THE ET CETERA CHRONICLES – VOL. 124. 

TWO BOYS LOST AT SEA – In the year 1870, the steamer “Two Boys,” based out of Dublin, was plying the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Sapelo Island.  Terrible trouble arose when the steamer’s drum exploded, leaving the doomed craft helpless.  When a strong gale arose, eight men jumped ship and made it to the beach. The rest of the crew could not steer the lifeless boat against the strong winds, killing everyone else aboard.  Cleveland, Ohio Plain Dealer, Feb. 12, 1870. 

THAT’LL BE THE DAY THAT I DIE – It was around the middle of July 1879 that M.J. Guyton, of Laurens County, had an intense feeling of his impending death.  Guyton strongly believed that he would die before September 1st.    As the Dog Days of August progressed, Guyton became increasingly sure of his prediction.  Beginning of the 21st day of August, Guyton inquired of the day of the month.  On Sunday, August 31st, the day dam of his doom, Guyton began counting the hours.  When he got down to two hours before his death, he counted the minutes.  At 5 o’clock on that Sunday afternoon, Guyton began to whisper about the sunset. As he whispered once again about the sunset, he passed on.  His sister had a similar occurrence concerning her death.  Macon, Telegraph, Sept. 26, 1879.

THE TREE MAN – Joel Coney, a leading Dublin citizen and benefactor in the mid 1880s, is given credit for planting the oak trees along Bellevue Avenue.  Coney had a home on the southwestern corner of Coney Street (named in his honor) and Bellevue Avenue, the former “Old Hawkinsville Road.”  In the cold of January 1889, Coney, who had been a well-liked state representative in Atlanta, began to show signs of illness in his hand.  Doctor Charles Hicks and Doctor Herschel V. Johnson, Jr. were brought in to save Coney’s life.  Their efforts failed, and Coney died of lockjaw on January 24, 1889.  Ironically, the man who gave Dublin her most beautiful tree-lined avenue was killed by part of a tree, a splinter which was lodged in his hand and caused his death.  Savannah Morning News, Jan. 25, 1889.  

THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER WAR – One Charles Monroe traveled to Eastman, Georgia at the instance of the widow Clarke.  The couple were attracted to each other and began to talk of marriage.   Living in the same household was Lula, the widow’s young daughter.  Monroe treated Lula as his daughter in a seemingly fatherly way.  The widow was delighted and began to look forward to a lifetime of happiness.  All of the widow’s happiness evaporated when the news came to her that her daughter and the lothario had eloped to Dublin.

The jilted mother went into a jealous rage.  She climbed aboard a buggy and dashed off toward Dublin.  Lula’s mother raced toward Dublin, where she arrived a half-hour before the lovers arrived in town to secure a marriage license. Knowing that she could not legally enjoin the marriage, Mrs. Clarke swore out a warrant for assault and battery before a sympathetic judge.   Just as the Laurens County Sheriff was about to arrest Mr. Monroe, Lula interjected and pleaded to the lawman to let her go with her beloved Charley and stay with him in jail.  When some of the prospective groom’s friends showed up, they signed Monroe’s bond to appear in court to answer the widow’s charges, and the judge released the defendant on bond.  Monroe’s friends blockaded the spurned widow, giving the bonded man and his bride to dash off to the courthouse and join hands in holy matrimony.  It must have been an interesting marriage.  Atlanta Journal, May 29, 1894.  

SNAKE CENTRAL  – Of all the different major kinds of venomous snakes in Georgia, only two counties, Laurens and Johnson, are the habitats of all six poisonous snakes: The Eastern Coral Snake, the Copperhead, the Eastern Diamond Back Rattlesnake, the Pygmy Rattlesnake, the Timber Rattlesnake, and the Eastern Coral Snake.  Georgia Department of Natural Resources. 

CAROLINA NOT IN HIS MIND – When J.E.O. set out to find and establish a colony for English debtors, he was ordered to place the new colony as a buffer between the Crown and the Spanish settlements in Florida.  So in 1733, the colony of Georgia was founded by James Edward Oglethorpe, including the future location of Laurens County, which until then was a part of the Colony of Carolina. Wikipedia.