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

Roderick Chilly McIntosh

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Roderick C. McIntosh (October 27, 1855-July 17, 1926) spent most of his life in Quitman, Georgia. Original census, death, and probate records identify him as the son of Roderick McIntosh and Bathsheba McMillan, the husband of Cora B. Lewis, and the father of Lewis E. McIntosh, Cora B. Vaughn or Vaughan, and Roderick C. McIntosh Jr. The records follow him from a fourteen-year-old in his mother's Quitman household in 1870 to a merchant, planter, bank director, mayor, and long-serving South Georgia Railway officer.[2-7][9][12-13][17][19][21-22][27][33]

The middle name is not spelled consistently. Huxford uses "Chilly," the death certificate reads "Chilli," the will heading reads "Chili," and derivative indexes and cemetery material add other variants. This dossier uses "Chilly" in the title because it is the familiar local form, but it does not treat the spelling as uniform.[1][7][9][34]

Family and childhood

The 1870 census places fourteen-year-old Roderick in Quitman with Bersheba McIntosh and several other McIntoshes. The schedule does not state their relationships. His 1926 death certificate identifies his parents as Roderick McIntosh, born in North Carolina, and Bathsheba McMillan, born in Georgia, which secures the mother-son link that the census alone cannot prove.[2][7]

Huxford says the elder Roderick died in 1857 and that Bathsheba moved the family to Quitman in 1861, where she acquired the old Quitman Hotel. That 1948 account remains the source for the move and hotel story because no secure 1860 household or deed was located in the documented search.[1][35]

Huxford also says Bathsheba, her daughters, and an enslaved woman named Harriet worked at the hotel during the Civil War. No 1857 estate record or 1860 slave schedule was inspected for this project. The evidence does not establish who legally held Harriet, and it gives no basis for assigning ownership to Roderick, who was a small child.[1][35]

Marriage and children

The 1880 census records R. C. McIntosh, age twenty-five, as a Quitman merchant with wife C. B. and their ten-month-old son, L. E. The 1900 schedule identifies the household as Roderick C. and Cora B. McIntosh with children Lewis E., Cora B., and Roderick C. McIntosh. The 1910 and 1920 schedules continue the family in Quitman.[3-6]

A compiled Virginia marriage entry says Roderick C. McIntosh and Cora B. Lewis married in Albemarle County on November 14, 1878. The 1900 census independently reports a marriage in 1878, but the original Virginia return was not inspected. The date and county are therefore strongly probable. "Cora B. Lewis" is verified by Roderick's death certificate; the expanded name "Cora Barksdale Lewis" comes from derivative family material.[7][8]

Roderick's will names his three children as Lewis E. McIntosh, Mrs. Cora B. Vaughn, and Roderick C. McIntosh Jr. The July 1926 death reports spell the daughter's married surname Vaughan, so both forms are preserved as a source spelling conflict.[9][33] Cora survived her husband. The Georgia death index and FamilySearch record agree that Mrs. Cora B. McIntosh died in Brooks County on June 13, 1934.[10]

Merchant, property owner, and planter

The original censuses trace McIntosh's occupations from merchant in 1880, to grocery dealer in 1900, hardware merchant in 1910, and planter in 1920. His death certificate calls him a retired businessman.[3-7]

Georgia tax-digest indexes also place Roderick or R. C. McIntosh in Brooks County through the documented business years. Because the saved files show index results rather than original schedules, they support name-and-place continuity but not unverified details about property or employees.[11]

Contemporary reporting gives the business more shape. In 1893, R. C. McIntosh & Co. was described as a large hardware and grocery concern, with his brother-in-law John O. Lewis as a member of the firm.[15] An 1897 fire report identifies a store building belonging to McIntosh among the commercial property threatened by fire, but it supplies neither a value nor a legal description.[16]

McIntosh also took part in local development efforts. He served on committees seeking a hydraulic cotton compress in 1890, chaired the 1899 meeting that organized Quitman's Board of Trade, and helped draft the new body's rules.[14][18] These records prove committee work, not ownership of every project promoted.

Later reports describe his farming operations. In 1916 he sold 142 bales of cotton from the 1914 and 1915 crops for $8,000 and was said to have built a farm warehouse in 1914.[26] A 1924 report says McIntosh Farms slaughtered 120 hogs averaging about 300 pounds. One OCR rendering says 800 pounds, but the parallel report supports 300.[30] In February 1926, McIntosh sold a nine-acre East Quitman tract for $10,000 after roughly forty years of ownership. The accounts disagree on whether he held it for forty or forty-four years.[32]

These examples establish substantial commercial and farming activity. They do not establish his total acreage, net worth, complete property holdings, or ownership percentages in family or corporate enterprises.

