Three Families at the Farm

Three Families at the Farm. Hardman Farm Historic Site. James Hall Nichols, Born on 17 February 1835, James Hall Nichols built West End in the early 1870s. His father, Richard James Nichols, a Connecticut native, farmed a large plantation in the community of Midway, near Milledgeville, Georgia before his death in 1849. Richard had married Abby I. Hall of Hartford, Connecticut, and they had at least two children, James and his older sister, Rebecca., James inherited most of his father's plantation and was listed as a merchant in the 1860 census with property valued at $20,000 (about 500,000 today). James married Kate S. Latimer of Summerville, S.C. on 6 June 1856. Their first child Richard James. was born in June of 1857 and lived only two months. Anna Ruby was listed on the 1860 census as a two-month-old infant. A third child, Eugene I. died on 9 September at the age of one., James, like many southern gentlemen, joined the Confederate cause in early 1861, forming a horse company in Milledgeville and joining Governor's Horse Guard (Seventh Regiment, Second Brigade). He was elected captain in early 1862. His unit saw action at Manassas (then Company A of Phillip's Legion. Stuart's Cavalry), among other battles. James reached the ranks of colonel and was at the surrender at Appomattox. He returned home a weak man suffering from malaria to find his wife had been raped by two Yankee soldiers as they passed through Midway community., In 1869, James retired to the White Sulphur Springs Resort near Gainsville to recover his health. While there, he discovered the nearby Nacoochee Valley. Having recently inherited a great fortune from a Yankee relative, he began purchasing vast amounts of land in the valley in November of that year and early in 1869 purchased 473-acre plot that would be the center of his life in the valley., Naming it West End, for its location in the valley, Nichols constructed the residence and outbuildings and moved his family to the valley. Nichols and Anna Ruby enjoyed the outdoor life, exploring the nearby countryside and entertaining neighbors and visitors. James lived as a gentle farmer and owned several local businesses including the Nora Mill., While plowing near the Indian mound in June of 1870, James discovered a number of slab stone tombs and carried out the first excavations of the site. His home was said to have contained a number of impressive Indian artifacts., Kate, now mentally incapacitated, lived in an upstairs room tended by her mother Augusta Latimer and the household servants. In later years, Anna Ruby would declare that her mother was dead, denying both her life and mental illness. James committed Kate to the State Lunatic Asylum in the early 1890s where she remained until her death., In 1885, Anna Ruby married George Frederick Payne, a pharmacist from Macon. After their marriage, they resided in Atlanta where Payne attended the Atlanta Medical College and served as the State Chemist for Georgia., James continued to live in the valley until the early 1890s. In 1893, he sold 604 acres including the house, grounds, and all furnishings to Calvin Hunnicutt of Atlanta for $22,500. This sale may have included an exchange for Hunnicutt's original Atlanta homestead as James lived there in the coming years. He returned to the valley in November of 1897 where he died of a heart attack. James Hall Nichols was buried in the Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville., (captions) , James Nichols on the back porch with his hounds, Anna Ruby and James on one of their many adventures into the mountains surrounding the Nacoochee Valley, George Frederick Payne, president of the American Pharmaceutical Associations 1902-1903, Calvin Welborn Hunnicutt, Calvin Welborn Hunnicutt arrived in Atlanta in 1847 at the age of 20. He worked for Hass and Levi at their clothing store for the board for two months before being sent off to their store in Cartersville for $12.50 per month! Returning the next year, Calvin worked for the company until 1852 when he opened his own dry goods and clothing firm with John Silvey, In 1858 he disposed of the business and went into the drug business with Dr. James A. Taylor., A wealthy man by the outbreak of the Civil War, he organized the Fulton Dragons, a cavalry company, and served as its lieutenant before becoming an attache of the medical department of the Confederate government. Finding himself broke after the war, he embarked in the plumbing business under the name of Hunnicutt and Bellingrath. In 1889, The Atlanta Constitution estimated his worth between $250,000 and $500,000 (approximately 6 million today). In 1892, he