Harriet J. Windham (nee Poole)

Harriet J. Poole Windham was reportedly 76 years old when she died.  

Hattie died July 7, 1928.  Her date of birth is listed as July 7, 1852.  A copy of her death certificate states her age as 76, her date of birth 1852 in Culloden, Monroe County, Georgia.  The cause of death is listed as Pellagra with uterine cancer.   

Her mother's maiden name and birthplace is listed as not known.  The informant of death: E. G. Windham.  The undertaker listed was Goddard and burial was made in Little Vine/New Hope cemetery on July 8, 1928.

It is my assumption that she was at her son's home, Ellis G.  

Of interest, in the July 19, 1928 Butler Herald there is a column on page three which says the state Of Georgia had 287 cases of Pellagra, a form of malnutrition based upon a diet that relies heavily upon corn.  

Since Hattie had cancer, I'd lay odds that was the primary cause of death and the Pellagra was secondary.

I have been unable to locate an obituary for Hattie or any mention of family news that would relate to family who might have attended the funeral in The Butler Herald.   This might have been listed in a newspaper for Reynolds, Georgia at that period but these are not listed online at present.    I am not even certain that Ellis G. lived in Reynolds 

Harriet  is first recorded in an 1860 census for Culloden, Monroe County, Georgia, (head of household John F. Poole) with her parents and three older siblings.  She is listed as being 6 years old at this time which would put her birthdate at 1854.

In 1870, Harriet is listed in the  Culloden, Monroe County, Georgia household of her father, John F. Poole, age 16.  This age is again consistent with a birth year of 1854.

Taylor county, Georgia records cite her marriage date as February 21, 1875 to George J. Windham.  She was 20 years old and he was 23.

Children born to Harriet Poole and George Windham:

*Annie Clyde b. 1876, my direct line descendant great grandmother, named for Harriet's mother, Ann, went by 'Clydie'.

Margaret L. b. 1877

Emma L. b. 1882

Vera  b.1885

Ellis Gostin b 1886

George b. 1888

Isaiah Hoke b. 1891

James Guy b. 1893

John Poole dob of birth and dod unknown.  Headstone is unmarked.  He was named for her father.  The size of his grave denotes that he was a child when he died.

1880 census, district 1002 Macon County Georgia
George, 28 overseer on farm
Hallie J. (Hallie seems to be a common derivative of Harriett in this era)
*Anna Clyde 4
Margaret L 3
John P(should be B) 9 months

1900 census 741district Reynolds, Taylor County, Georgia
Info on census states Harriet and George married 25 years
George 49
Hattie J 46
*Annie C. 24
Maggie L. 23
Emma 19
Vera H. 17
Ellis G. 14
George G. 12
Isaiah H. 9
James 6
Hattie R. 1

1910 census Reynolds, Taylor County, Georgia
George 59
Hattie 56
Ellis 23
Hoke 19
Jim 16
Rubie Hallie 11
Georgia 9 (I've no clue who this child is, have never heard the name.  I'm assuming she must have died young but do not have facts to back that up,

1920 census Ridge Rd., Reynolds, Taylor County, Georgia
George 68
Hattie 65
Ellis G. 34
Hoke 28
James G 24
Ruby 20

Ann Galloway Poole or Calloway Ann Johnson Poole b. ca 1820

Wife of John F. Pool(e)...

There's really very little I can share about Ann Poole.   A cousin, Lisa Nelson Windham worked on family history for a number of years and lists her  as Calloway Ann Johnson.   I have no idea what source she used for this information.  She also listed her marriage date at 1849.  I do not believe this is correct but again I do not know what Lisa's citations were for this information.

For my part, research turns up no known family.  I have no clue of father nor mother's name.  There were Johnsons in the Monroe County, Georgia area as well as Calloways.   I do not know Ann's date of birth.  It is believed, based on census record ages that she was born about 1820.  She stated on census that she was born in the state of Georgia.  This is about the sum of the information we have for her as far as vital statistics are concerned.

