I know, political paths of Union County? Sounds strange, but don’t overthink it. This blog/bucket list post will take you through the places where 5 of some of Union County’s more known names in political history have lived, worked, played, or are buried. Where their lives started and the places in Union County that have a relation to each politician. They all(or most) had their humble beginnings before their starts in politics, and when some of them passed away, they left behind big legacies that are still remembered today. However, the question is, do you know who these politicians are and where their paths started and/or lead them? Put yourself to the test, read through this blog, and find out! Some places may seem very familiar!

 

Political Paths Map

 

 

 

Georgia’s Civil War Governor: Joseph Emerson Brown

Yes, believe it or not, UNION COUNTY actually holds the hometown Georgia roots and original Georgia origins(Though he was born in Pickens County, South Carolina, he moved to Georgia at a young age) that Georgia’s Civil War Governor grew up knowing. More specifically, this big-time politician came from the very humble, unincorporated, small town of Suches, GA. If I didn’t know this and someone told me I had to choose to believe it or not, I’d probably most likely NOT believe that, given how small and isolated Suches is, BUT ESPECIALLY during a time period when the only way of getting around Suches was by foot or by horse and buggy! it looks like after all, that while Suches may be a small package, it produced a big political dynamite. A political dynamite so big that he, Joseph Emerson Brown, is actually still known as one of the most influential and powerful politicians in Georgia history! No other Georgia Governor in history has won more elections than he has, winning 4 2-year terms in 1857, 1859, 1861, and 1863, ending his last term in 1865, just right at the end of the American Civil War. Georgia’s Civil War Governor wasn’t all he was, though. He also became the Georgia State Supreme Court’s 3rd ever appointed Chief Justice, and also became a U.S. Senator for the State of Georgia, which ranks him as the highest ever ranking politician in Union County history! Aside from his political ventures, he also became one of Georgia’s wealthiest and most powerful men in Georgia’s history, another irony for a man coming from Suches, GA that most would never guess could happen. He accomplished this feat mainly by becoming the President of the prominent state-owned Western and Atlantic Railroad, a position he accepted after resigning his Georgia State Supreme Court Chief Justice position in 1870. As President of the W&A Railroad, he generated a large revenue from the company. He also used much of those profits to fund Georgia’s public educational system, and this, is possibly what led the Joseph E. Brown Hall on UGA’s campus being named after him. Other namesakes that stem from this man is the town of Emerson, GA and the former Joseph Emerson Brown Middle/High School. Before his legendary and iconic political career and success began, though, those humble beginnings I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph included growing up a “poor mountain farm boy”. This also got him coined with the name, “the ploughboy”, from his early political opponents. The only way he knew to get out of his poor situation was by seeking an education, which he did. In fact, he is probably the first ever recorded Union Countian to ever attend Yale University, one of the nation’s most prominent educational institutions, where he went on to earn a law degree which he clearly put to use. His path to politics in Georgia began where his inspirations and goals came about, which is on the present-day Woody Gap School campus that he grew up on(Before the school became to fruition of course). Today, when visiting Woody Gap School, you can even see the state historic marker stating that the campus is actually the Homesite of Joseph Emerson Brown I could go on and on about this man’s titles and accomplishments, but if you want to learn more, I am going to leave it to you to go check out his Union County Legends interactive mural profile page!

 

 