added the Atlanta Stove Works to his holdings., Calvin married the wealthy Letitia Payne on December 1857. They had two sons (Luther and Joseph) and four daughters (Mary Lou, Letita Ann, Eddie, and Sarah Frances) who lived to maturity. His family socialized with the elite of Atlanta and made the society news for many years. He purchased West End and 1893 and used it as a summer getaway for his family., Calvin served on the city council in 1859 and was a Fulton County commissioner for 14 years. He was a respected businessman and city leader. Calvin died on 20 January 1915 and was buried in Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta., (captions) , Sketch of Atlanta on September 1864 showing Hunnicutt and Taylor at the corner of Decatur and Peachtree Street., The remaining members of the Old Atlanta Volunteer Fire Department posed on 27 December 1910. Calvin Hunnicutt was seated second from the left. Courtesy Vanishing Georgia, Georgia, Division of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State., Hunnicutt and Bellingrath employees posed for this photograph circa, 1890. Calvin can be seen standing to the right of the stove and his son, Luther, to the left. Courtesy of the Kenan Research Center Atlanta History Center, This circa 1890 photograph captured the Calvin Hunnicutt residence in the background. Courtesy of the Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center., The Hunnicutt family posed on the residence's steps in the summer of 1897. The four women in the background, from the left, are Calvin's daughters Letitia, Eddie, Sally, and Mary Lou. The man in the center is Luther, his wife, and to the right is Joseph Hunnicutt. The black servant was not identified., Lamartine Griffin Hardman, Lamartine Griffin Hardman was born to Dr. William Benjamin Johnson Hardman and his wife Elizabeth Susan Colquitt, in Harmony Grove, Georgia, on 14 April 1856. He attended the Georgia Medical Department of the University of Georgia in Augusta and continued his education with post-graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, New York Polyclinic, and Guy Hospital in London. He may be best known for his two terms as Georgia governor (1927-1931); however, this was only one of his many professions., After completing his studies, Hardman returned to Harmony Grove to practice medicine with his brother where he also owned a drug store. Hardman invested in land and by the 1890s was a wealthy man who owned several large farms, a cotton mill, a roller mill and a medical clinic at Harmony Grove, and several other business concerns. In 1903, he added West End to his holdings, renaming the property Elizabeth on the Chattahoochee for his mother., He courted Emma Griffin of Valdosta for many years. He was 25 years older than she and seemingly unwilling to commit to marriage until she became engaged to another man in 1907. Suddenly, Lamartine begged for her hand in marriage and the ceremony took place within a couple of days. They raised four children Lamartine Griffin, Josephine Staten, Sue Colquitt, and Emma Griffin., Hardman served for eight years in the Georgia Legislature where he sponsored several agricultural bills and a bill that created the State Board of Health, before serving in the Georgia Senate from 1907-1908 and promised the state a "business-like" administration. He was reelected to a second term in 1928, where he faced a hostile legislature and achieved little despite his attempts to provide for Georgia's residents as the Great Depression began. Hardman left office in 1931 and returned to his home in Commerce. He died in Atlanta of heart failure on 18 February 1937 and was buried in Commerce., (captions) , This photograph shows Dr. Hardman reading on the grounds of Elizabeth on the Chattahoochee. Courtesy of The Atlanta Constitution, Governor Hardman (seated fourth from left) and Emma (standing behind) pose with other governors and their wives for an official portrait at the national governor's convention. Franklin D. Roosevelt can be seen on the front row third from the right. Eleanor Roosevelt, in the white dress, stands behind him. The families continued to correspond for many years., Casual and official family portraits offer us a glimpse of Dr. Hardman, Emma, and the children. Above, Emma and the three oldest children pose on the grounds of Elizabeth on the Chattahoochee. To the right is a photo taken not long before Dr. Hardman's death in 1937. To the far left is an official family portrait taken of Governor Hardman and his family. Emme, the youngest, sits on his lap. Much of what we know about Dr. Hardman and this farm comes from oral histories recorded by Josephine and Emma.