Bank, hotel, telephone, and other companies

McIntosh was elected to the first Bank of Quitman board in January 1889 and was reelected in 1891. Newspaper profiles continued to list him as a director in 1905 and near his death.[13][20][33] Figures published for the bank describe the institution, not McIntosh's personal wealth.

Huxford identifies McIntosh with the Quitman Hotel Company, Quitman Telephone Company, Interstate Lumber Company, Building and Loan Association, and a cotton-mill subscription. The new research did not inspect each original corporate charter, minute book, or stock ledger. Those Huxford-based roles are strongly probable unless a specific contemporary record is cited.[1][35]

One later role is independently clear. A 1919 regional business survey identifies him as president of a transfer company that moved freight from the Atlantic Coast Line and South Georgia depots.[29]

Mayor and public work

An 1886 artesian-well advertisement is signed "R. C. McIntosh, Mayor, Quitman, Ga." and directly verifies his mayoral office that year.[12] Huxford's municipal tables also place him on the council in several years during the 1880s, but city minutes were not inspected and no complete office-by-office chronology has been established.[1][35]

McIntosh participated in several later public projects. He represented Brooks County in highway-routing efforts in 1910 and 1911, served on Quitman's school bond commission and building committee in 1912, and joined W. J. Powell in conveying a Screven Street lot to the federal government for the new Quitman post office in 1913.[23-25] The post-office report proves joint conveyance, not the share held by either seller.

In 1918 he served on Brooks County's executive committee for the Fourth Liberty Loan campaign.[28] A 1925 report places R. C. McIntosh and John O. Lewis at First Presbyterian Church when their overcoats were stolen, providing direct, if incidental, evidence of his Presbyterian association.[31]

Huxford names McIntosh as one of four men assigned to solicit Quitman subscriptions on January 29, 1896, and as one of the charter petitioners. The original meeting report and charter petition were not inspected in this project, so those two roles remain strongly probable rather than verified.[1][35]

His founding-board role is verified. The March 24, 1896 Savannah Morning News reported that stockholders elected R. C. McIntosh to the South Georgia Railroad's first board.[17] He was reelected in 1899, and in February 1900 the board elected him vice president after J. W. Hopson disposed of his holdings.[19][21]

Later contemporary records repeatedly identify him as a director and vice president. The evidence includes business travel with railway officers in 1903, company descriptions in 1906 and 1910, reelection in 1911, and another reelection as director and vice president of the South Georgia & West Coast Railroad in November 1925.[22][27][31] His 1926 death reports still called him a railway vice president.[33]

He also became vice president of the West Coast Railway when it was organized at Greenville, Florida, in December 1900, and he joined the published 1907 charter petition for the Quitman, Valdosta and Thomasville Electric Railway and Power Company.[21][22] These were related but distinct enterprises. The surviving evidence does not give his share count or original South Georgia Railroad subscription, and it should not be compressed into a claim that every office was held without interruption.

Will and estate plan

McIntosh signed his will on June 17, 1926, one month before his death. It names his wife, Cora B. McIntosh, and their three children. He appointed Cora and Roderick Jr. as executors.[9]

The will directed that the estate remain together for ten years unless specified family conditions intervened. It asked the managing executor to consult S. S. Rountree, J. W. Oglesby, and C. T. Tillman, and expressed McIntosh's wish that Roderick Jr. succeed him in corporate directorships and other positions of trust. It also names his sister Mattie McIntosh, cousin Katie Comfort of Boston, son-in-law B. L. Vaughn, and servants Rebecca Jones and Arthur Thomas.[9]

The relevant will is on the McIntosh portions of images 164, 165, and 166 in the Brooks County will book. Image 167 continues Nancy Becton's will and is not McIntosh evidence. No probate petition, letters testamentary, inventory, appraisement, land schedule, or executor accounting was located in the saved research.[9][35]

Death and burial

Roderick died at home in Quitman at 3:30 p.m. on July 17, 1926. His original Georgia death certificate gives chronic myocarditis as the primary cause, with diabetes mellitus and uremia contributing. Newspaper reports mention recent pleurisy, but that report of his preceding illness does not replace the certified cause.[7][33]

