Thomas Oscar Vinson: The Final Wrap-Up of His Individual Report

Sources for the individual report about Thomas Oscar Vinson (1848-1894):

- Census Records (via Ancestry and Family Search)
- History of Peach County, Georgia. Governor Treutlen Chapter, Daughter of the American Revolution, published 1972-3 (book)
- Joe Brown's Pets: The Georgia Militia, 1861-1865. William Scaife & William Bragg, published 2004 Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia (book)
- Maps
- Marriage Records (via FamilySearch)
- Military Records (via Ancestry and Joe Brown's Pets)
- Newspaper Articles (via GenealogyBank)
- Obituaries (via Georgia Historic Newspapers)
- Tombstone Inscriptions / Transcriptions

Other internet family trees were also viewed, though no one large contributor exists for this report.

I updated the map (bottom of post) of the Byron area with the current United Methodist Church of Byron location, as that church held T. O. Vinson's funeral.

Based on surnames alone, T. O. Vinson has 93 possible personal connections in the Byron City Cemetery (12 direct - surname VINSON, 81 additional - surnames from wife and married children). Next we'll see what can be found out about Mr. Vinson's wife, Kittie Robertson.


View City of Byron & It's History in a larger map

Thomas Oscar Vinson: The Rest of His Story

After the Civil War, Thomas returned to his parents' home in Crawford County, Georgia and helped his father in the business of farming. He was listed in their household for the 1870 census.

On 4 December 1872 in Bibb County, Georgia, Thomas married Mary "Kittie" Robertson. They went on to have at least six children: Frances, Joanna, Mary Lou, John William, Mattie Katherine, and Tommie Hattie.

It appears that Thomas was at least somewhat of a religious man. In August 1893, he attended a Bible camp at the Echeconnee Camp Ground in Bibb County. From the 20 August 1893 Macon Telegraph (via GenealogyBank.):

CAMP MEETING AT ECHECONNEE

A Most Interesting Religious Gathering Being Held Near the City of Macon

THE SERVICES FOR TODAY

Fine Sermons and Genuine Religious Pleasures Will be the Order of the Day -- Convenient Schedules for Macon People.

Echeconnee Camp Ground, Aug 19 -- (Special) -- "Tenting on the old camp ground" may not be the refrain that is being sung from historic Echeconnee, yet this fact is potent to any present, when he visits the tents of such hospitable sons of old Bibb and Houston as W. A. Dunbar, James Holmes, Walter Jones, Ben Vinson, James Avant, Jerry and William Willis, George Skipper, Thomas O. Vinson and John Walton. Here good cheer abounds and the inner man refreshed...

The situation of the grounds is quite pleasant, being in a fine grove well shaded and watered by a bold spring of cold water. The tents are neat and clean, carpeted with fresh wheat straw and within hospitality abounds. The grounds are chartered by act of legislature and hence are under police protection...

...and as usual at camp meetings, the young man will have to part from his best girl during service. This is found necessary on account of a natural inability of such to keep from talking. But take courage, young man, the sermons will not be long...

There were four sermons daily, and the congregation was of the Methodist faith. The retreat lasted about six days, beginning Friday, 18 August and ending the following Wednesday.

Though I don't know exactly where this meeting was held, I can tell you there is a Bible Camp Road in Byron, as well as a current Boy Scout campground near the Echeconnee Creek. And remember, the Echeconnee Creek borders both Peach (then Houston) and Bibb counties.

A little more than a year later, Thomas Oscar Vinson died of pneumonia. He was only 46 years old. His obituary was carried in the 29 November 1894 Macon Weekly Telegraph (via Georgia Historic Newspapers):

DEATH AT BYRON
Byron, Nov 28 -- (Special) -- This little town is again stricken by the death of one of its best citizens. Last night at 7 o'clock Mr. Thomas Oscar Vinson breathed his last, after an illness of two weeks of pneumonia. He leaves a wife and five children. Mr. Vinson was a consistent member of the Methodist church and a real Christian. His standard of morals and Christian character was of the highest order. He was foremost in every enterprise looking to the moral and Christian welfare of the community. His place will be hard to fill, if indeed it can ever be. We have known Mr. Vinson for years, and it has been a pleasure to witness the good influence he exerted among his associates, as well as the happy relations existing between himself and near family connections. The entire community extend to the bereaved relatives sincere sympathies. They know that in his life they lose one of nature's noblemen.