Charles Simpson Reid

This man is one who I rarely ever hear ANYONE talk about or mention throughout Union County. This includes both of my grandpas who were obviously huge history buffs as we all know well by now. As a matter of a fact, I had to do my very own deep research into this man. The research started with me going insane for a minute because I just couldn’t understand why NO ONE in Union County had EVER mentioned him, but it ended with somewhat of an understanding. If you want to know what I mean by this, you’re going to have to get at least a $10 Gooch & Fifty Membership Pass and go check out Charles Simpson Reid’s Union County Crime and Murder page OR you can do YOUR OWN research! This man was the man who once used to be the youngest ever appointed Chief Justice in the history of the Georgia State Supreme Court, as well as the youngest ever appointed Chief Justice of ANY STATE in the history of United States!!! Regardless of how some parts of his life story may have went, for the most part, it was pretty incredible and his career was as illustrious as most any other Supreme Court Justice that you’d ever find. Not only was he once Georgia’s(And the United States) youngest ever Supreme Court Chief Justice, but he was once even considered to be a potential candidate by President FDR(Who he actually met with!) for a seat on the United States Supreme Court. This never did come to fruition, but to come from the beginnings of early 1900’s Blairsville and then sit down to speak with President FDR for a potential seat on the United States Supreme Court? Uh, yeah, that’s pretty impressive, and I will even go as far to say with 100% confidence that I highly doubt any other surrounding county in the entire GA/NC/TN area can say that they’ve ever produced a citizen who could say the ever did the same. He also became the first(And possibly only) Chief Justice in the United States to give up his Georgia Supreme Court position to go serve in WWII, when he served on President Dwight Eisenhower’s staff. During this time, he became the first person outside of British subject and outside of a member of the King’s bench to sit as a presiding judge at England’s famous Old Bailey Court. Do you think I am stopping there with his list of accomplishments. Nah, he was also a key figure in helping figure out and decide the rightful governor during Georgia’s 3-Governor Controversy back in 1947! Now with all of these accomplishments given to you, can you guess where he lived while growing up in Blairsville? If you’re my age or a Blairsville, Union County move-in and you can, then I am assuming you most likely won’t guess. Right in Downtown Blairsville on Rogers Street where you will see a beautiful, old 2-story antebellum-looking home. The home was built in 1865, and it is believed that at least 2-3 generations of Reids actually occupied this home. This Reid Family is the same family that produced several known and prominent judges throughout Georgia. I guess this gave Charles Simpson Reid a good start to his path of becoming one of Georgia’s many Supreme Court Chief Justices, although, he still had to work hard and earn it on his own. To learn more and to find more newspaper clippings and photos regarding his life, be sure to go check out his Union County Legends mural interactive profile page.

 

 

William Henry Duckworth

You’d think the way that Union County and Union Countians are stereotyped, typically as “stupid, ignorant hillbillies”, that I COULDN’T POSSIBLY be writing about ANOTHER Georgia State Supreme Court Chief Justice that came from Union County, but here I am, calling them ALL out! I guess I may as well, since Union Countians don’t seem to want to talk about or highlight it as much as you would expect them to, right? Right. Raised in the Choestoe District of Union County, William Henry Duckworth had a pretty tough start to life. In case you missed the Murders, Myths, and Mysteries Of Union County blog/bucket list post, William Henry Duckworth lost his dad at a young age to murder by way of a gunshot from their cousin, Jeptha Collins(I’m begging you, click on that link and scroll down to the last story’s pictures. You won’t regret it!). So, his path in politics didn’t quite get off to such an easy start, but it did indeed finish with him having the honor of becoming Georgia’s longest ever Chief Justice of the Georgia State Supreme Court in state history! Back to his beginnings, he was educated at the former Choestoe School House which produced many prestigious and prominent citizens of Georgia and elsewhere, before he finally made it over to Young Harris College(Which has a library named in he and his brother J. Lon Duckworth’s honor) for his college education. Following his education at YHC, he eventually found his was to a law degree, which then led him to his career as an attorney, then as a Georgia State Senator, and then finally to his career as a judge. While serving as a Chief Justice, he was elected as the Chairman of the National Conference of Chief Justices in 1955, which consisted of some of the finest Chief Justices from all over the United States, a huge honor in itself! He also helped to make some of Georgia’s biggest legal decisions in history. This includes through the Civil Rights era, and he was also one of the judges who had the final say and decision on the already famously mentioned case of the Georgia 3-Governor Controversy which he actually wrote the decision for! Want to learn more about Chief Justice Duckworth? Go check out his Union County Legends mural interactive profile page!

 

 