There are no records to indicate that any type of naming pattern was in use in the children of this marriage.  All the boys appear to have been named for well to do citizens of Culloden.  I do not know for whom the girls might have been named but their names  were popular enough in this time period.

I found a marriage record in Henry Co., Georgia for a John F. Pool and Ann Galloway.  It is dated 31st May, 1839.   I believe this to be my John F. and Ann Pool.

The next record I have is an 1850 census for Cullodenville, Monroe County, listing John F. 39, Ann 29 and Lovett (should have been Lovick) age 2.  This census record would indicate that she was born about 1820.  

1867 Reformation records state John F. saying he'd been in Monroe County and in the Culloden district for 23 years, and in the state of Georgia for 27 years.  I know that dates seem to have been very approximate and 1840 is relatively near 1839.

I do not know why there would be a long lapse of time between their marriage and the birth of their child Lovick Pierce Pool.  I can only make assumptions.  Births appeared to have recurred at regular intervals following Lovick's birth in 1848.    Elizabeth was born about 1850, John B about 1852. Harriett J. Windham's records states her date of birth as 1852, but census indicates it would have been around 1854.  Wesley G. was likely born in 1856, Orrin Woodard in 1858 and Edmond (Edmund) Jackson was born in 1860.

In April 1862, both the Macon Telegraph and The Columbus Enquirer reprinted a notice from the Monroe County, Georgia paper stating that the women of Culloden had taken up a collection for the outfitting of a boat, CSS Georgia,  to be used in the Confederate Civil War effort.   Ann is listed as Mrs. John F. Pool,  giving $1.

This is my last physical record of Ann.  I have not found mention of an obituary.  I cannot find a gravestone.

The only other 'fact' I know about her comes from a published History of Culloden, a speech by Senator Thomas M. Norwood about 1909,  who grew up in Culloden.  His father employed John F. Poole,  Ann's husband.  He states in his memoir of Culloden:  "Turning this corner now and going by the church we come to the house of John F. Pool...he married a woman who did not know one letter from another.   In character and spirit she was more like Xantippe, Socrates' wife, than any woman we had in this community..."  For those of you who are unaware of Xantippe, she is described as a shrewish woman.  That might explain why Thomas Norwood also said that '(John) Pool was a man of peace; he was, in fact, the peacemaker of this village."

So we are left with the knowledge that she was both illiterate and unpleasant in personality, apparently to the community at large as well as at home.   It's not much to go on but it's all we have.

Reverend John F. Poole, b. ca 1810 District of Columbia

My great-great-great grandfather is a man of mystery to me in many ways despite copious research on my part and the occasional glimpse at other family trees in which he is included.

Let me introduce you to John F. Poole, born about 1810, in Washington, D.C.   On every census record where place of birth was mentioned, John says that he was born in the District of Columbia, his mother as well and his father born in Maryland.  He never changes this, and so I believe it is accurate due to his consistency.

I foolishly followed the word of a rather well known local amateur genealogist who said that the District of Columbia did not exist in 1810.  Another source cited that all records for the city of Washington were burned in the War of 1811.  Wrong.  It did indeed exist and there are some city census records remaining.  I cannot identify John by his father or mother, nor do I know who his brothers and sisters were.  I can tell you that  in 1810 and 1820 a Lewis Poole is shown in Washington D.C., listed as a shoemaker.  John earned his living as a shoemaker and blacksmith among other things.  It seems to me he learned his vocation somewhere and so I ask:  Is John a son?  Or even  a nephew or kinsman?  Did he learn his trade from Lewis Pool?  He would have been about 10 years old in 1820, an age when children were often apprenticed to learn a skill and if Lewis were his father or a relative he'd have learned his trade with him.  At present that is not an established fact but it is not an unreasonable question to ask.

I cannot tell you where John lived between 1810 and 1839 which is a fairly big gap of time, almost thirty years of his life.   However, I can tell you that John was not only a blacksmith and shoemaker by trade, he was also a Methodist circuit rider (an itinerant preacher who went from church to church on a set route) and  according to a history of the Culloden Methodist Church, John was one of four circuit riding preachers who first served the church which was rebuilt in 1832.  The church history does not say what year John served that church but they had four circuit riders who came in and they had four meetings every Sunday.   Was John in Georgia by 1832?  I do not know for sure but he would have been 22 years old about then.  And this was a time frame when there had been a great revival in the Methodist Episcopal church.  A young man might well be caught up and had a life changing experience that led him to feel the call to preach.

