all road commissioners; to establish new roads and abolish old ones; to establish or abolish ferries; to build and repair bridges; to change lines of militia districts or to establish new districts; to appoint overseers of the poor, and to say who shall be beneficiaries of the pauper fund. The first board shall consist of John Bryant, Miniard W. Harris, Samuel M.
Carter, John H. Kuhn and William Luffman. The commissioners above stated shall hold their offices for the term of four years, and shall be commissioned by the Governor and take the usual oath of county officers, and to hold their offices until their successors are elected and qualified; which election for the second board shall be at the same time and place of the election of Ordinary and other county officers.
283. SEC. II. That the said board of county commissioners shall meet at the Court-house in said county at least four times a year, and as often as the interest of the county in their opinion require; and may appoint a clerk who shall keep a complete record of all the orders passed by the board, but his (the clerk's) salary shall not exceed twenty-five dollars per year.
284. SEC. III That the board of commissioners shall receive no emoluments for their services, but shall be relieved from road, jury and militia duty.
285. SEC. IV. That the county board created by this Act shall audit and pass upon all claims for and against the county, and the county treasurer shall obey and respect all orders for money ordered to be paid out by the board and no others.
286. SEC. V. That the said board shall have all the powers the Inferior Court had prior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1868, as prescribed by the Revised Code on all county matters, but shall have no other jurisdiction.
287. SEC. VI. That the vacancies in said board by death, removal or resignation shall be filled by the Governor, upon the recommendation of a majority of the surviving board. This Act to go into effect from and immediately after its passage.
SEC. VII. Repeals conflicting laws.
Approved February 21st, 1873.
In 1874 The North Georgia Citizen reported the following about Murray:
The taxable property of the county according to the Tax Receiver's report . . . amounts to one million two hundred sixty-five thousand and sixty dollars, an excess over last year of one hundred forty-six thousand and forty-seven dollars. There are twelve hundred twenty seven . . . who pay poll tax ... twelve professional characters-four attorneys and eight physicians.
Another 1874 issue of the paper recorded that the scholastic (school) population of Murray was 2006, one-seventh of these being Negro.
While some signs of recovery were visible, the area still struggled because the same year (1874) Bennett Springfield wrote to his son, George, who lived in Texas that "we have the worst prospects for a crop in this country I ever saw. .. it has been a wet spring , , . and now it is dry . . . for we haven't had any rain in 4 weeks . . . what people is to do, 1 don't know," Four years later J. B. Springfield wrote to George, his brother, that "everything is cheap. Wheat from 60 to 80 cents a bushel. Corn from 45 to 50 cents . . . Bacon from 6 to 8 cents per pound. Flour from 2 to 2% cents . . . This is a hard old country to live in but a man can live here if he will work. I believe I had rather stay here and have good health than to go west and be sick all the time . . ." (Letters from the Springfield family.) However, everyone did not feel the same as Mr. Springfield, because frequently entire families, tired of the hardships in Murray, left to begin new lives "out west," particularly in Texas. Hardly a Murray family did not have relatives in the west by 1890. Railroads even offered special rates for "emigrant tickets to the west." Sometimes the family would return to Murray County, often leaving behind the graves of a mother or a child who did not survive the rigors of "the west."
Perhaps one of the things which contributed most to Murray's reconstruction was the establishment of the count-wide educational system in 1877. Due to the dedicated service of many of the finest men in the county, the system was a success. Rev. S.H. Henry, the first superintendent, served until 1900. The First Board of Education, appointed by the Grand Jury on February 6, 1877, consisted of James Y. Hempliil), William Johnston, Benjamin Wofford, and James A. McCamy who served on the board for 14 years and during his 7 years as chairman never missed a meeting. W.D. Petty was added to the Board in August, 1877. (See Appendix J for other Board of Education members and superintendents.)
The Board paid Mr. Henry $130 for the year 1881. In December 1896 the Board was in debt for the first time, owing $51. Beginning in 1897 regular monthly meetings were held on the 30th unless the 30th came on a Sunday. Until the 1890's the Board also decided which textbooks would be used. The Board and the superintendent were general overseers of the county school system. Much authority and much work was left in the hands of the local school district trustees appointed by the Board.
The first contracts with teachers were in 1881. Teachers were paid on the basis of average daily attendance and a considerable length of time was needed to convince the Board to pay teachers monthly rather than at the end of the term. In 1891 teachers' salaries were $25-$32 and Teachers' Institutes were held each summer, led by "an expert" (Prof. M.L.Parker in 1896). Teachers were fined if they did not attend unless they presented a doctor's excuse. In terms of statistics, four colored schools operated from 1886-1889 with a fifth one being added in 1890. The number of white schools varied from 41 in 1886, to 39 in 1887, 38 in 1889, and 46 in 1890. In 1887 the average attendance for the term was 1,600 while in 1889 the average attendance was 1,961. The 1890 total included 1,084 white males, 998 white females, 194 colored males, and 190 colored females.
The general concensus is that the public education system was the best thing to come out of Reconstruction, particularly education for blacks. However, another outgrowth of Reconstruction was a very controversial organization, directed to a great degree against the blacks. Murray County, too, was touched by this organization-the Ku Klux Klan.
Murray County Heritage