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

Thomas Passmore and Henry B. Culbreth: Hahira Business-Network Dossier

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Prepared: August 18, 2026
Scope: Two distinct people connected to J. T. McNeill's Hahira timber and naval-stores operations. Neither man is proved to have lived or worked at Foster.

Bottom line

Thomas Passmore and Henry B. Culbreth appear in two separate parts of J. T. McNeill's wider business history.

In 1904, "J. T. McNeill & Co. v. Thomas Passmore" reached Lowndes Superior Court. The company claimed a right under an 1889 lease to cut timber on 275 acres. A May 21 newspaper report incorrectly said the plaintiff won; the paper corrected itself on May 24 and said the case was decided for Passmore, the defendant. [1][2]

Henry B. Culbreth was a North Carolina-born naval-stores worker employed by J. McNeil & Co. near Hahira. He became ill on October 16, 1894, and died at J. T. McNeil's residence on October 24. A Masonic memorial says he had come from Cumberland County, North Carolina, about five years earlier, had worked for his cousin James T. McNeil throughout that period, and died of bilious colic. His brother T. G. Culbreth took the remains to Fayetteville, North Carolina. [3]-[5]

The men must not be blended. Passmore appears as a land or timber-rights defendant; Culbreth was an employee, cousin, lodge member, and temporary resident in McNeill's household at death.

Thomas Passmore

The 1889 lease claim and 1904 verdict

The May 21 report describes an injunction case over the company's claimed right, under an 1889 lease, to cut timber on 275 acres. It initially reported a plaintiff's verdict. [1] The May 24 correction expressly reverses that result and says the case was decided for defendant Thomas Passmore. [2] The correction controls.

The reports do not identify the lessor, give a deed-book reference, describe the tract by land lot or metes and bounds, name Thomas A. Rozier, or say that the 275 acres were part of Foster. They also do not establish that the 1889 lease was recorded or that J. T. McNeill & Co. had the same partners in 1889 and 1904.

Probable identity

Lowndes County tax indexes contain Thomas S. Passmore in 1890 and later years. [6] A 1900 census index places a Thomas Passmore, born about August 1859 in Georgia, with wife Laura in Lower Fork, Lowndes County. [7] A compiled Berrien County marriage index also contains Thomas S. Passmore. [8]

These records make Thomas S. Passmore of Lowndes County the strong-probable defendant. The court report omits the middle initial, age, residence, and wife, and the original case file was not located. The dossier therefore does not elevate the identification to verified or import uninspected family details from public index snippets.

Passmore conclusion

  • Verified: Thomas Passmore prevailed in the 1904 suit after the newspaper corrected its first report. [1][2]
  • Verified: the dispute concerned a claimed 1889 lease and 275 acres of timber. [1]
  • Strong probable: the defendant was Thomas S. Passmore, the Lowndes taxpayer and 1900 Lower Fork resident. [6][7]
  • Unresolved: the original lessor, exact property, lease text, consideration, recording history, legal theory, jury findings, and relationship to Lots 50, 139, or Foster.

Henry B. Culbreth

Employment, illness, and death

The October 27 report says Henry B. Culbreth died near Hahira on Wednesday morning after several days' illness. He was about 32, from North Carolina, and employed by "J. McNeil & Co." in turpentine. Review of the original page corrects OCR that read "T. McNeil & Co." His brother T. G. Culbreth took the body to Fayetteville for burial. [3]

The November 3 follow-up says Culbreth died at J. T. McNeil's residence near Hahira and had worked with McNeil in naval stores for several years. [4]

The December 8 Masonic memorial supplies the fullest contemporary account. Culbreth was born and raised in North Carolina, came from Cumberland County to Hahira about five years earlier, and was employed from then until death by his cousin James T. McNeil. He became ill with bilious colic on Tuesday, October 16, and died Wednesday, October 24. It says he had joined the Methodist church in boyhood and was a member of Hahira Lodge No. 346, F. & A. M. The resolution was signed by J. W. Collier, J. T. McNeil, and R. H. Ivey. [5]

Identity and family controls

Public indexes contain a Henry B. Culbreth born March 28, 1861, and dead October 24, 1894. [9] The death date agrees exactly with the contemporary notices. Census indexes place a Henry B. Culbreth, born about 1861, in Sampson County, North Carolina, in 1870 and a Henry Culbreth, born about 1862, in Cumberland County in 1880. [10][11] The name, age, state, Cumberland connection, and exact 1894 death date make this a strong-probable identity chain. The original census household images and memorial evidence were not fully inspectable during this pass, so parentage and exact birth date remain derivative.

T. G. Culbreth is directly called Henry's brother in the October report. A 1901 notice later describes J. T. McNeill staying with his cousin T. G. Culbreth at Genoa, independently supporting the McNeill-Culbreth kinship network. [3][12] No exact genealogical path proving how James and Henry were cousins was found.

Henry B. Culbreth is not the later Barney educator identified in some sources as B. H. or J. B. Culbreth, nor should he be merged with Blackman H., Joseph B., or any other Culbreth solely because of initials or surname.

Culbreth conclusion

  • Verified: Henry died October 24, 1894, at J. T. McNeil's residence near Hahira after working in the naval-stores business. [3]-[5]
  • Verified from contemporary reporting: T. G. Culbreth was his brother, and James T. McNeil was described as his cousin and employer. [3][5]
  • Strong probable: he was the North Carolina census subject and the man memorialized with dates March 28, 1861-October 24, 1894. [9]-[11]
  • Unresolved: parents, exact cousin path, cemetery, original employment terms, and whether he ever worked at Foster.

