A moment in history

Three years ago, The Legal Genealogist wrote about a most unusual land deal, recorded in a most unusual place.

One that was recorded in the deed books of the County of Irwin, Georgia, which is where you might expect to find a land transaction.

But also in the statute books of the State of Georgia.¹

It was the land on which Jefferson Davis was captured by Union forces in 1865. There’s a park there now… and — here’s the update — the park is now threatened by budget cuts.

The land was a gift from the man pictured here, James B. Clement of Irwin County, Georgia, born just after the Civil War to a father who had spent most of that war wearing Confederate gray. Reuben W. Clements had served as an officer in Company F of the Georgia 49th Infantry in 1862 until a bout with measles forced him to resign, and once he fully recovered he served again in Company H of the Georgia 4th Cavalry from 1863 to the end of the war.²

James the son was born on the 17th of November 1869.³ He was recorded as an infant in his parents’ household on the 1870 census.⁴

That same year, Reuben was elected Clerk of the Superior Court, a post he held almost until his death in 1895.⁵

James grew up there in Irwin County, and lived there his entire life. He appears as a 10-year-old schoolboy in his parents’ household there in 1880,⁶ with his bride and his widowed mother in 1900,⁷ as a widower with a seven-year-old daughter in 1910,⁸ with his 17-year-old daughter in 1920,⁹ and remarried with a young wife, baby daughter, adopted son and stepson in 1930.¹⁰

He was a lawyer, a graduate of Emory University,¹¹ Judge of the County Court and a Georgia State Representative and Senator from Irwin County¹² who wrote a history of the county used often by Georgia genealogists.¹³

And, from his father, he inherited two things. A powerful loyalty to the Confederacy. And a particular piece of land.

The statute book tells the story:

Whereas, the Honorable J. B. Clements, of the county of Irwin, is the owner of lot of land No. 51 in the Third District of Irwin county, which came to him by inheritance from his father, who was a true, loyal Confederate soldier, and it was on this lot of land that the Honorable Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, was camping when captured by the soldiers of the United States in April, 1865, and in obedience to the request of his father, he desires to convey to the State of Georgia four (4) acres of land of the lot aforesaid, as shown by the attached plat, and that the State may authorize the acceptance of his deed thereto.

Be it therefore resolved by the General Assembly of Georgia, That the Honorable J. B. Clements, of the county of Irwin, is hereby authorized to convey by his warrantee deed to the Governor of the State of Georgia, and his successors in office, for the use and benefit of the State of Georgia, four acres of land as designated by the plat, the same being a part of lot No. 51 in the Third District of Irwin county.¹⁴

The deed itself can be seen today at the Georgia State Archives at Morrow, tucked into the back of a volume labeled entitled Register of Grants 1894-1912, volume AD. And it’s online in a collection called “Georgia, Headright and Bounty Land Records, 1783-1909,” at FamilySearch.¹⁵

And the plat — the survey — referenced in the statute? It’s there too:

Clements was joined by others who gave more land and, eventually, a state park was opened — in total, a 13-acre historic site that includes a museum, short trail, gift shop, picnic tables and group shelter.¹⁶ It was transferred to Irwin County in 2009 — and is now threatened by budget cuts.¹⁷

Clements’ descendants don’t want the park to close, and they’re looking for help keeping it open — one great granddaughter wrote in to this blog hoping to rally support. From the news reports, it looks like the Sons of the Confederacy may step up to help.

But even if budget cuts end up with the park closed, for descendants and for historians, there will always be evidence of this moment in history, tucked away, in the statute books.

SOURCES

Clements photo: C.W. Motes, Vanishing Georgia, Georgia State Archives.