Getting to the bus stop: part 2
Nelle grew up in Buford, Georgia, where her family had lived since before the Civil War. Her ancestors helped found the Baptist church she grew up in, and her great-great-grandfather had been among the first pastors at Hog Mountain Baptist Church.
A teacher from their local high school told their parents one of Nelle’s older sisters was smart and should go to college. It hadn’t crossed anyone’s mind that was a possibility, or worthwhile. But the encouragement from this teacher was all it really took. The two oldest were sent to college.
After the two oldest sisters were attending the University of Georgia, Penley, a postal worker, moved his route from Buford to Athens, to move the whole family within reach of the University. This is how it was easy for Nelle, and her two younger sisters to follow the oldest two, Lenny and Clydine. Their brother was the only one not to attend, as it wasn’t seen as necessary.
My great-grandparents, Penley Jackson Hayes and Martha Doss, had six children, all born between 1908 and 1922. Unsurprisingly, the age gap made the sisters closer to those nearest their age. Also, unsurprisingly, the youngest of them, my great aunt Sarah, seemed to have the best stories. She saw everything, and also have the advantage of 5 older siblings to help her get away with any pranks or crimes, of which, there seemed to be many.
While Buford is now within reach of the sprawling Atlanta suburbs, it was still far more rural during my grandmother’s childhood. Visiting when I was in middle school, the area still felt rural to my very suburban view of the world. Nelle and her sisters together in their 70s and 80s often involved them talking over each other to tell and correct stories of their youth which included joyrides in cars, college parties, and rivals and mean girls.
It also included family stories told for more than 100 years. And visits to cemeteries. Georgia cemeteries are full of history. A handful of cars carrying three generations would race around the western edges of Gwinnett County, with my great aunt Lenny (and my family) in the lead car. It was around this point my parents realized the 80-something-year-old should probably not have a license anymore.
The graves were important. It’s where you get the family history. It’s also where you hear things like, “Oh no, not those Hayes! We don’t like them!” I never did find out if it was just a family rift or if they weren’t related.
Nelle’s family started arriving in Georgia towards the end of the 18th century, with several branches migrating from western Virginia and western North Carolina, crossing the mountains into Wilkes, Greene, Gwinnett, and Jackson Counties. Georgia was still a young colony in the middle of the 18th century, while Virginia and North Carolina had long seen English settlers.
These are the first families I’ll look at. Initial arrivals are easy to track because so few people were making their way to North America in the first part of the 17th century. But the longer they were here, and as they migrated to new counties and new colonies, it becomes a little harder. If the leaps of faith I’m making here are accurate, those on the other side of the Atlantic are accurate.
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