Marriage records found in Henry County, Georgia, show a John F. Poole marrying Annie Galloway on May 31, 1839.   Because I do know that his wife's name was Ann and I am certain of his name, and because this county is not far from Monroe County where I know that John was a circuit preacher,  I feel it is reasonable to believe this record belongs to my family member.  Family history records by Lisa Windham stated his wife's name as Callaway Annie Johnson.  I do not know the source of her information and since she is deceased I cannot inquire about it.   John would have been 29 in 1839 and Ann was about 19.
(Henry County marriage records, page 77(?))

John Pool(e) is shown on three census records for Cullodenville, Monroe County.   In an extended questionnaire on a June 27 ,1867 questionnaire, John stated he'd been a resident of Monroe county for 27 years, and in Monroe County 23 years.   This belies his 1839 marriage date in Henry County, Georgia.
(June 27, 1867.  "Return of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books)

John and Ann and 1 child, Lovick Pierce Pool show up on a Cullodenville, Monroe County, Georgia census in 1850.     I find it odd that this is the only child Ann and John have after 11 years of marriage.  Were there other children who had died?  It seems likely, but who knows?

1850 Cullodenville, Monroe County, Georgia census
John F. Pool, age
Ann age 29
Lovett age 2

In 1860 Monroe County, Georgia U.S. census lists  John Pool (note the 'e' was not used by the census taker when he spelled Poole), Ann, Lovick P., Harriett J., Elizabeth J, John B., Orrin Woodard, Wesley G., Edmond J. are shown on the census for Cullodenville, Monroe County, Georgia.   To the best of our knowledge these were all the living children of the family and all apparently grew to adulthood.

John and Ann did not follow conventional Scottish naming patterns.  Having no knowledge of John nor Ann's family life prior to their marriage I cannot tell you who the girls were named for, but Lovick Pierce was named for a  much revered Bishop of the Methodist church.  John B. was possibly named for a man who worked in the tannery with John, John Branford.  Orrin Woodard was named for a very well to do man who resided in Cullodenville.  Edmund Jackson was named for another well to do citizen and Wesley George as well...I cannot tell you exactly why I think Ann was the one who named these boys born after Lovick but it is something I strongly suspect, based on like personalities which have come down through the generations.

1860 Cullodenville, Monroe County, Georgia census
John F. Pool, age 49 merchant b. District of Columbia
Ann, 40  b. Georgia
Lovick P., 12 student b. Georgia
Elizabeth J., 10 student, b. Georgia
John B., 8,   student, b. Georgia
Harriett J., 6   b. Georgia
Wesley G., 4 b. Georgia
Orrin W., 2, b. Georgia
Edmond J., 1, b. Georgia

During the Confederate War, according to a speech printed in 1890 given in Culloden by Senator Thomas Norwood, John Pool was a tax collector for the Confederacy.   I do not show any record of John's enlisting for war service.   Norwood relates in this speech that John was a 'peacemaker'.  Norwood shared that John had often sharpened quills for school children with such skill that children sought him out.  He also shares that John apparently was sometimes tempted in drink.   According to Norwood, whose father had employed John  in both the Blacksmith shop and Tannery and later in the shoe factory, John was inebriated when he married Ann and had much to regret in that union.  He claims he found John drunk in Milledgeville in a hotel after delivering Confederate state tax monies to the capitol in the company of his  young son, John B., whom Norwood erroneously says was named for John F.    The younger son John would have been between 9 and 13 years of age.   Norwood does not relate what year this was, only that it was 'during the war'.  While his portrayal of John is not a flattering picture he is almost scathing about Ann herself referring to her as an illiterate Xanthippe.

