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

George W. Avrett

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Quitman tinsmith, hardware merchant, mayor, alderman, and South Georgia Railroad charter petitioner

Identification

George W. Avrett was born April 2, 1850, in Georgia and died September 23, 1919, in Quitman. His Georgia death certificate names his parents as Christopher C. Avrett and Luvinia Murphy, describes him as a retired merchant, and records burial in Oak Hill Cemetery. The same family appears in Jefferson County in the 1850 census, where George was an infant in the household of C. C. and Luvenia Avrett. Taken together, these records establish his identity and life dates.[1][2]

The record contains several spelling and indexing traps. The 1850 census used "Avret"; the 1910 census used "Averett"; one marriage index rendered his name as "Everett"; and Ancestry indexed his death certificate as "Geo. W. Curett", age forty-nine. The original death image plainly reads George W. Avrett, and the written age is sixty-nine. These are transcription problems, not separate men.[1][3][4]

Early life and family

George was the youngest child listed in the Avrett household in the 1850 census. C. C. Avrett was forty, Luvenia was thirty-seven, and the older children were Elizabeth A., Mary P., John M., Robert C., and Edmond M. The census did not state relationships in 1850, so the parents are established by combining this household with George's death certificate rather than by treating the census order alone as proof.[1][2]

On November 28, 1872, George married Mattie J. Wattles at the Methodist church in Quitman. The Southern Christian Advocate reported that the ceremony was performed by the Rev. Alex P. Wright. The Brooks County marriage index preserves the same date but misindexes the couple as George W. Everett and M. J. Watters.[3][5]

The 1880 census found G. W. Avrett, thirty, on Screen Street in Quitman. He was a tinsmith. His wife, M. J. Avrett, was twenty-seven, and her parents, W. S. and S. A. Wattles, lived in the same household. No child was listed there. Cemetery evidence reports that Mattie died May 14, 1893, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery. That date and burial come from a derivative memorial and should be checked against a cemetery register or a readable stone photograph before being treated as primary evidence.[6][7]

George married Elizabeth H. Strattan in Indiana on June 21, 1894. Some derivative records render the surname as Stratton. The 1900 census says George and Elizabeth had been married five years and identifies him as a hardware dealer. His sixteen-year-old nephew Edward F. Avrett also lived with them. In 1910 George and Elizabeth occupied a house at 602 Clay Street in Quitman. He was a hardware merchant and employer, and they owned the house free of mortgage. Elizabeth reported that she had borne no children. No child of George appeared in any of the inspected 1880, 1900, or 1910 households, but those censuses alone do not prove that he never had a child.[4][8][9]

From tinsmith to hardware merchant

Avrett's commercial career can be followed for more than forty years. A February 7, 1873, issue of the Quitman Banner told readers to buy stoves and tinware from Streety & Avrett. The advertisement fits the occupation in the 1880 census and provides an early full business context for the man later known as Quitman's hardware merchant.[6][10]

Huxford's 1897 business list names "George W. Avrett, Hardware". The 1900 and 1910 censuses independently describe him as a hardware dealer or merchant. Contemporary reporting at the end of his career supplies the last link. In November 1918, newspapers reported that E. E. Girtman and C. W. Groover had bought the G. W. Avrett Hardware Company. The Macon Telegraph said the business had occupied the same stand for nearly forty years and that Avrett had recently retired. The Atlanta Constitution carried substantially the same report the following day, so the two articles should be treated as duplicate coverage, not independent confirmation.[8][9][11][12]

This long commercial record explains why Avrett repeatedly appeared in local subscription companies and public projects. It does not, by itself, prove how much money he invested in any of them.

Municipal service

Huxford's compiled municipal tables place Avrett near the center of Quitman government for almost three decades. He served as town clerk in 1879 and 1880, then as clerk-treasurer in 1881 and 1882. He was mayor in 1884, 1887, and 1888. From 1889 through 1907, the table lists him continuously as an alderman. Contemporary election reports confirm parts of this retrospective roster.[13]

The January 1885 mayoral election also reveals a specific local policy disagreement. The Atlanta Constitution reported that William A. Lane defeated the incumbent, George W. Avrett, 104 votes to 56. Avrett favored setting the liquor-license fee between $750 and $1,000, while Lane favored a range of $300 to $500. The article supports Avrett's incumbency and stated position in that contest. It does not establish a broader political party or ideology.[14]

