The Barney History Project: The people, places, and stories of Barney, Georgia

Savannah Naval Stores Company

A source-graded dossier with special attention to Barney and Land Lot 320

Back to Origins: Foster to Barney · Thomas Alligood Rozier dossier

Why the company matters to Barney

Savannah Naval Stores Company was a Savannah-based factor and cooperative marketing company. It was not a Barney company and was not another name for McNiel & Rozier or Rozier, Conoly & Company. Its connection to Barney came through the land and credit network surrounding the local turpentine operators.

In 1894, Rozier, Conoly & Company conveyed all of Land Lots 320 and 325—980 acres—to Savannah Naval Stores Company for $4,000. In December 1896, the company sold the complete 490-acre Land Lot 320 to Mrs. Sallie A. Rozier for $1,550. Much of Barney later developed on that lot.

Organization and scale

The 1891 Savannah city directory placed the company at 106 Bay Street. It named W. C. Powell as president and C. L. Chesnutt as secretary. The directors were Powell, B. F. Bullard, W. W. Beach, William Pritchett, and R. S. Thigpen. A January 1900 report called that year's gathering the ninth annual meeting, consistent with organization around 1891, although the charter date has not been verified.

Contemporary newspapers described the company as a pioneer of cooperative marketing in the naval-stores trade. Its stockholders were current or former turpentine operators across Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. President Powell reported that the company received approximately 75,000 casks of spirits of turpentine and 260,000 barrels of rosin during 1899.

An 1897 report described a proposed reorganization that would admit more independent producers and distribute an accumulated surplus estimated at about $200,000. These figures show a large, successful regional concern rather than a small local partnership.

Marketing, credit, and mortgages

The company marketed rosin and spirits of turpentine and advanced credit to producers. Its security could include land, pine-timber rights, leases, equipment, and future output. An 1892 Clinch County notice records the company enforcing a mortgage against an operator's leasehold and timber interests after default.

That financial role explains how the company could appear in a land title without operating a still on the property. Ownership of LL320 therefore does not prove that Savannah Naval Stores Company ran a Barney or Foster operation under its own name.

Thomas A. Rozier's connection

The Savannah Morning News of January 11, 1900, listed T. A. Rozier among the stockholders present at the company's annual meeting. The initials, occupation, date, and Brooks County transactions make him a strong-probable match for Barney's Thomas Alligood Rozier. The article did not give his residence or full name, so a stock ledger or another company record would still be needed for absolute identification.

Rozier thus appears in three related roles: a local naval-stores operator through McNiel & Rozier and Rozier, Conoly & Company; a customer or borrower in the company's factoring network; and, by January 1900, a strong-probable company stockholder.

The LL320 and LL325 title sequence

  1. October 18, 1890: Henry G. Turner conveyed all of LL320 and LL325 to James T. McNiel and Thomas A. Rozier for $2,500.
  2. January 31, 1891: the Brooks County index records a mortgage from McNiel & Rozier to Savannah Naval Stores Company. The correct mortgage-book original has not been located, and its property schedule remains unknown.
  3. October 7, 1894: Rozier, Conoly & Company conveyed both lots, totaling 980 acres, to Savannah Naval Stores Company for $4,000 by warranty deed.
  4. December 1, 1896: the company sold the complete 490-acre LL320 to Sallie A. Rozier for $1,550.
  5. October 23, 1897: the company conveyed its remaining LL325 interest and other Brooks County property to W. W. Oglesby for $1,800.

The 1894 deed is an ordinary warranty deed. It does not mention default, foreclosure, bankruptcy, or satisfaction of the 1891 mortgage. A negotiated debt settlement is plausible in light of the company's factoring business, but the surviving deed does not prove that explanation.

Wind-up and successor

On January 17, 1900, the Savannah Morning News reported that the company planned to wind up and retire from business. The report expressly said the decision was not caused by failure. A larger producers' concern, Southern Naval Stores Company, was expected to succeed it, and leading members of the old company planned to join the new organization.

Savannah Naval Stores Company should not be confused with either Southern Naval Stores Company, its 1900 successor, or Consolidated Naval Stores Company, organized in 1902.

What the record supports

Verified: the Savannah office and officers; the 1894 transfer of LL320 and LL325; the 1896 sale of LL320 to Sallie Rozier; the company's large 1899 volume; and the 1900 wind-up.

Strong probable: the identification of the T. A. Rozier at the 1900 stockholders' meeting as Thomas Alligood Rozier of Barney.

Unresolved: what the 1891 mortgage covered; whether the 1894 deed settled that mortgage or another debt; when Rozier acquired his stock; the complete property schedule in the Oglesby deed; and the surviving charter, stock, minute, and liquidation records.

Principal sources

Evidence note: Original deeds and contemporary newspapers control. Index entries are not treated as substitutes for uninspected instruments, and plausible business explanations remain labeled as interpretations.

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