The certificate says he was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery on July 18. A Valdosta follow-up independently reports Oak Hill burial and names the clergy and pallbearers.[7][34] An index points to Find a Grave memorial 78221283, but neither the memorial page nor the marker photograph was inspected for this review.[36]

Conflicts and identity controls

The death certificate fixes his birth at October 27, 1855, and the 1900 census gives October 1855. Huxford gives 1856. The original certificate controls, with Huxford's one-year difference retained as a conflict.[1][4][7]

His father's birthplace also conflicts. The 1880 census and death certificate say North Carolina; the 1900, 1910, and 1920 schedules say Georgia. North Carolina is better supported because the earlier census agrees with the son-informed death certificate, but the disagreement remains unresolved.[3-7]

The 1920 schedule uses "Jr." for the sixty-four-year-old head of household. His age, wife Cora, son Lewis, and continuous Quitman identity show that the record concerns the elder Roderick, not his son born in 1888.[6]

The Haralson County 1892 marriage of "Chillie McIntosh" and Calia Alman is a different man. The Quitman subject was already married to Cora, and the county, spouse, and chronology do not fit.[37] Articles about the Creek leader Chilly McIntosh, the Revolutionary-era Roderick McIntosh, and R. C. McIntosh Jr. were also excluded.[35]

What remains unresolved

The documented search did not locate a secure 1860 household, the original Virginia marriage return, the complete probate administration, a railroad stock ledger, corporate minute books, a complete farm acreage record, original tax-schedule images, or a cemetery register. Online newspaper coverage cannot be called exhaustive because of OCR and collection limits.[35]

No surviving record inspected here proves that the family occupied one unchanged house throughout their Quitman years. Census addresses change among Screen, Jefferson, and Johnson streets, and renaming or renumbering has not been proved.[3-6]

Confidence summary

  • Verified: identity; October 27, 1855 birth; July 17, 1926 death; parents; wife as Cora B. Lewis; three children, with the daughter's married surname spelled Vaughn in the will and Vaughan in death reports; Quitman residence from 1870 through 1920; census occupations; original will; 1886 mayoral office; first Bank of Quitman board; 1896 railroad board election; later documented railway offices; certified cause of death; Oak Hill burial.
  • Strong probable: November 14, 1878 Albemarle County marriage; Cora's full middle name as Barksdale; 1896 subscription-committee and charter-petitioner roles; Huxford-based corporate and municipal details not independently matched to original records.
  • Unresolved: secure 1860 location; exact legal form and extent of household slaveholding; unchanged-house tradition; total property and acreage; railroad investment; full corporate and city-office chronology; complete probate administration; original cemetery documentation.

