The Historical Society met on Saturday with about 10 members present. We had a very productive meeting. We continue to work and plan for the Wreaths Across America project for December. In conjunction with the American Legion, the Auxiliary and the Mary and Martha C-Group at Trenton United Methodist Church, our group is attempting to place a wreath on every grave of anyone who lived in Dade or was associated in some way with Dade. If you read Gail Hedden’s article for this week, then you will see that over 175 persons have been identified.
We are making good headway on this project. We are still looking for a few volunteers to help place the wreaths on Dec. 14. This also happens on the day for the Christmas Parade and other related activities in Trenton. Look for our table at the Halloween Event at the library on Oct. 26. Instead of candy, we will be handing out small American flags for the trick-or-treaters.
Our next genealogy workshop will take place at the library on Tuesday, November 5, from 6-8 p.m. We are hosting this one in the evening rather than Saturday morning as the evening might be more convenient for some folks.
If you are not aware, the state of Georgia pays for the use of Ancestry.com for free within the library. So if you have some research to do then come and spend some time at this session. There will be several Historical Society members present to help you with your journey. As I was helping someone look up his family history the other day he remarked, “This could be addictive.” He is correct in that comment. Seeing a grandfather’s signature or his height or color of eyes or hair written on his World War I draft card can begin a journey that leads one down many roads.
Last week, I got a call from one of my wonderful high school teachers, Rochelle McBryar Holcomb. She and I are working on collecting her husband, Morrell Holcomb’s, records as a football coach. He was the coach at both Davis and Dade in the 1960s. He amassed the best record of any coach who ever coached at a school in this town. It was not hard to find since there is a marvelous website entitled the Georgia High School Football Historians Association (www.ghsfha.org).
I got lost for a few hours looking at the stats for high school football since its inception in Dade County. You can look up the Dade Wildcats or the Davis Yellow Jackets or the Dade Wolverines. Unfortunately, they did not separate Northwest Georgia from the new Dade Wolverines, so don’t look for Northwest Georgia. Just go to Dade Wolverines.
My favorite statistic is that Dade and Davis were tied at 11 wins each and one tie for their 23 years of competition. It just seems fitting to me that the big rivalry between the two schools would end with a tie.
You can find every coach and almost every game by the numbers. It also lists players who made All-state or Honorable Mention for All-state. If you are a lover of sport and especially Dade football, then you will find yourself entranced for a few hours by looking back at this history.
For example, I was working on a project with Gary (G.C.) and Terry Avans in the library last week and I showed the site to them. After we looked at a few things, one or the other would ask me to click on a certain game and after finding the specific game, they then took turns in reliving the events of the game in the history room. Some memories just don’t dull with time. The years roll away when you see 60- and 70-year-old men talking about their glory days on the field of competition.
If you live within the city limits of Trenton, please be aware that there are surveyors who will come by your house in the near future to take photographs of any home or structure that was built before 1974. They began last week and will continue until all properties older than 40 years are counted and recorded. We think that there are more than 400 to be counted. That is based on the information that has been gathered from the tax assessor’s office. This is being paid for through a grant to the city and the county from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Preservation Commission.
When this project is finished, we will have a document that will itemize all properties which can be classified as historic, and there should be a description of the property and why it may be significant. If you have questions or concerns, do not hesitate to call the county or the city government offices or call me. We will be happy to help you
understand the process and how it can help us to apply for grants and create historic districts in the future.
--Donna Street
donnam.street@gmail.com
