-
CHAPTER 21: 1843
- University of Georgia Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
CHAPTER 21 1843 URING the first half of the year 1843, which period saw the death of Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner; the appropriation by Congress of $30,000,000 to aid S. F. B. Morse in establishing the first telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore, and the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument by Daniel Webester,1 the hamlet called Marthasville grew slowly indeed. The running of one train over the W. & A., to Marietta had given only slight impetus to the growth of the town. Thomas Kile, who arrived during this period from Gwinnett County, reported about seven families on hand.2 He was referring of course to the immediate vicinity of the railroad terminus. One of the seven was young Thomas George Washington Crusselle (18221890 ), a native of Washington, D. C., who arrived on the local scene with the crew engaged in building the original W. & A. bridge across the Chattahoochee River. In 1842 Crusselle built the first house on what is now Decatur Street, a double log cabin, on the south side of the street just east of Peachtree. Many years later the site was occupied by the noted Big Bonanza Saloon, No. 5 Decatur Street. Crusselle rented his pioneer structure to John Bailey and William Kile, both of whom dealt in wet goods.3 During his long residence in Atlanta, Mr. Crusselle was engaged as a contractor . Among the structures he built were the stone depot of the Macon and Western Railroad, adjacent to the State Square and the original State railroad shops. Among his noted residential contracts was the Ben Hill mansion, originally built for Thomas L. Cooper, next door to the present site of the Capital City Club on Peachtree Street.4 He was married twice, first to a Miss Duncan, who died in 1856, after bearing him three sons, and second, in 1858, to Miss Julia A. Rice, daughter of William H., and sister of the late Frank P. Rice. They became the parents of six sons and three daughters, all a credit to the community.5 Samuel P. Richards, founder of the well-known paper company in Atlanta, bearing his name, then a youth of nineteen, residing at Penfield, Georgia, had, in 1842, begun to keep a diary. In July, 1843, appears the following entry: "I went on a trip from Decatur to Marietta, passing through Marthasville, a small, new village at the terminus of the Georgia Railroad.6 Also visited Stone Mountain, which has two hotels, and is incorporated under the name of New Gibraltar."7 While Richards did not say so, he doubtless made the trip by stagecoach, since regular railroad service between Marietta and Decatur had not been established. In that event he probably stopped at the dinner house kept by Hiram Casey on Marietta Road near the present site of Crest Lawn Cemetery. Casey served good country fare such as corn bread, sweet potatoes, bacon and greens. Tom Shivers, the stage driver, thought there was none better.8 No record exists of organized religious activity in Terminus, although it is safe to assume that occasional itinerant ministers held services in the out of doors for John Thrasher's Monroe embankment workers and their families. Not long after the new terminus had been located in Land Lot 77 and D 200 ATLANTA AND ITS ENVIRONS the name changed to Marthasville, a man named Wells, possibly Jeremiah, built a one room frame house near the present site of the Kimball House. Being a pious man, he desired to have religious services in the house before occuping it as a residence. Arrangements were therefore made for the services and Rev. John Thurman, a Methodist minister, was engaged to preach. The women being seated inside and the men outside, Rev. Thurman stood in the door, where he could be seen and heard by both groups. "The text and gist of the service were forgotten," Mr. Thurman said later, "but I will always remember some exhortations made by the Rev. Lumpkin, who concluded the service." The congregation was dismissed by an earnest benediction when the service was over. This pioneer sermon, the first in Marthasville, was probably delivered in the late summer of 1842.9 Rev. John Thurman (1810-1894) was the eldest child of Richard, one of the four Thurman brothers who settled in De Kalb County in 1826. He was licensed to preach by the Methodist Church in 1837, and, at the time of the sermon delivered at...