The funeral will take place tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock from the Methodist church here.

Tomorrow I'll have the final wrap-up of T. O. Vinson's individual report.

Pvt. Thomas Vinson, C.S.A. (Part II)

The newly reorganized Georgia militia's first order of duty was to support Brig. Gen. William H. "Red" Jackson's cavalry division at his post on Kennesaw Mountain in June-July 1864. It was not the intent for the men of the militia to become engaged, but on 4-5 July 1864 they "conducted an orderly delaying action" against Federal troops.

A week or so later they were ordered to Poplar Springs to support John Bell Hood's corps and man two miles of trenches on the eastern edge of Atlanta. Gen. Toombs welcomed the men and had this to say about them:

The militia are coming up finely. Twelve hundred of them arrived here this evening, armed and tolerably well equipped. Poor fellows! They are green and raw, undisciplined and badly officered...They march right into the trenches, and are immediately under the enemy's fire all day. We shall trust to a kind Providence alone to preserve them from a great disaster...

It would not be long before the men of the Georgia militia would begin to prove their worth. After a successful fight in the beginning of the Battle of Atlanta, Gen. Toombs again spoke of the home grown soldiers:

The militia have behaved with great gallantry. This is sincerely true. They have far exceeded my expectations, and in the fight...equaled any troops in the line of battle.

Unfortunately, their next fight would not be so easy. The infamous (in the state of Georgia, at least) Battle of Griswoldville would decimate the companies of old men and young boys who fought there. It is amazing Pvt. Thomas Vinson escaped with his life.

From Joe Brown's Pets:

When the Confederate artillery finally fell silent...The fight was over; the remaining disheartened Southern troops fell slowly back toward Griswoldville.

When the Federal skirmishers advanced onto the abandoned field before their works, they found a sickening and pathetic scene. On the slopes, in the thickets surrounding the stream, and in the fields beyond, they clearly saw their recent antagonists for the first time. At close range they finally realized that they had been fighting, for the most part, only old men and young boys. Lieutenant Charles W. Wills of the 103rd Illinois Regiment, who thought it "awful the way we slaughtered those men," described what he saw on the killing ground: "Old grey-haired and weakly-looking men and little boys, not over 15 years old, lay dead or writhing in pain...I hope we will never have to shoot at such men again. They knew nothing at all about fighting, and I think their officers knew as little, or else, certainly knew nothing about our being there."

After the hard-fought loss at Griswoldville, the Georgia Militia headed to Savannah straight away. They arrived exhausted and hungry. They didn't stop there, however. The 1st Brigade did something unexpected and crossed over into South Carolina to help the Confederates at Honey Hill. This battle was a success with few casualties. This time, the Union was the army to sustain substantial loss.

The Battle of Honey Hill was a great support to the Confederate cause during Sherman's March to the Sea. The victory there allowed for enough time to properly plan and organize an escape route for the people left in Savannah and the men soldiering there. The Georgia Militia also helped during this evacuation of the city.

Though it might not seem like much, I imagine Thomas Vinson's service in the Georgia Militia and contribution to the Confederate cause was a very trying and difficult period in his life. The Battle of Griswoldville alone had to be scarring. And just being part of the militia wasn't easy. The militiamen were ridiculed by the regulars and given very little respect.

"The Georgia Militia would hardly go down in history for its military bearing or proficiency in battle, as it demonstrated little of either, but it should in all fairness be remembered for a level of courage and devotion to duty for which any soldier may be proud." (Last paragraph of the epilogue, Joe Brown's Pets.)

