(NOTE: The following appeared in the 1985 Odum Homecoming program and was written by Hazel Dean Overstreet. It is being reproduced here for the Odum, Georgia website….KH)
Mrs. Susie can remember very plainly when she was only five years old (in 1883) when she was carried on a pillow to a Dr. Little in Jesup, who treated her. She remembers this so plainly, she says, because the doctor’s father was in the house (or office, as it would be called today), and he had cancer on his face. The disfigurement made such an impression on her young mind that she has never forgotten it.
Roads in those days were mere trails or dim wagon ruts. If a child traveled the ten miles to Odum or Jesup, he felt as though he had gone, in present-day figures, as far as from here to Atlanta. Men received a summons in the early days to work on roads, just as today, men receive a summons to serve on the Jury.
In a southwesterly direction from Odum, the families living in outlying farm areas consisted of just a few old families. Miss Juanita Bennett and her sister, Mrs. Frankie Bennet Watkins, said their mother moved to this section at the age of three (about the year 1867, two years after the Civil War) with her parents, Joseph and (?) Stone Ginn. The Ginn child, Mary, married Frank Bennett, son of Braxton Bennett. Frank’s half-brothers were Bill, John, and Enoch Bennett. Miss Beatrice Bennett of Jesup says five Bennett brothers served in the Civil War.
This tract of land in this outlying vicinity was originally Stone’s, then Ginn’s, then Bennett’s. The land was cheap in those days. About 1870, Mr. Ginn swapped a shotgun for a place belonging to William (Bill) Roberson. He also got a place for $5.00.
The only places, recollected by Miss Bennetts, in existence at that time, in the area they now live, were the Denmark place, the Ginn place, the Bessie Collins place (formerly Jim or John Hires’ place), and the Bill Roberson place.
An early tombstone in the Odum Cemetery reads, “John Thompson, born 1805.” Graves and other old tombstones are shaded by old cedar trees.
These early families came to Odum for the provisions they could not make on their farms.
EARLY CUSTOMS
Other impressions left upon Mrs. Susie’s mind were the early days when all cloth had to be woven by hand. She remembers distinctly her sister operating the loom. She remembers the spinning wheel, the woolen and cotton cards, and how they had to pick the seed out of cotton by hand. Her oldest sister, Becky, did the family weaving. By the time Mrs. Susie was old enough to do this, times were changing, and hand spinning and weaving were no longer required.
CLICK HERE to proceed to the next part of this story.