I would suppose that Norwood's portrayal of John F. and Ann, unflattering though it might be,  would be accurate enough.  After all they lived in the same village for 30 odd years and though it was a thriving place at the time, it was still small and certainly Senator Norwood would have been more than familiar with John since he did work for  his father, Caleb Norwood.


In 1862, I find  Mrs. John F. Poole listed on a roster of women in Cullodenville who contribute to a fund to  fit out a boat for the Confederate Navy, later christened as the CSS Georgia in 1863-1854.   It is the last record of Ann.  I have never found a grave site for her and have no clues as to who her parents were or if she had siblings.
(Georgia Telegraph, April 4, 1862)

In 1870, the household consists of John, his son John,  Harriett, Elizabeth, Orrin and a servant.  Wesley is listed with another family (the Van Horns) in the county as a student.

1870 Monroe County, Georgia Culloden  District 5575
Dwelling #2866 Family #2855

John T., 59 occupation shoemaker
John D., 18
Elizabeth J.,  20
Harriett J., 16
Orrin Woodard 10

In 1871, John apparently spoke with a local Monroe county reporter who published his note in the Macon Telegraph, refuting the truth of a newspaper article  which appeared in many state papers in which Thomas Norwood asserted he'd worn a pair of boots made by his own hands to college.  John firmly denies this as fact, stating that indeed Mr. Norwood had never exhibited any ambition in that area and the shoes were made by John's hands.  In that letter John refers to himself as a preacher.
(Published in Georgia Weekly Telegraph and Georgia Journal and Messenger, dated Dec. 5, 1871 on page 8)

Sometime around 1875, daughter Harriett married a young man from Macon County, Georgia in Taylor County (a neighboring county), and a portion of the family had moved to Taylor County.   While Harriett and George Windham move on to a farm in Macon county,   John F. continued to minister.  He was chaplain of the Prison Camp near Reynolds and newspaper accounts show him officiating in his ministerial capacity at Palace Mills picnics.  I've only recently come across the mention of Palace Mills, and have no real clue as to what type of mill it was but it most likely was a cotton mill.

Butler Herald July 20, 1877
mentions the Palace Mills July 4th Barbecue.   Ice water served by Messrs. Holbrook and Pool, a prayer by Rev. John Poole.
(It is my assumption this is Wesley with whom John appears to have been residing)

Butler Herald July 2, 1878
John. F. Poole listed among delegates to the Methodist Church Columbus District meeting.  (I am sure he was pleased to attend this as the speaker was to be Bishop Lovick Pierce, Sr.)

Butler Herald, July 15, 1879 Palace Mills (for July 4 celebration)
Rev. Mr. Poole read an appropriate psalm followed by prayer and introduced Dr. Hicks.

A history of Taylor County printed by the Women's Club,  lists John as a Mason in the Reynolds' Fickling Lodge.

He is on record in 1880 as being in the household of Wesley G.

1880 Taylor County Georgia census, Reynolds 

Wesley Poole, 24 cotton mill

Frances Adams 38 keeps house

John F, 69 Chaplain to convict camp/clerk

John died February 5, 1881 of 'apoplexy'.  He was living with his son Wesley G. at the time. He is buried in the Little Vine/New Hope cemetery in the Windham plot in Reynolds, Georgia.  
His obituary appeared in the Butler Herald.  He was listed as I.F. Poole.


Lovick Pierce Poole was married 3 or 4 times, moving as far south as Attapulgus, Ga and as far west as Russellville, Phenix City, AL. My last record of him is in an Alabama census stating he was a mill worker.   How many of his children survived or what happened to them is a work in progress at present.  His last wife, Sallie Thompson Poole,  was living in Alabama with her two sons on the census following his death.  See a further post on Lovick Pierce Poole and his descendants.

Elizabeth J. apparently lived in Macon, Georgia.  I assume she worked in some capacity.  She married in 1885 at Christ Episcopal Church in Macon.  I have a copy of her marriage record from the church.  She married Arthur Kender and I do have a source  showing that they had a daughter a little later.  Her name was Francis Maria born June 5, 1886.   This daughter was christened in 1886, the year following her marriage and the last name is then spelled "Kinder." I do not know anything further about Elizabeth nor her husband or child.