Tomorrow I'll fill you in on the rest of Thomas Oscar Vinson's story.

Pvt. Thomas Vinson, C.S.A. (Part I)

When I first started delving into Thomas Vinson's Civil War service, I quickly became confused as it seems everywhere I turned I found conflicting information. The information on Thomas' military tombstone reads, "Co A, 8 GA MIL, C.S.A. The History of Peach County, Georgia published by the DAR in 1972 states T. O. enlisted at age sixteen in Co. F, 3rd Georgia Regiment under Brigadier General Charles D. Anderson. The American Civil War Soldiers and U.S. Civil War Soldier Records & Profiles databases at Ancestry both suggest Pvt. Thomas Vinson of Crawford County, Georgia enlisted 16 April 1864 in Co. F, 57th Infantry Regiment (Georgia) then transferred on 9 April 1865 to Co. D of the 1st Consolidated Regiment (Georgia) and with that organization surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina on 26 April 1865.

Gee, I wonder why I'm confused. Since my knowledge of the military units of the Civil War is very basic, I had to get help in trying to understand how all these companies either fit together or don't. I picked up the book Joe Brown's Pets: The Georgia Militia, 1861-1865 by William Scaife and William Bragg and started trying to learn. I felt a little better about my predicament after reading the preface, which stated in part:

Many of these state and Confederate organizations were further subdivided into a complicated system of regiments, battalions, brigades, and divisions. For a variety of reasons -- including the frequency with which these components were reorganized or disbanded, the similarity of many units' names, the numerous resignations or deaths of officers whose names had become part of the units' designations, and the prevalence of indifferent record-keeping -- the precise identity of these units is often difficult to determine with any degree of certainty.

This whole book is actually based on something I didn't know about the state of Georgia during the Civil War. The governor at the time, Joseph E. Brown, actually fought against sending men from his state to the "official" Confederate States Army. He did not get along with Jefferson Davis and hated the Conscription Act (military draft). Governor Brown pushed the states' rights mantra and believed the fighting men of his state should remain in his state for its defense. I do believe that's an important location-based genealogy research tidbit, for sure.

Based on the maps of military divisions of Georgia (after the militia reorganization in 1864) provided early on in the book, it would seem to confirm (knowing he likely enlisted from either Crawford or Houston county) Pvt Thomas Oscar Vinson enlisted in the 2nd Regiment (23rd District), 8th Division, Georgia Militia. This unit was part of the 1st Brigade under Gen. R. W. Carswell. The 2nd Regiment was under the command of Col. C. D. Anderson, who would later become a brigadier general.

Unfortunately, according to the roster of Georgia Militia located in the back of the book as Appendix 4, I am wrong. I hope it's not because I cannot read a map, because I see no other way to read it! Nonetheless, the roster lists Thomas Vinson in Company A, 8th Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division Georgia Militia...

Thomas Oscar Vinson (1848 - 1894)

Thomas Oscar Vinson
Co A
8 GA Mil
C.S.A.

May 16, 1848
Nov 27, 1894

Thomas was born in Crawford County, Georgia to William G. Vinson of Alabama and Lydia Graydon of South Carolina. By 1860, Thomas was attending school while residing on his father's farm in Houston County, Georgia. Moving from Crawford to Houston was not a far stretch, as Crawford is Houston's neighbor to the northeast. In fact, from district 5 in Houston County (where William and his family were listed in the 1860 census) the Echeconnee Creek is due north. Cross the creek at the right spot, and you are in Crawford County, Georgia.

The Civil War began when Thomas was a young boy of thirteen years. I imagine that like many boys of his age, in the throws of optimistic and idealistic youth, he was eager to join the fight. He finally got his chance in 1864 at the age of sixteen...