Newspaper reports in 1898, 1900, and 1904 place G. W. Avrett on aldermanic tickets. The March 1900 report is particularly detailed: competing slates both included him, and he was among the nominees selected at the mass meeting. These contemporary items agree with the municipal table's long run of service.[15][16][17]

Huxford's list of grand-jury foremen names Avrett eight times: November 1883; May 1885; May 1888; May 1892; May 1896; May 1897; May 1899; and May 1906. This was recurring county service, separate from his offices in the city government.[18]

Business and civic projects

Avrett helped organize several of Quitman's shared institutions:

  • The Brooks County Library Association was organized January 31, 1880. Its organizers placed G. W. Avrett on the first board of directors. Anniversary reports in 1912 and 1913 remembered him among the founders who were still living.[19][20]
  • The Quitman Hotel Company was incorporated in 1889 to build Hotel Marie. Avrett was a charter member and the company's first secretary. A contemporary report of a May 1890 meeting names John G. McCall as president, Avrett as secretary, and E. P. S. Denmark as treasurer.[21][22]
  • The Quitman Telephone Company was incorporated December 7, 1896, with Avrett among its local incorporators. Huxford says the system was built in 1896 and 1897 and later extended into rural Brooks County.[23]
  • A June 1899 meeting considered reopening the old cotton mill as a yarn mill. Captain John G. McCall chaired the meeting, and G. W. Avrett served as secretary. The preserved OCR gives an impossible subscription total, so no dollar figure is used here.[24]

These activities show repeated participation in civic and commercial organizations. They do not establish that Avrett managed each project after incorporation.

Militia and church service

Huxford reports that the Quitman Grays elected G. W. Avrett first lieutenant in November 1889. A different first lieutenant was elected in April 1890, which places a clear limit on the documented term. This was postwar state militia service and is not evidence that Avrett served in the Civil War. He was born in 1850 and would have been fourteen when that war ended.[25]

In December 1918, an Americus Times-Recorder article reprinted a Quitman account of a presentation to departing Methodist pastor Guyton Fisher. It named G. W. Avrett among the church's board of stewards. His first marriage had also taken place in the Quitman Methodist church, but that ceremony alone would not prove lifelong membership.[5][26]

South Georgia Railroad

Avrett's documented railroad role is narrow. Huxford's account says that the South Georgia Railroad charter petition named "G. W. Avrett" among twenty-six incorporators in February 1896. The same account gives a separate list for the January subscription committee and another for the first board and officers elected in March. Avrett is not in either list.[27]

The best supported description is therefore charter petitioner or charter incorporator. No inspected source identifies him as a railroad director, officer, subscription solicitor, right-of-way worker, or operating employee. No stock ledger or subscription amount has been found for him. His involvement fits his broader record of joining Quitman improvement companies, but that pattern cannot substitute for direct railroad evidence.

Retirement, death, and burial

The 1918 sale of the hardware company marked Avrett's retirement after roughly four decades in the trade. He died in Quitman on September 23, 1919. His death certificate appears to give the cause as heart disease of fifteen years' duration, identifies him as married and a retired merchant, and records burial in Oak Hill Cemetery on the date of death. A Find a Grave memorial agrees on the birth and death dates and cemetery, but the death certificate is the stronger source.[1][11][12][28]

No identity-secure obituary was located in the accessible indexed newspaper results. The death certificate, census chain, marriage records, business reports, and municipal evidence nevertheless provide a continuous identification from infancy through death.

Assessment

The identification is verified. The full-name death certificate names George's parents and occupation; the census records follow the same man from an infant Avrett household to a Quitman tinsmith and hardware merchant; the marriage records identify both wives; and contemporary newspapers connect his full name to his store, city offices, and local organizations.

The strongest findings are his life dates and parentage, his first occupation as a tinsmith, his long hardware career, his municipal service, and his inclusion in the South Georgia Railroad charter petition. The chief remaining gaps are an original railroad charter image, a stock ledger or subscription list, a primary cemetery register for Mattie, and a located obituary for George.

