L. P. OWENS HOUSE

Gordon County, Georgia

Once upon a time, a beautiful and fertile farm .ying along the Saliquoy (Salacoa) creek and the Coosawattee river, was sold buy a U. S. Marshall, under the District court of the Confederate States of America, The sale took place in front of the courthouse in Atlanta, Ga.

At the time the farm was the property of JAMES M. FIELD, ELIAS E. FIELD, and Joseph Donaldson. The sale was made to settle a note issued to the owners in 1858 by a company in S. C. from whom the Fields' and Donaldsons' had purchased machinery for a mill.

Today this farm, so rich in history is the property of the L. P. Owen family. James M. Field bought the land from Wm. C. Blalock in 1854. and probably built the house that stands today. In the 1840 census of Cass County, James Field is listed as having in his family, 3 males,

1 female and 5 slaves, Joseph Willingham and Meridith Collier purchased a carding machine house with rights to use the water from the mill from Field and deeded him a half interest in the mill. This was 1862. Tradition says that James Field collaborated with the yankees, he was cruel to his slaves. If a slave dared to enter the front door and drink from the family water bucket, he was punished.

Early owners of the farm were: Sinia Keith and L. D. Shaw, Lewis Tumlin held title in 1875 and Frank P. Gray (whose wife Cora, was a daughter of the Tumlins) was owner in 1881. Listed in the 1840 Cass Co. census: Lewis Tumlin, 3 males, 2 females, 14 slaves. Dr. Randolph Borders, who married Lucy Pulliam, Oct. 8, 1867 bought the place sometime after 1881. He died in 1886, hes will covered almost 3 pages of fool' cap paper in typing, practically arranged his childrens lives. After her husbands death, Lucy sold the farm to Mary A, Ferguson who in turn deeded the land to her husband, Hayden Ferguson. The Fergusons moved to Calhoun where Mr. Ferguson was a member of the city council in 1881. Sometime after 1888 he built a rambling two story house on College St. (Dean Hayes lot) John C. Vance was owner of the Owen farm in 1912 and C. E. Vance in 1918.

When L. P. Owens acquired the place he made the statement "Every one who has owned this place has lost it, we may too" The Owen families of the seventh district seem to have a magic touch on the land for every acre they touched has turned to gold. Owen houses scattered here and there have always been noted among Gordon County homes.

The Owens ancestral home, now owned by Sam Owen's son George is commodious and handsome. George and Edna are making improvements that add to its attractiveness.

Hub Owens, brother of L. P. Sr., lived in Calhoun for awhile, In a photograph of Calhoun's first garage, owned by John Ray, Hub Owens is seen at the wheel of a Mitchell auto with Jim Owens (brother) beside him. One sister, Tennie was married to Wallace Slagle. Ida was a Mrs. Morris, Ada and Mary, unmarried, died young. Lou Owens, (he hated his nickname), as a boy carried a dentist's forceps in his pocket, desiring more than anything to learn how to use the instrument. He went to Oklahoma and studied to be a dentist, much of his work was with the Indians. One Cherokee, unable to pay his bill gave Dr. Owens a large painting of a beautiful valley in Oklahoma. This painting, done by an Indian, hangs on the wall in the living room.

With the homing instinct, Dr. Owens returned to Gordon Co. and bought the "Field" farm. His widow, who lives in the "house of many faces" was miss Julia Groves of Ramhurst, Ga. Mrs Mattie Lou Strain is her sister. The facade of the house is unique in this county, in that the two windows match the colonial doorway, a narrow panel of glass on each side of the center one, all formed of small panes. A roofless part of the veranda leads to the french doors opening from the cross-hall in the center of the house. The roof of the porch extends across the first floor only and the posts are square. A glassed-in porch is on the north side of the kitchen=dining room ell. My spinet organ would fit into the fireplace openings in the dining room and two basement rooms. These lower rooms are plastered or cemented over the brick walls and at one time served as living quarters for helpers on the farm. On a side, the chimney bricks have loosened. These bricks were made on the place by slaves.

There are four rooms and bath downstairs and two rooms and bath on the second floor. The wide upstairs hall serves as a bedroom. An antique "post office" dexk stands in the hall. All the rooms are very large, each with a fireplace, five chimneys in all. Mrs. Owens if in the process of re-decorating, beginning with the ell. Woodwork is avocado green, walls are celery. The dining room has become the Den, with TV, Divan, chairs and telephone. The round dining table is "Queen Ann Buffet", glass-front china cabinet, chairs are the same style, The chair backs are formed of cane panels on each side of the solid one. A handsome reed table reaches across one wall of the hall and holds family portraits. The three bedrooms are furnished with poster and spool beds, dressers, chairs and tables harmonize. In the downstairs bedroom, there is a table with marble top, based on an old sewing machine frame. Mrs. Owens assembled this table.

The long living room is comfortably and attractively furnished. An open-shelf bookcase is built under the stairway. The spinning wheel over bu the south window belonged to Mrs. Owens' grandmother, Mrs Field (not James M.) since Mrs Field and her daughter (Julia's mother) were both in their 80's at the time of their death, the spinning wheel is about 200 years old. All doors in the house are up and down paneled with porcelain door knobs. Carpeted floors, handsomely draped windows, pictures and books and ornaments of various kinds combine to make a house of seven geneerations into a perfect home for a generation of the 1970's. J. P. Jr. and Joan withtheir three children, live in a charming contemporary home a few yards away.

Standing on the lawn with me, the smallest grandaughter waved her hand toward the rolling green hills and said, "just look at that!" young as she in, this little girl already has "our land" feeling. The original plot has been enlarged to the present 1,175 acres, comprising land lots 67, 68, 78, 79, 102, 103. Beautiful black and white Holstein cattle were gathered around the barn of the Sunday we were there. James Hugh and Venita Owens Phillips and their four boys came for a visit as we left.

The people who once lived in the old house have not entirely left. They are buried in the family cemetery on the hill.

Louise Borders b. 1816, d. 1892

A. M. Borders b. 1811, d. 1896

Little Bonny Bess, dau. of Lucy b. 1889, 1892

Dr. Randolph Borders, b. 1836, d. 1886

Willie Borders 1888-1896

Clara Borders 1870-1871 (several baby graves, children of Ada & S. L. McBrayer

Elias E. Field (Killed at Chickamauga) Sept. 12, 1863

Margaret H. Field 1815-1862

Edmund Ellis 1809-1878

Rebecca Ellis 1817-1879 b. in York Co., SC. (both)

Kate Ellis 1891-1892, dau. of W. M. Nd V. A. Ellis

John Ellis 1808, Lucinda, 1812-1864

J. H. Ellis 1844-1867

Jacob Cox 1826-1875 (a Mason)

Letters and dates of some stones were illegible, others were marked only by small marble slabs. One enclosure is built of brick with a roof. Two other plots are surrounded by high walls built of granite slabs. Lucy Pulliam Borders-Shaw is buried at Mt. Pleasant cemetery 1849-1921. She was the daughter of Samuel Pulliam, extensive land owner. Lucy was a colorful character and her life would make an interesting novel of post civil war days. Many of the Red Bud families are related to Randolph and Lucy Borders, by birth or marriage, the Pulliams, Fosters, Bentleys, Reddicks and others, James M. Field would be amazed and delighted to behold the fields that were his, and the house he built in 1854.

Jewell R. Alverson, Calhoun, Ga.