Early African-American Citizens of Cook County, Georgia [Source: "The history of Cook County, Georgia and its municipalities" Adel Ga.? : s.n.,: unknown, 1967] Transcribed by K. Torp RESPECTED EARLY NEGRO CITIZENS A Large number of the earlier negro citizens of the community were, in fact, men of honor and good character who enjoyed the friendship, respect and admiration of all that knew them. They were, indeed, good neighbors and friends of the white citizens, as well as those of their own race. They were honest and law-abiding and were always anxious to have a part in administering to the sick, regardless of race. They were likewise ever mindful of the misfortune that came to both races and ever willing to respond to the needs in whatever way they could. These negros were not highly educated, by any means, but they could all read and write. They all had a high regard for spiritual matters and were especially proud of their churches. Prior to the Civil War most of them worshipped in the white churches and did so for many years after the war. They were engaged almost exclusively in farming and some of them managed to get farms of their own. Those that did, made good farmers and were successful in what they had undertaken, in fact, some of our best farmers were of the negro race. With the coming of the sawmills and turpentine distilleries, which required considerable more labor than was available in the community, hundreds of negros came mostly from the Carolinas to supply this need of extra labor. They too, proved to be honest and hard workers. This migration from the Carolinas more than doubled the negro population in this area, resulting in a much greater desire and a more determined effort to build homes, schools and houses of worship everywhere. ...... We submit below only a partial list of the former or earlier negro citizens. We feel sure there are others who should be included in this list, but because of the lack of memory on our part, there may be some that have been left off. Hugh Abraham John Bell Joey Benton Melvin Cokley Jeff Cokley Joe Covington Ash Colquitt M. L. Duckworth Grip Durden Ed Evans Wiley Evans Louis Everett Alf Fields Dan Flournoy Tom Flourney Jeff Gosears Jim Hall Caesar Hill Tom Jones Tom Johnson Sherrod Johnson Steve Jackson Bill Jones Jeff King Baker Lewis Will Letlow John Lavind Lewis McDonald Mack McAllister George Melvin Dempsey Mason Wess Newsom Sam Newsom Gus Newsom Charlie Nails Will Pigford Perly Pigford Tony Robinson Caesar Rountree Sol Reed Hol Roberson Uriah Scott Totsie Sloan Ed Troutman Eilie Utley Jasper Wilcox John C. Williams Beecher Ward BACK Copyright © Genealogy Trails