by D. P. Stubbs
In October, 1998 my brother, D., and I took a trip to Wrightsborough, GA. Almost 200 years ago our family left this town to settle in Ohio and later Minnesota. 150 years ago our great great grandfather Henry Stubbs revisited the old home of his father Nathan Stubbs in Wrightsborough. I studied my information on Wrightsborough, looked through Roger Avery Stubbs’ notes, and asked cousin B. D. for his notes on his recent trip to the town, and made copies of important information to bring along. We traveled first to Wrightsborough, Ga. On the first day we visited the City/County Tourism in Thomson and discovered that a new person with no experience on Wrightsborough was working there. They had a copy of a book by Pearl Baker (‘A Handbook of History McDuffie County Georgia 1870 - 1970 by Pearl Baker’) for sale on McDuffie County. This book has a little on the earlier days of Wrightsborough and a section on Thomas E. Watson. Tom Watson (1856-1922) was a descendant of two Wrightsborough Quaker families, his mother was a Maddox (Maddock) ‘descended from the Wrightsborough Quaker community’. His father also descended from Wrightsborough settlers (John, Jacob and Thomas Watson listed as Quaker landholders in Wrightsborough before 1776 in ‘The Story of Wrightsboro 1768-1964 by Pearl Baker). Thomas E. Watson’s grandfather Thomas M. Watson owned 45 slaves and 1372 acres of farmland by 1860. The family was devastated by the Civil War and Tom Watson grew up poor. Thomas E. Watson became a populist politician in the late 1800’s. In 1896 he was nominated as the vice presidential candidate with William Jennings Bryan; in 1904 and 1908 he was nominated for president. Ever controversial, Watson early advocated a political union with blacks to achieve economic reforms to improve agrarian life. Much later he railed against the influence of the Vatican as a threat to American civil liberties. The tourism office also recommended another historical book for sale at the library (‘History of McDuffie County, Georgia’ compiled by Mrs. W. C. McCommons and Miss Clara Stovall, 1932, printed 1988, $35).
Driving out to Wrightsborough, we investigated the area around Lot 66 which Joseph Maddock owned, looked over the old church and tried to locate the Quaker burying ground to the east of town and on the other side of Middle Creek. On the second day, Mrs. D. Jones of the Wrightsborough Foundation was kind enough to take us on a tour of the town. Mrs. Jones is the head the of the Wrightsborough Restoration Foundation. She began her work on Wrightsborough by assisting Mrs. Pearl Baker in looking at land transaction records, which is her special interest. Pearl Baker’s ‘The Story of Wrightsboro 1768-1964’ is available ($5) from the Wrightsboro Restoration Foundation, P.O. Box 1816, Thomson, GA 30824, Attention: Dorothy Jones. Mrs. Jones may be contacted by writing to the Foundation.
The nearest present day town to Wrightsborough is Thomson, Georgia. Near Wrightsborough the land is very wooded and between the town and Thomson, there are several farms or ranches. The open land is used for pasture, often with groves of pecan trees on the pastureland. The village and surrounding areas toward Thomson are used by the Belle Vue country club for fox hunting on horse back (Wednesdays and Saturdays in the fall season). There are also a lot of deer around the town and land to the west is controlled by private hunting clubs.
According to Mrs. Jones, the town of old Wrightsborough was laid out according to a government plan which did not take the actual terrain of the site into account.
Early settlers were given a lot in town and more substantial acreage outside of town. It seems that only a few of the lots were actually built on in the early period. In fact some of the lots were unbuildable as was the case for lot 54 given to the widow of Joseph Stubbs, Ann Mooney Stubbs. Lot 54 has a huge granite outcrop on it and a creek bed. Deborah Maddock Stubbs widow of Thomas Stubbs II also received a land grant in Wrightsborough. The townsite is very wooded today and only a few buildings are located within the boundaries of the former town. One is the old church thought to built on the same location as the original Quaker Meeting House. There are 4 other homes, one just to the west of the Church was the girls’ dormitory for an old boarding school. Across from the church is a vintage log cabin that was recently moved into the town from nearby, and an old general store. These are being restored by the Wrightsborough Restoration Foundation. Foxboro Farms has a driveway going north off of the main paved street near the former Tower Lane.
Three roads are currently passable (only the paved road by car) and can be traced back to original Wrightsborough streets; the main road through Wrightsborough (originally James Street) is now the paved highway named Bartram Trail for the noted botanist, William Bartram who visited the town in late spring of 1773. William Bartram recorded his observations of 2 year old apple trees that bore fruit and were planted by Joseph Maddock. He also commented on Maddock’s grape vines. Jones Street exists to the south of the highway and Middle Lane exists to the north. It is possible to walk down each of these roads. Jones Street passes by some structures and piles of old bricks on lots 64-65 east of the street and old farm buildings west of the street (and lying outside of the original village plat). Near the old farm buildings is a former ‘champion’ Mulberry tree. The tree is mostly dead and cannot be accurately measured any longer because of a burl structure around the trunk. Mrs. Jones said that the tree was from the early attempts (1772) to grow silk in the Wrightsborough area. One stone foundation is present on lot 57 at the southern edge of town on Jones Street. From there the road continues to Middle Creek where the remains of a bridge cross the creek. West of this crossing was the site of an old mill (according to Mrs. Jones). Middle Lane going north from the highway was very muddy when we visited. It also goes to the edge of the village where Tanyard Creek crosses the lane. Henry Jones the tanner and saddler had land near this creek. Lot 66 which belonged to Joseph Maddock is very difficult to travel (as is much of the area around it) with black berry canes, wisteria vines and poison oak beneath very large trees. It was not possible to do a very thorough search of this lot but no building remains were seen. However, just east of this lot on what was apparently originally designated Lot F were the stone foundation remains of a building identified by Mrs. Jones as a store run by the John Scott (who also owned lots 64-65 and had a brick building there, now in ruins). This could be the stone foundation found by B. D., but we weren’t able to inspect all parts of Lot 66, so there could be another structure there. B. (a surveyor by trade) did a wonderful job in finding a great deal about the town in a short time, including locating the corners of the original town, an old Quaker cemetery site southeast of town, the Maddock Mill site and a cemetery near the mill site. Since there is another cemetery near the John Stubbs mill site, it seems that cemeteries are the clearest legacy of a larger population in the past.
John Stubbs owned land about 3 miles from town between present day Hart’s Creek and Chill Creek. Hart’s Creek was called Stubbs Creek in 1794 and later Upton Creek. It is easy to pass by this creek on the road without noticing it. Chill Creek was also known as Childress Creek and Factory Creek. A private road goes back into this area. The land is controlled by a hunting club that is not locally based, so it is difficult to obtain permission to enter the land which is posted. To get to this area, follow the main road northwest through Wrightsborough. After it crosses the Liberty Hill Church Road (also paved) it becomes gravel and is impassable after a heavy rain. The Stubbs place was later owned by Lowe’s and then by Stubbs descendants the Clouds.
Joseph Maddock’s mill was also located some distance from the town itself on Maddock’s Creek (now spelled Maddox) to the east of town. Ruins of this mill can be found about a mile down the creek from the Wrightsboro Road and were located by B. D.
Mrs. Jones then took us to the lovely mansion and 15 acres of an old plantation that has been donated to the Wrightsboro Restoration Foundation outside of Thomson. Here the records are kept including information and queries that have been sent in by people. They are just getting set up. The Foundation has recently had the town listed as a national historical site - the paperwork involved in getting this done is incredible.