Significance to Foster research

The Passmore case shows that J. T. McNeill & Co. was still litigating an asserted 1889 timber right in Lowndes County fifteen years later. Culbreth's record documents a family-linked employment connection between Cumberland County, North Carolina, and McNeill's Hahira naval-stores operation from about 1889 through 1894. Neither record places either man at Foster or proves that land, workers, or equipment moved to Land Lot 227.

Next records to obtain

  1. The full Lowndes Superior Court file and docket for "J. T. McNeill & Co. v. Thomas Passmore", May term 1904.
  2. The 1889 lease and deed-index entries for Passmore, McNeil/McNeill/McNeal, and the company.
  3. Original tax pages tied to Thomas S. Passmore's index entries and the 1900 Lower Fork census image.
  4. Henry's 1870 and 1880 census household images, North Carolina church records, and the cited Find a Grave memorial/cemetery documentation.
  5. Probate, funeral, cemetery, lodge, or newspaper records in Cumberland County and Fayetteville for the return and burial of Henry's remains.
  6. Family records connecting James T. McNeill, Henry B. Culbreth, and T. G. Culbreth through a named common ancestor.

Reproducible online search ledger

Repository Searches Result
Newspapers.com preserved authenticated corpus exact and variant searches for "Thomas Passmore", "Passmore McNeill", "275 acres", "1889 lease", "Henry B Culbreth", "Culbreth Hahira", "bilious colic", "T G Culbreth" Located both Passmore reports, all three 1894 Culbreth reports, and the 1901 kinship corroboration [1]-[5][12]
Ancestry public indexes Thomas/S. Passmore in Lowndes and Berrien, 1880-1910; Henry/B. Culbreth in North Carolina and Georgia, 1860-1900 Located tax, census, marriage, and memorial index records; no original court file or complete family bridge [6]-[11]
Find a Grave Henry B. Culbreth, death October 24, 1894 Ancestry's cemetery index exposed memorial 70255139; the memorial page itself returned a current access challenge, so cemetery claims were withheld [9]
FamilySearch the same people, places, and dates Current public access returned a restriction; no unverified tree assertion was used
General web and preserved project sources exact names plus Hahira, Lowndes, Fayetteville, Cumberland, McNeil/McNeill, lease, timber, and turpentine No additional court disposition, obituary, burial record, or exact kinship path located

Complete source list

  1. Valdosta Times, May 21, 1904, "J. T. McNeill & Co. v. Thomas Passmore", first and incorrect verdict report, Newspapers.com image 889683754: https://www.newspapers.com/image/889683754/
  2. Valdosta Times, May 24, 1904, correction stating the defendant prevailed, Newspapers.com image 889683819: https://www.newspapers.com/image/889683819/
  3. Valdosta Times, October 27, 1894, Henry B. Culbreth death and employment report, Newspapers.com image 889831644: https://www.newspapers.com/image/889831644/
  4. Valdosta Times, November 3, 1894, death at J. T. McNeil's residence and naval-stores service, Newspapers.com image 889831679: https://www.newspapers.com/image/889831679/
  5. Valdosta Times, December 8, 1894, Hahira Lodge No. 346 memorial resolution, Newspapers.com image 889832019: https://www.newspapers.com/image/889832019/
  6. Georgia property tax digests, Thomas S. Passmore, 1890 Lowndes County, Ancestry collection 1729, record 525306, image 32306_1220706333_0005-00099: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1729/records/525306. Later index records located in the same collection: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1729/records/5415507, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1729/records/5417699, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1729/records/5420013, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1729/records/5422976, and https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1729/records/5427732.
  7. 1900 U.S. census index, Thomas Passmore household, Lower Fork, Lowndes County, Georgia, Ancestry collection 7602, record 9181653, image 4120072_00461: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7602/records/9181653
  8. Compiled Berrien County marriage index, Thomas S. Passmore, Ancestry collection 4453, record 766: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/4453/records/766. This derivative index was not used to assert a spouse or date.
  9. U.S. cemetery and funeral-home collection index, Henry B. Culbreth, Ancestry collection 60525, record 32720946: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/records/32720946; linked Find a Grave memorial 70255139: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/70255139/henry-b-culbreth
  10. 1870 U.S. census index, Henry B. Culbreth, Sampson County, North Carolina, Ancestry collection 7163, record 22986424, image 4277635_00649: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7163/records/22986424
  11. 1880 U.S. census index, Henry Culbreth, Cumberland County, North Carolina, Ancestry collection 6742, record 12995867, image 4243272-00459: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6742/records/12995867
  12. Valdosta Times, August 27, 1901, p. 8, “Genoa” correspondence dated August 25, reporting that J. T. McNeill stayed with his cousin T. G. Culbreth, Newspapers.com image 889668885: https://www.newspapers.com/image/889668885/

Completion statement

The available newspaper corpus, public genealogy indexes, cemetery index, and general web results were searched with spelling, initials, place, occupation, and date variants. The original Passmore court file and lease, the original Culbreth census households, and a documentary cousin path were not found online. Those limits are stated rather than filled with family-tree assumptions.