John B. is shown on an 1880 Macon, Bibb County, Georgia census living in a boarding house with his wife, Laura and a child, Annie age 5.  No further record of him.  I am not entirely positive that this is my family member but suspect it may be due to his name and initial and  the name of his daughter, as he seems to have been following a common naming pattern of the time.  I also am suspecting it might be him because Elizabeth J. was also located in Macon, though I've not yet found her on the available online censuses for Bibb County.

I am descended from Harriet and George Windham's line through their daughter,  my great grandmother, Annie Clyde Windham.   I will share more about this line later.

Edmond Jackson Poole, moved to Taylor County with his father.  He eventually became Sheriff of Reynolds, Georgia and served many years in that capacity.  He raised two families, his first wife dying in her 30s.

Wesley George worked in Reynolds at a General Store and is listed as a Mason in Reynolds'  Fickling Lodge.  He lived in Potterville, Georgia.  I don't have his record in front of me at present, but I believe he was married just once.    His wife was a little older than he.  They raised two nieces who were apparently orphaned.  He is buried in Potterville, Ga.

Culloden, Monroe County, Georgia

Once upon a time...Isn't that the way every story starts?   I once worked in a nursing home as a social services director.  It was my duty to discover the history of and document the lives of the residents of our nursing home while they were there.  From a medical standpoint, I was meant to record the facts so that anyone who read the notes would have a better understanding of the medical history and social background of each resident.  As a frustrated writer and a person who is just naturally curious, I enjoyed this part of my job a great deal.   I found that seemingly ordinary people had led the most extraordinary lives.  I felt well rewarded the day a member of the licensure team that came to inspect the facility told me, "I feel I know these people after reading your notes."

In searching for family, it was inevitable that I'd come to know the history of the area where they once lived.  Since my search started with a relative who had lived in Culloden, Georgia in the mid 1800's, I discovered a great deal about the town itself.   I was fascinated by the past of this tiny little town.  As seen today you might well believe that it was always just a small town and  obviously a 'has been' that had seen better days.  But Culloden is astonishingly rich in history.

Culloden, the oldest settlement in Monroe County,  was settled first as Creek Indian territory in 1739  by Scottish highlanders who migrated from the east to what was then Indian territory.  The town was just off old Indian trails, and despite some minor re-routing these trails are now U.S highways 341 and 74.    In 1780,  this trading post settlement was named after a local merchant and Scotsman, William Culloden, and initially called Cullodenville. William Culloden established the trading post and stage coach stop on the site.   There's an old well downtown that has a sign stating it is a former stagecoach stop for water.  A post office was established in 1825 in the town.  In 1887, the town was incorporated as the city of Culloden.

In the 1820's, when the negotiations with the Indian tribes pushed the boundary lines westward, the United States started holding land lotteries to populate the areas.  Land grants were given to former soldiers, widows and orphans first.  Those who won these lotteries often sold them to others.  Culloden quickly became a busy and prosperous community during the early 1800's.   Many wealthy Virginia families who were slave owners moved to the area and established farms in what became a rich agricultural area.

The first  Methodist Episcopal church was established in 1809 and was later rebuilt in 1832 and again in 1892 using brick from the 1832 building, all of which were made on site.   In 1832 the church boasted four circuit rider preachers, including my great-great-great grandfather,  John F. Poole.

The Culloden Male and Female Academy held classes in the bottom story of the Methodist-Episcopal Church while the church used the upper story.

In the 1830's there were three academies for education begun in the founding days of Monroe County, all in the Cullodenville area.  The Culloden Academy in 1830, the Culloden Female Academy in 1834 and the Culloden Male and Female Academy in 1837.   These learning institutions were just the first of many founded in Culloden and some of the founders and teachers were famous men, among them Professor John Darby, who compiled a comprehensive botanical record of the southeastern U.S. states.  Professor Darby later founded the Sigourney Institute in Cullodenville in 1848.  He was a famed botanist and chemist as well as president of several well known colleges such as Mercer University and Auburn University.  William Seward had a stint as a teacher in one of the Culloden academies before he made his career in politics.

