Household #58: Rozier, Thomas A

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In the 1900 Barney census, Thomas A Rozier headed a 5-person household. The table below transcribes the household’s names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations.

Household Snapshot

Thomas A Rozier headed a 5-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner, 2 children, and 1 extended-family member.

Thomas A Rozier's listed occupation was Farmer.

Reported birthplaces span Georgia and North Carolina, pointing to movement into Barney or family formation across county or state lines.

Newspaper and Public-Record Trail

This section flags public-record leads separate from the census table. The detailed discussion stays in the family narrative, research status, and source citations below.

1900 Census Household

The original census records Thomas’s age as 40 and his birth as November 1855. Those entries are inconsistent; the table retains the recorded age.

Children and Later Trails

This section is reserved for later-life child evidence. No later spouse, death, burial, obituary, probate, separate household, or descendant-line identification has been added here yet from direct records.

Family Narrative

The 1900 Barney census shows Thomas Rozier and wife Sallie Rozier in a stable in-town household with two young children and Sallie's sister Mattie Hitch in the home. Later records make clear that this household is the same family later recorded under the fuller name Thomas Alligood Rozier.

The identity chain is strong. In 1860, T. A. Rozier, age 5, appears in Robeson County, North Carolina, in the household of Simpson Rozier and Manerva Rozier. In 1870, Thomas Rozier, age 14, appears in Robeson County in the household of Simpson Rozier and Maria Rozier. The 1938 Georgia death certificate for Thomas Alligood Rozier gives his birth date as 3 Nov 1855, birthplace as Lumberton, North Carolina, father as Simpson Rozier, and mother as Maria Carlyle. The mother's name varies across the records, but the early North Carolina census trail and the death certificate align closely enough to support the identification.

Thomas's marriage is now directly documented. Brooks County marriage records show Mr. Thos A. Rozier receiving a license on 9 Jun 1892 and marrying Miss Sallie A. Hitch on 19 Jun 1892. A Foster newspaper item from 2 Jul 1892 independently reports that Thomas A. Rozier of the firm of Rozier, Conoly & Co. had married Miss Sallie Hitch, daughter of the late Dr. R. M. Hitch of Morven. Additional Foster items from 1892 and 1893 place Thomas in the naval-stores business during the family's early South Georgia years.

The later Barney records show long continuity. In 1910, Thomas A. Rozier and Sallie A. Rozier were still in Barney on Main Street, with children Hazel H., Robert C., and Katharine in the household, along with Mattie Hitch and nephew Martin Rozier. A corrected U.S. postmaster appointment ledger places Thomas A. Rozier first in the Barney sequence on 26 Jul 1897 and then reappoints him on 20 Feb 1906 after intervening appointments for Tobe G. Robinson, Blackmon H. Culbreth, Andrew W. Voight, and Moses W. Wesberry. A 24 Oct 1903 Atlanta Journal notice independently supports the Tobe G. Robinson appointment, reporting that Robinson had been appointed postmaster at Barney, "vice Thomas A. Roseir, resigned." The notice should be cited with the printed spelling, but it likely refers to Thomas A. Rozier. A 1911 Valdosta Times article on a Barney lots sale later refers to T. A. Rozier as the Barney postmaster and mentions his commodious residence. A 1912 Macon Telegraph article names him as a director of the Georgia, Alabama and Western Railway Company. A 1909 ad for Poland China pigs, several 1913-1915 Barney social columns, and a 1935 Macon Telegraph birthday profile all support his continuing public presence in Barney without requiring the stronger civic claims used in the older write-up.

The 1930 census continues the same family in Barney. Thomas A. Rozier, age 74, and Sallie A. Rozier were enumerated on Main Street with Mattie M. Hitch, daughter Hazel K. Stanhope, and grandsons Thomas A. and Fred H. Stanhope in the home. The home value reads as 1000, not 2500. Thomas's 1938 death certificate states that he died at Barney on 27 Oct 1938, gives his occupation as farming, and names “Mt Zion Cem” in the cemetery field and “Morven Ga” in the post-office field. Memorial material is consistent on the fuller name Thomas Alligood Rozier and the basic family links, but it should remain derivative support, especially where cemetery naming details differ from the death certificate.

The child identifications are also much firmer than the old entry suggested. The 1924 Atlanta Journal marriage announcement for Hazel Hitch Rozier states that Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Rozier of Barney announced her marriage to Harry Hurst Stanhope in Washington, D.C., on 17 Dec 1923. Sallie Rozier's 1958 obituary names her survivors as Mrs. T. F. Lanneau of Barney, Mrs. H. H. Stanhope of Sarasota, Florida, and R. C. Rozier of Quitman, which supports the later identities of Catherine, Hazel, and Robert. Those later-life links are well supported, though any detailed biographical claims beyond what these records actually say should still be kept modest.