Sources

  1. Folks Huxford, The History of Brooks County, Georgia, 1858-1948 (1948), pp. 193-194, 197-198, 211, 225, 516-518. The cited copy was inspected locally.
  2. 1870 U.S. census, Quitman, Brooks County, Georgia, Roderick McIntosh, Ancestry collection 7163, record 590607, image 4263363_00211, NARA roll M593_137, p. 104A.
  3. 1880 U.S. census, Quitman, Brooks County, R. C. McIntosh, Ancestry collection 6742, record 7462869, image 4240127-00214, roll 135, p. 285C, ED 4.
  4. 1900 U.S. census, Quitman, Roderick C. McIntosh, Ancestry collection 7602, record 52866925, image 4119687_00589, roll 181, p. 13, ED 6.
  5. 1910 U.S. census, Quitman, Roderick C. McIntosh, Ancestry collection 7884, record 3197485, image 31111_4327473-00345, roll T624_174, p. 17B, ED 17.
  6. 1920 U.S. census, Quitman, R. C. McIntosh, Ancestry collection 6061, record 7317710, image 4295805-00313, roll T625_237, p. 4B, ED 40.
  7. Georgia death certificate 33352, Roderick Chilli McIntosh, Ancestry collection 2562, record 309151, image 004179378_01254; FamilySearch JDJ7-6LN.
  8. Virginia marriage compilation, Roderick C. McIntosh and Cora B. Lewis, November 14, 1878, Ancestry collection 3976, record 6139.
  9. Brooks County Record of Wills, "Last Will and Testament of Roderick Chili McIntosh," June 17, 1926, Ancestry collection 8635, record 1205116, images 005782588_00164 through 00166.
  10. Georgia death index, Mrs. Cora B. McIntosh, June 13, 1934, Ancestry collection 5426, record 518886; FamilySearch V4S5-WTR.
  11. Georgia property tax digests, Brooks County, Roderick or R. C. McIntosh entries, Ancestry collection 1729. The original schedules were not inspected.
  12. "Notice to Artesian Well Contractors," Savannah Morning News, June 16, 1886, p. 3, Newspapers.com image 830491376.
  13. Bank of Quitman organization report, Savannah Morning News, January 18, 1889, p. 2, image 852592826; reelection report, February 15, 1891, p. 7, image 852543773.
  14. Cotton-compress committee reports, Atlanta Constitution, February 20 and 25, 1890, p. 2, Newspapers.com images 26777897 and 26778159.
  15. R. C. McIntosh & Co. reports, Savannah Morning News, June 8, 1893, p. 2, image 852578921; Macon Telegraph, June 10, 1893, p. 6, image 825350786.
  16. Quitman fire report, Macon Telegraph, November 7, 1897, p. 1, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
  17. South Georgia Railroad stockholders' meeting, Savannah Morning News, March 24, 1896, p. 2, Georgia Historic Newspapers and Newspapers.com image 852573116.
  18. Quitman Board of Trade organization, Atlanta Constitution, April 14, 1899, p. 3, Newspapers.com image 26956496.
  19. South Georgia Railway board election, Valdosta Times, April 4, 1899, p. 3, Newspapers.com image 889670566.
  20. Bank of Quitman profile, Atlanta Constitution, November 12, 1905, p. 10, Newspapers.com image 26834164.
  21. South Georgia and West Coast railway reports, Atlanta Constitution, February 23, 1900, p. 7, Newspapers.com image 26827477; Valdosta Times, December 25, 1900, p. 5, image 889665825.
  22. South Georgia Railway business report, Savannah Morning News, February 12, 1903, p. 3, Newspapers.com image 879557566; Quitman business profile, Atlanta Journal, April 29, 1906, p. 3, image 969711841; Quitman, Valdosta and Thomasville Electric Railway and Power Company notices, Weekly Times-Enterprise, May 31-June 28, 1907, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
  23. Brooks County road reports, Atlanta Constitution, May 29, 1910, p. 3, Newspapers.com image 34126122; Valdosta Daily Times, May 1, 1911, p. 3, image 889658563; Atlanta Constitution, May 17, 1911, p. 2, image 34078156.
  24. Quitman school bond commission report, Macon Telegraph, April 14, 1912, p. 8, Newspapers.com image 825586097.
  25. Quitman post-office site report, Valdosta Daily Times, May 2, 1913, p. 5, Newspapers.com image 889656087.
  26. Cotton-sale report, Macon Telegraph, May 14, 1916, p. 8, Newspapers.com image 825463806.
  27. South Georgia Railway reports, Atlanta Journal, March 27, 1910, p. 12, Newspapers.com image 970009549; Atlanta Constitution, December 23, 1911, p. 2, image 26837686; Florida Times-Union, November 21, 1925, p. 38, image 1267169038; Atlanta Constitution, November 22, 1925, p. 24, image 398199061.
  28. Fourth Liberty Loan report, Atlanta Constitution, August 13, 1918, p. 10, Newspapers.com image 34074811.
  29. Regional business survey, Atlanta Journal, February 16, 1919, p. 17, Newspapers.com image 970875501.
  30. McIntosh Farms hog reports, Macon Telegraph, January 14, 1924, p. 10, Newspapers.com image 826001625; Atlanta Constitution, p. 4, image 384649195; Griffin Daily News and Sun, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
  31. First Presbyterian Church theft report, Griffin Daily News, December 19, 1925, p. 1, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
  32. East Quitman land-sale reports, Macon News, February 19, 1926, p. 11, Newspapers.com image 823572927; Florida Times-Union, February 20, 1926, p. 33, image 1258471664; Macon Telegraph, p. 5, image 826123372.
  33. Death reports, Atlanta Journal, July 18, 1926, p. 10, Newspapers.com image 972287490; Atlanta Constitution, p. 4, image 398094058; Florida Times-Union, p. 20, image 1258395176; Macon Telegraph, p. 2, image 825997914; Macon News, p. 7, image 823561058.
  34. Funeral and burial report, Valdosta Daily Times, July 19, 1926, p. 6, Newspapers.com image 889448388.
  35. Ancestry Find a Grave index, Roderick Chili McIntosh, memorial 78221283. The memorial page and marker image were not inspected.
  36. Georgia marriage record for the rejected Haralson County namesake "Chillie McIntosh," Ancestry collection 4766, record 1206751.