The town of Cullodenville produced a large number of statesmen, lawyers, doctors, educators,  and financiers  who made a mark on the history of the state and the nation.   It seems a disproportionate number of men came from this town, or stopped in the town to work before moving on to bigger and greater things.   It is truly mind boggling when you see the town as it is today with a population of about 230 to try to even imagine the number and variety of businesses, the names of famous men who lived, worked or were educated there.

Newspapers of the early and mid 1800s  recount the visitation of a circus, as well as a famed painting which was displayed in the town hall, and a well known freed man who spoke at the town hall  before the Civil War.

There was established in the town in the 1800's two pharmacies, two general stores, two lawyers, a blacksmith shop, and a shoe factory.   My great-great-great-grandfather first comes on the census in 1850 but Methodist-Episcopal church history lists him as one of the four circuit riders who ministered to the church. There were three churches in town including the Methodist, Primitive Baptist and Baptist churches, as well as many in rural areas surrounding the town.

During the Civil War a boot factory was set up in the blacksmith and tannery shop and produced boots for Confederate soldiers.  My great-great-great grandfather worked in that factory using skills he had learned as a young man.

Even following the civil war the town continued to be prosperous until the boll weevil wiped out the cotton crops in the late 1800's and drove the economy down to it's lowest point.

The town is a lovely town with single lane roadways, a central railroad that runs through town and lovely historic old homes.  The town has faded but was a major player in Georgia history.

I Started at Culloden, Georgia

I take after my father and his father.  If there is a road off a main highway something in me calls out to go explore it.   In our family we generally call it 'going for a little ride' which is our way of saying "I'll probably get lost but I've never been this way before..." That's how I discovered Culloden, off of U.S. Highway 341 in the southernmost part of Monroe County, Georgia.

Culloden is pretty much like many a tiny town in the rural Georgia area: disintegrating, charming, hinting of a more prosperous past.  I began by driving about the streets of the town and stumbled upon two federal era  houses tucked along a back road where pavement turned into dirt.   Then I drove by an old fashioned well sporting a sign that it was once the town well which  dated to the late 1700's.  I was fascinated by this tattered little tiny town with such a long history.  It  shows it's struggle with modern day economies but it's a nice little town, sedate and pretty.

I frequently made a point of driving through the area when I was on my way back from a visit  with my Grandmother.   Once we've traveled a meandering roadway off the main route and discover how it ties in to the roadway we're meant to be taking, we refer to it as 'the long cut', because it takes a little longer to get home but it's often a more interesting view along the winding back roads.

I have always had a love for old things.  To hold a crackled old creamer in my hand, adorned with flowers and the remnants of gold on the rim, sends me into a bemused state.  I wonder about the woman who treasured that bit of pretty china, who loved it enough to really use it.    I wonder about her home, her life.  I am just as bemused by little old decrepit towns.   Old storefronts, pretty churches, a row of older homes, a railroad track running through the center of town all speak of a past of which I somehow must dream.   It seems to me that I can feel the presence of the former days co-existing with the present day town.

I drove  through Culloden one spring day with my mother on one of our weekly drives about six years ago.  She mentioned that her great, great grandfather had been a minister at the Methodist church and that he had lived in that town.  I came home that afternoon and typed in his name on my computer search bar.  I found a cousin had done some family research.  I was hooked.  Curiosity led me to keep looking, adding names and family members to various lines, studying the history of the areas where they were known to live. That moment of curiosity turned into many hours of digging into various family lines, learning more historical facts than I'd ever dreamed I'd know and fueled my passion to know my family and myself, in a deeper way.

So my best answer when asked 'Where do you start?' by others who are interested in genealogy and history is to start with curiosity.  It can be curiosity about a tiny forgotten town, or a name of a defunct community on a map, or a name that recurs in the family or a family story.  With the internet, we have opportunity to go anywhere curiosity takes us.  It leads to the most amazing journeys.