Thomas Slaughter Candler

Did you know….That Union County is actually home to “one of those Coca-Cola Candlers”?! If you didn’t, then you do now! What you may want to know next, though, may be how is he a Coca-Cola Candler? Well, when I say “Coca-Cola Candler”, I don’t mean that he is one of the Candlers that actually owned Coca-Cola, but he was at least 1st or 2nd cousins to Asa Griggs Candler, the former Coca-Cola tycoon who made Coca-Cola big. I do recall a story from my Papaw Lance, however, that Judge Candler’s father, William Ezekiel(AKA W.E.) Candler(Don’t quote me on this, but I think he was the one), was once offered bottling rights for Coca-Cola by his 1st cousin, Asa, but he turned them down because he did not think that they would be worth anything. If this story is true, can you imagine THAT bummer feeling when Coca-Cola boomed?! Anyway, let me try to turn my ADD off and get back to the political path of Judge Thomas Slaughter Candler. Born December 15th(Also my birthday!), 1890, to parents Elizabeth Haralson Candler and W.E. Candler, Thomas Slaughter Candler was raised in a home on the Blairsville Square(See the photo of the slider below where it shows the beautiful former 2-story Candler home) where Cabin Coffee Company and Candler Station sit today. This location was fitting given that it meant that he grew up within 0.2 miles from the childhood home of other fellow and future Georgia State Supreme Court Justice, Charles Simpson Reid. Not only did this make growing up in this exact spot fitting, but just as importantly, it meant that Candler grew up right smack dab in the middle of the town that he would one day eventually become City Mayor of. While serving as Blairsville City Mayor, he also led a career as a prestigious attorney, a job he held alongside his father in their attorney’s office at the present-day location of Sunflowers On The Square gift shop(Just to clear any confusion, in the picture below in the slider, you will see this building during its time as Logan’s Turnpike, which it no longer is). Speaking of Candlers and Coca-Cola, it turns out the main Coca-Cola Candlers in Atlanta weren’t the only ones with a vault, because still today, you can see the vault that Judge Candler and his father both used in the gift shop today! Eventually, Judge Candler became ready for a bigger role as the Georgia Superior Court Judge of the Northeastern District. He served in this capacity for 6 years, from 1939-1945, before beginning his 21-year career as an Associate Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. He also had ties to Vogel State Park and Brasstown Bald, which you can learn more about in his Union County Legends mural interactive profile page. Needless to say, as a Candler, he had a lot of big expectations to live up to, and that he did. He is still respected and talked about among the locals that still remember him even years after his death!

 

 

Edgar Lanier Jenkins

Edgar(AKA Ed) Lanier Jenkins path in life may have started in nearby Young Harris, but through most of his young childhood life, he was a Union County boy through and through, and his political path truly seemed to start there too. I only say this because even as a young boy, and long before he even went into politics, he was known to go into the former barber shop of his father, Charlie Swinfield Jenkins, and Zell Miller’s Uncle, Bascom Headen Miller, were both known to often discuss politics with others as Ed apparently listened on. So clearly, politics was fresh on his mind from an early age. This barber shop’s location was apparently where the present-day Logan’s Turnpike Mill store stands today(This is per his family members I have spoken with) beside Hole-In-The-Wall Restaurant. Growing up, Ed attended Union County High School where he played baseball, participated in many clubs, and eventually graduated at the top of his class in 1949. His college studies sent him to Young Harris College where he created a close friendship with his future Georgia Governor, Zell Miller. These 2 probably didn’t realize it at the time(Or who knows, maybe they confidently did?) that they would be crossing paths in their future political careers one day. In fact, the 2 of them used sneak into a nearby local church with great acoustics to practice their debate speeches at the pulpit when preparing for their debate club activities. Clearly, it looks like it paid off nicely for them! Following his graduation from YHC, Ed went onto to work for a short time with the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) before going on to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard for 3 years from 1952-55. Finally, his last stop before truly stepping onto his true political path was at UGA where he received his law degree. Not long after this, his career as an attorney began and his path in politics really began as he became the administrative assistant to Phillip Landrum from 1959-1962. For those unaware of who Phillip Landrum was, he was Georgia’s 9th District U.S. House Representative for 24 years, from 1953 until 1977, when Ed Jenkins eventually took the position after Landrum’s retirement. Landrum is the namesake for the stretch of road we know today as I-575(And of course, once you get into Pickens County, you should already know that the road known as Highway 515 is named after Zell Miller)! When Ed Jenkins entered this position, he entered it at an iconic time, especially for the state of Georgia, as Jimmy Carter, the newly elected United States President, also came to Washington D.C. from the great state of Georgia at the same time. During Ed’s iconic career as Georgia’s 9th District U.S. House Representative, he accomplished many meaningful things that still benefit us all today. He fought to protect national forests. He championed the fight for the textile industries that once helped give a boost to local, small town mountain economies. He also served as a member of Ways and Means Committee. One of the most notable and important roles that he played and was known for during his time as a U.S. Representative was his role on the joint committees of the U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators who had to work together to investigate the infamous Iran-Contra affair. It was during this time that he famously interrogated Lt. Col. Oliver North, a National Security Council aide who was involved in organizing secret arms sales to Iran. He also came short for a bid for the position of House majority leader to Richard Gephardt in 1989. He truly was “One of the smoothest operators on Capitol Hill”, as he was often known. Today, the Ed Jenkins National Recreation Area, in both Union and Fannin Counties, sits as an honor, legacy, and testament to his work for fighting for the forests, the state of Georgia, and the United States of America!  Want to learn more about U.S. Representative Ed Jenkins? Go check out his Union County Legends mural interactive profile page!