Local oral history holds that Thomas A. Rozier built the first house in Barney. That tradition fits his early prominence in the community and the documentary record showing him as postmaster, property owner, and a visible civic participant, but the specific first-house claim should still be labeled as tradition unless supported by a direct contemporary deed, newspaper, or other documentary source.

Open Research Questions

• Parentage audit: Keep head-of-household and spouse parentage as unresolved unless a cited direct record names the parents or the entry explains the census chain supporting the identification.
• Child census audit: Continue direct-record tracking for each child named in the 1900 household where later census, marriage, death, burial, obituary, or other parent-link proof is not already cited above.
• The precise relationship of Martin Rozier in the 1910 household should be documented more fully if that person becomes important to a later family-network argument.
• The mother's name in Thomas's early-life records varies between Manerva and Maria; the death certificate favors Maria Carlyle, but the difference should be noted rather than flattened.
• Thomas's burial location should be handled carefully because the death certificate and memorial material do not use identical cemetery wording.
• The oral-history claim that Thomas built the first house in Barney is worth preserving, but it should remain explicitly labeled as tradition unless a direct contemporary source is found.
• Detailed claims about Hazel's education and federal employment were part of the earlier entry, but they should not be restored without direct supporting records in hand.

Research Status

Strong household reconstruction with a solid North Carolina-to-Barney identity chain, direct marriage and death records, postmaster documentation, and good newspaper support for Thomas's community presence and the children's later identities. The remaining work is mostly cautionary cleanup: tighten a few derivative claims, resolve cemetery wording if desired, and add direct support before restoring any expanded biography for Hazel or stronger town-founding claims.

Sources

• 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Thomas Rozier household, sheet 3, dwelling 58, family 58.
• 1910 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Thomas A. Rozier household on Main Street.
• 1930 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Thomas A. Rozier household on Main Street.
• 1860 U.S. census, Robeson County, North Carolina, Simpson Rozier household, including T. A. Rozier, age 5.
• 1870 U.S. census, Robeson County, North Carolina, Simpson Rozier household, including Thomas Rozier, age 14.
• Brooks County, Georgia, marriage record for Mr. Thos A. Rozier and Miss Sallie A. Hitch, license issued 9 Jun 1892, married 19 Jun 1892.
• U.S. Postmaster Appointments record, Thomas A. Rozier appointed postmaster at Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, 26 Jul 1897, and reappointed 20 Feb 1906.
• Georgia death certificate, Thomas Alligood Rozier, died 27 Oct 1938 at Barney, Brooks County, Georgia.
• The Valdosta Times, 2 Jul 1892, Foster notes item reporting the marriage of Thomas A. Rozier and Sallie Hitch.
• The Valdosta Times, 24 Dec 1892, Foster notes item mentioning Tom Rozier and Rozier, Conoly Bros. & Co.
• The Valdosta Times, 3 Jun 1893, Foster notes item mentioning Rozier Conoly & Co. in the naval-stores business.
• The Atlanta Journal, 24 Oct 1903, page 1, "Postmaster at Barney," reporting Tobe G. Robinson appointed postmaster at Barney, vice Thomas A. "Roseir," resigned.
• The Valdosta Times, 2 Nov 1909, ad by T. A. Rozier of Barney for Poland China pigs.
• The Valdosta Times, 21 Jan 1911, Barney lots sale article mentioning T. A. Rozier as Barney postmaster and referencing his residence.
• The Macon Telegraph, 2 Jun 1912, article naming T. A. Rozier as a director of the Georgia, Alabama and Western Railway Company.
• The Valdosta Daily Times, 7 Jul 1913, Barney news item mentioning a gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Rozier.
• The Valdosta Daily Times, 22 Jul 1913, Barney news item mentioning Hazel Rozier and T. A. Rozier.
• The Valdosta Daily Times, 13 Oct 1913, Barney news item mentioning Catherine Rozier and R. C. Rozier.
• The Valdosta Daily Times, 20 Apr 1915, Barney society item mentioning Hazel Rozier and Bob Rozier.
• The Atlanta Journal, 13 Jan 1924, marriage announcement for Hazel Hitch Rozier and Harry Hurst Stanhope.
• The Macon Telegraph, 9 Nov 1935, Thomas Rozier eightieth-birthday profile.
• The Valdosta Daily Times, 11 Oct 1958, obituary for Mrs. T. A. Rozier.
• Find A Grave memorial for Thomas Alligood Rozier, used as derivative support for fuller name, burial, spouse, and child links.
• Find A Grave memorial for Sarah A. "Sallie" Hitch Rozier, used as derivative support for burial, spouse, and child links.

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