JOHN REECE BREWER AND HENRIETTA CELESTE FORBES
(a picture of life in Banks County Georgia in the 1870's)
abstracted from the family file contributed by James Brewer
Henrietta Celeste Forbes, daughter of Alanson Forbes and
Susan Catherine McDonald, was born 26 November 1855 in Homer, Banks County,
Georgia and died 13 Feb. 1891 in Homer, Banks County, Georgia.
John Reece Brewer, son of Levi Brewer and Manima Moore, was
born 19 April 1851 in Pickens, Pickens County, South Carolina. He died 4 June 1930 in Homer, Banks County,
Georgia.
They married on 23 December 1873 in Homer, Georgia.
John Brewer and Henrietta Forbes Brewer are buried in the
McDonald Family Cemetery near Homer, Georgia.
" John Reese
Brewer went to Homer, Banks County, Georgia, where his uncle, Joseph Brewer
and aunt, Flora Brewer, lived. There
he met a millright, Col. Mason. He
hired John by the year and taught him how to build and repair water wheels. He worked for Col. Mason the years 1870, 1872
and 1873.
The year of 1871, John had one year of schooling under the
teaching of Prof. Calvin Wells, who came with his family from the north to
teach the grown boys and girls who had no opportunity for school during the
four Civil War years. He studied geography,
sixth reader, arithmetic, dictionary, slate and pencil. He said, 'I learned the multiplication table
as I kept my finger to that page, as I worked my sums.' When he entered school he could read and
write a little.
John was always alert to learn. He studied nature, knew the names of trees, birds and animals, and
their natures.
The year 1872, his mother, Manima Brewer, and part of her
family decided to leave the old home in South Carolina and go to Gordon County,
Georgia, Adairsville being close to Homer.
She wrote her son, John, of her plans.
They would go by wagon train and she hoped he could meet her a few
miles from Homer. So, he walked several
miles to an old camp-ground and waited for his mother and family. When they arrived, she got out of the wagon,
mother and son walked behind the wagon for miles to talk. I imagine she had a lot to talk about with
her oldest son whom she hadn't seen in two years. I don't think they saw each other again until Christmas, 1879.
I assume the twins, Jasper and Newton (Brewer), remained
in South Carolina. They married the
Petty sisters; both raised big families and moved to Marietta, Ga. in 1895.
Col. Mason lived a short distance north of Homer; I have
no idea where of when John met Henrietta Forbes. She lived four miles south of Homer. She was four years younger. She
was small of stature, had dark culry fair, dark brown eyes and olive complexion.
She was very modest and retiring, but full of energy and determination.
One Sunday afternoon, Henrietta was in the home of her Aunt
Flora and (Uncle) Joseph Brewer when John came to visit. I don't know whether John knew Henrietta was
there or not. There was no way to
take a ride, and no place to walk except the cemetery, so they walked to the
spring under the great oaks and I imagine sat on Flora's battling bench. Flora said, 'They stayed so long talking that
John Brewer whittled my battling stick to pieces.'
Every home was built near a spring, and every owner and father
set aside a level spot and equipped it with necessary vessels near the spring
so the "women folks" could do the family wash. First, there was a big iron pot that sat on
three legs, where the clothes were boiled.
Second, there was a block of convenient height to which the boiled
clothes were transferred by the battling stick and battled, turned, battled
some more, and transferred then to tubs of clean water for rubbing and rinsing
on a bench of convenient height. The
clothes were then hung out to dry on the garden fence or suitable poles were
put up for the purpose. The soap used
was made of kitchen fats boiled with lye made from water drained through wood
ashes that had been placed in a hopper. When
the soap had boiled to the right consistency, it was placed in stone jars,
gourds or molded into bars. This was
women's work, and all the fairer sex in the home, regardless of age, participated.
I dare say, Flora enjoyed the courtship (of Henrietta and
John). It hadn't been long since Joe 'came a courting'. She was a good matchmaker. The wedding was set for December 23, 1873,
in her mother's home. Everyone worked
getting ready for the oldest daughter's wedding. There was a holly grove on the farm, the only one in the county,
and some cedar trees. There were holly
wreaths and some cedar, with red holly berries nestled in among the cedar
boughs, and then across the top of the windows above the plain, snowy white
curtains was cedar, with every bunch having been dipped in flour for a contrast.
Some of the boys were sent down to the spring branch to a little pit
of white mud. That was thinned to the right consostency with
water, and all the jams and hearth around the fireplace were made snowy white.
There was no lime, for this was just after the Civil War.
The floors were scrubbed to perfection, and the kitchen chairs were
scrubbed white. Everything was clean, though crude.
Henrietta and John were married in the early evening by Rev.
Groves G. Cartledge in the presence of a few friends and relatives. They soon left for Abbeville, S. C., and later
for Elbert County, Ga., near Ruckersville, their future home.
In 1876 John Brewer bought a small tract of land on the public
road between Harmony Grove and Homer which joined the Forbes farm. The foundation of the house was laid the day
after their first son, Lambert, was born September 7, 1876. As soon as it was livable at all, John moved
his little family to their own home. The
well had not been dug, but John carried water from a nearby creek until he
could get the well dug, that was in 1877.
The well has furnished pure, cold water to the present.
Later, John bought the old McDonald homeplace from William
McDonald."
Children of John Reese Brewer and Henrietta Celeste Forbes:
1. Lillian Tallulah "Lula" Brewer was born 7 December
1874, Banks County, Ga., and died 23 July 1960
2. Dr. Lambert Cleveland Brewer was born 7 September 1876
in Banks County, Ga. and died 10 May 1936 in Los Angeles, Ca. and was buried
in Forest Lawn, Masonic Section, Los Angeles, Ca.
3. Floyce Una Brewer was born 22 August 1878
4. Ruby Howard Brewer was born on 9 March 1881 in Homer,
Banks County, Georgia, and died 8 June 1867 in Hall County, Georgia.
5. Cleo Brewer was born after 1883 in Banks County, Ga.
6. Laura Irene Brewer was born 31 July 1886 in Banks County,
Ga.
She was named for Henrietta's sister, Laura Forbes, who had
died a short time before, and Irene for a character in a story Henrietta had
read to her husband, John. Laura Irene
Brewer died 28 April 1888 at the age
of 21 months and is buried in the McDonald Family Cemetery in Banks County.
7. Helen Celeste Brewer was born 19 September 1888 and died
on 17 June 1917 of typhoid fever. She is buried in Westview Cemetery, Atlanta,
Georgia.
Copyright 2004 by James Brewer