Video: Thomas Oscar Vinson Family Plot

OK. So here we go! The first tombstone I'm going to tackle with research is that of Mr. Thomas Oscar Vinson. His is part of a VINSON family plot that appears to contain a total of eight burials. There is no rhyme or reason as to why I chose this Mr. Vinson as I am not related to him. It's just a place to start and branch out from. First up is a video of the plot. Next, I'll get a bit more detailed about our first subject.

The City of Byron in Peach County, Georgia

"In the early 1850s, Byron was a flag-stop on the Southwestern Railroad and was known as 'Number One and One-Half Station.' It had a woodrack for wood-burning engines that was kept by Nimrod Jackson, so later the settlement became known as Jackson Station.

William Hays built a store here in 1860 and a post office was established. In 1867, a second store was built by Dr. C.H. Richardson, who later became Byron's first Mayor. By this time, several handsome homes and pretty cottages had been built. In 1874, the town was incorporated by the Georgia Legislature and named for Dr. Richardson's favorite poet, Lord George Gordon (Noel) Byron." [From The City of Byron Online.]

During all of this time, the city of Byron was actually located in Houston County. The county of Peach had not yet been formed. In fact, Byron was the third largest town in Houston with 300 residents, "160 of whom are white, and about 140 colored."

The city was described in an 1881 news article in the Houston Home Journal:

Byron is situated on a beautiful prominence, the highest point between Macon and Vicksburg, is perfectly healthy, surrounded by a large belt of fine, productive farming lands, owned by an industrious, progressive, solid and successful agricultural people, and has several handsome residences and many pretty cottages. It has also many beautiful oak groves, shade trees, flower gardens, lawns, etc.

It lies directly on the S.W.R.R. 17 miles from Macon, 18 miles from Knoxville, county site of Crawford County, 4 miles from Crawford line, 15 miles from Perry, county site of Houston County, 12 miles from Fort Valley, accessible by railroad, and is penetrated by six public highways leading from different points.

The Georgia General Assembly approved a constitutional amendment to create Peach County from parts of Houston and Macon counties on 18 July 1924. Georgia voters ratified the proposed amendment in November later that year. Thus ended a battle between neighboring communities that had gone on for more than sixty years. Even though Byron is only a few miles closer to the Peach county seat of Fort Valley, versus the Houston county seat of Perry, its geographic location in the northern part of the original Houston county meant it was inside the new boundaries of the county of Peach.

The city of Byron has grown quite a bit, but remains a relatively small town to this day.

The Byron City cemetery is located at the corner of Academy Street and Murdock Lane. As seen on this Google map, the cemetery is to the right. The old railroad depot is on the left.


View City of Byron & It's History in a larger map

About this New Project of Mine

Ever since I attended Bernie Gracy's Breaking Down Brick Walls with Location Based Genealogy class at the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expo, I've been itching to put it into practice in a big way. It's no secret I have a love of cemeteries, so I of course will be starting there. And since I'm related to the PEAVYs of Byron, Georgia, what better cemetery to start with than the Byron City Cemetery.

I've always had a fondness for this cemetery, and I'm not sure why. It's not huge, but not small either. There are hundreds buried there. There is one pretty tall obelisk, but the rest are fairly modest, contemporary stones. Nonetheless, I am connected to some of the individuals interred and the history they made with the relationships they share.

I really liked one of the things Mr. Gracy had to say in his class -- a cemetery is a large public database. And it certainly is! Oftentimes genealogists go to a cemetery and focus on one tombstone, or maybe a family plot. Chances are, however, there are other interments related to your family history. That is, even if the individuals themselves are not a relative of yours. "Spacial orientation is important and telling." Clues to your family history can likely be found in the lives of the people who lived around your ancestors.

I hope you'll follow along with me as I work on this location based genealogy research project. There is actually more than one website that lists the burials for Byron City Cemetery, as well as pages that describe the family history of some of the individuals buried there. My goal is to systematically research and connect as many as possible. I will be using Family Tree Maker software to house the information (as well as publishing it here).

Next I will give you a little background about the city of Byron in Peach County, Georgia.