Sources

  1. Georgia Department of Archives and History, death certificate no. 19304, George W. Avrett, September 23, 1919, Brooks County; Ancestry, Georgia Deaths, 1914-1940, record 97469, original image 004177339_00424.
  2. 1850 United States census, District 48, Jefferson County, Georgia, dwelling and family 137, C. C. Avrett household; Ancestry, record 18760876, image 4193244-00022.
  3. Brooks County marriage index, George W. Avrett and Mattie J. Wattles, November 28, 1872; Ancestry, record 182915, image 40951_294515-00411.
  4. 1910 United States census, Quitman, Brooks County, Georgia, 602 Clay Street, George W. Averett household; Ancestry, record 3196884, image 31111_4327473-00310.
  5. Southern Christian Advocate marriage notice, George W. Averett and Mattie J. Wattles, December 11, 1872; Ancestry, record 2424.
  6. 1880 United States census, Quitman, Brooks County, Georgia, G. W. Avrett household, ED 4, p. 284A; Ancestry, record 40729326, image 4240127-00212.
  7. Find a Grave, Mattie J. Wattles Avrett, memorial 98522768; Ancestry derivative record 71197765.
  8. 1900 United States census, Quitman, Brooks County, Georgia, George W. Avrett household, ED 6, p. 8; Ancestry, record 52866438, image 4119687_00579.
  9. Indiana marriage record, George W. Avrett and Elizabeth H. Strattan, June 21, 1894; Ancestry, record 4390642.
  10. Quitman Banner, February 7, 1873, p. 3, Streety & Avrett advertisement, Georgia Historic Newspapers page record.
  11. Macon Telegraph, November 29, 1918, p. 3, sale of G. W. Avrett Hardware Company, Newspapers.com image 825951431.
  12. Atlanta Constitution, November 30, 1918, sale of G. W. Avrett Hardware Company, Newspapers.com image 34075163.
  13. Folks Huxford, The History of Brooks County, Georgia, 1858-1948 (1948), municipal tables, pp. 180, 202-203.
  14. Atlanta Constitution, January 9, 1885, Quitman mayoral election, Newspapers.com image 26818119.
  15. Savannah Morning News, March 18, 1898, Quitman municipal nominations, Newspapers.com image 852549007; Atlanta Constitution duplicate coverage, image 34084831.
  16. Savannah Morning News, March 28, 1900, Quitman municipal nominations, Newspapers.com image 852603938; Atlanta Constitution coverage, image 26829080.
  17. Savannah Morning News, March 30, 1904, Quitman municipal nominations, Newspapers.com image 879570724.
  18. Huxford, History of Brooks County, grand-jury foremen table, pp. 384-385.
  19. Huxford, History of Brooks County, Brooks County Library, p. 358.
  20. Atlanta Journal, January 27, 1912, p. 4, library anniversary, Newspapers.com image 970010229; Valdosta Daily Times coverage, image 889696782; Atlanta Journal, April 20, 1913, image 970059243.
  21. Huxford, History of Brooks County, Quitman Hotel Company and Hotel Marie, pp. 193-194.
  22. Atlanta Constitution, May 13, 1890, Quitman Hotel Company meeting, Newspapers.com image 26811070.
  23. Huxford, History of Brooks County, Quitman Telephone Company, pp. 194-195.
  24. Valdosta Times, June 24, 1899, p. 3, yarn-mill organization meeting, Newspapers.com image 889670738.
  25. Huxford, History of Brooks County, Quitman Grays, p. 244.
  26. Americus Times-Recorder, December 15, 1918, p. 5, Quitman Methodist board of stewards, Newspapers.com image 809535224.
  27. Huxford, History of Brooks County, South Georgia Railroad, pp. 197-198.
  28. Find a Grave, George W. Avrett, memorial 141563165; Ancestry derivative record 116139116.

Research notes

  • Exact-name searches for "George W Avrett" and "G W Avrett" in the preserved Newspapers.com result set covered 1860 through 1920. Forty-three unique result pages were inspected or triaged, with the relevant business, municipal, institutional, family, and social items retained.
  • Exact-name and spelling-variant searches in the general web index returned no useful results. This is a negative search finding, not proof that no additional online material exists.
  • Exact-name census searches did not produce an identity-secure 1860 or 1870 household. No record from those years has been assigned to him.
  • The original South Georgia Railroad charter petition and an identity-secure obituary remain unlocated in the accessible sources.